Fuel Prices Head For Highest Level Ever

Motorists have been warned that petrol prices may soon reach their highest level ever.

The AA said sterling's slide against the dollar and market speculation could push prices to record levels by Easter.

The warning comes as tanker drivers at the Grangemouth refinery, which supplies Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England, started a three-day strike in a row over pay and pensions.

The strike, involving 42 Unite members at the refinery near Falkirk, will run until Monday morning with striking workers taking turns to man the picket lines.

The drivers, employed by BP, will then observe an overtime ban when they return but the union plans further strike action if there is no resolution to the dispute.

Average petrol (green) and diesel (red) prices since January

After surging 5p a litre over the past month, the price of petrol at the pumps has gone up a further 1p in the last five days, the AA said.

It revealed that the average cost of petrol in the UK is now 138.32p per litre, with diesel having risen 4.78p from its mid-January price to stand at an average of 145.10p.

The latest figures show that petrol has risen 6.24p since early January, adding £3.12 to the cost of filling a typical 50-litre tank.

The AA said the cost of filling up the 70-litre tank of a Ford Mondeo now costs £4.37 more than it did six weeks ago.

A two-car family's monthly petrol cost has risen £13.25.

Drivers have been caught between the pound weakening against the dollar and soaring wholesale prices, both due to stock market speculation.

Regionally, Yorkshire and Humberside and the north of England are the cheapest for petrol at the moment at 137.6p a litre, with prices in London and Scotland at 137.8p. Northern Ireland is the most expensive at 138.7p.

The picket line outside Grangemouth oil refinery on Friday

Yorkshire and Humberside remains the cheapest region for diesel, averaging 144.2p, while East Anglia, Northern Ireland and southeast England are the most expensive at 145.2p.

AA president Edmund King said: "We're no longer talking of the motorist as a cash cow for tax and speculator greed, but a horse slowly but surely being flogged to death.

"This is the third 10p-a-litre wholesale price surge in 11 months, given extra vigour by currency speculators betting against the pound."

Government revenue from fuel duty has also been hit hard as Britons reduce spending by cutting back on non-essential journeys.

Petrol price breakdown over the past decade

HM Revenue and Customs figures showed that January's UK petrol sales fell to the lowest tracked by the Government in 23 years.

Drivers consumed 1.465 billion litres of petrol last month, down 14 million litres on the previous all-time low set in March last year and nearly 100 million litres below December's consumption of 1.564bn litres.

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Rapper Kenny Clutch Dies In Vegas Shoot-Out

A rapper was one of three people killed when gunmen in a 4x4 opened fire on a Maserati on the Las Vegas Strip, causing a pile-up that triggered a giant fireball.

Kenny Clutch, whose real name was Kenneth Cherry Jr, was driving the sports car when occupants in a Range Rover opened fire.

The car veered out of control and smashed into a taxi carrying two people.

Mr Cherry, 27, an aspiring rapper, was regularly filmed for music videos, which appeared on YouTube, driving a silver Maserati along the Las Vegas Strip.

Kenny Clutch in a rap video with his Maserati

Attorney Vicki Greco, who has represented Mr Cherry for what she described as minor traffic issues and in a civil case, said she had been in touch with his family and friends and that they were "devastated" by his death.

The incident occurred near to where rapper Tupac Shakur was shot on September 7, 1996, while riding in a BMW with Death Row Records co-founder Marion "Suge" Knight after the two men had attended a Mike Tyson boxing match.

Clark County Sheriff Douglas Gillespie told a news conference that police had few leads on the Range Rover or its occupants.

The Maserati after the shooting crash

He said the men were considered "armed and dangerous", and they had launched a multi-state search and were seeking help from the public.

Sheriff Gillespie said: "I have been asked by many of you this morning, 'Is the Las Vegas Strip safe?' Yes it is."

After being hit by Mr Cherry's out-of-control Maserati, the cab exploded into flames in the intersection of Las Vegas Boulevard and Flamingo Road, a popular tourist area in front of several casino resorts, killing the driver and a passenger.

The shooting happened near to where rapper Tupac Shakur was shot in 1996

"This doesn't happen where we come from, not on this scale," said Mark Thompson, who was visiting from Manchester, England, with his wife.

"We get stabbings, and gang violence, but this is like something out of a movie. Like Die Hard or something."

Another witness said: "There was a loud bang and I hear two other booms. I looked out my window at Caesar's Palace ... and could see the fireball."

The cars crashed at a busy intersection near the Bellagio

The gunfire and collision near the Bellagio and Caesar's Palace hotels triggered another crash involving four other vehicles.

At least four people were hurt, including a passenger in the Maserati.

The Range Rover sped off and was last seen near the Venetian resort as it headed north from the scene.

Police investigate the incident

Sky's Jeff Randall, who was on the Las Vegas Strip, said: "People here are utterly bewildered because this is a city that has tried to portray itself as family friendly and the last thing in the world the leisure barons want here is a rolling gun battle and what police are describing as a massive crime scene."

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Vittorio Missoni: Plane Wreckage Found

Authorities are checking wreckage on the Caribbean island of Curacao to see if it is the aircraft that was carrying fashion boss Vittorio Missoni.

The plane was carrying Missoni, 58, his wife Maurizia Castiglioni, two Italian friends, and two Venezuelan crew members when it disappeared off the coast of Venezuela at the beginning of January.

The BN-2 Islander aircraft dropped off radar screens on its short flight from the Venezuelan resort islands of Los Roques to Caracas.

The Italian news service Ansa said local sources on Curacao were on the scene and examining wreckage. The island is located approximately 50 miles north of Venezuela.

A bag which was being carried on the plane was also found on the island several weeks after the incident.

Italian investigators have said the company which owned the plane was not fully licensed and that the pilot's licence was a month out of date.

