Ohio Kidnap: Rescue Recordings Released

Cleveland Police have released recordings of the moments after stunned officers arrived at a house where three women had been held captive for 10 years.

In the recordings one of the first medics arriving at the scene after Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight escaped can be heard telling colleagues in a shaking voice: "This might be for real."

The exchanges over the emergency services radio system came after Amanda Berry escaped and called 911 while alleged captor Ariel Castro was out of the house on Monday. 

An operator is initially heard calmly relaying the details of Ms Berry's call to colleagues, telling them: "I have a call taken on the phone with a female that says her name is Amanda Berry and that she has been kidnapped 10 years ago.

"She's saying that the male is Ariel Castro, 52-year-old Hispanic male that lives at 2207 Seymour, and he's been holding her here for 10 years."

Soon after - with a panicked female voice, thought to be Amanda Berry, in the background - an officer says: "Adam 23, you got a box comin'? This might be for real."

As the distraught woman starts telling her story, the same officer says: "There might be others in the house ... Georgina DeJesus might be in this house also."

The next voice audible on the recording is from one of the first officers to arrive at Castro's house.

With the sound of a woman crying clearly audible over the police radio, the breathless medic tells dispatchers: "We found 'em ... we found 'em."

The next caller from inside the house says: "We got a female called Sabrina (sic), she's got a young child with her."

As the officers move through the house and discover the scale of the crime, they discover a second adult female and radio through to say: "Make it two."

A colleague adds: "We also have a Michelle Knight in the house ...  you wanna look that up in the system ... 32-years-old."

Ariel Castro has been charged with kidnap and rape in connection with the women's imprisonment.

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Jealous Girl Murders And Mutilates Classmate

By Mark Stone, China Correspondent

A 12-year-old girl from China has been sentenced to a three year rehabilitation programme after she murdered and dismembered her classmate.

The girl, who has been identified only by her surname Qin, is believed to have murdered her 13-year-old friend, identified only as Zhou, and then cut off her head and arms.

According to the court, the motive was resentment: Qin was jealous of Zhou's looks.

The murder took place in April 2012 in Guangxi Province, southwest China.

The two girls were sixth grade classmates at Nandan County Lihu Yao Elementary School. They are said to have been good friends whose families were neighbours.

According to court documents, quoted by China's Xinhua news agency, Qin had become envious of Zhou because other children were choosing to play with her instead. Qin, it is claimed, was told she was fat and not as pretty as Zhou.

The court's judgement described the shockingly graphic details of the murder.

On the evening of April 10, 2012, Qin invited Zhou to her house to play. As the two watched television together, the court heard how Qin smashed a stool over Zhou's head, knocking her unconscious.

Qin then attacked Zhou with a variety of weapons including a kitchen knife, a beer bottle, a paper knife and a pair of scissors.

The court then heard how Qin cut off Zhou's head and arms, put them into plastic bags and cleaned the blood from the scene.

Because Qin is under the age of 14, Chinese law determines that she cannot be held criminally responsible for the murder.

Instead of being sent to jail, the court ordered that she should undergo a rehabilitation programme. Her parents have also been ordered to pay the parents of the victim a total of RMB108,000 (£11,400) in compensation.

The principal of the children's school, Mr Wu, was interviewed by a local radio station and asked about the two girls' characters and looks.

"Both children had high grades," he said. "Qin was not a confident girl. She was not an ugly girl, but she is a bit chubby. Zhou was tall and slim."

On China's ever-growing social media networks, so-called 'netizens' questioned the sentence as well as Qin's upbringing.

"You kill a person and you only have to compensate RMB100,000? This court sure is kind and merciful," one person wrote.

"With such a strong sense of envy, she will be no good when she grows up either," another wrote.

"This isn't just a tragedy for a 13-year-old girl. This is a tragedy of society," said another.

"How have this girl's parents been raising her?" another asked.

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Bangladesh: Eight Killed In Factory Fire

A fire in a clothing factory in Bangladesh has killed eight people, as the death toll from the building collapse in the capital Dhaka passed 900.

The blaze on Wednesday night engulfed the lower floors of the 11-storey Tung Hai Sweater Ltd factory, also in Dhaka, said Mamun Mahmud, deputy director of the fire service.

The blaze, in which a ruling party politician and a top manufacturing official died, was fed by huge piles of acrylic products used to make jumpers and produced immense amounts of smoke, Mr Mahmud said.

Relatives of factory workers outside the building

The victims died of suffocation as they ran down the stairs, he added. "Apparently they tried to flee the building through the stairwell in fear that the fire had engulfed the whole building."

Had they stayed on the upper floors they would probably have survived the slow spreading fire, Mr Mahmud said.

"We found the roof open, but we did not find there anybody after the fire broke out. We recovered all of them on the stairwell on the ninth floor."

Colleagues comfort a crying company official

The fire comes two weeks after the collapse of the eight-story Rana Plaza building, home to five garment factories, in which at least 930 people are now known to have died.

The disaster has renewed concerns about the often deadly working conditions in Bangladesh's $20bn (£12.8bn) garment industry, which provides clothing for major retailers around the world.

The identities of the victims of Wednesday's fire illustrate the close ties between the industry and top Bangladeshi officials.

Workers in the Philippines light candles and give flowers in solidarity

The dead included the factory's managing director, Mahbubur Rahman, who was also on the board of directors of the powerful Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association.

