![Image]( "Failed Times Square bomber jailed")
The failed Times Square car bomber has been jailed for life for trying to bring carnage to crowded central New York.
Pakistani immigrant Faisal Shahzad was told by a judge she hopes he spends some of his time behind bars thinking "carefully about whether the Koran wants you to kill lots of people".
Shahzad's thirst for bloodshed showed no signs of waning as he and Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum sparred repeatedly over his reasoning for giving up his comfortable life in America to train in Pakistan and carry out the potentially deadly attack on May 1.
Instead of exploding, his massive bomb in the back of a sport utility vehicle failed to detonate, attracting the attention of a street vendor, who alerted police. The discovery set off an evacuation of the tourist-laden area and a massive investigation that resulted in his arrest two days later as he sought to flee the country.
"You appear to be someone who was capable of education and I do hope you will spend some of the time in prison thinking carefully about whether the Koran wants you to kill lots of people," Judge Cedarbaum told Shahzad after she announced his mandatory life sentence, which under federal sentencing rules will keep him behind bars until he dies.
Shahzad, 31, responded that the "Koran gives us the right to defend. And that's all I'm doing".
Earlier, Shahzad offered a lecture of his own for Americans, saying he felt no remorse. "We are only Muslims ... but if you call us terrorists, we are proud terrorists and we will keep on terrorising you," he said. At another point, he said: "The defeat of the US is imminent."
Judge Cedarbaum said her sentence was very important "to protect the public from further crimes of this defendant and others who would seek to follow him."
During Shahzad's statement, she cut him off at one point to ask if he had sworn allegiance to the United States when he became an American citizen last year. "I did swear but I did not mean it," said Shahzad, a former budget analyst from Connecticut who was born in Pakistan. "So you took a false oath," the judge told him.
Shahzad, who last year received explosives training in Pakistan to prepare for his bombing attempt, said attacks on Americans will continue until the United States leaves Muslim lands. "We do not accept your democracy or your freedom because we already have Sharia law and freedom," Shahzad said.
Missing Madeleine McCann's parents have joined the chorus of concerns about the Government's child protection policies after a top policeman quit in protest at plans to curtail his agency's independence.
Kate and Gerry McCann said it was "extremely saddening" that Jim Gamble felt he had to resign as chief executive of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (Ceop) Centre.
They urged ministers to remember the importance of the "invaluable work" carried out by his organisation to protect children against abduction and abuse.
Mr Gamble believes plans to assimilate Ceop into a new National Crime Agency are not in the "best interest" of vulnerable children.
The McCanns have a close working relationship with Mr Gamble, who last year launched a new internet video aimed at pricking the conscience of the key witness who knows what happened to Madeleine when she vanished in Portugal in 2007, aged three.
Mr and Mrs McCann said in a statement: "We are certain that he will be a huge loss to the field of child protection. Knowing how committed Mr Gamble is to this cause, it is extremely saddening that he feels unable to continue to lead Ceop, apparently as a consequence of the proposed Governmental changes.
They added: "In this challenging economic climate, we urge the Government to remember the value of our children and the importance of the invaluable work which is necessary to protect them against the devastating crimes of child abduction and exploitation."
The Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) said it was "in firm support" of Ceop remaining as a stand-alone agency, while shadow home secretary Alan Johnson went further, saying the Government's plans "will harm child safety networks".
"Their lack of consultation has led to the resignation of Mr Gamble, who is highly respected within and outside of the organisation he served so well. His expertise will be badly missed," he said.
But Home Secretary Theresa May defended the move, saying: "The Government recognises the importance of child protection and wants to build upon the work of Ceop, but does not necessarily feel this is best done by creating a new quango."
The Japanese man accused of murdering British teacher Lindsay Hawker in 2007 has apologised to her family in a letter, it has emerged.
Tatsuya Ichihashi is awaiting trial for the killing, after being arrested at a ferry port in Osaka, southern Japan, last November.
Miss Hawker's body was discovered in a sand-filled bath at the 31-year-old's Tokyo apartment in March 2007.
The 22-year-old, from Brandon, near Coventry, had been teaching in Japan after graduating from university in Leeds.
A spokeswoman for the Hawker family said they had received a letter from a member of Ichihashi's defence team a month ago on his behalf.
She said the letter said Ichihashi was "very sorry" and was a "good person" and went into detail about what he had done during his time on the run.