It is thought the twin-engine plane had enough fuel for a three-hour flight, according to a statement released last month from Venezuela's aviation agency.

"The last position registered in radar data and those supplied by a system on board the aircraft was about 11 miles south of Los Roques," the agency said.

Missoni is one of Italy's oldest fashion houses and is especially known for its knitwear designs. It has also branched out into other luxury goods and begun opening a chain of branded hotels, including one on Edinburgh's Royal Mile.

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Philpott Fire: Father Showed 'Little Emotion'

By Lisa Dowd, Midlands Correspondent

Mick Philpott showed "little emotion" as he waited in hospital for news of the condition of one of his children following a fire at their home in Derby, a court has heard.

Jade, 10, and brothers John, nine, Jack, eight, Jesse, six and Jayden, five, all perished in the blaze on Victory Road in Allenton in May last year.

Their brother Duwayne, 13, was taken to Derby Royal Hospital but died three days later after being transferred to Birmingham.

Philpott, 56, and his wife Mairead, 31, deny killing their six children after a "plan" to frame his ex-mistress went wrong. A third defendant, Paul Mosley, 46, also denies six counts of manslaughter.

PC Kevin Cassidy from Derbyshire Police told Nottingham Crown Court that he was appointed the family's interim liaison officer at the hospital.

He said Mick Philpott told him he and Mairead had been asleep downstairs at the time of the fire and they were woken by a smoke alarm.

When Mick Philpott went outside he claimed he climbed a ladder and used a monkey wrench to smash a window, but the "thick, black smoke" beat him back.

He described the father as "clear and concise in what he was saying and he showed little emotion ... his body language was very relaxed ... as if nothing had happened".

The officer said he only showed emotion when relatives arrived, then he was "casual" again. Mairead Philpott, he said, was "very emotional ... nine times out of 10 she had her head in her hands".

The officer said doctors in Derby told the Philpotts that Duwayne would receive "better treatment" at Birmingham Children's Hospital, but that Mick Philpott was "reluctant" to go there.

The scene in Derby last year

He told how the father said: "We are not going to Birmingham, I have a court day today with regards to access to my other children." He was, he said, "adamant he wasn't going to go, he had no intention of going".

The prosecution alleges that the defendant was violent towards his ex-girlfriend Lisa Willis and after she left the Victory Road home she shared with the Philpotts, taking her five children with her, he wanted to get the children back.

The officer told the jury that after discussions with a doctor at the Derby Royal Hospital, the defendants went for a coffee for 20 to 30 minutes. The doctor asked where they were because Duwayne needed to be transferred "immediately".

When Mick Philpott arrived back from the cafe, he was bare-chested and said he had spilled coffee down his T-shirt. The officer said he went to find him a hospital gown. The Philpotts were later taken in an unmarked police car to Birmingham.

Earlier PC Joanne Steele told the court that at the scene of the fire Mairead Philpott was "hysterical" and was "shaking, uncontrollable, very, very stressed".

PC Steele said Mick Philpott "seemed upset, but seemed to be pacing, anxious".

She said he told her that his ex, Lisa, had made "threats to kill them ... or set the house on fire".

Neighbour Joseph Peel told the court that he was woken by his dog, and when he looked outside it was "foggy" and "as I scanned I just noticed the door on fire". He said he then saw there was "black, thick smoke" coming out of a side window.

He dialled 999, put his clothes on and went outside. He said he banged on the caravan outside 18 Victory Road and shouted: "Mick, Mick, your house is on fire, we knew Mick used to sleep in there.

"I heard what I believe to be Mr Philpott in the back garden ... he was shouting 'my kids, get my kids out'."

Another neighbour, Daniel Stevenson, fought back tears as he told the court he made a number of attempts to save the children after he heard Mick Philpott shout "my babies" and his wife screaming.

He used a pickaxe and a wrench to try to get in, and only got off the conservatory roof when police assured him firefighters were already inside the property. When he got down, he said he saw Mick Philpott punch his van.

"I think he tried to get in the house," he said. "He was being restrained by police officers."

The trial continues.

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Beheading: Man Guilty of Brit Gran's Murder

A man has been found guilty of murdering a British grandmother who he decapitated on the Spanish island of Tenerife.

Deyan Deyanov, from Bulgaria, repeatedly stabbed 60-year-old Jennifer Mills-Westley in the neck in 2011 with a knife he had just picked up in a shop.

The homeless 29-year-old drug addict had denied murder, with his defence arguing he was not criminally responsible for his actions because he suffers from acute paranoid schizophrenia, but a jury of nine found him guilty.

After the verdict, Ms Mills-Westley's family spoke of how hard it had been to sit through the evidence but said lessons needed to be learned from what had happened.

In a joint statement, her children said: "It's hard to put into words the devastating impact that this preventable and needless act has had on us as a family - sadly mum was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Jennifer Mills-Westley had retired to Tenerife

"It is clear to us that there has been a catalogue of failings - unfortunately it is now left to us to piece these together as we still have so many unanswered questions.

"We would like to make a plea that the care of people like Deyan Valentinov Deyanov is taken more seriously."

Ms Mills-Westley, a retired road safety worker originally from Norwich, was attacked while she was in a shop in the popular resort of Los Cristianos on May 13, 2011.

She had retired to the island in 2006 and owned two apartments in Los Cristianos, one of which she rented out.

That morning, Deyanov had walked into another shop and asked for a "big" knife because he was going to kill someone.

At 10.30am he went into the Mas Articulos Mejor Precios shop on Avenida Juan Carlos I, picked up a 22cm-long knife and plunged it into Ms Mills-Westley's neck 14 times.

He then walked out carrying her head, to the horror of onlookers, before being wrestled to the ground and arrested.

