British Drug Smuggler Escapes Death Penalty

A British woman has escaped the death penalty after admitting smuggling crystal meth into Indonesia from China.

Andrea Waldeck has instead been jailed for 14 years and fined £100,000.

The 43-year-old admitted to taking three pounds of the drug through an airport in Java in April hidden in her underwear, but claimed she was coerced into it by her boyfriend in exchange for around £3,000, according to her indictment.

The former Police Community Support Officer with Gloucestershire Police, who left the force in February 2012, hung her head as she was led down to the cells at the court in Surabaya.

The ex-Gloucestershire Community Support Officer is considering an appeal

The sentence was lower than the 16 years recommended by the prosecutor. Under the country's strict anti-drugs laws Waldeck could have been given a death sentence.

The judge in the case said: "Andrea Waldeck has been proven legally and convincingly guilty of offering to sell or become a middle person to sell drugs."

He added that the punishment was lenient because Waldeck had "honestly admitted her mistake, which helped the trial proceed smoothly".

Waldeck's mother and brother at a hearing during her trial

The indictment against her said that Waldeck was arrested at a hotel after she managed to get through airport security with the drugs hidden in four plastic bags in her underwear.

It added that two members of a drugs gang had been on their way to the hotel to pick up the crystal meth, but police knew what was going on and got there first and arrested Waldeck.

She is considering whether to appeal against the ruling.

Waldeck is not the first foreigner to be punished in Indonesia for drug smuggling. 

Grandmother Lindsay Sandiford was sentenced to death in January 2013 after being caught trying to smuggle £1.4m worth of cocaine into Bali. The sentence was unanimously upheld in August by Indonesia's Supreme Court.

On Monday, Frenchman Michael Blanc was freed on parole after 14 years in prison for transporting hash, a purified form of cannabis, into the country.

His early release has raised hopes that Australian Schapelle Corby, who was given a 20-year sentence for smuggling nine pounds of marijuana into Bali in 2005, might also be released.

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Moors Murderer Ian Brady Taken To Hospital

Moors murderer Ian Brady has been taken to hospital after a fall at the high-security psychiatric unit where he is being held.

The 76-year-old child killer suffered two broken bones in the fall at Ashworth Hospital in Liverpool on Tuesday.

He is said to be in a stable condition after he was taken to an unspecified general hospital for treatment.

The child killer recently lost a bid to be moved to a prison

Brady was jailed for life in 1966 after he and his partner Myra Hindley were convicted of luring children and teenagers to their deaths.

Some of their victims were sexually tortured before they were buried on Saddleworth Moor.

Last year, Brady, who previously said he wants to starve himself to death, lost a bid to be transferred to prison.

At a mental health tribunal, his legal team claimed he was well enough to be treated away from Ashworth, where staff have a duty to keep him alive by feeding him through his nose.

However, doctors said he was chronically mentally ill and a paranoid schizophrenic who required around-the-clock care.

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Mafia Suspect Leaps To Death Before Arrest

By Nick Pisa, Sky News Producer

A businessman jumped more than 100ft to his death after police arrived to arrest him in connection with a multi-million pound mafia money laundering operation.

Giuseppe Cristarelli, 43, was one of 90 people rounded up by police in a series of dawn raids on Wednesday as part of the blitz against organised crime.

Officers said Cristarelli calmly asked for a glass of water, before then running through the fourth-floor apartment, opening a window and leaping more than 100ft to his death in front of his horrified wife.

The incident happened in the Tor di Quinto suburb of Rome and a planned police press conference about the operation was hastily cancelled at the force's city centre headquarters.

Cristarelli was originally from the southern Italian city of Naples, heartland of the local mafia known as the Camorra, and had been named on a judicial investigation document as wanted for questioning on money laundering.

A Rome police spokesman said: "There was no indication of what he was going to do. He asked for a glass of water, then just ran to a window, opened it and jumped out.

"His wife was also in the apartment and she was as shocked as the officers.

"An investigation has been launched and his body is now been taken away for autopsy. A press conference about the operation has been cancelled."

Neighbours reported hearing the father-of-two's wife screaming in the early hours of the morning following the police raid.

One said: "Everyone in the block heard her screaming. It was terrifying. People came out and that's when we found out the husband had jumped from the window.

"No one can quite believe it. They are a lovely family with two children. The wife was taken away for questioning and the block is surrounded by police.

