Oklahoma Mum 'Tried To Sell Kids On Facebook'

A young mum has been accused of trying to sell her children on Facebook to bail her boyfriend out of jail.

Police in Sallisaw, Oklahoma said Misty VanHorn contacted a potential buyer via the social networking site.

They said the 22-year-old mother was looking to get $1,000 (£670) for her two-year-old, or $4,000 (£2,680) for the toddler and her 10-month-old baby.

"Just come to Sallisaw, it's only 30 minutes away and I'll give you all of her stuff and let y'all have her forever for $1,000," she allegedly wrote via Facebook.

The unidentified female buyer from Fort Smith, just over the state border in neighbouring Arkansas, notified the authorities last week.

Police moved in to arrest her soon after.

Neighbours said VanHorn had been going door to door trying to raise the $1,000 bond money to free her partner for days.

She is now being held in the Sequoyah County Jail on $40,000 (£26,800) bail.

The state has taken custody of the children.

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Marijuana Bong: Toddler Made To Smoke By Mum

A mother who got her 22-month-old son to smoke her marijuana bong has been arrested, after mobile phone video emerged of the incident.

Rachelle Braaten was detained by police in Centralia in Washington state last Friday.

Rachelle Braaten appears in court. Pic: KOMO-TV

She is now facing multiple charges, including delivery of a controlled substance to a minor.

KOMO-TV said the 24-year-old reportedly told police: "I guess it was a joke and stupid mistake that wasn't really funny."

In the video the child can be seen briefly sucking on the bong.

He coughs and people can be heard laughing.

Braaten said her son did not act sick afterwards.

He has since been placed in protective care, along with his five-year-old brother.

Police also found 40 marijuana plants when they arrested Braaten.

She remains in jail on $5,000 (£3,350) bail.

Washington is one of very few states which allows the possession of small amounts of marijuana for personal use.

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Pope Election: Black Smoke Signals No New Pope

Black smoke from the first two votes of the conclave entering its second day has signalled the cardinals tasked with electing a new pope are still not agreed on Benedict's successor.

They are expected to hold a further two ballots later on the first full day of voting.

The cardinals reconvened for the papal conclave behind closed doors after the first round of voting on Tuesday night proved inconclusive.

Black smoke billows from the chimney of the Vatican's Sistine Chapel

They awoke to attend mass in the Pauline Chapel in the Vatican's Apostolic Palace and returned to the Renaissance splendour of the Sistine Chapel to hold two morning ballots.

All eyes remain on the chimney atop the Vatican's Sistine Chapel as the process of finding a successor to Benedict XVI, who brought a troubled eight-year papacy to an abrupt end by resigning last month, will continue until his replacement is found.

The 115 voting eligible church leaders spent the night sequestered in the Santa Marta Hotel on the edge of the Vatican's gardens, without access to television, newspapers, mobile phones or computers.

The cardinals are scheduled to hold four votes each day

They first filed into the chapel chamber, renowned for its ceiling fresco painted by Renaissance master Michelangelo, on Tuesday morning to begin their deliberations.

Hours later after sunset, black smoke billowed from the chimney above the Vatican, indicating that no-one had gained the two-thirds majority needed to become the 266th pope.

Only the emergence of white smoke - produced by mixing the smoke from burning ballots with special flares - will signal that a new leader for the world's 1.2 billion Catholics has been chosen.

The tens of thousands that braved the rain and gathered in St Peter's Square to bear witness to the centuries-old tradition cheered in excitement or booed in mock disappointment.

Among the cardinals gathered in Rome, Italy's Angelo Scola, Brazil's Odilo Scherer and Canada's Marc Ouellet - all conservatives like Benedict - are the three favourites.

Modern-day conclaves normally last no more than a few days.

People packed St Peter's Square on Tuesday night awaiting the site of smoke

However, there is no clear frontrunner, meaning the election could go on for much longer than the two days and four rounds of voting that it took to elect Joseph Ratzinger in 2005, following the death of John Paul II.

Some analysts have suggested that Benedict's dramatic departure - the first papal resignation in over 700 years - could push the cardinals to take an equally unusual decision and elect an outsider.

