Hamzah Khan's Father 'Warned Of Neglect'

The father of a four-year-old boy whose mummified body was found in his mother's bedroom told police the youngster was being neglected the year before his death, a court has been told.

Aftab Khan was giving evidence at the trial of Amanda Hutton, who denies manslaughter over the death of her son Hamzah Khan in December 2009.

The youngster's body was found by police nearly two years later.

During a day of harrowing testimony at Bradford Crown Court, jurors heard how police visited Hutton's house nine times before Hamzah's death.

They were also read a transcript of an interview Mr Khan gave to police after he was arrested for hitting Hutton in 2008.

He told officers his son was undernourished and neglected and threatened to contact social services, warning: "Believe me, I'm going to get in touch ... because it's gone so far now."

He also described how Hutton refused to let him take Hamzah to see a doctor, despite telling her "time and time again" he was not well.

Earlier, the court heard how a text message sent to Hutton from a phone belonging to Hamzah's brother, Qaiser Khan, in December 2008 accused her of "neglect and abuse".

It read: "Watch out Monday you *****. I'm going to go to the police station to report you for child neglect and abuse. Look at Hamzah."

The 22-year-old, who said he could not remember sending the message, also gave evidence at his mother's trial.

He told jurors how he saw Hamzah sleeping in a buggy that "stank" of urine and had to be disinfected.

He described seeing the youngster eat the contents of his own nappy and drink "mouldy, off milk" his mother had given him as a punishment.

A witness previously said Hamzah "didn't get fed much" and "looked really skinny, stick thin" in the days before his death.

Hutton rejects prosecutors' claims that she starved her son to death, insisting he died after he was taken ill.

The trial continues.

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Ryanair Promises To Be Nicer To Passengers

Ryanair's firebrand chief executive Michael O'Leary has promised to transform the carrier's "abrupt culture" as it bids to win customers from rivals.

He was speaking at the no-frills airline's AGM in Dublin following complaints from several investors at the meeting who warned over the impact on sales from poor customer service.

The remarks were seen as the first admission from Mr O'Leary that Ryanair has a significant PR problem on service.

When the airline was voted just this week as the worst of the 100 biggest brands serving the British market by readers of consumer magazine Which?, Ryanair dismissed the study - suggesting that its customers were too busy booking flights with Ryanair to respond.

It also took aim at Which? saying that its own customer poll had found just two of its three million passengers had ever heard of the consumer group.

Now Mr O'Leary has pledged to improve the passenger experience, suggesting he was U-turning on past comments that all passengers cared about was price.

He told the meeting: "We should try to eliminate things that unnecessarily p*** people off."

He said the company would overhaul its website, set up a new team to respond to emails and stop fining customers whose carry-on baggage exceeded minimum sizes by a matter of millimetres.

"A lot of those customer services elements don't cost a lot of money ... It's something we are committed to addressing over the coming year," Mr O'Leary said.

It was confirmed that Ryanair would also drop its €3 charge for downloading its booking app.

The company - which issued a profits warning earlier this month citing reasons including competition - has slowly whittled away at the traditional trappings of air travel to keep its costs and prices down.

As part of its campaign to eliminate hold-baggage on its planes, it raised the cost by more than 60% over the summer peak as families were taking holidays.

Ryanair has also received negative publicity in the past over its treatment of disabled passengers, those subject to delays and even people claiming refunds on behalf of dead relatives.

The airline - and its low-cost rivals - have also faced scrutiny over price clarity.

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Boy's Broom Attack On Teacher Caught On Video

Footage of a boy violently attacking a teacher at a South African high school has led to government calls for the youngster to be punished.

A video posted on YouTube shows the student kicking and hitting the male teacher with a broom in a classroom of the Glenvista school in Johannesburg.

Other pupils can be heard cheering, laughing and egging the boy on during the assault, which reportedly happened on Wednesday.

"Get him," one boy is heard saying.

The teacher is seen walking away from his attacker and leaving the building, but the pupil - still armed with the broom - follows him into the street.

The boy chases the teacher

Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga said she was "disturbed" by the attack.

She has called for the boy and those cheering him on to be punished.

"This incident must be condemned in the strongest possible terms and the relevant punishment must be met out," she said.

"The student responsible together with the other learners who were cheering him on should all be disciplined accordingly."

Mrs Motshekga has recommended that anyone who was there during the attack receive trauma counselling.

She said such violence would "not be tolerated" by either pupils or teachers in South African schools.

"Schools should remain a no-violence zone where educators and learners can feel safe and secure in order for teaching and learning to take place," she said.

Sky News has tried to contact Glenvista school about the assault.

Sky's Special Correspondent Alex Crawford, who is based in Johannesburg, said the attack has "has prompted much soul-searching" in South Africa.

"The video surfaced on the same day the South African Government released its annual crime statistics which some say are the worst in a decade," Crawford said.

"The rates for murder, robberies and hijackings are all up, alarming commentators who're calling on the Government and police to tackle the rise in violent crime more strenuously."

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Coca-Cola Apologises For 'Retard' Bottle Cap

Coca-Cola has apologised to a family who found the message "You Retard" printed inside a bottle cap.

Blake Loates, from Alberta, Canada, found the offensive message after buying a bottle of Vitamin Water, which is owned by the drinks firm.

"We immediately thought, you have got to be kidding me?" she said.

"We thought it might have been a disgruntled employee or someone in a (bottling) plant playing a joke."

She took a picture of the bottle top and her father Doug wrote a letter of complaint to the drinks firm, mentioning his younger daughter Fiona, who has cerebral palsy and autism.

