Girl, 7, survives US plane crash

3 January 2015 Last updated at 08:29

A disoriented seven-year-old US girl has walked to a home in the US state of Kentucky to report that her plane had crashed, police say.

The plane was later found with four bodies inside in Lyon County, about 30 miles (50km) east of Paducah city.

US TV news network NBC said the girl told the man who answered the door to her that her parents died in the crash.

The identity of the girl has not been released and police have not commented on her relationship with the victims.

The Federal Aviation Administration said air traffic controllers lost contact with the Piper PA-34 aircraft after the pilot reported engine problems.

About 30 minutes after the plane lost contact, a resident of Lyon County called police to say the girl had walked to his home to report the crash.

'Brave little girl'

Larry Wilkins, 71, told NBC when he answered his door on Friday night there was a "little girl" standing there barefooted who was "bleeding pretty badly".

"She told me that her mom and her dad were dead, and she was in a plane crash, and the plane was upside down," he said.

"She asked if she could stay here. I got a wash cloth and cleaned her up. And of course called 911," he added. "I felt so sorry for her, tears come to my eyes. Brave little girl."

Kentucky State Police said those killed in the crash were Marty Gutzler, 49, and Kimberly Gutzler, 45, their 9-year-old daughter, Piper Gutzler, and Piper's 14-year-old cousin, Sierra Walder.

"This girl came out of the wreckage herself and found the closest residence and reported the plane crash," Kentucky police Sgt Dean Patterson told reporters.

"It's a miracle in a sense that she survived it, but it's tragic that four others didn't," he added.

He said the plane had been heading for Illinois from Florida and had crashed in a wooded area near a lake.

The girl is reported to be in hospital receiving treatment for non-life-threatening injuries.

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High alert over Australia bushfires

3 January 2015 Last updated at 08:02

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One resident described the sound of the bushfires like the "roar of a jet engine"

Firefighters are battling out-of-control bushfires threatening homes in South Australia and Victoria.

Police have declared a major emergency and told residents that their lives are at risk.

South Australia's fire chief said the blazes in the Adelaide Hills, northeast of Adelaide city, were the worst since the Ash Wednesday bushfires in 1983.

Those fires left 75 people dead and caused devastation across parts of Victoria and South Australia.

"At the moment, we have a fire which is extremely dangerous and it is burning under extremely adverse conditions," South Australia fire chief Greg Nettleton was quoted as saying.

"Right at this moment, residents in the Adelaide Hills are being confronted by a fire which hasn't been seen in the hills since the 1983 bushfires of Ash Wednesday," Nettleton said.

Crews have also been battling bushfires in Victoria, with emergency alerts issued for Hastings, Bittern, and Crib Point south of Melbourne.

"Leaving now is the safest option, before conditions become too dangerous," the area's country fire authority. said.

'Incredibly scary'

So far about five homes have been destroyed but authorities said this number could rise as strong winds fan the flames.

South Australia Premier Jay Weatherill urged residents in the areas at risk to leave immediately or prepare to stay and defend their homes.

"If you have decided to stay the fire could become incredibly scary and it could make you change your mind and leave.

"It could be a catastrophic decision to leave late."

So far these are the biggest bushfires of the Australian summer, reports the BBC's Jon Donnison in Sydney.

Australia faces such fires every year but environmentalists say global warning is making their occurrence more frequent.

The Australian Bureau of Meteorology says the country experienced its hottest year on record in 2013.

The 1983 disaster killed more than 70 people in South Australia and Victoria and destroyed thousands of homes and buildings.

In 2009, the devastating "Black Saturday" wildfires killed 173 people and destroyed more than 2,000 homes in Victoria.

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Prince Andrew claims 'unbelievable'

3 January 2015 Last updated at 09:40

A US lawyer alleged to have had sex with a minor has denied the claims - and said allegations against Prince Andrew must also be "presumed" false.

Alan Dershowitz said the woman making the claims "should not be believed".

He and the Duke of York were named in documents filed in a Florida court over how prosecutors handled a case against financier Jeffrey Epstein.

The woman alleges she was forced by Epstein to have sex with Prince Andrew - claims denied by Buckingham Palace.

She says it happened when she was under age, and on three occasions - in London, New York and on a private Caribbean island owned by Epstein - between 1999 and 2002.

A Buckingham Palace spokeswoman said: "This relates to long-standing and ongoing civil proceedings in the United States, to which the Duke of York is not a party.

"As such we would not comment on the detail. However, for the avoidance of doubt, any suggestion of impropriety with under age minors is categorically untrue".

