Five-Year-Old Girl Shoots Herself In The Head

A five-year-old girl accidentally shot herself dead after her mother left her at home and went shopping, police have said.

Officers responded to reports of gun shots around 10.50am on Sunday morning in New Orleans and found the girl in a bedroom.

She was suffering from a gunshot wound to the head and was rushed to hospital.

The youngster was put on life support for several hours but was later pronounced dead.

A spokesman for the New Orleans police department said: "A preliminary investigation indicates the child was home alone and had somehow come into contact with .38 revolver and accidentally shot herself in the head."

The girl was discovered injured by her mother on her return to their home in North Galvez Street in the 7th Ward.

A neighbour told the New Orleans newspaper The Advocate she came out screaming: "Lord help me, my child is dying."

Another neighbour told The Advocate the mother called him over as he was cleaning his shoes on the porch and he saw the girl gasping for air.

He told the paper: "I seen it. She was next to a pillow, on her back, a hole in her head.

"I ain't touch her. I just look at her. I said, 'Who shot your daughter?' She said, 'I don't know'."

According to The Advocate, a third neighbour, ex-marine Charles Pelton, heard the gun go off. "It was one shot, small calibre," he told the newspaper.

The street where the shooting took place

The girl's mother, 28-year-old Laderika Smith, was arrested and police initially said they would be charging her with second-degree murder.

It was not initially clear who owned the gun, although a man who lives at the property told the Advocate he was keeping it for someone else.

Police have yet to release the name of the dead five-year-old, with relatives still to be informed of her death.

The youngster's cousin, Danielle Carter, told the Advocate: "I'm a strong person. It's a lot to deal with. Kids don't ask for this. Kids don't deserve this."

A post mortem was due to take place on Monday morning.

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Nelson Mandela's Condition Becomes Critical

Nelson Mandela remains in a critical condition in hospital, South Africa's President Jacob Zuma said.

Mr Zuma and ANC deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa visited Mr Mandela in hospital on Sunday evening after the former president's health deteriorated.

They were briefed by Mr Mandela's medical team and told the 94-year-old's condition had become critical over the past 24 hours".

Mr Zuma said in a statement: "The doctors are doing everything possible to get his condition to improve and are ensuring that Madiba is well-looked after and is comfortable. He is in good hands."

Mr Zuma visited Mr Mandela in hospital in Pretoria on Monday evening

The pair also met Mr Mandela's wife, Graca Machel, who has been by her husband's bedside since he was taken ill.

On Monday, Mr Zuma told a news conference in Johannesburg that he had no further updates on Mr Mandela's condition.

Mr Mandela has suffered repeated bouts of illness in recent months and has been admitted to hospital four times since December.

The anti-apartheid leader has been in intensive care since he was last admitted to hospital on June 8 for a recurring lung infection.

Children have been sending "get well soon" messages to Mr Mandela

Mr Zuma appealed to South Africans and to the world to pray for Mr Mandela, his family and the medical team attending him.

In Sunday's statement, Mr Zuma also discussed the government's acknowledgement a day earlier that an ambulance carrying Mr Mandela to the hospital two weeks ago had broken down.

"There were seven doctors in the convoy who were in full control of the situation throughout the period. He had expert medical care," Mr Zuma said.

"The fully equipped military ICU ambulance had a full complement of specialist medical staff including intensive care specialists and ICU nurses.

"The doctors also dismissed the media reports that Madiba suffered cardiac arrest. There is no truth at all in that report."

Mr Mandela is seen by many around the world as a symbol of reconciliation.

He played a leading role in steering South Africa from the apartheid era to democracy, becoming the country's first black president in all-race elections in 1994.

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France: British Man Killed During Ironman Race

A 30-year-old British man has died after crashing in the cycling section of the Nice Ironman event on the French Riviera, emergency services have said.

The man, believed to be from London, went off the road on a corner and crashed into a wall in Tourrettes-sur-Loup, inland from Nice.

He was said to have suffered a major head injury. A helicopter was sent to take him to hospital, but he died on the way.

