Libya: Deaths As Militias Fire On Protesters

At least 31 people have been killed and nearly 300 wounded after militiamen fired on a demonstration demanding their eviction from Libya's capital Tripoli, the prime minister said.

Hundreds of people carrying white flags in a sign of peace, as well as the national flag, and singing the national anthem had assembled in the capital's Meliana Square.

They then marched to the Misratah militia headquarters in the Gharghour district when gunmen inside fired into the air to scare them off.

But when the crowd continued to move towards the building, the gunmen started firing at them, according to witnesses.

Footage aired on the privately owned al-Nabaa television network showed protesters running from gunfire while carrying others covered in blood.

A Reuters reporter said they saw an anti-aircraft cannon firing from the militia compound into the crowd.

The protesters fled at first but came back heavily armed to storm the gated buildings, where militiamen when were holed up until nightfall.

Dozens of army trucks later arrived to attempt to separate the crowds and militiamen in the compound, sealing off roads to prevent more armed people joining the battle.

Witnesses said some of the militiamen were wounded or arrested, while the remainder eventually fled.

Some of the protesters were armed with weapons too

The commander of the militia, Al Taher Basha Agha, vowed in a telephone interview with Libya al-Ahrar accused the protesters of opening fire first.

"Who is the person who is inciting them?" he said. "The evil ones who are using the civilians as a bridge to cross to power.

"Tripoli has not seen a war yet, it will see it soon," he threatened.

Many residents of Tripoli are frustrated with the continued presence of the militia, who are hangovers from the 2011 uprising that ousted dictator Muammar Gaddafi and now a powerful force in the increasingly lawless North African country.

The militia frequently fight with other armed factions in the city.

Prime Minister Ali Zeidan, who was briefly seized by militiamen himself last month, said his embattled government was working on a plan to drive out all militias from Tripoli.

"There will be no exception," he said. "All militias - including those in Tripoli - will be out."

Sadat al Badri, president of Tripoli's city council, which called for the protest, said tensions were rising over the militias.

"We're going to announce a general strike and launch a civil disobedience campaign until these militias leave," he said.

The militias have rejected calls from the weak central government to leave the capital.

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Typhoon Haiyan: Cameron Pledges Extra £30m

The UK Government is to give an extra £30m in aid to help the relief effort after the devastating typhoon in the Philippines.

Prime Minister David Cameron said Britain had already pledged £23m to help the relief effort but he added it was clear more aid was needed after "watching appalling scenes of mass destruction".

During a news conference in Sri Lanka ahead of the Commonwealth summit, Mr Cameron said: "Today I can announce we are providing another £30m to support the UN and the Red Cross emergency appeals and we are also supplying an RAF C-130 Hercules aircraft to help ensure aid workers can move between the worst affected areas and get aid to those who need it."

It brings the total amount of aid donated by the Government to £50m.

Mr Cameron's pledge comes on the day another RAF cargo plane carrying heavy duty vehicles and medical supplies arrived in the Philippines as part of Britain's emergency response.

The huge C-17 transport plane, carrying two JCB diggers, two Land Rovers and a forklift truck emblazoned with stickers reading "UK aid from the British people", landed in Cebu province on Saturday morning.

The devastated town of Tanuan, south of Tacloba

Squadron Leader David Blakemore, who flew the plane from where it was refuelled in Singapore said: "Hopefully there will be a few more missions and we'll be able to support the Philippine people over the coming weeks with the aid effort."

He added: "The RAF and MoD are extremely proud to be taking part in the aid effort."

A 12-strong team of British doctors, surgeons and paramedics are already in the devastated country helping to treat survivors.

Mr Cameron added: "A week after Typhoon Haiyan hit, the scale of the disaster is becoming clearer every day - over 3,600 dead, nearly 12 million affected.

"They are going to need sustained help from the international community as they start to rebuild their lives.

"I'm proud of the fact that the UK has taken the lead in international relief with rapid response of warships, aircraft and equipment.

"I'm also very proud of the fact that the British public has once again shown great generosity and compassion and has so far donated £23m."

The Philippines has put the official death toll at 3,633

Authorities in the Philippines have put the official death toll at 3,633, with 1,179 people missing and nearly 12,500 injured.

The UN has put the number of dead at 4,460 and said that 2.5 million people still "urgently" required food assistance.

At least 600,000 people have been displaced with many homeless, and large numbers of survivors are struggling without food, water and shelter.

Meanwhile, the Foreign Office is looking into reports that a British man may have been killed in the wake of the typhoon.

Colin Bembridge, 61, was staying with his Filipino partner Maybelle, 35, and their three-year-old daughter Victoria near Tacloban when the storm struck.

The Philippines government has defended its efforts to deliver aid, with interior secretary Mar Roxas saying: "In a situation like this, nothing is fast enough."

Workers in Tacloban have been burying scores of unidentified bodies in a mass grave as desperately needed aid begins to arrive.

Charity organisation Save the Children said three lorries carrying household and family hygiene kits will set off in convoy from Manila to reach Tacloban and will benefit 5,000 people.

Additional fuel, which has been in very short supply in the area, will also arrive and enable further distributions to take place over the coming days.

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Sri Lanka Rejects PM Deadline Over 'War Crimes'

The Sri Lankan government has rejected a call by Prime Minister David Cameron to conduct an independent investigation by March into alleged war crimes.

The UN and rights groups say as many as 40,000 civilians may have been killed in the final stages of the civil war against the rebel Tamil Tigers in May 2009.

But the country's president Mahinda Rajapaksa has denied any civilians were killed.

And he has blocked all calls for an independent probe into claims of war crimes committed by government forces against the Tamil population in the northern Jaffna region.

Mr Cameron is pressing the regime to do more to improve conditions for the Tamil minority and he met Mr Rajapaksa on Friday to discuss the human rights issue.

The PM said Mr Rajapaksa wanted more time to address the claims, but put him on notice to deliver by March or he would push for an international investigation through the auspices of the UN human rights council.