Living rough in Los Cristianos, the crack cocaine and LSD user was well-known to police and had been arrested at least four times since January 2011 for violent offences.

A warrant for his arrest had been issued just three days before the killing but officers had been unable to locate him.

He had previously been sectioned in the summer of 2010 under the Mental Health Act in Glan Clwyd Hospital, North Wales, and again at Tenerife's La Candelaria hospital before being bailed in early February 2011.

The jury found that Deyanov was guilty of murder because he took his victim by surprise and she could not defend herself.

Even though he was suffering schizophrenia and his responsibility was diminished, in Spanish law he is guilty of murder.

The shop where the attack happened

Deyanov remained quiet and still as the verdict was read out.

Asked by magistrate Maria Jesus Garcia Sanchez if he had anything he wanted to say, he told his Bulgarian interpreter: "I am the the second reincarnation of Jesus Christ and I will bring the fire of the Holy Spirit to bear against this court."

Prosecutors asked for the maximum sentence of 20 years in a secure psychiatric ward, while the defence asked for the minimum sentence of 15 years.

Among the relatives in court were Ms Mills-Westley's younger daughter Samantha, 39, her sister Sarah, 43, from Norwich, and her brother John Smith, 63.

In the joint statement, issued through charity Missing Abroad, her children said attending the trial had been "incredibly hard on us" and said it "has reiterated the horror of mum's death".

They said: "Since the May 13 2011, Jennifer Mills-Westley has become known as the lady who was beheaded in Tenerife.

"The truth is she was our mum, our mentor and our best friend.

"She was a highly gifted, selfless person with so much love in her heart and who has been taken away from us in her prime."

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Mother Left Baby In Bag To Freeze To Death

A mother has admitted leaving her newborn baby to freeze to death in a plastic bag on a remote rural road in Illinois.

Katie Stockton pleaded guilty to first-degree murder for the 2004 death of the infant, who became known as Baby Crystal.

Stockton is also believed to be the mother of two infants found dead in her car.

She was not arrested for Baby Crystal's murder until 2009, but when she was police officers discovered her car, which had been sitting in an impound for a year.

In the car they found the remains of two children wrapped in cloth and stuffed in separate plastic bags.

Authorities have said DNA testing found Stockton was probably the mother of those two infants, but she has not been charged in relation to those deaths.

Stockton was questioned about Baby Crystal's death in 2004 after the newborn's frozen remains were found along a dead-end road near her parents' home.

Prosecutors said that when detectives interviewed Stockton hours after the discovery, she lifted her shirt and asked if she looked like she had just given birth.

Stockton refused to provide a DNA sample but detectives investigating the death collected evidence from a cigarette butt they saw her discard.

Authorities said saliva on the cigarette butt matched blood found on the clothing with Baby Crystal.

After reaching an agreement with prosecutors, Stockton admitted the murder.

Winnebago County State's Attorney Joe Bruscato agreed to drop other charges in the case.

Stockton faces up to 60 years in prison when she is sentenced on April 5.

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Oscar Pistorius Gets Bail Over Reeva Killing

Oscar Pistorius has granted bail by a court in South Africa after spending a week in custody charged with murdering his girlfriend, model Reeva Steenkamp.

Magistrate Desmond Nair's decision drew cheers from the Pistorius' family and supporters, while the athlete burst into tears.

The magistrate set bail at one million rand (£73,000) and postponed the case until June 4.

Pistorius will also be required to live at an undisclosed address, hand in his two South African passports and report twice a week to a police station in Pretoria.

Pistorius leaving the courtroom after being granted bail

The double amputee is also banned from drinking alcohol, must hand over his guns and stay away from the estate where he lived.

Prosecutors had warned that the star has the "money, means and motive" to flee South Africa if he was given bail, but his lawyers successfully argued the Blade Runner was too famous to flee justice.

In his two-hour statement to the court, the judge said he did not believe Pistorius to be a "flight risk" or "pose a danger to society".

But the magistrate said Pistorius still has lots questions to answer.

"I have difficulty in appreciating the accused did not ascertain the whereabouts of his girlfriend when he got off the the bed," Mr Nair said.

Pistorius' supporters prayed after the decision was announced

"I have difficulty with the accused not seeking to verify who was in the toilet when he could have asked.

"I have difficulty understanding why the deceased didn't scream back from the toilet."

Sky's Alex Crawford said Pistorius burst into tears when the decision was read out.

"He had been crying quietly anyway, and it just seemed to prompt even more sobbing from him," Crawford said.

The magistrate said Pistorius still has a lot of questions to answer

"His family are hugely relieved, some of them are crying, they're gathered together in a little huddle ... hugging each other, some are sobbing, they are holding hands, and some at least appear to be praying."

About an hour after the decision was read out, Pistorius was driven away from the court in a silver Land Rover.

The star is charged with premeditated murder over the shooting death of Miss Steenkamp, 29, in the early hours of February 14.

A representative of the state said the investigation was ongoing and there was more evidence to gather.

Outside the court, a friend and former flatmate of Miss Steenkamp, Kim Myers, said it has been a very sad time and people must remember the trial has not started.

Family and friends cheered and cried as the decision was read out

"The bail application is not a trial and we hope and trust that justice will prevail," she said.

"We need to remember that someone still lost their life.

"Our hearts and thoughts and prayers just go out to the Steenkamp family."

A spokesman for the Steenkamp family Nicholas Van Eden later said: "We're not sure what to feel in the case. We just want to know the truth, and whatever happens it's not going to bring Reeva back.

Pistorius left the courtroom in a silver vehicle

"We just want justice and the truth."

The Olympian's uncle Arnold Pistorius said: "Although we are obviously relieved that Oscar has been granted bail, this is still a very sad time for the family of Reeva and for us.

"We are grateful that the magistrate recognised the validity and strength of our application.

