Diamond Heist: Arrests Over Brussels Raid

Police have arrested 33 people suspected of being involved in a £30m diamond heist at a Brussels airport.

A large amount of cash and diamonds were recovered in the early morning raids, involving more than 200 officers across Belgium, France and Switzerland.

The raiders made off with a variety of rough and polished gems

One suspected member of the eight-man gang that allegedly staged the theft was arrested in France, while Swiss police made a eight arrests and Belgian police took 24 people into custody.

A statement from the Swiss prosecutor's office said: "A big haul was seized, of 100,000 Swiss francs (£68,000) in cash and a large quantity of diamonds, the value of which is currently being estimated.

"The arrests were made thanks to the excellent collaboration between the Brussels and Geneva authorities."

The Belgian authorities said some of the suspects detained in Belgium, aged between 30 and 50, were "well known" to police.

The heist was carried out by heavily-armed men posing as police officers who cut through the perimeter fence of Zaventem International airport around 8pm on February 18 to reach a Swiss passenger aircraft that was due to take off.

In an operation that lasted barely 10 minutes and took place without a shot being fired, the men forced open the hold of the plane and removed some 120 boxes of mainly uncut diamonds from Antwerp.

Questions were raised over the ease with which the raid was carried out

The gems were bound for India and, as they were mainly uncut, they were uncertified, making them harder to trace and easier to sell on.

At the time the raid was described by French airport security consultant Doron Levy as "incredibly audacious and well organised," adding that it was likely an inside job and the suspects "probably know their employees by name".

The heist was also described as "one of the biggest" by the Antwerp World Diamond Centre, the global dealers' syndicate.

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Genoa: Seven Dead As Ship Crashes Into Port

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

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 inspect what remains 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.

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.

The tower as it looked before the accident, and after

"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.

"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.

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 weighs over 40,500 tons

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'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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Massive Tanker Blast In Mexico Kills 20

At least 20 people have been killed after a gas tanker exploded on a major road in a suburb of Mexico City.

Parts of the trailer were hurled scores of feet in all directions after the truck carrying natural gas lost control on a ten-lane highway.

A huge piece of one of the tanks towed by the truck was blown 50 yards by the force of the blast, landing on top of the wall of a house and cars parked outside.

Television footage showed plumes of flame shooting out of homes in the pre-dawn darkness after the 5.30am (local time) blast.

Debris was flung across a wide area

Officials did not rule out the possibility the death toll could rise more as emergency workers continued sifting through the charred remains of vehicles and homes.

At least three dozen people in the built up area of Ecatepec were injured and a number of pigs and other farm animals that were kept on patios were killed.

Rita Enriquez, 42, a housewife who lives near where the blast occurred, said: "It was thunderous sound. I thought we were all going to die.

"When we ran out, we saw a car on fire and flames everywhere. Smoke was pouring all over the freeway."

Enriquez said five of her relatives were gravely injured. Her 15-year-old niece, Wendy Garrido, who was pregnant, was forced to give birth in the aftermath of the explosion, she said.

Cesar Gomez, Mexico state health secretary, said some of the injured people receiving care had burns over at least 70% of their bodies.

The blast happened before dawn at 5.30am

He said the teenager and baby survived, but both are in intensive care. More than 20 remained in hospital at various facilities by Tuesday afternoon, eight in a critical condition.

Mr Gomez said some of the victims may be airlifted to Texas for burns treatment.

The driver, Juan Olivares, 36, was heading to Mexico City from Pachuca, a city to the north, when he hit a barrier in the central reservation.

The truck was pulling two gas tanks. One flew into a house and exploded, killing 15, and another part of a tank hit a separate house, killing four.

Jose Luis Cervantes, assistant prosecutor for the state of Mexico, said the driver may face manslaughter and property damage charges.

The road was closed all day with emergency services flooding the scene

Hundreds of police, ambulance drivers, paramedics, soldiers and firefighters rushed to the scene.

Pablo Bedolla, the mayor of Ecatepec, said: "People are very shaken, above all because of the injuries and the large number of dead. I've spoken with the families of the victims, and they are just sobbing."

Speaking in Mexico City, President Enrique Pena Nieto suggested something would have to be done to separate major highways from poor neighbourhoods.

