Boy, 14, Pleads Guilty To Uni Sex Assaults

A 14-year-old boy has pleaded guilty to five charges of sexual assault on five separate women near Manchester University.

The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, appeared in Manchester City Magistrates Court and was given conditional bail.

The case is adjourned until December 2.

The five assaults, including three near the grounds of Manchester University, occurred over a two-week period late last month.

Detective Chief Inspector Colin Larkin thanked the public for their assistance in the case.

"I am extremely grateful to the public for all the calls we received this weekend after putting an appeal out for information in connection with these incidents," he said.

An 18-year-old man also arrested in connection with the assaults has been bailed pending further enquiries.

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Maria Mystery: Roma Couple In Greek Court

A Roma couple are in court charged with abducting a mystery blonde, blue-eyed girl in Greece.

The pair - named in local papers as Hristos Salis, 39, and Eleftheria Dimopoulou, 40 - were escorted into the back of a courthouse in Larissa from a police van.

Their friends and family waited at the front of the building, with reporters and TV satellite crews. It is understood that no press are allowed into the court.

The couple's lawyer Matetta Palavra was surrounded by journalists as he went to visit his clients in holding cells at the back of the courthouse.

"You will leave us alone for now, we have a difficult road ahead of us," he told them.

Asked by one reporter what stage the case was at, he replied: "We will see the prosecutor at noon."

The pair were taken by police van into the back of the courthouse

The mystery girl - known as Maria - was discovered living in a Gypsy camp near the Greek town of Farsala on Wednesday after a raid by police looking for drugs and weapons.

British police say there is no link between her case of and that of missing boy Ben Needham, who was 21 months old when he vanished on the Greek island of Kos in 1991.

A prosecutor who accompanied police on the raid thought it odd that Maria did not look like her darker-skinned "parents".

DNA tests later confirmed the couple are not her biological parents.

The pair claim they were given the child by a Bulgarian woman who was unable to look after her, two weeks after she was born on January 31 2009.

The couple are appearing at a court in Larissa

Greek authorities have put out a worldwide appeal to help identify the youngster and find her real family.

Maria is being cared for in Athens by the Greek charity Smile Of The Child, and is said to be "doing well".

Charity spokesman Panagiotis Pardalis told Sky News that Maria is still in hospital and waiting for medical examinations to be completed.

"She is talking to hospital staff and seems happy, and is playing with staff and showing normal child behaviour," he said.

The Roma couple claim Maria is four years old. But medical and dental tests have confirmed she is a year or two older than that.

Maria seen in a family video as a toddler

The little girl will be transferred to one of the charity's homes when she leaves hospital.

He said the charity has been inundated with more than 8,000 calls about the girl from people in the US, Scandinavia, Australia, South Africa and other countries.

A few of the calls had specific details and have been forwarded to police.

Neighbours in Farsala's ramshackle Roma camp said Maria's real father had come to look for her soon after she was taken away by police.

Babis Dimitriou, chairman of the local Roma community, told The Daily Telegraph: "There was a Bulgarian husband and wife who were working around Greece in temporary jobs, who used to stay here sometimes.

Maria was found in a Roma camp in Farsala

"At one point they left the girl to be raised by the family here in the village.

"The family raised the child as if it was their own, although her father would come back every now and then to see her. The last time he visited was only five days ago, after the arrests had been made.

"All the other Roma here were telling the Bulgarian man to explain to the police that the girl was his, but he has now disappeared."

His account was backed by other residents, the paper reported.

The Roma community in Farsala is said to be anxious about the world-wide media attention the case is attracting.

In a country already devastated by economic crisis, the Roma in the camp make a living selling fruit, carpets, blankets, baskets and shoes at local markets.

They are already considered by some to be social outcasts, thieves and beggars, and now they are worried they will be wrongfully stigmatised as kidnappers and child traffickers.

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South Africa Toddler Murders: Man Confesses

A man arrested on suspicion of raping and murdering two toddlers in a Johannesburg slum has confessed, said prosecutors.

The case sparked violent riots last week when residents went on a rampage twice, blocking roads with burning tyres and pelting police with rocks.

The man, in his late 20s, appeared in court briefly on Monday on two counts each of murder, kidnapping and rape, said prosecution spokesman Medupe Simasiku.

He was arrested on Friday after the two cousins' bodies were discovered in a communal toilet cubicle earlier in the week in the Diepsloot shantytown in South Africa.

