Offshore Firms Forced To Reveal UK Properties

Foreign companies owning or buying property in the UK will be forced to reveal who really owns them, David Cameron has vowed, as he hosts a major international anti-corruption summit in London.

Any overseas company buying property or bidding for Government contracts will have to sign up to a new public register before the deal can go through, in a move aimed at cracking down on money laundering.

Around 40 countries, including Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies accused of being tax havens, are poised to pledge to share ownership information as part of the crackdown.

It is estimated that foreign companies own around 100,000 properties across England and Wales, with more than 44,000 in London alone, many of them worth tens of millions of pounds.

Around 50 countries are attending the summit, which is being held at Lancaster House in London and is being attended by presidents and prime ministers from across the world.

"Corruption is the cancer at the heart of so many of our problems in the world today," Mr Cameron declares in a forward to a book of essays published at the start of the summit.

"It destroys jobs and holds back growth, costing the world economy billions of pounds every year.

"It traps the poorest in the most desperate poverty as corrupt governments around the world syphon off funds and prevent hard-working people from getting the revenues and benefits of growth that are rightfully theirs.

"It steals vital resources from our schools and hospitals as corrupt individuals and companies evade the taxes they owe."

The summit finally gets under way after a diplomatic row caused by candid comments by Mr Cameron to the Queen caught on camera inside Buckingham Palace in which he said Afghanistan and Nigeria were "fantastically corrupt" and "two of the most corrupt countries in the world".

Nigeria said it was embarrassed by the comments and Afghanistan claimed they were unfair, but both are among the countries attending the summit and promising to tackle corruption.

But despite a session on the agenda on corruption in sport, football's world governing body FIFA, rocked by financial scandals, has been snubbed, although the International Olympic Committee, grappling with a drugs crisis in athletics, is taking part.

Speaking ahead of the summit, Mr Cameron said: "The evil of corruption reaches into every corner of the world.

"It lies at the heart of the most urgent problems we face - from economic uncertainty, to endemic poverty, to the ever-present threat of radicalisation and extremism.

"A global problem needs a truly global solution. It needs an unprecedented, courageous commitment from world leaders to stand united, to speak into the silence and to demand change.

"That is why I am hosting this summit. Today is just the start of a more co-ordinated, ambitious global effort to defeat corruption."

Malaysia Says 2 More Pieces of Debris Are ‘Almost Certainly’ From Flight 370

(KUALA LUMPUR) — Malaysia’s government said Thursday that two more pieces of debris, discovered in South Africa and Rodrigues Island off Mauritius, were “almost certainly” from Flight 370, bringing the total number of pieces believed to have come from the missing Malaysian jet to five.

The aircraft mysteriously disappeared more than two years ago with 239 people on board, and so far an extensive underwater search of vast area of the Indian Ocean off Australia’s west coast has turned up empty.

Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said the two new pieces were an engine cowling piece with a partial Rolls-Royce logo and an interior panel piece from an aircraft cabin — the first interior part found from the missing plane.

An international team of experts in Australia who examined the debris concluded that both pieces were consistent with panels found on a Malaysia Airlines’ Boeing 777 aircraft, Liow said.

“As such, the team has confirmed that both pieces of debris from South Africa and Rodrigues Island are almost certainly from MH370,” he said in a statement.

All five pieces have been found in various spots around the Indian Ocean. Last year, a wing part from the plane washed ashore on France’s Reunion Island. Then in March, investigators confirmed two pieces of debris found along Mozambique’s coast were almost certainly from the aircraft.

The jet, which vanished on March 8, 2014, while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, is believed to have crashed somewhere in a remote stretch of the southern Indian Ocean about 1,800 kilometers (1,100 miles) off Australia’s west coast. Authorities had predicted that any debris from the plane that isn’t on the ocean floor would eventually be carried by currents to the east coast of Africa.

Though the discovery of the debris has bolstered authorities’ assertion that the plane went down somewhere in the Indian Ocean, none of the parts have thus far yielded any clues into exactly what happened to the aircraft and precisely where it crashed. Investigators are examining marine life attached to the debris to see if it could somehow help them narrow down where it entered the ocean, but haven’t discovered anything useful yet.

