![Police probe cause of M5 pile-up]()
Police investigating one of the worst British motorway crashes in memory are focusing their attention on a rugby club fireworks event held close to the site, as more tributes are paid to the victims.
Officers said the theory that smoke from the display had drifted on to the M5 in Somerset and caused the 34-vehicle pile-up which claimed seven lives and left 51 injured is now their "main line of inquiry".
The revelation came as elderly couple Anthony and Pamela Adams, from Newport, South Wales, were named locally as being among the victims of Friday's pile-up.
The Reverend Andrew Willie told the congregation at St Mark's Church, where the couple attended, that they had died. He said Mr Adams, who was a church reader and former warden, and his wife, who was involved in parish activities, "will be sorely missed".
Avon and Somerset Police are yet to confirm the identities of any of the seven victims, but revealed they are now conducting a criminal, as well as a road policing, investigation. On Sunday night the stricken section of motorway, which had been closed since Friday night's tragedy, was reopened.
Meanwhile, it was reported that the crash has left a young woman in a coma and her wheelchair-bound father and sister dead. Emma Barton, believed to be 19, was said to have been travelling in a car with her boyfriend Christopher Burbull, father Michael and sister Maggie when they were caught up in the chaos.
Reports suggest the group had been to a funeral and were returning to the Barton family home in Windsor, Berkshire. Mr Burbull, of Slough, Berks, was also admitted to hospital following the crash, it was said.
Another possible casualty was named as Malcolm Beacham, from Woolavington in Somerset, who is said to be the event co-ordinator of a re-enactment group. One comment, left on the Living History website by a user named Martin, said: "For those that had the privilege of knowing him Malcolm was a fantastic guy, a true stalwart of the re-enactment community from The Company Of Chivalry, he was involved in the accident on the M5 on Friday, you will be sorely missed m8."
Lorry driver Terry Brice from Bristol was also named in reports as being among the victims. A Twitter post, believed to be made by his teenage daughter Jessica, said: "rest in peace daddy, i love you so much, you will never be forgotten, not a day will go by where i wont hope you'll walk through that door."
Police said witnesses had reported "significant smoke" across the carriageway that was "impossible to drive through". Taunton Rugby Club announced in a statement that it is "working closely with Avon and Somerset Police to assist with their investigations".
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are to make the former home of Princess Margaret their permanent London residence, St James's Palace says.
William and Kate have chosen an apartment in Kensington Palace as the place that will become their base in the capital as they establish themselves as a married couple.
The royals will not move in for two years as structural improvements are needed to make the place habitable, including the removal of large amounts of asbestos and work on the heating and hot water systems and electrical wiring.
The plans, approved by the Queen and the Prince of Wales, signal the growing independence of William and his wife as their household will also follow them from their offices at St James's Palace to the historic building, which has been a royal residence since 1689.
In that year King William III and Queen Mary II bought Nottingham House, which was later re-modelled into Kensington Palace by Sir Christopher Wren, who created St Paul's Cathedral.
Margaret and Lord Snowdon lived in the apartment after they married in 1960 and it was around this time that the last major works were carried out on the rooms.
The Queen's sister stayed on after she divorced from her husband in 1978, and after her death in 2002 the home had a variety of uses.
The estimated cost of the structural improvements is not known as survey work has yet to be carried out but it will be met from the Government's Grant-in-Aid budget - provided to the Royal Household for the upkeep of royal residences - and the Sovereign Support Grant, which will replace the Grant-in-Aid from 2013.
At the moment the Duke and Duchess are living in another smaller property at Kensington Palace when in London and it is expected Prince Harry will move to this home, from an apartment at Clarence House, when the royal couple take up their new home.
William is an RAF Search and Rescue Force helicopter pilot, and when working lives in North Wales with Kate close to his RAF base.
An inquiry has been launched into the UK border force amid claims that hundreds of thousands of people were allowed to enter Britain without proper checks.
The head of the force, Brodie Clark, has been suspended and faces the sack after guards quietly dropped certain passport checks this summer.