The girls, two and three years old, were raped and strangled.

Four suspected accomplices have also been detained but they have not confessed.

All five will appear in court together on Thursday.

South Africa has one of the highest murder rates in the world. About 16,000 people are killed a year, according to official statistics.

More than half the 54,000 crimes against children reported in the period from 2010 to 2011 were sexual offences, according to UN children's organisation Unicef.

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Graham Buck Murder: Man Jailed For Life

By Tom Parmenter, Sky Correspondent

A man has been jailed for life after he admitted murdering a Good Samaritan who had gone to the aid of his neighbour during a robbery.

Ian McLoughlin, 55, was ordered to serve a minimum of 40 years for the murder of pensioner Graham Buck, 66, in Hertfordshire in July.

Justice Sweeney said he was barred from passing a whole life term because of a European judgement that those sentences are in breach of human rights.

McLoughlin had been released from a murder sentence and went straight to visit an elderly man who he had met earlier in prison.

The court heard how McLoughlin had intended to steal money from Francis Cory-Wright, who was jailed for 30 months for indecently assaulting a 10-year old boy in the 1970s.

He tied the 86-year-old up in his home in the village of Little Gaddesden, near Berkhamsted.

During the violent struggle, Cory-Wright called out for help. His neighbour Mr Buck tried to intervene but was met on the driveway by McLoughlin who stabbed him.

Another neighbour described how Mr Buck's throat had been slashed "wide open" in the attack.

He died on his front lawn, with his pet dog sitting beside him.

The killer then went on the run hiding in London before being arrested by officers from the Metropolitan Police in Tottenham.

He later told officers he intended to hurt Cory Wright but he regretted his attack on Mr Buck.

He said: "I'm not sorry for what I did to the nonce, but I'm sorry for what I did to the pensioner."

McLoughlin was previously convicted of murder in July 1992 at Lewes Crown Court and had served 21 years in prison when he was released on the morning of the latest murder.

In a victim impact statement, Mr Buck's family spoke of their heartbreak at their loss and said how shortly before the murder he had travelled to Poland to see relatives and to meet his newborn granddaughter.

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Mystery Blonde Girl 'Was Well Looked After'

A relative of a Roma Gypsy couple accused of abducting a girl found in their care said the child was given to them and that she was well looked after.

The youngster, known as Maria and aged about four, was found living in squalid conditions in a Roma camp near the central Greek town of Farsala on Wednesday.

She was with people who were pretending to be her parents, but DNA tests later proved they were not.

Kostas said the child was very loved

The couple, a 39-year-old man and a 40-year-old woman, were arrested and charged with abducting a minor.

But a man calling himself Kostas, the brother of the 39-year-old male, said Maria was very loved and cared for.

"We got this girl in a very nice way. We raised her. We got her. She was given to us and we raised her," he said.

"She had problems with her eyes. We took her to the doctor, we took her everywhere.

"We didn't take her to sell her. We loved her so much, with so much passion."

A Roma woman walks next to the house where the girl lived

Giorgos Tsakiris, the general secretary of the Roma association in Farsala, said the girl had a good life with the people who were raising her.

"I can tell you better than her other siblings, the biological ones," Mr Tsakiris said.

"She spent her days very well and that is why the little girl loves them and what they say about abductions is not true."

The girl is being looked after by The Smile of the Child charity

An international search is now under way to find Maria's real family.

Authorities say they have received enquiries from all over the world, including the UK.

The girl, who is now being looked after by The Smile of the Child charity, was found when police raided the camp in search of drugs and weapons.

A police officer became suspicious when he noticed Maria bore no likeness to her supposed family.

Members of the Roma community where the girl was found living

Further investigations into the couple raised even more suspicions.

Authorities allege the mother claimed to have given birth to six children in less than 10 months, while 10 of the 14 children the couple registered as their own are unaccounted for.

Maria's discovery has given hope to the family of Ben Needham, a British boy who disappeared from outside his grandparent's farmhouse on the Greek island of Kos in 1991.

A poster released in the search for Maria's real parents

Ben's sister Leighanna, 20, told Sky News: "Obviously, it's been a strong belief of myself and all my family that Ben was taken by gypsies for child trafficking or illegal adoptions and this case just shows that they can be found.

She added: "I believe that the camp the little girl was found in was looked at (during the investigation into her brother's disappearance).