The accident happened at around 9.30am on Sunday.

Competition organiser Yves Cordier said: "It was probably driver error that caused the athlete to skid, so that his head hit a rock, causing a concussion.

"Our primary duty is to support this man's family and let the police carry out an investigation before we create rumours. We must protect the family."

The family of the victim asked race authorities not to disclose the competitor's identity.

It was said to be the first death at any such event in France.

News of the fatality left the racegoers shocked, but the event continued, with Belgian Frederiek van Lierde taking first place.

On the podium, the three winning triathletes held a minute's silence out of respect.

Ironman competitions are an extreme form of the triathlon.

The event in Nice involved a 3.8km swim, a 180km cycle ride and running a full marathon (42km).

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Jim Carrey: Kick-Ass 2 Too Violent To Promote

Kick-Ass 2 star Jim Carrey has refused to take part in publicity for the film because he believes it is too violent in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook massacre.

The Hollywood superstar, a vocal advocate of stricter gun controls in America, took to Twitter to voice his objections to the movie, in which he plays Colonel Stars and Stripes, a former mobster turned superhero. 

"I did Kickass a month b4 Sandy Hook and now in all good conscience I cannot support that level of violence," he wrote.

"My apologies to others involved with the film. I am not ashamed of it but recent events have caused a change in my heart."

Twenty pupils and six staff were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut last December by 20-year-old gunman Adam Lanza.

Kick-Ass 2 will see the Hit Girl character return

Mark Miller, the creator of the comic book upon which the film is based, asked Carrey to reconsider his decision. 

"I'm baffled by this sudden announcement as nothing seen in this picture wasn't in the screenplay eighteen months ago," he said.

"Yes, the body-count is very high, but a movie called Kick-Ass 2 really has to do what it says on the tin.

"A sequel to the picture that gave us HIT-GIRL was always going to have some blood on the floor and this should have been no shock to a guy who enjoyed the first movie so much... 

"Like Jim, I'm horrified by real-life violence (even though I'm Scottish), but Kick-Ass 2 isn't a documentary. No actors were harmed in the making of this production!"

Kick-Ass 2, the sequel to 2010's Kick-Ass, follows two children who style themselves as the superheroes Hit Girl and Kick-Ass.

It will be released in the UK on August 16.

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CQC Cover-Up: Jill Finney Denies Hiding Report

One of the women accused of covering up a critical report into the Care Quality Commission has defended not making it public.

Jill Finney, former deputy chief executive of the CQC, told Sky News the report was flawed because it was not "robust enough" about the organisation's failings.

And she insisted she had drawn it to Grant Thornton's attention when the company was commissioned to conduct an external review.

It comes as Cumbria Police have disclosed they are investigating whether any criminal offence may have occurred during the cover-up.

A spokesman said: "Cumbria Constabulary is considering the content of the lengthy CQC report that was released last week. A dedicated team of detectives will examine the report in detail and decide whether any further action is required."

The spokesman anticipated this would take three weeks.

Ms Finney is one of three people accused of hiding the results of an internal review into the deaths of babies at a Cumbria hospital.

Furness General Hospital is at the focus of the row

Along with chief executive Cynthia Bower and media manager Anna Jefferson, she was allegedly present at a meeting where deleting the report was discussed.

More than 30 families have taken action against Furness General, which is run by Morecambe Bay NHS Trust, over deaths and injuries to mothers and babies since 2008.

The Trust was inspected in 2010 and given the all clear by the regulator but an official later produced a document showing this was flawed.

It is claimed bosses told him to destroy it to protect the regulator's reputation.

Ms Jefferson allegedly said: "Are you kidding me? This can never be in the public domain, nor subject to a freedom of information request - read my lips."

She has denied suggesting the report should be suppressed and now Ms Finney has told Sky News the comment was never made.

"I don't recognise that conversation with Anna. Anna was in the meeting with Cynthia where we discussed this report and we agreed this report required further work," she said.

She claimed the initial report had been "incomplete" because it concluded the CQC's regulatory activity had been sufficient.