The spokeswoman added: "The Hawker family does not believe a word of it and they do not wish to enter into any dialogue with Mr Ichihashi or his legal team."
The Times reported that the letter reads: "I was evil.
"There is no one to blame but me. I will take the responsibility. I will never forget about her and what I did to her and you. And I will carry my cross until the moment of my death."
Miss Hawker's parents Bill and Julia said in a statement: "Ichihashi escaped from police and used plastic surgery to change his features and wanted to be free for the rest of his life."
The prime minister of Albania declared his country was mourning "legend" Sir Norman Wisdom, who became an unlikely hero to his nation during its darkest days.
Sir Norman, who died peacefully in his sleep at the age of 95 at the Abbotswood Nursing Home on the Isle of Man, enjoyed an unlikely stardom in the eastern European country.
His films such as A Stitch In Time and Trouble In Store were the only Western movies to be screened under the communist dictatorship of Enver Hoxha.
In a message of condolence sent to the comic's family, Sali Berisha said: "I was deeply saddened to hear about the death of one of the greatest actors of world comedy, a particularly favourite actor of the Albanian audience and one of the dearest friends of our nation, Sir Norman Wisdom."
He added: "Today the Albanians share in the mourning together with the Wisdom family, the friends and fans of their most beloved entertainer.
"On behalf of the government of Albania I would like to express heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family and his friends, the Government of Her Majesty, for the legend and comic actor Norman Wisdom passing away. Let us pray his soul finds eternal peace."
Former TV executive Michael Grade said his old friend, who had suffered a series of strokes in the last six months, was "a comic genius".
He won a legion of fans around the world for his tragi-comic performances, his unforgettable line "Mr Grimsdale" and his signature tune Don't Laugh At Me.
Mr Grade - who was a child when he first met Sir Norman through his family's showbusiness connections and later worked for his agent Billy Marsh - said today: "He was a superstar."
"It's very hard to understand in today's age just how big a star Norman was. When his new films opened they always opened at the New Victoria Cinema in London and there used to be queues round the block overnight to get in to see him."
A double murder inquiry is under way after the bodies of two men were discovered by police.
Officers made the grim find after being called to an address on Waddington Avenue in Burnley, Lancs.
The victims have yet to be identified.
A Lancashire Police spokesman said: "The deaths are being treated as suspicious and an investigation is now under way.
"It is a double murder investigation. No arrests have been made."
With the killer still on the loose, police were making door-to-door inquiries on Waddington Avenue, a large council estate on the eastern edge of the town.
Police gave no further information about the victims or how they were murdered.
A spokeswoman added: "We are still in the early stages of the inquiry."
The failed Times Square car bomber has been jailed for life for trying to bring carnage to crowded central New York.
Pakistani immigrant Faisal Shahzad was told by a judge she hopes he spends some of his time behind bars thinking "carefully about whether the Koran wants you to kill lots of people".
Shahzad's thirst for bloodshed showed no signs of waning as he and Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum sparred repeatedly over his reasoning for giving up his comfortable life in America to train in Pakistan and carry out the potentially deadly attack on May 1.
Instead of exploding, his massive bomb in the back of a sport utility vehicle failed to detonate, attracting the attention of a street vendor, who alerted police. The discovery set off an evacuation of the tourist-laden area and a massive investigation that resulted in his arrest two days later as he sought to flee the country.
"You appear to be someone who was capable of education and I do hope you will spend some of the time in prison thinking carefully about whether the Koran wants you to kill lots of people," Judge Cedarbaum told Shahzad after she announced his mandatory life sentence, which under federal sentencing rules will keep him behind bars until he dies.
Shahzad, 31, responded that the "Koran gives us the right to defend. And that's all I'm doing".
Earlier, Shahzad offered a lecture of his own for Americans, saying he felt no remorse. "We are only Muslims ... but if you call us terrorists, we are proud terrorists and we will keep on terrorising you," he said. At another point, he said: "The defeat of the US is imminent."
Judge Cedarbaum said her sentence was very important "to protect the public from further crimes of this defendant and others who would seek to follow him."
During Shahzad's statement, she cut him off at one point to ask if he had sworn allegiance to the United States when he became an American citizen last year. "I did swear but I did not mean it," said Shahzad, a former budget analyst from Connecticut who was born in Pakistan. "So you took a false oath," the judge told him.
Shahzad, who last year received explosives training in Pakistan to prepare for his bombing attempt, said attacks on Americans will continue until the United States leaves Muslim lands. "We do not accept your democracy or your freedom because we already have Sharia law and freedom," Shahzad said.