Home Secretary Theresa May is said to have been furious when she found out, although the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCSU) and Labour claimed the decision had been authorised by ministers.
The union claimed that staff were instructed to relax the checks in order to cope with staff shortages arising from Government spending cuts.
Mrs May has asked the Chief Inspector of the UK Border Agency, John Vine, to investigate and will make a statement to Parliament on Monday. However, the terms of reference for his inquiry are unclear and Labour sources pointed out that his remit was usually confined to the UK Border Agency and may not cover the actions of ministers.
The Home Office would not discuss the circumstances of the changes to border checks, but reports suggested border guards were told this summer not to bother checking biometric chips on the passports of citizens from outside the EU to ensure they are not fraudsters. The guards were also instructed not to bother checking fingerprints and other personal details against a Home Office database of terror suspects and illegal immigrants, it is claimed.
Shadow Home Office minister Chris Bryant claimed ministers had told borders staff to "cut some corners" and said Mrs May should "face the music" herself.
"It seems as if what's happened was that ministers' advice in July was actually precisely to do that: to cut some corners because there was a shortage of staff in particular between 6 o'clock and 8 o'clock in the morning and in the evening," he said. Mr Bryant called for the publication of all the paperwork between ministers and the UK Borders Agency.
Sue Smith, of the PCSU, blamed what she claimed had been a 10% reduction in border force staff, and added that senior managers had told the union the changes to border checks had been made with the authorisation of ministers. "As far as our staff were concerned, this was all done with ministerial authority, and that's the information we have received," she said.
But Mark Reckless, a Tory member of the Home Affairs Select Committee, dismissed the idea that the checks had been relaxed because of cuts to personnel. "I don't think that for a moment, this reflects a culture of impunity at the top of the civil service and the fact that however badly civil servants mess up they are never sacked," he said.
Sir James Dyson has backed ambitious plans for a new £50 billion airport in the Thames Estuary, saying Britain needs to "revive the thinking on a grand scale that characterised the Victorian age of invention".
The billionaire designer said the UK has lost the "ambition and vision" of past generations and said the UK needs more large-scale infrastructure projects such as the four-runway aviation hub proposed by architect Lord Foster.
In an interview with The Mail on Sunday, Sir James said: "There was a time when Britain's infrastructure was envied across the globe. Our railways, roads and sewers put us well ahead of our European neighbours in the race to industrialise.
"But we have lost the ambition and vision of our Victorian ancestors. It's time we did something. We need to revive the thinking on a grand scale that characterised the Victorian age of invention."
The inventor, who designed the Dyson vacuum, said despite annual airport passenger numbers in the UK standing at 127 million and constantly rising, the country is not prepared for the future.
"All those passengers have money to spend and many have business deals to sign. If Britain wants to be a force in the future we must have the infrastructure to keep them coming," he said.
"Large-scale infrastructure projects offer a solution and, rather than pie-in-the-sky, projects such as the proposed Thames Estuary airport are exactly what we need."
Lord Foster outlined his plans for the major project earlier this week, claiming the airport, located on the Isle of Grain in Kent, would be capable of handling 150 million passengers a year.
Known as the Thames Hub, it would have high-speed rail connections to London, the Midlands and northern England as well as continental Europe and links to key ports.
Throwing his weight behind the plans, Sir James added: "Let's think big, push our engineers to the edge of their abilities, and create an airport that is the envy of the world. Projects such as these will set us up for the future, create jobs and demand expertise that we can sell to the world."
An investigation has been launched after the body of a man who died in police custody turned up at a mortuary over a decade since he was believed to have been buried.
Former soldier Christopher Alder, 37, choked to death while handcuffed and lying on the floor of a police station in Hull, in the early hours of April 1 1998.
His sister, Jane Alder, brought a civil action against the Crown Prosecution Service after she claimed she was racially discriminated against, but she lost her legal challenge in March.