The message was printed on a Vitamin Water cap

In his letter, seen by the Huffington Post, he told the company: "The R word is considered a swear word in our family. We don't use it.

"We don't tolerate others using it around us. We ARE oversensitive but you would be too if you had Fiona for a daughter!"

Coca-Cola said it has been printing one random French word and one random English word on the inside of each Vitamin Water cap.

Shannon Denny, from Coca-Cola Refreshment Canada, said: "We did not mean to offend at all. We are certainly very apologetic for this oversight."

The company says it now has a system in place to review words printed on the bottle caps, and says it has recalled the remaining products.

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Syria Hands Over Chemical Weapons Details

The Assad regime has given details of its toxic weapons programme to the world's chemical weapons watchdog.

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the body tasked with dismantling Syria's stockpile of nerve agents, said that Syria had given an "initial declaration" outlining its programme.

It will not release the details of the declaration and is now seeking to verify what has been outlined.

OPCW is looking at ways to fast-track moves to secure and destroy Syria's arsenal of poison gas and nerve agents as well as its production facilities.

Under a US/Russia agreement brokered last weekend, under which Syria is expected to put its chemical weapons stocks under international control, inspectors are due to be on the ground in Syria by November.

However, on Thursday Russia's President Vladimir Putin conceded he could not be 100% certain that his Syrian counterpart, Bashar al Assad, would fully give up his deadly weapons stash.

Mr Assad says the US should foot the bill for destroying chemical weapons

American officials said last week that the US and Russia agreed that Syria had roughly 1,000 metric tons of chemical weapons agents and precursors, including blister agents, such as sulfur and mustard gas and nerve agents like sarin.

OPCW postponed a meeting of its executive council, which was due to take place on Sunday, at which it was to discuss how to dismantle the country's chemical weapons programme.

The body said it would set another date for the meeting.

In an interview with Fox News earlier this week, Mr Assad said he was committed to destroying his stockpile of chemical arms - but warned it would take a year to do so and coast at least £600m ($1bn).

A man suffering the affects of the sarin attack on August 21

He said: "It needs a lot of money, it needs about one billion (US dollars). If the American administration is ready to pay those money, and to take responsibility of bringing toxic materials to the United States, why don't they do it?"

UN weapons inspectors on Tuesday released a report in which they said there was "clear and convincing evidence" that chemical weapons were used in an attack in Damascus on August 21.

According to reports and chilling pictures of the horrific attack, 1,400 people were killed, including scores of children.

In their 38-page report, the UN inspectors said chemical weapons had been used on a "relatively large scale".

Rockets tested at the attack site were found to contain sarin, while the area in which they landed was contaminated with the deadly gas.

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Brain-Eating Bug Enters US Water Supply

A deadly, brain-eating amoeba has been found in the water supply in Louisiana.

The amoeba - Naegleria fowleri - was found in water tested in the Violet and Arabi communities in Louisiana, outside New Orleans.

It is believed to be the first time the parasite has been identified in a US water supply, but health officials say that it is still safe to drink.

The discovery follows the bug-linked deaths last month of an unidentified four-year-old boy from Mississippi and 12-year-old Zachary Reyna from Florida.

Residents are frightened in the communities of Arabi and Violet

A third child, 12-year-old Kali Hardig from Arkansas, survived the infection in July.

Experts have tried to reassure residents in Louisiana by saying that the only danger lies in people getting the microscopic organism up their noses.

Its only entry to the brain is through tiny openings in a bone about level with the top of the eyeball, said Dr Raoult Ratard, Louisiana's state epidemiologist.

Fellow epidemiologist Jonathan Yoder said Naegleria has never before been found in water treated by a US water system.

There have been 132 documented infections from the amoeba since 1962, almost all of them fatal, health officials say.

An image of the disease. Pic: US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Two infections in Louisiana, in 2011, came after people used tap water to flush out their sinuses.

In both those cases, Mr Yoder said the amoeba was found in a home's hot water system - but not in municipal water or water coming from the home's cold water tap.

Despite the reassurances, the news has sparked fear in the Violet and Arabi communities.

"Nobody's washing their faces in the showers anymore. Nobody's drinking the water," resident Angela Miller said.

"My neighbour has a pool that they have emptied. And they have no water in there now until this matter is cleared up."

That's not necessary, experts say. Stomach acids, boiling and chlorine will all kill the amoeba.

Investigators say they may never know just how Naegleria got into the pipes.

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Liverpool Player's Assault Trial Collapses

The assault case against Liverpool footballer Raheem Sterling has collapsed due to his ex-girlfriend's "disappointing evidence".

Sterling was alleged to have attacked 19-year-old model Shana Ann Rose Halliday following a row about a text message, Liverpool Magistrates' Court heard.

But Sterling, from Southport, was formally found not guilty by magistrates when the Crown Prosecution Service withdrew its case after magistrates refused to treat Miss Halliday as a hostile witness.

Sara Drysdale, prosecuting, made an application to the bench asking for the complainant to be "treated as a hostile witness".

She said: "The Crown would say that Miss Halliday has demonstrated an unwillingness to tell the truth about what has happened."

She said Miss Halliday, who gave evidence to the court behind a screen, had given "conflicting accounts" to her previous statements to the police and which also differed from her original 999 call to the police on the night in question.

But Stuart Driver QC, defending, said the prosecution was engaging in a "straw-clutching exercise" and just because the witness had given "disappointing evidence" did not mean she was a hostile witness.

He said: "A hostile witness is just that; and it requires a lot more than a witness who disappoints the prosecution by saying things happened in a way that doesn't amount to a criminal offence. That's just what we have here."

At times Miss Halliday failed to answer prosecution questions and was often so quiet she was inaudible.

