Rolf Harris In Court On Child Sex Charges

Rolf Harris has appeared briefly in court charged with nine counts of indecent assault and four counts of making indecent images of a child.

The 83-year-old entertainer arrived at Westminster Magistrates' Court with his wife Alwen at his side.

Wearing a dark suit, striped shirt and patterned tie, he said nothing to reporters as he walked into the building flanked by security guards.

He left court around 30 minutes later, surrounded by a throng of reporters and photographers as he climbed into a waiting car.

Harris, 83, said nothing as he walked into court

Harris is accused of assaulting two alleged victims, who were aged 14 and 15 at the time, between 1980 and 1986.

The charges of making indecent images of a child date back to last year.

During the hearing, Sonia Woodley QC, defending, said Harris had indicated he would plead not guilty.

The Australian-born artist, musician and TV presenter was questioned under caution last November by officers working on Operation Yewtree, the investigation into abuse claims against Jimmy Savile.

He was arrested in March and charged in August.

The allegations against him have no connection to Savile.

Harris, who has lived in Bray, Berkshire, for more than 50 years, has been in the public eye for decades.

He fronted the popular TV programme Animal Hospital and had several musical hits, many of which featured his famous wobble board.

He painted a portrait of the Queen in 2005 and performed at her Diamond Jubilee concert last year.

His next court appearance will be at Southwark Crown Court on October 7.

23.39 | 0 komentar | Read More

Tesco In Challenge To iPad With Hudl Tablet

Tesco has launched its challenge to the iPad and the Kindle with its own tablet computer, the Hudl.

The Android-operated, seven-inch device is priced at £119, a snip compared to its Apple counterpart but on a par with the Google and Kindle offerings.

It has a high-definition widescreen display, nine hours of video battery life, and 16GB of memory, which can be extended to 48GB.

The tablet, which comes in black, blue, red and purple, goes on sale from September 30. It offers wifi, Bluetooth and a micro HDMI port.

The Hudl goes on sale on September 30

Its closest competitor is the Kindle Fire, which starts at £99. It also has a seven-inch screen, and nine-hour battery life, but just 8GB of storage.

The iPad mini, with a 7.9-inch screen, starts at £269, and also has 16GB of memory.

The supermarket chain's chief executive Philip Clarke made a thinly veiled jab at the more expensive competitors by saying: "The digital revolution should be for the many, not for the few."

The Hudl has an in-built Tesco launcher button, which allows users to shop, see their Clubcard points, watch movies on Tesco's Blinkbox system and listen to music.

It also comes with a range of in-built apps, including YouTube and Google Chrome, and users can download new apps on Google Play.

Mr Clarke said: "We feel the time is right for Tesco to help widen tablet ownership and bring the fun, convenience and excitement of tablets to even more customers across the UK."

Tesco said that the Hudl had been designed from scratch taking into account what customers wanted.

The machines have been built by a manufacturing partner based in China, which also manufactures products for Microsoft, HP, BlackBerry and Sony.

Microsoft is expected to announce new Surface tablet computers, including a version with a smaller screen to compete with the iPad mini at an event in New York on Monday.

The original Surface launched in October but sales have been slow.

23.39 | 0 komentar | Read More

Kenya Terrorists 'Were Dressed Up As Women'

Men dressed as women were among the attackers who massacred shoppers at a mall in Kenya, it has been claimed.

A government minister said that the terrorists who attacked the shopping complex in Nairobi were all men, but added that some were dressed as women.

Earlier, a white woman wearing a veil was reportedly spotted shouting orders to gunmen in Arabic during the attack on the Westgate complex in the Kenyan capital.

Some reports linked Samantha Lewthwaite, the English widow of 7/7 bomber Jermaine Lindsay, and the attack.

She is wanted by Kenyan police over links to a suspected terrorist cell.

Soldiers are moving in on the terrorists at the shopping centre

However the Foreign Office later said it was not linking the two.