Hull City Council said the body of a man was discovered where a woman was believed to have been stored. Council chief executive Nicola Yates said: "On Friday 4 November 2011 I was made aware of a situation relating to the body of a man, who was in his late thirties, located in the city mortuary.
"The body lay in place of where Grace Kamara had been recorded as resting. At the moment I cannot explain this. Whilst Grace Kamara died of natural causes in 1999, her burial was, for family-related reasons, only able to take place on Friday. It was immediately postponed.
"My first priority has been to make sure the families involved were informed and given the necessary support. Now that we have made our best efforts to notify and support the families, I can confirm that the body of the man has been identified as Christopher Alder.
"I am appalled and distraught at what I have learned and in conjunction with Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust we will be undertaking a thorough review of the circumstances surrounding the events."
Ten years ago, a coroner's jury returned a verdict of unlawful killing after a seven-week-long inquest.
In 2002, five Humberside Police officers went on trial accused of manslaughter and misconduct in public office but they were cleared of all charges on the orders of the judge at Teesside Crown Court.
Four years later, an Independent Police Complaints Commission report said four of the officers present in the custody suite when the black former paratrooper died were guilty of the "most serious neglect of duty".
A police helicopter was scrambled and passengers were stopped from leaving a train after police received a report of a lion on the loose.
West Yorkshire Police received a call at 3.30pm on Sunday from a woman who thought she saw a lion as she was driving in the village of Shepley near Huddersfield.
The search lasted almost two hours as officers tried to locate the lion and passengers were forced to remain onboard trains at Shepley station.
But at 5.15pm the inquiry was ended as no lions were found and there were no additional sightings.
Inspector Carlton Young, of West Yorkshire Police, said: "We've had unconfirmed reports of a lion or a lion cub in the area. We've had officers looking around. At the moment we've had nothing confirmed and we've not located anyone who is claiming to have lost an animal."
Officers believe the woman - who claimed to have seen a lion on Penistone Road, Shepley - was a genuine caller. Around 12 officers were dispatched to look for a lion along with a police helicopter.
Insp Young added that the search would be resumed on Monday if there were any more reports.
National Rail Enquiries wrote on its Twitter feed: "Passengers are currently unable to alight from trains at Shepley due to reports by police of a lion in the area." It later issued an update that normal service had been resumed.
In May a police helicopter was scrambled and a golf course cleared after a white tiger was spotted in a field in Hampshire by members of the public - only to turn out to be a stuffed toy. Police received several calls reporting sightings of the tiger in a field near Hedge End, Southampton.
Specialist staff from nearby Marwell Zoo were called in to advise and potentially tranquillise the wild animal and a local golf course was evacuated. But as police officers carefully approached the dangerous animal they realised it was not moving and the helicopter crew, using thermal imaging equipment, realised there was no heat source coming from it.
Tributes have been paid to an elderly couple killed in one of the worst British motorway crashes in memory, as a rugby club fireworks event held near the site became the focus of the police inquiry.
Anthony and Pamela Adams, from Newport, south Wales, were named locally as being among the victims of the 34-vehicle pile-up on the M5 in Somerset which claimed seven lives and left 51 injured on Friday evening.
The Reverend Andrew Willie told the congregation at St Mark's Church, where the couple attended, that they had died. Avon and Somerset Police have not confirmed the identities of any of the victims.
Neighbour and close friend Doreen Martin, 88, said: "The vicar made the announcement this morning. It's such a shock. They were a lovely couple." She said Mr and Mrs Adams, who were in their seventies, had a large family of children and grandchildren.
Police said witnesses had reported "significant smoke" across the carriageway that was "impossible to drive through" and have launched a criminal, as well as a road policing, investigation.
Taunton Rugby Club announced in a statement that it was "working closely with Avon and Somerset police to assist with their investigations".
Assistant Chief Constable Anthony Bangham said: "Our main line of inquiry has now moved towards the event that was on the side of the carriageway and we do believe that while there was fog and it was difficult conditions in the area, that actually from witness evidence there was very significant smoke across the carriageway.
