Video: Falling Toddler Caught By Passers-By

Dramatic footage has emerged of passers-by catching a toddler who fell from a fifth floor window.

Chinese central state television CCTV showed video images taken on a security camera of what appeared to be the rescue of a two-and-a-half-year-old girl.

Delivery men stood waiting below as she dangled from the window above on Thursday in Ninghai, Zhejiang Province.

As she plummeted, they dashed to the correct spot to catch the girl, who has been named only as Qiqi.

CCTV quoted the parents as saying that they had left Qiqi home alone while she was sleeping, but that she had climbed on to the window sill after she awoke.

As the girl cried out, workers from a nearby delivery company were alerted and rushed in to the street to see her legs dangling from the window.

After shouting to reassure the girl, they managed to break her fall with their outstretched arms as she plunged to the ground.

The child, named only as Qiqi, was said to be grazed, but recovering well

Two men were injured in the rescue; one hurt his neck, and the other hurt his arm.

Qiqi herself escaped with just a graze to her face.

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Dead Bees: 25,000 Found In Car Park Amid Probe

Around 25,000 bees have been found dead in a shopping centre car park in the US state of Oregon.

They were discovered clustering under dozens of blooming European linden trees in Wilsonville, south-west of Portland.

Experts believe it could be a poisonous species of the tree that caused them to die, or they may have been poisoned by insecticides.

Most were gold-and-black bumble bees but honey bees and some ladybirds were also found dead.

Early investigations suggest the trees were recently sprayed with an insecticide known to be toxic to bees.

One official said experts will be looking at a pesticide called Safari that apparently was applied in the area last Saturday to control aphids such as greenflies.

Safari is part of a family of pesticides called neonicotinoids that are considered acutely toxic to pollinators.

Workers plan to wrap bee-proof netting around the trees in an attempt to prevent the deaths of more bees.

Dan Hilburn, plant programmes director at the state Agriculture Department, visited the car park and confirmed "thousands of dead bees", adding: "I've never seen anything like that before".

He went on: "Honey bees and bumble bees were arriving as we were there, and bees are still dying."

Mace Vaughan and Rich Hatfield collect samples (Pic: CBS)

Bees play a crucial role in pollinating berries, flowers and other plants.

Conservationists Mace Vaughan and Rich Hatfield have been at the scene, filling test tubes with samples to take back to a laboratory.

There, they will try to confirm either theory for the bees' sudden deaths.

"When I was here on Monday, it was even more dramatic than it is today," Mr Hatfield told KOIN-TV. "There were bees raining out of trees."

Mr Vaughan said European linden trees are often treated with insecticides because of the aphids that "rain down" nectar from the trees.

But there is also a chance that it is not insecticide at all. Mr Vaughan took pollen samples and will test the buds and flowers from the trees.

"We can't say for sure that it is something that they put on the tree," Mr Hatfield said, "because these trees are European Linden trees, which have been known to be toxic to bees."

Officials say tests to confirm the cause of the deaths could take two or three days. 

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Girl, 12, Pregnant After Father's Rape In Jail

A 12-year-old girl is two months' pregnant after being raped for years by her father and others in prison - in a case which has sparked outrage in Bolivia.

There has been criticism over the practice of letting youngsters live behind bars, where they are often with convicted relatives because they have no other family, or both parents are already in jail.

About 1,500 young children and adolescents live in Bolivian prisons with their relatives, according to government figures.

This is a situation that critics say is ripe for the kind of abuse suffered by the young girl, who has been offered psychological counselling.

The child told authorities she was repeatedly raped by her father, uncle and godfather since she was eight years old, prisons director Ramiro Llanos said.

University professor and political analyst Carlos Cordero said the girl's situation was in part the result of the "miserable conditions and neglect of the inmates".

The San Pedro prison in La Paz, where 500 children live with their parents and where the incident took place, is infamous because several years ago, visitors could easily buy cocaine as police turned a blind eye.

The prison in the Bolivian capital is infamous

Youngsters share living space with violent criminals, including murderers, rapists, gang members and drug dealers.

They witness the rampant use of alcohol and drugs, as well as the bloody fights that frequently erupt.

"It is traumatic to live in a place like this," said Stefano Toricini, a volunteer for an Italian non-governmental organisation who has provided counselling to children at San Pedro for the past decade.

"The kids live in a state of constant psychological pressure, and the culture of violence that pervades prisons is not for children."

Llanos spent part of his childhood living in a jail with his father, a political prisoner of the country's military dictatorship in the 1960s.

He called on police to "stop being so corrupt and stop allowing children in prisons," in comments to the Pagina Siete newspaper.

For Yolanda Herrera, president of the independent Human Rights Assembly, "the problem is not that children are inside prisons - the problem is that there are no state policies for the protection of children."

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Syria: Rebels Risk Own Lives With DIY Weapons

By Sam Kiley, Middle East Correspondent, in northern Syria

High explosive powder is shaken into the nose cone of an improvised missile through a funnel fashioned from a mineral water bottle.

Then along comes a man with a long bolt. He shoves it down into the powder and starts whacking it with a steel-headed hammer.

One spark, a drift of cigarette ash, and the detonation of this arms factory would be heard and seen for many, many miles.

We agreed with our hosts, Syrian rebels with no connection to al Qaeda-linked groups, that we would not reveal the location of this installation. The reason was obvious.

For more than two years the rebels fighting Bashar al Assad had been begging the outside world for help.

Some of the extraordinary weapons being produced

They had seen how effective a no-fly zone had been in Libya.

A generous interpretation of a United Nations Security Council Resolution which mandated the use of "all necessary means" to protect Libya's civilian population had meant that Nato and her allies were able to deploy aircraft effectively as the rebel air force.

Surely, given the scale of Mr Assad's assault on his own people, the Syrian fighters reasoned, they would get the same sort of support their Libyan brothers had enjoyed. They were wrong.

The West, led by the US, was heavily focused on getting out of, not into, conflicts in the Islamic world. Namely Iraq and Afghanistan.

And there was no chance that Russia would allow a UN resolution that sanctioned the use of air power against its ally in Damascus.

