Dead Driver 'Unnoticed On Busy Road For Days'

The body of a driver lay undetected on the front seat of his car beside one of New Zealand's busiest roads for five days before anyone called police, according to reports.

Auckland resident Alvin Singh was reported missing on February 22 and his corpse was found in his car, parked in plain sight near a major intersection, on February 27, after somebody eventually raised the alarm, police told the local news organisation Fairfax Media.

CCTV footage showed him pulling over and leaving the car briefly before getting back in prior to his death, police said.

Detective inspector Mark Gutry said the death was not being treated as suspicious and that it was unusual for a body to lie undetected for so long, saying it may have been because Mr Singh reclined his seat before he died.

"He was in the front seat, which was reclined, and he had sort of rolled over on the seat," Mr Gutry said. "After that time in a hot car, it wasn't pleasant."

He told the New Zealand Herald that 34-year-old Mr Singh had suffered from a pre-existing medical condition, which was the likely cause of his death.

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Grandma Goes On Trial For Shooting Grandson

As wounded teenager Jonathan Hoffman pleaded with 911 dispatchers for help last May, his grandmother allegedly shot him again, a court has heard.

Just as the 17-year-old "thought he was safe ... Sandra Layne walks up and shoots him again. This time in the stomach," prosecutor Paul Walton told a court in Michigan.

The 75-year-old's defence team countered that she feared for her safety during the fatal confrontation last year at her home in the West Bloomfield in suburban Detroit.

The teenager was shot three times in the chest, once in the abdomen and once in his left arm.

He had been living with his grandparents while his mother and father were divorcing.

Jonathan Hoffman had moved in with his grandparents in suburban Detroit

Officers had been called two months earlier, when the grandmother told police she was having a difficult time with her grandson.

Four days before that, the high school senior was pulled over and charged with possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia.

He received a 93-day suspended sentence and was placed on 12 months' probation.

Sandra Layne is "not a murderer", her attorney Jerome Sabbota said on Tuesday.

"She was afraid. She felt she had no choice. Why else would she shoot him? This is a tragic case."

In Hoffman's 911 call, played during Layne's preliminary examination last summer, the teen yelled into his phone: "I've just been shot. My grandma shot me. I'm going to die. Help."

A few minutes later, he tells the operator: "I got shot, shot again. Please help. Help."

His voice trails off and a woman's shouts are heard in the background.

A police officer said she later walked out of her home with her hands up and screamed: "I murdered my grandson."

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Car Thief Strangles Baby Left In Vehicle

A Chinese car thief strangled a two-month-old baby after stealing a vehicle with the infant inside, according to police.

In a crime that has sparked revulsion across the country, officers said the baby was killed and then buried in the snow.

The baby's parents had left the child alone for 10 minutes with the car doors unlocked and the engine running, according to state-run media.

Reports suggested the father had run into the shop where he worked to turn up the heat because he wanted to keep the baby warm.

Zhou Xijun, 48, stole the car in the north eastern Jilin province, triggering a major hunt involving thousands of police officers and taxi drivers.

He handed himself in a day later and confessed, according to reports.

Jilin police said in a statement that Zhou had "discovered a baby in the back seat of the stolen car, stopped at the side of a road before strangling the baby to death and burying it in the snow".

The child's body has been recovered.

The South China Morning Post reported that the child's mother had a heart attack when told of the killing and was being treated in hospital.

The case caused a storm in China, generating far more attention than the annual meeting of China's parliament which opened on Tuesday.               

Changchun citizens mourn the death of the two-month-old baby

Internet users expressed their disgust at the crime and many called for Zhou to be put to death.

"Killing him once would not be enough," one user of Sina Weibo, a website similar to Twitter, wrote.

Another added: "I would never have imagined that what people most feared would actually happen ... The killer should be severely punished."

However others entered into debates about negligent parents, calling for harsher punishments for those who fail to protect their children.

A candlelit vigil for the baby was held in Changchun on Tuesday evening. Lights were dimmed at 10.10pm and a moment of silence was observed.

The latest UN figures on the murder rate in China puts it at one per 100,000 people, among the lowest in the world.