"That in effect caused a bank similar to a fog bank, which was very distracting and very difficult to drive through. We will be doing everything we can to find out as quickly as we're able to what's behind that."
Witnesses at the fireworks display - held at Taunton Rugby Club - were being interviewed, he said, adding that accountability was "clearly something we will look at." He went on: "We believe from the witnesses and from what we're being told that it was smoke and not fog. The vehicles and people who were entering into the smoke bank have just described it as being impossible to drive through and that of course causing them to brake."
The motorway was closed in both directions between junctions 24 and 25 following the incident, which took place at about 8.25pm in wet and foggy conditions on the northbound carriageway. Both carriageways have now reopened.
A man has been taken to hospital after being crushed by a model train in the back garden of his home.
West Midlands Ambulance Service was called to a property in Wilmcote near Stratford after the man, who is in his seventies, became trapped under the large-scale model.
An ambulance service spokesman said: "Ambulance crews were called to a man who had reportedly been trapped by a large-scale model train in the back garden of his home.
"The man in his seventies was apparently sitting on the locomotive when it left the rails and came off a garden wall.
"The patient was trapped for almost 30 minutes as ambulance crews and firefighters worked to release him. "
The patient suffered abdominal and pelvic injuries, the spokesman said.
He was given pain relief and immobilised by ambulance crews with the use of a splint, neck collar and spinal board before being airlifted to University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire.
The spokesman added: "The hospital was alerted to the serious condition of the patient."
An ambulance, a paramedic in a rapid response car and the Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance attended the scene.
Britain's exposure to the International Monetary Fund could rise to up to £40 billion without a Commons vote, Treasury Chief Secretary Danny Alexander has said.
The UK's IMF lending commitments are currently £29.4 billion, but Prime Minister David Cameron has indicated his willingness to increase that figure under plans to significantly increase the support available to ailing economies.
Mr Alexander said the Government could raise its contribution to £40 billion without seeking MPs' approval. Treasury sources said that amount had already been authorised by parliament.
Speaking to BBC1's Andrew Marr Show, Mr Alexander said: "We have two sorts of money that we give to the IMF. There's a £20 billion ceiling for each, so there's a maximum of £40 billion that we can make available to the IMF.
"Currently only about £5 billion of that is actually in use, so we have the capacity to go up to that £40 billion ceiling."
Tory MPs have called for a Commons vote on any further extension of Britain's commitments to the IMF, warning that they would effectively serve as an indirect bailout of the debt-laden eurozone.
In July, 32 Conservative backbenchers defied the Government to vote with Labour against an increase in Britain's contribution to the IMF.
Mr Alexander said: "No country in the global economy can be an island, we are in an enormously inter-dependent world. We have to play a role as a global leader, as one of the largest economies in the world."
But shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna called for detail on the Government's plans, saying Mr Alexander's comments were "not very clear".
"We need the detail. It's the usual practice after a summit of this type for the Prime Minister to come to the House of Commons and give the details, and it's the detail we need here because we are not very clear from what Danny Alexander said this morning, what the commitment would be," he told BBC1's The Politics Show.
Eight people have died after three bombs ripped through a sprawling Baghdad market at the beginning of a Muslim festival.
Police said the blasts were planted in different parts of the Shorja market in central Baghdad, striking as shoppers were preparing for this week's Eid al-Adha feast.
City health officials confirmed that a further 19 people were injured.
A thick black plume of smoke from the bombs hovered over the Tigris River and could be easily seen against Baghdad's skyline.
The attack comes just hours after Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki urged his security forces to step up their vigilance against violence. Mr Al-Maliki said continued threats shows that insurgents still want to prevent Iraq from becoming a stable nation, but did not specify the threats.
"You have done much for Iraq, but Iraq remains in the circle of danger," Mr al-Maliki told security officials. "It needs more attention and care to confront those who want to damage security, who are plotting to turn this Eid, the Eid of happiness to Iraqis, into the Eid of blood."