Sky News' Chief Correspondent Stuart Ramsay said: "I saw a picture of a white woman wearing a balaclava and carrying a weapon."

Security sources say the group of attackers are from several different countries.

A commander of the group believed to be behind the attack has reportedly denied that any of militants are from the UK or US.

23.39 | 0 komentar | Read More

Bon Jovi's Tico Torres Has Second Emergency Op

Tico Torres, the 59-year-old drummer with Bon Jovi, has been rushed into hospital for the second critical operation in two weeks.

The musician had his gallbladder removed after suffering severe pain in his abdomen.

The week before last, Torres had his appendix taken out in Mexico City, causing the band to postpone gigs.

They will now go ahead with their scheduled tour dates with a replacement drummer, Rich Scannella.

Torres expressed disappointment that he will not be performing in the near future, but promised in a statement that he will "be there in spirit and back on stage soon".

"I would like to say a quick 'Thank You' to all of you who have kept me in your thoughts thus far," he wrote.

Bon Jovi said in a statement: "Tico Torres has been the heart and soul of our band since we started 30 years ago. He's also one tough SOB and we look forward to him again pounding away brilliantly at the drums on (the) remainder of this and future tours."

23.39 | 0 komentar | Read More

Costa Concordia: Schettino Blames Helmsman

The captain of the Costa Concordia, which hit rocks and capsized off an Italian island, killing 32 people, has blamed his helmsman for the disaster.

Speaking at his trial for manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning ship, Francesco Schettino said he ordered Jacob Rusli Bin to steer left as the cruise liner sailed perilously close to Giglio.

He claimed the crewman reacted slowly and failed to complete the manoeuvre in time.

Schettino asked for permission to speak in court while experts discussed the extent to which the helmsman may have been responsible.

The Italian told the court that "if it weren't for the delay and error ... the ship would have stopped" before slamming into the reef, which carved a 70m (230ft) hole in one side of its hull.

Some 32 people died when the Costa Concordia ran aground

His claim was disputed by Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, the chairman of the expert witness panel, who said: "The ship would have hit the rocks in any case."

Investigators believe language problems between the captain and his Indonesian colleague may have contributed to the crash.

The helmsman was sentenced to one year and eight months in prison in July after pleading guilty to manslaughter and causing the shipwreck.

However, a law shaving three years off jail terms to ease prison overcrowding means he is unlikely to serve any time behind bars.

Schettino, who faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted, says the reef the Costa Concordia struck was not on his charts and that he was thrown overboard by the angle of the leaning ship.

The cruise ship has been righted, revealing its rust-covered starboard side

He claims he is being made a scapegoat and that errors by other personnel caused the tragedy.

His lawyers also want to examine the wreck for evidence of possible technical faults with the emergency generators and pumps that may have contributed to the disaster in January 2012.

The 114,000-ton ship was hauled upright from its partially submerged position earlier this month.

More than 1,000 concrete stacks and six underwater platforms will be used to keep the vessel stable until it is towed to a port to be broken up next spring.

23.39 | 0 komentar | Read More

Esme Smith Found Safe After 11-Day Search

Missing 14-year-old Esme Smith, from Surrey has been found safe in north London, say police.

The schoolgirl disappeared 11 days ago.

She was last seen by friends after school in her home town of Farnham on Thursday, September 12. She told them she was going to Woking 16 miles away and then on to a party.

But instead the teenager, described as "extrovert, vivacious, (and) normal", changed out of her school uniform and caught a train from Aldershot just after 4pm and arrived at London Waterloo about an hour later.

The secondary school pupil was pictured on CCTV as she walked down steps near Charing Cross station in London at about 5.30pm that day.

A police spokesman said: "A call was made to Surrey Police by the Metropolitan Police around 9.40am today to say that the 14-year-old, who went missing on September 12, was at a north London police station."

Her father Mark Smith, who works at Nato's Joint Warfare Centre in Stavanger, Norway, said the family had been "worried sick" by her disappearance.

