M62 Crash: Hen Party Minibus Victim Named

A woman who died when a minibus collided with a lorry on the M62 has been named by police as 18-year-old Bethany Jones.

Ms Jones, from Pontefract, died at the scene of the crash about 11.30am on Friday, West Yorkshire police have confirmed.

Twenty-one people remain in hospital after the collision, which occurred as the minibus travelled to Liverpool for a hen party.

Among the injured is the bride-to-be, who has been named locally as Stefanie Firth.

Seven of those wounded in the collision are suffering serious injuries.

Also among those injured is Ashleigh Warner, who posted a photograph on Facebook with Ms Firth.

Before the accident, Ms Firth's friends had posted excited comments about the upcoming hen-do.

On Friday morning, Ms Warner wrote on Facebook: "Jumping on the Liverpool status bandwagon ......... Cos I'm sooooooo excited had my tshirt on since 8 this morning:))) hope Stefanie Firth has the best time xxxx".

The minibus collied with a Farmfoods lorry on the westbound carriage

The group had set off from South Elmsall, near Pontefract, West Yorkshire, when their vehicle collided with a Farmfoods lorry at junction 32 of the westbound carriage of the M62.

The driver of the lorry, a local man, was arrested in connection with the incident and remains in custody, West Yorkshire Police said.

In total 21 of the women were injured in the crash, which left the minibus on its side across a carriageway and luggage strewn across the motorway.

Six air ambulances were called to the scene, and four took casualties to nearby hospitals.

Firefighters called the crash "the worst they had seen in a number of years", Dave Walton, assistant chief fire officer at West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, said.

One patient, a woman in her 40s, suffered suspected serious chest injuries and was anaesthetised before being transported, while another was airlifted to hospital also with chest injuries.

The collision occurred on Junction 32 of the M62

Doncaster firefighter John Nichol was passing the scene of the accident as a passenger in his father's car.

Mr Nichol said: "I got out to see if I could help, and realised there was only me there.

"First I saw a lady at the back of the minibus and realised her leg was severely broken. Then I put my head through the roof and just saw a mass of bodies.

"I think there were 11 or 12 in there, with various injuries, and around five people were out of the vehicle, hobbling around.

"I tried to calm people down and, although a bystander had called 999, I called them back to say this was a major incident and that several resources and air ambulances would be needed."

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9/11 Plane Part Found Between NYC Buildings

A part from one of the commercial planes that was flown into the Twin Towers on 9/11 has been found between two buildings, police say.

New York Police Department Spokesman Paul Browne said the piece of landing gear, discovered on Wednesday wedged between a mosque site and another lower Manhattan building, has a clearly legible Boeing identification number.

The twisted and rusted equipment features cables, levers and giant bolts. It measures 5ft high, 3ft wide and 1.5ft deep.

"The odds of this being wedged between there is amazing. It had to have fallen just the right way to make it into that space," Browne said.

The part was found wedged in this narrow crevice

He added that other wreckage has been found nearby in the years since the terrorist attack.

The part was found by surveyors who had been hired to inspect the site of a planned Islamic community centre at 51 Park Place, about three blocks from ground zero.

The surveyors spotted the debris as they looked down between the buildings from the roof, quickly called 911, and the scene was secured and police documented the findings with photographs, Mr Browne said.

The National Transportation Safety Board and police will work to determine whether the wreckage belongs to American Airlines Flight 11, which struck the North Tower, or to United Airlines Flight 175, which crashed into the South Tower. Both planes were Boeings.

A plane can be seen before it flies into one of the Twin Towers on 9/11

Police are awaiting a determination from a medical examiner on whether to sift the soil around the building to search for human remains.

The medical examiner's office is in the middle of a 10-week sifting operation as it attempts to identify additional human remains in debris unearthed at the World Trade Center site during construction of a new skyscraper.

If the landing gear's origin is authenticated, it would mean it sat undisturbed for nearly a dozen years.