He said: "I have instructed the Transportation Department ... to review the safety conditions on this federal highway in places where structures have been built on the right of way, so that in the near future, work can be carried out to make it safer."

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Genoa: At Least Three Dead In Port Ship Tragedy

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

Part of the tower in which about 14 people were present at the time of the accident crashed into the water.

One of the victims was thought to be a woman in her 30s, while the other two were male.

Rescue workers dived into the water around the port in a frantic search to find around 10 people believed to be missing.

Six others were reported seriously injured.

The Jolly Nero weighs over 40,500 tonnes

An employee of the Messina Line company, based in Genoa which owns the vessel, confirmed that "there was an accident when the ship was leaving the port".

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

The container ship, the Italian Jolly Nero, is almost 200m (655ft) long, 30m (98ft) wide, and weighs over 40,500 tonnes.

The ship's owner, Stefano Messina, said: "We are all utterly shocked. Nothing like this has ever happened before, we are desperate."

New reports said the captain was being questioned by police.

The impact happened during a shift change at the tower which meant that more people were present.

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Neo-Nazi Murder Trial Halted Over Bias Claim

The trial of an alleged German neo-Nazi accused of involvement in a 10-person killing spree has been adjourned after the defence team accused the judge of bias.

Judge Manfred Goetzl put proceedings on hold until May 14 to consider the defence request that he recuse himself from the court case.

It is the highest-profile neo-Nazi murder trial in Germany in decades and could last at least a year.

Beate Zschaepe, said to be the sole surviving member of a gang behind the murders, had entered the court in a dark suit, her arms folded, before turning her back to the cameras and appearing to joke with her lawyers.

Uwe Mundlos (L) and Uwe Boenhardt

Her trial began with two motions from the defence lawyers alleging judicial bias.

Zschaepe, 38, is accused by prosecutors of murder for alleged complicity in the killing of eight Turks, a Greek and a policewoman between 2000 and 2007.

If convicted, she faces life imprisonment. Four others face lesser charges of assisting the cell.

Zschaepe handed herself in to police in November 2011

Zschaepe is also accused of involvement in at least two bombings and 15 bank robberies allegedly carried out by her accomplices, Uwe Mundlos and Uwe Boenhardt, who died in an apparent murder-suicide in November 2011.

Prosecutors allege the trio had formed the self-styled National Socialist Underground (NSU) after evading arrest on lesser charges in 1998 and managed to remain largely off the authorities' radar for the following 13 years despite committing a string of violent crimes.

Hundreds of reporters lined up outside the Munich courthouse in the hope of gaining one of the few available seats in the packed courtroom.

Police erected security barriers in anticipation of possible protests by far-right and far-left extremist groups.

Aside from Zschaepe, four other defendants are accused of crimes relating to the NSU's activities.

Beate Zschaepe in court

Like Zschaepe, the co-defendants were known to German authorities before the existence of the NSU - whose name alludes to the official name of Adolf Hitler's National Socialist German Workers' Party - came to light.

Many of Germany's three million residents of Turkish descent have asked how the country's well-funded security services, with their network of informants in the far-right scene, could have overlooked the group's existence for so long.

For years, police suspected the immigrant victims of being involved with foreign gangs linked to gambling and drugs.

Families of those killed and survivors of the bomb attacks in particular have said they are hoping not just for justice, but answers to questions such as how the group chose its victims, none of whom were high-profile targets.

Her lawyers have said she will remain silent during the lengthy trial.

Under German law Zschaepe will not have to make a plea until the end, though her lawyers have said they will contest the prosecution charges.

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Women Missing For Over A Decade Found Alive

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

Cleveland's police chief said three people have been arrested including a 52-year-old man.

Amanda Berry disappeared aged 16 on April 21, 2003, when she called her sister to say she was getting a lift home from her job at a Burger King.

Police say Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michele Knight have been taken to a hospital for checks and will be reunited with relatives. They have also been described as being in good health.

A poster with images of Amanda Berry on

Ms DeJesus went missing aged 14 on her way home from school about a year later.

The third woman, Ms Knight, had been missing since 2002.

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

It appears Ms Berry contacted police on Monday when she called 911 and pleaded for officers to arrive at the home on Cleveland's west side before her alleged kidnapper returned.

