Maria De Villota: F1 Driver Found Dead In Hotel

Ex-Formula One test driver Maria de Villota has been found dead in a hotel room in Seville.

The 33-year-old Spaniard lost an eye and fractured her skull when she crashed into a truck at Duxford Aerodrome in Cambridgeshire on July 3 last year.

But although she no longer raced, she was said to have been rebuilding her life and had become part of the FIA's Women In Motorsport commission.

It is understood she was on a tour promoting her autobiography at the time of her death.

Spanish police said it appeared she died of natural causes.

A scan shows De Villota's skull injuries after last year's accident

"There are no signs of violence, but we need to wait for the autopsy," a police spokeswoman said, adding that a forensic team was at the hotel.

She was the daughter of former F1 driver Emilio de Villota, and competed in F3, GTs, touring cars and the Superleague Formula before joining up with the Marussia team.

A statement on de Villota's Facebook page, signed by her family, read: "Dear friends: Maria has left us.

Maria de Villota was daughter of F1 driver Emilio

"She had to go to heaven like all angels. We are thankful to God for the extra year and a half that he left her with us."

De Villota was in hospital in Cambridge for a month after last year's accident and wore a patch over her lost eye.

X-ray images of her fractured skull led many to describe her survival from the crash as a "miracle".

Friends said the accident did not appear to have dampened her spirits.

Susie Wolff, a Williams development driver, said: "After the accident she was so behind me and had such a lust for life, she was so happy to be alive and that she'd survived it and she had so many great plans for the future.

The Spaniard was a test driver for Marussia

"She was just an incredible lady, no matter about what she did on the racetrack. She was just an incredible character."

The news of de Villota's death broke as Formula One teams completed the second practice session for the Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka, but they still took to Twitter to pay tribute to the driver.

A message from the Sauber F1 team read: "We are shocked to hear about the death of Maria de Villota. Our sincerest condolences and sympathy to her family for this tragic loss."

Caterham F1 Team added: "We'd like to echo the thoughts of the whole paddock and express our deepest condolences on the news of Maria de Villota's passing. RIP."

Sahara Force India said: "Very sad news coming from Spain about brave Maria de Villota passing away. Our thoughts are with Maria's family and friends in this moment."

De Villota married her personal trainer Rodrigo Garcia Millan in July.

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'White Widow' Lewthwaite 'Key' In Al Shabaab

By Alex Crawford, Special Correspondent, In Kenya

Sky News has obtained a Kenyan intelligence report which for the first time shows the reach of the al Shabaab terror network - which carried out the Nairobi shopping mall attack - and the extent of British involvement within the group.

It suggests that Samantha Lewthwaite - the British woman known as the 'White Widow' because she was married to one of the 7/7 London bombers - is an important figure in the terror outfit, plotting multiple bomb attacks across Kenya.

Sky has also been given access to a personal diary of hers which gives a fascinating insight into her mind, where she talks about her ambitions for her children and her love for her husband.

The intelligence report, which is 35 pages long, gives a detailed breakdown of how the network is operating throughout Africa with recruits and cells working in a huge range of countries including Somalia, Uganda, Burundi, Zambia, Tanzania, Mali and South Africa as well as further afield in Yemen and Pakistan.

The report says Lewthwaite is a 'logistician' in a six-person terror cell

But what seems clear is that the group's stronghold and focus is in Kenya with major operational bases in the capital Nairobi and Mombasa.

The report is highly damaging for the Kenyan authorities as it also shows there were clear warnings up to eight months ago that a "Mumbai-style attack" was being planned in Nairobi on the Westgate shopping mall.

It goes on to identify 29-year-old Lewthwaite as a "logistician" within a six-person terror cell which the Kenyans believe was co-ordinated by Abdulkadir Mohamed Abdulkadir, whose alias is Ikrima.

Ikrima is a Kenyan who the authorities believe has been elevated to al Shabaab management.

He was the target of the US Navy Seals' mission last weekend which set out to "capture or kill" him from the Somalian port town of Barawe.

She is implicated in the Nairobi shopping centre attack in September

The mission was aborted when the Seals encountered tougher resistance than expected when they landed.

The other members of the terror cell Ikrima was co-ordinating include Fahmi Jamal Salim, who is apparently the cell leader and who the intelligence agencies believe is now married to Lewthwaite.

Other members are said to be Jermaine Grant, who is currently on trial in Mombasa on terror charges which he denies.