The most recent confirmed debris includes a piece discovered by an archaeologist who spotted it while walking along South Africa’s southern coast, and another part found by tourists on Rodrigues Island, off Mauritius.

The Australian Safety Transport Bureau said in a technical report that the interior part, identified by its decorative laminate, is a panel from the main cabin and believed to be part of a door closet.

The most critical clues lie within the elusive underwater wreckage, which would hold the coveted flight data recorders, or black boxes. The data recorder should reveal details related to the plane’s controls, including whether aircraft systems that might have helped track the plane were deliberately turned off, as some investigators believe.

But so far, crews have combed more than 105,000 square kilometers (40,000 square miles) of the search zone to no avail. They expect to complete their sweep of the area by the end of June.

Brazil's Senate Votes On Rousseff Impeachment

Brazil's politicians are nearing an historic vote on whether to impeach embattled President Dilma Rousseff over allegations she lied to voters about the level of national debt during her re-election campaign.

The Senate will vote on the impeachment later today and a simple majority of the 81 senators will end 13 years of leadership by her left-leaning party.

If politicians vote in favour of impeachment, Ms Rousseff will be suspended from office and Vice President Michel Temer will take over for up to six months.

The vote was expected to take place on Wednesday evening, but the historic session has proceeded at a slow pace.

After nearly 12 hours, fewer than half the 70 senators slated to speak had made their addresses.

US Invictus Winner Gives Medal To NHS Hospital

An American Invictus Games champion has asked Prince Harry to return her gold medal to the British hospital that saved her life.

Sergeant Elizabeth Marks requested Harry give the medal to the medical team at Papworth Hospital in Cambridge, as he placed it around her neck.

Sgt Marks collapsed with a serious lung condition in 2014 on the eve of the first Invictus Games and was put into a medically induced coma.

She was treated in London by a team from Papworth, who put her on life support for 10 days after she suddenly became ill.

Sgt Marks and the Prince in conversation during the games in Orlando

She said: "They absolutely saved my life and I can't thank the UK enough for having that kind of medical support and taking such good care of me.

"So I gave Prince Harry one of my medals and hope it will find its way back to Papworth."

Sgt Marks, who has won every swimming event she entered at this year's games in Orlando, decided to give her 100m freestyle gold to the hospital as it had been touched by the Prince.

Holding back tears, she said of the NHS staff who treated her: "Thank you, I'll never be able to repay you, but what you're doing is wonderful."

The combat medic was left with no sensation in her left leg after suffering a serious hip injury in 2010, but has returned to fitness and still serves in the military.

She described it as "an honour" to compete in the games alongside the other servicemen and women taking part.

Sgt Marks, who joined the US Army at 17, added: "I was nervous because of what had happened last time but I was eager to perform and show my team and show the other countries how much I love their support.

"When I came out of my coma to see all the pictures of them supporting me while I was there, without even knowing I was in that state, made me cry like a baby so it was a chance to give something back."

Prince Harry launched Invictus in 2014 as a means of using sport to support the rehabilitation and recovery of injured soldiers, and staged the inaugural games in London.

Instagram launches a new logo - a 'simpler camera'

Instagram is launching a new-look logo as it tries to move away from being seen purely as a photo app.

The updated icon is designed to reflect how "vibrant and diverse your storytelling has become", the company says.

"Inspired by the previous app icon, the new one represents a simpler camera and the rainbow lives on in gradient form."

More than 80 million photos and videos are now shared every day on Instagram. 

It has 400 million users and overtook Twitter back in 2014.

Tesco CEO Gets £3m Bonus As Staff Share £185m

The chief executive of Tesco has been awarded an annual bonus of nearly £3m after Britain's biggest grocer moved back into profit after notching up the biggest loss in its history a year earlier.

Sky News has learnt that Tesco will disclose in its annual report - to be published on Friday - that Dave Lewis was handed a cash-and-shares bonus close to the maximum potential payout of £3.15m.

The award to its chief executive will be announced alongside a £185m bonus pot to be shared out among the company's 265,000 UK employees - equating to 5% of each worker's annual salary.