A senior police official and another man who was head of a local branch of the ruling party's youth league were also killed.

A local TV company reported that Mr Rahman had been planning to stand as an MP next year and had been meeting friends to discuss his future when the fire broke out.

It was not immediately clear what caused the fire, which began soon after the factory workers went home for the day and took three hours to bring under control.

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Ohio Kidnap: Ariel Castro In Court

Ariel Castro has appeared in court in Cleveland charged with kidnapping and raping three women missing for a decade.

The former school bus driver wore blue overalls and stood with his head bowed as prosecutors outlined the charges against him. 

Castro buried his head in his shirt as a lawyer described the "horrifying ordeal" Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus, Michelle Knight and Ms Berry's six-year-old daughter endured during their captivity.

The unemployed 52-year-old did not enter a plea and briefly filled out some paperwork with his hands cuffed as the court set bail at $2m per case, effectively ensuring he will remain behind bars.

His lawyer - a public defender - told the court that Castro is on unemployment benefit and "to the best of my knowledge" has no convictions for serious crimes.

Castro made a "premeditated, deliberate and depraved" decision to snatch three women from the street and two of the victims endured their "horrifying ordeal" for more than a decade, prosecutor Brian Murphy told the court.

Catro kidnapped the women "to be used in whatever self-serving, self-gratifying way he saw fit", the court heard.

Mr Murphy said: "While in captivity they withstood repeated beatings, they were bound, restrained, and they were sexually assaulted - basically never free to leave this residence."

Castro's brothers Pedro and Onil Castro are to be freed after they appeared at the same Cleveland Municipal Court hearing on misdemeanour charges.

Castro's public defender Kathleen DeMetz said she expects her client to be placed on suicide watch and in a cell on his own when he returns to county jail.

More follows...

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Michael Jackson: Jury Shown Autopsy Report

Michael Jackson's autopsy report has been shown to jurors during the wrongful death trial brought by his family against concert organiser AEG Live.

Along with the report, which contains information concerning tattoos he had to hide a skin pigmentation disease, jurors were shown an autopsy photograph of Jackson lying on a coroner's table.

Dr Conrad Murray is serving four years for Jackson's manslaughter

Dr Christopher Rogers, the medical examiner who performed the autopsy, noted the 50-year-old star's scalp had been tattooed black, seemingly to blend his hairline with the wigs he wore.

Jackson's lips had been tattooed pink and he also had dark tattoos in place of his eyebrows.

The report and photographs were originally released to the public in 2010 after the singer died, and much of what the jury heard from Dr Rogers had been revealed during the trial of Jackson's doctor Conrad Murray.

But complementary evidence given by Dr Rogers will give the jurors added insight into Jackson's life.

The report states: "The top of (Jackson's) head was covered in a wig with long, dark apparent hair.

"There was a dark black discoloration of (Jackson's) upper forehead near his hairline. Dark coloration was present on (his) eyebrows, eyelashes and lips."

The report confirms Jackson's skin tone became lighter in the 1980s because he had the skin pigmentation disease vitiligo.

"So, some areas of the skin appear light and others appear dark," said Dr Rogers.

Jackson's skin had been the subject of intense speculation during his career, with many suspecting him of bleaching it intentionally to lighten it.

Jackson's brother Randy and sister Rebbie arrive for the trial in LA

Dr Rogers also confirmed that an overdose of propofol killed Jackson, although other sedatives administered by Murray contributed to his death.

Jackson's family claim concert giant AEG failed to supervise Jackson's personal doctor.

AEG denies any wrongdoing and argues it did not hire or supervise Murray, saying Jackson had had prescription drug problems for years before entering into any agreement for his This Is It concerts in London.

It also said it could not have foreseen that Murray posed a danger to Jackson.

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Ashley Summers: Search For Missing Ohio Girl

Hopes have been raised for the family of another missing girl in Cleveland, Ohio, after three others were rescued from a house in the city.

Ashley Summers was 14 years old when she was reported missing in 2007 in the same neighbourhood from where two of the three women found on Monday - Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus - had vanished.

Michele Knight, Miss Berry and Miss DeJesus were abducted separately in 2002, 2003 and 2004 when they were 20, 16 and 14 respectively.

The trio, along with a young girl believed to be Miss Berry's six-year-old daughter, were found in reportedly squalid conditions at a house in the west side of Cleveland.

The house where the three women were discovered

Three brothers, Pedro, Ariel and Onil Castro, were subsequently arrested and remain in custody pending charges.

Ashley's family is hoping the investigation into the three women allegedly held captive by the brothers will lead to information about her.

"We're hoping that it's connected, and they knew where she was," her aunt Debra Summers told CNN. "We're hoping for a miracle."

Amanda Berry (L) and Gina DeJesus

At first, authorities believed Ashley had run away from home after an argument with a relative.

However, by 2008 the FBI and law enforcement officials suspected she was possibly being held against her will and classed her as an "endangered juvenile".

The following year FBI agents suspected a possible connection between the disappearance of Miss Summers and those of Miss Berry and Miss DeJesus.

Ashley Summers FBI poster

Investigators thought all three girls had been kidnapped by the same man, then-FBI spokesman Scott Wilson said.

The names Berry, DeJesus and Ashley then came up in a Cleveland police training session in August 2010. Instructor George Kwan held up their photographs after his lecture about human trafficking.