She told the court: "We just had a heated argument because I seen a text on his phone and asked who it was."

"We were pushing and shoving, both of us, and I started it because I was trying to get his phone."

Mr Driver added: "She has given evidence, slowly but in detail, and it's unfavourable to the prosecution case. She is far from being a hostile witness."

Anthony Leo, chairman of the bench, told the court: "Although she is an unfavourable witness for the prosecution, she is not hostile."

After the bench made its decision, Miss Drysdale said there was "no longer a realistic prospect of conviction".

Sterling, wearing a black suit, white shirt and blue tie, was called back into the dock and formally found not guilty to the charges.

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Godfrey Bloom Loses Whip For 'Sluts' Comment

Outspoken UKIP politician Godfrey Bloom has lost the party whip for calling women "sluts" at the party's conference.

The MEP, who started a furore this summer by claiming taxpayers' money was being wasted on aid sent to "Bongo Bongo Land", could be kicked out of the party for good after he also rapped a TV reporter over the head with a UKIP brochure.

Mr Bloom argued with journalists after he was challenged about a comment made at a fringe event in London designed to promote the advancement of women in politics.

After two female UKIP members joked they did not clean behind the fridge, Mr Bloom admits he quipped: "This place is full of sluts."

"I made a joke and said 'oh well, you're all sluts' and everybody laughed and all the women laughed," he told Sky News afterwards. "Was there a single woman in there who didn't laugh at the joke?"

The politician then dubbed Sky's Darren McCaffrey a "sad little man" after he pointed out the word "sluts" could be considered highly derogatory.

The MEP hit Michael Crick with UKIP's conference book

He then set off down the street but managed to have another clash with Channel 4 reporter Michael Crick en route.

Mr Crick had held up UKIP's conference book, which proclaims the party is "changing the face of politics", and asked why there were "no black faces" on the cover.

Mr Bloom called the reporter a "racist" and rapped him over the head with the book before leaping into a taxi.

Before he sped off, he said: "What a racist comment. How dare you? That's an appalling thing to say. You're picking people out for the colour of your skin? You disgust me."

Mr Bloom also reportedly told ITV correspondent Paul Brand: "You treat me badly, you'll get a lot worse than that (Crick's slap)...that is a threat to any journalist."

In an interview broadcast by the BBC, Mr Bloom asked Newsnight's political editor Allegra Stratton whether her mother ever called her a slut.

Mr Bloom is no stranger to controversy

"You're untidy, you leave your kit lying around, has your mother never called you a slut?" he asked her.

Ms Stratton, laughing, replied: "I don't think she has. She's called me other things but not that."

Mr Bloom said: "Perhaps you're very tidy. There was no malice, it was a joke, it was all on camera."

Party leader Nigel Farage said Mr Bloom should consider his position over his "selfish and stupid" comments, and said he would speak to UKIP chairman Steve Crowther about the matter.

UKIP press officer Gawain Towler later tweeted: "Chairman has removed the whip from Godfrey Bloom pending a formal disciplinary hearing."

The row came just hours after Mr Farage had tried to brush off controversial comments by his party members as "occasional difficulties".

He also revealed, in his conference speech to delegates, that he had had a "blistering row" with Mr Bloom only days ago.

The party will be furious that the leader's address, in which he warned of a UKIP "earthquake" at next year's European elections, has been overshadowed.

Mr Bloom, MEP for Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire, later insisted his comment was harmless.

He wrote on Twitter: "Made a purposely outrageous joke among friends which was taken as joke by women present...It should not be taken out of context and misinterpreted by a hostile press."

The politician is no stranger to controversy. He first raised eyebrows this summer by claiming taxpayers' money was being wasted on foreign aid sent to "Bongo Bongo Land".

And then last month he suggested women were more suited to "finding mustard in the pantry" than driving cars. He also called 20th century feminists "shrill, bored, middle class women of a certain physical genre".

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Barclays Cyber Raid: Arrests Over Stolen £1.3m

Eight men have been arrested after a gang stole more than £1m from a high street bank by taking control of one of its computer systems.

The money was stolen from a Barclays branch in Swiss Cottage, London, earlier this year, using a device known as a "keyboard, video and mouse" (KVM) switch.

The hardware, which can be purchased online for as little as £10 and is the size of a small laptop computer, allowed the gang to transmit the contents of the computer's desktop and take control of the machine remotely.

It is believed the device was installed by a man who pretended to be an IT engineer to gain access to the branch.

A KVM device similar to the one used to steal money from Barclays accounts

Some £1.3m was withdrawn from accounts, although much of the money has since been recovered.

Police believe the gang ran the operation from "control room" at an address in Marylebone, central London, and that one of the men being held is the "Mr Big" of UK cybercrime.

Detective Inspector Mark Raymond, of the Metropolitan Police's Central e-Crime Unit (PeCU), said: "Those responsible for this offence are significant players within a sophisticated and determined organised criminal network, which used considerable technical abilities and traditional criminal know-how to infiltrate and exploit secure banking systems."

The men, aged between 24 and 47, are in custody at various police stations in London, where they are being held on suspicion of conspiracy to steal and conspiracy to defraud.

Thousands of credit cards and people's personal data were seized following searches of properties in Westminster, Newham, Camden, Brent and Essex.

Detective Superintendent Terry Wilson, of the Metropolitan Police, said: "We've actually been quite astounded by what we've come across, which is effectively a cyber crime control room."

The arrests come after four men appeared in court accused of a failed attempt to take control of computers at a Santander branch in southeast London, again using a KVM device.

Police said they foiled a "very significant and audacious cyber-enabled offence" that would have cost the bank millions of pounds.