"All I know is that the man is a businessman from Naples. I'm not sure what business exactly though - I think maybe construction but I'm not sure."

In the past, various crime bosses and their associates have chosen to commit suicide both in prison and out rather than face a trial or investigation.

Earlier, police had said the raids were in connection with an operation against the Contini crime family and had involved arrests all over Italy as well as the confiscation of property worth more than 250 million euro.

Detectives said that the blitz was against Camorra money laundering facilities and that businesses seized included around two dozen bars, restaurants and ice-cream parlours in tourist-heavy areas of the capital, near Piazza Navona and the Pantheon, as well as luxury clothes shops in Naples.

The operation was the biggest carried out to date against the Naples-based Contini clan, which launders money and traffics drugs in the Campania region, Tuscany and Rome.

The clan's boss, 64-year-old Salvatore Botta, is already serving time in a Naples prison.

His wife and nephew, who are accused of running the business for him while he is behind bars, were taken into custody during the sting, Rome's anti-mafia unit said in a statement.

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Boy Dies Saving Relatives From New York Fire

An eight-year-old boy has saved six relatives from a fire at a trailer home in New York, but died trying to rescue a disabled uncle.

Tyler Doohan's body was found in the bedroom of his grandfather's small trailer in Penfield, a suburb of Rochester.

Nine people were inside the trailer when a fire broke out shortly before 5am on Monday.

Tyler managed to wake six people up, including his grandmother, aunt and two children aged four and six.

He then went back inside to help the remaining occupants of the trailer.

The scene of the fire in Penfield

Tyler was found near the bed of his uncle Steve Smith, a wheelchair-user, and investigators believe he was trying to wake him up.

Mr Smith and Tyler's grandfather Louis Beach also died.

The family's pets - cats, a dog and hamsters - were also killed in the blaze, according to local newspaper Democrat & Chronicle.

Tyler had gone to his grandfather's trailer on Monday, the Martin Luther King Day holiday, because he did not have school.

Penfield Fire Chief Chris Ebmeyer said the death toll would likely have been much worse were it not for the boy's bravery.

"He saved those other six people," he was quoted as saying by USA Today.

The boy was hailed as a hero by neighbours and officials at his school.

"The kid has more guts than I know of," an uncle, Joseph Bereyette, told Rochester-based station WHEC.

"I mean, to run back in there and go through what he went through to try to save his uncle - what can you say for the kid?

"He was a great kid."

A statement released by East Rochester Central School District said: "It is extremely important to remember that according to emergency personnel, (Tyler) was the person who discovered the fire and tried to wake the eight other people in the residence at the time.

"In bravely and selflessly giving his own life, he was able to save the lives of six others, and he is truly a hero."

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Unemployment Rate Falls To 7.1% In Job Surge

The UK unemployment rate fell to 7.1% during the three months to the end of November, prompting concerns of a rise in mortgage rates.

It was the biggest ever quarterly increase in employment. A total of 280,000 jobs were created in the period.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the number of those jobless fell by 167,000 between September and November, to 2.32 million.

The ONS said a total of 30.15 million people are now in work. The number of people claiming jobseeker's allowance last month fell by 24,000 to 1.25 million, the ONS said.

It said average earnings increased by 0.9% in the year to November - excluding bonuses. The pay figure was unchanged on the previous month.

Base rate and unemployment rate since June 1992

The drop in the unemployment rate has potential implications for both savers and borrowers.

The Bank of England's monetary policy committee said it would consider a base rate rise, from the current record low of 0.5%, when the unemployment rate reached 7%.

The 0.5% is the lowest sustained base rate since 1964.

Forecasters had not expected the threshold to be reached until later in the year.

The 7% jobless rate will not trigger an automatic rate rise, according to the bank.

The latest unemployment rate of 7.1% is down by 0.5% from June-August, and by 0.6% from a year earlier.

Youth unemployment also fell, by 1.0% on the quarter.

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Sochi Olympic Teams Receive 'Terror Threats'

A number of countries say they have received terrorist threats against their athletes ahead of the Winter Olympics in Russia.

Britain, Italy, Germany and Hungary are among countries whose Olympic Committees have confirmed they have received threatening emails.

Statements suggested that some or all of the committees may have received the same message - warning of attacks against competitors or delegates if they travel to the games in Sochi.

The British Olympic Association and the International Olympic Committee described the email threat as "not credible". 

Hungary said the messages it received had also been investigated and declared "non-threatening".

