RAF Helicopter Forced To Land Near Minefield

An RAF Chinook helicopter has been forced to land near an Israeli minefield after engine failure, Sky sources say.

Sources said the aircraft was flying from Amman in Jordan to Cyprus and was forced to land close to the West Bank town of Jericho.

The aircraft landed near the West Bank town of Jericho

There were no reported casualties.

Sky's Middle East correspondent Sam Kiley said: "It appears this Chinook has had a really lucky escape."

Jericho is located near the Jordan River in the West Bank. It has been held under Israeli occupation since 1967.

Administrative control was handed over to the Palestinian Authority in 1994.

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South Korea Redraws Air Zone Amid China Dispute

South Korea has announced an expansion of its air defence zone after neighbouring China's much-criticised decision to establish a similar zone.

Seoul had earlier asked Beijing to redraw its air defence zone because it overlapped with its own.

The new South Korean zone covers a submerged reef named Ieodo that it controls but is also claimed by China, and it increases the amount of  airspace that overlaps with the Chinese zone.

Defence Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said South Korea would talk to neighboring countries about taking steps to prevent accidental clashes within the South Korean area.

He said that the zone did not infringe upon any other country's airspace and that Seoul had sufficiently explained its action to its neighbours before the announcement.

The new South Korean zone also overlaps with parts of Japan's air defence zone.

China's decision to expand its zone, taking in the disputed islands of Diaoyu or Senkaku in the East China Sea, raised tensions in the area, angering South Korea, Japan and the United States.

Although Beijing said that all aircraft entering the vast area must identify themselves and follow Chinese instructions, the US, Japan and South Korea have all flown military reconnaissance flights into the area without notifying the Chinese.

The US - which described China's move as causing "significant apprehension in the region" - said it supported Seoul's action.

"The United States has been and will remain in close consultation with our allies and partners in the region to ensure their actions contribute to greater stability, predictability, and consistency with international practices," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.

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Prince Harry's South Pole Race Is Off

A race to the South Pole featuring Prince Harry has been abandoned due to harsh conditions.

Expedition director Ed Parker announced the race was over due to the "higher degree of stress imposed on the team members, due to unprecedented terrain on the plateau".

However, Mr Parker said that the South Pole Allied Challenge expedition would continue - with all three teams coming together into one non-competitive group. 

Harry was racing with a team of injured British servicemen and women against United States and Commonwealth groups in an expedition organised by the Walking With The Wounded charity.

Mr Parker said: "We always knew that this wasn't going to be easy, but that is what makes the challenge so exciting.

Prince Harry makes contact with soldiers during the expedition

"Our aim was to show that despite injury, young men and women from our armed forces can still achieve great things.

"Until now, the three teams have been racing against one another across the Antarctic plateau, but yesterday I took the decision to suspend the race.

"The reason for this is entirely simple - safety, which remains the core principal of our expeditions.

"While all three teams were progressing well, it was becoming evident that there was a higher degree of stress imposed on the team members, due to unprecedented terrain on the plateau."

Hollywood actor Alexander Skarsgard, star of the hit HBO series True Blood, was heading the US team and English actor Dominic West, from the popular series The Wire, was racing alongside the Commonwealth team.

Trekking around 15km to 20km (nine to 12 miles) a day, the teams have so far endured temperatures as low as minus 45 degrees Celsius and 50mph winds as they pull their 70kg sleds towards the southernmost point on the globe.

The terrain made up of sastrugi - sharp irregular grooves in the snow caused by wind erosion - has made the skiing particularly difficult.

The Prince, who took part in the Walking With The Wounded trek to the North Pole in 2011 for five days, is patron of the Antarctica expedition.

The group is due to arrive at the South Pole in mid-December.

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North Korea: Kim Jong-Un's Uncle Cut From Film

A North Korean television documentary about leader Kim Jong-Un has edited out the uncle who has reportedly "disappeared" after being apparently sacked from his roles in the regime.

The country's official television channel has already aired the documentary nine times but for Saturday's re-run Jang Song Thaek, appeared in different positions to make his face invisible and entire scenes were re-cut to remove him.

He was hidden or deleted from 13 scenes, according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency.

It reinforces reports that one of the most powerful men in the country has been ousted.

South Korea's spy agency said it believed Mr Jang was relieved of his posts last month.