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Nani Red Card: Man United Fan Dials 999

A football fan was so outraged with the referee's decision to send off Manchester United's Nani during a Champions League clash with Real Madrid, that he dialled 999.

The 18-year-old Manchester United supporter was watching the second-leg tie at Old Trafford from his home in a village near Bingham, Nottinghamshire, at around 9.20pm on Tuesday when he made the call.

He felt the moment the Reds' Portuguese midfielder was controversially shown the red card by Turkish referee Cuneyt Cakir for a high challenge on Real's Alvaro Arbeloa was a crime and called police.

The fan later apologised for his actions, claiming to have been caught up in the excitement.

Nani reacting to the dismissal as he leaves the field

United, who were leading 1-0 at the time of the dismissal, were reduced to 10 men and went on to lose the tie 2-1 and exited the competition 3-2 on aggregate.

Police are now urging Nottinghamshire residents to think before they dial.

There were 6,933 recorded hoax calls to Nottinghamshire Police in 2012, with calls increasing during holiday periods, particularly in August. This amounted to around 2% of all reported incidents.

Control Room Chief Inspector Ted Antill said: "While this recent example may be amusing, it illustrates the sort of insincere calls we have to deal with on a daily basis in the control room.

"They waste our time and they direct us away from genuine victims of crime, particularly if we dispatch officers out to something that turns out to be a bogus report.

"I would ask people to think before picking up the phone for emergency services. I would also advise parents to ensure your children are aware that prank calls and the reporting of made-up crimes is a crime in itself.

"There may be people out there in real trouble who need our help and they have to wait because we are tied up with calls like this one, reporting a referee from the television.

"It's no joke. In this case, the man realised his bad judgement and apologised and we decided not to pursue it further - but we can and we do prosecute people for wasting police time and making false reports."

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Philpott Weeps As Police Interviews Read Out

By Lisa Dowd, Midlands Correspondent

A father accused of killing six of his children in a house fire wept in court as the police interviews following his arrest were read out.

Mick Philpott and his wife Mairead deny six counts of manslaughter following the blaze at their home on Victory Road in Allenton, Derby last May.

A third defendant, Paul Mosley, also denies manslaughter.

Jade Philpott, 10, and brothers John, nine, Jack, eight, Jessie, six and Jayden, five all perished in the fire.

Their older brother Duwayne, 13, died three days later in hospital.

DC Steve Barnes interviewed Philpott after his arrest. When the detective cautioned Mick, he replied: "I understand, I can't believe it."

Later he said: "I don't think you understand what it is like losing six children."

Philpott told the detective that before the fire, at 7.30pm, Mosley, also known as Shakey, had come to the house to play pool and Philpott had obtained cannabis for his friend.

He said Mosley left at 12.45am, and that he and Mairead fell asleep in the conservatory watching the film Centurion.

Philpott was woken by an alarm and saw "bright lights at the door".

He knew it was a fire and heard a "whoosh", adding: "It wasn't like an explosion it was a pop sound."

Philpott said he put his Derby County jogging bottoms on, went through to the back of the house, got ladders and put them up to Jade's window.

He tried to smash it first with a tennis racket, then a wrench.

"I smashed the window about five times, I wish now I could have got in, it would have been me in that morgue and not my kids," he said.

Philpott said he was restrained by police officers from trying to get back in the house.

The prosecution allege that the defendants started the fire to frame Mick's ex girlfriend Lisa Willis, who he was in a custody battle with.

Ms Willis and her children used to live with the Philpotts and their children, but left three months before the fire.

Asked about Ms Willis, Philpott said: "I treated her like a queen. For the past four years I have given her all my attention and not to my wife.

"It came to a couple of points where I asked Mairead for a divorce, so I could marry Lisa."

The court heard that Lisa had been chief bridesmaid at Mick and Mairead's wedding.

"It was a three-way relationship between me, Mairead and Lisa," he said. "It's just something that happened."

Philpott also told the detective: "You will find residents (residue) on my clothes and shoes from the strimmer, you might find it on Duwayne's too."

In the interview he also said petrol would be found in the kitchen, front room, conservatory, snooker room and the garden, where he had carried the strimmer through.

When asked by a detective whether he was responsible for the fire, he replied: "Watch these eyes, categorically no, nor was my wife."

The trial continues.