The report details how the group was plotting multiple attacks targeting the Kenyan parliament buildings, UN offices in Nairobi, restaurants and a string of assassinations focusing on senior politicians within Kenya.

Londoner Jermaine Grant is also believed to be part of the same group

Kenyan intelligence believes Lewthwaite was living in an exclusive villa in the Shanzu area of Mombasa when the attacks were being planned.

A police raid on a nearby apartment rented by Grant - which led to his arrest - then prompted a subsequent raid on the upmarket villa where Lewthwaite was living with her children.

But the mother-of-four was not there. The police say they found a stash of ammunition there as well as a laptop and excerpts of a diary or journal which Lewthwaite had begun writing.

Lewthwaite's husband Jermaine Lindsay (L) on a dry run for the 7/7 attacks

The journal appears to be the start of a book which Lewthwaite was working on entitled I Want To Be A Mujahid (Islamic military fighter).

It outlines questions she was going to pose to interviewees as well as gives an insight into her love for her husband and reveals a little about how she is bringing up her children.

She writes with pride about how two of her children want to emulate their father - Jermaine Lindsay, who was one of the London 7/7 bombers in the Tube and bus attacks in 2005 which killed more than 50 people.

She recounts how her husband had asked her children what they wanted to be when they got older.

Lewthwaite writes: "Both had many answers but both agreed to one of wanting to be a mujahid."

Extracts from Lewthwaite's diary recovered by police

She goes on to express her commitment and desire to be a good Muslim and how blessed she believes she is to have been married to a shaheed (martyr) in reference to her suicide-bomber partner.

We managed to persuade one of Kenya's most controversial religious scholars to sit down with us and talk about his views - which have led to him being accused by the UN of recruiting al Shabaab fighters and raising funds for the outfit.

Sheikh Abubakar Shariff, who is also known as Makaburi, told us the accusations against him were all "b*******".

Interpol recently issued a 'Red Notice' for Lewthwaite's arrest

He accused the Kenyan government of waging a religious war and allowing the persecution of Muslims who he believes are all being targeted and labelled as terrorists in the wake of the Westgate mall attack.

"Because of the failings of our Government and our military and police in stopping the attack, we, as Muslims, are all being targeted now," he told me.

Makaburi who is also accused by the Kenyan authorities of inciting violence and of encouraging young men to take up jihad (or Holy war) in Somalia, denied he was a member of al Shabaab but said: "I am a Muslim. I speak truthfully. I might have association with al Shabaab without me knowing they are from al Shabaab.

"I cannot say no, I don't know al Shabaab. Maybe one of my friends is a member of al Shabaab without me knowing. But do I have, what you call it, ties with al Shabaab? No, I don't."

He went on to say under his interpretation of the Koran, the Westgate attack was justified because of all the wrongs being meted out to Muslims by the West, the Kenyan Defence Force (who are fighting al Shabaab in Somalia), Ethiopians and other military in "Somalia, Guantanamo Bay, Iraq and all over the world every day".

There is little chance the woman being hunted by Interpol is still in Mombasa, but what the intelligence report indicates is it is now a major hub as well as gateway to terrorism for those bent on violence.

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Syria Rebels Parade Child Hostages On YouTube

Rebel forces in Syria have killed at least 190 civilians and seized dozens of child hostages, who they have paraded in a video posted on YouTube, Human Rights Watch says.

Fighters burned villages, threw bodies in mass graves and kidnapped women and children in acts described as likely "crimes against humanity" by HRW.

Witnesses gave harrowing accounts of family members being executed in their beds during an attack on August 4.

One man said he was forced to flee, leaving his paralysed son and wife to die at the hands of armed rebels.

Graves in a back yard of a village home. Pic: Human Rights Watch

A 105-page report by the New York based human rights group said the findings "strongly suggest" crimes against humanity were committed in the rural Latakia area.

HRW said it conducted an on-scene investigation and interviewed more than 35 people, including survivors and fighters from both sides.

One child said: "My mum was here in the house with me. She came out of the house first, and I was behind her.

"We saw the three fighters just in front of us, and then we fled on foot down behind the house and into the valley.

"The three fighters that I saw were all dressed in black. They were shooting at us from two different directions. They had machine guns and were using snipers.

Picture of body bags released by the Ministry of Health

"My older brother came down and hid with us as well. We hid, but my dad stayed in the house. He was killed in his bed.

"My aunt, she is an 80-year-old blind woman, was also killed in her room. Her name is Nassiba."