Hopes are high in the Philippines for the popular Archbishop of Manila, Luis Antonio Tagle, and on the African continent for South Africa's Wilfrid Napier, the archbishop of Durban, but in practice their chances are very slim.

Two-thirds of the cardinals are from Europe and North America and the view among many experts is that only someone with experience of the inner workings of the Vatican administration can drive reform and repair the scandal-ridden reputation of the Catholic Church.

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Shark-Wrestler Grandad 'Disgusted' By Sacking

A grandfather who grappled with a shark on a busy beach has told of his disgust at being sacked from his job after footage of his feat went round the world.

Charity worker Paul Marshallsea, 62, said he and his wife Wendy had been on long-term sick leave with stress and were on holiday on their doctor's advice when the incident happened.

He told Sky's Dermot Murnaghan he was feeling better by the time of the incident: "We'd been there a few weeks and I did feel better.

"When I came back I went to the doctor and told him I was better. The day I came back was the day I was ready for work."

Mr Marshallsea, from Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales, was called a hero after he waded in to the surf and grabbed the 6ft shark by the tail amid fears it would attack paddling children.

A local news crew caught his exploits on camera and his story made headlines around the world and earned him praise from lifeguards.

But now Mr Marshallsea has lost his job with children's charity the Pant and Dowlais Boys & Girls Club. He had been signed off with work-related stress since last April.

The grandfather-of-one and his 56-year-old wife, who also worked for the charity and was off ill at the time, flew back to Britain to letters informing them they had been sacked.

He has now hit back saying he was "disgusted" by the way he has been treated. He said: "What am I going to do now? There's not much call for shark wrestlers in Merthyr Tydfil."

Mr Marshallsea claims that he should have received a pat on the back for his efforts and that he only took the holiday with his wife on the advice of his GP.

Mr Marshallsea worked as project co-ordinator at Dowlais Engine House, where the charity has a base, and his wife was a senior youth worker.

He had been featured on Sky News for his work with the charity and once met Prince Charles, who visited to find out about the project's work in the town.

The letter he received read: "Whilst unfit to work you were well enough to travel to Australia and, according to recent news footage of yourself in Queensland, you allegedly grabbed a shark by the tail and narrowly missed being bitten by quickly jumping out of the way, the photographs and footage appearing in newspapers and television broadcasts."

A follow-up letter added: "The breakdown of the trustees' confidence and trust in you and your ability to perform the role is so great that we find that dismissal is the only course of action we can recommend."

Mr Marshallsea said running the club became increasingly stressful as it gained in success and the couple were working up to seven days a week.

"We created a whip to hit our own backs. It grew so big and we didn't realise. There was no stopping it."

Sky News contacted the charity trustees and is awaiting their response.

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Nicola Furlong: Man Jailed Over Assault On Friend

The friend of an American on trial for the murder of an Irish exchange student in Tokyo has been convicted of sexually assaulting the woman she was with on the night she died.

Tokyo District Court found James Blackston guilty and sentenced him to three years in prison for the attack on the unidentified woman in a taxi on the way to a Tokyo hotel last May.

Prosecutors had asked for a four-year sentence.

Blackston, a 23-year-old dancer from Los Angeles, and his friend, Richard Hinds, who is on trial for Miss Furlong's murder, had been out drinking with the two women.

Testimony in Hinds' trial also ended on Wednesday and a verdict is expected on March 19.

According to evidence in both trials, Ms Furlong, who was studying and living about 60 miles away from the capital on an exchange programme, and her friend went to Tokyo to see a Nicki Minaj concert.

Richard Hinds is on trial for Nicola Furlong's murder

After the concert, the two met Hinds, of Memphis, Tennessee and Blackston and went with them to a bar.

At some point both of the women passed out. Prosecutors have suggested they were drugged.

Security camera footage presented as evidence showed Blackston sexually assaulting Ms Furlong's friend in a taxi on the way to the hotel, where the men borrowed wheelchairs to get the unconscious women to the rooms.