So no no-fly zone and no weapons shipments - aside from limited supplies from Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

The rebels were forced to improvise, or die. Weapons had to be made if they could not be given, or captured.

This explosive device looked like a cartoon bomb

The factory we saw turned out some extraordinary weapons.

The most primitive was a "cannon" which ejected an explosive charge, made from a length of pipe stuffed with explosive which was detonated by a fuse that had to be lit with a match before being fired. It looked like a cartoon bomb.

A similar, smaller, contraption had been made from an old shotgun. The rebels make their explosive out of fertiliser and sugar.

Mortar barrels and rockets are turned on industrial lathes, using pipes bought from a builders' merchant.

The rocket detonators are hand turned. A worker dropped one last week, and paid for the mistake with his life.

"We have invested a lot of money and effort in trying to get better at this, some of us have been killed working here - one man died last week, and many have lost pieces of themselves," said Abu Yahya, the manager of the factory.

The weapons-makers are self-taught engineers

The US has recently decided to send lethal aid to the rebels - not game-changing equipment such as anti-aircraft weapons or tank-killing missiles - just small arms and rocket-propelled grenades.

Syrian rebels elsewhere have said today that they recently received unspecified new weapons and more were expected.

FSA spokesman Louay Muqdad said: "We've received quantities of new types of weapons, including some that we asked for and that we believe will change the course of the battle on the ground.

"We have begun distributing them on the front lines, they will be in the hands of professional officers and FSA fighters," he said.

The US is reluctant to send more powerful equipment because of fears that it could find its way into the hands of al Qaeda-affiliated groups which could then use anti-aircraft missiles to shoot down civilian aircraft.

Prime Minister David Cameron supports arming those rebels with no affiliations to al Qaeda - but whether he can sell the idea to Parliament remains in question.

Many British MPs do not believe that their national interests would be served by backing rebels who may turn against Europe.

But there remains another, more subtle, problem.

The arms factory we saw was a hive of innovation and improvisation. The self-taught engineers were making a remote-controlled rocket launcher out of plastic drainage pipes, the working parts of an adjustable TV satellite receiver and an old starter motor.

That level of artisanal arms manufacturing may, one day, pose a threat to the outside world from people who were abandoned by it.

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Baby Deaths: CQC Exec 'Wanted To Speak Out'

Care Quality Commission media manager Anna Jefferson says she wanted to speak out after being implicated in an alleged cover-up of the organisation's failure to investigate baby deaths in Cumbria.

The health watchdog has revealed its ex-chief executive Cynthia Bower, her former deputy Jill Finney and Ms Jefferson were present during a discussion about deleting an internal review which criticised CQC inspections of University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust, where a number of mothers and babies had died.

The three women deny that they tried to cover up the report and Ms Bower insists she "gave no instruction to delete" the report.

Anna Jefferson denies suggesting the CQC review should be suppressed

Since their names were revealed, Ms Bower has resigned from her current post as a non-executive trustee of the Skills for Health lobbying body, while Ms Finney has been sacked as chief commercial officer of internet domain company Nominet.

More than 30 families have taken action against Furness General - run by Morecambe Bay NHS Trust - in relation to deaths and injuries to mothers and babies since 2008.

It is claimed Ms Jefferson, who still works for the CQC, said during the key meeting, "Are you kidding me? This can never be in the public domain nor subject to FOI (a Freedom of Information request)."

But Ms Jefferson told Sky News she "felt sick" and wanted to waive her anonymity when she realised she was implicated in a review by City consultants Grant Thornton, which was published on Wednesday.

She said she does not remember any instruction to delete the review being given and denies suggesting it could never be made public.

She claimed she pushed for proper external scrutiny of the CQC's actions regarding Morecambe Bay "several times", the last time on July 17, 2012, during a meeting where the CQC's current chief executive David Behan was present.

She said: "The thought of what the families who have lost babies at this hospital have gone through is heartbreaking.

The Health Secretary said those behind any "cover-up" could lose pensions

"I would never have conspired to cover up anything which could have led to a better understanding of what went wrong in the regulation of this hospital and I am absolutely devastated that I have been implicated in this way."

James Titcombe, whose son Joshua died at Furness General Hospital, called for police to interview Ms Bower and senior colleagues after it emerged the CQC's former head and two officials previously declined to speak to officers about the baby's death.

The CQC told Cumbria Police in an email that statements from the trio would "not add any value" as they had no "direct day-to-day" involvement in the case.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has suggested that current or former CQC staff found to have been involved in a cover-up could be stripped of their pensions.

Joshua Titcombe's family raised concerns after he died at Furness Hospital

He said the CQC must follow "due process" but he would back the regulator "absolutely to the hilt" if it chose to take action against individuals.

Asked what action should be taken against those responsible, Mr Hunt told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "These are very, very serious allegations and they should have very, very serious consequences if they are proved.

"I know the CQC are looking into disciplinary procedures and what can be done, what sanctions are available, whether you can have forfeiture of pensions, all those things.

"There has to be due process, but... it is totally appalling that this kind of thing should happen. It's exactly what shouldn't be happening in our NHS.

"It lets down the millions of doctors and nurses who do an amazing job day in, day out, and we have to root it out."

Downing Street said Prime Minister David Cameron agreed that all sanctions should be on the table.

Tory health select committee member Charlotte Leslie called for an inquiry into a "sinister, Mafia-like network at the centre of NHS".

Meanwhile, Mr Behan and current CQC chairman David Prior are to be summoned to appear before the Commons health select committee.

Its chairman, Tory former health secretary Stephen Dorrell, said he has asked for them to be given an "early opportunity" to give evidence.

Morecambe Bay NHS Trust was given a clean bill of health by the CQC in 2010, but an internal review was ordered by the hospital regulator in 2011 into how failings resulting in deaths had gone unnoticed.

Grant Thornton's investigation found that the report was not made public because it was decided it was too critical of the CQC.

The investigators concluded this "might well have constituted a deliberate cover-up" by the CQC employees who decided it should not be made public.

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Gandolfini: Sopranos Star's Funeral Next Week

The funeral for James Gandolfini, who died while on holiday in Italy, will be held next week in New York, a friend of the Sopranos star has said.