"What do they have in common?" he said. "They are all attractive, they are all between the ages of 14 and 17, and they are all gone."

Ashley's physical appearance and the proximity of her home to the other disappearances meant investigators had to suspect the cases were linked, said FBI Agent Vicki Anderson.

And investigators continue to hold onto those suspicions as they search and gather evidence at the home in Seymore Avenue.

(L-R) Brothers Ariel Castro, Onil Castro and Pedro Castro

"We are keeping Ashley in our thoughts as we go every step of the way," Agent Anderson said.

"Whether it is something we find at the house, or someone seeing the stories remembers something, we continue our search for Ashley."

Investigators will speak to the three discovered women to see if they know anything about Miss Summers' disappearance, she added.

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Rodman Asks Kim Jong-Un To Free Prisoner

By Mark Stone, Asia Correspondent

In an odd twist of international diplomacy, American basketball superstar Dennis Rodman has called for North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un to release a US prisoner from custody.

Rodman wrote on his Twitter page: "I'm calling on the Supreme Leader of North Korea, or as I call him 'Kim', to do me a solid and cut Kenneth Bae loose."

Mr Bae, 44, is an American tour operator who was arrested while hosting a group of tourists in North Korea last November.

He was accused of "hostile acts" against the country after reportedly taking unauthorised photographs.

Dennis Rodman's tweeted request to Kim Jong-Un

Dennis Rodman and Kim Jong-Un formed an unlikely friendship when the basketball star toured North Korea earlier this year.

Mr Kim, who is known to be a huge basketball fan, took Rodman to a game and the two were photographed enjoying an evening banquet together.

The trip was criticised by some because Rodman appeared to be completely ignoring North Korea's human rights record by fraternising with one of the world's last remaining dictatorships.

Others said the basketball player could instigate a subtle form of diplomacy: basketball diplomacy.

If Rodman's tweet works and Mr Bae is pardoned from his sentence of 15 years hard labour, it would be a coup and would enable the US to avoid the prospect of sending a senior politician or former president to Pyongyang to negotiate.

In 2009, two American journalists were held in North Korea and sentenced to hard labour.

Former US president Bill Clinton travelled to Pyongyang and negotiated their release with then-leader Kim Jong-Il.

Mr Kim speaks to military commanders while at his desk on some grass

Last week, US State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said: "We call on the DPRK to release Kenneth Bae immediately on humanitarian grounds."

Tensions between Pyongyang and Washington have been extremely high over the past few months, with rhetoric on both sides at a level not seen for years.

Kenneth Bae's detention is widely seen as being politically motivated and a bargaining chip by Pyongyang in order to gain leverage over the US.

The motivation behind the recent North Korean tension is thought to be twofold. Internally, it is an attempt by the North Korean leadership to shore up its legitimacy.

Internationally, North Korea wants to be taken seriously as a nuclear state. The US has made plain its insistence that it will only talk to Pyongyang on the condition that it gives up its nuclear programme.

North Korea now appears to have pulled back from its recent rhetoric, withdrawing two medium-range missiles from their launch pads.

However, the country's KCNA news agency continues to release unusual images of Kim Jong-Un meeting his military commanders. In the latest, they appear to have moved Mr Kim's office outside.

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Genoa: Four Dead As Ship Crashes Into Port

At least four people have died and six others are missing after a container ship smashed into a control tower in the port of Genoa.

The incident happened at around 11pm local time

Unconfirmed reports have suggested engine failure of the Jolly Nero ship could have been to blame for the crash after one of the pilots was quoted as saying: "Two engines seem to have failed and we lost control of the ship."

Part of the tower, in which about 14 people were present at the time of the crash, collapsed into the water.

One of the victims is thought to be a woman in her 30s, while at least two of the others are men. Six people have been reported seriously injured.

Rescuers examine what's left of the control tower

Some of those missing are understood to have been trapped under rubble or in a lift which may have fallen into the sea.

Some rescue workers dived into the water around the port in a frantic search to find survivors while others have been using dogs trained to find people in earthquake zones to see if survivors were trapped under the rubble.

At daybreak, a mobile telephone began to ring beneath the wrecked structure raising hopes of locating people alive, but it rang off before rescue workers could find it.

Firefighters inspect the scene of a damaged control tower

Italian emergency workers found one badly injured man in the rubble of the control tower.

The man worked as a telephone operator and has been named locally as 50-year-old Maurizio Potenza.

An employee of the Genoa-based Messina Line company, which owns the vessel, said: "There was an accident when the ship was leaving the port.

Rescue workers dived into the water in a frantic search for survivors

"It ran into the tower, but we don't know why at this point, nor how many people are hurt."

Claudio Burlando, president of the Liguria region that is home to the northwestern port city, told SKY TG 24 that the ship was being conducted by an on-board pilot and two tug boats, one in front and one behind.

"It was a manoeuvre done hundreds of times. We're all wondering what could have happened," he said.

One man has been found badly injured in the rubble of the tower

"The weather conditions were perfect, there was no wind, there were no other ships on the move," Luigi Merlo, the head of Genoa's port authority, told reporters.

The crash happened during a shift change at the vast metal tower, which meant more people were present.

The tower bent over 45 degrees before collapsing, leaving only what looked like an emergency staircase standing.