Germany said it had received the same emails as Hungary and believed the same message had been circulated widely.

Slovenia's Olympic Committee also said it had been sent a terrorist threat letter written in Russian.

"We've had it translated and have forwarded it to the police," spokesman Brane Dmitrovic told Reuters.

This train station in Volgograd, Russia, was targeted by a suicide bomber

German Olympic Committee spokesman Christian Klaue said: "We take all tips on security questions seriously and are in close contact with the relevant German authorities."

The Hungarian committee's international relations director Zsigmond Nagy said a letter written in Russian and English had been investigated by both the International Olympic Committee and the Russian organising committee.

He said: "Both the IOC and the Sochi organising committee ... officially declared after the analysis of the letter that this threat is not real, and this person has been sending all kinds of messages to many members of the Olympic family."

Sky News Sports Correspondent Paul Kelso said: "The British Olympic Association say they've shown the message to their security experts and they don't think it's credible.

"That's also the message that's coming from the International Olympic Committee based in Switzerland and they're saying that it seems to be the same communication that's gone to a number of big Olympic organisations across Europe.

"What it does tell us is that the level of twitchiness about security is incredibly high. The games start on February 7 and the security situation in Russia is pretty volatile."

The suspected threats come after Russian security officials said they were hunting three potential female suicide bombers ahead of the games.

One of the suspects, 22-year-old Ruzanna Ibragimova - the widow of a suicide bomber - was reported to be at large in Sochi itself.

The other two suspects were identified as Zaira Aliyeva, 26, and Dzhannet Tsakhayeva, 34.

Police information states that all three women have been trained "to perpetrate acts of terrorism".

Last month, the southern city of Volgograd was rocked by two suicide bombings, which killed 34 and injured dozens more.

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William Roache 'Not Attracted To Young Girls'

By Mike McCarthy, North Of England Correspondent

The actor William Roache told police that it was against his nature to "force himself sexually" upon anyone, a court has heard.

The Coronation Street star, who faces two charges of rape and five of indecent assault, "absolutely denied" having met any of the alleged victims and said that he was not sexually attracted to young girls.

His trial has heard that he was arrested and cautioned at home in Cheshire in May 2013 and was "visibly shocked" by the allegations.

Roache told a detective that he was "absolutely surprised and amazed" by what had been claimed.

The jury at Preston Crown Court was told that the actor was arrested and cautioned before being taken to a police station for questioning.

In response to the claims, he said: "I think that I am a very sensitive and caring person. I have always respected the rights of other people. I would not dream of forcing myself sexually on another person."

The soap star is accused of raping a 15-year-old girl in his bungalow in Lancashire in 1967 and raping her again in a nearby cottage the same year.

Asked why he thought the woman had made the allegation, he said: "The climate of what is happening at the moment with people coming forward. I don't know what her motivation is. 

"I can only surmise there is hope of selling an article to a paper for a moment of fame."

He went on to say: "I have plenty of attractive and wonderful partners. I love women and love making love to women but it has to be with full co-operation and youngsters have no attraction to me at all.

"These allegations are not nice, not pleasant and I don't know why they have come forward."

Roache was shown photographs by the police of his accusers as girls and said that he did not recognise any of them, that he would not have invited young girls into his dressing room or given them lifts in his Rolls-Royce.

The actor has pleaded not guilty to the seven charges against him.

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Syria: Clash Ends 'Constructive' Start To Talks

The Syrian foreign minister and the UN Secretary-General have clashed at the start of crucial peace talks aimed at ending the country's bloody civil war.

Walid al Muallem ignored Ban Ki-moon's appeal for him to end an opening speech that lasted more than 30 minutes, saying: "You live in New York. I live in Syria. I have the right to give the Syrian version here in this forum."

He also launched a blistering attack on the Syrian opposition, asking them: "Where is your vision for this great country? Where are your ideas? Where is your political programme? What are the tools on the ground? I am quite sure you have nothing."

Mr Ban said the "constructive mood" with which the talks began had been shattered and warned: "I hope this will not be repeated."

Earlier, the US Secretary of State said world leaders have an "opportunity and an obligation" to find a way to end a conflict that has killed more than 100,000 people and created an estimated 2.3 million refugees.

The city of Montreux, Switzerland, is hosting the Geneva II talks

John Kerry said millions of Syrians "are relying on the international community to find a solution to save their lives and their country".

