Beauty Queen Refuses To Return Tiara After Row

A Burmese beauty queen is refusing to return her $100,000 (£60,398) tiara after pageant organisers accused her of lying about whether she had breast implants.

May Myat Noe, 18, reportedly disappeared with the crown after Miss Asia Pacific World organisers arranged to give her plastic surgery.

Pageant organisers say one of the goals of the event is to turn contest winners into actresses, pop stars, and world-class models by changing their looks.

The teenager denies she accepted an offer of a breast enlargement

And pageant director David Kim said Ms Noe was provided with a breast enhancement free of charge after winning the contest; a claim she denies.

"We thought she should be more beautiful, so we sent her to the hospital to operate on her breasts," Kim said.

"It's our responsibility. If she has no good nose, then maybe, if she likes, we can operate on her nose. If it's breasts, then breasts."

Mr Kim added the teenager was stripped of her title and "dethroned" because she was dishonest and unappreciative – and that she absconded with her bejewelled crown.

"She thinks as long as she keeps this crown she's the winner," Mr Kim said. "She's not."

Miss Noe has demanded an apology "to rectify the damage they have done to the integrity of my country".

"I will return the crown only when they apologise to Myanmar, for the dignity of our country," she said.

"I was put under duress to undergo head-to-toe cosmetic surgery which I refused...I didn't have breast implants, but I don't want to go into details, to preserve my dignity."

She said she flew back to Myanmar before realising organisers had decided to remove her title.

It was reported that Ms Noe's mother wanted to control her career

It has also been claimed there was disagreement over who was supposed to manage Ms Noe's career, with both her mother and event organisers wanting control.

Fifty years of self-imposed isolation kept Myanmar contestants off the international beauty contest stage until 2012.

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Ashya: CPS Drops Case Against Boy's Parents

The parents of Ashya King look set to be released from detention in Spain after UK prosecutors announced they were dropping the case against them.

Brett and Naghmeh King will face no further action after taking the five-year-old from Southampton General Hospital last Thursday, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.

But the couple, who are being held in Madrid, appear to be facing another night apart from their son, with the next hearing in their case not likely to be held until Wednesday.

Ashya, who has a brain tumour, is under police guard at the Materno-Infantil hospital in Malaga, about 330 miles south of the Spanish capital.

Ashya's parents arrive at court in Spain

The decision to seek the withdrawal of the European arrest warrant emerged during a hearing at the High Court in London today and came amid a growing clamour for the family to be reunited.

Lawyers representing the CPS and Portsmouth City Council told Mr Justice Baker of the plan at the start of a hearing in the Family Division.

In a statement the CPS said: "No further action will be taken against Mr and Mrs King and we are now in the process of communicating this decision to the Spanish Authorities so that they can be reunited with their son as soon as possible.

"Further details will be released later this afternoon."

Ashya's brother Naveed says the famly only want the best for him

The move was welcomed by Prime Minister David Cameron, who said: "I welcome the prosecution against Ashya King's parents being dropped. It's important this little boy gets treatment and the love of his family."

The arrest warrants were issued after Ashya's parents took him from Southampton General to have treatment in the Czech Republic.

Spain's state prosecutor is also planning to request that the Kings are released on bail, a court source told Reuters.

A court in Madrid has called them for a hearing on Wednesday morning to decide if they should be freed ahead of a decision on their extradition.

Ashya with his father Brett

The developments came as the head of the police force which applied for the arrest warrants, sparking the hunt for the parents, said the current situation was "not right".

Andy Marsh, chief constable of Hampshire Police, said: "Irrespective of what has happened it is our view that Ashya needs both medical treatment and for his parents to be at his side.

"Our intent was to secure his safety not to deny him family support at this particularly challenging time "

Earlier Mr Cameron and his deputy Nick Clegg joined mounting calls for Ashya to be reunited with his mother and father.

David Cameron: 'The family should be together'

In an interview with LBC, Mr Cameron said pictures of the boy reminded him of his own son Ivan, who died almost six years ago.

"Watching the pictures... brought back memories of my desperate ill young boy Ivan, and I remember him endlessly sitting on my lap and having to feed him through a tube and having to deal with all of the difficulties of having a desperately ill child," Mr Cameron said.

"But the government mustn't tell the police how to act or what to do, nor can we interfere in processes in other countries."

Mr Clegg, who described the situation as "heartbreaking", said: "I would like to see the family reunited and then hopefully people can calmly make a decision about what should happen next."