Ben Needham disappeared in Greece

"But 22 years ago, the Greek police were scared of the gypsies and pretty much point-blank refused to go into the camps ... so our inquiries into these camps never fully got covered."

Ms Needham said the same technology could help find her long-lost brother.

"I think that would be a brilliant thing to get our DNA out there, even if it's not actually Ben but any siblings or any children maybe of Ben (that are found) then that could hopefully lead us to him," she said.

Maria's discovery has also buoyed the hopes of missing Madeleine McCann's parents.

Clarence Mitchell, a spokesman for Kate and Gerry McCann, said: "They have always maintained that until there is evidence to prove otherwise missing children can still be out there waiting to be found."

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Energy Bills: Welby Slams 'Severe' Price Rises

The Archbishop of Canterbury has launched a stinging attack on Britain's energy firms, warning the latest round of price hikes seem to be "inexplicable".

Justin Welby insisted the so-called Big Six energy companies had an obligation to behave morally rather than to simply maximise profit.

His intervention, published in an interview with the Mail on Sunday, came after British Gas followed in the footsteps of SSE by announcing a 9.2% increase in prices.

The head of the Church of England, himself a former oil executive, said he understood the anger the rises had generated.

"The impact on people, particularly on low incomes, is going to be really severe in this, and the companies have to justify fully what they are doing," Mr Welby said.

Last week British Gas announced a 9.2% increase in prices

"I do understand when people feel that this is inexplicable, and I can understand people being angry about it, because having spent years on a low income as a clergyman I know what it is like when your household budget is blown apart by a significant extra fuel bill and your anxiety levels become very high. That is the reality of it."

The Archbishop urged firms to be "conscious of their social obligations", saying they had to "behave with generosity and not merely to maximise opportunity".

"They have control because they sell something everyone has to buy. We have no choice about buying it. With that amount of power comes huge responsibility to serve society," he said.

"It is not like some other sectors of business where people can walk away from you if they don't want to buy your product and you are entitled to seek to maximise your profit.

"The social licence to operate of the energy companies is something they have to take very, very seriously indeed."

Electricity prices are rising faster than those for gas

But the Church Of England owns a significant number of shares in energy companies.

Sky's Chief Political Correspondent Jon Craig said: "Justin Welby has now joined in this increasingly politically charged debate about energy prices - the only embarrassment really for the Church of England really is that it owns more than £7m of shares in Centrica and about £6m of shares in SSE.

Craig added: "The remarks have been welcomed already by the Labour Party - but they will infuriate government ministers, the Prime Minister and the Energy Secretary."

An ongoing bitter political spat over energy has seen Labour leader Ed Miliband attempt to seize the initiative by pledging a 20-month-long price freeze.

Prime Minister David Cameron has dismissed the idea as a "con", and encouraged consumers to switch suppliers to keep bills down.

But polls have suggested that Labour's promise is popular with voters, putting pressure on the coalition to respond.

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Nick Clegg: No 'Coalition Crisis' Over Schools

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has defended his views on free schools saying it's "not a great coalition crisis" but rather a difference of opinion.

Mr Clegg will dramatically disown key parts of the coalition's education policy in a speech at a London school this week.

He insists all teachers should be qualified and the national curriculum should be taught in every school.

Speaking to Sky News, he said the Liberal Democrats view on education was not a "state secret".

"Of course there are tensions and pinch points, we are not identical parties," he said.

"No one should be surprised about this and it's not a political crisis when some of those differences are articulated in public."

Mr Clegg maintains he is a supporter of free schooling but wants to strike a "sensible balance" between Labour and the Conservatives.

"Yes, give schools more freedom and autonomy but also give parents the reassurance that there children … are taught by qualified teachers to the same standard as any other school in the rest of the country," he said. 

He says, on the one hand, Labour wants to "strangle" school autonomy and micromanage everything in the classroom, while the Conservatives don't want any "basic standards".

Mr Clegg denies the new stance is an attempt to cosy up to Labour, calling the suggestion "complete and utter nonsense".

He also played down suggestions of a rift with fellow Lib Dem and schools minister David Laws, who last week defended the performance of unqualified teachers.

"David Laws is right that that is the policy of the Department for Education. He is quite right in stating that is the present approach," he added.