During his trip to Sri Lanka, Mr Cameron went to the war-scarred north of the island - the first visit by a foreign leader to the region since 1948.

The PM's visit is the first by a foreign leader to the region since 1948

He met families still unable to return to their homes after spending 20 years in refugee camps and was mobbed by protesters who claim relatives were murdered by the state.

The PM insisted he had given a "fair reflection" of the need for improved human rights after cricketer Muttiah Muralitharan suggested he had been given a false picture of his country.

The spin bowling great, who is a Tamil, said Mr Cameron had been "misled" about the latest situation in the north.

Mr Muralitharan said: "I'm a sportsman and we don't think about politics. My opinion is, there were problems in the last 30 years in those areas.

"Nobody could move there. In wartime I went with the UN, I saw the place, how it was. Now I regularly go and I see the place and it is about a 1,000% improvement in facilities."

At a news conference at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (Chogm) in Colombo, Mr Cameron said the human rights issue would remain high on the international agenda.

David Cameron pits his batting skills against Muttiah Muralitharan

He said: "The Sri Lankan government needs to go further and faster on human rights and reconciliation.

"I accept it takes time but I think the important thing is to get on the right track. This issue is not going to go away, it's an issue of international concern."

In response to Mr Cameron's comments, a senior Sri Lankan minister reaffirmed that the country's government would "definitely" not allow it.

Economic development minister Basil Rajapaksa, who is the president's brother, said: "Why should we have an internal inquiry?

"We will object to it ... Definitely we are not going to allow it."

Mr Cameron acquitted himself well when he pitted his batting skills against some "Murali" deliveries at a cricket ground in Colombo.

They were there to talk about the sportsman's initiative to bring together youngsters from Tamil and other communities through cricket as part of post-war reconciliation efforts.

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Sri Lanka: Cameron Urged To Raise Atrocities

Tamil Claims Torture And Sex Abuse

Updated: 11:38am UK, Thursday 14 November 2013

By Lisa Holland, Foreign Affairs Correspondent

Navaneethan Subramaniam is not allowed out of the London mental health unit where he is being treated unless he is accompanied.

He arrived in August after smuggling himself illegally into Britain via Europe in the back of a lorry.

Navaneethan's lawyer says he is under constant supervision because there are fears he may try to take his own life after suffering weeks of torture, allegedly at the hands of the Sri Lankan army.

This is the first time Navaneethan has left the hospital grounds. He wants to tell his story and has been allowed to leave for a few hours by doctors to meet us at a nearby cafe.

Navaneethan speaks virtually no English and talks to us through a Tamil solicitor.

During the Sri Lankan civil war he says he was a driver for the separatist group the Tamil Tigers - but he insists he is no longer an activist.

After the end of the civil war he says he went to France but was deported back to Sri Lanka, where he said he was abducted one day on his way home from work.

The 33-year-old said he was picked up and tortured in May of this year - four years on from the supposed end of the civil war.

His story is typical of the claims of abuses which human rights groups say are continuing in Sri Lanka. 

He told me: "They came in front of me, stopped me and said, 'I want to speak to you, come', then grabbed me from behind my head, grabbed my collar and pushed me into the van."

Navaneethan says he was taken to an army camp where he was held for 23 days.

He said: "I was questioned. They said, 'You have been the driver of the vehicles belonging to the group (Tamil Tigers). You smuggled arms and hid them. Where are the bunkers with weapons?'."

He says he was slapped and punched, beaten with a rifle butt, given electric shocks, made to feel like he was drowning and repeatedly sexually abused.

"I was beaten but before that I was given electric shocks. It was like two squares held onto my waist. After that I was assaulted with a rifle butt. My ear was pulled with pliers and I was stabbed with an army knife.

"The sexual thing ... three army personnel came one night. I was kept the whole night. One after the other they came to me and they did it."

"I was mostly beaten with plastic pipes, long wooden poles and wires. They put a plastic bag over my head and put water inside. I couldn't breathe at all.

"At that time I felt instead of going through all this torture I would rather die - my torture was that severe. 

"Like what happened to me, the torture is on a massive scale and the outside world has no idea about these things."

Navaneethan - who is applying for permission to stay in Britain - returned to the hospital after spending a few hours with us.

Sky News raised his case with Dr Chris Nonis, Sri Lanka's High Commissioner to the UK.

He said: "People who came over here as economic refugees living off the British taxpayers' money who now should be deported naturally do not want to be deported, and they will come up with all sorts of conjecture of 'torture', because they have a compelling reason why they want to stay.

"There will always be a group of people who funded terrorism, who made terrorism a business, who will perpetuate a proxy propaganda war. All these are usually unauthenticated, unverified and uncorroborated.  

"We have a formal process of investigation. It is a domestic process and that will continue because no one condones any form of torture.

"But there are lots of spurious allegations and it is fundamentally important for a country post-conflict that we separate fact from fiction."

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Tamil Man 'Tortured By Sri Lankan Army'

By Lisa Holland, Foreign Affairs Correspondent

Navaneethan Subramaniam is not allowed out of the London mental health unit where he is being treated unless he is accompanied.

He arrived in August after smuggling himself illegally into Britain via Europe in the back of a lorry.

Navaneethan's lawyer says he is under constant supervision because there are fears he may try to take his own life after suffering weeks of torture, allegedly at the hands of the Sri Lankan army.

This is the first time Navaneethan has left the hospital grounds. He wants to tell his story and has been allowed to leave for a few hours by doctors to meet us at a nearby cafe.

Navaneethan speaks virtually no English and talks to us through a Tamil solicitor.

During the Sri Lankan civil war he says he was a driver for the separatist group the Tamil Tigers - but he insists he is no longer an activist.

After the end of the civil war he says he went to France but was deported back to Sri Lanka, where he said he was abducted one day on his way home from work.

The 33-year-old said he was picked up and tortured in May of this year - four years on from the supposed end of the civil war.