The port control tower before the incident

Roberto, the port's night watch, told La Repubblica newspaper: "I heard a terrible din and rushed out of my cabin. It was an incredible sight: the control tower was leaning perilously."

The Jolly Nero is almost 200m (655ft) long, 30m (98ft) wide, and weighs over 40,500 tons.

The ship's owner, Stefano Messina, choked back tears as he said: "We are all utterly shocked. Nothing like this has ever happened before."

The Jolly Nero weighs over 40,500 tons

The Jolly Nero's captain is being questioned by police on suspicion of manslaughter.

Italians are still reeling from the Costa Concordia shipwreck off Giglio island in 2012 which left 32 people dead.

Hearings against six suspects in the cruise liner disaster began in Italy on April 15.

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Kerry In Moscow For Crucial Syria Talks

By Katie Stallard, Moscow Correspondent

US Secretary of State John Kerry is in Moscow for crucial talks with President Putin on Syria.

Mr Kerry will first meet Vladimir Putin and then his Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov in what he has described as a "long overdue" visit to Russia, but which is being briefed by State Department officials as an attempt to shift Moscow's stance on the Assad regime.

Russia has vetoed three UN Security Council resolutions proposing sanctions on the regime and remains emphatically opposed to any suggestion of military intervention in the conflict.

A foreign ministry statement on Monday expressed concern at what Moscow said were signs that international public opinion was being prepared for the possibility of armed intervention and said it was examining reported Israeli air strikes near Damascus on May 3 and 5.

The spokesman warned that further military action in the country could destabilise the region, and drew attention to claims that Syrian rebel forces have used the nerve agent Sarin.

President Putin was re-elected a year ago

Vladimir Putin's spokesman told reporters on Monday that the president had spoken to Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu about events in Syria and the situation in the Middle East, but declined to reveal details of the call.

Mr Kerry's visit coincides with the first anniversary of President Putin's return to the Kremlin, in a year that has seen relations between the two strained on a number of fronts, not least US criticism of Russia's record on human rights.

A senior US State Department official told the AFP news agency there were signs Russia was prepared to engage in discussion over Syria but acknowledged there would be other issues on the agenda too.

The official said: "Our counterparts here have made clear they are ready to engage on Syria, but they have many issues they want to talk about."

A second official said: "It is a time to talk to the Russians to understand that, from our side, we remain committed (to a political solution) and if they are as well then we need to think about how to work operationally to make that happen.

Israel has played down reports of air attacks against Syria

"I don't know if we will get an agreement or not, but we certainly think it is worth testing and trying to find some ways forward."

Mr Kerry laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, a memorial by the Kremlin wall to the fallen soviet soldiers of World War II before his meeting with President Putin.

Sergei Markov, a former United Russia member of parliament, who is vice-chancellor of Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, told Sky News this was an opportunity to improve relations between the two.

He said: "At the moment Russian-American relations are very bad, but both presidents do want to improve the situation. This is a new stage.

"The fact that the secretary of state is meeting the president is not unusual - the secretary is a messenger of the president, so it is really is a dialogue between presidents."

Unverified video purportedly showing explosions in Damascus

But he warned the chances of a breakthrough on Syria were slim.

"There are very small chances to reach a deal on Syria because there are too many contradictions in their positions.

"Russia has military interests in Syria; it has a military base there and several arms contracts. The US seems to have found the only country with which we have a good relationship in the region - there are countries with a worse democratic record in the region - why doesn't the US meddle in their internal politics?

"Russia opposes the changing of regimes by force. If the US changes the regime in Syria, they might want to do the same with Iran, and then who is next, Belarus?  Russia doesn't want this."

Mr Kerry is also set to meet civil society activists at the US ambassador's residence in Moscow on Wednesday, to hear their concerns about democratic progress in Russia - a move which is unlikely to endear him to the government.

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Cleveland Case Evokes Previous Kidnappings

The rescue of three women from a house in Cleveland, Ohio, is the latest in a series of high-profile cases involving females being held captive for several years.

Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michele Knight had apparently been at the suburban property since they vanished around a decade ago.

Amanda Berry (L) and Gina DeJesus

Jaycee Dugard was found on August 26, 2009, 18 years after she was kidnapped aged 11 in California.

She had been seized by Phillip Garrido and his wife Nancy while on her way to school in South Lake Tahoe in June 1991.

Miss Dugard was kept in a hidden backyard behind Garrido's house, and had two children with him.

She was rescued after Garrido's parole officers became suspicious. The Garridos were jailed for life.

Elizabeth Smart was rescued in 2003

Elizabeth Smart was 14 when she was taken from the bedroom of her home in Utah in June 2002 and repeatedly raped by a self-styled prophet during nine months of captivity.

Miss Smart was rescued in March 2003 less than 20 miles from her home. Her abductor, Brian David Mitchell, was jailed for life in 2011.

Austrian Natascha Kampusch was kidnapped at the age of 10 by Wolfgang Priklopil in March 1998.

He held her captive in the cellar of a house in Strasshof, just outside Vienna for eight years before she managed to escape in 2006.

Natascha Kampusch escaped her captor in 2006

Priklopil committed suicide on the night that Miss Kampusch escaped by throwing himself under a train.

Elisabeth Fritzl was imprisoned and raped over a period of 24 years by her father Josef Fritzl, who kept her in the cellar of the family home at Amstetten, 60 miles west of Vienna. She bore him seven children.