Iraqi Shias mark the beginning of the Eid on Monday, while Sunnis do so on Sunday.
Over the last several weeks, Mr al-Maliki's government has detained 615 people that the premier says are members of Iraq's former ruling Baath Party that was ousted from power in the 2003 US-led invasion.
Sunnis have accused Mr al-Maliki, who is Shia, of cracking down on Baathists as an excuse to exert political pressure on them.
Violence across Iraq has dropped dramatically, but deadly attacks still happen nearly every day as the US moves to withdraw all of its 33,000 troops from Iraq by the end of the year.
Greece's embattled prime minister and the head of the main opposition party have reached an initial agreement to form an interim government that will ensure the country's new European debt deal and then lead Greece to early elections.
The announcement came after President Karolos Papoulias chaired crisis talks between Prime Minister George Papandreou and opposition leader Antonis Samaras, capping a week of drama sparked by Mr Papandreou's announcement he was taking the debt deal to a referendum.
He withdrew the plan on Thursday after intense opposition from European leaders and his own MPs.
The political turmoil had frayed nerves on international markets and seen Greece's cherished membership of Europe's joint currency come under threat.
Greece is anxious to reach an agreement quickly on a new government, as it faces a meeting of eurozone finance ministers in Brussels on Monday.
Mr Papandreou has already made clear he will not head the interim government, the president's announcement said, adding that there would be a meeting between the premier and Mr Samaras on Monday to discuss who will act as interim prime minister and the make-up of the Cabinet. Mr Papoulias also would chair a meeting of the heads of all political parties.
Faced with an open rebellion from his own Socialist MPs and mounting pressure to resign, Mr Papandreou had said he would step aside if agreement could be reached on an interim government that would secure the new European debt deal and the disbursement of a vital bailout loan instalment without which the country will default within weeks.
He survived a confidence vote in his government on Saturday.
For his part, Mr Samaras had insisted he would only sit at the negotiating table if Mr Papandreou resigned first, leading to a stalemate broken by Mr Papoulias' calling both sides to the meeting.
St Paul's Cathedral was wrong to shut its doors as protesters camped out on its steps, the shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander has said.
Mr Alexander said the job of the church was not just to "comfort the afflicted but to afflict the comfortable", adding the demonstrators camping outside the cathedral were speaking to a "general unease" in the country.
Speaking to Jeremy Vine, standing in on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show, Mr Alexander said he felt uneasy when the cathedral's authorities decided to close its doors.
He said: "I think the job of the church is not just to comfort the afflicted but to afflict the comfortable.
"Its calling through the ages has been to be a prophetic voice on issues of public morality and I think... what the protesters are doing in a very distinctive way, which many of us wouldn't ourselves engage in, is speak to a much deeper unease in society about the rules by which society is being run.
"Righteousness... the literal translation is 'right relationships', and I think most of us feel that the relationship between the very top of society and the rest of us is pretty broken at the moment.
"I think the protesters often have incoherent demands, a range of different interests.
"But I think the much more significant point is that they are speaking to a general unease, indeed a general anger, that I sense in my own constituency, indeed I sense in communities right across the country.
"In that sense, it is something of a distraction to talk about the people in the tents or the protesters. I think the issues they speak to are actually much more profound and much more widely held."
Earlier, Labour leader Ed Miliband, writing in The Observer, said the anti-capitalist protesters reflected a "crisis of concern" in mainstream Britain which must be addressed by politicians, the business community and the Church of England.
US teen star Justin Bieber revealed he has "pulled through" as he called the recent allegations surrounding him as "crap" at the 2011 MTV European Music Awards in Belfast.
The 17-year-old pop star - who won two prizes at the ceremony - addressed claims that he fathered a child with a young fan as he picked up his trophy for Best Pop at the Odyssey Arena. "Yo, two awards in the past 60 minutes," he said. "There's been a lot of crap talked about me on the internet lately, but I've pulled through."
His girlfriend Selena Gomez, who hosted the evening, later commented to singer Katy Perry: "He's cute, isn't he?"