Police were called to the Keio Plaza Hotel when a loud noise was heard from Hinds' room in the early hours and Ms Furlong was found unconscious. She died later in hospital.

Prosecutors say Hinds strangled Ms Furlong, a Dublin City University student from Curracloe, Co Wexford, with a towel to keep her quiet after she regained consciousness.

Hinds denies the charges.

Hinds was 19 and a minor under Japanese law when he was arrested, but is being tried in an adult court.

Although murder in Japan can carry the death penalty, prosecutors are seeking a maximum of 10 years' imprisonment for Hinds.

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North Korea Threatens 'Merciless' Retaliation

North Korea has confirmed it has pulled out of an armistice with its "enemies" and added the next step was an act of "merciless" military retaliation.

In a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, the armed forces ministry argued that the real "warmongering" was coming from the US and its "puppets" in South Korea.

"They would be well advised to keep in mind that the armistice agreement is no longer valid and (North Korea) is not restrained by the North-South declaration on non-aggression," it said.

"What is left to be done now is an action of justice and merciless retaliation of the army and people."

The announcement added to the tide of threats that have been flowing from Pyongyang in recent days, raising military tensions on the Korean peninsula to their highest level for years.

The latest announcment also criticised the South's Park Geun-Hye

The armistice was agreed in 1953 after the Korean War ended. However, the two sides remained technically at war because no peace deal was ever struck.

The North had already announced last week that it would nullify the agreement and other peace pacts signed with Seoul in protest over joint South Korea-US military manoeuvres that began on Monday.

Although observers noted it was not the first time that North Korea had pulled out of the armistice.

The United Nations and South Korea criticised Pyongyang's unilateral withdrawal.

UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said: "The terms of the armistice agreement do not allow either side, unilaterally, to free themselves from it."

The North has previously threatened to launch nuclear strikes against the US and South Korea in response to fresh UN sanctions adopted after the North carried out its third nuclear test last month.

While the threats have been mostly dismissed as bluster, there are concerns that the North will attempt some form of military provocation in the coming weeks.

Wednesday's statement also carried the first official criticism of South Korea's new president, Park Geun-Hye, since she took office a little more than two weeks ago.

While the spokesman did not mention Ms Park by name, he said the "frenzy" stirred up the "warmongers" in South Korea was orchestrated by the "swish of the skirt made by the owner of Chongwadae (the Blue House)."

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China: Safety Fears As More Dead Pigs Found

Residents of Shanghai have become increasingly concerned about contaminated water as the number of dead pigs found floating in a river rose to nearly 7,000.

The pig carcasses started appearing in Shanghai on Saturday and are thought to have been dumped in the city's main Huangpu river further upstream after dying of disease.

Workers have been removing the carcasses but have been overwhelmed as increasing numbers of dead pigs have appeared.

Local television showed men digging a mass grave and then dumping dead pigs from a cargo net into the hole, as a worker in a white biohazard suit poured disinfectant on the carcasses.

Shanghai's government has denied that its water is unsafe, saying: "Treated water meets national drinking water hygiene standards."

However, residents have continued to question the government assurances as the problem has worsened.

One comment posted on an online forum, under the name of Youshan Wanshui6_6, said: "So many dead pigs and the water quality has not been affected. Who are you fooling? Do you think people are idiots?"

Shanghai has pointed the finger at Jiaxing in the neighbouring province of Zhejiang, a major centre for pig breeding.

Many of the pigs have been dumped in a mass grave

A Jiaxing official has admitted that some of the dead pigs could be from the area.

In an online chat on the website of the People's Daily newspaper, the unnamed agriculture official said: "We do not rule out the possibility of dead pigs in Jiaxing's waterways floating into Shanghai.

"But as far as we grasp the current situation, there are dead pigs from areas outside Jiaxing also flowing in," he said.

The official added that a handful of tags found on the dead pigs in Shanghai had been traced to a local producer and police were bringing a case against the individual, who was not identified.

Shanghai's agricultural commission said on Monday that some of the animals had tested positive for porcine circovirus, which it described as a common swine disease that does not affect humans.