Fears of an escalation in dissident republican terrorist attacks have heightened after a car bomb wrecked buildings near the centre of Londonderry.
Even though police said nearly 60 people have already been charged this year for dissident activity, security chiefs are becoming increasingly concerned by the developing threat from hardliners trying to derail the peace process.
Two police officers were injured in the latest attack, carried out by the Real IRA, which was responsible for the Omagh bombing in 1998 which killed 29 people.
The Derry bomb - believed to have contained more than 200lb of explosives packed into a Vauxhall Corsa - exploded just after midnight, damaging a branch of the Ulster Bank and shops in front of Da Vinci's hotel in Culmore Road.
Police believe the device may have been abandoned after the presence of officers in the area prevented the bombers reaching a different, unknown target.
The blast comes at a time of rising optimism in Derry after it was named UK Capital of Culture for 2013.
But the negative impact of the blast tonight saw Italian football officials request security information ahead of their Euro 2012 qualifier against Northern Ireland on Friday, though football authorities in Belfast said they expect the Italians to arrive in the city for the game as planned.
Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness, in Birmingham for the Conservative Party conference, said he was disgusted by the attack in his native city.
Mr McGuinness, once an IRA commander in the city, said: "These conflict junkies are attempting to drive a city living very much to the future back to the past.
"People in this city are horrified that there are still these Neanderthals within our society."
Two teenagers are being quizzed by police after a landmark Victorian pier was ravaged by fire.
Up to 95% of Hastings Pier was destroyed as emergency services struggled to get the blaze under control in the early hours.
Sussex Police said two males, aged 18 and 19, both from nearby St Leonards, were arrested on the seafront shortly after the fire broke out and are being quizzed about the cause of the blaze.
The alarm was raised at around 1am by a member of the public who told two patrolling police officers that the pier, which has been closed since 2006, was alight.
At its height around 55 firefighters with eight engines were fighting to extinguish the blaze, East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service said.
The crews were transported by RNLI lifeboats to attempt to fight the fire from the sea as the pier itself was too unstable, and they were also hampered by bad weather blowing the flames towards the town. There were no reports of any injuries.
Campaigners who had been battling to restore the derelict pier to its former glory vowed to not give up hope that what remains of it may still be salvaged.
A statement from the council said: "Hastings Borough Council and the Hastings Pier and White Rock Trust have vowed not to give up hope. While it's still too early to find out the extent of the damage to the Victorian structure, both bodies have given their support to a full survey to find out if anything of it can be saved."
Council leader Jeremy Birch said surveyors may be able to tell whether the pier can be salvaged in as little as two months. He said he had "no idea" whether it was insured as its "totally absentee owner", the Panamanian-registered Ravenclaw, had not been in touch for a number of years.
The council was in the process of taking over the pier in a compulsory purchase following pressure from the trust and, after a study this summer, showed it could be made safe for £3 million.
Four boys aged just nine have been suspended from school after being found with cannabis, education officials said.
They were found with a small amount of the drug in the playground at Cherry Fold Community Primary School in Burnley, Lancs, on Friday.
Police were called to the school after the pupils were found with the class B drug, and all the boys have now been excluded from the school pending an investigation.
Officers spoke to the boys and their parents and issued each of the youngsters with a youth referral order.
The mother of one of the suspended boys, according to local reports, claimed some of the boys were dealing drugs with amounts being sold for 50p.
A tea bag-sized amount of cannabis plant, not resin, was found and Lancashire County Council said drugs were not being dealt at the school.
Lancashire Police have said there is no evidence pupils were dealing cannabis.
Deanne Marsh, acting headteacher at Cherry Fold Community Primary School, said: "I can confirm that four pupils are currently not at school while investigations are carried out into an incident at the school.
"It would not be appropriate for me to comment further as we take our pupils' confidentiality and safety very seriously and we are still looking into all the circumstances."
A police spokeswoman said: "We were called to the school following reports that four children had been found in possession of cannabis. Officers spoke to the children and their parents and issued youth referral orders."
Prime Minister David Cameron has defended his director of communications Andy Coulson, insisting there had been no complaints about his handling of 10 Downing Street's media operations.
Mr Cameron said that no-one in his team was "unsackable", but added that Number 10's press office had not attracted as much controversy under Mr Coulson's tenure as it did when Labour figures like Alastair Campbell and Damian McBride were in place.