Tamils claim they were abused in government-run refugee camps

His story is typical of the claims of abuses which human rights groups say are continuing in Sri Lanka. 

He told me: "They came in front of me, stopped me and said, 'I want to speak to you, come', then grabbed me from behind my head, grabbed my collar and pushed me into the van."

Navaneethan says he was taken to an army camp where he was held for 23 days.

He said: "I was questioned. They said, 'You have been the driver of the vehicles belonging to the group (Tamil Tigers). You smuggled arms and hid them. Where are the bunkers with weapons?'."

He says he was slapped and punched, beaten with a rifle butt, given electric shocks, made to feel like he was drowning and repeatedly sexually abused.

"I was beaten but before that I was given electric shocks. It was like two squares held onto my waist. After that I was assaulted with a rifle butt. My ear was pulled with pliers and I was stabbed with an army knife.

"The sexual thing ... three army personnel came one night. I was kept the whole night. One after the other they came to me and they did it."

Sri Lanka's High Commissioner dismissed the claims of torture

"I was mostly beaten with plastic pipes, long wooden poles and wires. They put a plastic bag over my head and put water inside. I couldn't breathe at all.

"At that time I felt instead of going through all this torture I would rather die - my torture was that severe. 

"Like what happened to me, the torture is on a massive scale and the outside world has no idea about these things."

Navaneethan - who is applying for permission to stay in Britain - returned to the hospital after spending a few hours with us.

Sky News raised his case with Dr Chris Nonis, Sri Lanka's High Commissioner to the UK.

He said: "People who came over here as economic refugees living off the British taxpayers' money who now should be deported naturally do not want to be deported, and they will come up with all sorts of conjecture of 'torture', because they have a compelling reason why they want to stay.

"There will always be a group of people who funded terrorism, who made terrorism a business, who will perpetuate a proxy propaganda war. All these are usually unauthenticated, unverified and uncorroborated.  

"We have a formal process of investigation. It is a domestic process and that will continue because no one condones any form of torture.

"But there are lots of spurious allegations and it is fundamentally important for a country post-conflict that we separate fact from fiction."

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Typhoon Haiyan Aid Effort Boost From UK Carrier

A second British Royal Navy warship is being deployed to the Philippines to help with the aid effort following Typhoon Haiyan last Friday.

Speaking during a visit to India, David Cameron said helicopter carrier HMS Illustrious will replace destroyer HMS Daring, which has already been deployed from Singapore.

Its helicopters may be used to assist with the distribution of food and water to survivors stranded in remote locations in the far eastern archipelago state, and its facilities to make water drinkable are likely to be in demand in a country where supplies have been badly disrupted by the typhoon. 

lllustrious has been taking part in war-game operations and is expected to arrive by November 25.

It has 900 crew and seven helicopters on board.

The Prime Minister said the Government has also raised the amount it is giving to the country to over £20m.

HMS Illustrious is a helicopter carrier

There have been reports of widespread hunger and thirst and a mayor of one of the affected areas said he would not be able to maintain law and order unless food arrived soon.

United Nations humanitarian chief Valerie Amos has said aid must reach survivors more quickly and that people had been "let down".

Ms Amos told reporters in Manila: "The situation is dismal. Those who have been able to leave have done so. Many more are trying. People are extremely desperate for help.

"We need to get assistance to them now. They are already saying it has taken too long to arrive. Ensuring a faster delivery is our ... immediate priority."

The US Navy's aircraft carrier the USS George Washington has arrived in the Philippines.

Officials are struggling to cope with the sheer scale of the disaster

It "will go to a position just off the eastern coast of Samar island in order to begin to assess the damage and provide logistical and emergency support to include medical and water supplies," the carrier's commander, Rear Admiral Mark Montgomery, said.

Officials are preparing to bury some of the storm's thousands of victims in mass graves in the hope of minimising the spread of disease in typhoon-hit towns.

Meanwhile Philippine Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla has warned that it could take six weeks to restore power to some areas.

There is a lack of fuel in many areas meaning the few trucks on the ground an unable to move aid from airports to cities.

The weather also remains a challenge, with frequent downpours.

Body bags are piling up as preparations are made for mass burials

Justin Forsyth, chief executive of Save The Children, told Sky News his teams in Cebu are facing "huge logistical problems" which are only just beginning to improve.

He said: "The most important thing is not only flying aid in, but staying with these communities over the next weeks and months because they're going to have to pick up, rebuild their homes and livelihoods.

"There's another risk which is that we all respond in the next few days but we don't stay the course."

Thousands of desperate survivors are clamouring to escape Tacloban, where clean drinking water is in short supply and scores of dead bodies lie piled up in bags outside the ruined city hall.

"There are still so many cadavers in so many areas. It's scary," the city's mayor Alfred Romualdez said, adding that retrieval teams were struggling to cope.

He said: "There would be a request from one community to collect five or 10 bodies and when we get there, there are 40.

People queue to charge their mobile phones in Tacloban city

"We need more manpower and more equipment.

"I cannot use a truck to collect cadavers in the morning and then use it to distribute relief goods in the afternoon."  

Mr Romualdez said the plan was to start mass burials in the nearby village of Basper on Thursday, after attempts to lay to rest some of Haiyan's victims were abandoned when gunshots halted a convoy travelling towards a communal grave.

City officials estimate that they have collected 2,000 bodies but insist many more need to be retrieved.

The UN fears that 10,000 people may have died in Tacloban city alone, but President Benigno Aquino has described that figure as "too much". 

Tacloban city administrator Tecson Lim said 70% of the city's 220,000 people are in need of emergency assistance, and that only 70 of the city's 2,700 employees have been showing up for work.

Sky News Correspondent Katie Stallard, watching supplies arrive at an airfield in Cebu City, said: "We are seeing signs that the international relief effort is getting going, but many people will simply not know it is coming."