The city has tightened supervision over its markets to avoid tainted meat from the dead pigs being sold to consumers, the Shanghai Daily said.

Meat producers in China sometimes sell animals that have died from disease, instead of disposing of them, amid lax food safety laws.

Around half of the world's 1.3m pigs slaughtered annually for meat are raised in China, many of which are reared in intensive farms which have been accused of promoting the spread of disease.

In 2007, an outbreak of high fever blue ear disease in pigs in China affected 50 million animals.

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Dave Lee Travis Arrested Again By Police

Dave Lee Travis has been re-arrested over new sex claims dating back to the 1970s and 1980s, according to Sky sources.

The former Radio 1 DJ was previously arrested in November by police investigating the Jimmy Savile abuse claims over two allegations that he groped or molested two women.

"He answered his bail and was re-arrested and questioned over new allegations from new victims," Sky's Crime Correspondent Martin Brunt said.

"A number of new allegations have emerged over the past few weeks, since his initial arrest.

"More alleged victims have come forward to make complaints to Scotland Yard about alleged misbehaviour, sexual abuse, by Dave Lee Travis - enough for him to have been re-arrested."

It is not clear exactly how many fresh allegations the 67-year-old faces. He has since been released by police.

Officers are reportedly expected to make a decision on any charges by next month.

At the time of his first arrest he denied any wrongdoing. He stressed that the allegations against him had nothing to do with children and that he did not want his name associated with "bloody evil" child abuse.

Speaking outside his home in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, at the time, he said: "The point I want to make here is that none of the things I've been talking to the police about, or have talked to them about, is to do with children."

A spokesman for Scotland Yard said a man in his 60s from Bedfordshire had been interviewed when he answered bail on Monday.

He said the man was "further arrested on suspicion of sexual offences in connection with further allegations made to Operation Yewtree".

Police working on Operation Yewtree have said they are looking at three categories of offences; those allegedly committed by Savile alone, those allegedly committed by Savile and others, and alleged offences by others.

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Philpott House Fire Trial: Father Breaks Down

By Darren Little, Nottingham Crown Court

A father accused of killing six of his children in a house fire slumped in the dock as his frantic 999 call was played to a court.

A sobbing Mick Philpott put his head in his hands and almost disappeared from view as a jury at Nottingham Crown Court listened to the recording.

"I was hysterical," he said.

"How do you explain not being able to get to your babies?"

Giving evidence at the start of his defence, the 56-year-old insisted he had nothing to do with the blaze - but that he had his suspicions about who did.

Anthony Orchard QC, defending Philpott, asked him: "Did you set the fire?"

"No," Philpott replied.

"Are you connected to the setting of the fire?" the counsel continued. Philpott responded: "No."

Mr Orchard then asked the defendant if he knew who did start the blaze, to which Philpott replied that he did not.

Asked by the counsel: "Do you have your suspicions?" - Philpott answered: "I do."

Floral tributes outside the Philpott home in May last year

Jade, 10, and brothers John, nine, Jack, eight, Jesse, six and Jayden, five, all perished in the blaze on Victory Road in Allenton in May last year.

Their brother Duwayne, 13, was taken to Derby Royal Hospital but died three days later after being transferred to a Birmingham hospital.

Mick Philpott, 56, and his wife Mairead, 31, deny killing their six children after a "plan" to frame his ex-mistress Lisa Willis went wrong. A third defendant, Paul Mosley, 46, also denies six counts of manslaughter.

Miss Willis, 29, lived with the Philpotts and her five children, four of whom were fathered by Mick Philpott, until she left with the youngsters in February last year.

Asked about their relationship, he said: "At that particular time I thought that me and Lisa had this bond that was inseparable."

Philpott told the court he spent a lot of time with his wife and slept with Miss Willis in the evenings.

The court heard he openly discussed his desire to divorce his wife and marry Miss Willis, but said his wife would never leave him.

"She was not going anywhere," he told the jury. "Mairead will always be my wife, even if we got divorced."

Whilst giving evidence, Philpott became emotional while talking of his wife's attempted suicide after Miss Willis moved out.