Michael Kobold said the funeral will be held on Thursday, Friday or Saturday, depending on when the actor's body is returned to the US.

New Jersey-born Gandolfini died on Wednesday night after collapsing in the bathroom of his Rome hotel. He was 51.

A post-mortem has confirmed he died from a heart attack.

"The autopsy further states that nothing else was found in his system," Mr Kobold told reporters.

A view of the Rome hotel where Gandolfini was staying

"We are all devastated by this loss. James was a devoted husband, loving father of two children and a brother and cousin you can always count on."

Mr Kobold said Gandolfini was "healthy" and "happy" before his death.

"He had a wonderful day, he visited the Vatican, he had dinner at the hotel with his son, awaiting the arrival of his sister," he said.

Gandolfini's portrayal of Tony Soprano earned his three Emmy Awards

Mr Kobold also denied a report in the US media that Gandolfini, who had previously battled with alcohol and drugs, had several alcoholic drinks, including pina coladas, during his last dinner.

"It's nonsense," he said, adding that pina colada would not have been Gandolfini's drink of choice in Rome's heat.

The actor was found by his 13-year-old son, Michael.

Just the day before, they had an al fresco dinner at one of the Italian capital's best known restaurants.

Michael called for help, and first aid was administered by hotel staff pending the arrival of an ambulance, news reports said.

Doctors battled for 40 minutes to try to save his life.

"The resuscitation manoeuvres, including heart massage, etc., continued for 40 minutes," said Claudio Modini, the emergency room chief at Rome's Policlinic Umberto I hospital.

"Then, seeing no electric activity from the heart, this was interrupted and we declared James dead."

Edi Falco played Tony Soprano's wife

Gandolfini had been expected to attend the Taormina Film Fest in Sicily, where he was due to take part in a conversation on American cinema with Marisa Tomei.

Tributes for the actor, who became a household name thanks to his portrayal of Tony Soprano on the hit TV show,  continue to pour in.

Kathryn Bigelow, who directed Gandolfini in Zero Dark Thirty, a film about the hunt for Osama bin Laden in which the actor played the CIA director, said she was devastated.

"James was such an enormous talent, and an even greater spirit. I will be forever grateful for the privilege of working with him, and shall cherish his memories always," she said in a statement.

Actress Edie Falco, who played Tony Soprano's wife Carmela in the show, said her co-star was a man of "tremendous depth and sensitivity".

The ice cream parlour where the last scene of The Sopranos was shot

Brad Pitt, who worked with Gandolfini in The Mexican, said he was "gutted by this loss".

Since The Sopranos ended its six-season run in June 2007, Gandolfini appeared in a number of big-screen roles.

At the time of his death, he had been working on an upcoming HBO series called Criminal Justice.

The Brooklyn crime film Animal Rescue, which was shot this spring, was his final movie. It is expected to be released next year.

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Robber On The Run After Fleeing Court Dock

Police are searching for a teenage robber who fled a court dock as a judge was about to send him to jail.

Unemployed Ricky Kerry, 19, ran from the dock at Southend Crown Court after being sentenced to 28 months in prison for robbery, said Essex Police which has begun a manhunt.

A spokesman added: "He made off on foot at just after 12.45pm in the direction of Baxter Avenue. He was wearing a grey tracksuit and has brown eyes."

It is understood Kerry, of Southend, escaped through heavy double doors at the entrance to the court and down two flights of stairs.

Security guards chased him but could not catch him.

The force said Kerry was being sentenced for a robbery in Southend in April in which he punched a man and took his mobile phone.

Anyone with information should contact Essex Police on 101.

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'Whitey' Bulger: Robert Duvall Attends Trial

Academy Award-winning actor Robert Duvall has joined spectators at the racketeering trial of reputed gangster James "Whitey" Bulger.

Duvall, who starred in mob epics The Godfather and The Godfather: Part II, sat in the back of the courtroom in Boston.

The 82-year-old added some Hollywood spice to the already high-profile trial of a man prosecutors say terrorised Boston during the 1970s and 1980s as the leader of the city's infamous Winter Hill Gang.

Bulger, 83, is accused of being involved in 19 murders. He is also charged with extorting bookmakers, drug dealers and others running illegal businesses.

Bulger was captured in 2011 after nearly 16 years on the run

The trial has already heard the testimony of former Bulger associate and admitted killer, John Martorano, who served 12 years in prison after striking a deal with prosecutors.

The former hitman told jurors he decided to testify against his alleged former "partner in crime" after he learned Bulger had been working as an FBI informant - a revelation that he said "sort of broke his heart".

As Duvall listened in on Friday, a man who survived a shooting allegedly orchestrated by Bulger told jurors it felt like "a firing squad hit us" when a car he was in was peppered by more than 100 bullets.

Frank Capizzi said he was in the back seat behind Albert Plummer when the car was targeted in March 1973. Mr Capizzi was shot several times, while Mr Plummer, a member of a rival gang, was killed.

Mr Capizzi said he soon left Boston out of fear.

Duvall is in Massachusetts this month shooting The Judge. He is playing the title character in the film, which also stars Robert Downey Jr, Billy Bob Thornton and Vincent D'Onofrio.

Duvall played Tom Hagen, a lawyer and adviser to the Corleone family in the award-winning Godfather films, directed by Francis Ford Coppola.

Duvall won a best actor Oscar in 1984 for his role in Tender Mercies.

Bulger's life has already inspired at least one on-screen character, with Jack Nicholson's portrayal of Frank Costello in Martin Scorsese's 2006 film The Departed.

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Jeremy Forrest: Child Sex Teacher Jailed

A teacher who fled to France with his pupil and spent a week on the run has been jailed after admitting five counts of sexual activity with a child.

Jeremy Forrest, who was convicted by a jury yesterday of abducting the schoolgirl, pleaded guilty to the additional charges and was sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison.

During his trial, the prosecution labelled him a "paedophile" and said he "groomed" the vulnerable teenager.

The 30-year-old insists he still loves the youngster, who broke down in tears and told him she was "sorry" as he was found guilty of her abduction.