The use of KVM devices to commit "low risk, high financial yield cyber-enabled crime" is on the rise, according to the Metropolitan Police.

A spokesman for the force said the latest arrests followed a "long-term, intelligence-led operation" involving PeCU and Barclays, whose security team detected the theft.

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Miliband Pledges To Scrap 'Bedroom Tax'

A Labour government would scrap the coalition's "bedroom tax", Ed Miliband will announce ahead of the party's annual conference.

The Labour leader will condemn the controversial measure as "a symbol of an out-of-touch, uncaring Tory Government".

Labour insists the £470m expected to be saved by the welfare reform could instead be covered by closing "shady" tax loopholes.

On the eve of his party's conference in Brighton, Mr Miliband will say the "most important issue facing families in Britain" is "the cost of living crisis".

He will say: "Under David Cameron life is getting harder and harder with prices rising faster than wages in 38 of the 39 months that he has been in Downing Street, and working people are an average of almost £1,500 a year worse off under his Government.

Campaigners on Thursday claimed a third of council tenants affected by the "bedroom tax" are in arrears and facing eviction.

The TUC's False Economy group made Freedom of Information requests to all British councils and 114 responded to reveal 50,000 households can no longer pay for their accommodation.

He will say the "bedroom tax" was the product of a Government that "stands up for the privileged few - but never for you".

Mr Miliband will say: "We'll scrap the bedroom tax by abolishing the shady schemes of tax loopholes for the privileged few which the Tories keep inventing.

"Tax cuts for hedge funds, the billion pound black hole created with a scheme for workers to sell their rights for shares, and by tackling scams which cheat the taxpayer in construction."

The Conservatives claimed Labour's sums did not add up and the party would need to increase borrowing to cover the cost of the "bedroom tax" policy.

Treasury Minister Sajid Javid said: "Labour's first policy commitment, after three years of waiting, is more spending on housing benefit, funded by a tax on pensions and more borrowing.

"That sums up Labour's record in office and shows it's still the same old Labour."

The "bedroom tax" announcement came as Labour feared their annual gathering could be overshadowed by the publication of Gordon Brown's spin doctor's memoirs.

In it, former special adviser Damian McBride confesses to leaking stories to the press about former home secretaries John Reid and Charles Clarke at a time when he was determined to ensure Mr Brown succeeded Tony Blair as prime minister.

Blairite former minister Dame Tessa Jowell said she was "sure" that Mr Miliband, a member of the Brown inner circle, would have been aware of Mr McBride's activities.

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Mummified Boy Found In Cot: Mother On Trial

The mummified corpse of a four-year-old boy was found in a cot in his mother's bedroom almost two years after he starved to death, a jury has been told.

Hamzah Khan's body was still dressed in a babygro when police made the "dreadful discovery" at his house in Bradford, West Yorkshire, a court has heard.

Details of how the child's body was found in September 2011 were outlined at the trial of his mother, Amanda Hutton, at Bradford Crown Court.

Opening the case for the prosecution, Paul Greaney QC told the jury that the body of Hamzah, who died on December 15 2009, was found after police entered Hutton's home because of concerns about a smell.

"What they discovered disturbed even hardened officers," Mr Greaney said.

"Within a cot in the bedroom of Amanda Hutton, a police officer named Richard Dove made a dreadful discovery.

"Within that cot, beneath other items, he found the mummified corpse of a child."

Hutton, 43, denies her son's manslaughter.

Hamzah's remains fitted into clothing intended for a baby aged six to nine months because the boy's growth had been stunted, Mr Greaney said.

"It had been stunted because he was malnourished over a lengthy period and that state of affairs resulted in his death," he said.

"In short, he starved to death. How had a child starved to death in 21st century England?"

The trial is taking place at Bradford Crown Court. Pic: Betty Longbottom

The jury was told that Hutton, who the prosecutor said was an abuser of alcohol and cannabis, ordered pizza within hours of her son's death and continued to claim child benefit for him.

Mr Greaney said that in police interviews Hutton said she had gone to consult a pharmacist at a supermarket after her son had become particularly unwell on December 14, 2009.

"She explained that when she returned Hamzah was near to death. She sought to revive him but to no effect.

"She described placing Hamzah into his cot, making plain that she had treated his body with dignity, and it is right that we should observe that Hamzah's body was found, it was found with a teddy."

Hutton told police that things deteriorated after her son's death and she began to drink a bottle of vodka a day, Mr Greaney added.

"She made no call for assistance - for a doctor or an ambulance," he said.

The jury of four women and eight men were shown pictures of the inside of Hutton's home.

The lounge was filled with rubbish, including pizza boxes and empty bottles, which was so deep the carpet was not visible.

Mr Greaney pointed out to the jury how Hutton's bedroom was noticeably less cluttered and the blue travel cot where Hamzah's body was found was visible.

He told the jury that a police officer said to Hutton "you know what's been found, don't you Amanda?" as the defendant was being taken to the police station.

The prosecutor said she told the officer: "He died two years ago on the 15th December."

Hutton had worked as care assistant in the past and there was evidence that she had undergone some first-aid training, the prosecutor said.

The jury also heard that Hamzah's father, Aftab Khan, was separated from Hutton and lived elsewhere and there was evidence he had been violent towards the defendant.

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Internet Dating Warning After Woman's Murder

By David Blevins, Ireland Correspondent

Ireland's chief of police has urged people using internet dating to be cautious but refused to comment on speculation a woman found murdered at the weekend met her killer online.

Garda Commissioner Martin Callanan said it was too soon for officers leading the investigation into the death of Elaine O'Hara, 36, from Dublin, to be able to confirm the reports.