Coldplay kicked off the star-studded ceremony with a rousing rendition of Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall, while Queen - who were crowned the Global Icon - closed the ceremony with American Idol winner Adam Lambert, performing a medley of their rock anthems We Will Rock You and We Are The Champions.
Chart-topping superstar Lady Gaga, who led the nominations with six nods, triumphed with four prizes, including Best Female and the new Biggest Fan category. Her track Born This Way scooped Best Song and Best Video.
In a variety of outlandish outfits, including a performance where she showed off her tights-clad bottom, she dedicated her wins to her videographer Nick Knight, her fans - who she dubbed little monsters - and her sister.
Continuing in the great British tradition, a male streaker found his way on stage, surprising Heroes actress Hayden Panettiere as she presented Lady Gaga with the award for Best Song.
Other winners included Adele, who had been nominated in four categories and was named the Best UK and Ireland Act.
Jessie J introduced a video montage about the late Amy Winehouse, featuring fans recalling their memories of the singer, who died in July. "I never got to thank Amy Winehouse for breaking boundaries," she said. "She set a new standard for British female artists."
The music channel took over Belfast for its annual ceremony, which was held in three different locations for the first time, with performances in the Ulster Hall and City Hall as well as the main arena. Queen's Brian May paid tribute to the Northern Irish city, saying: "How wonderful for us to be here 40 years later. And how wonderful it is to be in Belfast, who is setting an example in the growth for true peace."
Border officials seized more cocaine in the last six months than in the whole of the previous year, figures show.
More than 2.1 tonnes of the drug was stopped at the UK border between April and September, compared with two tonnes in 2010/11, the UK Border Agency (UKBA) figures show.
The success was boosted by a single seizure of 1.2 tonnes of 90% pure cocaine, the largest-ever haul of the drug and worth up to £300 million, on board a luxury yacht in Southampton in June.
The figures also showed that the amount of heroin seized by border officials in the last six months was 773kg, almost double the 473kg seized in 2010/11, when figures were low as a result of the "poppy drought" in Afghanistan and the impact of international law enforcement, the UKBA said.
Officials also noticed a change in the way heroin is being brought into the UK.
Almost three-quarters of the heroin seized up until early last year was brought into the UK through Europe under the control of criminal gangs in Turkey, officials said. As this route was used less, drug dealers in the UK struggled to import the drug and the purity of the final product on the street fell, down from 46 in December 2010 - some of the lowest purity levels seen since 1984.
Between late 2010 and early 2011, the UK wholesale price for a kilogram of heroin rose from between £18,000 and £23,000 to between £19,000 and £25,000, with some high-quality heroin being sold for more than £40,000, the UKBA said.
But the amount of heroin being trafficked to the UK from Pakistan by parcel, air freight and container has increased, officials said.
Home Office minister Damian Green said: "Stopping harmful drugs like heroin and cocaine means we're helping keep communities safe and preventing criminals exploiting the UK. These seizures show our investigators are keeping pace with the ever-changing methods of criminal gangs to keep the border secure."
Rob Whiteman, chief executive of the UKBA, said: "Our work to secure the border all day, every day continues to show significant results despite the efforts of organised crime gangs to circumvent our controls."
More than 3,000 suspected rioters have been arrested by police investigating the disturbances across London in August.
Detectives from Operation Withern continue to examine evidence of crimes committed during the riots and 1,931 people have now been charged or cautioned.
The investigation has so far led to 1,809 people being brought before the courts, with 618 sentenced and 255 jailed. Some 1,058 cases are still ongoing.
Commander Steve Rodhouse, who is in charge of the investigation, said the total number of arrests was 3,003.
"This is an important milestone for the investigation but our work is far from over," he said.
"We continue to arrest and charge people every day, which is testament to the hard work of the officers involved in this investigation.
"It is also important that the public see we are not only arresting people but that these arrests are ending up with people being convicted for their crimes."
He added that those involved in the riots would "not get away with it" and said there would be more arrests and convictions.