Cynthia Bower (left) and Anna Jefferson (right)

"It was not sufficient and we should have done more. The report needed further work," she said. "It wasn't robust enough on us so people would have said that report wasn't of value."

Ms Finney insisted that she flagged up the initial report to Grant Thornton when they were appointed to organise an external review.

"I did not order the deletion of the report. When Grant Thornton were appointed the first thing I did was to say 'you must read this report'," she said.

The former executive admitted the CQC should have acted more quickly and done more when they realised the report was flawed.

But she defended herself amid questions about her qualifications for the £145,000 post of deputy chief executive, which she took on after being communications director,

"My entire background is in communications and being able to talk to people outside of the sector, brief people outside of the sector. I am not an expert on the health service," she said.

Ms Finney moved to the not-for-profit internet domain company Nominet in March but was fired last week when the row about the scandal erupted.

Ministers have been urged not to have a "knee jerk reaction" to the row and start a major overhaul of the CQC but to allow existing changes to take hold.

Dr Mark Porter, chairman of council at the BMA, said: "I think it is absolutely not the time to decide we need to reorganise it all from top to bottom again."

Health Minister Dr Dan Poulter has claimed "institutional secrecy" was put ahead of patient safety in hospitals and at the CQC.

He linked the events in Morecambe Bay to the Mid-Staffs hospital scandal, claiming that a "rotten culture" had taken hold in the NHS.

"Both at the hospital where patients were supposed to be cared for, and the regulator which was supposed to be championing the vulnerable, the elderly and the sick," he wrote in The Telegraph.

"Again and again, a desire not to face up to the reality of poor care saw institutional secrecy put ahead of patient safety."

Adding to the controversy, former CQC director of operations David Johnstone claimed on Monday he was sacked after raising concerns about how it was being run.

He said he was escorted off the premises then hit with a gagging order after putting together a plan to introduce fundamental changes in the organisation.

Mr Johnson was only in his post for 13 weeks before he was fired by Ms Bower for suggesting the watchdog needed improving "right across the board".

He said he was legally prevented from speaking out and was left with the impression he would be "destroyed" if he disobeyed the order.

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Alps Killings: Al Hilli Brother Arrested

A man has been arrested over the murder of three members of his family and a cyclist who were shot dead in the Alps, according to Sky sources.

Zaid al Hilli, 54, was held by Surrey Police, who have been investigating the deaths of husband and wife Saad and Ikbal al Hilli, Mrs al Hilli's mother Suhaila al Allaf and cyclist Sylvain Mollier.

The suspect - Saad al Hilli's brother - was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder at an address in Chessington at around 7.30am, police said.

Surrey Police said the arrest was pre-planned and the result of ongoing inquiries.

The four victims were gunned down near Annecy in the French Alps in September last year.

The couple's two young daughters, aged seven and four at the time, survived the attack on the family's estate car.

Older sibling Zainab was shot in the shoulder and hit in the head by her attacker, but recovered from her injuries.

Zaid al Hilli was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder

Her four-year-old sister Zeena survived by hiding under her mother's skirt in the back seat of the vehicle and was only found by police eight hours later.

Police believe Mr Mollier was an innocent bystander, killed because he was passing at the time of the attack on the family.

Surrey Police set up a Joint Investigation Team to work with their French colleagues - with up to 100 officers working on the case.

Following the arrest, Annecy prosecutor Eric Maillaud told AFP: "We felt there were enough reasons to take him into custody.

"We need to ask him questions about his schedule, his relationship with his brother and the family inheritance."

In May, Surrey Police issued an appeal for help to trace a vehicle, thought to be UK-registered, which was seen near the crime scene.

Detectives said the 4x4 was being driven on the Combre d'Ire Road in Chevaline, near Annecy, about 20 minutes before the shooting.

Zaid al Hilli was among the mourners at the funerals held for his murdered relatives in 2012.

A family friend told Sky News of his surprise at the arrest and said Mr al Hilli was "a quiet and very private man".