"As the family, we are convinced that Oscar's version of what happened on that terrible night will prove to be true."

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British Girl Dies On School Ski Trip In Italy

A 13-year-old British girl has been killed in a ski-ing accident while on a school trip in Italy.

Named by Sky sources as Poonam Bhattal, the teenager fell over 20ft from a ski lift onto a hardened snow piste in Claviere, in the Piedmot region in the north of the country.

She toppled to the ground, surviving the initial impact, but was pronounced dead by paramedics on the way to hospital.

More follows...

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Paxman: Savile Claims Were 'Common Gossip'

Top BBC executives denied having ever heard about Jimmy Savile's sex crimes, despite Newsnight host Jeremy Paxman's claim they were "common gossip".

Both former Director General Mark Thompson and Director of News Helen Boaden told an internal BBC inquiry they had never heard any "rumours" about the DJ and presenter.

The details were included in thousands of pages of evidence gathered during an inquiry by former Head of Sky News Nick Pollard.

It was set up last year to investigate if management failings were behind Newsnight's decision to drop its Savile investigation in December 2011, weeks before a Christmas tribute was broadcast.

The revelations about Savile, which were later broadcast by ITV, led to a major criminal investigation and focused attention on what police described as decades of predatory sexual crimes committed by the star.

Mr Paxman said the BBC's handling of the decision to drop its investigation was "almost as contemptible" as its behaviour during the years the DJ was one of its biggest names.

He said: "It was, I would say common gossip, that Jimmy Savile liked, you know, young - it was always assumed to be girls."

He added: "I had no evidence. But it was common gossip, I think."

Mr Thompson, who spent 30 years at the corporation in two separate stints, said he had never worked with Savile.

He said: "I had never heard any rumours at all, if you like of a dark side of any kind, sexual or otherwise about Jimmy Savile".

Ms Boaden said she "had never heard any dark rumours about Jimmy Savile" but did meet him at a lunch for veteran radio presenters.

Paxman: Savile was 'absurd' figure

She said: "He came to the lunch, he kissed my hand at the beginning, he kissed my hand at the end, he said not a word to me between those events".

Mr Paxman told the inquiry "the important question" was how Savile had been allowed to rise to prominence within the BBC.

He said: "What was the BBC doing promoting this absurd figure, this absurd and malign figure? And I think that has to do with the fact of the BBC having been aloof from popular culture for so long."

A producer at the BBC proposed running an investigation into child abuse carried out by Savile hours after the presenter's death, evidence gathered during the inquiry revealed.

An email released among thousands of pages of evidence from the report said that producer Meirion Jones suggested the show soon after it was known the former DJ had died.

Mr Jones - who was involved in the axed Newsnight investigation that prompted the Pollard inquiry - proposed the idea in an email headed "Jimmy Savile - paedophile".

He told BBC news bosses that some of the girls who had been molested by Savile were ready to talk about their experiences.

The email is among hundreds of documents and transcripts of interviews with senior figures that have now been released by the BBC.

Sky News' Media Correspondent Niall Paterson says the material from the report is in a format that makes it very difficult to review quickly.

He said it has been scanned and placed online by the BBC in a way that does not allow it to be electronically searched - meaning anyone wishing to locate particular passages must pore through the entire report.

Many of the pages feature sections that have been redacted to remove passages that lawyers feel could be libellous.

It has emerged that the Savile piece would have been shown on December 7, 2011, but Newsnight editor Peter Rippon decided the focus of the story should be changed to look at the Crown Prosecution Service's involvement.

'Flawed': Peter Rippon comes in for criticism in the report

Meirion Jones warned just days before the planned broadcast that it should go ahead because otherwise the BBC would be accused of a "cover-up" and a scandal could blow up.

He wrote: "I think if we go ahead with TX (transmission) next week there will be minor embarrassment to the BBC.

"If we cancel or delay till after Christmas there is a risk of another BBC scandal on the scale of the Queen or Jonathan Ross and similar damage to our core value of trust."

He urged the broadcast to go ahead because he said it would come out eventually, adding: "We know News International are all over this story."

Another of those interviewed, former Director General George Entwistle, told the inquiry the BBC had self-censored hundreds of comments placed by members of the public on a corporation tribute website to Savile.

The comments, which included one person who wrote "One of my best friends in 1972 was molested by this creep Savile. He was never the same again. Killed himself in 1985. How's About That Then?", were stopped from being published by a team of moderators.

The Pollard Review  - which cost the corporation about £2m - concluded that the investigation in Savile was abandoned because of a "flawed" decision by the show's then editor, Peter Rippon.

Mr Rippon told Mr Pollard how he felt about making the decision.

He said:  "It was a fine judgement ... particularly because you are conscious of the kind of obligation and duty of care to the women that they are doing, that it makes it quite a big judgement to make."

The latest evidence is likely to place further criticism on the corporation for an apparent reluctance to hold to account executives whose actions brought about the crisis.

BBC chairman Lord Patten said: "These documents paint a very unhappy picture, but the BBC needs to be open - more open than others would be - in confronting the facts that lie behind Nick Pollard's report.

"A limited amount of text has been blacked out for legal reasons, but no one could say that the effect has been to sanitise this material, which again puts a spotlight on some of our failings. We need to acknowledge these shortcomings and learn from them."

Meanwhile, Scarborough Council has said it is likely that Savile will be formally stripped of his freedom of the borough title.

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Horsemeat: Caterers Pull Beef Products

Two leading UK catering firms have announced the withdrawal of frozen beef products after horse DNA was found.

Sodexo, which supplies food to schools, care homes and the Armed Forces, said beef had been pulled from its UK sites "with immediate effect".

The firm said despite "repeated guarantees" from suppliers, its checks had uncovered a frozen beef product that tested positive for equine DNA.