He said it had taken "a lot longer than many of us wanted" for world leaders to attempt to thrash out a resolution but said he was "as determined as ever" to end what he described as the "horrors of human catastrophe".

The conference on the banks of Lake Geneva is going ahead despite a last-minute dispute over the UN's decision to withdraw an invitation to Iran, after it refused to endorse a plan for a transitional governing body in Syria.

Groups fighting the rule of Bashar al Assad, who counts Iran as one of his closest allies, had threatened to pull out of the so-called "Geneva II" talks unless the invitation was rescinded.

In his opening exchange, opposition leader Ahmed Jarba accused the Syrian president of war crimes comparable to those committed by the Nazis during World War Two.

Mr Kerry and Mr Ban meet ahead of the Syrian peace conference

He demanded Mr Assad stand down as president and called on the government to commit to a transition of power - an issue expected to be central to the success of the talks.

However, Mr al Muallem has rejected any discussion of Mr Assad quitting his post.

"The subject of the president and the regime is a red line for us and the Syrian people and will not be touched," he said on the eve of the talks, according to the Sana news agency.

The conference also begins in the shadow of allegations of large-scale torture and execution of prisoners by government forces.

The day before the talks, a group of international lawyers published allegations of the "systematic torture and killing" of up to 11,000 people by the Syrian regime.

Smoke rises after a bomb blast in the Syrian city of Aleppo

Foreign Secretary William Hague urged both sides in Syria to "seize the chance" to end the civil war as he arrived in Switzerland.

"Opposition has been tested and has come. Now regime must be tested on willingness to seek a political solution," he wrote on Twitter.

Mr Hague added that it was a "great shame" that Iran, which has enjoyed a thawing of relations with the West in recent months, had failed to endorse the principles of the talks.

US President Barack Obama and Russia's Vladimir Putin had a "business-like" conversation about the Syrian conflict by phone on Tuesday.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also met Mr Kerry in Montreux ahead of today's opening of negotiations.

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Saatchi And Taki Trade Insults Over Nigella

Charles Saatchi has warned a writer who backed his ex-wife Nigella Lawson: "I am a cage-fighter".

The 70-year-old art dealer and Taki Theodoracopulos, 77, appeared to be on course to settle their differences with a brawl after trading insults in a weekly magazine.

Mr Saatchi wrote to the Spectator attacking Mr Theodoracopulos, known as Taki, who had branded him a "rogue" and a "coward" over his treatment of the TV cook in his weekly column.

The millionaire shipping heir wrote that Mr Saatchi, 70, had a "coward's bullying manner - against women that is".

He also wrote: "The art world is full of rogues and pirates, and in my book the heroic man who grabbed Nigella by the throat is both of these things, and he is most welcome to come and try to grab my little throat anytime."

Spectator editor Fraser Nelson published Mr Saatchi's reponse in full and said his letter would feature in the magazine's latest edition.

Mr Saatchi wrote that Ms Lawson would have been "aghast at having you as her valiant supporter."

He added: "People tell me that in your unreadable column you also like to brag that you are a Black Belt at karate.

The Spectator's Taki challenged Mr Saatchi over his ex-wife Nigella Lawson

"Well, me too, old boy. But apparently your 'fights' are genteel affairs, against other soppy geriatrics rolling around the floor in crisp white outfits, in some bit of judokai nonsense.

"Mine take place in cages, 20 feet square, unofficial little events with no gloves, no rules, and the loser being carried out, usually battered to bits.

"You will understand why I laughed out loud at your schoolyard boast that I should try throttling a real hard case like you."

Mr Nelson also published a response from Taki, who said: "I am 77 years old, 5ft 9in and weigh 185lbs. I am willing to face him any time under cage-fighting non-rules, which will be a first for me.

"I need three days' notice."

Mr Saatchi and Ms Lawson divorced last year after photos were published showing the ad agency founder's hands round his wife's throat outside a Mayfair restaurant.

Details of the couple's life together were laid bare in court last month when their PAs Elisabetta and Francesca Grillo went on trial charged with defrauding their employers.

The Italian sisters were found not guilty at the end of the trial, which Ms Lawson has described as "mortifying".

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Russian Mine Blast: 15 Trapped Underground

Fifteen miners remain underground after a blast at a Russian coal mine, reports Interfax citing an emergency official.

The news agency said 90 of the 105 miners who had been in the mine in the city of Prokopyevsk in the Kemerovo region of Siberia had been evacuated.

More follows...

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