HRW said two opposition groups - the Islamic State of Iraq and Sham and Jaish al-Muhajireen wal-Ansar - were holding around 200 hostages from Alawite villages, where most inhabitants were considered loyal to Syria's leader Bashar al Assad.

"The evidence strongly suggests that the killings, hostage-taking, and other abuses committed by opposition forces on and after August 4 rise to the level of crimes against humanity," Human Rights Watch said.

Rebel fighters attacking villages. Pic: Human Rights Watch

The report came the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) continued its mission to deal with Syria's chemical weapons stockpile.

International inspectors have so far visited three sites linked to Syria's chemical weapons programme, OPCW spokesman Michael Luhan said.

In another development OPCW - based in The Hague - was awarded this year's Nobel Peace Prize.

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Caffeine-Packed Energy Mints Blamed For Death

A painter and decorator died from a huge caffeine overdose after eating mints bought from his local sweet shop, not knowing they were packed full of the stimulant.

John Jackson, 40, was found dead by relatives at his West Midlands flat after eating Hero Instant Energy Mints.

Just one of the sweets is said to contain more caffeine than a whole can of high-energy drink like Red Bull.

Coroner Robin Balmain told an inquest in Smethwick he would be writing to the Department of Health demanding answers over Mr Jackson's death.

He said: "This is a potentially very dangerous situation. The level of caffeine is enormous. I think it's as certain as it can be that Mr Jackson didn't know that he was going to expose himself to this sort of danger."

The mints are sold alongside other sweets, but makers Hero Energy Ltd, based in Birkenhead, stressed they had taken a series of measures to warn about the high caffeine content.

Mr Jackson was found dead by his estranged partner and stepdaughter at his flat in Darlaston on May 2.

The makers have warned about the high caffeine content in their mints

A post-mortem examination showed he had 155mg of caffeine per litre of blood in his system, and just 10mg would have been considered an overdose, according to pathologist Dr Dragana Cvijan.

She told the inquest: "The most important compound found in the post-mortem was caffeine. I must say this is the first time in my experience that I've come across a caffeine overdose."

She gave the medical cause of death as caffeine toxicity, but said Mr Jackson, a heavy drinker, also had cirrhosis of the liver, leaving him unable to absorb the stimulant properly.

Stepdaughter Rebecca Court, 23, from Tipton, said Mr Jackson had bought the mints from a local shop.

"On the box they said one tablet equals one can of energy drinks. A kid could go in and buy them and the same thing could happen to him," she said.

Paul Hayes and Steve Hones, the directors of Hero Energy Ltd, issued a statement saying they were "shocked and deeply concerned" at Mr Jackson's death.

Warnings about the mints are clearly marked on packaging, websites, and shelf displays, including the advice not to consumer more than five in 24 hours, they stressed.

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Human Remains Found In Mansfield Garden

Police have found the remains of two people in a garden near Mansfield.

The discovery was made by officers in the back garden of a property in Blenheim Close, Forest Town, on Thursday, according to Nottinghamshire Police.

A spokesman said it is believed the remains had been there for some time.

Police were led to the address after information came to light about an "incident" alleged to have taken place in the late 1990s.

The remains have yet to be formally identified, and according to police it could take weeks or even months for this to be completed.

Forensics teams could be seen entering the garden, and the scene has been cordoned off while examinations were carried out.

A white police tent and a digger, along with piles of soil, were also visible, and two officers were stood outside the property.

A neighbour, who did not want to be named, said she knew of an elderly couple who used to live at the house in the 1990s.

Police officers on guard outside of the property in Mansfield

The 51-year-old said: "I only saw the man a few times. I never saw the lady or any family.

"I never saw anyone coming or going. My friend and I always used to say 'I wonder what happened to that couple'.

"They just disappeared. We thought they had emigrated."

She said she believed the house then stood empty until the present occupiers moved in around seven years ago.

Post-mortem examinations to establish the cause of death are due to take place today.

Neighbourhood Policing Inspector Mark Webster, said the two bodies had been removed from the address.

He said: "As a result of information we received in force last week we commenced a search at premises on Blenheim Close in the Forest Town area of Mansfield and yesterday we uncovered the bodies of two people.

"Forensic tests are taking place at this moment to identify who they are formally."

The current residents of the house are not being investigated by police

The officer said the current tenant and the owner of the property had been "extremely helpful" and did not feature in their investigation at this time.