The Metropolitan Police is currently looking at allegations that as editor of the News of the World Mr Coulson knew about phone-hacking which led to a reporter being jailed in 2007 - something he has always denied.
Mr Cameron was facing demands to give a statement to Parliament after Channel 4's Dispatches programme quoted an unnamed former News International executive as saying that Mr Coulson had listened to illegally obtained messages himself.
The PM told Channel 4 News: "He's someone who serves the Government, and actually runs a very good press office and communications department."
Asked by presenter Jon Snow whether Mr Coulson was unsackable, Mr Cameron answered: "No-one is unsackable, but the point I'm making is that we haven't had one single complaint about how he has done his job, or indeed about how the Downing Street press office has done its job and that is quite a contrast from the years of Alastair Campbell and Damian McBride and all the rest of them.
"So I say you should judge people on the jobs that they do and I think actually my Downing Street operation - most of which was inherited from Gordon Brown - the extremely talented civil servants that work there, I think they do a good job."
Mr Cameron denied that News International boss Rupert Murdoch was "the 24th person at the Cabinet table".
"I've had my fights with News International newspapers," said the PM. "I have robust interviews every time I go on Sky News.
"I don't particularly notice the presence of a 24th person round the cabinet table."
A terrorist suspect killed in a drone attack in Pakistan last month was a British man tasked with leading an al Qaida group in the UK, it has been reported.
A senior Pakistani security source told BBC's Newsnight programme that Abdul Jabbar was a British citizen who has a British wife and was living in Punjab, Pakistan.
According to the source, Jabbar was living in Punjab, and was chosen as the leader of a new group, to be called The Islamic Army of Great Britain.
The decision was apparently made during a meeting in the North Waziristan region of Pakistan three months ago, attended by 300 militants and monitored by intelligence agencies.
The source said the new group was set up to organise synchronised terrorist attacks in the UK, France and Germany. It was this intelligence that led to the missile strike by a US unmanned aerial drone on September 8 which killed Jabbar and three others.
The suspects, who are also said to have included a number of German nationals, had been hiding in the tribal areas of North Waziristan at the time.
An intelligence official told the Associated Press news agency that Jabbar's brother was conspiring with him to commit the Europe terrorist atrocity.
The reports about Jabbar follow disclosure that intelligence agencies in Europe, Pakistan and the US intercepted a credible Islamic plot to launch raids on European cities, in a similar style to the attacks in Mumbai, India, two years ago.
A Home Office spokesman said they could not comment on security matters.
Britain's deputy ambassador to Yemen survived a rocket attack on an embassy vehicle.
Fionna Gibb was unhurt in the blast in the capital Sana'a on Wednesday morning, which injured one of her colleagues.
It is the second time in six months that British officials have been targeted in the country. In April, Tim Torlot, the then British ambassador in Yemen, escaped unharmed after a suicide bomber wearing a school uniform detonated an explosives belt.
A Foreign Office spokesman said five people were inside the armoured car at the time of the latest attack.
She said: "The vehicle was on its way to the British Embassy, with five embassy staff on board. One member of staff suffered minor injuries and is undergoing treatment, all others were unhurt. We are informing their families at the moment. We are aware of at least two bystanders injured during the attack, and are seeking further detail."
Sources confirmed that Ms Gibb, deputy head of UK mission to Yemen, was inside the vehicle and said she was not injured. An official in Yemen said three bystanders were wounded.
The blast comes two days after Yemeni authorities boosted security around embassies in the capital after information about an attack planned by al Qaida.
Foreign Secretary William Hague described the attack as "shameful".
He said: "This morning's attack on staff of the British Embassy in Sana'a highlights the risks our diplomats face working for Britain's interests abroad. I am relieved to hear that only one minor injury was caused. I am full of admiration for the way our embassy is dealing with this difficult situation.
"The members of staff affected are receiving the full support of their colleagues and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. This shameful attack on British diplomats will only redouble Britain's determination to work with the government of Yemen to help address the challenges that country faces."
The partner of one of two men found dead in a flat on Tuesday died last month in mysterious circumstances.
The bodies of the middle-aged victims - understood to be friends James Atkinson and Neil Gilmore - were discovered when police were called to the address in Burnley, Lancashire, on Tuesday afternoon.
Mr Atkinson had moved into the ground-floor flat in Waddington Avenue following an arson attack at his home in Brunshaw Avenue last month - less than a fortnight after the death of his partner.