She did not attend court for his sentencing but in a victim statement her mother said she had been "robbed" of her childhood.

"I feel like the worst mother in the world," she said. "Someone has got my child and I never saw it coming."

Forrest is led onto a plane to be extradited from France last October

Passing sentence, the judge at Lewes Crown Court said Forrest "chose to ignore the cardinal rule of teaching" by starting a sexual relationship with the teenager shortly after her 15th birthday.

"Your behaviour in this period has been motivated by self-interest and has hurt and damaged many people - her family, your family, staff and pupils at the school and respect for teachers everywhere," Michael Lawson QC said.

"It has damaged you too but that was something you were prepared to risk. You now have to pay that price."

He added: "I have seen nothing in the evidence which shows that at any stage you tried to provide proper boundaries between yourself and her, to discourage her, or let other staff deal with the matter appropriately.

"Indeed all the evidence shows that you encouraged her infatuation and provided opportunities for her to communicate with you and be alone with you."

Forrest arrived back in the UK with his head covered

Rumours of Forrest's relationship with the teenager surfaced in February last year, when the pair were spotted holding hands during a flight on a school trip to Los Angeles.

The girl, now 16, who cannot be named for legal reasons, admitted having a crush on Forrest, who taught at Bishop Bell Church of England School in Eastbourne, East Sussex.

They exchanged flirty text messages, tweets and photographs but denied any wrongdoing when pressed by the school.

Fearing their relationship was about to be exposed when police were alerted last September, Forrest abducted the youngster and took her on a cross-Channel ferry to France, where they spent a week on the run.

The couple dyed their hair, assumed false names and dropped a mobile phone into the English Channel in an effort to avoid being caught, but were tracked down after a Europe-wide search.

The family of Jeremy Forrest give their reaction to the sentencing

In a statement read outside court, Forrest's family said he was "very sorry for his actions" during what they described as a "sorry episode for all concerned".

"Despite the verdict and today's sentence, there are many factors in this case which need to be examined and addressed, including the failure to properly act on early warnings," they said.

"We sincerely hope these are looked into and not simply swept under the carpet."

A spokesman for Bishop Bell School said the staff had only "very limited anecdotal hearsay and no evidence of relationship" when concerns were first raised.

He said that before Forrest fled the country, the school had intended to remove him from the classroom while an internal investigation into possible professional misconduct was carried out.

A jury took just two hours to find Forrest guilty of abduction

The spokesman said staff remained "deeply shocked by the actions of Mr Forrest and his betrayal of the trust that was placed in him".

"It is important that the strongest possible message is sent to all who work with children that they hold a position of responsibility and trust for the lives, and wellbeing, of those in their care," he said.

"We take our responsibility extremely seriously and our safeguarding policies and procedures are robust.

"However, we are determined to implement any learning from these events to ensure that all pupils at the school are as safe as they possibly could be."

Jeremy Forrest was sentenced to five-and-a-half years in jail

Detective Chief Inspector Mark Ling, of Sussex Police, said Forrest was in a "position of responsibility, authority and trust over the children in his care, which included this young, vulnerable victim".

"He grossly abused the trust placed in him and his actions caused distress and anxiety amongst parents, family members and the school community," he said.

Nigel Pilkington, of the Crown Prosecution Service, added: "We're pleased that Forrest has been sentenced for the full extent of his criminality, sparing his victim and her family from having to go through another trial."

Forrest, of Petts Wood, London, was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison for each count of sexual activity. The sentences will run at the same time. A one-year sentence for abduction will run consecutively.

The judge also imposed a sexual offences prevention order on Forrest, banning him from working or volunteering with children and unsupervised contact with children forever.

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India: 550 Killed In Floods And Landslides

More than 550 people are now known to have been killed in flash floods and landslides in northern India amid warnings the death toll may rise sharply.

It comes almost a week after earlier than expected monsoon rains caused devastation which has been described as unprecedented in the Himalayan region.

Raging rivers swept away houses, buildings and even entire villages. Bridges and narrow roads leading to pilgrimage towns high in the mountains were destroyed.

The country's home minister Sushilkumar Shinde said 34,000 people have been evacuated so far and another 50,000 were stranded in the region.

Helicopters and thousands of soldiers have been deployed in the rescue effort.

The air force dropped paratroopers, food and medicine for those trapped in up to 100 towns and villages cut off since Sunday in the state of Uttrakhand.

A woman cries as her husband is placed on a stretcher

Many of them are Hindu pilgrims who were visiting four shrines in the area.

Rescuers found 40 bodies in the River Ganges near the holy city of Haridwar, and in the muddy, broken earth left by landslides.

Vijay Bahuguna, chief minister of Uttrakhand, told CNN-IBN: "556 bodies have been noticed by the army... either floating or buried in slush. This kind of disaster has never happened in Himalayan history."

A man searches along the banks of the Yamuna River

Mr Bahguna said the eventual death toll would be in the hundreds and he attacked the India Meteorological Department (IMD) for not issuing adequate warning ahead of the heavy rains.

"The IMD warning was not clear enough," he said.

Uttrakhand spokesman Amit Chandola said the rescue operation centred on evacuating nearly 27,000 people trapped in the worst-hit Kedarnath temple area.

This is one of the holiest Hindu temples dedicated to Lord Shiva, located atop the Garhwal Himalayan range.

A man unlocks the door of his flooded home

The temple escaped major damage, but debris covered the area around it and television images showed the bodies of pilgrims strewn around the area.

Soldiers and other workers re-opened dozens of roads by building makeshift bridges, as the evacuation moved forward, Mr Chandola said.

More than 2,000 vehicles carrying stranded Hindu pilgrims have moved out of the area since late Thursday, he added.

Rakesh Sharma, another state official, had said the death toll might reach the thousands but the exact figure would not be known until the entire region is checked.

Yashpal Arya, the state's relief minister, told AFP: "So many are missing across the state. The numbers of the dead could rise sharply in the days to come."

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Amanda Knox Ruling Cites 'Sex Game' Theory

Italy's top criminal court has said its decision to order a retrial of Amanda Knox and her ex-boyfriend in the murder of Meredith Kercher was made because their acquittals contained shortcomings and contradictions.