In Tabontabon, the town's mayor Brendo Gamez told Mark Stone that he feared a breakdown of law and order if aid was delayed.

He said: "We have no food ... if the people of Tabontabon suffer hunger, I don't think I can control them any more."

Some £23m has been raised by the British public for emergency aid, which will go directly to help more than 11 million people affected by Typhoon Haiyan.

The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), a group of 14 UK aid organisations, said that while life-saving aid is on the move, agencies are battling to overcome blocked roads, closed ports, an ill-equipped airport and increasing security concerns.

A toy and pair of shorts are hung on a washing line

The disaster-ravaged country has become "increasingly volatile" as people become desperate for food and water, with some resorting to force, the DEC said.

Coree Steadmen, Christian Aid's emergency manager in the Philippines, said: "The devastation here is unimaginable. Aid workers are walking for hours and not seeing a single standing building.

"Most roads are covered with fallen trees and collapsed houses. Where roads are accessible, they are gridlocked with cars fleeing the area.

"Getting aid through is tough, but we are resourceful and we will find a way."

:: To make a donation to the DEC Philippines Crisis Appeal visit www.dec.org.uk, call the 24-hour hotline on 0370 60 60 900, donate over the counter at any high street bank or post office or send a cheque.

You can also donate £5 by texting the word SUPPORT to 70000.

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Typhoon Haiyan: China Pledges $100,000 Aid

China has risked further straining its fragile relations with the Philippines by donating $100,000 (£63,000) to the Typhoon Haiyan relief effort.

The donation is matched by $100,000 from the Chinese Red Cross - but is still dwarfed by the effort from other countries seeking to exert influence in South East Asia, including the US and Japan.

Diplomatic links between Beijing and Manila have suffered in recent years due to China's claims over the disputed South China Sea and a 2010 Hong Kong tour bus hostage crisis in the Filipino capital.

One of China's state-run newspapers has criticised the donation but comments on Sina Weibo, China's version of Twitter, suggest public opinion may be against giving more.

The Global Times, known for its nationalistic and often hawkish editorial views, expressed concern about the impact on Beijing's international standing.

"China, as a responsible power, should participate in relief operations to assist a disaster-stricken neighbouring country, no matter whether it's friendly or not," the paper said in a commentary.

"China's international image is of vital importance to its interests. If it snubs Manila this time, China will suffer great losses."

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said China would consider more aid as the situation developed, but did not say why Beijing had offered less than other countries.

He said: "China has also suffered from the disaster, so we very much understand and sympathise with the current hardships that the Philippine people are facing."

The storm claimed the lives of at least seven people and caused $734m (£462m) in economic losses when the much-weakened storm swept through China's southern provinces.

Comments on Sina Weibo overwhelmingly opposed China giving aid to the Philippines.

A botched attempt to free tourists from a bus in 2010 strained relations

One user wrote: "For God's sake, give them nothing. We've given them enough in the past."

Lye Liang Fook of the East Asian Institute in Singapore said it was impossible to separate China's anger over territorial claims from the question of disaster relief.

He said: "Politically there is a lack of trust, and under the circumstances, the fact that China is willing to extend aid is quite significant. The two issues are linked to each other."

Joseph Cheng, a political science professor at Hong Kong's City University, said public sentiment would factor into China's decision.

He said: "I certainly think that relief and aid for natural disasters should not be affected by political relations. But the Chinese authorities are handicapped by domestic nationalist feelings as well.

"China should have used the opportunity to improve its image."

Super Typhoon Haiyan tore through the central Philippines on Friday and flattened the city of Tacloban, where officials fear up to 10,000 people could have died.

Officials fear the toll could rise as rescuers reach more isolated towns.

Overwhelmed by the scale of the disaster, the Philippines has sought international assistance.

The US nuclear-powered aircraft carrier the USS George Washington, carrying about 5,000 sailors and more than 80 aircraft, will arrive this week after setting sail from Hong Kong on Tuesday.

It has been joined by four other US Navy ships.

The United States is also providing $20m (£12.5m) in immediate aid, while the UK has committed £15m and sent a Royal Navy warship to the region.

Japan said it will give $10m (£6.3m) and send a small number of soldiers and medical personnel, while Australia has donated $9.6m (£6m).

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Typhoon Haiyan Leaves Tacloban Devastated

By Mark Stone, Asia Correspondent, in Tacloban City

Tacloban City is hell. It is a place completely devastated and entirely broken in every way except one.

Dead bodies still lie in the streets

The resilience of the Filipino people has been humbling and extraordinary.

At a destroyed convenience store we stopped to chat to the owner and her daughter.

They have nothing left. Only three walls remain of their home and their livelihood. There is no roof. I ask how they are doing, quickly realising what a stupid question it is.

There is no electricity in the city

"We are surviving." the mother says, her voice breaking.

"You are still smiling, " I say to her. "Of course," she says. "We are Filipinos. We always smile."

Normally that's true. And even now when you smile at the locals they smile back.

Many people have left Tacloban for Manila

"Hello sir," they shout. "Hello mam."

Tacloban now has a horrible notoriety after what happened here. Dead bodies still lie on the sides of the streets.

But those who survived desperately need help. There is nothing like enough supplies or aid here and there is a depressing lack of co-ordination.

As I write this I can see men, women and small children sitting in the mud waiting.

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Typhoon Haiyan Survivors' Fear And Desperation

Gunshots have reportedly forced the delay of a mass burial of victims of the huge typhoon that smashed into the Philippines.

Tacloban mayor Alfred Romualdez said: "We had finished digging the mass burial site. We had the truck loaded with bodies but there was some shooting. They could not proceed."

Eight people have also been crushed to death after a huge crowd of typhoon survivors rushed a government rice warehouse, causing a wall to collapse.

The incident in Alangalang town, 10 miles from Tacloban, underlined the increasing sense of fear and desperation setting in among those battling to survive the aftermath of the typhoon.