Another firm, Scotland Excel, which works mainly with councils, said it advised customers to stop using stocks of frozen burgers after horse DNA was found in a frozen beefburger at North Lanarkshire Council.

The company, which named Brakes as their supplier, stressed the move was a precaution.

Sodexo said its Tillery Valley Foods business, which supplies meals to the healthcare sector, was not affected.

A spokeswoman would not confirm which of its sites had been supplied with the frozen products. Catering at Ascot Racecourse, which hosts Royal Ascot, attended each year by the Queen, is run by Sodexo Prestige, according to the firm's website.

The spokeswoman also declined to name the supplier of the beef products which tested positive for horse DNA and would not say if it was a British or Irish manufacturer.

It comes hours after the owner of Birds Eye recalled ready meals from shelves in four countries.

The brand's traditional spaghetti bolognese 340g, shepherd's pie 400g and beef lasagne 400g are being withdrawn from sale in the UK and Ireland.

Birds Eye withdrew its beef lasagne from sale in the UK and Ireland

They were made by supplier Frigilunch NV, which also produces a branded chilli con carne sold in Belgium that has tested positive for traces of horsemeat.

Birds Eye said: "We want to reassure you from the testing we have completed that all Birds Eye beef burgers, beef pies and beef platters do not contain horse DNA.

"Whilst this is not a food safety issue, it is clearly unacceptable. In accordance with our high standards, we are immediately withdrawing this product from sale in Belgium."

Iglo Foods Group, the parent company of Birds Eye, said in addition to the three product recalls in Britain and the same meals in Ireland, it was withdrawing eight products in Belgium and one in the Netherlands.

The Continental food recall also affects ox tongue, mince, meat balls and hamburgers.

In recent weeks it has emerged European meat supply chains had been contaminated with horsemeat, which forced a number of British supermarkets to recall products.

The France-based Findus food company has also been hit by the scandal.

The Birds Eye revelation comes after it initiated a Europe-wide testing programme for horse DNA of its suppliers and on its finished beef products.

Environment Secretary Owen Paterson said: "It's unacceptable for any products to be marked as beef, when they also contain horse meat. Thankfully these results show that the vast majority of products on our shelves match what's on the label.

"Food businesses from throughout the industry, including retailers, manufacturers, caterers and other wholesalers, are putting enormous effort into getting this testing completed as quickly as possible. It's an important first step from them in rebuilding the certainty and trust that consumers deserve."

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) released the latest tranche of test results submitted by the food industry earlier. They showed that out of 1,133 meat products checked, only six - including Sodexo's - were positive for horse.

Results of industry tests on 2,501 beef products collated by the FSA last week revealed 29 positive results, relating to Aldi's special frozen beef lasagne and special frozen spaghetti bolognese, Co-op frozen quarter-pounder burgers, Findus beef lasagne, Rangeland's catering burger products, and Tesco Value frozen burgers and Value spaghetti bolognese.

The FSA said no tests to date on samples containing horse DNA have found the veterinary drug phenylbutazone, or bute, to be present.

Retailers have completed about 90% of their tests so far, while manufacturers, caterers and wholesalers have completed about 80% of their tests, according to the FSA. Further test results are due next Friday.

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Beheading Trial: Attacker 'Didn't Look Human'

A British couple broke down in tears as they told a court of the moment they saw a man "who did not look human" decapitate a grandmother in front of them in Tenerife.

Kenneth and Susan Bennison gave evidence in the murder trial of homeless Bulgarian drug addict Deyan Deyanov at the Provincial Court in Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

Deyanov, 29, denies stabbing Jennifer Mills-Westley to death in a shop in the popular resort of Los Cristianos on May 13, 2011.

Mr and Mrs Bennison, from Warrington, were both tearful when they described how they witnessed the attack on the 60-year-old from just metres away as they shopped during their holidays.

Speaking via videolink from the UK, Mrs Bennison said she heard a "very strange noise" and looked to her right where she saw a man kneeling on the ground, repeatedly stabbing a lady she had previously passed in the aisle.

She said the man "looked unclean, wild and he did not look human".

Jennifer Mills-Westley was a grandmother of five

He told the jury of nine that the perpetrator looked "quite calm" as he carried out the assault, adding nothing was said between the grandmother of five and the attacker.

"We heard her gasp for breath. He withdrew the knife out of her neck and then put it back in again. That's when I got my wife out of the building," he said.

Ms Mills-Westley's daughters, Sarah Mills-Westley, 43, from Norwich, and Samantha Mills-Westley, 39, who lives in the Midi-Pyrenees region of France, were in court for the trial's second day.

Samantha Mills-Westley wiped away tears as she listened to the evidence.

The jury was told Deyanov hears voices which tell him he is an "angel of Jesus Christ" who will create a new Jerusalem.

He has been diagnosed with acute paranoid schizophrenia and has admitted he was a crack cocaine and LSD user.

Police officers told the court of the chaotic scenes when they arrived at the shop.

One officer said: "My colleagues put him (Deyanov) in the car and took him to the police station.

"Until then I had not seen the head but people were shouting, 'There is a head, there is a head' and on the kerb opposite there was indeed a head covered by a blanket."

The trial continues.

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Oscar Pistorius' Defence Team Grills Top Cop

The police detective investigating the killing of Reeva Steenkamp has admitted there were no signs that she had defended herself against an assault before she died.

Oscar Pistorius' defence lawyer Barry Roux grilled investigating officer Hilton Botha as the South African sports star sought bail.

He also raised doubts over the reliability of a witness who said they heard screaming and saw lights on in Pistorius' house after the shots were fired - in direct contradiction of the star's earlier statement.

Mr Roux pointed out that the apparent witness was hundreds of metres away from the house.