If true, the changes could mean Pyongyang is undergoing the biggest upheaval in the leadership circle since the death in 2011 of former leader Kim Jong Il, the current leader's father.

Mr Jang is married to Mr Kim's aunt, the daughter of the North's founding leader Kim Il-Sung, and was widely considered to be working to ensure his nephew firmly established his grip on power over the past two years.

It is still unclear why he apparently lost his high-level titles, including vice-chairman of the powerful National Defence Commission and membership in the ruling Workers' Party politburo.

But South Korean officials say he is likely alive in no immediate physical danger, as is his wife, Kim Kyong Hui.

Mr Jang has been a prominent fixture in many of the reports and photographs of Mr Kim's public activities, but his appearances have tapered off sharply this year and he has not been since in official media since early November.

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Jailed Kiev Opposition Leader's Daughter Speaks

By Katie Stallard, Moscow Correspondent in Kiev

The daughter of jailed opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko has urged her country to unite against the rule of Ukraine's president Victor Yanukovich.

Eugenia Tymoshenko told Sky News her mother was being held as a political hostage and fears she could soon be transported from a prison hospital - where she has been on hunger strike in solidarity with protesters - to a penal colony.

"At the moment she is a hostage of the regime," she said.

"She is in the hospital in the prison part. They keep her in isolation there, but there are many police movements and cars around the hospital, they are trying to surround the building.

"They can do anything to her in terms of moving her to a different jail, and we will not be able to know.

"The regime can play with this and depending on the situation can increase their repression against her, which they have already done with their trials and criminal cases."

Yulia Tymoshenko rose to prominence as the heroine of Ukraine's peaceful Orange Revolution in 2004, which saw the current president, Mr Yanukovich, forced from power in a popular uprising sparked by anger over fraudulent election results.

She became prime minister shortly afterwards, governing alongside her fellow revolutionary Viktor Yushchenko, but the coalition was plagued by infighting and economic problems in the fallout from the global financial crisis, which hit Ukraine hard.

Yulia Tymoshenko is in a prison hospital

The pair were voted out of office, to be replaced once again by the ousted Mr Yanukovich in 2010. The revolution was reversed.

Yulia Tymoshenko was arrested and put on trial, where she was convicted of abuse of power for signing allegedly unfavourable gas contracts with Russia. She was sentenced to seven years in prison, and turned 53 in custody last month. She now faces further charges.

Her supporters maintain she is a political prisoner, locked up for daring to challenge the leadership of Mr Yanukovich.

His government insists she has been justly convicted of a serious crime.

The president denies any involvement in the cases against her.

Eugenia Tymoshenko called for her fellow citizens to stand together against their president as mass street protests continued for a second week despite freezing temperatures in the capital Kiev.

"We need to stand strong, we need to be patient with the forces that we have," she urged.

"No government can stand up to the people's power, my mother really believes in the power of people.

"We believe in our victory. People here are tired of three years of repressions introduced by Yanukovich. We have to win this."

Protesters are still in Kiev's Independence Square

The EU made Tymoshenko's release a condition of the now scuppered trade deal with Ukraine.

A German clinic had offered to provide treatment if Yanukovich would allow her to leave the country.

But the parliament, which is controlled by his party, refused to pass legislation that would have set her free.

She has suffered chronic back pain in jail and is held in a cell in a prison hospital.

Her daughter urged European leaders to intervene.

"She has been a political hostage since day one when Yanukovich's court moved her to prison and convicted her. The whole world now knows and world leaders understand the truth is behind her.

"The European Union needs to get involved in this and start action against this regime, because we will one day soon wake up in Belarus."

Julia Tymoshenko ended a 12-day hunger strike on Friday after pleas from her supporters.

Her daughter said she was now very weak, and could barely get up from her bed.

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Iraq Deaths: UK Troops To Face 11 Inquiries

British troops are facing 11 separate inquiries into their conduct in Iraq following a ruling by the High Court, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has confirmed.

The "semi-inquests" will be held into cases of 11 Iraqi civilians who died in UK custody after the 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

Each of the hearings will take an average of three months and the total cost to the taxpayer will be £2m, the Sunday Telegraph reported.