He said: "The internet is a marvellous creation but I would tell people to know who you are dealing with and know the circumstances surrounding your business on the net."

Police have now formally identified skeletal remains, found by a woman walking her dog near Rathfarnam at the foot of the Dublin mountains last Friday, as those of Ms O'Hara.

She had been missing since August last year and officers are understood to be checking her computer records to ascertain if she had made arrangements to meet someone that night.

Ms O'Hara's body was found at the foot of the Dublin mountains

A key fob from her work, clothing and a phone thought to have belonged to her were found at a second crime scene at Roundwood, County Wicklow, 12 miles away.

Gardai are also trying to establish if handcuffs and leg restraints, which were found in a backpack when the water level dropped in Vartry Reservoir, are linked to her disappearance and death.

Commissioner Callanan said finding the rest of Ms O'Hara's remains was now the priority and vowed that officers would do their utmost to bring inquiries to a successful conclusion.

He acknowledged that this latest case bore similarities to the murders of six women being investigated under Operation Trace, but insisted it was too early to consider any possible link.

Police officers from either side of the Irish border have been meeting in Dundalk, County Louth, to review strategies for dealing with major crime when it connects the two jurisdictions.

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Foss Lake: Bodies Found In Submerged Cars

The skeletal remains of at least six people have been discovered inside two cars found at the bottom of a lake in Oklahoma.

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol said the cars had been found in Foss Lake, near Elk City, during a training session with a new sonar device.

The first was an early 1950s model Chevrolet car that had three bodies inside.

It was initially believed to include a couple who were last seen in Canute in the 1960s and were reportedly on their way to Foss Lake - but were never seen again.

The three teenagers thought to be in one of the vehicles

But it was later suggested the car belonged to Alvi Porter, who went missing 44 years ago when he was 69 years old.

The second car pulled from the lake had three bodies inside, believed to be teenagers reported missing from the Sayre area in 1970.

They could be that of 16-year-old Jimmy Allen Williams, 18-year-old Leah Gail Johnson and 18-year-old Thomas Michael Rios.

The teenagers were reported missing on November 27, 1970, and were last seen riding around Sayre in Jimmy Williams' 1969 Chevrolet Camaro.

Alvi Porter, suspected of owning one of the cars, went missing in 1969

Custer County Sheriff Bruce Peoples told KWEY radio: "It's just been under water for 40 years. It's a mucky mess."

Authorities have not formally identified the bodies.

Debbie McManamman was 13 years old when her grandfather Alvi Porter went missing.

"I remember that green car," she said.

The cars were found by police officers training with sonar devices

"It's sad. I can see his tall, lanky body walking up to the car. He always had a smile on his face.

"It's been very traumatic. I can remember my dad having dreams at night and getting in the car as soon as he finished his day job, taking my mom, and they would look and look and look."

It is thought the car belonged to Mr Porter, prompting new questions as to the identity of the other two bodies.

Mrs McManamman added: "There's a lot of mystery, it's a mystery."

Map shows the lake in Oklahoma

Betsy Randolph, a spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, said the vehicles were located by dive teams last week.

"So they went back and did a scheduled dive today and were going to recover the cars," she said.

"When they pulled the cars out of the water, the first one that came out they found bones in the car.

"We thought it was just going to be stolen vehicles and that's not what it turned out to be, obviously."

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Syria: Nato Defends Military Strikes Option

Syria: How The Crisis Has Developed

Updated: 11:34am UK, Wednesday 18 September 2013

:: March 2011 - Protesters stage demonstrations in Damascus and security forces in Daraa shoot dead several campaigners, leading to unrest and violence.

:: May - The Syrian military deploys tanks in a bid to quash demonstrations.

:: July 19 - The UK freezes £100m of Syrian assets.

:: August 18 - US President Barack Obama calls on Bashar al Assad to step down. The US freezes all assets of the Syrian government.

:: November 16 - The Free Syrian Army attacks a military base near Damascus.

:: February 4, 2012 - A UN Security Council resolution on Syria is rejected for a second time by Russia and China.

:: March 1 - Government troops seize the Baba Amr district of Homs after an intense battle lasting for several weeks.

:: April 12 - A UN-brokered ceasefire comes into force after fierce fighting in the country.

:: May 23 - Dozens of people, many of them women and children, die in Houla, near Homs. Foreign Secretary William Hague says they were "massacred at the hands of Syrian forces". The UN later accuses the Syrian military of committing war crimes.

:: August - Barack Obama says the use of chemical weapons against civilians would represent the crossing of a "red line".

:: March 6, 2013 - Foreign Secretary William Hague says Britain will provide opposition forces with "non-lethal equipment for the protection of civilians".

:: April-May - Britain says there is credible evidence to suggest Syrian forces have used chemical weapons in Adra, Darayya and Saraqiq and calls for an investigation by the UN.

:: April 29 - Syrian prime minister Wael Nader al Halqi survives an assassination attempt as a car bomb explodes in Damascus.

:: May 14 - Footage of a Syrian rebel commander apparently cutting out a soldier's heart is condemned by the country's National Coalition.

:: June 6 - Syrian forces, backed by Hizbollah fighters, recapture the strategic border town of Qusair.

:: June 6 - Human Rights Watch releases footage which it claims shows Syrian troops shelling school buildings.

:: July 25 - The UN says the number of people killed in the civil war has reached 100,000.

:: August 21 - An alleged chemical attack in Damascus kills 1,300 people, according to the opposition. Doctors Without Borders says 335 people died from "neurotoxic" symptoms.

:: August 25 - Foreign Secretary William Hague says a chemical attack by the Syrian government is the only "plausible explanation" for the deaths.