'Will not rest'

A prominent lawyer and former Harvard Law professor, Mr Dershowitz said the allegations against him were not true.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, he said: "My only feeling is if she's lied about me - which I know to an absolute certainty she has - she should not be believed about anyone else."

He said the woman had "lied about other public figures including a former prime minister and others who she claims to have participated in sexual activities with".

"So I think it must be presumed all her allegations against Prince Andrew were false as well," he told the programme.

He said that he had only met the prince at public occasions, and had never been alone with him.

Mr Dershowitz said he wanted all evidence about the case to be made public, and added: "The story is totally made up. I do not know this woman. I was not at the places at the times. I am denying [the allegations] under oath thus subjecting myself to a perjury prosecution were I not telling the truth."

The woman has issued a statement through her lawyers, saying she was "looking forward to vindicating my rights as an innocent victim and pursuing all available recourse", adding that she was "not going to be bullied back into silence".

Background

By Rajini Vaidyanathan, BBC Washington correspondent

While accusations are levelled against Prince Andrew, it's important to note that he is not party to the proceedings.

Instead he is named as part of evidence relating to a wider case of an alleged sex trafficking scheme, involving US businessman Jeffrey Epstein, who spent time in jail in 2008-9 for a sex offence with a minor.

Two women (known as Jane Doe #1 and Jane Doe #2) are suing the US government, saying it failed to protect their rights when it entered into a plea deal with Epstein.

Now, two further women (Jane Doe #3 and #4) want to join this case, and it's Jane Doe #3 who has made claims against the Duke of York, as part of this.

The prince strongly denies the allegations. This is the first time they have surfaced publicly, and no legal case has been made against him on this matter.

The court document alleges that Epstein sexually trafficked the woman - then a minor - making her available for sex to politically-connected and financially powerful people.

Prince Andrew and Mr Dershowitz are two of three well-known men named in the court document who it alleges had sexual relations with the woman.

The prince has previously been criticised for his former friendship with Epstein, who was sentenced to 18 months in prison for soliciting a minor for prostitution.

The pair were photographed meeting in December 2010, after the tycoon had served a prison sentence, while the prince had also visited Epstein at his Florida home over the years.

In 2011, the prince had to apologise for his friendship with him. He stepped down as the UK special representative for trade and investment in July 2011 after 10 years in the role.

Peter Hunt, BBC royal correspondent, said the prince was "once again the focus of an attention he'd rather avoid because of his past friendship with a convicted sex offender".

Our correspondent said Saturday morning's newspaper headlines were "pretty unpalatable" for the prince "and indeed for the royal family".

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'Big objects found' in AirAsia hunt

3 January 2015 Last updated at 10:01

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Rupert Wingfield-Hayes: Search teams want divers to make visual identification

Search teams scouring the Java Sea for the wreckage of AirAsia flight QZ8501 have found "two large objects", Indonesian officials say.

Search and rescue agency chief Bambang Soelistyo said an underwater vehicle was being lowered to take pictures.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian weather agency has said that bad weather was the "biggest factor" behind the crash.

The jet disappeared with 162 people on board while flying from Surabaya in Indonesia to Singapore last Sunday.

So far 30 bodies have been recovered in the search. No survivors have been found and the main sections of the Airbus A320 have not been retrieved.

Most bodies are thought to have been trapped in the plane's fuselage.

'Confident'

Mr Soelistyo said on Saturday that the large objects had been detected by sonar from an Indonesian navy ship.

"We found oil slicks and huge objects at 23:40 (16:40 GMT) last night. I am confident these are parts of the missing AirAsia plane that we are looking for," he said.

He said the larger of the objects was 10 metres by five (32ft by 16ft) but that strong currents made operating the underwater vehicle difficult.

"As I speak we are lowering an ROV (remotely operated underwater vehicle) to get an actual picture of the objects detected on the sea floor. All are at the depth of 30 metres."

The BBC's Rupert Wingfield-Hayes at the forward operating base in Pangkalan Bun says it seems this could be the breakthrough search teams have been hoping for.

The cause of the crash is not yet known. Specialist equipment has arrived to the search for the plane's "black box" flight recorders, though officials say no signals have been picked up yet.

'Weather a factor'

An initial analysis by Indonesian weather agency BMKG has found that conditions at the time of the plane's disappearance suggest it likely flew into a storm.

"From our data it looks like the last location of the plane had very bad weather and it was the biggest factor behind the crash," said Professor Edvin Aldrian, head of research at BMKG.

He said there was evidence of extremely icy conditions at the plane's altitude, which can "stall the engines of the plane and freeze and damage the plane's machinery."

Officials have said the plane was travelling at 32,000ft when it requested to climb to 38,000ft to avoid bad weather.