Soldiers carry young children on to evacuation flights at Tacloban airport

On Tuesday Sky correspondent Mark Stone said that 20 people had been killed by falling rice bags.

UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos has praised the international community's reaction but said much more needed to be done in a disaster of such magnitude.

Thousands of people have been begging for seats on flights out of Tacloban as anger at the slow pace of aid reaching the disaster zone turned deadly.

"One wall of our warehouses collapsed and eight people were crushed and killed instantly," said Rex Estoperez, spokesman for the National Food Authority.

An injured typhoon survivor is carried by members of the military

Five days after Haiyan ripped apart entire coastal communities, the situation in Tacloban was becoming ever more dire with essential supplies low and increasingly desperate survivors jostling at the airport.

Sky News Asia Correspondent Mark Stone said: "Those who survived desperately need help. There is nothing like enough supplies or aid here and there is a depressing lack of co-ordination."

At the airport, Angeline Conchas, waiting for space on a plane with her seven-year-old daughter Rogiel Ann, said: "We have been here for three days and we still cannot get to fly out." 

Her family were trapped on the second floor of their building as flood waters rose around them.

The remains of an orphanage

They made their way to safety by clinging on to an electricity cable to move to a higher structure where they stayed until the waters subsided.

"It is a good thing the electricity had already been cut off or we would have died," she said.

"We made it out, but now we may die from hunger."

"Everyone is panicking," Captain Emily Chang, a navy doctor, told AFP.

Supplies of rice are loaded on to a truck, but food remains scarce

"They say there is no food, no water. They want to get out of here," she added, saying doctors at the airport had run out of medicine, including antibiotics.

"We are examining everyone but there's little we can do until more medical supplies arrive."

The United Nations estimates 10,000 people may have died in Tacloban, the provincial capital of Leyte province where 16ft waves flattened nearly everything in their path as they swept hundreds of metres across the low-lying land.

However, Philippine President Benigno Aquino said he believed that toll was "too much", and that the real number may be closer to 2,500.

Tacloban's infrastructure was devastated by the typhoon's impact

Health Secretary Enrique Ona admitted authorities were struggling to deal with the sheer numbers of the dead.

He told radio station DZMM they had delayed the retrieval of bodies because "we ran out of body bags".

He said: "We hope to speed it up when we get more body bags."

The UN estimates more than 11.3 million people have been affected with 673,000 made homeless, since Haiyan smashed into the nation's central islands on Friday.

A sense of fear and desperation is growing in the stricken city

Overwhelmed and under-resourced rescue workers have been unable to provide food, water, medicines, shelter and other relief supplies to many survivors, and desperation has been building across the disaster zones.

The international relief effort is building momentum with many countries pledging help. The United States and Britain are sending warships carrying thousands of sailors to the Philippines.

The aircraft carrier USS George Washington, which has 5,000 sailors and more than 80 aircraft on board, is heading from Hong Kong with five other US warships, while three amphibious vessels are also being deployed.

The carrier group is expected to reach the Philippines later this week, the Pentagon said, bringing much needed supplies. 

A school in Cebu was reduced to rubble

Hundreds of soldiers and police have been patrolling the streets and manning checkpoints in Tacloban, trying to keep looting under control.

President Aquino has declared a "state of national calamity", allowing the government to impose price controls and quickly release emergency funds.

Speaking in a CNN interview, he said that local officials who feared 10,000 had died in Tacloban may have been "too close" to the disaster to give an accurate toll.

"Being in the centre of the destruction... there is emotional trauma associated with that particular estimate," he said.

"The figure I have right now is 2,000... so far about 2,000, 2,500 is the figure we're working on," Aquino added, though he admitted the toll still could rise.

The latest official government death toll stands at 1,798, although authorities have said they have not come close to accurately assessing the number of bodies lying amid the rubble or swept out to sea.

And international aid groups said they feared what was known now was just the tip of the iceberg.

"Obviously the situation in Tacloban is appalling but we are also very concerned about outlying islands," Patrick Fuller, Red Cross spokesman in the Asia-Pacific, told AFP.

"There are a lot of them and I think it will be days, if not weeks, before we have a clear picture."

Haiyan's sustained winds when it hit Samar island, where it first made landfall, reached 195 miles an hour, making it the strongest typhoon in the world this year and one of the most powerful ever recorded.

The UK's first flight delivering urgently needed humanitarian aid to the Philippines has arrived, the Government has said.

A chartered Boeing 777 carrying 8,836 shelter kits from UK Government stores in Dubai landed in the city of Cebu and was met by Department for International Development (DFID) humanitarian workers.

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Animal Rescuer Kills Herself And 31 Dogs

An animal rights activist who committed suicide also killed 31 dogs she was looking after in a sanctuary at the same time.

Sandy Lertzman was found dead at her home she called Sandy's Safe Haven For All Animals in Moreland Hills, near Cleveland, Ohio, last week.

Alongside her body, which was found by a friend in a car in a garage attached to the property, were the bodies of the dogs.

The 62-year-old had been looking after animals at the centre for more than 40 years before ending her life.

Police said a suicide note was found inside her house.

Moreland Hills interim police chief Dale Canter said although the car's engine was running when her body was discovered, it was unclear how long she had been dead.

One dog was able to escape by jumping out of the car and was later found by police in the garage.

It is understood the surviving dog is recovering at the home with Ms Lertzman's husband Rick.

According to the website of the organisation she founded, Animal Rescue Foundation, Ms Lertzman also looked after cats, horses, deer, racoons, squirrels, geese, ducks and other birds.

The local paper said the other animals are being cared for by a worker at the foundation.

A statement on her foundation's website said: "We sadly mourn the passing of our founder, Sandy Lertzman.

"Sandy Lertzman, for over 45 years, was a pioneer in animal rescue. She woke every day to help all of god's beautiful creatures.

"Sandy's dogs were all formerly abused dogs that no one wanted or could not be adopted.