The case came to light in April 2008 when one of the children became ill and was taken to hospital.

Josef Fritzl was jailed in 2009 for life - a sentence carrying a minimum term of 15 years in Austria.

Josef Fritzl was jailed for life in 2009

He was found guilty of murder for the death of one of Elisabeth's babies, as well as incest, sequestration, grievous assault and 3,000 instances of rape.

In Italy in June 2008, Maria Monaco, 47, was set free after being locked in by her family for 18 years.

Police found her living in "horrendous hygiene conditions" in a rural home outside Santa Maria Capua Vetere, north of Naples.

She had been held since 1990 when her family learned she was pregnant and she refused to divulge the name of the father.

An unidentified nine-year-old Japanese schoolgirl was snatched in November 1990 and spent nine years trapped on the second floor of her abductor's home in Kashiwazaki, north of Tokyo.

She was freed aged 19, in January 2000, after health officials were called to the house by the man's mother.

The kidnapper was in 2003 sentenced to 14 years in prison.

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Cleveland: Women's Families 'Never Gave Up'

The story of the three women found in Seymour Street, Cleveland, on Monday began in August 2002 when Michele Knight disappeared.

Ms Knight, aged around 20 at the time, was reportedly last seen at a cousin's house near West 106th Street and Lorain Avenue, Cleveland.

The authorities thought that she had run away after losing custody of her son but her family were not convinced, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports.

A few months later, in April 2003, Amanda Berry, 16, went missing. She had phoned her sister to say she had been offered a lift home from her job at Burger King at the junction of Lorain Avenue and West 110th Street.

In April 2004, 14-year-old Gina DeJesus went missing after leaving Wilbur Wright Middle School in Parkhurst Drive.

She was reportedly seen in West 105th Street which links Parkhurst Drive to Lorain Avenue.

Now, more than 10 years after the first woman disappeared they have turned up just over five miles away at 2207 Seymour Drive, Cleveland.

In the intervening years the families and friends of the three girls never gave up hope of finding them.

Amanda Berry (L) and Gina DeJesus

The search for Ms Berry and Ms DeJesus remained high profile in the local media with coverage of anniversaries and developments.

Police received tip-offs from prison inmates who claimed to know where Ms Berry was buried but all leads proved fruitless.

A childhood friend of Ms DeJesus, Kayla Rogers, told the Plain Dealer newspaper: "I've been praying, never forgot about her, ever."

Ms Berry's cousin Tasheena Mitchell told the newspaper she couldn't wait to have her in her arms.

"I'm going to hold her, and I'm going to squeeze her and I probably won't let her go," she said.

Ms Berry's mother, Louwana Miller, died in March 2006.

She had spent the previous three years looking for her daughter, whose disappearance took a toll as her health steadily deteriorated, family and friends said.

Councilwoman Dona Brady said she had spent many hours with Miller, who never gave up hope that her daughter was alive.

"She literally died of a broken heart," Ms Brady said.

Jennifer Picart, Ms Berry's friend and co-worker at Burger King, said: "I've been waiting for her to come home for a long, long time ...

"I was there, I was the last person she talked to. I felt horrible because I felt like it was my fault if I could have stopped it she would have been home."

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Cleveland: Women Missing For Decade Rescued

Three women who disappeared separately about 10 years ago have been found alive in a house in Cleveland, Ohio - just a few miles from where they went missing.

Police said they thought Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michele Knight had been tied up in the property - and had been there since they vanished.

The trio, who went missing in their teens or early 20s, have now been released from hospital after going there for checks and were being reunited with relatives.

They are said to be in good health after being found in a residential area just south of the city.

A poster with images of Amanda Berry on

Three brothers were arrested. One of the men, 52-year-old Ariel Castro, lived at the home, while the others, aged 50 and 54, lived elsewhere.

Ms Berry, who was 16 at the time, disappeared on April 21, 2003, when she called her sister to say she was getting a lift home from her job at a Burger King outlet.

Ms DeJesus went missing aged 14 on her way home from school about a year after Ms Berry's disappearance.

The third woman, Ms Knight, had been missing since 2002. She is believed to have been 20 at the time.

Cheering crowds gathered on the street near the property where the women were found.

Gina DeJesus went missing on her way home from school

The long nightmare for the trio ended when Ms Berry reached through a crack in the front door and called for help.

Neighbour Charles Ramsey heard her screaming and tried to get her out through the door, but could not pull it open.

So he kicked the bottom open and she crawled through carrying a little girl.

Another neighbour Anna Tejeda said Ms Berry was nervous and crying, and dressed in pyjamas and old sandals.

Ms Tejeda said she gave her telephone to Ms Berry, who then called police.

In a recording of the 911 call, she told the emergency dispatcher: "I'm Amanda Berry. I've been kidnapped. I've been missing for 10 years. I'm free. I'm here now."

Ms DeJesus' father wants a change in Amber Alert rules

She said she had been taken by someone - and begged officers to arrive at the home on Cleveland's west side "before he gets back".

When police arrived, they found the two other women who were allegedly being held captive.

They were also rescued and police said a six-year-old also was found in the home, but the child's identity or relationship to anyone in the home has not been not revealed.

Mr Ramsey explained how he rescued Ms Berry, saying: "I hear this girl screaming and she's going nuts.

Police at the house where the three missing women were being held

"So I come outside and I know there's nobody supposed to be screaming next door to my house because there's no girl that lives in that house.