Insp Webster refused to comment any further on the information they had received last week.

Asked whether they had made any arrests, the officer answered: "No, we haven't at the moment."

Appealing for anyone with information to come forward, Mr Webster said: "If anyone in the Mansfield or surrounding areas knows anything that could help the police we'd be very grateful for anything that anyone can give to us.

"It's a historical inquiry because of the length of time the people have been there."

Reassuring the local community, the officer added: "We don't believe that there is any risk of any harm coming to the community.

"People are clearly going to be concerned when an incident of this nature happens and we would like to reassure them and we'd like to thank people particularly the local neighbours on Blenheim Close they've been really helpful to us."

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Father Killed On Walk For Gay Suicide Son

A man whose gay son took his own life has been killed while walking across the United States as he tried to raise awareness about bullying.

Joe Bell was struck by a truck on a highway in a rural area 20 miles north-west of Kit Carson in eastern Colorado, authorities said.

Investigators believe the driver had fallen asleep at the wheel when he hit Mr Bell as he walked on the hard shoulder.

Mr Bell's 15-year-old son Jadin died in February after trying to hang himself in a school playground.

A passer-by saw the teenager and tried to help but the boy later died in hospital.

He had reported being bullied but he did not leave a suicide note.

Mr Bell, from La Grande in Oregon, began his walk in April and planned to finish in New York City, where Jadin said he wanted to live.

Truck driver, 49-year-old Kenneth Raven, of Bryan, Texas, has been charged with careless driving resulting in death, a misdemeanour.

A friend of Mr Bell put up an announcement about his death on a Facebook page chronicling the walk.

It said: "Thank you to everyone who has come here to support Joe's family in this difficult time."

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Shark Attack Kills South Africa Snorkeller

A snorkeller has been killed by a shark at a world-famous surfing resort in South Africa.

The man's body was recovered from Jeffreys Bay in the Eastern Cape region after he was dragged into deep water by the shark.

The National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) said a volunteer rescue crew was dispatched at 11:30am local time after reports of the attack.

"On arrival on-scene remains of a body, believed to be those of an adult male, have been recovered from the water and handed into the care of the police and the forensic pathology services," it said.

According to eyewitnesses, the man had been snorkelling close to rocks at the time of the attack.

"Just saw NSRI carry the body of a shark attack victim in bag. Hectic man. No surfing today," one local tweeted.

Great white sharks are believed to carry out the most attacks on people

A man in a kayak reportedly saw the victim lying face-down in the water and tried to fend off the shark with his paddle in order to recover the body.

According to some reports, witnesses initially believed there were two sharks involved in the attack because of the length of the animal from its dorsal fin to tail fin.

However, local media later said a single shark more than four metres long killed the snorkeller.

It was not immediately clear what breed of shark was involved.

Last year there were four shark attacks in South Africa, three of them fatal, according to the International Shark Attack File at the Florida Museum of Natural History.

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Royal Mail Shares Soar In First Trades

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

Nearly 150,000 Royal Mail staff were sitting on shareholdings worth more than £3000 after a first day of trading that left the Government exposed to accusations that it had vastly undervalued the company.

The postal operator's shares ended conditional trading on Friday up 38% on their sale price of £3.30, capping a session in which institutional investors engaged in a stampede aimed at bulking up their holdings.

The frenzied trading followed the vastly oversubscribed demand for shares which saw more than £40bn in orders received by advisers to the Government.

The closing price of 455p gave Royal Mail a market value of £4.55bn, meaning it would be guaranteed entry to the FTSE-100 index when its next quarterly review takes place before the end of the year.

Royal Mail employees now hold shares worth £455m after being handed 10% of the company by ministers keen to smooth the path to privatisation. However, they are unable to sell the stock without incurring a tax liability for five years.

At the closing price, each employee's shares were worth just over £3033.

Royal Mail's eleven board directors also benefited from the surge in the share price. The collective owners of 33,557 shares, the directors were sitting on stock worth £152,685, a profit of more than £40,000 on the day.

Ordinary retail investors who received the basic allocation of £750-worth of shares were sitting on a paper profit of more than £270m, with many expected to try to sell their holdings when full trading gets underway next Tuesday.

Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, told Sky News that allegations that the Government had undervalued Royal Mail were "nonsense", but a continued upturn in the share price in the coming weeks would lead to uncomfortable questions about the advice given to ministers and the fees paid to the investment banks working on the privatisation.