The two al Hilli daughters are recovering well and have been staying with foster parents in the months since the shooting, the friend added.

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Keanu Williams: Mother Guilty Of Son's Murder

By Lisa Dowd, Midlands Correspondent

The mother of a two-year-old boy who was found beaten to death after suffering months of abuse has been convicted of his murder.

Keanu Williams was found in January 2011 at the home of his mother Rebecca Shuttleworth's boyfriend, Luke Southerton.

Southerton had called 999 and told operators that Keanu - known as "Kiwi" - had stopped breathing, was pale and had not been well all day.

The toddler was pronounced dead at hospital.

During the trial Birmingham Crown Court heard that Keanu had 37 external marks of injury on his body.

A police van outside the Birmingham flat where Keanu was found

As well as a fist-sized tear found in his abdomen, which caused substantial bleeding, Keanu had bruising to his chest, head and back.

The prosecution said that Keanu's injuries were not an "isolated event" but the culmination of months of ill-treatment.

Shuttleworth, 24, was also found guilty of four counts of child cruelty.

Southerton, 31, was cleared of murder and manslaughter but found guilty of one count of child cruelty against Keanu.

In a statement, Keanu's aunt Angela Shuttleworth paid tribute to him.

A battered sofa in the flat where the toddler died

She said: "Keanu (Kiwi) was an amazing little boy who had developed a real personality. He was full of life and loved playing with his siblings and cousins.

"He enjoyed all his toys and would empty the toy box every time he came to play, but he especially loved Iggle Piggle from In The Night Garden.

"Kiwi also loved food - he ate everything and was hungry all the time.

"Since the tragic death of Kiwi, we haven't been able to grieve or say goodbye to him properly. The whole family has been torn apart by this and his death has left a gaping hole in our lives.

"We hope now this is over we can lay Kiwi to rest and begin to have some closure."

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Lawrence 'Smear Plot': Father Calls For Inquiry

The father of Stephen Lawrence has dismissed an announcement by the Home Secretary that she will extend inquiries into police wrongdoing to cover allegations undercover officers were told to "smear" his family.

Neville Lawrence has called for a judge-led inquiry into the claims and said the fresh allegations had taken away the faith he had begun to build in the police.

From his home in Jamaica, a statement said he was "dismayed" over the new claims.

It said: "I've always felt that my family was under greater investigation than those guilty of killing my beloved Stephen.

"It is unthinkable that in the extremely dark days and months after my son's murder that my family were subject to such scrutiny.

"I feel betrayed by this latest news and it has taken away the faith I had started to build in the police.

Doreen Lawrence said the revelation 'tops' everything she knows

"I am convinced that nothing short of a judge-led public inquiry will suffice and I have no confidence that the measures announced today will get to the bottom of this matter."

It comes after the Home Secretary told the House of Commons that Scotland Yard has asked the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) to supervise its handling of allegations that police tried to "smear" the Lawrence family.

The claims emerged in an interview with a former undercover police officer, Peter Francis.

Theresa May MP said further allegations were likely to emerge before a report on alleged deliberate incompetence and corruption during the investigation into Stephen's murder.

She said: "They (Lawrence family) experienced an unspeakable tragedy, their pain was compounded by the many years in which justice was not done and these latest allegations still coming 20 years after Stephen's murder only add to their suffering.

The teenager's death sparked a change in how race crimes are investigated

"Given the nature of those allegations and the many years the Special Demonstration Squad was in existence, we should not be surprised if further allegations are made.

"I am determined we should have zero tolerance of police corruption and wrongdoing."

A report by Mark Ellison QC, commission by the Home Secretary last July, will investigate allegations of incompetence and corruption during the Lawrence investigation. It will now be delayed to incorporate the "smear" allegations.

Mr Francis said he was told to find "dirt" that could be used against members of the Lawrence family, shortly after the 18-year-old was killed in a racist attack in April 1993, The Guardian reported.

He was also asked to target the friend who witnessed the murder and campaigners angry at the failure to bring his killers to justice, the newspaper said.