"When I came to the front door and looked at her she said 'My name is Amanda Berry - please get me out of this house'."

Kayla Rogers, a childhood friend of Ms DeJesus, told The Plain Dealer newspaper: "I've been praying, never forgot about her, ever.

"This is amazing. This is a celebration. I'm so happy. I just want to see her walk out of those doors so I can hug her."

Ms Berry's cousin Tasheena Mitchell told the newspaper: "I'm going to hold her, and I'm going to squeeze her and I probably won't let her go."

Age-progressed images of Gina DeJesus (L) and Amanda Berry

In January, a prison inmate was sentenced to a further four and a half years after admitting he provided a false burial tip in the disappearance of Ms Berry.

Two men arrested for questioning in the disappearance of Ms DeJesus in 2004 were released from the city jail in 2006 after officers did not find her body during a search of the men's house.

No Amber Alert was issued the day Ms DeJesus failed to return home because no one witnessed her abduction.

That angered her father, Felix DeJesus, who said in 2006 he believed the public would listen even if the alerts became routine.

"The Amber Alert should work for any missing child," he said at the time.

"It doesn't have to be an abduction. Whether it's an abduction or a runaway, a child needs to be found. We need to change this law."

But Cleveland police argued the alerts should be reserved for cases in which danger is imminent and the public can be of help in locating the suspect and child.

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Bangladesh: Deadly Clashes At Islamist Protest

At least 28 people have been killed after Bangladeshi police clashed with Islamists demanding a new blasphemy law.

Police officials said that about 200,000 people had marched to the centre of the capital Dhaka on Sunday, where fierce clashes erupted between thousands of rock-throwing protesters and security officials.

Witnesses said rioting broke out after police tried to intercept stick-wielding protesters, most travelling from remote villages, in front of the country's largest mosque. Trouble then spread to central districts of Dhaka.

"This government does not have faith in Allah. This is an atheist government, we will not allow them to live in Bangladesh. Muslims are brothers, we must protect Islam," one protester was seen chanting.

Thousands took to the street of Dhaka

Police fired rubber bullets from armoured vehicles at protesters, who went on the rampage, torching a police office, scores of vehicles and shops, attacking government offices and beating policemen.

Dozens of small bombs exploded, leaving smoke hanging in the air around the mosque.

The bodies of 11 victims, including a policeman, were taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, Mozammel Haq, a police inspector based at the hospital, told the AFP news agency.

Officials at three private clinics in Dhaka confirmed that they had received the bodies of 11 other victims.

At least six others were killed in violence in Kanchpur, on the southeastern outskirts of the capital, where more than 5,000 Islamists clashed with police and border guards, prompting security forces to respond with live rounds, local police chief Abdul Matin said.

The protests were staged as the country was recovering from its worst industrial disaster, which saw at least 620 people killed when a factory building collapsed just outside the capital on April 24.

It said it staged the mass protest to push a 13-point list of demands, which also include a ban on men and women mixing freely together and the restoration of pledges to Allah in the constitution.

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Neo-Nazi Gang Member On Trial Over Murders

The surviving member of a neo-Nazi cell blamed for a series of racist murders in Germany has gone on trial.

Thirty-eight-year-old Beate Zschaepe appeared in court in Munich charged with complicity in the murder of eight Turks, a Greek and a policewoman between 2000 and 2007.

Scuffles took place outside the court between police and protesters angry over the length of time it took for the neo-Nazi cell to be uncovered by police.

Zschaepe is also accused of involvement in at least two bombings in immigrant areas of Cologne and 15 bank robberies carried out by her accomplices Uwe Mundlos and Uwe Boenhardt.

Uwe Mundlos (L) and Uwe Boenhardt

Both men died in an apparent murder-suicide in November 2011.

She faces life imprisonment if she is convicted.

Four other men are also on trial, accused of assisting her National Socialist Underground (NSU) group, which had gone undetected for more than a decade.

Zschaepe handed herself in to police in November 2011

The chance discovery of the gang has forced Germany to acknowledge it has a more militant and dangerous neo-Nazi fringe than previously thought - and it also exposed serious intelligence failings.

The existence of the gang only came to light with the deaths of Mundlos and Boenhardt following a botched bank robbery.

In their charred caravan in Eisenach, police found the gun that was used to murder all 10 victims.

Officers also found a DVD presenting the NSU and claiming responsibility for the killings.

In it, the bodies of the murder victims are pictured while a cartoon Pink Panther tots up the number of dead.

Beate Zschaepe in court

After her companions' deaths, Zschaepe is believed to have set fire to a flat she shared with them in Zwickau and gone on the run. She handed herself in to the police four days later.

Prosecutors say the gang chose people running small businesses or shops as easy targets in an attempt to terrify migrants and hound them out of Germany.

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Footie Fans Told To Stop Dressing Like Taliban

A top Brazilian football club have asked their players and fans to end a campaign which has seen them dress up as Taliban fighters.

Fluminese's star striker Fred is among the players who joined in the craze by wrapping his face with a club scarf and posting a link online along with hashtags including #talibãtricolor.

The campaign was launched after Rio-based Fluminese lost 2-1 to Ecuador's Emelec in the group stage of the Copa Libertadores, the South American club championship.