Esme was caught on CCTV near Charing Cross on the day she disappeared

More than 4,000 people had "liked" a Facebook page called Find Esme Smith, dedicated to raising awareness of her disappearance and her sister Sian released a video appeal asking her to return.

In it, Sian said: "We just want her back. I think she's maybe met somebody out there or planned to meet somebody. We just don't know at the moment, and that's the worrying thing. She's not in trouble. We just want her back. We are incredibly worried."

Surrey Police Detective Superintendent Jon Savell said the public had played a key role in tracking down the 14-year-old.

He said: "Throughout our search for Esme, we were very fortunate to have the support of the local community, Esme's school, her friends, the public and the media, and it was as a direct result of the media activity that she was found.

"We have seen huge use of social media, such as Twitter and Facebook, throughout our search and this has been really beneficial but we would now ask that these pages are taken down."

Detective Superintendent Savell said police were now trying to establish where Esme had been during the time she was missing.

23.39 | 0 komentar | Read More

Mummified Boy Case: Authorities 'Not Bothered'

By Gerard Tubb, North of England Correspondent

The father of a four-year-old boy whose mummified body was found in his mother's bedroom has told a court he had previously called social services with his concerns but they "weren't bothered".

Aftab Khan said his former partner Amanda Hutton had thrown him out of the family home after he complained about the welfare of their son Hamzah.

Jurors were also told Hamzah was seen being fed as little as half of a supermarket pasty for evening meals.

The little boy's body was discovered in a cot in Hutton's Bradford home in September 2011, surrounded by rotting rubbish and faeces.

Bradford Crown Court has heard how he had died almost two years earlier, in December 2009.

Mr Khan told the court how he had separated from 43-year-old Hutton after he was charged with assaulting her.

The mechanic and taxi driver told the court that it was his concerns about his son that had led to the arguments resulting in his arrest in 2008 and eventual conviction for battery.

He said: "She wasn't bathing him. She wasn't changing him."

Mr Khan said he would only see Hutton feeding Hamzah milk. He said his former partner drank cider and vodka heavily, especially after the death of her mother.

Amanda Hutton denies the manslaughter of her son

"She'd be absolutely out of it," he said.

Mr Khan, Hutton's partner of 22 years, told the jury he had phoned social services in December 2009 or January 2010, but that he was ignored.

"I remember ringing social services, they said it was a private matter and they weren't bothered," he claimed.

"Social services are never bothered in cases like these."

The court heard that no record exists of any such call.

He said he was initially stopped from visiting Hutton due to a court order but did start to go and see his son when they moved to a new home in Bradford in March 2009.

Mr Khan told the jury his former partner was not looking after Hamzah properly.

"I said 'look at the state of him - you're not looking after him' and she told me to get out," he told the jury.

In heated exchanges with the judge and defence barrister Stephen Meadowcroft QC, Mr Khan said he refused to be blamed for Hamzah's death.

Accused by Mr Meadowcroft of being "a violent bully" and a wife-beater, he gestured to Hutton in the dock and said: "If I am a wife-beater why am I not stood next to her?"

Mr Meadowcroft replied: "Well perhaps you ought to be."

Mr Khan said: "You've got damaging evidence against Miss Hutton but you're still trying to point the finger at me - well I'm not having it."

Also giving evidence at the trial was Deepinder Kaur, the former partner of Hamzah's older brother Qaiser, who described conditions in the Bradford house in 2009.

"Hamzah didn't have proper meals, the only meal he had was in the evening, but even then he didn't have proper meals," she said.

Asked to provide more details of what Hamzah ate in the two weeks she stayed in the house, Ms Kaur said he had "lots of milk".

She said his breakfast was half a banana and during the day he would eat biscuits "or whatever's lying around", while his evening meal would be half a cheese and onion pasty.

She said Hutton drank during the day and was drunk almost every night, while Hamzah sat on the floor watching TV or was locked in his bedroom.