A separate investigation is under way into the death of Mr Atkinson's partner, Pamela Brown, 43, who died on September 7. It is thought that police were looking at links between her case and the double murder.
An inquest into her death was opened and adjourned last month as histology and toxicology tests were ordered.
The mother of three died in Blackburn Royal Hospital just three days after the death of her father, Trevor Brown, 68, a lecturer at Burnley College, who had been ill for some time.
Mr Gilmore, known as "Gilly", lived at the flat in Waddington Avenue and was said by neighbours to have had problems with alcohol, while Mr Atkinson lived a few blocks away in Brunshaw Avenue.
Nursery nurse Debbie Chadburn, who lives opposite Mr Gilmore's flat, said he lived there "for a good few years".
"He was the kind of guy who kept himself to himself but was very loud when he had taken a drink, which he did often, every day. He was in his 50s and disabled, walking with a stick and he had no use in his left side. He had lots of visitors at the flat. He had friends who came around and looked after him when he was in no fit state to look after himself. Some young girls would go round as well - I'm not sure if they were friends of his helpers."
A Lancashire Police spokesman said: "The deaths are being treated as suspicious and an investigation is now under way. It is a double murder investigation. No arrests have been made."
Much of Britain is expected to be graced with an unusual spell of sunshine later this week, forecasters said.
Sun worshippers seeking autumn rays will enjoy unseasonably warm temperatures with the mercury set to peak at 22C on Friday.
People in the north east of England and Yorkshire will enjoy a respite from the downpours - they have already seen the average rainfall for October.
Aisling Creevey, forecaster for MeteoGroup, the weather division of the Press Association, said: "There is a warm front moving across the country on Friday. There will be cloud for a while and some showers but it will be unseasonably warm.
"The maximum temperature in central London will be 22C and northern areas should peak at 18C. In Scotland there is a maximum of 16C and Wales is looking at 21C so we should have some very nice autumn weather."
Ms Creevey said the warm, dry weather should continue into Saturday.
She said: "It looks completely dry on Saturday. We are expecting all this warm air from the continent which should be nice.
"There is going to be some mist and fog in the morning - particularly in coastal areas of the north east of England and eastern Scotland, where it might take some time to clear.
"Southern England will have the best of the sunshine."
On Sunday temperatures are expected to peak at 18C in London and Wales.
Two teenagers quizzed after a suspected arson attack on a landmark Victoria pier have been released on bail by police.
Up to 95% of Hastings pier was destroyed as emergency services struggled to get the blaze under control in the early hours of Tuesday.
A Sussex Police spokeswoman said: "An 18-year-old man and a 19-year-old man, both from St Leonards, were arrested shortly after the incident on the seafront in the early hours of Tuesday, 5 October. They have been bailed until Tuesday, 2 November."
The alarm was raised at around 1am by a member of the public who told two patrolling police officers that the pier, which has been closed since 2006, was alight. At its height around 55 firefighters with eight engines were trying to extinguish the blaze, East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service said.
The crews were transported by local RNLI lifeboats to attempt to fight the fire from the sea as the pier itself was too unstable to go on to, and they were also hampered by bad weather blowing the flames towards the town. There were no reports of any injuries. A fire service spokeswoman said just one crew remained damping down at the scene today.
Campaigners who had been battling to restore the derelict pier to its former glory have vowed not to give up hope that what remains of it may still be salvaged.
Members of Hastings Pier and White Rock Trust held a series of meetings with Hastings Borough Council and emergency services on Tuesday to discuss plans to get a survey under way.
Trust treasurer Jess Steele said: "This tragedy has further galvanised public support for securing the future of this much-loved pier. If the survey shows that the substructure is reusable we will do our utmost to bring this great asset back to life."
Council leader Jeremy Birch said he had "no idea" whether the pier was insured as its "totally absentee owner", the Panamanian-registered Ravenclaw, had not been in touch for a number of years. The council was in the process of taking over the pier in a compulsory purchase following pressure from the trust and after a study this summer showed it could be made safe for £3 million. The trust then wanted to gain control over the future of the structure and apply for funding as a charity with the aim of refurbishing it with modern attractions.
Designed by Eugenius Birch, Hastings pier opened in 1872 and was originally 910ft long.
The West is being "outspent, outmanoeuvred and out-strategised" by violent Islamic extremism, Tony Blair has warned.