Ed Miliband has launched a scathing attack on David Cameron for protecting "the privileged, the powerful and the wealthiest 1%" of society.
The Labour leader claimed that 99% of the country felt "desperately let down" by the Prime Minister, who did not have it "in his DNA" to look after them.
His highly personal criticism of Mr Cameron came in an interview with The Independent, in which he argued that inequality is now centre-stage in the political debate.
Accusing the Prime Minister of sticking up for the wrong side, he said: "David Cameron really is doing a terrific job looking after the vested interests, the privileged, the powerful and the wealthiest 1%. It's the other 99% who feel desperately let down."
He added: "David Cameron doesn't get it. It is not in his DNA. It is not what drives him in his politics.
"Working for a more responsible, fairer capitalism is not what gets him up in the morning. Even he would be hard pressed to claim it was his raison d'etre."
Society is being damaged by the "wrong values" practised among society's top 1%, he said.
"Inequality has often been seen as a marginal issue for the last 20 years but is now centre stage. Now it is not just between rich and poor but the richest and everybody else," he said.
"Some of those in the top 1% display the wrong values and that percolates through to the rest of society. The unfair way rewards are handed out is partly why the middle is being squeezed."
He added: "The social exclusion of those at the top is as much of a problem for our society in this era as the social exclusion of those at the bottom of society."
Home Secretary Theresa May will be grilled by MPs over the relaxation of border controls which is thought to have allowed hundreds of thousands of people to enter Britain without proper checks.
She is facing Labour demands to disclose whether any terror suspects are believed to have entered the country after border guards were instructed not to carry out certain passport checks.
The head of the UK border force, Brodie Clark, has been suspended and an inquiry set up under John Vine, chief inspector of the UK Border Agency.
But shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper insisted that urgent steps are needed to establish whether the public was at risk.
In a letter to Mrs May, she said: "The first and crucial step must be to ascertain the implications of the lapses in security and passport checks.
"In particular we need to know whether anyone posing a threat to Britain's national security was allowed to enter the UK during the period where the decision of ministers to relax passport checks was taken further than the Home Office has said was ordered."
Ms Cooper said the public are "understandably appalled and shocked" at the reported failings at the UK Border Agency and urged that Mr Vine's inquiry be "all-encompassing", covering the Home Office, ministerial decision-making and cuts to staff numbers.
The Public and Commercial Services Union has claimed that border controls were relaxed to keep queues down despite cuts to personnel. It also said the decision was authorised by ministers.
Mrs May is due to make a statement to the Commons.
According to reports, border guards were told this summer not to bother checking biometric chips on the passports of citizens from outside the European Union to ensure they are not fraudsters. The guards were also instructed not to bother checking fingerprints and other personal details against a Home Office database of terror suspects and illegal immigrants, it was claimed.
Police investigating one of the worst British motorway crashes in memory are focusing their attention on a rugby club fireworks event held close to the site, as more tributes are paid to the victims.
Officers said the theory that smoke from the display had drifted on to the M5 in Somerset and caused the 34-vehicle pile-up which claimed seven lives and left 51 injured is now their "main line of inquiry".
The revelation came as elderly couple Anthony and Pamela Adams, from Newport, South Wales, were named locally as being among the victims of Friday's pile-up.
The Reverend Andrew Willie told the congregation at St Mark's Church, where the couple attended, that they had died. He said Mr Adams, who was a church reader and former warden, and his wife, who was involved in parish activities, "will be sorely missed".
Avon and Somerset Police are yet to confirm the identities of any of the seven victims, but revealed they are now conducting a criminal, as well as a road policing, investigation. On Sunday night the stricken section of motorway, which had been closed since Friday night's tragedy, was reopened.
Meanwhile, it was reported that the crash has left a young woman in a coma and her wheelchair-bound father and sister dead. Emma Barton, believed to be 19, was said to have been travelling in a car with her boyfriend Christopher Burbull, father Michael and sister Maggie when they were caught up in the chaos.