"When she was drunk she wasn't a very nice person," she said.

Ms Kaur said when she picked Hamzah up he was "very small and light," and that with hindsight he was "definitely underweight".

The jury heard from a female police officer who saw Hamzah at home in April 2009 during what she called a welfare visit after concerns were raised about Hutton's parenting skills.

PC Maria Furness said Hutton opened the door at 5.15pm smelling of alcohol.

She said she spoke to Hamzah and to his older brother Tariq, who described himself to her as Hamzah's uncle.

She said she left the house "satisfied that Hamzah was fit, well, clean, healthy-looking and that there was an appropriate adult".

Hutton denies manslaughter. The trial continues.

23.39 | 0 komentar | Read More

Kenya Siege: Gunmen 'Running and Hiding'

Islamist militants who have killed at least 62 people in a Nairobi shopping centre are reported to be "running and hiding" in stores as security forces close in.

Two of the "terrorists" have been killed and several others injured after the military launched a major assault, said Kenya's interior minister Joseph Ole Lenku.

He added there was "no way out" for the other fighters and "no room for escape" in the three-day-long siege.

And he claimed security forces were in control of all floors of the four-storey building following Saturday's raid by gunmen from Somali militant group al Shabaab - linked to al Qaeda.

Aerial view of the smoke rising from the shopping centre

Sky's chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay, reporting from the scene, said a policeman told him Kenyan forces were still fighting around six or seven gunmen in the Westgate Shopping Mall.

Mr Lenku said most hostages had been freed, without giving specific numbers.

Four British nationals were among the dead, including Ross Langdon, who had dual Australian nationality.

The 33-year-old architect died alongside his Dutch wife Eliv Yavus who was pregnant and due to give birth in two weeks.

Colleagues of Mr Langdon told Sky News: "We were shocked at the news. Ross was the kind of guy who restored your faith in humanity - what a senseless waste."

Mr Langdon and Eliv Yavus. Pic: Windgrove: Life on the Edge blog

Kenyan police said three "terrorists" had been killed and they had arrested more than 10 suspects for questioning over the attack.

Around lunchtime, four huge explosions were heard followed by a barrage of gunfire at the shopping complex in the Kenyan capital.

Black smoke poured from the top of the building as troops lay siege to the mall while military and police helicopters circled above. Hours later, as night fell, the smoke was still billowing.

Security officials at the scene said the explosions were caused by Kenyan forces who set off blasts to get in through the roof.

Kenyan troops take cover as they await developments

However, Mr Lenku said the smoke had been caused by the al Shabaab fighters setting fire to mattresses as a decoy.

He said he expected security forces to end the siege soon and two of the attackers had been killed.

"We think the operation will come to an end soon," he told a news conference. "We are in control of all the floors, the terrorists are running and hiding in some stores ... there is no room for escape."

He also said all the attackers were men, after witnesses had reported seeing women brandishing guns in the atrocity.

Sky's Stuart Ramsay reporting on the siege

But three sources, one an intelligence officer and two soldiers, told Reuters that one of the killed attackers was a white woman.

This could fuel speculation that she is Samantha Lewthwaite - the wanted widow of one of the London 7/7 suicide bombers.

Defence chief General Julius Karangi said the militants were "a multinational collection from all over the world".

Officials said the attackers have been using the hostages as human shields and have threatened to kill them. The fighters stormed the mall on Saturday from two sides, throwing grenades and firing at civilians.

Troops make their way to the shopping mall

Al Shabaab spokesman Ali Mohamud Rage warned the hostages would "bear the brunt of any force directed against the mujahedeen".

The group said the attack was in retaliation for Kenyan military action in Somalia that is helping to support the Mogadishu government.

The atrocity is the worst in Nairobi since an al Qaeda bomb attack on the US embassy in 1998 that killed more than 200 people.

The Kenyan Red Cross has set up a webpage for anyone worried about friends or relatives who might be caught up in the siege.