The Court of Cassation also said the possibility that Briton Miss Kercher was killed in a sex game that had got out of hand needs to be revisited.

Knox and her Italian ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito were initially found guilty of killing the 21-year-old Leeds University student, but both were cleared on appeal in 2011.

In March of this year, however, Italy's top court overturned the acquittals and ordered a retrial. That court has only now issued its written reasoning for doing so.

Knox was convicted in 2009

It picked apart the lower court's judgment freeing Knox, saying it contained "shortcomings, contradictions and inconsistencies" and "openly collides with objective facts of the case".

The high court's 74-page document also said the judges who freed Knox undervalued the fact that the American had initially accused a man of committing the crime who had nothing to do with it.

Miss Kercher's body was found in November 2007 in her bedroom of the house she shared with Knox in Perugia. Her throat had been slashed.

Knox and Sollecito have denied any involvement, saying they were not in the apartment at the time.

Raffaele Sollecito was Knox's boyfriend at the time of the murder

A young man from Ivory Coast, Rudy Guede, was convicted of the killing in a separate proceeding and is serving a 16-year sentence.

But Guede is not believed to have acted alone.

The high court judges said the retrial would serve to "demonstrate the presence of the two suspects in the place of the crime".

They said hypotheses that must be considered involve "a group erotic game that blew up and went out of control", and urged the retrial to conduct a full examination of evidence to resolve the ambiguities.

No date has been set for the retrial.

Knox, who left Italy a free woman after her 2011 acquittal, is back in Seattle and is not expected to attend the new trial.

Italian law cannot compel her to return as defendants can be tried in absentia.

She has recently released a book titled Waiting To Be Heard.

Knox was emotional in Seattle after her 2011 acquittal

Sollecito has spent time in Switzerland trying to start a new life, but it has emerged that his residency permit has been revoked by the Swiss authorities.

In his application, he failed to mention his involvement in a criminal case, Italian news reports said.

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Kim Jong-Un 'Hands Out Hitler's Mein Kampf'

North Korea has threatened to kill the "human scum" responsible for an article that claimed its leader handed out copies of Hitler's autobiography for his birthday.

The article, by New Focus International, an online news portal run by North Korean defectors, said Kim Jong-Un had given copies of Mein Kampf to his top officials, urging them to study it as a leadership skills manual.

He distributed translations of the dictator's manifesto for his birthday in January, the report said, citing an unnamed North Korean official working in China.

"Mentioning that Hitler managed to rebuild Germany in a short time following its defeat in World War I, Kim Jong-Un issued an order for the Third Reich to be studied in depth and asked that practical applications be drawn from it," the source was quoted as saying.

North Korea's police agency has reacted angrily to the claims and has called the report a "thrice-cursed crime".

Hitler's autobiography Mein Kampf

"We are ... determined to take substantial measures to physically remove despicable human scum who are committing treasons," it said in a statement carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency.

"Sordid human scum will never be able to look up to the sky nor be able to find an inch of land to be buried after their death," it said. 

It also vowed to launch "merciless punishment of justice" against South Korea and the United States, accusing the two nations of encouraging the defectors to defame its ruler.

Mein Kampf (My Struggle), written in 1924 while Hitler was languishing in a Bavarian prison before becoming Chancellor of Germany, is both a vicious anti-Semitic tract and a rambling memoir.

The Kim family dynasty has ruled North Korea with an iron fist and pervasive personality cult for more than six decades.

Kim Jong-Un took over the isolated communist state after the death of his father Kim Jong-Il in December 2011.

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Woman And Child 'Used As Slaves' In Ohio

A mentally disabled woman and her child were allegedly kept as slaves by three people who threatened them with snakes and a pit bull dog.

The woman and child, who the Federal Bureau of Investigation have not named, were held for many months in a basement in Ashland, Ohio.

Ashland is just 60 miles south of Cleveland, where three missing women who had themselves allegedly been held captive were discovered recently.

The FBI, who issued an indictment against the Ashland woman's alleged captors, said they threatened and abused her, and threatened the child with snakes.

Later, they allegedly forced the woman and child to sleep in a padlocked room with a "large iguana".

Jessica Hunt with her snakes that were allegedly used to terrify the child

The woman finally escaped by stealing sweets from a shop, prompting police to arrest her.

She told officers she would rather go to jail than go home as her housemates "were mean to her".

Her alleged tormentors have been arrested on human trafficking charges.

Jordie Callahan, 26, Jessica Hunt, aged 31, and 33-year-old Daniel Brown were detained on Tuesday and charged by the FBI with forced labour.

Callahan was also charged with an additional count of tampering with a witness. Callahan and Hunt are said to be in a relationship.

Stephen D. Anthony, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI's Cleveland Office, said: "These defendants violated the victim's most basic civil right, freedom, by exploiting her most basic instinct, the protection of her child.

"The FBI continues to aggressively pursue and bring to justice those individuals who abuse and harm innocent members of our community."

The FBI said the alleged 'slavery' began in May 2011 and continued until October 2012, when the woman was arrested by police.

They identified the woman only as S.E.

An FBI statement, outlining an affidavit which contained the allegations, said: "Callahan and Hunt forced S.E. to clean the house, do laundry, walk to the store to do their shopping, and care for their numerous pit bulls and reptiles.

Hunt and Callahan kept pit bulls that were allegedly used against the pair

"S.E. was timed when she went to the store and was not allowed to bring her child with her.

"At various points, Callahan threatened S.E. with a gun. S.E. and her child initially were forced to sleep on a cement floor in the basement with no mattress.

"Later, they were moved to a room upstairs, again with no bed or mattress.

"Callahan and Hunt also repeatedly taunted and threatened S.E. and (her child) with injury from the couple's snakes, including a poisonous coral snake, a ball python, and a Burmese python that weighed 130 pounds."

The affidavit said the three slammed a rock into the woman's hand on one occasion and injured her back on another so she could get medication for the pain, which they then used.

When she fled, one of those who she lived with alleged that the woman had abused the child herself. Police investigated, but have taken no further action.

Andrew Hyde, who has represented Callahan, called the charges against his client ludicrous and said the woman moved in and out as she pleased.