:: August 26 - UN inspectors brave sniper fire to gather "valuable" evidence from one site of the alleged chemical attack, as the US Secretary of State John Kerry says the Assad regime would face action over the "moral obscenity".

:: August 27 - The UK recalls Parliament to hold a vote on August 29 on the use of chemical weapons in Syria. David Cameron and Barack Obama agree there is "no doubt" the Assad regime is responsible for the alleged attack.

:: August 28 - Britain tables a draft UN resolution condemning the alleged attack and "authorising all necessary measures".

:: August 29 - David Cameron is forced to rule out military action after narrowly losing a Commons vote on the principle of intervention.

:: August 31 - President Obama says the US "should take military action" in Syria but confirms he will seek authorisation from Congress before launching any strikes against the Assad regime. He says the US is "prepared to strike whenever we choose".

:: September 2 - a French intelligence reports claims the Assad regime was responsible for a "massive and coordinated" chemical attack in Damascus.

:: September 3 - Israel says it has carried out a joint missile test with the US in the Mediterranean.

:: September 4 - The Senate Foreign Relations Committee approve a draft US resolution authorising the use of military force in Syria. Meanwhile, MPs in France debate whether to join any possible military intervention, although they do not vote on the subject.

:: September 5 - World leaders meet at the G20 summit in Russia, with the crisis in Syria high on the agenda.

:: September 6 - Britain pledges £52m in aid to Syria, as David Cameron hits back at a reported jibe from Russia that Britain is a "small island".

:: September 8 - The RAF sends up two Typhoon jets in Cyprus as warplanes, thought to have come from Syria, enter international airspace. Meanwhile John Kerry says more nations than his country can use are prepared to join military action against Syria.

:: September 9 - Russia urges Syrian President Bashar al Assad to hand over his chemical weapons to avert a US-led military strike on Damascus.

:: September 10 - President Barack Obama delays a Congress vote on air strikes as Russia gives the US its plan for putting Syria's chemical weapons under international contral.

:: September 11 - A UN report confirms at least eight massacres were carried by the Assad regime and one by rebels over the past 18 months.

:: September 12 - Syria formally applies to join the Chemical Weapons Convention. Russia and US hold two days of talks on the issue.

:: September 14 - The US and Russia agree on a giving Syria a deadline of one week to produce a list of chemical weapons they possess. 

:: September 16 - British, French and US foreign ministers meet in Paris and warn "there will be consequences" if Syria fails to abide by the plan to hand over its chemical weapons arsenal.

:: September 18 - Syria hands Russia "new materials" on the Damascus gas attack which it claims implicate rebels. Russia also calls the UN report into the incident "biased" and "politicised".

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Ottawa: Train Crashes Into Bus 'Killing Many'

Passengers shouted "Stop! Stop!" as a bus drove through a lowered crossing barrier and on to tracks seconds before it was hit by a train.

Witnesses said that the bus driver appeared to drive straight through the barrier in the middle of the morning rush-hour 12 miles south of the Canadian capital.

The impact ripped off the front of the double-decker bus, killing six people, including the driver, and injuring 30 others, 10 critically.

The derailed train. Pic: Laura Stone

It was Canada's worst train accident since an oil train derailed and exploded in a Quebec town in July, killing 47 people.

None of the passengers travelling on the Via Rail train were injured in the crash just outside the suburban train station of Fallowfield at around 8.48am local time, the middle of the morning commute.

Tanner Trepaniere, who was on board the bus, said passengers could see the train bearing down on them as the bus approached the crossing.

She said: "People started screaming, 'Stop, stop!' because they could see the train coming down the track."

Pascal Lolgis, who witnessed the crash, said the bus appeared to drive through a lowered crossing barrier across the Ottawa to Toronto line.

"Boom! It went into the train like that. He just didn't stop."

Another witness, Mark Cogan, said the rail barrier had been down but the bus carried on.

The bus at the scene of the smash. Pic: Darryl Praill

"The train is going through and I was just looking around, just watching things happen. And noticed that in the bus lane, the double-decker bus ... I saw him, and he just kept going.

"I just thought maybe there's a side way around or something, but instantly, he just ... he smoked the train. He went through the guard rail and just hammered the train, and then it was just mayhem."

Chad Mariage, who was on his way to work, was seated toward the back of the bus's second level when the accident happened.

He said: "The impact was pretty severe. People were a screaming on the bus just prior to the crash, he said, adding that the crash 'wasn't a direct hit.'

"We could all see the train coming towards us almost in slow motion. The bus driver hit the brakes but too late."

The train tracks in the area cross both a major city road and a transit line reserved solely for buses.

Transportation Safety Board of Canada spokesman Chris Krepski tells CBC News Network investigation could take as long as a year.

He said: "Obviously we'll let the first responders do their work. Once their work is complete we'll start to take a closer look at the accident scene, document the wreckage, take some photos of the wreckage.

"We'll also take a very close look at the crossing design, what the sightlines were at the crossing, whether or not any kind of warning or protection systems at the crossing were working.

"We'll also examine the data from the locomotive event recorder, similar to a black box on an aircraft, which documents what controls were being used at the time of the crash."

Prime Minister Stephen Harper expressed his condolences in a message on Twitter saying: "Deeply saddened to hear about the bus-train collision in Ottawa this morning. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of those involved."

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Apple iPhone: New iOS 7 Ready To Download

Review: Hands-On With iOS7

Updated: 3:57pm UK, Wednesday 18 September 2013

By David MacLean, Sky News Online

It's slick, it's shiny, and you'll feel like you have a brand new iPhone.

Gone is the clunky and dated interface, swept away by a minimalist design with a raft of new functions.

