Hamzah Khan's Father 'Warned Of Neglect'

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The trial continues.

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Ryanair Promises To Be Nicer To Passengers

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Boy's Broom Attack On Teacher Caught On Video

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

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

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

"Get him," one boy is heard saying.

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

The boy chases the teacher

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Coca-Cola Apologises For 'Retard' Bottle Cap

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

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

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

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

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

The message was printed on a Vitamin Water cap

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

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

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

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

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

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Syria Hands Over Chemical Weapons Details

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Brain-Eating Bug Enters US Water Supply

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

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

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

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

Residents are frightened in the communities of Arabi and Violet

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Liverpool Player's Assault Trial Collapses

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Godfrey Bloom Loses Whip For 'Sluts' Comment

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

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

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

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

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

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

The MEP hit Michael Crick with UKIP's conference book

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mr Bloom is no stranger to controversy

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Barclays Cyber Raid: Arrests Over Stolen £1.3m

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Miliband Pledges To Scrap 'Bedroom Tax'

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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