Mr Lawrence's mother, Doreen, told the newspaper there was no justification for efforts to discredit her family for her son's murder.

The claims will be investigated by a team already looking into other possible abuses of responsibility carried out by undercover officers.

Derbyshire's Chief Constable Mick Creedon is heading the inquiry into claims officers assumed the identities of dead children and had inappropriate sexual relationships.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "The Met must balance the genuine public interest in these matters with its duty to protect officers and former officers who have been deployed undercover, often in difficult and dangerous circumstances.

"At some point it will fall upon this generation of police leaders to account for the activities of our predecessors, but for the moment we must focus on getting to the truth."

Lord Condon, who was Metropolitan Police commissioner at the time of Stephen's murder, said: "I'm not aware of any other senior officer in the Met at the time who would have authorised the sort of smear campaign that's been described.

"There was no authority, as far as I am aware, at the top of the Metropolitan Police at any point during my time as commissioner to carry out an undercover smear campaign against the Lawrences."

The claims have surfaced as a result of a joint investigation into undercover policing by The Guardian and Channel 4's Dispatches programme, to be broadcast this evening.

Mr Francis, who reportedly posed as an anti-racist activist in the mid-1990s, said he came under "huge and constant pressure" to "hunt for disinformation" to undermine those arguing for a better investigation into the murder.

He told The Guardian: "I had to get any information on what was happening in the Stephen Lawrence campaign.

"They wanted the campaign to stop. It was felt it was going to turn into an elephant.

"Throughout my deployment there was almost constant pressure on me personally to find out anything I could that would discredit these campaigns."

Mr Lawrence, an aspiring architect, was stabbed to death by a group of up to six white youths in an unprovoked racist attack as he waited at a bus stop in Eltham, southeast London.

In January 2012, Gary Dobson and David Norris were found guilty of being involved in the attack and sentenced to life imprisonment after a forensic review of the case found significant new scientific evidence on clothing seized from their homes following the murder.

During the 19 year wait for justice by the family, there was a campaign by activists for more to be done to bring Stephen's killers to justice.

Responding to Mr Francis' claims, Mrs Lawrence told the Guardian: "Out of all the things I've found out over the years, this certainly has topped it."

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper described Mr Francis' claims as "shocking and appalling" and called for there to be a separate investigation into the "smear" claims.

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Whistleblower Snowden 'Healthy And Safe'

Snowden Affair: The Who And The Why

Updated: 5:06pm UK, Monday 24 June 2013

By Tim Marshall, Foreign Affairs Editor

A look at the different players in the Edward Snowden controversy as the whistleblower tries to evade US justice.

China

There's no hard evidence that China has played a role in this affair but it's difficult to argue against the idea.

Beijing had a man and had a problem. The problem was that hanging on to Mr Snowden could damage its relationship with Washington DC which is its biggest foreign policy challenge.

If it had done, a long-running dispute over the issue would mean that relationship would be complicated.

Now it doesn't have a man, it doesn't have problem, and has been able to poke the US in the eye without leaving much of a fingerprint.

It can also claim the somewhat dubious moral high ground, arguing that Mr Snowden's revelations proved that the Americans, who have long complained about Chinese hacking, was in fact spying on China.

China may have granted Hong Kong more autonomy than most of its regions, but foreign policy remains in Beijing's hands.

And it is almost certain China and Hong Kong liaised to smooth the path of Mr Snowden out of their jurisdiction.

Hong Kong

The only quandary for the Hong Kong authorities was how to keep up appearances.

This was a legal matter which quickly turned into a geo political struggle.

It had to preserve its dignity and the rule of law, but also make sure that what Beijing wanted, Beijing got.

Hence the repeated response to the Americans that the case was 'under review' and that more paperwork was needed.

In fact, very little paperwork was required, not even a valid passport. Mr Snowden travelled out of Hong Kong with a revoked passport.

Russia

The Kremlin says it is 'unaware' of any contact with the Russian authorities and Mr Snowden.