The most useful feature so far has been a swipe-up menu with options to toggle airplane mode, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, a torch, and sleep mode.

It's a simple feature that has been around for a few years on some other smartphones, but Apple has always cherry-picked features from other gadgets and refined them.

The first change you'll notice is a stripped-down lock screen, followed by the overhaul of the icons for iPhone's default applications. Everything's flattened.

Design chief Sir Jonathan Ive believes we're smart enough to know how to use our smartphones - icons no longer need to look like real-life 3D buttons to let us know we can push them, for example.

By the same token, he's ditched the yellow legal notepad style of the notes app in favour of a clean white background. The icon for photos is no longer a photo - it's a graphic made up of eight interlocking ovals representing a flower.

The way the phone reacts to your movement and touch has changed too. The background image tilts with the phone, giving it a feeling of depth. When you open a folder you appear to swoosh towards the collection of apps inside.

Everything has been updated, Safari seems quicker and more fluid, the camera has a bunch of Instagram-style features, while the messages app has been streamlined with a new cleaner design.

The drop-down menu at the top of the screen has been improved, giving you a succinct rundown of your day ahead based on your calendar entries, reminders, and other apps.

The biggest problem with iOS7 is battery life. I feel as though I've always got one eye on where my next charge point will be.

It's a problem that most iOS releases have had initially, and Apple will no doubt patch it up with an update, but it's an issue nonetheless.

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Diet Pill DNP: Sarah Houston Father Warns Users

By Thomas Moore, Health Correspondent

The father of a medical student who died a year ago after taking a diet drug has told Sky News he is devastated that lives are still being lost despite a promise of action from the Prime Minister.

Geoff Houston said three young people have been killed by the fat burner dinitrophenol, or DNP, since his daughter Sarah died last September at the age of 23.

Only last week an inquest heard how Chris Mapletoft, 18, a talented rugby player died after taking DNP to enhance his physique.

In April David Cameron vowed to "look carefully" at the problem.

But Sky News found the drug widely available online.

Keen horse rider Sarah Houston died at the age of 23 after taking DNP

Mr Houston said: "I think these are preventable cases and it's so sad another family has to go through the same grief we went through.

"I think it's so shocking that people can try and profit from this stuff - and if they have any sense of moral decency they should stop selling it.

"And I would also say to those people taking it - you are playing a game of roulette here."

DNP was originally developed as an obesity drug. But it was abandoned after it was found to cause the body to progressively overheat.

Chris Mapletoft died after taking the pills blamed for Sarah's death

Symptoms include a high temperature, rapid breathing, an irregular heartbeat and dizziness.

But it is still used by some overweight people, those with eating disorders and bodybuilders.

Sarah Houston suffered from anorexia and had been secretly taking DNP for up to two years. She had bought the yellow capsules online from a supplier in Argentina.

At least 66 people have died worldwide after taking the drug.

It is illegal to sell DNP for human consumption. But it can be distributed for use as a pesticide.

Sky News found DNP diet pills were widely available online

Mr Houston said capsules have no industrial use and should be banned.

"I would like to see a lot more done in the UK," he said.

"If it is banned as a capsule it will be so much more difficult for these young people to take it. It is morally repugnant for these people to sell it to these vulnerable people."

The Department of Health sent all GPs and A&E departments a letter earlier this month alerting them to the problem.

The Food Standards Agency said it is working with the police and local authorities to stamp out the sale of DNP to consumers.

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Hong Kong: Couple Jailed For Torturing Maid

A couple in Hong Kong have been jailed for torturing, beating and abusing their Indonesian maid, including tying her to a chair for almost a week.

Tai Chi-wai, an electric appliance salesman, was given three and a quarter years, and his wife, Catherine Au Yuk-shan, a hospital assistant, five and a half years.

The pair, aged 42 and 41, were found guilty of eight charges, including assault and wounding with intent.

They repeatedly assaulted and tortured Kartika Puspitasari, 30, over a two-year period until she escaped last October.

The District Court heard she was hit with a bicycle chain and burned on the face and arms with a hot iron.

Kartika also said she was left in a diaper and tied to a chair without food or water for five days while her employers went on holiday with their children to Thailand.

Protest outside the court in support of migrant workers

The case has damaged Hong Kong's reputation as a safe place to work and the legal system needed to "send a clear message that every worker is protected by the laws", said Deputy District Judge So Wai-tak.

The Mission for Migrant Workers said last month that a survey of more than 3,000 women in Hong Kong found 58% had suffered verbal abuse, 18% physical abuse and 6% sexual abuse.

"We call on the Hong Kong authorities and policymakers to make the needed and urgent reforms that will mitigate the possibility of another Kartika in our midst," the Coalition of Service Providers for Ethnic Minorities in Hong Kong said in a statement.

Hong Kong has roughly 300,000 domestic helpers, largely from the Philippines and Indonesia, but also from Nepal, India and Pakistan.

They are not entitled to a minimum wage and are excluded from other basic rights and services.

In March, a union representing domestic helpers staged a protest, calling for an end to a law that requires maids to live with their employers, saying it exposes them to abuse.

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Clegg: Lib Dems Can Keep UK On Right Path

Good Week For Nick Clegg In Glasgow

Updated: 4:27pm UK, Wednesday 18 September 2013

By Adam Boulton, Political Editor

The Liberal Democrat's five days in Glasgow have gone Nick Clegg's way.

From keeping Trident to backing the coalition's austerity economic policy, conference votes have backed the leader.

Underlining that they have real power now to actually do things, ministers have had some headline-grabbing announcements on plastic bags and free primary-school meals.

There has been precious little dissent at a meeting where many pundits predicted a few months ago a panicked party would be moving to dump its leader.