Patricia Riley, the sister of 9/11 victim Lorraine Riley, called the discovery "very strange."

"Twelve years later we are still finding remnants of the attack on our country," she said.

The ruins of the World Trade Center after the 9/11 attack

"For years to come we'll continue to find things that we didn't see before. Hopefully, they'll serve as a reminder that we have to stay vigilant."

More than 2,750 people were killed at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, when terrorists hijacked the two commercial passenger planes and flew them into the upper floors of the Twin Towers, then the tallest buildings in the world.

Hijackers also took over two other planes that day, crashing one into the Pentagon in Washington DC.

The fourth plane went down in a field in rural Pennsylvania.

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Max Clifford: Publicist Vows To Clear Name

Publicist Max Clifford has vowed again to clear his name - after being charged with 11 alleged indecent assaults, including one against a girl of 14.

Clifford stands accused of sexually assaulting seven women, all teenagers, between 1966 and 1985.

The publicist has denied the allegations, dismissing them as "nonsense" and "completely false" and insisting he has never indecently assaulted anyone in his life.

Clifford said on Saturday it had been "horrible" for his wife and daughter, but added he was grateful for the support he says he has been receiving from his clients and the public.

"I find it hard to accept that women, 30 to 40-odd years later, can make complaints like this and they remain anonymous," Clifford told Sky News outside his home.

"And, of course, you have got to prove that you're innocent."

Clifford says he has been living a 'nightmare' over the allegations

He noted his lawyers will now have access to all information about the claimants and said: "If nothing but the truth comes out, I will be absolutely fine."

Clifford's initial arrest in December 2012 was carried out as part of Operation Yewtree, which was set up to investigate allegations of sex abuse carried out by the late BBC host Jimmy Savile.

There is no suggestion that his alleged offences are connected with Savile's.

Clifford is accused of allegedly abusing the first girl, who was 14, in 1966.

A further three females, aged between 15 and 18, allegedly suffered five offences between 1974 and 1978.

Clifford is also accused of assaulting another three females, aged between 16 and 19, between 1981 and 1985.

He is due to appear in court on May 28.

Until then, the 70-year-old says he will try to live as normal a life as possible, keeping up his work and going to the children's hospices he is a patron of.

"I've had tremendous support from everywhere, not just people who know me and did know me, but my clients and also people I meet everywhere I go," Clifford said.

"All of my clients have remained loyal and I'm working with all of my clients on a regular daily basis," he said.

"That support is as strong as it has ever been, which I'm very grateful for."

Prosecutors said on Friday that they had concluded there was sufficient evidence for Clifford to be charged with 11 offences of indecent assault relating to seven complainants.

There were three more allegations but prosecutors said there was insufficient evidence to authorise charges.

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Boston Bombing Suspect On Terror List In 2011

The name of the dead Boston bombing suspect was placed on a federal government terrorist database 18 months before the marathon attack, according to US officials.

Sources close to the investigation said that the Russian-born Chechen brothers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev had been radicalised through jihadist materials on the internet.

According to the US officials Tamerlan was added by the CIA to a classified database of known and suspected terrorists - the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment, known as Tide.

The 26-year-old amateur boxer, who according to his aunt had become a devout Muslim in recent years, had been investigated following a request from Russia's security service, the FSB, which had concerns he had become a follower of radical Islam.

Family photographs of brothers Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev

In March 2011, about six months earlier, the FBI had separately investigated Tamerlan, also at Russia's request, but the FBI found no ties to terrorism, officials said.                 

However, the spelling the FBI used in its investigation was not the same as the spelling used by the CIA.

His six-month trip to Russia in January 2012 triggered no alerts because the FBI had closed its case and Tamerlan was not considered a risk.                 

According to the officials Dzhokhar, 19, who is being questioned in hospital but unable to speak due to a reportedly self-inflicted throat injury, has told investigators his brother had only recently recruited him to be part of the attack.