Philpott told the court he was "distraught" when he realised his wife had taken an overdose.

He admitted the suicide attempt was a "wake up call", and admitted he had "made mistakes and had not been the best husband".

Jurors also heard of the family's appearance on television on the Jeremy Kyle Show - a move Philpott said he regretted because his children were bullied and the family received death threats afterwards.

Asked why he decided to go on the chat show by Mr Orchard, Philpott replied: "We all decided. At that time we needed a bigger house."

In response to claims that the fire was set last year because the family wanted a bigger house, Philpott told the court: "The house was quite sufficient."

The trial continues.

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Danny Nightingale: Wins Gun Conviction Appeal

SAS sniper Danny Nightingale has won an appeal against a conviction for illegally possessing a pistol and ammunition.

Sergeant Nightingale's barrister told three appeal judges that the soldier was put under "improper pressure" to plead guilty.

The judges agreed, quashing the convictions and ordering a retrial after a hearing in London.

Speaking outside court, Sergeant Nightingale said: "I'm absolutely elated. Again, thanking everyone massively for this. I do believe it was the right decision today.

"It is slightly tainted with the fact the retrial will be coming upon us, as it stands, tonight will be a happy night.

"We now have a re-trial to face. We will attack it with the same vigour and tenacity as we've done this."

Sergeant Nightingale and his wife, Sally, upon his release

He said any decision on whether he returned to duty pending the re-trial would be for the Ministry of Defence.

William Clegg QC  earlier told the hearing his client had been told by a barrister representing him at the military trial that he would get a five-year jail term if found guilty but might not go to prison if he pleaded guilty.

In written arguments presented to the three appeal judges, Mr Clegg said that "undue pressure" had been placed on Sgt Nightingale by barrister Ian Winter QC.

But when outlining arguments orally, Mr Clegg said the "wrong" occurred when the trial judge - Assistant Judge Advocate General Alastair McGrigor - "entered the arena".

Mr Clegg told the appeal court today: "What he (Mr Winter) was forced to say is 'This is what the judge is saying is going to happen'. This is where the improper pressure came from."

The barrister said, in written arguments given to judges, that the "pressure" placed on Sgt Nightingale rendered his conviction "unsafe" and his guilty plea a "nullity".

Sgt Nightingale, 38, who has spent 11 years in Special Forces and served in both Iraq and Afghanistan, was sentenced to 18 months in military custody after pleading guilty to illegally keeping a pistol.

Nightingale was given the weapon by Iraqi troops he had been training

He had been given the weapon as a present by Iraqi forces he had been training, but had no recollection of owning it after suffering a brain injury.

His sentence was cut to 12 months and suspended by the appeal court last November after a campaign by his wife Sally gathered huge public support for a man described by the appeal court judge as an "exemplary soldier".

Since his release the highly trained elite soldier has been at home in Cheshire, unable to rejoin his regiment whilst awaiting the outcome of his appeal.

"It's very frustrating wanting to do something (but having) no routine," he said before the hearing.

"And yes, being paid to do not what I'm supposed to do.

"You're trained up to do stuff, and you want to do stuff. You can't stand the futility of not doing it. To be told 'that's it, go and do nothing, you can't do anything'. That's hard."

The situation has meant he has spent a lot of time with his two young daughters, Mara, five, and Alys, two.

"I've probably had more time with my family in the last 18 months than regiment (SAS) guys will have in seven years," he said.

Sgt Nightingale is desperate to get back to work and said: "I still love it. It was the proudest day of my life when I passed (the notoriously tough SAS selection course)."

Mrs Nightingale is more circumspect about the possibility of her husband rejoining the SAS as a frontline soldier after his brain injury, which she believes still affects him.

She feels her husband has been made a scapegoat by the Army and wants to know why, but acknowledges she will probably never get the answers to her questions.

If he does return to work then it will be more upheaval for his young girls according to Sally

"They've got to get used to that again because they have had dad to take them to school, to pick them up from school, do clubs with them, take them swimming," she said.

"You know, he does all those extra bits while I'm working and doing other things. So they've had a really good time with dad."

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