A petition calling for the Kings to be freed is delivered to Number Ten

A petition calling for the family to be reunited has also been handed in to Downing Street.

It has emerged that Ashya's parents are planning legal action against Southampton General Hospital over his treatment.

In a statement the hospital claimed it had discussed options for alternative proton beam therapy with the family at a facility in Prague.

"We were willing to support the family's transfer to Prague for proton beam radiotherapy, although we did not recommend it," a spokesperson for University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust said.

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Chinese War On Terror May Breed Extremists

By Mark Stone, Asia Correspondent in Xinjiang Province, China

Sky News has obtained rare access to China's Xinjiang Province to investigate reports Muslims are being targeted and oppressed by the government.

China's leaders say foreign Islamist extremists, perhaps with links to IS and al Qaeda, are infiltrating its population, responsible for growing unrest in the region.

Since December, a series of bloody bomb and knife attacks have killed more than a hundred people across China.

There are reports of authorities targeting and oppressing Muslims

Urumqi, a city on the old Silk Road with a population of three million, is the provincial capital and a place on edge right now.

Soldiers stand guard outside the city's great mosque. Armoured police vehicles are parked in the shadows.

Oil and gas rich, the far-western province of Xinjiang is home to the Uighur people, China's Muslim minority. The province was once almost all theirs.

These days, they share it with the Han Chinese, the country's dominant ethnic group; the people who would be globally recognisable as Chinese.

Xinjiang is home to the Uighur people, China's Muslim minority

In recent years, relations between the Uighurs and the Han have become increasingly difficult.

Ancient Uighur homes have been destroyed. Uighur culture has been diluted and their freedom to practise Islam has been restricted.

In May, two 4x4 vehicles drove up a busy market street in a Han Chinese district of Urumqi. It was early morning and Gongyuan Street was crowded with shoppers.

Explosives were thrown from the vehicles as they passed up the street. Forty-three died and more than 90 were injured.

Today, the same street is almost deserted. We meet Mr Sun, a retired Han Chinese teacher.

He saw it all happen and we ask him who did it. "Minorities," he says. He leans forward and whispers: "Muslims."

The Uighur heartland lies under 200 miles from Afghanistan and Pakistan

Our taxi driver, also Han Chinese, goes further. Echoing the government line, he says the attack was the work of religious fanatics infiltrating the south.

"From Kashgar," he says. "It's only those who are uncultured who cause problems.

"People who were not educated, who live in the south. They are brainwashed by terrorists."

The Chinese government says it is facing an unprecedented threat from Islamist extremism.

They say foreign extremists are infiltrating the Uighur population and radicalising them.

Ancient Uighur homes have been destroyed... ...and replaced by tower blocks

However, Uighurs in exile, human rights organisations and the US government doubt that Islamist extremism is to blame.

They believe the Communist Party is blaming external forces as a way of dealing with internal unrest.

The tactics used to counter the violence are exacerbating the problem, they say.

Kashgar is further west from Urumqi; closer to Baghdad than it is to Beijing.

It is the Uighur heartland and lies just under 200 miles from the Afghan and Pakistani borders.

10 million Uighurs live in China's far-western Xinjiang Province

At the city's centre, the Id Kah mosque is the country's largest. In July, the Imam was murdered here; stabbed and clubbed to death.

"He deserved to die," a Uighur shopkeeper tells me quietly. He does not want to be identified. All Uighurs fear government reprisals if caught talking to foreigners.

The shopkeeper tells me that the Imam was a stooge of the Chinese government and condoning a series of restrictions for Uighurs in the region.

The restrictions are spelt out on a sign in a neighbouring street. With pictures, it states that beards are banned for young men and veils are banned for women.

Other policies include preventing Muslims from fasting at Ramadan.

"You understand what this sign means?" a young Uighur man says. "There's no freedom for us here."

The message was the same from the other Uighurs we spoke to. If you pressure and restrict people, they will fight back.

There are signs all around that this Chinese "war on terror" is intensifying. As it does, the resentment will only increase.

If religious extremists are among the Uighur population, and we saw no evidence of it, their efforts to recruit and to rally will only be made easier.

For the Chinese government, Islamist extremism could become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

:: Click here to watch an extended version of Mark Stone's journey into Xinjiang

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First Photos From Jolie And Pitt Wedding

Angelina Jolie wore a dress decorated with her six children's artwork for her wedding to Brad Pitt, it has been revealed.