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UK To Supply Military Aid To Syria Opposition

The UK is to supply armoured vehicles and body armour to opposition forces in Syria, Foreign Secretary William Hague has said.

In a statement to the Commons, William Hague said Britain would increase aid to Syrian opposition forces, including providing "new types of non-lethal equipment for the protection of civilians", after EU sanctions had been amended.

He said the UK, along with the National Coalition, was in the middle of trying to identify "the protective equipment that will be of most use to them and likely to save most lives".

"It will certainly include armoured four-wheel drive vehicles to help opposition forces move around more freely as well as personal protection equipment including body armour," he added.

Testing equipment to provide evidence of any use of chemical weapons by the regime and training for armed groups in international human rights and legal standards is also being sent.

Mr Hague said £3m had been allocated this month for the work with another £10m to follow - urging other countries to do the same.

The deadly conflict has been going on since March 2011

"The Cabinet is in no doubt that this is a necessary, proportionate and lawful response to a situation of extreme humanitarian suffering, and that there is no practicable alternative," he said.

"All our assistance will be carefully calibrated and monitored as well as legal, and will be aimed at saving life, alleviating this human catastrophe and supporting moderate groups.

Mr Hague told MPs that the conflict in Syria, where President Bashar Assad is trying to defeat attempts to overthrow his regime, had reached "catastrophic" proportions.

The British Government could not stand aside as Assad used Scud missiles against civilians, Mr Hague said, adding that diplomacy was "taking far too long and the number of dead continues to rise".

The death toll is reported to have reached 70,000 since the fighting began two years ago, with more people having been killed so far this year than during the whole first year of the conflict.

Some 40,000 people were fleeing the civil war each week, many of them children, he added.

There are now more than a million Syrian refugees according to the UN

His speech came as the UN refugee agency revealed official figures showing the number of Syrian refugees leaving their homeland had topped the one million mark.

Mr Hague described it as a "sad milestone".

The Foreign Secretary also warned that there was a danger Syria could become a "top destination for jihadists anywhere in the world".

Meanwhile, there were risks that the Syrian government could use chemical weapons against civilians, he said, telling MPs there was "credible information" that Iran was providing "considerable military support" to Mr Assad.

Sky News Foreign Affairs Correspondent Lisa Holland said Mr Hague's announcement marked "a new phase in what Britain is going to do for the opposition".

The effort to try to move forward the stalemate in the Syria crisis follows a visit last week by new US Secretary of State John Kerry.

Speaking in London, he said the Syrian opposition would not be "left dangling" and that Western leaders had "new ideas" on Syria in the face of growing frustration by the opposition over the lack of help they have received.

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Sir Mervyn King Writes To British Businessman

By Enda Brady, Sky Correspondent

When Mike Benson was refused a £10,000 loan to buy a new transit van for his company selling air compressors in Worcestershire, he despaired.

His business turned over £640,000 last year, and even more the year before - the kind of thriving small British business that Chancellor George Osborne has repeatedly urged the banks to help.

But still the answer was a firm 'no'.

All he wanted was a 12-month loan, but the money was not forthcoming.

"I was angry, annoyed, yes all of those things, but I was also slightly shocked and puzzled really," Mr Benson told Sky News at his company base outside Bromsgrove.

"We've been in business 20 years and the van needed replacing at a time when we had just paid a corporation tax bill of £10,500.

"The bank refused me on the basis of 'fixed assets'. But we have very few of them.

He added: "In the old days they would have taken a look at our business and at us and said 'yes'.

"But the banks have lost their way and they have lost touch with their customers.

"You struggle to even find a phone number for your bank. It's all done by call centres in a kind of 'tick box' fashion."

The personal letter was printed on Bank of England headed paper

So Mike decided to write a letter, not to the boss of his bank, but to the governor of the Bank of England.

And he was astonished to get a signed response from Sir Mervyn King himself.

It read: "I was sorry to read of the difficulty you have had in trying to replace your transit van.

"I can fully understand how maddening that, and the behaviour you describe from the banks you have spoken to, must have been.

"Your experience is common to that of many companies across the UK that I have visited recently.

"I would encourage people who have had problems with their bank to try new lenders. One such example is Handlesbanken, a long established, but relatively new to the UK, Swedish bank."