The former prime minister said that there had been a failure to challenge the "narrative" that Islam was oppressed by the West which was fuelling extremism around the world.
He said too many people accepted the extremists' analysis that the military actions taken by the West following the 9/11 attacks were directed at countries because they were Muslim and that it supported Israel because Israelis were Jews while Palestinians were Muslims.
"We should wake up to the absurdity of our surprise at the prevalence of this extremism," he said
"Look at the funds it receives. Examine the education systems that succour it. And then measure, over the years, the paucity of our counter-attack in the name of peaceful co-existence. We have been outspent, outmanoeuvred and out-strategised."
Speaking in New York to the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Mr Blair warned that it was impossible to defeat extremism "without defeating the narrative that nurtures it".
Moderate Muslims who believed in co-existence and tolerance were, he said, being undermined by the unwillingness of the West to take on the extremists' arguments.
"We think if we sympathise with the narrative - that essentially this extremism has arisen as a result, partly, of our actions - we meet it halfway, we help the modernisers to be more persuasive," he said.
"We don't. We indulge it and we weaken them. Worse, a reaction springs up amongst our people that we are pandering to this narrative and they start to resent Muslims as a whole."
Women have been advised that official guidance to avoid alcohol in pregnancy remains in place after experts said drinking one or two units a week does not harm a child's development.
Mothers-to-be can safely drink a 175ml glass of wine, a 50ml glass of spirits or just under a pint of beer each week without affecting intellectual or behavioural development, according to a new study.
But children born to mothers who drink heavily or binge drink (seven or more units a week or six at one sitting) are at higher risk of behavioural and emotional problems.
The finding adds to previous research which found light drinking has no negative effect on toddler development, and the issue of how much is safe to drink during pregnancy has caused controversy in recent years.
In 2007, the Department of Health published guidance saying pregnant women should avoid drinking alcohol altogether, as should those trying to conceive. This replaced previous guidance which said it was safe for pregnant women to drink one to two units of alcohol per week.
The Government said its update was not based on new research, but was to provide consistent advice to all women.
Following the latest study, in which experts examined the risk of drinking on children up to the age of five, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health said: "After assessing the available evidence, we cannot say with confidence that drinking during pregnancy is safe and will not harm your baby.
"Therefore, as a precautionary measure, our advice to pregnant women and women trying to conceive is to avoid alcohol."
Janet Fyle, professional policy advisor at the Royal College of Midwives, said she was concerned women may take the findings as a message that it is "ok" to drink alcohol.
"There is no firm evidence that small amounts of cumulative alcohol consumption does not have an effect on the developing foetus," she said. "Because of this our advice to women remains the same; if you are planning to become pregnant, or if you are pregnant, it is best to avoid drinking alcohol."
A former wheelclamper is to go on trial next May for the murder of schoolgirl Milly Dowler.
Levi Bellfield, 42, is alleged to have kidnapped the 13-year-old in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, in March 2002 before killing her.
Bellfield is also accused of attempting to kidnap 12-year-old Rachel Cowles the day before Milly went missing.
He appeared on Wednesday at the Old Bailey for a brief hearing via videolink.
Shaven-headed Bellfield, formerly of West Drayton, west London, spoke to confirm his name during the hearing.
The defendant remains in custody and is due to face trial on May 5.
Amanda Dowler, known to her family as Milly, disappeared on March 21 2002 as she walked home from a train station after school.
Her remains were found six months later in woodland in Yateley Heath, Hampshire, some 30 miles away.
Secret talks aimed at ending the war in Afghanistan have begun between representatives of the Taliban and the government of Afghan president Hamid Karzai, according to a report in The Washington Post.
Afghan and Arab sources cited by the Post said they believe for the first time that Taliban representatives are fully authorised to speak for the Quetta Shura, the Afghan Taliban organisation based in Pakistan, and its leader, Mohammad Omar, according to the newspaper.
Omar's representatives have shunned negotiations in the past, insisting that all foreign troops withdraw first.
However, the Post reported that its sources said the Quetta Shura has begun to talk about a comprehensive agreement that would include participation of some Taliban figures in the government and the withdrawal of US and Nato troops.
Mr Karzai has long said he will talk to insurgents if they renounce violence, sever ties to terrorists and embrace the Afghan constitution.
The top US commander in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus, said last week that Taliban leaders have made overtures to reconcile with the Afghan government.
"There are very high-level Taliban leaders who have sought to reach out to the highest levels of the Afghan government and indeed have done that," Gen Petraeus told reporters in Afghanistan.