Fans, who traditionally refer to their heroes as a "team of warriors", took to Twitter to motivate their side and encourage players and fans to "Be A Taliban Warrior".

Fluminense's management have now urged an end to the campaign, which has seen many imitations of the scarf pose posted online, labelling it a "call for violence".

A club statement said: "The intentions of those who began this movement and have joined it clash with the Taliban's image, who are terrorists and not healthy warriors.

"That is why Fluminense Football Club denounces this campaign."

The team's home fixture against Emelec is due to take place in Rio de Janeiro on Wednesday.

Brazil's football authorities are keen to draw attention away from the "Taliban" campaign as the country prepares to host the World Cup in 2014.

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Giulio Andreotti: Former Italian PM Dies

Seven-time Italian prime minister Giulio Andreotti, who was said to have had Mafia links, has died.

The 94-year-old was hospitalised last year with heart problems stemming from a respiratory infection.

Andreotti helped draft Italy's constitution after World War II, sat in parliament for 60 years and served as premier seven times. He remained a senator-for-life.

The Christian Democrat was accused of exchanging a "kiss of honour" with the Mafia's longtime number one boss and for being involved in the murder of an Italian journalist.

He denied any wrongdoing and after long and much-publicised court battles was cleared on both charges.

Andreotti held several cabinet positions after the Second World War before eventually becoming prime minister in 1972. His final term lasted from 1989 to 1992.

He was renown for being friends with popes and cardinals and his figure was immediately recognisable to generations of Italians.

Rumours surrounding Andreotti came to a head in the wake of Italy's anti-corruption drive in the early 1990s when he was accused of involvement in the death of journalist Mino Pecorelli, who was killed in a mob-style hit in 1979.

Andreotti with former British prime minister Sir Edward Heath

A Mafia informer singled out Andreotti, with prosecutors claiming the journalist was killed at his request.

The "trial of the century" - as Italian media called it - alleged Pecorelli was murdered because he had compromising information about Andreotti.

The three-year case saw the politician cleared in 1999, before being convicted on appeal and sentenced to 24 years in 2002.

A year later, a third and final judgement overturned the conviction and cleared him of the original charge.

"Some might have hoped I wouldn't get here. But here I am, thanks to God," Andreotti, then 84, said at the time of the final ruling.

In a separate case during the same years, Andreotti stood trial in Palermo on charges that he colluded with the Mafia. But he was cleared in that case too.

Mafia turncoats gave evidence and claimed he had once exchanged a "kiss of honour" with Salvatore Riina, the "boss of all bosses" .

Andreotti always denied the charges and said he was a victim of mobsters intent on taking revenge for his fight against the Mafia.

Born in Rome, Andreotti became Italy's youngest interior minister at the age of 35 and went on to write numerous books, some of them best-sellers.

The practising Roman Catholic also wrote articles for Italian magazines and edited the monthly Catholic magazine 30 Giorni.

Il Divo, a 2008 film about Andreotti's life, won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival.

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'Israel Rocket Strike' On Syria Military Site

Israeli missiles have struck a military research centre near the capital Damascus, setting off explosions, Syrian state television has said.

The rockets were said to have hit a military research centre in Jamraya on the outskirts of the capital in the early hours of this morning.

The building was the target of an earlier Israeli strike in January.

Israeli radio is reporting the latest attack has been confirmed by a senior security official.

A Western intelligence source said "stores of Fateh-110 missiles that were in transit from Iran to Hezbollah" were the target.

Video footage uploaded online by activists shows a huge ball of fire rising into the night sky.

More of the unverified footage uploaded by activists

A Syrian official has called the attack a "declaration of war" by Israel.

Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal al Mekdad told CNN the strike represented an alliance between Islamic terrorists and Israel.

He added that Syria would retaliate against Israel in its own time and way.

Iran has condemned the Israeli attack and urged countries in the region to stand against the action, the Fars news agency reported.

Meanwhile, hundreds of families are fleeing a Syrian coastal area where activists say government troops have massacred nearly 200, many of them women and children.

Protests in Banias at the beginning of the uprising in 2011

Opponents of Bashar al Assad's regime say that fighters loyal to the President carried out two massacres on Saturday night and on Thursday in a Sunni Muslim area driven by a policy of ethnic cleansing.

Activists posted a video online of the bodies of 10 people it said were killed in Ras al Nabaa in the city of Banias, in an overnight attack.

The activists said half of the victims were children and that the number of deaths could be as high as 60.

It comes just two days after pro-Assad militias are alleged to have killed as many as 100 Sunnis in the nearby village of Baida.

Amateur video showed a man and at least three children dead inside a room.

A baby had burned legs and its body was covered in blood. Next to him was a young girl whose face had been deformed after apparently being hit with sharp metal.

Syria's crisis has claimed the lives of an estimated 70,000 people

Other footage from activists showed entire families killed in their beds. A dead woman is seen cradling a child in her arms and two toddlers lying next to them.

The videos have not been independently verified.

The crisis in Syria, which began in March 2011 with pro-democracy protests and later turned into a civil war that has killed an estimated 70,000 people, has largely evolved along sectarian lines.

The Sunni majority forms the backbone of the rebellion, while Mr Assad's minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam, anchors the regime's security services and the military's officer corps.

Other minorities, such as Christians, largely support Mr Assad or are standing on the sidelines, fearing the regime's collapse would bring about a more Islamist rule.