The prosecution, which wants to prove the runner had deliberately planned to kill Miss Steenkamp, was also forced to admit that Pistorius' claim that he mistook her for an intruder matched the crime scene.

"It sounds consistent," Mr Botha said.

He also admitted that he walked through the crime scene without foot covers, possibly contaminating it.

"You were in the house walking with unprotected shoes," Mr Roux said. "That should not happen."

Oscar Pistorius denies murdering his girlfriend

A prosecution claim that Pistorius sleeps on the right side of the bed was also challenged.

Mr Roux said: "He normally sleeps on the right side of the bed. But he had a shoulder problem so that evening he slept on the left side."

Mr Botha told the court on Wednesday that a police search found testosterone and needles in Pistorius' bedroom, amid speculation that performance-enhancing drugs may have influenced his mental state.

But Mr Roux said the substance was not testosterone but an acceptable supplement: "It's a herbal remedy and he can use it and he has used it before," he said.

Sky's Alex Crawford, reporting from the court, said: "I think very much the family feels this has been a good day for the defence."

Pistorius, the first double amputee to compete against able-bodied athletes in the Olympics, says he shot his girlfriend by mistake through a locked bathroom door, believing she was a burglar.

The 26-year-old said he kept a firearm under his bed at night because he had been a victim of violence and burglaries before and had received death threats.

But the state prosecutor said the athlete would face an additional charge of possessing unlicenced .38 special calibre ammunition.

Magistrate Desmond Nair said he could not rule out that there was some planning involved in the killing, which may be considered as a premeditated murder, setting a high bar for bail.

The bail hearing was adjourned until Thursday.

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Oscar Pistorius: What Police Found At The Scene

During the second day of Oscar Pistorius' bail hearing, police described what they found in his house after the body of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp was discovered at the foot of stairs on the ground floor.

Bedroom

:: Investigating officer Hilton Botha told the court police found two boxes of testosterone, needles and injections in the bedroom.

Defence lawyer Barry Roux said the box contained herbal medication called Testocompasutium co-enzyme, not testosterone.

:: Mr Botha said a gun holster was found on the left side of the bed where Miss Steenkamp's slippers and overnight bag were.

::  Pistorius illegally possessed .38 calibre ammunition in a safe in his bedroom, according to Mr Botha - but the defence lawyer said it belonged to the athlete's father.

A diagram of Pistorius' house shown in court

Bathroom

:: Mr Botha said he saw a firearm on the shower mat, one bullet case in the passageway and three in the bathroom.

:: Mr Roux said there was a spent bullet inside the toilet bowl, which Mr Botha had failed to find.

:: An iPhone 4 and iPhone 5 were found on the shower mat, which Mr Botha said had not been used to call the ambulance.

However, Mr Roux said Pistorius had called Netcare hospital at 3.20am and the housing complex manager received a call asking for help.

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France's Goodyear Workers 'Too Lazy To Save'

An American tycoon has ruled out the rescue of the Goodyear tyre factory in France because he thinks its workers are "too lazy" to make the business viable.

French minister Arnaud Montebourg had hoped Maurice M Taylor Jr, the president of the American Titan group, would step in to keep the plant in the north of the country going.

But in a letter sent earlier this month to Mr Montebourg, the American said a very emphatic "non".

"I and Titan have a 40-year history of buying closed factories and companies, losing millions of dollars and turning them around to create a good business paying good wages," he wrote.

"Goodyear tried for more than four years to save part of the Amiens jobs that are some of the highest paid around but the French unions and French government did nothing but talk.

Police in Paris are hit with paint at a protest at the closure of Goodyear

"I have visited that factory a couple of times. The French workforce gets paid high wages but works only three hours. They get one hour for breaks and lunch, talk for three and work for three. I told this to the French union workers to their faces. They told me that's the French way!

"You are a politician so you don't want to rock the boat. The Chinese are shipping tyres into France - really all over Europe - and yet you do nothing. The Chinese government subsidises all the tyre companies. In five years, Michelin won't be able to produce tyres in France.

"Sir, your letter states that you want Titan to start a dialogue. How stupid do you think we are? Titan is the one with the money and the talent to produce tyres. What does the crazy union have? It has the French government.

"The French farmer wants cheap tyres. He does not care if the tyres are from China or India and these governments are subsidising them. Your government doesn't care either: "We're French!"

Goodyear announced last month it is to close its main French plant and cut its workforce in the country by almost 40%, as car demand falls and labour disputes increase.

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Ben Fogle Hospital Scare After Drink Spiked

TV presenter and adventurer Ben Fogle has taken to Twitter to recount an incident which left him in hospital at the weekend after his drink was spiked.

"Whoever spiked my drink with mind altering drugs and put me in A&E with a psychotic fit. Did you think of the damage you would cause?" the 39-year-old tweeted.

He revealed earlier how he had suffered what he described as a "full-on psychotic episode" on Friday night when he returned from a pub in Gloucestershire, where he was staying with friends.

Fogle explained how he had been fine when he returned from the pub, having had no more than half a bottle of wine.

Fogle was one of last year's Olympic torch bearers

But, on going to check his children, he realised something was not right.

"I started feeling hypersensitive and I knew something was wrong," he told the Daily Mail. "I picked my daughter up and she felt incredibly light, like a grain of rice.

"I suddenly had this compulsion to jump through a window."

Fogle asked his wife Marina if she was all right and she said she was. Then, he said, he "just flipped ... I was ranting, marching up and down, hitting walls, trying to jump out of windows".

Marina and his friends "corralled" him into the sitting room and kept him there until an ambulance arrived.

Fogle spent about 12 hours in A&E, but because the hospital did not do toxicology tests he was not able to say for sure that the cause of his behaviour was definitely down to a spiked drink.