Dzhokhar said his brother recruited him for the attacks only recently

The revelations will intensify concerns about failings of the security services in both investigating and identifying Tamerlan as a terrorist threat.

Shortly after the attacks which killed three, including an eight-year-old boy and injured more than 180, US officials said the intelligence community had no information about threats to the marathon before the April 15 explosions.

Tamerlan, whom authorities have described as the driving force behind the plot, was killed in a shoot-out with police.

The moment of the first explosion

US officials are expected to brief the Senate on the investigation today but the latest disclosures are expected to prompt an inquiry into security failures.

The Russian President, Vladimir Putin, said in his annual question and answer session today that the bombings illustrated the need for Russia and the US to work more closely on security matters.

He said: "If we truly join our efforts, we will not allow these strikes and suffer such losses."

Officials said Wednesday that Dzhokhar acknowledged to the FBI his role in the attacks but did so before he was advised of his constitutional rights to keep quiet and seek a lawyer.

Anzor Tsarnaev, father of the bomb suspects, plans to travel to the US

It is unclear whether those statements would be admissible in a criminal trial and, if not, whether prosecutors even need them to win a conviction.

Authorities have said Dzhokhar exchanged gunfire with them for more than an hour Friday night before they captured him inside a boat in a suburban Boston backyard.

Dzhokhar has told the FBI that he and his brother were angry about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the killing of Muslims there, officials said.

Memorial for murdered MIT officer Sean Collier

How much of those conversations will end up in court is unclear. The FBI normally tells suspects they have the right to remain silent before questioning them so all their statements can be used against them.

Investigators have found pieces of remote-control equipment among the debris from the bombing and were analysing them, officials said.

One official described the detonator as "close-controlled," meaning it had to be triggered within several blocks of the bombs, which had been placed in bags and left by the marathon finish line.

Floral tributes at the site of the first explosion

They also recovered a 9 mm handgun believed to have been used by Tamerlan from the site of a Thursday night gun battle that injured a Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority officer.

US investigators had travelled to the predominantly Muslim provence of Dagestan in Russia to speak to the Tamerlan and Dzhokhar's parents Anzor Tsarnaev and Zubeidat Tsarnaeva.

Anzor Tsarnaev has told the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti that the family wants to take Tamerlan's body back to Russia.

Mr Tsarnaev, who described his youngest son as a "true angel", has said that his sons were framed and that they would not have been involved in the attacks.

He and his wife plan to travel to the US.

Investigators are looking into whether Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who spent six months in Russia's turbulent Caucasus region in 2012, was influenced by the religious extremists who have waged an insurgency against Russian forces in the area for years.

The brothers have roots in Dagestan and neighbouring Chechnya but had lived in the US for about a decade.

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Wootton Bassett Terror Plotter Jailed

A Muslim convert who plotted a terror attack in Royal Wootton Bassett has been jailed for six years.

Richard Dart, 30, who appeared in a BBC 3 documentary about Islam in 2011, had also planned to target members of the security services after receiving training at camps in Pakistan.

Dart, the son of Dorset teachers, was jailed at the Old Bailey with his co-conspirators Jahangir Alom, a former police community support officer, and Imran Mahmood.

Dart, who changed his name to Salahuddin al Britaini when he converted to Islam, was jailed for six years, Alom for four years and six months and Mahmood for nine years and nine months.

Mr Justice Simon told the trio they held "radical Islamist beliefs and have shown yourselves to be committed to acts of terrorism".

Dart, who was also formerly a BBC security guard, refused to stand when he was sentenced, saying: "I don't wish to stand up, I believe ruling and judging is only for Allah."

His extremist beliefs were exposed in the BBC television documentary made by his step-brother Rob Leech, called My Brother the Islamist, in which he is seen having close contact with the radical preacher Anjem Choudary.

Hearses carrying the bodies of fallen soldiers move through Wootton Bassett

Bearded Dart, who had only been a Muslim for six months at that point, declared: "I support the cause of jihad, that's part of being a  Muslim."