Chuka Umunna, the shadow business secretary, said Royal Mail had been "significantly undervalued with taxpayers being left short changed. Vince Cable has shown how out of touch he is in dismissing the hundreds of millions of pounds which the taxpayer could have lost out as 'froth' at a time when families across Britain are facing a cost of living crisis."

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Newspapers Denounce Press Royal Charter Deal

The newspaper industry steering group has criticised the three main political parties' new plan for press regulation.

Labour had agreed to a series of changes put forward by Culture Secretary Maria Miller intended to make the proposed royal charter more palatable to the press.

But a statement issued by the alliance representing national, regional and local newspapers said the latest proposals could not be described as either "voluntary or independent".

"This remains a charter written by politicians, imposed by politicians and controlled by politicians," it said.

"It has not been approved by any of the newspapers or magazines it seeks to regulate.

"Meanwhile the industry's charter was rejected by eight politicians, meeting in secret, and chaired by the same politician who is promoting the politicians' charter.

"Lord Justice Leveson called for 'voluntary, independent self-regulation' of the press. It is impossible to see how a regulator operating under rules imposed by politicians, and enforced by draconian and discriminatory provisions for damages and costs in civil cases, could be said to be either voluntary or independent."

A Government source had earlier said: "We have a deal and the Labour Party have finally agreed to the changes proposed by the Culture Secretary to try and make it more workable."

Lord Leveson's inital proposals were also dismissed by the newspapers

The agreement came following talks between Mrs Miller, Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman and senior Liberal Democrat peer Lord Wallace of Tankerness.

It will now go forward to the Privy Council for final agreement on October 30. The changes include provision for a fee for use of a new arbitration service, intended to deter speculative claims.

They also agreed to the industry drawing up a code of conduct for editors, to be approved by the independent regulator.

The new version supersedes the text controversially agreed by the parties at a late-night meeting over pizzas in Ed Miliband's office in Westminster last March, in the presence of lobby group Hacked Off.

Under the charter, the job of adjudicating on complaints and imposing penalties will be performed by a new self-regulatory body set up by the industry to replace the Press Complaints Commission.

A recognition panel would be required to verify whether this watchdog was effective and genuinely independent of publishers. However, it would be up to individual publishers to sign up to a regulator endorsed by the panel.

It had been suggested that many or all of the major newspapers could opt out of the proposed system if it does not address their concerns over freedom from political interference.

The agreement by the parties was welcomed by Hacked Off , which has led the campaign for tighter regulation of the press.

The group's executive director, Brian Cathcart, said it should finally bring to an end the 11 months of wrangling over the recommendations of the Leveson report on press standards.

"We note that, in the last-minute technical changes to the charter, there have been further concessions to the press industry lobby; notably, that it now permits an administrative charge for members of the public to use the new arbitration service," he said.

"This is not what Lord Justice Leveson recommended and may well deter some members of the public from seeking redress when they have been wronged by news publishers.

"We trust that those newspaper organisations which have been demanding this change - notably the local and regional press - will now accept that they have no reason to object to the system and will fully embrace the charter process.

"The way is now open to create a system of independent, effective press self-regulation that will benefit the public and poses no threat whatever to freedom of expression.

"Victims of press abuse now look to the industry to embrace that opportunity and put behind them a shocking period in which, in the words of Lord Justice Leveson, some sections of the press all too often wreaked havoc in the lives of innocent people."

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Migrant Vessel Sinks With 200 People In Water

A migrant boat has capsized leaving at least 200 people in the sea says the Italian Navy.

A spokesman said naval vessels and helicopters were assisting at the scene between Sicily and Tunisia.

It is also being reported that bodies have been spotted in the water.

"There are at least 200 people in the sea and our helicopters are picking them up," said a navy spokesman, adding that two ships were on the scene.

The incident comes just over a week after a boat carrying African asylum seekers caught fire and sank off Lampedusa, killing up to 350 people.

Residents of the remote southern Italian island have long complained that they have been left alone to deal with the thousands of migrants who come ashore each year from Africa and the Middle East.

Some 30,000 migrants have flocked to Italy so far this year. An estimated 17,000 to 20,000 have died while crossing the Mediterranean during the past 20 years on overcrowded fishing boats or rubber dinghies, seeking a better life in Europe.

Eritrea, Somalia and Syria are the main countries of origin and the majority of arrivals are on Lampedusa, Italy's southernmost point which is closer to north Africa than to the Italian mainland.

More follows...

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