It has been estimated as many as 4,000 people are fleeing from the predominantly Sunni southern parts of the Mediterranean city of Banias amid fears of further large-scale killings.

The US has condemned the attack on Thursday. State Department spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki said: "We strongly condemn atrocities against the civilian population and reinforce our solidarity with the Syrian people."

She added: "The United States is appalled by horrific reports that more than 100 people were killed May 2 in gruesome attacks on the coastal town of Bayda, Syria.

"Regime and Shabiha forces reportedly destroyed the area with mortar fire then stormed the town and executed entire families, including women and children."

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Tornado Smashes Through Northern Italy

Dramatic footage has emerged of a tornado that ripped through northern Italy, damaging hundreds of buildings and injuring at least 12 people.

Amateur video showed the twister as it struck towns and villages close to Emilia Romagna's regional capital Bologna.

Footage on YouReporter, a web portal for citizen journalists, showed the tornado directly over the small village of Bentivoglio.

Franca Fantuzzi was away from home when the storm hit.

Amateur footage shows the huge twister passing over rooftops

"Fortunately, I and my children had taken a holiday so we weren't here," she said, gazing at the damage.

Many farmers were out on their land and were caught up in the twister, like Sandro Roversi, who took shelter under his tractor.

Pointing to his vehicle, covered in debris, he said: "I couldn't move, it came so quickly, I was inside. I threw myself underneath, and I was OK. It was an enormous force, enormous."

Huge hailstones hit cars as the storm passed

The governor of Emilia Romagna, Vasco Errani, asked the central government to declare a state of emergency.

Italy's agricultural watchdog Coldiretti warned of millions of euros of damage to farms and crops.

The same area was devastated by an earthquake in May 2012.

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Football Referee Dies After Punch From Player

A referee who was left in a coma after being punched by a teenage player during a game a week ago has died.

Ricardo Portillo, 46, of Salt Lake City, died in the hospital where he was being treated following the assault on Saturday night.

Police have accused a 17-year-old player of punching Mr Portillo after he gave him a yellow card for a foul.

Spokesman Justin Hoyal said: "The suspect was close to Portillo and punched him once in the face as a result of the call."

The teenager has been booked into juvenile detention on suspicion of aggravated assault. Mr Hoyal said authorities will consider additional charges following the referee's death.

The cause of death has not been given. An autopsy is to be carried out later.

Mr Portillo suffered swelling in his brain and had been listed as being in a critical condition at the Intermountain Medical Centre in Murray, Salt Lake City, where he was treated.

Johana Portillo, 26, said last week she had been told by witnesses that the player hit her father in the side of the head.

She said: "When he was writing down his notes, he just came out of nowhere and punched him."

The teenager was playing in goal during a junior high school match when he was cautioned for pushing an opposition player.

He began arguing with Mr Portillo before punching him in the face.

Mr Portillo asked to be held up because he felt dizzy, but then sat down and began vomiting blood.

By the time an ambulance arrived he had fallen into a coma.

His family said he had been attacked before while refereeing games. Johana said they had begged him to stop because of the risk from angry players.

She said: "It was his passion. We could not tell him no."

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Bangladesh Disaster: More Than 600 Dead

The death toll from the collapse of a textile factory complex in Bangladesh has reached more than 620 after dozens more bodies were pulled out from the wreckage.

It has been 12 days since the disaster but bodies are still being found in the rubble of the eight-storey building, part of which was constructed illegally.

Lieutenant Imran Khan, of the army control room set up to co-ordinate the recovery operation, said a further 53 bodies had been recovered on Sunday.

The Rana Plaza building - situated in Savar, an industrial suburb of the capital Dhaka - housed five clothing factories, employing a total of 3,122 staff.

It is not known how many workers were inside the complex when it collapsed. Around 2,500 survivors have been accounted for.

Hundreds of distraught relatives gathered at the site as cranes and bulldozers cut through a mountain of concrete and mangled steel.

Officials said it was becoming more difficult to identify the dead because of the level of decomposition and missing limbs.

"We've identified only a handful of them by their mobile phones that were found in their pockets or identity cards given by the factories," said Zillur Rahman Chowdhury, deputy administrator of Dhaka district.

Preliminary findings of a government probe have blamed vibrations from four giant generators on the compound's upper floors for triggering the collapse.

Protests have taken place about the poor working conditions of workers

The building's architect, Masood Reza, has said he designed the structure to house a shopping mall and offices, not factories.

Several people have been arrested over the disaster, including the building's owner Mohammed Sohel Rana, who was captured near the border with India as he tried to flee the country.

He allegedly had the approval to construct five floors but added three more illegally.

He is expected to be charged with negligence, illegal construction and forcing employees to work - which carry a maximum penalty of seven years imprisonment.

A murder complaint has been brought against him by the wife of one of the workers.

Bangladesh is the world's second-largest clothing exporter behind China. The industry accounts for 80% of the country's exports and more than 40% of its industrial workforce.

The tragedy has sparked protests about the poor working conditions of workers who toil for as little as £25 a month to produce clothing for top international brands.

The European Commissioner for Trade, Karel de Gucht, has said if conditions do not improve for workers in Bangladesh, the EU could impose punitive measures.

He told Sky News' Murnaghan programme: "We are going to make it very clear to the Bangladeshi government that they have to take immediate action, with a precise timeline ... because what is happening is not acceptable"

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