Sources said that Mr Lewis had been determined to fulfil a commitment he made in April to reward employees for delivering the beginning of a desperately needed turnaround.

The company - once a dominant force in British business - has endured a torrid few years, culminating in a £6.4bn loss in 2014, one of the biggest in UK corporate history.

A Serious Fraud Office inquiry into a vast overstatement of profits, launched soon after the departure of Mr Lewis's predecessor, Philip Clarke, remains ongoing.

Mr Lewis, a former Unilever executive, has begun to improve Tesco's performance, with the group showing a return to like-for-like sales growth in the fourth quarter of last year.

A source said on Wednesday that "the foundations had been laid" for a sustainable turnaround of the business, with net debt slashed by 40% after the sale of its operations in South Korea, improved cashflows and increased sales volumes.

Tesco will publish its annual report on Friday

The supermarket group's long-term share plans have failed to pay out for several years because of the company's weak performance, and City investors are said to be keen for Mr Lewis to be adequately incentivised to see the job through.

The Tesco chief earns a salary of £1.25m and can earn a maximum annual bonus worth 250% of that sum.

His bonus will therefore put him in line for a package for 2015 worth well over £4m.

Although Tesco is unlikely to face an investor revolt of the kind seen at many blue-chip companies' annual meetings this year, some shareholders may be surprised at the size of his bonus given that Tesco shares have fallen by a third during the last 12 months.

Mr Lewis has embarked upon a clearout of loss-making businesses, including Dobbies Garden Centres, Giraffe and Harris & Hoole, with Euphorium, a bakery business, set to be closed.

The move comes as part of a decision by Mr Lewis and senior colleagues to sell a string of under-performing or non-core businesses bought during an ill-fated acquisition spree over the last decade.

Many of the smaller businesses were bought by Mr Clarke, who had ambitions to diversify the retailer's appeal to customers and find ways of utilising excess space in its stores.

Mr Lewis now wants to offload businesses and brands which either dilute Tesco's margins or act as a distraction from its principal revival mission.

Mr Clarke's tenure ended in 2014 when he was sacked after a string of profit warnings.

The beginnings of a turnaround in Tesco's performance comes amid continuing competition with discounters Aldi and Lidl, and its more traditional rivals J Sainsbury, Wm Morrison and the struggling Asda.

Threat Of NI Terror Attack In Britain Raised

MI5 has raised the threat level to Great Britain from Northern Ireland-related terrorism from moderate to substantial.

Home Secretary Theresa May said the change means a terrorist attack is a strong possibility and reflects the continuing threat from dissident republican activity.

In a statement to the House of Commons, she said the Home Office was working closely with police and other relevant authorities to ensure appropriate security measures are in place to deal with the raised threat.

The threat level to the UK from international terrorism remains unchanged at severe - meaning an attack is highly likely. 

Terror threat levels in the UK can be assessed as low, moderate, substantial, severe or critical - with critical meaning an attack is expected imminently.

The threat to the UK mainland from Northern Irish terrorism was last at substantial in 2011, before it was reduced to moderate in October 2012.

Sky News Senior Correspondent Ian Woods said: "The decision is made not by politicians but by intelligence staff, so even though it has been announced by the Home Secretary Theresa May, it is based on advice coming from the security service, MI5.

"International terrorism has been at severe for some years now, but Irish terrorism, for want of a better phrase, coming from Dissident Republican activity, has been downgraded because there has been very little of it."

In Northern Ireland - where the threat from home-grown terror has been severe since it was first published in September 2010 - there have been a number of warnings about increased activity from dissident republican groups.

In March, prison officer Adrian Ismay, 52, died 11 days after he was injured in a dissident republican bomb attack.

The Democratic Unionist Party said the announcement provided a "bleak reminder of evil in our midst".

The party's parliamentary home affairs spokesman Gavin Robinson said: "We know that nothing will be achieved through terrorism, yet with no purpose, principal or plan, there remain those intent on death and destruction.

"They will not win. Our resolve remains with those in the security services who keep us safe in Northern Ireland and across the Country each and every day."