Dart and Alom had travelled to Pakistan to get terrorist training and took advice from Mahmood who had already visited the country.

Dart and Mahmood discussed bomb-making and also that Royal Wootton Bassett, the military repatriation town, could be a potential target.

In fragments of computer conversations between Dart and Mahmood, which they attempted to hide by writing in Word documents and then deleting them, forensics experts discovered a reference to the town.

They had added: "If it comes down to it it's that or even just to deal with a few MI5 MI6 heads."

The trio admitted engaging in conduct in preparation of acts of terrorism between July 2010 and July last year at a hearing last month.

Mr Justice Simon said: "I'm satisfied to the required criminal standard that neither of you had ruled out an attack in the United Kingdom, and that you, Mahmood, were looking at arming yourself with a bomb."

Dart, 30, of  Ealing, west London; Mahmood, 22, of Northolt, west London, and Alom, 26, of Stratford, east London had all been stopped at airports while travelling to and from Pakistan.

When Mahmood was stopped at Manchester in 2010, traces of explosives were found on two rucksacks that he had with him.

He later admitted that he had received rudimentary training in explosives while in Pakistan.

Three three were arrested on July 5 last year just before the start of the Olympics.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Stuart Osborne, from the Met's counter-terrorism command, said: "These are dangerous men. Mahmood had received terrorist training in Pakistan and suggested he had knowledge of how to make home-made explosives, while Dart and Alom made great efforts to travel to Pakistan and aspired to seek training from terrorist groups there."

He added: "This case serves as a classic example of how terrorists live in our midst while preparing their acts and their determination to travel overseas to train before returning to the UK."

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UK Economy Avoids Triple-Dip Recession

The UK economy returned to meagre - but better than forecast - growth in the first quarter of 2013, averting the prospect of a triple-dip recession.

According to the first estimate of gross domestic product (GDP) by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) there was overall growth of 0.3% in the period - driven by the service sector, although construction remained in the doldrums.

A contraction in GDP would have given the UK two consecutive quarters of negative output and plunged the country back into recession, delivering a savage political blow to Chancellor George Osborne.

GDP had shrunk by 0.3% in the final three months of 2012 but the new figures pointed to a recovery in services output, with the motor industry particularly strong.

The ONS measured growth in the sector at 0.6%, driven by a 1.1% increase in the wholesale and retail distribution, hotels and restaurant trades sector.

Industrial output was lifted by the biggest rise in the mining and quarrying sector since 2002 as some North Sea oil and gas platforms came back on line after repairs that had depressed production in the final quarter of 2012.

The figures also showed that the impact of the long cold winter was not as bad as feared, with weather-hit trading on the high street offset by a boost in energy demand as households ramped up their heating.

George Osborne believes the UK economy is now making progress

However, manufacturing output remained weak at -0.3% over the period while construction contracted by 2.5%.

Mr Osborne took to Twitter to give his reaction, saying: "Today's figures are an encouraging sign the economy is healing. Despite a tough economic backdrop, we are making progress.

"The deficit is down by a third, businesses have created over a million and a quarter new jobs and interest rates are at record lows.

"We all know there are no easy answers to problems built up over many years, and I can't promise the road ahead will always be smooth but by continuing to confront our problems head on, Britain is recovering and we are building an economy fit for the future."

The performance will relieve some of the pressure on the Chancellor to rethink his austerity policy, following recent warnings that the UK is a "crisis economy" and last week's ratings downgrade.

IMF chief economist Olivier Blanchard told Sky News last week that Mr Osborne was "playing with fire" with his economic strategy.

Following the latest GDP figures, shadow chancellor Ed Balls accused Mr Osborne of presiding over the UK's slowest recovery for 100 years.

Ed Balls has again called on the Chancellor to change course

He said: "These lacklustre figures show our economy is only just back to where it was six months ago and continue the picture of flat-lining we have seen since the last spending review.