So will the publicity surrounding his letter shame the banks into lending to small businesses again? Mr Benson is not so sure.

"Oh, don't get me wrong, I'd like to think so. I'm just not that confident," he said.

"More chance of pigs flying at the moment, if you ask me!"

He eventually got the money and the van - but says he will take his business elsewhere in future.

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Missing Zoya Anwar: Police Hold Five People

Five people have been arrested on suspicion of kidnap as police hunt for an 18-year-old girl who has not been seen since last Tuesday.

West Midlands Police said Zoya Anwar was last seen by school friends on the afternoon of February 26 when she said goodbye to her friends at the school gates in the Walsall area.

Her disappearance was not reported until last Friday, March 1.

Zoya is due to collect her exam results

The straight 'A' student should be picking up her A Level exam results tomorrow at King Edward VI School in Handsworth.

Zoya is described as Asian, slim build, 5ft 6ins tall and has shoulder length black hair.

Four men and a woman, aged between 27 and 48 and all from the Walsall area, have been arrested on suspicion of kidnap in connection with Zoya's disappearance.

They are all known to the teenager. They were arrested on Tuesday and remain in custody helping police with enquiries.

Detective Superintendent Jo Chilton, from the force's investigation team, said: "Zoya has never been missing before and it is very out of character for her. Whilst we are keeping an open mind, we are very concerned for her and need to know she is safe and well as a matter of urgency.

"We are carrying out extensive enquiries to trace Zoya with specialist officers from across the force working around the clock to try to find her.

"We are looking into a number of possibilities around Zoya's disappearance including her running away from home, her being taken against her will or any worries Zoya may have had herself. At this stage we cannot rule out anything more sinister and we looking into all possibilities.

"We are treating this as a major incident and we are doing all we can to find Zoya."

House-to-house inquiries and forensic searches have been carried out over the last few days and remain ongoing.

Ms Chilton added: "If Zoya hears this appeal herself, I want her to know that she is not in any trouble. We just need to know that she is safe and offer her help."

In a statement, the headmistress of Zoya's school, Elisabeth Wager, said: "Zoya joined the school in the sixth form with an exemplary school record.

"She has continued to achieve at a high academic standard and has a bright future ahead of her. She has firm friendships in the school and we are providing support as required to her friends and the wider school community."

A dedicated call centre has been set up where people can give information on Zoya's disappearance - 0800 092 0410.

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Skyfall Director Sam Mendes Turns Down Bond

Sam Mendes has turned down the chance to make the next James Bond film to get back to his theatrical roots.

The 47-year-old, who won the best director Oscar for his first feature film, American Beauty, said he wanted to turn his back on Bond so he could concentrate on the theatre.

Mendes, who was praised for his work on Skyfall with Daniel Craig as 007, said it had been "a very difficult decision" to turn down the offer of directing the next film in the franchise.

He told Empire Magazine: "Directing Skyfall was one of the best experiences of my professional life.

"But I have theatre and other commitments, including productions of Charlie And The Chocolate Factory and King Lear, that need my complete focus over the next year and beyond."

King Lear will see Mendes work at the National Theatre, while his stage musical version of the Roald Dahl story sees him return to the West End.

Skyfall was a critical and commercial success, picking up five Oscar nominations and winning two, including one for Adele for original song.

Cambridge graduate Mendes began his career with the Chichester Festival Theatre, later winning a Critics Circle Award for best newcomer for The Cherry Orchard which starred Judi Dench, also a Bond star.

He then joined the Royal Shakespeare Company and, in 1992, he became artistic director of the reopened Donmar Warehouse in London.

The 1999 film American Beauty won five Academy Awards including best picture as well as Mendes' directing award.

Also a successful producer, Reading-born Mendes, was married for seven years to actress Kate Winslet, who was also born in the Berkshire town. They have one son together.

The Bond producers announced last year that Daniel Craig would play the suave spy in two more films, making five in total.

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Hugo Chavez: Coffin Paraded Through Streets

A military parade is being held to carry the remains of President Hugo Chavez through the streets of the Venezuelan capital Caracas.