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Syria: Suicide Truck Bombing 'Kills 30'

A suicide bomber driving a truck packed with 1.5 tons of explosives has killed at least 30 people in Hama, Syrian state media reported.

The attacker blew himself up inside the vehicle at a government checkpoint on the edge of the city, the Sana agency said.

The explosion appeared to have set a nearby fuel truck on fire, increasing the damage and casualties, it added.

Sana blamed the assault on "terrorists", the term it uses to describe rebel forces trying to topple President Bashar al Assad.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the al Qaeda-linked Jabhat al Nusra, or al Nusra Front, carried out the attack.

Several vehicles were wrecked in the attack

Meanwhile, a key international conference aimed at ending the civil war will be held in Geneva on November 23 and 24, according to Arab League chief Nabil el Araby.

The announcement came after talks with the Arab League-UN envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi.

The proposed conference will attempt to get Syria's rival sides to agree on a transitional government based on a plan adopted in the Swiss city in June 2012.

Syria's conflict has left over 100,000 people dead and forced two million to seek refuge abroad.

Debris and a destroyed vehicle at the scene

The fractured and squabbling opposition movement has criticised the conference plan, saying they were not consulted.

They said they could not accept any negotiations that allowed Mr Assad to remain as head of state in any transitional period.

The main Western-backed opposition umbrella group, the Syrian National Coalition, is scheduled to hold a meeting on November 1 to decide whether or not to attend the conference.

One of the most prominent factions within the coalition, the Syrian National Council, has publicly opposed taking part in peace talks with the regime.

Medical teams pictured carrying out their work

In the early months of the uprising that started in March 2011, Hama saw some of the largest demonstrations against his rule.

But in the summer of that year, security forces stormed the city, killing scores of people.

They have held a tight grip on the city ever since.

While several other Syrian cities have been engulfed by fighting, Hama has seen only sporadic violence in recent months.

However, the surrounding province has seen some major clashes between troops and rebels.

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Boy Sought Over University Sex Attacks

Police have said a boy, who could be as young as 12, may be responsible for a string of sex attacks around a university campus.

Greater Manchester Police are linking the assaults which have taken place in the last month near The University of Manchester and have released an evofit image of the young offender which they said made the incidents "even more shocking".

The first two attacks took place within 15 minutes of each other on Saturday September 21.

A 27-year-old was approached from behind and grabbed in Lloyd Street North at 6.15pm before she screamed and the offender ran off.

The next incident followed in Oxford Road when a 21-year-old woman was approached by a boy who made lewd comments as she left John Rylands library.

She carried on walking on Moss Lane East and was sexually assaulted by her assailant who was described as a young Asian boy aged 12 who wore green jeans and glasses.

The third attack took place at the Manchester Science Park in Lloyd Street South at about 2.15pm on Saturday October 5.

A 32-year-old woman was approached by two young boys and sexually assaulted by one of them described as being Asian, 12 to 13 years old, of slim build, with a small frame who wore baggy trousers and carried a rucksack on his back.

She pushed the boy away but he approached her again and sexually assaulted her for a second time before running off towards Pencroft Way in company with the second child, also described as a young Asian boy.

Detective Constable Pam Collins from Longsight Police Station said: "After speaking to the women, we have managed to complete an evofit of the offender. As you can see from the image he looks fairly young which makes these assaults even more shocking.

"After each woman has told the offender to go away he has followed this up with violent threats so we are keen to find this individual as soon as possible.

"I would ask anyone who either recognises the image, witnessed any of the assaults or may have fallen victim to this person to call us."

Anyone with information should phone police on 0161 856 4223 or the independent charity Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.

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Oxfordshire: Fire At Immigration Detention Centre

Two men have been taken to hospital after a fire at an immigration detention centre in Oxfordshire, the Home Office says.

The cause of the blaze at the privately-run Campsfield House centre in Kidlington is not yet known.

A Home Office spokesman said around half the detainees were being moved to other centres because of damage to the building.

The spokesman added: "All the detainees have been accounted for and two male detainees are now in hospital.

"The cause of the fire is being investigated by police and the fire service." 

Campsfield can hold over 200 detainees

The blaze started at 9pm on Friday night in one of the three blocks that make up the centre and was brought under control by midnight.

Ten fire engines were sent to put it out.

Campsfield is a long-term centre where male detainees are kept pending the outcome of their immigration case and subsequent removal.

It is run by MITIE and has space for 216 beds.

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