She told the dispatcher: "I've been kidnapped, and I've been missing for 10 years. And I'm here. I'm free now."

Gina DeJesus went missing on her way home from school

Neighbour Charles Ramsay told how he rescued Ms Berry after hearing her screaming for help.

"I hear this girl screaming and she's going nuts. 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'."

Local journalist Julie Courtright, of WTAM Ohio, told Sky News:"From what I heard Amanda Berry was actually able to escape by kicking the door in and she ran to a neighbour's house.

"A neighbour was able to go into the house and rescue Amanda, Gina DeJesus and another girl Michele Knight and four children."

Her father wants a change in Amber Alert rules

 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."

In January, a prison inmate was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison 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.

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

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

The lack of an Amber Alert angered her father, Felix DeJesus, who said in 2006 he believed the public will listen even if the alerts become routine.

"The Amber Alert should work for any missing child," he said then. "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."

Cleveland police said then that the alerts must 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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Spain Plane Crash: Fireball At Air Show

An historic jet plane has crashed into a hangar and exploded in a fireball at an airshow near Madrid, killing the plane's pilot.

A spokesman for Spain's Defence Ministry says the experienced jet pilot, Ladislao Tejedor Romero, 35, died of his injuries in the serious burns unit of Getafe hospital.

Some 3,000 people were at Cuatro Vientos airfield watching a showcase of aerial acrobatics and vintage aircraft when the plane crashed.

The impact sent a fireball and thick black smoke billowing into the air.

Black smoke billowed from the crash site as the crowd looked on

Spain's airport authority AENA said that only the pilot - an assistant to Defence Minister Pedro Morenes - was hurt in the crash.

However the Europe Press news agency reported that two people were taken to hospital.

The injured pair were reportedly a rescue worker suffering from burns and a 57-year-old man, believed to be the pilot's father, who suffered an anxiety attack.

A third rescue worker suffering from smoke inhalation received first aid at the scene, the agency said.

The plane, a HA-200 Saeta, was built in the 1950s as an advanced jet trainer by Hispano Aviacion, ministry spokesman Alfredo Florenza said.

Mr Florenza said the cause of the crash remains unknown.

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Moscow: Thousands Set To Protest Against Putin

By Katie Stallard, Moscow Correspondent

Thousands of protesters are expected to take to the streets in central Moscow on the first anniversary of a mass rally that saw hundreds arrested in violent clashes with police.

More than 600 people were arrested on May 6 2012, on the eve of Vladimir Putin's return to the Kremlin.

Protesters accuse the police of using excessive force and say any violence on their part was in self-defence - they claim the authorities were determined to clear the streets ahead of the  presidential inauguration on May 7.

At least 15 people are still being held in detention centres across Moscow awaiting trial, in many cases without charge.

Several more are under house arrest, including Left Front leader Sergei Udaltsov, who is accused of conspiring to organise mass riots.

Russians march in a protest rally in May 2012

Udaltsov is not allowed to use the telephone or internet and is barred from contact with all but his closest family and legal team.

He has tried and failed to secure permission to leave his house for a daily walk.

Their supporters claim they are political prisoners, and that authorities are reverting to Stalinist tools of repression, but President Putin has insisted recently that he sees no "elements of Stalinism" in modern Russia.

Amnesty International has expressed concerns about the weight of publicly-presented evidence against many of those detained, and says there are grounds to consider at least some of them "prisoners of conscience".

Human Rights Watch has accused President Putin of presiding over the harshest crackdown on civil society in Russia's post-soviet history since his return to the Kremlin last year.

President Putin has been accused of a harsh crackdown on civil society

They note the ongoing raids on non-governmental organisations (NGOs) across the country, the series of new laws being passed, and the intimidation, harassment and in a number of cases imprisonment of political activists.

Sky News spoke to the wife of one man who has been held without charge for the last eight months on suspicion of rioting during the May 6 protests.

Leonid Kovyazin was arrested in September, but because he has not yet been charged, he does not know the details of the case against him.

His wife insists they are not political activists and that Leonid was only at the Moscow demonstration as a journalist.

"It's clearly politically motivated," Evgeniya Tarasova said.

"What can I say about our country? People have always been put in jail for politics. Always have, always will.

"It's hard for me to evaluate this situation objectively, because I am inside this process."