Mr Hyde said: "There was never any forced labour, any forced co-habitation. She was never forced to do anything."

He said: "She used this story to get out of trouble she was in," referring to the abuse she allegedly carried out on her child.

Mr Hyde accused federal investigators of not looking at all the evidence before jumping to conclusions.

Callahan's mother, Becky Callahan of Ashland, told the Associated Press that the allegations were "all lies."

She said that the alleged victim was friends with her son and Hunt, her son's girlfriend, and that they tried to help the woman out by offering her a place to live because she didn't have a home.

A federal defence attorney for Hunt, Ed Bryan, said his client will plead not guilty and said there were credibility issues with the mother.

A little more than a month ago, three women were freed from a house in Cleveland, Ohio where a man allegedly imprisoned them for a decade, raping them during that time and fathering a child with one of them.

Ariel Castro has pleaded not guilty to more than 300 counts against him, which include kidnapping, rape and felonious assault.

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Boy Charged Over Sister's Wrestling Death

A 13-year-old boy has been charged with killing his five-year-old half-sister after he allegedly struck her many times with wrestling moves imitated from TV.

The boy, from New Orleans, was charged with second-degree murder.

"The 13-year-old reported he started to wrestle with the victim and practised WWE-style wrestling moves on the five-year-old," said Colonel John Fortunato, of the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office.

Those moves allegedly included repeatedly slamming the girl on a bed, punching her in the stomach, jumping on her and striking her with his elbow.

The girl complained of a stomach ache and when she stopped breathing, the boy called 911.

Emergency services could not revive her and she was pronounced dead in hospital.

A coroner's investigation found that the girl had died of multiple injuries, including broken ribs, lacerations of the liver and internal bleeding.

Wrestling's WWE has offered condolences to the victim's family, but it cautioned against attributing the death to the sport.

In a statement it said: "Authorities have already charged the accused with second-degree murder and determined that this was not an accidental death due to a wrestling move," the organisation said.

"As in similar cases, criminal intent to harm and a lack of parental supervision have been the factors resulting in a tragic death."

The boy had been left to babysit the girl by his stepmother when the alleged beating occurred, authorities said.

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Pelka Case: Boy 'Looked Like He Had Worms'

By Lisa Dowd, Midlands Correspondent

The aunt of a four-year-old boy who died after allegedly being starved over several months has told a court that she thought he had "worms".

The prosecution claims that Daniel Pelka died of a head injury after being subjected to a campaign of "incomprehensible" cruelty by his mother and stepfather.

Magdelena Luczak and her partner Mariusz Krezolek deny murder and causing or allowing Daniel's death.

Speaking through an interpreter, Luczak's sister Sylvia, 24, told Birmingham Crown Court that she had discussed with her sister Daniel's unusual behaviour at school, where he would steal food.

"It was very difficult for me," she told the court.

"I felt very anxious about that, I thought he had worms.

"I experienced sometimes, when he was at my house, he ate a lot and then he was hungry again after that."

Later Ms Luczak told the jury: "Because he was eating so much, yet he was still very thin, I thought something must be wrong with him."

She said her sister assured her that she was feeding her child and that Daniel had seen a doctor one month before his death in March last year.

She also said Magdelena told her that Daniel's natural father "had the same eating problems".

Ms Luczak said she had noticed her nephew getting thinner three months before his death. She saw him a few days before he died and told the court he "was pale and sad".

Ms Luczak said her sister had had bad relationships with men and that "sometimes she drank too much".

She said the couple argued when they were drinking together and became violent.

Jurors were told Krezolek "wasn't nice" towards Daniel, and called him "ginger".

She said she thought Daniel was "scared of him" and she had seen her sister smacking the boy on his bottom. She had once noticed a bruise on his head.

Ms Luczak said she had told her sister to leave her partner and offered to help her.

She told the court she was called to the couple's house after Daniel's death and said the couple told her he had been sleeping when he stopped breathing.

Later she had a conversation with his stepfather, saying: "He said that Daniel was beaten up several times and nothing happened before, then Mariusz started crying."

She said her sister was sitting holding Daniel's photo at the time: "She didn't react at all when he said that ... I think she was shocked."

The prosecution has alleged that Daniel was "imprisoned" in his bedroom at his home in Coventry and force-fed salt.

Daniel's body was found to have 24 distinct areas of injury and was "extremely emaciated".

Krezolek, 33, and Luczak, 27, have both admitted a charge of child cruelty but deny causing Daniel's death.

The trial continues.

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Obama Speaks In Berlin 50 Years After JFK

By Robert Nisbet, Europe Correspondent

President Obama has used a visit to Berlin to call for a reduction in the number of nuclear weapons deployed by the US and Russia, and to defend the controversial Prism surveillance programme.

The city has been the venue for historic pronouncements by US Presidents before: John F Kennedy famously declared "Ich bin ein Berliner" 50 years ago, while Ronald Reagan asked President Gorbachev to "tear down this wall".

In this speech, the current American leader told an invited audience at the Brandenburg Gate that he would like to see nuclear arsenals in Russia and the US slimmed down further.

He said: "After a comprehensive review, I've determined that we can ensure the security of America and our allies, and maintain a strong and credible strategic deterrent, while reducing our deployed strategic nuclear weapons by up to one third."

The Russian response to President Obama's offer for talks on reducing nuclear weapons was far from promising.

President Vladimir Putin reiterated Moscow's concerns about anti-missile shields in Europe and the level of accuracy now possible with America's conventional weapons.

Mr Obama met with Angela Merkel

Moscow also said it wanted other powers as well as Russia and the US to be involved in any discussions on future nuclear arms cuts.

Both men discuss non-proliferation when they met on the sidelines of a G8 summit in Northern Ireland this week.

Mr Obama last visited Berlin's Tiergarten in 2008 when he was still a senator for Illinois, receiving a rock star welcome from a crowd of 200,000 people.

As the crowd chanted his campaign slogan "Yes We Can", his political rivals back in the US used the event to mock his status as an international celebrity, rather than a weighty candidate capable of rescuing America from the growing economic crisis.