"This stagnation in our economy is the reason why people are worse off than when this Government came to office.

"If we're to have a strong and sustained recovery, and catch up all the ground we have lost over the last few years, we need urgent action to kickstart our economy and strengthen it for the long-term - as Labour and the IMF have warned.

"The longer we continue to bump along the bottom the more long term damage will be done. Britain's struggling families and businesses cannot afford another two years of this."

Business reaction to the GDP figures was largely positive with the chief economist at the Institute of Directors, Graeme Leach, saying it was a crucial time for some better news.

He said: "Despite the squeeze on real earnings and the negative impact on confidence from the euro crisis, money supply growth has picked up and with more money sloshing around there has been more growth.

"We shouldn't get too excited about 0.3% quarterly growth but it does provide relief from all the doom and gloom."

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Bangladesh: Dozens Dead After Building Fall

At least 70 people have died after an eight-storey building collapsed on the outskirts of Bangladesh's capital, Dhaka.

Another 700 are reported to have been injured in the building's collapse which involved several garment factories.

"The toll will rise as conditions of some injured were critical," said Hiralal Roy, a senior emergency ward doctor at the nearby Enam hospital.

Tens of thousands of people gathered at the site, some of them weeping survivors, some searching for family members, with 1,000 people still reported to be trapped inside the building.

Clothing factories are usually staffed 24 hours a day.

Firefighters and soldiers using drilling machines and cranes worked together with local volunteers in the search for other survivors from the building, which fell into itself, leaving it about two storeys tall.

Hundreds of factory workers were trapped inside the building

Some workers complained that the building had developed cracks on Tuesday evening, triggering an evacuation, but they had been forced back to the production lines by their managers.

"The managers forced us to rejoin and just one hour after we entered the factory the building collapsed with a huge noise," said a 24-year-old worker who gave her first name as Mousumi.

"I am injured. But I've not found my husband who was working on the fourth floor," she said, estimating that 5,000 people worked inside the building, which also housed apartments, a bank and shops.

Thousands gathered on the streets where the building collapsed

The collapse stirred memories of a fatal fire in a clothing factory in November that killed 112 people and raised an outcry about safety in the nation's garment industry.

That fire at the Tazreen factory drew international attention to the conditions workers toil under in the $20bn-a-year (£13bn) textile industry in Bangladesh.

The country has about 4,000 garment factories and exports clothes to leading Western retailers - the industry wields vast power in the South Asian nation.

Tazreen did not have emergency exits and its owner said only three floors of the eight-story building were legally built.

Surviving employees said gates had been locked and managers had told them to go back to work after the fire alarm went off.

The factory made clothes for Wal-Mart, Disney and other Western brands.

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Motorist Admits Killing Tandem Couple

A driver has admitted killing a couple after mowing them down in his car as they rode their tandem.

Nicholas Lovell entered guilty pleas to causing the deaths of Ross Simons, 34, and his wife Clare, 30, in a crash in Hanham, near Bristol, on January 27 this year.

Lovell fled the scene of the crash, leaving his partner Louise Cox to give a false account of who was driving the vehicle to the officers.

He handed himself into police hours after the collision and was arrested.

Louise Cox owns the car driven by Lovell in the collision

Appearing via videolink, the 38-year-old pleaded guilty at Bristol Crown Court to two counts of causing death by dangerous driving and one of driving while disqualified.

He spoke only to confirm his name and enter the guilty pleas during the 10-minute hearing.

Ross and Clare Simons died less than 24 hours after celebrating the news that they could undergo fertility treatment to start a family.

Friends described them as "two peas in a pod" and "the perfect couple".

Cox, who owns the Citroen Picasso driven by Lovell, has pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice.

The 35-year-old from Bristol admitted providing police with a false name and description when she was asked to identify who had been driving her car.

The judge remanded Lovell in custody while Cox was released on police bail.

They will be sentenced on May 22.