"Blind dogs, dogs with severe disabilities, dogs who could not be socialised - all the dogs found her love and compassion

"She obviously feared that upon her death, these abused dogs would be placed in harm's way."

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Typhoon Haiyan: Appeal For £190m In Aid

Aid agencies have launched a joint emergency appeal to get food, water and shelter to victims of the devastating Philippines typhoon.

The United Nations estimates that $301m (£190m) will be needed in aid.

"We've just launched an action plan focusing on the areas of food, health, sanitation, shelter, debris removal and also protection of the most vulnerable with the government and I very much hope our donors will be generous," humanitarian chief Valerie Amos told reporters in the capital Manila.

Police stand next to body bags near Tacloban

"That plan is for $301m dollars."

The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), made up of 14 aid charities, said its members were already responding to the crisis but the scale of the destruction meant there was "huge unmet need".

A "huge injection" of funds is needed to get aid through to victims after the typhoon, known locally as Yolanda, made roads impassable and put airports out of action, the DEC said.

Although the official death toll stands at 1,774, around 10,000 people are thought to have been killed in the city of Tacloban alone.

The UN said 660,000 people have lost their homes while a further 10 million could be affected after the typhoon, said to be the strongest ever to make landfall, hit the southeast Asian nation.

Homes on a hillside in Tacloban have been obliterated by the storm surge

Sky's chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay is in Hagnaya in Cebu where he said people are begging on the streets because supplies from NGOs have not yet reached them.

He said nearly 100% of the buildings in the town have been damaged.

"There's concern that there is another weather front likely to hit the area with a lot of rain forecast in the next couple of days."

Authorities said they had evacuated 800,000 people ahead of the typhoon, but many evacuation centres proved to be no protection against the wind and rising water.

People in the devout Philippines still try to use a badly-flooded church

The Philippine National Red Cross, responsible for warning the region and giving advice, said people were not prepared for a storm surge.

Although weakened, the typhoon, has also killed eight people and devastated farmland since making landfall in southern China. 

DEC chief executive Saleh Saeed said: "The destruction in Tacloban city, on the east coast, is said to be reminiscent of the Boxing Day tsunami.

"There is currently no food, water or electricity. We can only imagine how much worse the situation will be for families living in towns and remote villages.

"DEC members are doing all they can to get aid through but they need a huge injection of funds in order to do so.

"The priorities are getting food, water and shelter to people in desperate need."

Sky's Asia correspondent Mark Stone, on the island of Leyte, said up to 20 people had been killed by falling bags of rice in the scramble to get to aid supplies from a warehouse.

Stone said he had travelled to the island with people who did not know if their family members were alive or not: "There's no mobile phone network here, no way of communicating."

The DEC includes the British Red Cross, Christian Aid, Oxfam and Save the Children.

Typhoon Haiyan has made landfall in southwest China, killing eight people

All of its members will support the appeal and 13 of the 14 are responding either directly or through partner organisations.

The UK is deploying a Royal Navy warship, HMS Daring, and donating £10m of humanitarian assistance in aid for the victims, Prime Minister David Cameron said.

The ship carries equipment to make drinking water from seawater.

Britain will also deploy RAF military transport aircraft in aid of recovery efforts, earmarking at least one C-17 cargo plane to move humanitarian aid and large equipment.

And a 12-strong team of British surgeons and paramedics is being sent to help with the aid effort.

Meanwhile, Australia announced assistance of £5.8m and the US government has pledged $20m in immediate aid and has ordered the aircraft carrier USS George Washington to the sail to the Philippines.

Japan said it will fly a relief team over to the ravaged country and Taiwan is sending £125,000 in aid.

The United Nations World Food Programme has also allocated $2m (£1.25m) and Unicef is sending emergency supplies.

:: To make a donation to the DEC Philippines Crisis Appeal visit www.dec.org.uk, call the 24-hour hotline on 0370 60 60 900, donate over the counter at any high street bank or post office or send a cheque.

You can also donate £5 by texting the word SUPPORT to 70000.

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Typhoon Haiyan: Families Search For Relatives

By Mark Stone, Asia Correspondent, in Leyte

Many thousands of relatives of those who were hit by the typhoon still have no idea of the fate of their loved ones.

At the ferry terminal in Cebu city, hundreds are queuing to make the hardest of journeys.

Communications on the neighbouring island where their families live are down, the pictures emerging are grim and so the only way they will find out if their families survived is to go.

A woman with an umbrella stands amid the rubble of Tacloban, Leyte

Ramon Gerado Jnr, 46, has made an extraordinary journey to find his family.

Like so many Filipinos, Ramon works abroad. So for three days he travelled from Saudi Arabia, where he is a construction worker.

Aerial shots show the true scale of the Typhoon Haiyan destruction

"I am praying that my family is OK. But still, I am ...." he stops. It all seems too much.

We board the ferry for the two-hour crossing to Leyte Island.

It is packed, and with another storm coming, the sea is rough.

Everyone on board must be thinking the same thing: a mixture of hope and dread.

Some families have been forced to take food from damaged shops

Sitting next to me are two young women. They are in their late teens I would guess, and judging by their appearance they are sisters.

They are not talking. They are deep in thought. They seem far away, staring out of the window at the coastline of their battered homeland.

I decide not to break their thoughts by engaging in conversation, so I can only guess why they are making the journey.

It is pretty obvious though. If they are like the other 99% then they too are making the grim journey to find out the fate of their families.

Worried relatives have travelled to Leyte to look for loved ones

Both are clutching their mobile phones, presumably hoping the brightly-coloured handsets might suddenly defy the lack of signal and ring with good news.

As we arrive at the small city of Ormoc, on Leyte Island, we start to get a sense of the scale of devastation.

The buildings are roofless, the trees that are still standing have been stripped of all their branches. And this is only the beginning of the journey.

It will be many more hours before we get to Ramon's town. "I want everyone to witness what has happened here to my family," he said.