:: A helpline has been set up for people in the UK who are concerned about relatives in Kenya: 020 7008 000. 

23.39 | 0 komentar | Read More

Child Killer's Murderers Jailed For Life

Two men who murdered a convicted child killer in jail have been told they will spend the rest of their lives behind bars.

Lee Newell, 44, and Gary Smith, 48, were both handed whole life sentences by a judge at Warwick Crown Court for killing Subhan Anwar.

Anwar was strangled after allowing himself to be tied up, because he may have mistakenly believed he was being taken hostage.

It was suggested Anwar was killed because he broke a prison moral coade

The motive for his murder remained unclear, but the judge presiding over the trial said he believed it may have been due to the breaking of what he called a "moral code" that exists within prisons.

Jurors heard that when guards came to take the pair away for questioning, they refused to come out of their cells at HMP Long Lartin in Worcestershire.

Smith even calmly made Newell a cup of hot chocolate during the stand-off with prison staff.

The inmates were also convicted of stealing personal items, including prayer beads, a watch and an earring, from Anwar after choking him to death inside his cell on February 14.

Both defendants refused to listen to the judge's closing remarks at Warwick Crown Court.

They had been prepared to sit in the dock to hear the sentence passed but then demanded to be taken back to the cells after the judge gave permission for Anwar's parents to sit in the well of the court rather than the public gallery.

Anwar, 24, from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, was serving a life term for murder, having been convicted of killing his partner's two-year-old daughter, Sanam Navsarka, in 2008.

Mr Justice Baker, who addressed his remarks to Smith and Newell despite their absence from the dock, said: "You pretended that you were there merely to hold him hostage.

Subhan Anwar was in jail for killing his partner's daughter, Sanam Navsarka

"I am quite satisfied that this was merely pretence on both your parts in order to ensure that the deceased didn't resist while you tied him up.

"One of the most chilling aspects of this case was the almost complete lack of emotion shown by either of you after the killing."

The judge added: "In the course of the trial the jury heard evidence about the type of moral code which exists within the prison population.

"It may be no coincidence that the deceased in this case had been convicted of killing a young child."

Newell, originally from Norwich, was originally jailed at the city's crown court in 1989 for strangling his neighbour, 56-year-old Mary Neal.

Smith, then of Anchor Street, Belgrave, Leicester, was jailed in 1999 along with another man for murdering 22-year-old Ali Hassan, whose naked body was thrown into a quarry at Swithland Woods, Leicestershire.

23.39 | 0 komentar | Read More

Waterproof iPhone Advert: 'Owners Fooled'

A fake Apple advert claiming the new iOS 7 software makes iPhones and iPads waterproof has apparently fooled some users into destroying their devices.

The "advert" circulating on social media sites claims that updating devices with the operating system installs a "smart switch" that cuts off the phone's power supply when water is detected.

This, it claims, "prevents any damage to your iPhone's delicate circuitry".

The advert looks remarkably similar to an authentic Apple advertisement, with the same plain white background and minimalist font and style.

It seems some users have been fooled into dunking their expensive gadgets into water to test out the promised feature, only to render their devices useless.

iOS7 came out at the same time as a new range of iPhones

One user wrote on Twitter: "Whoever said iOS 7 was waterproof **** you."

Another wrote: "OK whoever said iOS 7 is waterproof GO **** YOURSELF."

The prank idea is believed to have originally started on the controversial forum 4Chan.

The iOS 7 software was released last week, and is available as a free upgrade for newer models of the iPhone and iPad.

It provides a series of new features including an overhaul of the interface.

It was released at the same time as the new iPhone 5S and 5C models.

The 5S features a fingerprint unlocking device for extra security. However, a group of German hackers have found a way to bypass the measure.

The group, known as the Chaos Computer Club, say that a fingerprint of the phone user, photographed from a glass surface, is enough to create a fake latex finger that could unlock the phone.

Apple has not yet commented.

23.39 | 0 komentar | Read More