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Nigel Farage has accused his political opponents and the press of running "the most negative general election campaign ever" following a series of claims about the party's candidates and members.

After Labour released a video of Ukip general secretary Matthew Richardson calling the NHS "a wasteful socialist programme", Farage told ITV News Political Correspondent Carl Dinnen that the major parties were trying to "damn" his party.

Richardson was also accused of saying that bigots "deserve representation", a comment the Ukip leader claims was simply an old joke.

"The fact that we get hear'say from gossip and jokes in pubs on the front page of newspapers says to me we are going into the most negative General Election ever," he said.

India and the United States have broken an impasse standing in the way of civil nuclear trade, Indian media reports.

The breakthrough comes as Obama and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met in New Delhi.

The reports said that the pair had ironed out differences on the liability of suppliers to India in the event of a nuclear accident and the United States had dropped its demand to be able to track the whereabouts of nuclear material supplied to India.

US President Obama was given an elaborate welcome at the country's presidential palace in New Delhi.

He walked in his socks to place a commemorative wreath honouring the father of India's independence movement, Mahatma Gandhi.

Tomorrow, Mr Obama was to be the guest of honour at India's Republic Day festivities, making him the first US president to attend the anniversary of the enactment of country's democratic constitution.

Syriza party leader Alexis Tsipras has cast his vote in his country's election. Speaking surrounded by supporters and journalist's, he said a win for his party will return democracy and social cohesion to Greece, and that the people of will regain their dignity.

EU migrants living in Britain should not be allowed to vote in a referendum on Europe, Nigel Farage has said.

Speaking on The Andrew Marr Show, the Ukip leader said his party could go into coalition with the Conservatives, as long as they offered an immediate referendum on EU membership under specific terms.

Speaking on BBC's The Andrew Marr Show, he said: "At the moment, there are four million or so EU citizens living in Britain that I do not think should be allowed to vote in that referendum."

During the interview, Farage also said his party would spend an additional £3 billion on frontline NHS services - using part of the £10 billion Ukip says it save by withdrawing from the EU.

The party says it also force migrants and tourists to pay for health insurance as a condition of entry, which it claims will save £2 billion of "wasted" money on "health tourism".

Read: Ukip 'was increasingly concerned' about Amjad Bashir

The head of Greece's Syriza party, Alexis Tsipras, appeared confident this morning as his country went to the polls. Syriza remained head of conservative prime minister Antonis Samaras' New Democracy party in opinion polls leading up to vote, which is being held nearly two years ahead of time.

Tsipras has run on a campaign of renegotiating the country's 240 billion euro international bailout deal, and has pledged to reverse many of the unpopular reforms Greece agreed to in order to qualify for the package that has kept the country financially afloat. Speaking this morning as he was mobbed by reporters he said his message for Europe was simple: The "vicious cycle of austerity is over".

Nigel Farage says Ukip was becoming "increasingly alarmed" by MEP Amjad Bashir's behaviour in the months leading up to his defection to the Conservatives.

Speaking on BBC's The Andrew Marr Show, the Ukip leader said there was "quite strong documentary evidence" relating to what the party calls "unanswered questions" over employment practices at his business.

He also accused the MEP of "continuing associations with political extremists from Pakistan despite us saying please, please keep away", and said he was surprised that the Conservatives had accepted him

Bashir has denied any wrongdoing in relation to the allegations, and says Ukip's claims are a "desperate attempt" to smear him.

Suspected Boko Haram militants launched a midnight ambush in the Nigerian city of Maiduguri, government and police sources said.

A Reuters witness said shelling could still be heard this morning. The militants began the attack at the edge of the city in the Njimtilo area.

The city is the capital of Borno state.

Shoichi Yukawa, father of the Japanese hostage purportedly killed by Islamic State (IS) has said he is "hoping deep in his heart that the news is not true".

Shoichi Yukawa, father of Haruna Yukawa, said he is praying his son is alive, and that he wishes to hug him.

Speaking to Japanese media, he said he could barely stay calm after the release of the video, which claimed to show a picture of the body of his son.

Japan's prime minister said early today that the video was probably real, and that he was left speechless by it.