Some investigators are reported to believe that the plane may have gone into an aerodynamic stall as the pilot climbed steeply.

In another development, it has emerged that AirAsia did not have official permission to fly the Surabaya-Singapore route on Sunday - the day of the crash - but was licensed on four other days of the week.

The Indonesian authorities are suspending the company's flights on this route with immediate effect pending an investigation, a transport ministry statement said.

Sunu Widyatmoko, chief executive of AirAsia's Indonesian arm, said the company will "fully co-operate" with the inquiry.

There were 137 adult passengers, 17 children and one infant, along with two pilots and five crew, on the plane - the majority Indonesian.

Four people have been identified so far: Hayati Lutfiah Hamid, Grayson Herbert Linaksita, Kevin Alexander Soetjipto and Khairunisa Haidar Fauzi. Two other bodies are said to have been identified but details have not yet been released.

After bodies are recovered from the sea they are transported in numbered coffins for identification in Surabaya, Indonesia's second largest city.

AirAsia previously had an excellent safety record, with no fatal accidents involving its aircraft.

Are you, or is someone you know, affected by this story? Do you know any of the passengers on the AirAsia flight? You can email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk with any information. Please leave a telephone number if you are willing to be contacted by a BBC journalist.

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Libya al-Qaeda suspect dies in US

3 January 2015 Last updated at 11:01

An alleged al-Qaeda leader has died just days before going on trial in New York over the 1998 US embassy attacks in Africa.

Abu Anas al-Liby, 50, died in hospital on Friday, his wife and lawyers say. He is reported to have had liver cancer.

Mr Liby was seized in a US raid in Tripoli in October 2013.

He was to stand trial on 12 January over the 1998 embassy attacks, which killed more than 220 people in Kenya and Tanzania.

Mr Liby, whose real name was Nazih Abdul-Hamed al-Ruqai, previously pleaded not guilty to terrorism charges.

His wife, Um Abdullah, accused the US government on Saturday of "kidnapping, mistreating and killing an innocent man," according to the Associated Press news agency.

She said her husband died from complications following liver surgery, AP reports.

When he was seized in 2013, Mr Liby had been on the FBI's most wanted list for more than a decade, with a $5m (£3.1m) bounty on his head. He had been indicted by a New York grand jury in 2000.

US Secretary of State John Kerry was forced to defend the capture after Libya called on the US to explain the raid on its territory.

Many people in Libya were angry about what they said was a breach of the country's sovereignty.

Mr Liby was detained by US commandos on 5 October 2013 and interrogated on board a US warship before being handed over to FBI agents.

He was first put on a US Navy ship for interrogation but brought to the US when his health began to deteriorate after he stopped eating and drinking, US officials said.

Mr Liby, who was also known to be suffering from hepatitis C, was accused of being one of the masterminds of the al-Qaeda embassy bombings in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam in 1998.

Two other men were accused over the attacks. Khalid Al Fawwaz has pleaded not guilty to conspiracy charges and was due to stand trial on 12 January alongside Mr Liby.

Meanwhile, Adel Abdul Bary admitted helping to plan the attacks in a federal court in New York in September. The Egyptian, who was extradited from the UK in 2012, faces a maximum of 25 years behind bars.

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Hundreds at bin lorry crash funeral

3 January 2015 Last updated at 11:31

More than 1,000 people have attended a funeral service for three members of the same family killed in the Glasgow bin lorry crash.

Mourners gathered at St Patrick's RC Church in Dumbarton to remember Jack Sweeney, his wife Lorraine and their 18-year-old granddaughter Erin McQuade.

They died after being struck by an out-of-control bin lorry which crashed in George Square in the city centre three days before Christmas.

Three other people lost their lives.

Ten others were injured.

The requiem mass was being celebrated by the Archbishop of Glasgow, Philip Tartaglia, followed by private burials.

At a service of remembrance held in the city in the days following the crash Archbishop Tartaglia told of comforting Mr and Mrs Sweeney's daughter and Erin's mother, Jacqueline McQuade, on the evening of the crash.

He said he was "privileged to be permitted to spend some time with one of the families who had been cruelly devastated".

"I tried to console them and comfort them. We spoke and we cried and we were silent before the abyss of their loss and the random meaninglessness of what had happened," he said.

The crash also claimed the lives of primary school teacher Stephenie Tait, 29, from Glasgow, Gillian Ewing, 52, from Edinburgh; and Jacqueline Morton, 51, from Glasgow.

Earlier this week more than 1,000 people stood in silence during a two-minute vigil for the victims in the city's Royal Exchange Square.