Reconciling with Taliban leaders is being "pursued by the Afghan leadership at the very highest levels," he added.
The Afghan government last week also set up a 70-member peace council, formalizing efforts to reconcile with Taliban leaders and lure insurgent foot soldiers off the battlefield.
Waheed Omar, a spokesman for Mr Karzai, denied that President Barack Obama's stated goal of beginning to withdraw US forces from Afghanistan in July 2011, if conditions allow, spurred the Afghan government to set up the council or reach out to the Taliban.
Senior Cabinet minister William Hague has insisted the abolition of child benefit for higher-rate taxpayers was "tough but fair", as the row over the measure threatened to overshadow David Cameron's first speech to the Conservative Party conference as Prime Minister.
Mr Cameron had apologised for not being upfront with voters about the need for cuts to the universal benefit in his manifesto for the May General Election.
He is expected to seek to win over the small businessmen and skilled workers who may be hit by the change, by declaring he wants to support "the doers and grafters, the inventors and entrepreneurs" and warning jobless households that they will no longer be allowed to live off other people's taxes if they are capable of working.
Suspicions that the child benefit move was rushed out without full consultation in the Cabinet were fuelled when Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith suggested that Chancellor George Osborne's announcement in an early-morning TV interview on Monday was prompted by pressure from the media.
In a mark of the unease among Tories at Birmingham about a possible backlash from middle-class voters, who stand to lose £2,500 a year in a three-child household if either parent earns £44,000 or more, Mr Osborne yesterday wrote to every Conservative MP explaining the rationale behind his decision.
And Mr Cameron hinted that the Government may use a planned tax break for married couples to try to soften the blow of the loss of child benefit - which hits couples where one parent stays at home harder than those where both work.
Aides said ministers had not "closed the door" on the idea of allowing a proposed transferable tax allowance for married people to apply to the higher-rate taxpayers who will lose their child benefit, as well as the basic-rate earners for whom it was originally intended.
In better news for Mr Cameron as he prepared to deliver his speech, a YouGov poll in The Sun found overwhelming support for the principle that child benefit should be withdrawn from the rich, with 83% saying it should be scrapped for those on "higher incomes", against just 15% who disagreed.
However, 46% said it was unfair that a couple each earning £30,000 will continue to receive the £20-a-week benefit while a single-income household on £44,000 will lose it, against 41% who said it was "not ideal but acceptable".
Mr Hague told ITV1's Daybreak this morning that changing the measure so it applied to household rather than individual incomes would mean "a whole new complex change to the tax system and means-testing child benefit". He added: "Really, it is tough but it is fair... I think it is right to do what we are embarking on."
Channel 4 is to show a "dramatised documentary" based on what would happen if Prince Harry were taken prisoner while serving in Afghanistan.
The 90-minute film, called The Taking Of Prince Harry, features contributions from former hostages and intelligence experts.
It includes scenes showing the prince, played by actor Sebastian Reid, being held behind enemy lines while negotiations are carried out to free him.
At one point, the actor playing the prince is shown having an unloaded gun pointed in his face before one of his captors pulls the trigger and he is also made to appear in Taliban and al Qaida propaganda.
Harry, younger son of the Prince of Wales, served in Afghanistan's Helmand province. His presence in the country was hush-hush because of worries he could become a Taliban target if it became widely known he had been deployed. He spent 10 weeks working as a forward air controller until his cover was blown on the internet. Harry was flown home in February 2008 when the secret was leaked.
Channel 4's head of documentaries, Hamish Mykura, said the broadcaster had informed Buckingham Palace about the film, but had not had any response.
He said he did not think that making the film increased the risk of potential high-profile kidnappings and said the Taliban had already discussed targeting the Prince when it emerged he had served in the country. He said: "I think it is just wrong to say that this would create a new idea that wasn't there already."
The show, which will be broadcast on Thursday October 21 at 9pm, also includes scenes where the Prince is confronted by a British-born radical Islamist and details how the British Government's approach to hostage negotiations differs from other nations.
Mr Mykura said there was "no doubt" Harry would be at risk if he returned to Afghanistan. He said: "In the film we mentioned that his nickname when he was there last was 'Bullet Magnet' and we know that there were quite a lot of reports and stories of jihadi websites saying he should be the number one target."
He added that he felt the film dealt with a "timely" subject in an appropriate and responsible manner.