Some harsh editorials in the German press suggest Barack Obama's political patina has been tarnished since he moved into the White House.

Frankfurter Allgemeine noted that there has been a "gradual cooling of enthusiasm" amongst Germans for the US President, now in his second term.

The secret surveillance programmes have stirred anger

It cites a number of different issues: America's continued use of unmanned drones, the "Prism" surveillance scandal in which German Facebook users saw their data passed to US intelligence services and the failure of the administration to close Guantanamo Bay detention camp.  

President Obama sought to defend Prism saying the US was not "rifling through Germans' emails".

He said: "All of it is done under the oversight of the courts. And as a consequence, we've saved lives.

"We know of at least 50 threats that have been averted because of this information not just in the United States, but, in some cases, threats here in Germany. So lives have been saved."

Moscow and Washington could not bridge differences on Syria during the G8

Chancellor Angela Merkel was cool in her response, suggesting any programme had to be "proportionate" and balanced with protections for civil liberties.

There is also a growing gulf between the US President and the German Chancellor over how to address the continuing slump besetting the global economy.

While he favours stimulus and quantative easing to kick-start the US economy, Angela Merkel still believes in budgetary restraint both in Germany and among other Eurozone countries.

The US administration has urged leaders in Europe to reconsider austerity as the sole policy response, and to use investment to trigger a return to growth.

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Rihanna Hits Fan With Microphone At Concert

YouTube footage has emerged of Rihanna apparently hitting a fan with her microphone after her arm was grabbed during a concert.

The star is seen reaching out to fans during the performance at the LG Arena in Birmingham on Monday night before a member of the audience grabs her sleeve.

The 25-year-old then strikes the fan with her microphone before walking away.

Rihanna remained unapologetic after the incident, taking to Twitter to say she did it on "purpose".

She added "that b**** won't let me go".

The incident took place in front of crowd control barriers, with the Barbadian singer flanked by several security guards.

According to some news reports, Rihanna hit the fan in the face. However, this cannot be verified by the footage.

Rihanna is currently on her Diamonds world tour in the UK and will next perform in Sunderland.

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Kate To Give Birth At Same Hospital As Diana

By Paul Harrison, Royal Correspondent

The Duchess of Cambridge will give birth at the same hospital wing where Diana, Princess of Wales, had Princes William and Harry.

Sky News has also learned that Kate is expected to have a natural birth at the private suites of the Lindo Wing in St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, next month.

Despite months of speculation, she and Prince William have chosen not to find out the gender of their first child in advance of its arrival.

While Kate's exact due date remains a closely-guarded secret, Kensington Palace says Prince William intends to be by his wife's side during labour, despite being on duty in Anglesey in the run up to the Duchess' due date.

Details have also emerged about the medical team set to be alongside the Duchess once she is admitted to hospital.

The Queen's former gynaecologist, Marcus Setchell, will deliver the baby.

Charles and Diana leaving St Mary's Hospital with baby William in 1982

Mr Setchell, who delivered the Countess of Wessex's two children, also assisted Kate after last year being admitted to hospital suffering from acute morning sickness.

Assisting Mr Setchell will be the Queen's current gynaecologist Alan Farthing, the former fiancé of murdered TV presenter Jill Dando.

Having undergone extensive refurbishment and now comprising 17 en-suite rooms, the Lindo Wing boasts on its website it is a "dedicated facility which provides modern, world-class consultant-led care in one of the UK's leading teaching hospitals".

At a cost of well in excess of £5,000 for the first night, the Duchess is expected to take up one of the suites equipped with satellite television, radio, a fridge and a choice of newspaper brought to the room each morning.

"We offer a comprehensive wine list should you wish to enjoy a glass of champagne and toast your baby's arrival," the website adds.

The Duchess at her last solo public engagement before the birth

Kensington Palace told Sky News: "This will be a deeply private moment. But the couple recognises that this is also a moment for national celebration."

It has also become clear how the announcement will be made upon the birth of the future monarch who will become third in line to the throne.

Taking precedence over new media such as Twitter, the first indication Kate has given birth will be when a bulletin or 'notice of birth' is publicly transferred from the Paddington hospital by car to Buckingham Palace.

The notice, signed by key medical staff, will confirm the time of birth, weight and gender of the couple's baby, and will be placed by a footman on an easel on the Palace forecourt in public view.

The easel is understood to be the same as that used for the announcement of Prince William's birth in 1982.

The Queen will be among the first to hear of the birth

But the bulletin will be transferred from the hospital only once key members of the Royal family, including the Queen, and the Middleton family have been notified about the good news.

But birth announcement plans will likely be adapted should the Duchess of Cambridge be admitted to hospital late in the evening or during the night.

Kensington Palace says it is unclear at this stage when the name of William and Kate's baby will be announced.

In the case of Prince Harry, it was on the day he was born, but it took a few days before the name 'William' came to light.

After pausing for photographs as a family for the first time on the steps of the Lindo Wing once Kate is discharged, it is understood Prince William will take the statutory two weeks paternity leave before returning to work as a search and rescue pilot.

The length of maternity leave for the Duchess is thought to be a personal and private matter for the couple.

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Jeremy Forrest 'Feared Schoolgirl Was Suicidal'

A teacher accused of abducting a schoolgirl and taking her to France only accompanied her abroad because he feared she may kill herself, a court has heard.

Jeremy Forrest's defence lawyer told the jury at his trial that the pupil involved was "very desperate, had suicidal thoughts and she was assertive".

Lewes Crown Court was also told the 30-year-old, who denies a charge of child abduction, will not be giving evidence during his trial.

The jury previously heard that the pupil was 15 years old when she began a sexual relationship with Forrest after developing a crush on him at Bishop Bell CofE School in Eastbourne, Sussex.

Fearing they were about to be exposed, Forrest booked them on a cross-Channel ferry from Dover to Calais last September before spending a week on the run in France.

Defence lawyer Ronald Jaffa told the jury the scenario Forrest feared was a a "realistic situation" and that the defendant had acted to ensure her well-being.

He said it was not a case of Romeo and Juliet

"In that play the lovers died in the end, a pair of star-crossed lovers is the way Shakespeare put it," he said.