Instead, Mr Clegg's rivals have looked less of a threat this week.

For all his leftist rhetoric about hating the Tories, Vince Cable overplayed his hand signalling disagreement on the economy and ended up voting in support of Mr Clegg.

The pugnacious Climate Secretary Ed Davey won the vote for nuclear power but seems to have become a bit of a figure of fun.

Party president Tim Farron has remained studiously loyal throughout.

And the disgraced Chris Huhne, Mr Clegg's one-time rival for the top job, is no longer even a member of the party.

Yet, for all this, Mr Clegg and his allies are more confident about an upturn in the UK economy than they are of an improvement in the Lib Dem's dismal opinion-poll ratings.

Aides have deliberately drawn attention to an internal poll which shows that only one voter in four now says they would consider voting for the party.

In most current polls, it is getting barely half that with around 10% support.

The slump in popularity dates from when the Lib Dems went into coalition with the Conservatives.

So Mr Clegg was far from triumphalist in his close of conference leader's speech.

Instead he wanted to cheer his activists up by reminding them what the Lib Dems have achieved in government, while trying to persuade the viewing public that it will be worth voting for them next time.

And all this in spite of the criticism which has come the Lib Dem's way.

"Every insult we have had to endure since we entered government, every snipe, every bad headline, every blow to our support - that was all worth it, because we are turning Britain around," he said.

Mr Clegg told his supporters they should be proud of government policies such as the pupil premium, the cap on the cost of social care, investment in railways, parental leave, the move to a £10,000 income tax threshold and free primary-school meals.

He also boasted about their negative contribution blocking the Conservatives, he claimed, on ID cards, detention of child immigrants and cuts in foreign aid.

All this, he said, would be threatened if the next general election does not deliver another coalition government.

"The absolute worst thing to do would be to give the keys to Number 10 to a single party government - Labour or the Conservatives," he declared.

"In 2015 the clapped-out politics of red, blue, blue, red threatens everything we have achieved.

"But back in government - and next time that will mean back in coalition government - the Liberal Democrats can keep the country on the right path."

Mr Clegg made clear the Lib Dems could form a coalition with either of the big two parties but insisted "we're no-one's little brother".

He mocked those who speculated he would be more "comfortable" with either Ed Miliband or David Cameron.

And he explicitly rejected the view of the late Roy Jenkins, a founder of the party, of "aligning with a modernising Labour Party". 

"We have out own values, our own liberal beliefs. We're not trying to get back into government to fold into one of the other parties," Mr Clegg said.

"We want to be there to anchor them to the liberal centre ground, right in the centre, bang in the middle."

As has become commonplace in leader's speeches, Mr Clegg talked about his own family background.

With a half-Russian father, a Dutch mother and a Spanish wife, it is certainly cosmopolitan.

He admitted: "My upbringing was privileged: home counties, private school, Cambridge University."

His main purpose seemed to be to say that he is not exceptional anymore, a parent of three children in ordinary state schools.

And rather than parade an adoring wife across the stage, like his political rivals, he deliberately stepped down into the audience to salute her.

Mr Clegg knows that neither the conference nor his big speech will turn around Lib Dem fortunes overnight.

He consoles himself that there are still nearly two years of government to go until the next election.

He believes that the coalition will survive that long, during which the UK economy will continue recovery.

But before then two big votes will take place in Britain next year: the European parliamentary and local elections in May and the Scottish independence referendum in September.

On present form those elections look like an uphill battle for the Lib Dems.

But Mr Clegg rightly noted that perhaps the most memorable thing about his conference speech in Glasgow was that it took place with exactly one year to go until Scotland's vote on breaking up the United Kingdom.

So crucial is the referendum that the Lib Dems have postponed their conference next year, which would have taken place the same week, and will now follow the Labour and Tory gatherings.

Mr Clegg - and earlier the Scottish Secretary Michael Moore - argued fiercely for no to independence.

The Lib Dems have always favoured devolution and federalism but they believe it should be possible to be English or Scottish and British.

If Scotland votes yes to independence, Mr Clegg knows only too well that all bets will be off about the coalition's alleged achievements and for the 2015 General Election.

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Kidnapped Girl, 14, Has Been Found: Police

Police searching for a 14-year-old girl who was kidnapped by two armed men during a break-in say she has been found alive.

Ayvani Hope Perez was snatched by the pair after they entered through a back door around 2am on Tuesday, police said.

The men then demanded money and jewellery from her mother, authorities added.

When the woman said she did not have any, they took Ayvani from her home in Ellenwood, Clayton County.

One of the men shot and killed the dog because it was barking.

Sergeant Kevin Hughes from Clayton County police told Sky News she was now safe and "she's doing well."

Officers in Atlanta did not provide any news about her abductors.

FBI and state officials were among those who had taken part in the major search for the teenager.

An artist's impression of the two suspects. Pic: Clayton County police

Officers have also told Sky they do not believe the girl knew the suspects and it appeared to be a "random act".

Ayvani had last been seen in a grey car - a Dodge Charger or Chevy Malibu - that the men left in.

The teenager is described as Hispanic, with brown eyes and black hair.

She is described as 4ft 9in tall and weighs about six-and-a-half stone. She was wearing blue and grey Star Wars pyjama bottoms.

Police had been stopping and searching cars and were also using a helicopter in the search.

A child-abduction alert was also issued by authorities on Tuesday.

More than 150 people reportedly gathered in a circle and held hands in prayer at a candlelight vigil on Tuesday evening at Dutchtown High School in Hampton.

Many teenagers there - some of whom held posters with Ayvani's name and pictures of them with her - were her classmates at the school.

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