Reports suggest the group had been to a funeral and were returning to the Barton family home in Windsor, Berkshire. Mr Burbull, of Slough, Berks, was also admitted to hospital following the crash, it was said.
Another possible casualty was named as Malcolm Beacham, from Woolavington in Somerset, who is said to be the event co-ordinator of a re-enactment group. One comment, left on the Living History website by a user named Martin, said: "For those that had the privilege of knowing him Malcolm was a fantastic guy, a true stalwart of the re-enactment community from The Company Of Chivalry, he was involved in the accident on the M5 on Friday, you will be sorely missed m8."
Lorry driver Terry Brice from Bristol was also named in reports as being among the victims. A Twitter post, believed to be made by his teenage daughter Jessica, said: "rest in peace daddy, i love you so much, you will never be forgotten, not a day will go by where i wont hope you'll walk through that door."
Police said witnesses had reported "significant smoke" across the carriageway that was "impossible to drive through". Taunton Rugby Club announced in a statement that it is "working closely with Avon and Somerset Police to assist with their investigations".
Greece's embattled prime minister and main opposition leader have agreed to form an interim government to ensure the country's new European debt deal, capping a week of political turmoil that saw Greece face a catastrophic default that threatened its euro membership and rocked international markets.
As part of the deal, prime minister George Papandreou agreed to step down halfway through his four-year term.
He and conservative opposition head Antonis Samaras are to meet again to discuss who will become prime minister and the make-up of the Cabinet.
The new unity government's main task will be to pass the European rescue package, reached after marathon negotiations between European leaders barely a week ago - a move considered crucial to shoring up the euro.
The interim government will then lead the country into early elections, expected early next year.
Officials had been anxious to reach some form of agreement before Monday's meeting of eurozone finance ministers in Brussels.
"Of course it's a breakthrough," government spokesman Elias Mossialos said. "It is a historical day for Greece, we will have a coalition government very soon, early next week. The prime minister and the leader of the opposition will discuss tomorrow the name of the new prime minister and the names of ministers."
Mr Papandreou sparked the latest crisis by announcing last week that he was taking the hard-fought debt agreement to a referendum.
That outraged European leaders, who said such a vote could raise the spectre of Athens leaving the common currency - setting off an unpredictable chain reaction that could drag down other European countries.
Mr Papandreou withdrew the referendum plan on Thursday in the wake of European anger and after it sparked a rebellion among his own Socialist lawmakers, many of whom called for him to resign. The turmoil also pushed the conservative opposition party to publicly declare it would back the debt agreement.
Royal Mail is to invest an extra £15 million in its operation to handle the huge Christmas postbag this year.
The postal group is setting up nine sites across the country to sort packets in the coming weeks as it gears up to deliver an estimated two billion items over the festive season.
The move follows the continued growth of online shopping, as well as preparing for any repeat of the severe weather conditions that hit services last year.
Mark Higson, Royal Mail's managing director of operations and modernisation, said: "Christmas is the busiest time of year for Royal Mail and our customers. On peak days we handle around 130 million items - around double our normal average daily mailbag of 62 million items.
"Royal Mail has invested an additional £15 million to increase our scale and improve our flexibility during this important time of year for our customers.
"As we do every year, we encourage people to post early and order presents early to help us spread the workload of handling around two billion items in the run-up to Christmas."
The new "packet hubs" will open in the coming weeks in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Swansea, Bristol, Peterborough, Manchester, Swindon, Nuneaton and Watford.
Nigel Woods, of Consumer Focus, said: "People across the country experienced frustrating delays to their Christmas post last winter, so it is good to see Royal Mail taking steps to stop this happening again this year with additional investment and a dedicated packet network.
"Another spell of bad weather in December could really test Royal Mail's ability to deliver our post on time.
"Even though it still seems a long way off, we would remind people to start thinking about putting in their online orders for presents, and sending their Christmas post to family and friends in advance. Avoiding leaving it to the last minute can help save much-needed extra cash and avoid unwanted stress."