The country's foreign minister, Elias Jose Jaua Milano, declared seven days of mourning for the controversial socialist leader, who died at the age of 58 after losing his battle with cancer.

His coffin left Caracas' military hospital earlier for his body to be escorted through the city.

It will then lie in state at a military academy until a public funeral on Friday.

Masses line the streets of Caracas to catch a glimpse of the casket

Hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans filled the streets with many crying, hugging each other, or shouting slogans of support.

A sea of red, yellow and blue - the colours of the national flag - flowed past some of the city landmarks as masses of supporters took part in the procession to celebrate and pay their respects to the leader they loved.

Scores of motorists in their cars and motorbikes also joined the colourful parade, tooting their horns.

Clusters of women with tears streaming down their faces clung to each other and wept near the Miraflores presidential palace. Some wore T-shirts with slogans that read: "Go forward commander!"

Nearby, men pumped their arms in the air while shouting: "Long live Chavez! Long live Chavismo!"

Reporting for Sky News, journalist Virginia Lopez, said: "Family, friends and members of the President's Guard of Honour joined the parade.

The flag-draped coffin containing the body of Hugo Chavez

"The streets are bursting with people wearing red berets that Mr Chavez made emblematic of his rule."

Minutes before his final journey, vice president Nicolas Maduro said Mr Chavez's "spirit roams freely, filled with light protecting our people. Our people are in the streets expressing their solidarity, their feelings."

He fought back tears as he announced the death on Tuesday night in a national television broadcast.

He said Mr Chavez, who had been in power for 14 years, died at 4.25pm local time "after battling a tough illness for nearly two years".

Amid fears of unrest, Mr Maduro also said the army and police had been deployed "to accompany and protect our people and guarantee the peace".

Mr Jaua Milano said Mr Maduro would continue to run the country as interim president until fresh elections can take place in around 30 days.

Emotional vice president Nicolas Maduro announces the death on national TV

Ideological allies across Latin America lined up to salute former paratrooper Mr Chavez, a standard bearer of the region's "anti-imperialist" left.

Cuba has declared three days of national mourning, with the government saying Mr Chavez had "stood by Fidel Castro like a true son".

Bolivia's socialist President Evo Morales said he was "crushed", while Argentinian Vice President Amado Boudou said "all of Latin America" was in mourning.

President Barack Obama responded by expressing hopes for improved relations with the oil-rich state, voicing American "support for the Venezuelan people and its interest in developing a constructive relationship with the Venezuelan government".

He added: "As Venezuela begins a new chapter in its history, the United States remains committed to policies that promote democratic principles, the rule of law, and respect for human rights."

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said he was "saddened" by the death of a leader who had left a "lasting impression on the country and more widely".

Some Venezuelans in the US say they are glad the 'dictatorship' has ended

Mr Chavez had been receiving cancer treatment in Cuba on and off since June 2011 - when he was first diagnosed with the illness.

The announcement of his death came just hours after Mr Maduro announced the government had expelled two US diplomats from the country.

He had said Mr Chavez's illness had been induced by foul play by "the historical enemies of our homeland".

The government announced late on Monday that Mr Chavez's condition was "very delicate" due to a "new, severe" respiratory infection.

Mr Chavez had not been seen in public or heard since undergoing a fourth round of surgery in Cuba on December 11.

The government said he returned home on February 18, and had been confined to Caracas' military hospital ever since.

Mr Chavez with daughters Rosa Virginia, right, and Maria

During his time in power, the fiery populist leader declared a socialist revolution in Venezuela, crusaded against US influence, championed a leftist revival across Latin America, and over time, gradually placed all state institutions under his personal control.

The man Mr Chavez defeated in October's presidential elections, Miranda state Governor Henrique Capriles, is expected to represent the opposition in the national polls. He called for unity and offered his condolences to Mr Chavez's family.

Venezuela's defence minister pledged the military would remain loyal to the constitution in the wake of Mr Chavez's death.

Sky's Dominic Waghorn said Mr Chavez "used a mixture of brute force, persuasion, passion and charisma to keep himself in power".

"Such was the adoration and devotion that mainly the poor in Venezuela felt for him that he was seen as this almost sort of religious figure, and his loss now leaves a huge void in Venezuelan politics.

"A lot of people say he is irreplaceable."

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