They follow an increasing amount of legal scrutiny being turned on the Armed Forces in the wake of the case of Sgt Alexander Blackman, the Royal Marine sentenced to a minimum of 10 years in prison for murdering a wounded Taliban insurgent in Afghanistan.

There have been calls for his sentence to be reduced or quashed over fears he would need special protection in prison because of the danger he will be attacked by Islamists.

One in three people (35%) believes he should serve no jail time at all, according to a poll by the Mail on Sunday.

Another 23% believe he should do five years, 20% are in favour of 10 years, while 22% think he should be imprisoned for more than 10 years.

One in three believes Blackman should serve no jail time, says a poll

Commenting on the poll, Sir Gerald Howarth, a former defence minister and current MP for army garrison town Aldershot, said he agreed the sentence was too harsh.

"The highest standard of discipline must be maintained in the Armed Forces and this man obviously committed an offence," Sir Gerald told the MoS. "But 10 years is too much. Five years would be more appropriate."

But former Lib Dem leader and ex-Royal Marine Lord Ashdown said he was content with the judge's decision.

An order banning the naming of Blackman, 39, was lifted by High Court judges after he was found guilty at a court martial in Bulford, Wiltshire.

Former senior officers and MPs reacted against that decision, amid claims he may need protection from Islamists in prison, the Sunday Telegraph said.

Lord West of Spithead, a former first lord of the Admiralty, said: "This is a man who has put his life on the line many times. I am not sure due account has been taken of this."

Blackman shot the Afghan, who had been seriously injured in an attack by an Apache helicopter, in the chest at close range with a 9mm pistol.

:: Watch Sky News live on television, on Sky channel 501, Virgin Media channel 602 and Freeview channel 82.

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Thailand: PM Offers Referendum To End Protests

Thailand's Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has proposed a referendum on her future as anti-government protesters prepare for a final push to force her from power.

Demonstrators have been on the streets of Bangkok for weeks, vowing to oust Ms Yingluck and eradicate the influence of her brother, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

The demonstrations are the latest eruption in nearly a decade of rivalry between forces aligned with the Bangkok-based establishment and those who support Mr Thaksin.

Underscoring the divide, the pro-establishment Democrat Party has announced that its members in the House of Representatives will give up their seats because they are unable to work with the ruling party.

Thai riot police walk inside Government house as a rally is held outside.

The leader of the anti-government protesters, Suthep Thaugsuban, has called for a final demonstration on Monday in an attempt to force Ms Yingluck out.

Ms Yingluck said in a televised statement on Sunday that her government is searching for ways to end the conflict.

"We should conduct a referendum so that people can decide what we should do," she said.

Mr Suthep has been calling for the establishment of a "People's Council" of appointed "good people" to replace the government.

But Ms Yingluck has dismissed the idea as unconstitutional and undemocratic. She has not spelt out the specifics for any referendum, but said it would be in line with the constitution.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has proposed a referendum

"I'm willing to listen to proposals from the protesters. I'm not addicted to this title," she said.

"I'm ready to resign and dissolve parliament if that is what the majority of the Thai people want."

Tensions have run high in Thailand following several days of street clashes. Police have used tear gas, water cannon and rubber bullets against rock-throwing demonstrators.

The unrest has left five people dead and more than 200 injured in Bangkok.

Demonstrators and police have observed a temporary truce since Wednesday for the 86th birthday of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who is treated as a near-deity by many in Thailand.

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Mandela: South Africa Urged To Unite As Tribute

By Emma Hurd, Sky News Correspondent

President Jacob Zuma has urged South Africans to unite as the "rainbow nation" and remember the values Nelson Mandela stood for, as the country marks a day of "prayer and reflection" to honour the late icon.

It comes as Buckingham Palace confirmed that the Queen will be represented by the Prince of Wales at Mr Mandela's funeral on December 15.

President Zuma was speaking today at a service at the Bryanston Methodist Church in Johannesburg, where he was joined by Winnie Madikizela Mandela, the former statesman's second wife. 

Dressed in black, she was seated next to Mr Zuma and was clearly grief stricken in her first public appearance since Mr Mandela's death.

Addressing the congregation the South African President urged his country to remember that Nelson Mandela stood for freedom, reconciliation and unity. 