People have left floral tributes and candles in the area, where the lorry first went out of control.

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Meals on wheels service 'in crisis'

3 January 2015 Last updated at 11:47

The number of vulnerable people receiving meals on wheels from English councils has more than halved in the last five years, Labour research shows.

The analysis, based on Freedom of Information requests, shows 109,000 people had meals delivered to them in 2014/15, down from 296,000 in 2009/10.

Labour estimates the drop equates to some 220,000 fewer people receiving the service nationally during that time.

The local government minister blamed cost-cutting decisions by councils.

But the Local Government Association (LGA) warned adult social care was in "crisis" due to a shortage in funding.

Continue reading the main story

Councils should be providing meals on wheels to those who need it as they are responsible for protecting frontline services"

End Quote Kris Hopkins Local Government Minister

'A lifeline'

Some 84% of English councils with responsibility for delivering hot meals to vulnerable and elderly people replied to the FOI request from Labour.

The party said the results showed a 63% fall in the number of people receiving meals on wheels over five years.

The largest annual drop was recorded from 2013/14 to the current financial year, when the number of people receiving the service fell by 49% - from 214,306 to 108,856 - Labour's research suggested.

Although the current financial year is yet to end, the party said the figures were based on the number of people who were currently receiving meals on wheels.

Labour also claimed the cost of a single meal had risen by 22% under the coalition.

Liz Kendall, shadow minister for care and older people, said: "Having a decent meal and contact with someone at least once a day is a lifeline for many elderly people.

"We must end this false divide between social care services and the NHS because both are essential to keeping elderly people well and living independently in their own homes."

'Waste and inefficiency'

Local Government Minister Kris Hopkins said: "Councils should be providing meals on wheels to those who need it as they are responsible for protecting frontline services.

"They should also be keeping council tax down. There is far more scope for savings across the public sector by merging back offices, more joint working, cutting fraud, and embracing transparency to drive out waste and inefficiency."

But councillor Izzi Seccombe, who chairs the LGA's community wellbeing board, said: "Following the local government finance settlement, councils will have to find £2.6bn savings next year.

"At the same time, a rapidly growing elderly population is driving up the cost of adult social care by hundreds of millions of pounds each year.

"Adult social care funding is in crisis. If social care continues to be inadequately funded, some services will be tipped into failure and vulnerable people will be at risk of losing essential care."

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Abuse claims 'too many for state'

1 January 2015 Last updated at 09:19

The number of victims claiming historical child abuse could reach the tens of thousands and is too many for the state to cope with, an MP says.

John Mann, who has given a dossier of allegations of historical abuse to Scotland Yard, told the Today programme victims wanted a national institute.

The Labour MP for Bassetlaw said the government needed victims' confidence.

It comes after Baroness Butler-Sloss cautioned against giving victims too much influence over who led the probe.

The retired judge, who stepped down as head of a planned public inquiry into historical child abuse, said there could be "real problems" if victims were to decide who is its eventual chair.

She also told BBC Radio 4's Today she has "enormous sympathy" for the victims.

The inquiry, sparked by claims of paedophiles operating in Westminster in the 1980s, is set to investigate whether "public bodies and other non-state institutions have taken seriously their duty of care to protect children from sexual abuse in England and Wales".

The panel has started work but has no-one to lead it after its first two nominations resigned. Mrs May, who is still considering the format of the inquiry, has told the current panel it might be disbanded.

Dozens of survivors have called for the government to scrap the current inquiry and replace it with a more powerful body.

Mr Mann said: "It's not just about who chairs an inquiry, it's about what the remit of an inquiry should be, who else should be sat on that inquiry, who should be advising it."

He said there was far to much emphasis "on an individual".

"As an example, one of the things that survivors' groups are calling for in the discussions I've had with them is for government to set up a national institute to take forward this work on what you do with all these people coming forward.

"Probably, it's going to be many tens of thousands of people across the country.

"The state can't deal with the numbers of people coming forward.

"The police and social services cannot cope with the volume that's there, even now. And we're hardly at the beginning of people coming forward."

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Baroness Butler-Sloss said she was 'not unsuitable' for the job of chairwoman

"It's people in authority, for example in the police, for example at the top of local authorities, who failed to act over the years and have failed to act when some of these people came forward in the past.

"I'm getting vast numbers of people, including my constituents, coming forward making allegations. Many of those people came forward in the past and weren't listened to or weren't believed.

"And that's a key part of the problem. What do you do with people making allegations against people, and nothing was done in the past, when the people they're making allegations against in some cases are dead.