However, he then spent three days having tests on his heart and brain and being seen by psychiatrists. They have ruled out a neurological or psychological problem, he said, and believe his "turn" was brought about because of a spiked drink.

From what he has now learned - Fogle said he had never taken recreational drugs - he thinks the most likely drug was the hallucinogenic drug LSD.

"Why would someone do it?" he asked. "I have no idea. It seems a bit of a coincidence that I was out with my wife and friends and I was the only person targeted."

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Body In Hotel Water Tank Is Missing Guest

A woman's body found in a tank that supplied water for showers and sinks in a US hotel is that of a missing Canadian guest.

Elisa Lam, 21, was identified using body markings, and investigators are trying to find out if there was foul play or "a very, very strange accident".

A maintenance worker at the Cecil Hotel in Los Angeles found the corpse on Tuesday after guests complained of low water pressure.

Officials spent much of the day struggling to remove it from one of four tanks on the roof.

"The location of the water tanks is very small and configured in a very tight way, so it's a little more difficult to get the body out," said police spokeswoman Sara Faden.

Around two dozen firefighters could be seen cutting through the tank under a canopy that shielded them from news helicopters overhead.

A spokesman for the LA County Department of Public Health said it was investigating the 4ft-by-8ft tanks to determine if the hotel's water supply had been contaminated.

Fire captain Jaime Moore reportedly said the tank where the body was found supplied rooms with water for showers and sinks, as well as being used to clean the hotel's linens.

Victim Elisa Lam travelled alone to California

Captain Moore said a water sample had shown "no biohazard concerns" and the hotel's water tanks were not connected.

Ms Lam, of Vancouver, British Columbia, travelled to California alone on January 27 and was last seen by staff at the hotel on January 31.

At the time of her disappearance, police said it appeared suspicious.

A security video taken in a lift at the hotel and released by police last week showed Ms Lam acting strangely, hiding in a corner and repeatedly peering around the lift doors into the hallway.

She was travelling to Santa Cruz, about 350 miles north of Los Angeles, and officials said she tended to use public transport, including trains and buses.

She had been in touch with her family daily until she disappeared.

The hotel is located in downtown LA, which is near Skid Row, where drug addiction and homelessness is rampant.

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European Horsemeat Scandal Spreads To Asia

Europe's horsemeat scandal has spread to Asia where an imported lasagne brand was taken off the shelves in Hong Kong.

Officials ordered ParknShop, one of the biggest supermarket chains on the island, to take the product off the shelves saying it "might be adulterated with horsemeat which has not undergone tests for veterinary drugs".

The chain, owned by tycoon Li Ka-shing, has about 280 stores in Hong Kong and the neighbouring gaming hub of Macau.

A spokeswoman at the government's food and environmental hygiene department said only one contaminated product had so far been sold in Hong Kong.

The Czech Republic has become the latest European country embroiled in the affair, with food inspectors ordering Tesco to withdraw Nowaco brand frozen "beef" lasagne after horsemeat was found.

Findus is one of the companies whose products have been affected

The Czech Agriculture and Food Inspection Authority said it had found horse DNA in two samples of the Nowaco meals manufactured in Luxembourg.

Inspectors "ordered the seller to immediately withdraw the products from its network," the authority said in a statement.

"We are very sorry about the situation and we will discuss the matter with the supplier," Tesco spokesman Jan Dvorak said, adding the chain had protectively withdrawn the product earlier.

Meanwhile, further tests for horsemeat contamination are being carried out in the UK, with House of Commons catering outlets being dragged into the growing scandal.

The Food Standards Agency is investigating a wide range of products including cafe sandwiches, gelatine, stock cubes and other beef-based foods sold pre-packed or loose.

And the parliamentary authorities said four beef products had been withdrawn from the heavily subsidised eateries used by MPs, peers and staff.

The products withdrawn were steak and kidney pie, beef and onion pie, steak and kidney suet pudding, and beef Italian meatballs, a Commons spokesman said - the tests were later found to be negative.

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Oscar Pistorius: Prosecution Outlines Case

Prosecutors have challenged two of Oscar Pistorius' key claims about the night he shot and killed his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

Investigating officer Hilton Botha said a witness saw lights on after the shooting - despite the Paralympian earlier claiming he was too frightened to switch on the light, fearing intruders were inside his home.

A statement on behalf of the 26-year-old athlete - which was read out in court on Tuesday - also said he was not wearing his prosthetic legs at the time and felt vulnerable.

But Mr Botha said the trajectory of the shots fired through the bathroom door was downward, suggesting Pistorius had been firing from a standing position and must have a been wearing the limbs.

The court was also told that "non-stop shouting" was heard coming from Pistorius' home before Miss Steenkamp was shot dead.

A diagram of Oscar Pistorius' bathroom was shown to the court

Prosecutor Gerrie Nel said a witness heard the shouting between 2am and 3am.

The details were revealed during the 26-year-old athlete's ongoing bail hearing at Pretoria Magistrates' Court.

In an affidavit, Pistorius denied murdering the 29-year-old model at his home in the early hours of Thursday.

He has said the couple were in love - and he fired through a closed toilet door within the bathroom, hitting the victim, thinking a burglar or burglars were inside.

Mr Botha described the moment he arrived at the athlete's house in the early hours of the morning and found Miss Steenkamp's body lying on the ground floor at the bottom of the stairs.

Miss Steenkamp's funeral was held in Port Elizabeth

He said she was dressed in white shorts and a black top, and covered in towels.

The officer told the court that he saw a firearm on the shower mat, and one bullet case in the passageway and three in the bathroom.

He said unlicensed .38 calibre ammunition had been found at his home, and he wanted the Olympian charged with unlawful possession.

Needles and testosterone were also found in his bedroom, the court heard.