The couple got married in prison in March in a short ceremony overseen by security guards.

She explained that by becoming his wife she gained the right to see him.

"The ceremony lasted about seven minutes, but they checked our documents for ages before that. That was the beginning of the wedding.

"When Lenya and I saw each other for the first time, the most important thing for me was that he was alive and well. This was a moment of absolute happiness for me. I think the same for him.

"I think he needs to know that there is someone by his side and I need to know that too. It doesn't matter if it's through the walls and distances, but what can you do. He needs to feel the support from the outside world.

"We here can never understand how he feels being locked up. Whatever we say, we can't understand how it feels, we are here - we walk and breathe freely."

He will be one of those in whose name the protesters gather tonight.  If their detention was intended to serve as a warning – to keep people off the streets – it could have just the opposite effect.

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Belgium: One Dies In 'Toxic Train' Crash Fire

One person has died and 17 others have been injured after a train carrying highly toxic chemicals derailed in Belgium, causing a major fire.

The blaze erupted and spread along a drainage ditch

The accident and blaze prompted authorities to evacuate nearly 300 people from their homes.

Jan Briers, governor of eastern Flanders, had earlier said there were two dead and 14 injured, but late Saturday authorities announced that 17 injured people have been hospitalised and officials were investigating the cause of one fatality.

Flammable liquid caught alight and explosions occurred

Some of the injured were people living well away from the scene of the accident. Interior Minister Joelle Milquet blamed toxic fumes from the highly flammable liquid chemicals.

The accident happened at around 2am local time, between the towns of Schellebelle and Wetteren, on the Belgian railway network.

Once daylight arrived the extent of damage could be seen

Six of the train's 13 cars derailed and two were thrown on to their side by the force of derailment. The blaze led to a series of explosions in the railway cars.

Fire then spread over hundreds of yards, prompting authorities to evacuate residents living more than 500 yards from the site of the accident.

The train crash, near Ghent, occurred near a set of track crossing points

But Ms Milquet said toxic fumes reached much further through the drainage system.

"There is a problem of poisoning linked to the smoke," she said.

"But there is also another reaction, since some of the chemical product went into the drains and caused a kind of chemical reaction with gases that are toxic and escaped into certain streets beyond the perimeter that had already been evacuated due to the fire."

Smoke and fumes were subdued by spraying water across the scene

Firefighters decided to let the cars burn out in a controlled manner as water could have released further toxic chemicals.

The causes of the accident remained unclear. The cars derailed as the train changed tracks and observers said it might have been travelling too fast.

The train came from the Netherlands and was bound for Ghent's seaport, Gent-Zeehaven.

Officials said the tracks would be shut for days

Train services were disrupted and problems were expected for several days, with buses laid on to transport passengers.

Two similar accidents involving trains carrying tanks of toxic products occurred in Belgium in May 2012.

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Heavy Explosions Shake Syrian Capital

Damascus has been hit by large explosions caused by an Israeli rocket attack, Syrian state television reports.

The rockets struck a military research centre in Jamraya on the outskirts of the capital in the early hours of this morning, state TV said.

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

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

More of the unverified footage uploaded by activists

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

The opponents of Bashar al Assad's regime say that fighters loyal to the President carried out two massacres last night and on Thursday in a Sunni Muslim area driving 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 attack overnight.

Half of them were children.

Activists said that the number of dead 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.

Protests in Banias at the beginning of the uprising in 2011

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

Other footage from activists showed entire families killed in their beds, a dead mother cradling her child in her arms, two toddlers lying next to them.

The videos have not been independently verified.

Syria's crisis, that 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 broken 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 stand on the sidelines, worried that the regime's fall would bring about a more Islamist rule.

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

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.

It added that security forces had been checking identity cards and sending people back to Banias so that things would appear normal.

The US today condemned the May 2 attack. State Department spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki said: "We strongly condemn atrocities against the civilian population and reinforce our solidarity with the Syrian people."

Her statement 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."

It came as Israeli officials confirmed the country's air force carried out a strike against Syria, saying it targeted a shipment of advanced missiles bound for the Lebanese militant group Hizbollah.

The violence in the coastal region shows the sectarian nature of the two-year conflict that has killed tens of thousands and sent more than a million Syrians as refugees to neighbouring countries.

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