:: To make a donation to the DEC Philippines Crisis Appeal visit www.dec.org.uk, call the 24-hour hotline on 0370 60 60 900, donate over the counter at any high street bank or post office or send a cheque.

You can also donate £5 by texting the word SUPPORT to 70000.

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North Korea 'Publicly Executes 80 People'

North Korea has reportedly publicly executed 80 people for watching South Korean television shows.

The unconfirmed killings, said to be the first known large-scale executions by the Kim Jong-Un regime, took place across seven cities earlier this month, a source told South Korea's JoongAng Ilbo Daily.

Eight people had their heads covered with white sacks and were tied to stakes at Shinpong Stadium in Wonsan, in Kangwon Province, as they were shot dead by North Korean forces, the newspaper reported.

Witnesses apparently told the source that authorities forced some 10,000 people, including children, to watch the execution.

"I heard from the residents that they watched in terror as the corpses were riddled by machine-gun fire," the source was quoted as saying.

"They were hard to identify afterwards."

The victims were allegedly charged with watching or illegally trafficking South Korean videos, being involved in prostitution or possessing a Bible.

Relatives of those executed and implicated in their alleged crimes were reportedly sent to prison camps.

North Korean law allows executions for conspiring to overthrow the government, treason and terrorism.

The government in Pyongyang has reportedly been known to order public executions for religious activism and mobile phone use.

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Typhoon Survivor: Tell My Family I'm Alive

Survivors of Typhoon Haiyan have described their desperate need for food and medicine after losing everything in the storm.

One woman, eight months pregnant, described through tears how her 11 family members vanished in the storm - which devastated parts of the Philippines - including two daughters.

"I can't think right now. I am overwhelmed," she said.

Erika Mae Karakot, a survivor on Leyte island, said: "Please tell my family I'm alive.

Emily Ortega lies amid the debris at the airport in Tacloban

"We need water and medicine because a lot of the people we are with are wounded. Some are suffering from diarrhoea and dehydration due to shortage of food and water."

Another woman said: "I have no house, I have no clothes. I don't know how I will restart my life. I am so confused.

"I don't know what happened to us. We are appealing for help. Whoever has a good heart, I appeal to you."

Aid agencies have warned that many of the 480,000 people whose homes have been destroyed by the bludgeoning force of the cyclone face a desperate battle to survive.

"Everything is gone. Our house is like a skeleton and we are running out of food and water. We are looking for food everywhere," said Jenny Chu, a medical student in Leyte.

The birth of a baby girl amid the devastation of the typhoon has provided a rare moment of joy for survivors.

A medic places baby Bea on her mother's chest moments after the birth

Bea Joy Sagales was born at the airport in Tacloban, the city where officials fear at least 10,000 people have perished.

Her mother Emily Ortega, 21, was in a shelter when the storm flooded the city.

She clung to a post to survive and managed to reach the relative safety of the airport, where a military doctor assisted with the birth.

Cheers broke out in the terminal when it became clear the birth - described as "near miraculous" by officials - had been a success. 

In Tacloban, survivors have been scavenging for food and looting shops in order to stay alive, witnesses say.

'Zombie-like' survivors have been left to trudge through thick mud

"Tacloban is totally destroyed. Some people are losing their minds from hunger or from losing their families," high school teacher Andrew Pomeda, 36, said as he warned of the increasing desperation of survivors.

"People are becoming violent. They are looting business establishments, the malls, just to find food, rice and milk. I am afraid that in one week, people will be killing from hunger."

Witnesses described how survivors are forming long queues at aid stations, waiting desperately for handouts of rice and water.

Some sit and stare, covering their faces with rags to keep out the smell of the dead.

Lieutenant Colonel Fermin Carangan, of the Philippine Air Force, said he and 41 officers were sheltering in their airport office when "suddenly the sea water and the waves destroyed the walls and I saw my men being swept by waters one by one".

He was swept away from the building and clung to a coconut tree with a seven-year-old boy.

"In the next five hours we were in the sea buffeted by wind and strong rain. I kept on talking to the boy and giving him a pep talk because the boy was telling me he was tired and he wanted to sleep."

He finally saw land and swam with the boy to a beach strewn with dead bodies.

He said: "I think the boy saved my life because I found strength so that he can survive."

:: Sky News will run a special live programme on the story of the typhoon at 7pm tonight.

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Typhoon Haiyan Devastation: New Storm On Way

Rescuers are struggling to get desperately needed aid to areas of the Philippines devastated by Typhoon Haiyan - as a new storm approaches.

Aid workers are being held back by blocked roads and damaged airports as they try to deliver tents, food and medicines to the worst affected areas.

Troops have been sent to the city of Tacloban to restore law and order after reports of looting, with Philippines President Benigno Aquino considering declaring a state of emergency or martial law where necessary.

Hundreds of thousands have been left homeless Pic: Save The Children

Looters have reportedly broken into supermarkets, while a Red Cross aid convoy was raided. Consumer goods such as televisions and washing machines have also been stolen.

At least 10,000 people are thought to have been killed in Tacloban alone by the typhoon, officials believe.

Corpses hung from trees in the city and were scattered in the streets. Many were buried in flattened buildings.

Looters break a shop's butter to make it easier to get food supplies

One UN official said he was told there had been a three-metre (10ft) water surge through the city.

A further 300 are confirmed dead with 2,000 missing on the neighbouring island of Samar.

Water has been cut off in many areas, making the relief effort more difficult.

A woman mourns next to the body of her husband and others

Threatening to further hamper relief efforts is a new storm approaching the southern and central Philippines.

Government weather forecasters said the tropical depression could bring fresh floods to typhoon-affected areas.

The depression is expected to hit land on the southern island of Mindanao late Tuesday and then move across the central islands of Bohol, Cebu, Negros and Panay, which all suffered typhoon damage, forecaster Connie Dadivas said.

It could bring "moderate to heavy" rains, or about five to 15 millimetres (0.2 to 0.6 inches) per hour, he said.