Lady Butler-Sloss stood down earlier this year amid claims she faced a conflict of interest because her late brother, Sir Michael Havers, was attorney general at the time of some of the alleged abuse.

Speaking to the Today programme, of which she was guest editor on Wednesday, Lady Butler-Sloss said "there has to be a victim voice on the panel" but the survivors should not be able to chair it themselves or choose who fills the position.

She said: "You need someone who knows how to run things and if you get someone from an obscure background, with no background of establishment, they'll find it very difficult and may not be able actually to produce the goods."

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North Korean leader proposes summit

1 January 2015 Last updated at 11:50

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has offered to hold talks at the highest level with South Korea.

President Kim was giving his new year message broadcast on state television.

He said if Pyongyang's conditions were met, he would even be prepared to hold a summit meeting with South Korean President Park Geun-hye.

South Korea said the move was "meaningful", and talks should include "practical and frank discussions on all issues of mutual concern".

"Our government hopes for dialogue between the South and North Korean authorities in the near future without limits on format," said Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae, quoted by the South's Yonhap news agency.

On Monday, Mr Ryoo had called for dialogue to resume on issues including reunions for families separated by the Korean War, adding that he hoped North Korea would respond positively.

He offered to meet in Seoul, Pyongyang or any other South or North Korean city agreed with North Korean officials.

'Tense mood'

In his address, Mr Kim said the "tragic" division of Korea could no longer be tolerable and acceptable.

"Depending on the mood and circumstances, there is no reason not to hold a high-level summit," he said.

But later in his speech, Mr Kim condemned joint US-South Korean defence drills for deepening tensions on the peninsula.

"In a tense mood of such war-preparatory exercises, trust-based dialogue can't be possible, and North-South relations can't move forward," he said.

The BBC's Kevin Kim in Seoul says it is unclear how likely a meeting between the two Korean presidents would be, given the tensions.

The North has previously seen the South's unification plans as an attempt to take it over.

The last formal high-level talks were in February 2014, leading to rare reunions for Korean families separated for over 60 years since the end of 1950-53 Korean War.

More talks planned in October were dropped after North Korea accused the South of not doing enough to stop activists sending anti-Northern leaflets across the border on balloons.

The two Koreas have technically been at war since the 1950-53 Korean conflict ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty.

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Huge UK crowds welcome in new year

1 January 2015 Last updated at 08:39

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Some 100,000 people are thought to have watched the fireworks along London's River Thames

Thousands of people have gathered across the UK to watch New Year's Eve fireworks to herald the start of 2015.

Some 100,000 revellers lined the River Thames in London for the first ticketed new year's display.

Huge crowds also took to the streets in Edinburgh and across Scotland for Hogmanay celebrations.

Celebrations were held across the world with fireworks displays in a host of major cities.

Shortly after midnight, Prime Minister David Cameron tweeted: "Happy New Year."

In London, a crew of more than 300 set off 12,000 fireworks as part of the annual display.

The display was counted in by a 10-minute digital countdown on the western facade of The Shard - the central London skyscraper - followed by lighting comprised of searchlights, strobes and a 2015 numeric graphic.

It was the first time the display has been ticketed, with revellers paying £10 to cover the costs of running the display.

It comes after an estimated 500,000 people tried to see the 2013-14 new year display, resulting in many being turned away for safety reasons.

Mayor of London Boris Johnson tweeted: "London's dazzling fireworks were a wonderful way to welcome in the New Year. Thanks to all who made it such a safe & fun event."

The Metropolitan Police said that by 06:00 GMT 90 people had been arrested in London, including 27 for being drunk and disorderly, 22 for assault, seven for sexual offences, six for drugs offences and two for possession of an offensive weapon.

The force said 4,000 officers had been part of the policing operation, while London Ambulance Service operations director Jason Killens said paramedics had also had a busy night.

"We're taking an emergency call every 10 seconds and we are expecting it to get even busier," he tweeted.

Warm-up party

Elsewhere, West Midlands Ambulance Service said it had received more than 100 calls within the first 30 minutes of 2015, adding that "quite a few are alcohol related".

A spokesman said that between 20:00 GMT on New Year's Eve and 04:00 GMT on New Year's Day, handlers responded to 1,436,999 calls.

East Midlands Ambulance Service tweeted: "We've had over 340 calls in 1st two hrs. That's a new call every 21 secs!"

Edinburgh hosted an estimated 75,000 people at its Hogmanay street party and fireworks display.

Events were also held in Aberdeen, Inverness, Stirling and Stonehaven, while a warm-up party was held in Glasgow.

However, Hogmanay celebrations on Stirling Castle's esplanade had to be cancelled owing to high winds.

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