However, the idea that Aeroflot would allow a former American spy, whose name was making global headlines, onto one of their flights bound for Moscow, on a revoked passport, without a Russian visa, does not tally with the way the world works.

That Ecuador may have given him a 'travel document' is just part of the pretence.

Moscow is also busy poking Washington DC in the eye, whilst maintaining a modicum of 'not me guv'.

Mr Snowden did not leave Moscow's airport, thus allowing the pretence of him not passing through a border.

Cuba

If Mr Snowden was passing through Cuba, it does not present Havana with a dilemma.

A transit trip would not sour Washington-Havana relations any more than they already are.

Were he to stay there, that would be a different matter. He was checked in for a flight from Moscow to Havana, had a seat, but the plane left, apparently without him.

Venezuela

Hugo Chavez may be gone but the spirit of his 'Bolivarian Revolution' lives on.

Just last month the successor to Chavez, President Nicolas Maduro, referred to Barack Obama as 'the grand chief of devils'. 

Venezuela is part of the Bolivarian Alliance which includes Cuba, and Bolivia, the country named after the 18th century revolutionary Simon Bolivar.

Members tend to be 'anti-imperialist' and take a delight in tweaking the nose of the US and its perceived global arrogance.

Venezuela can handle the heat of allowing Snowden to transit through its territory; after all, despite the rhetoric between Caracas and Washington DC, the US buys 900,000 barrels of Venezuelan oil every day.

Ecuador

Ecuador is also in the Bolivarian Alliance and President Rafael Correa has impeccable 'anti-imperialist' credentials having granted Wikileaks founder Julian Assange asylum in his country and refuge in the London embassy until Mr Assange can get there.

So far Ecuador is assessing Mr Snowden's asylum request.

As he is an American citizen this case if even more sensitive than the Assange affair, and Ecuador, a poverty stricken country has fewer cards to play than Venezuela.

The signs are it will stay within the spirit of the Bolivarian bloc, and keep quiet about its own trampling over the basic tenets of free speech.

The US

Fail.

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Bunga Bunga Trial: Silvio Berlusconi Guilty

Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has been found guilty of paying for sex with an underage prostitute.

The 76-year-old was sentenced to seven years in prison and banned from holding public office by a panel of three judges in Milan.

He previously denied having sex with Karima El Mahroug, also known as Ruby the Heart Stealer, after what prosecutors claimed were erotic "bunga bunga" parties at his Milan mansion in 2010.

His defence claimed he believed the dancer, who was 17 at the time, was the niece of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and wanted to avoid a diplomatic incident.

Berlusconi was also found guilty of abuse of office by arranging to have Miss El Mahroug, now 19, released from police custody when she was arrested on suspicion of theft.

Miss El Mahroug denied having sex with Berlusconi when she was 17 years old

His lawyer, Niccolo Ghedini, immediately announced an appeal, describing the sentence as "beyond reality" and "completely illogical".

"The judges even went beyond the prosecutors' request (for a six-year sentence)," he added.

Berlusconi, who was not in court for the verdict, has two levels of appeal and cannot be jailed until that process has been exhausted. Under the Italian justice system, that could take several years.

However, the verdict is likely to put further pressure on the current Italian prime minister Enrico Letta, whose fragile coalition government is supported by Berlusconi's People of Freedom party.

Professor Christopher Duggan, an expert on Italian history and politics at the University of Reading, said the outlook for Mr Letta's government "must now be bleak".

Berlusconi has been involved in Italian politics for nearly two decades

He said: "Berlusconi has claimed credit both for Giorgio Napolitano being re-elected as president and for burying the hatchet with the left, giving Italy a workable coalition.

"Undoubtedly, though, he and his millions of followers have been hoping there will be something of a quid pro quo for this: namely that the political persecution, as they see it, of Berlusconi by the judiciary will stop.

"This sentence will leave them dismayed and extremely angry."

Last October, Berlusconi was sentenced to four years in prison for tax fraud connected to his television channels.

The case is now heading to Italy's highest court for a final appeal, after his defence team failed to have the verdict overturned at the constitutional court.

More follows...

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