Sky's Chief Correspondent Stuart Ramsay, in Manila, said: "The relief operation is only just getting going, it's fairly piecemeal at the moment.

"They really don't have the volume of aircraft they need to either get aircraft in or people out in sufficient quantities to try and control what has become, day-by-day, a more difficult situation."

Survivors make their way through the rubble of destroyed buildings

At least six people have also been killed in Vietnam after the typhoon made landfall near the Chinese border.

Some 600,000 people were evacuated from at-risk areas in the north of the country before Haiyan - downgraded to a weaker Category One storm - battered the coast with 98mph (157kmph) winds.

All schools in the capital Hanoi were closed on Monday, and extra police were dispatched to redirect traffic in flood-prone areas.

The aid effort could be hampered by an approaching storm

In the Philippines millions of people are said to have been directly affected by the typhoon's path and the death toll is expected to rise further as rescuers reach cut-off areas.

"This area has been totally ravaged", said Sebastien Sujobert, head of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Tacloban.

"Many lives were lost, a huge number of people are missing, and basic services such as drinking water and electricity have been cut off."

The winds felled trees and homes across swathes of the country

Haiyan hit the east coast of the Philippines on Friday and smashed through its central islands, with winds of 147mph (235 kmph) and a storm surge of 20ft (six metres).

Video from Eastern Samar province's Guiuan township - the first area where the typhoon made landfall - also showed a trail of devastation. Many houses were flattened and roads were strewn with debris and uprooted trees. 

Witnesses reported seeing looting and violence with President Aquino admitting it was a major concern.

Survivors now face the prospect of rebuilding their lives

Military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Ramon Zagala told AFP news agency that 100 soldiers had been sent to help police restore law and order in Tacloban.

The United Nations said it was sending supplies but access to the worst hit areas was a challenge.

US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel has directed the military's Pacific Command to deploy ships and aircraft to support search-and-rescue operations and airlift emergency supplies.

The European Commission has released €3m (£2.5m) in emergency funds, while the UK is providing £6m in aid and Prime Minister David Cameron has telephoned President Aquino to offer his support.

:: Sky News will run a special live programme on the story of the typhoon at 7pm tonight.

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Super Typhoon Haiyan: '10,000 Could Be Dead'

At least 10,000 people are thought to have been killed in the Philippine city of Tacloban by Typhoon Haiyan, officials believe.

The national government and disaster agency have yet to confirm the fatalities, a sharp increase from initial estimates on Saturday of at least 1,000 deaths.

A further 300 are confirmed dead with 2,000 missing in the neighbouring island of Samar.

Coastal villages in Leyte were flattened, or swallowed by the storm surge

If the death toll estimate by government officials is confirmed, it would be the deadliest natural catastrophe on record in the Philippines.

Up to 4.3million people are said to have been directly affected by the typhoon's path and the death toll is expected to rise further as rescuers reach cut off areas.

Up to 70-80% of homes have been destroyed in Tacloban and other areas in the typhoon's path, according to Justin Morgan of Oxfam.

A child is returned home after leaving an evacuation site in Tacloban

Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas said: "From a helicopter, you can see the extent of devastation. From the shore and moving a kilometre inland, there are no structures standing. It was like a tsunami.

"I don't know how to describe what I saw. It's horrific."

Most of the dead are understood to have drowned or were crushed by collapsed buildings. Many corpses hung on tree branches, buildings and in the roads.

Shivering children wait ito be evacuated from a rescue centre in the city

"On the way to the airport we saw many bodies along the street," said Philippine-born Australian Mila Ward, 53, who was waiting at the Tacloban airport to catch a military flight back to Manila.

"They were covered with just anything - tarpaulin, roofing sheets, cardboards," she said. Asked how many, she said, "Well over 100 where we passed."

But the destruction extended well beyond Tacloban, a city of 200,000. Officials are yet to make contact with Guiuan, a town of 40,000 that was first hit by the typhoon.

A woman about to give birth is carried into a medical centre at Tacloban

Baco, a city of 35,000 people in Oriental Mindoro province, was 80 percent under water, the UN said.

The Philippines has limited resources on its own to deal with a disaster of this magnitude, say experts.

US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel has directed the military's Pacific Command to deploy ships and aircraft to support search-and-rescue operations and airlift emergency supplies.

But the command is headquartered in Hawaii, with one carrier group current in port in Hong Kong, so it is thought it will be some days before it reaches the affected area.

Residents beside a road littered with debris

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told Philippine president Benigno Aquino: "We stand ready to contribute with urgent relief and assistance if so required in this hour of need."

Haiyan was one of the strongest tropical storms ever to have made landfall, lashing the Philippines with wind gusts of 275kph (170mph) and whipping up a storm surge which swallowed coastal towns and villages.

Although the cyclone has weakened, there are fears that many could be affected when it next makes landfall in Vietnam later today.

A pregnant woman cooks a meal inside a building overlooking Tacloban

Nearly a million people were evacuated from central provinces before the path of Haiyan turned further north.

It is now expected to be a category one typhoon, with winds gusting up to 95mph when it reaches the tourist area of Halong Bay, not far from the capital Hanoi, at about 8pm on Sunday.

The typhoon is also expected to pass very close to the Chinese island of Hainan.

Tacloban, a city of 220,000 people south of Manila, bore the brunt of Haiyan in the Philippines. Bodies have been seen floating in roads covered with debris from fallen trees, tangled power lines and flattened homes.

In Vietnam villagers are evacuated in preparation for the arrival of Haiyan

"The dead are on the streets, they are in their houses, they are under the debris, they are everywhere," said Tecson John Lim, a Tacloban city administrator.

Among those feared dead is an Australian ex-priest Kevin Lee, who moved to the Philippines after blowing the whistle on abuse in the Catholic Church in his home country, it has been reported.

The previous deadliest disaster to hit the Philippines was in 1976, when a tsunami triggered by a magnitude 7.9 earthquake killed between 5,000 and 8,000 people.

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