Tributes left at the scene in Hanham

Detective Chief Inspector Rachel Williams of Avon and Somerset Police said: "The pleas entered today by both Nicholas Lovell and Louise Cox reflect that both have taken some responsibility for the deaths of Ross and Clare.

"While these pleas will never bring Ross and Clare back, I hope they go some way to providing comfort for their families."

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Milly Phone Hacking Claim: Police Slammed

Former senior officers at Surrey Police failed to investigate a claim that Milly Dowler's phone had been hacked during their 2002 inquiry into her abduction and murder, a watchdog has found.

Officers at all levels of the inquiry knew the allegation had been made against the News Of The World (NOTW) but did nothing despite suggestions a crime may had been committed, the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) said.

But the watchdog added it had not been able to discover why nothing was done, adding senior officers appeared to be suffering from a "form of collective amnesia".

IPCC deputy chair Deborah Glass said: "We will never know what would have happened had Surrey Police carried out an investigation into the hacking of Milly Dowler's phone in 2002.

"Phone hacking was a crime and this should have been acted upon, if not in 2002, then later, once the NOTW's widespread use of phone hacking became a matter of public knowledge and concern.

"Our investigation has heard from officers and former officers from Surrey Police who have expressed surprise and dismay that it wasn't investigated.

"We have not been able to uncover any evidence, in documentation or witness statements, of why and by whom that decision was made - former senior officers, in particular, appear to have been afflicted by a form of collective amnesia in relation to the events of 2002.

"This is perhaps not surprising, given the events of 2011 and the public outcry that the hacking of Milly Dowler's phone produced."

Levi Bellfield was convicted of the girl's murder in June 2011

In July 2011, it emerged Milly's phone may have been hacked by the Sunday tabloid - claims which led to the newspaper's owner Rupert Murdoch shutting down the paper.

Milly, 13, was abducted in March 2002 and her body was found in September that year.

The IPCC findings follow an investigation into the conduct of two senior officers, Deputy Chief Constable Craig Denholm and temporary Detective Superintendent Maria Woodall.

Surrey Police said it had taken "management action and issued words of advice" to both officers, although the IPCC concluded neither had a case to answer for misconduct.

Former nightclub bouncer Levi Bellfield was convicted of Milly's murder in June 2011, some nine years after the teenager vanished as she walked home from school after leaving Walton-on-Thames station.

Following Bellfield's trial, the then Surrey Police chief constable, Mark Rowley, set up Operation Baronet to look into reports that Surrey Police was aware in April 2002 that the NOTW had allegedly intercepted Milly's voicemail.

Surrey Police Authority and Surrey Police referred complaints against Mr Denholm and Ms Woodall to the IPCC in June 2012 in light of evidence arising from Operation Baronet.

The force's chief constable Lynne Owens said: "Surrey Police acknowledged in 2011 that the hacking of Milly Dowler's voicemails should have been investigated and both the former chief constable and I have met with and apologised to the Dowler family for the distress this has caused."

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British Man Drowns On Spain Golf Holiday

A British man is believed to have drowned in a Spanish lake while trying to retrieve a golf ball.

Thomas Ross, 73, slipped into the water on Sunday morning while playing the fifth hole at the Dunas de Donana course in Almonte, southern Spain.

The pensioner could not swim and, although he was pulled from the water alive, emergency services were unable to save him, according to local reports.

Mr Ross, believed to have been from Scotland, was staying at the four-star Carabela Beach and Golf Hotel as part of a group of six tourists.

A worker at the hotel said staff and guests were shocked by the news, adding: "It is upsetting because this sort of thing doesn't usually happen here."

Local authorities took Mr Ross's body to Huelva for a post-mortem examination.

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: "We are aware of the death of a British national in the Huelva area of Andalusia and have offered consular assistance to the family."

Boasting an 18-hole course with a driving range, putting green and tennis school, Dunas de Donana is billed as the "first ecological golf course in Europe".

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