Jacob Zuma has urged South Africans to celebrate the icon's life

"He believed in caring and he cared for our nation. He believed in forgiving and he forgave those who kept him in jail for 27 years," Mr Zuma said.

South Africans have gathered in churches, synagogues and mosques across the country to join the tributes to the country's first black president ahead of a week of official celebrations and memorial services.

At the famous Regina Mundi Church in Soweto, Father Sebastian J. Rossouw described Mr Mandela as "moonlight," saying he offered a guiding light for South Africa.

Hundreds of people attended mass in the small church that still bears the scars of the conflict.

An impromptu shrine in Johannesburg

"Madiba did not doubt the light," Father Rossouw said. "He paved the way for a better future, but he cannot do it alone."

On Tuesday, a memorial service will be held at the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg, the place where Mr Mandela made his last public appearance at the World Cup final in 2010. 

At least 80,000 people are expected to attend, including President Barack Obama and Prime Minister David Cameron.

From Wednesday, crowds will line the streets in Pretoria as a funeral cortege carries the remains of the nation's first black President to lie in state at the Union Buildings, where people will be permitted to file past his body to pay their respects. 

Mourners outside Mr Mandela's home in in Johannesburg

The procession will be repeated for three days with the public urged to form a "guard of honour".

The focus will then switch to Nelson Mandela's ancestral home of Qunu, in the Eastern Cape, where the state funeral will be held on Sunday.

Mr Obama will again attend, along with hoards of other world leaders, joining the Mandela family in a public tribute before a private burial service.

Nelson Mandela left it to the South African people to decide how to celebrate his life and legacy.

He said once when asked how he wished to be remembered: "It would be very egotistical of me to say how I would like to be remembered. I'd leave that entirely to South Africans. I would just like a simple stone on which is written, 'Mandela'."

:: Watch Sky News live on television, on Sky channel 501, Virgin Media channel 602 and Freeview channel 82.

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US Singer Reaches Arab Talent Show Final

An American singer who cannot speak Arabic has finished runner-up in the TV show Arabs Got Talent after wooing audiences across the Middle East.

The renditions of classical Arab songs by Jennifer Grout, from Boston, Massachusetts, ensured she was among the three finalists in the popular show.

First prize in the pan-Arab contest went to Syrian dance troupe Sima for a performance portraying the autocratic rule of veteran leaders in the Middle East, the MBC network announced.

But Grout - the only non-Arab to compete - finished close behind along with Palestinian artist Mohammad al Diri, who captured audiences by drawing portraits of prominent Arab and international figures using original and diverse techniques.

Grout waits with the other finalists to find out the winner of the show

"I learnt so much and I never expected to get this far," she said after the final.

"To me, it is just such a privilege to be performing in front of all these people and the judges.

"I am now just enjoying these moments and later I will sit down and think of what to do next."

The 23-year-old, who taught herself to sing difficult and popular Arab songs without speaking a word of the language, impressed audiences with her voice.

Members of the Sima dance group from Syria celebrate their win

She grew up in a musical home and came across Arab music after reading an online article about Arab diva Fairouz from Lebanon.

She was enthralled by her voice and soon discovered other singers.

Grout said that despite not speaking Arabic, she learned the lyrics to the songs after finding translations for them on the internet.

She has also learned to play the oud, a traditional string instrument.

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Lenin Statue Toppled By Protesters In Kiev

Protesters in Ukraine have toppled a statue of Vladimir Lenin in Kiev as hundreds of thousands flooded the capital.

Police said people wearing masks pulled down and decapitated the statue of the Russian revolutionary leader in the centre of the city.

Protesters took turns beating on the torso of the fallen monument, while others chanted "Glory to Ukraine!"

Protesters hold a piece of the statue aloft on stage in Kiev

The chaotic protest further raised tensions in the Ukrainian capital, where protesters have gathered to denounce the government's move away from Europe and toward Moscow.

The red granite, 3.5-metre high statue was constructed in December 1946 just after World War II ended.

Lenin's statue being pulled down Pic: @Aronets

Leading opposition politician Andriy Shevchenko said that the toppling of the statue had not been an initiative of the opposition leaders on Independence Square. "We can say that people organised themselves," he said.

The empty plinth of the statue on Bessarabia Square was surrounded by jubilant protesters who hacked away with axes at the remnants of the monument lying flat on the ground.

More follows...

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