The court heard that he had previously arrested Pistorius for assault after a woman complained the athlete had assaulted her - the case was later dropped.

Later in the day Pistorius' lawyers launched a strong defence of the star, and Sky's Alex Crawford said it had been a good day for the defence.

Earlier the Paralympian arrived at the court in the back of a police car with a blue blanket covering his head. He entered the courtroom wearing a dark suit and tie just after 8am UK time.

The chances of Pistorius being given bail lessened at the first bail hearing on Tuesday after Magistrate Desmond Nair ruled the case a schedule six offence - meaning premeditated murder.

It means his lawyers now have to prove "exceptional circumstances" for him to be granted bail until he goes to trial.

Mr Botha told the court that Pistorius is a "flight risk" and could flee if given bail.

He admitted that he initially had no objections to Pistorius being given bail, but changed his mind after speaking to the forensics team.

He said the athlete has offshore accounts and a house in Italy, and stresses that South Africa does not have extradition agreements with all countries.

Pistorius has said he had been a victim of crime and received death threats, but the court heard there were no records of this.

His father Henke and brother Carl - who have supported him in the two previous hearings - looked on from the public gallery.

The proceedings were delayed as more than 100 journalists squeezed into court to report the hearing.

There were chaotic scenes as one reporter fainted, an overflow room was set up to provide more space and courtroom screens had technical problems.

The hearing was adjourned until Thursday, but one court official has speculated that it could run until Friday.

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Vicky Pryce Jury Fails To Reach A Verdict

Pryce Trial: Jury's Questions

Updated: 3:58pm UK, Wednesday 20 February 2013

Here are the 10 questions the jury in the Vicky Pryce case put to the judge on Tuesday.

1. Can a juror come to a verdict based on a reason that was not presented in court and has no facts or evidence to support it, either from the prosecution or defence?."

Judge: "No."

2. "Can you speculate about the events at the time Ms Pryce signed the form or what was in her mind at that time?"

Judge: "No."

3. "If there is debatable evidence supporting the prosecution's case, can inferences be drawn to arrive at a verdict?"

Judge: "The drawing of inferences is a permissible process, speculation is not."

4. Can we infer anything from the fact that the defence did not bring witnesses from the time of the alleged offence, such as an au pair or neighbours?

Judge: "You must not speculate on what witnesses who have not been called might have said or draw inferences from their absence. Her evidence is that no one else, other than Mr Huhne, was present when she signed the form."

5. Is the defendant obliged to present a defence?

The judge said: "There is no burden on the defendant to prove her innocence. On the contrary there is no burden on the defendant to prove anything at all."

6. Can you define "reasonable doubt"?

The judge replied: "A reasonable doubt is a doubt which is reasonable."These are ordinary English words that the law doesn't allow me to help you with beyond the written directions that I have already given."

7. Can you expand on the definition of the defence of marital coercion, providing examples, and whether it requires violence or physical acts?

The judge said it did not require violence or physical threats and meant a woman was so affected by pressure from her husband that she was "impelled" to commit an offence and truly believed she had no real choice.

8. Would religious conviction be a good enough reason for a wife to feel she had no choice, because she promised to obey her husband in wedding vows?

The judge said the question was not about the case, and Pryce had not suggested any such reasoning was behind her decision to take Huhne's points.

9. Which facts in the court bundle can we consider when reaching a verdict?

The judge said: "You decide the case on the evidence. That means it is for you to review all of the evidence and decide which of it you consider to be important, truthful and reliable, and then decide what conclusions, common sense conclusions, you can safely draw by way of inference from that evidence."

10. "In the scenario where the defendant may be guilty but there is not enough evidence provided by the prosecution at the material time when she signed the Notice of Intended Prosecution between May 3-7, 2003, to feel sure beyond reasonable doubt, what should the verdict be, not guilty or unable/unsafe to provide a verdict?"

The judge told them they could only convict if at least 10 of them were sure Pryce was guilty.

He added: "If for whatever reason any one or more of you feel less than confident that you understand and are able to apply my directions of law then it will be wholly wrong for any juror in that position to reach a verdict one way or the other.

"If after further consideration you find yourselves in a position that you are simply not able to agree no matter how much longer you continue to debate and that's going to remain the position, then you must of course have the courage to say so by your foreman sending me a note to that effect."

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Ding Family Murders: Chinese Man Extradited

A Chinese man, who was arrested on suspicion of murdering a family in their home in Northampton, is being extradited to the UK.

Businessman Anxiang Du will appear in Northampton Magistrates' Court on Thursday, police said.

Du was arrested in Morocco last year on suspicion of killing university lecturer Jifeng "Jeff" Ding and his family.

Northamptonshire Police said Du's extradition has been approved by the Moroccan Ministry of Justice in conjunction with the Home Office.

He was expected to arrive in the UK on Wednesday on a flight from Casablanca.

Mr Ding, his wife Helen and their two daughters Alice, 12, and Xing, 18, were found stabbed in Wootton, Northampton, on May 1, 2011.

The murders happened two days before their bodies were discovered.

Deputy Chief Constable Martin Jelley said: "On behalf of Northamptonshire Police, I would like to thank all those who have been involved in this successful extradition, including Michael Ellis MP for his considerable support in progressing this with the relevant authorities."

When Du was arrested by Moroccan authorities last July, detectives said they believed he could have been evading capture in Morocco for more than a year.

He boarded a bus at London's Victoria station shortly after the family were found dead and travelled to Paris, through France and Spain, before catching a ferry from the port of Algeciras to Tangier.

The journey is believed to have taken only a few days, and Du had evaded capture in Morocco ever since.

Du has a background in herbal medicine and police said he had several thousand pounds in cash when he left the UK.

The suspect travelled from Africa in the custody of UK Border Agency officers, and will be held by the Metropolitan Police on arrival.

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