"Fortunately Jeremy chose to go to see her and go with her, what could have happened if he had not?

"What would it matter if she had money or not, she could have hitch-hiked, she could have ended up in a city alone, desperate, suicidal. She was very desperate, she had suicidal thoughts and she was assertive.

"If he had not taken her, the alternative consequences were likely to be much worse.

"If he had taken her back to her mother or the police, no-one would be able to stop her, it may indeed have been the catalyst for worse consequences."

Forrest broke down in tears as a witness statements praising him were read out in court .

Benedict Beaumont, a former ICT teacher at Bishop Bell School, said: "Jeremy was one of the most gifted teachers that I have ever met.

"In my opinion, one of the reasons that he was such a good teacher was that he cared deeply about the welfare of all his pupils.

"He was popular with pupils and staff at the school, but more importantly was respected by everyone as a talented and conscientious teacher.

"He is still relatively young but had a very bright future in teaching ahead of him."

Forrest continued crying as a statement from his sister, Carrie Hanspaul, said she believed his caring nature had got him into trouble.

"Jeremy has always been the quietest of us all," her statement said.

"He is very good natured and extremely mild-mannered. He never has a bad word to say about anyone and always strives to do whatever he can to help other people and care for them.

"Unfortunately I believe this has contributed to his recent actions. Jeremy has been in a very difficult relationship for the last six years but did not want to worry any of his family, especially our parents, with his problems.

"Instead he withdrew more and more and tried to deal with the issues himself. I believe he became more and more depressed."

A statement provided by his best friend, Dale Ives Routlett, said Forrest had "always been a thinker, not a person who made rash decisions without taking consequences into account".

Summing up the prosecution case, Richard Barton told the jury Forrest could be considered as a "paedophile" who had "groomed" the schoolgirl.

"You do not have to decide whether he was a paedophile; you may consider, in the context of what he did, that is not an inappropriate label for him," he said.

"It is about his desires to have that young sexual flesh, to satisfy his own carnal lusts. You may feel it had nothing to do with her, it was to do with him, with his desires.

"You may feel he is a man who is flattered by the attention of very young, vulnerable girls.

"There is a word for it. It's called grooming - being caring, being kind, being close, gaining confidence, gaining the trust of that person and then you can do what you want to do with them."

Mr Barton also said it was not a case of Romeo and Juliet as they would have to have been "equal" partners in what happened. He said in this case it was Forrest who organised the elopement.

"A teenager isn't going to get out of Eastbourne, let alone out of the country," he said.

Then, directing his speech at Forrest, he said: "How did you feel, Mr Forrest, that first time with that 14-year-old girl in the classroom in her school uniform, when you kissed her the first time?"

Judge Lawson adjourned the case until tomorrow when he will sum up the case before sending the jury out to consider its verdict.

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Baby Deaths 'Cover-Up': Health Sec Apologies

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has said the covering-up of failures by an NHS watchdog to properly investigate baby deaths should never have happened.

The Care Quality Commission has been accused of destroying their own report into maternity units that were part of University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Trust.

An independent investigation found the CQC failed to properly inspect the Morecambe Bay Trust, where up to 16 babies died.

Joshua Titcombe died in Furness General Hospital after staff failures

In one of a raft of measures the government plans to prevent problems in the future, Mr Hunt said President Obama's former health adviser Prof Don Berwick was being taken on to ensure a new safety culture.

The Health Secretary, in a statement to the House of Commons, said: "What happened at Morecambe Bay is above all a terrible personal tragedy for all the families involved.

Furness General Hospital in Cumbria, which has been criticised

"I want to apologise on behalf of the Government for all the appalling suffering they have endured.

"A culture in the NHS had been allowed to develop where defensiveness and secrecy were put ahead of patient safety and care. Today I want to ... ensure this kind of cover-up never happens again.

MP Tim Farron called for an urgent question to be tabled in the Commons

"Events at Morecombe Bay and many other hospitals should never have been covered up, but they should never have happened either."

Concerns were first raised in 2008, but in 2010 the CQC gave the trust, which serves 365,000 people in South Cumbria and North Lancashire, a clean bill of health.

Wednesday's report suggests that CQC bosses were so concerned about protecting the watchdog's reputation that they ordered an internal review to be deleted because it showed that their original inspection was flawed.

Mr Hunt said a number of actions were being taken to prevent problems occurring in the future.

He said he had every confidence in the two bosses that had recently been appointed at the CQC to put the changes that were necessary into place.

He said the CQC would appoint three new inspectors, there would be a new Chief Inspector of Hospitals and a new regulatory approach would put in place Ofsted-style ratings so people could know how well their local hospital was performing.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt is to make a statement after PMQs

He said failure by hospital administrators to adhere to new requirements could result in criminal prosecution.

Andy Burnham, the shadow Health Secretary, said: "Today's report will leave people stunned. What is never acceptable is when people try to hide ... mistakes.

"Today's report says the order to cover up may constitute a broader cover-up.

"I would like to ask the Health Secretary, ... is anybody who was involved in the decision to delete still working at the CQC or anywhere else in the NHS?

"If they are, people will find it hard to accept that. This matter doesn't end with the deletion of the report."

Joshua Titcombe died in 2008 aged just nine-days-old in Furness General Hospital, one of the hospitals overseen by Morcambe Bay NHS Trust, after staff failed to spot and treat an infection.

Earlier, his father James had described the report into the cover-up as "shocking".

Westmorland General Hospital, where Morecambe Bay NHS Trust is based

"It embodies everything that is wrong with the culture in the NHS. It's something that's been rotten really about the system," he said.

"We need it to change. We need that culture to change. Patient safety should be the number one priority, and organisations that work within regulation need to be aligned with that principle."

Responding to the report's findings, the regulator said: "We let people down, and we apologise for that."

New CQC chairman David Prior said: "The publication draws a line in the sand for us. What happened in the past was wholly unacceptable.

"The report confirms our view that at a senior level the organisation was dysfunctional. The board and the senior executive team have been radically changed."

The CQC, which faces at least 30 civil negligence claims, is to be subject to a public inquiry.

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