The pictures are a Hello! exclusive

The first photos from the Hollywood couple's wedding in France on August 23 have been published.

The Oscar-winning actress wore a custom-designed ivory gown and veil by Atelier Versace which was decorated with colourful images by their children Maddox, 13, Pax, 10, Zahara, nine, Shiloh, eight, and six-year-old twins Vivienne and Knox. 

A tweet from Donatella Versace said: "Congratulations Angelina Jolie! You look sensational in my creation for your special day! Lots of love, DV."

People magazine reported that Pitt wore a suit that he already owned for the ceremony at Chateau Miraval in the south of France.

The couple said Pax baked the wedding cake for their "fun and relaxed" day.

"It was important to us that the day was relaxed and full of laughter. It was such a special day to share with our children and a very happy time for our family," Pitt and Jolie told Hello! magazine, which covered the event with People.

Zahara and Vivienne were flower girls at the wedding while Maddox and Pax walked Jolie down the aisle.

All of the children are reported to have helped their parents write their vows.

The pair's wedding took the world by surprise when it was announced on August 28, five days after they secretly tied the knot.

Jolie and Pitt met on the set of Mr And Mrs Smith in 2005. They were engaged for more than two years with Pitt supporting his partner while she went through a preventative double mastectomy last year.

In June Jolie was awarded an honorary damehood by the Queen for her charity work.

The actress was previously married to actors Jonny Lee Miller and Billy Bob Thornton. Pitt was married to actress Jennifer Aniston until October 2005.

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Blackpool Pen Stabbing: Police Hunt Attacker

Police have released pictures of a 66-year-old woman who was stabbed in the arm with a ballpoint pen in the an attempt to track down her attacker.

Cynthia Bell was helping her husband's coach firm last month when the man boarded one of the buses in Seasiders Way in Blackpool and refused to leave.

After tampering with the controls near the driver's seat, he grabbed the pen and stabbed Ms Bell before running off.

Detective Superintendent Mark Dickinson, from Lancashire Police, said: "As you can see from Mrs Bell's photograph, significant force must have been used by the offender who stabbed her.

"She was lucky to have escaped without serious blood loss or any nerve damage. We are pursuing a number of lines of inquiry, including CCTV and forensic opportunities.

"I am particularly keen to identify and speak with two young women who were with the offender and I would ask them, or anyone who recognises them from their descriptions, to contact me as soon as possible."

Police described the suspect as a white male in his late teens or early 20s, 6ft and of stocky build, with short dark hair.

He was with two young women. The first is described as white, wearing a pink top with a floral pattern, with a pram or pushchair. She walked with a limp.

The second woman had blonde hair and was wearing a cream jumper. She had a tattoo on the right side of her lower stomach on display.

Anyone with information should contact Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111 or online.

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Scottish Referendum: No Vote's Lead Narrows

The No vote's lead ahead of the Scottish Referendum has narrowed to just six points, according to a new poll.

The YouGov poll suggests support for Scottish independence has risen eight points over the past month.

The six-point lead for the No camp is down from 14 points in mid-August, and 22 points from early last month, excluding undecided voters.

The poll found that 53% of those questioned planned to vote No, while 47% would back Yes.

Today is the final day Scots can register to vote in the referendum. 

How the gap between the campaign's has narrowed

Blair Jenkins, chief executive of Yes Scotland, said the poll showed the Yes campaign had gained momentum ahead of polling on September 18.

"This breakthrough poll shows that Yes has the big momentum - it's an all-time high for Yes support in a YouGov survey so far, and an eight-point swing from No to Yes in just three weeks.

"We only need another three-point swing to achieve a Yes for Scotland on September 18."

The latest poll for The Sun and The Times questioned 1,063 respondents between August 28 and September 1.

Better Together Campaign Director Blair McDougall said: "We need the silent majority who back a No vote to do their bit.

The poll found that 53% of those questioned planned to vote No

"Whether it's voting on the day, knocking on doors, making phone calls or speaking to friends and family, the silent majority should feel confident in speaking up.

"We will not be complacent for one second and will do everything we can to secure the brightest future for Scotland within the UK.

"The nationalists talk as if they are winning, but the truth is this is yet another poll showing the campaign for Scotland to stay in the UK in the lead.

"We speak for the majority of Scots, but this poll confirms that if people want Scotland to stay in the UK then they need to vote for it."

The poll came as the focus of the campaign turned towards job creation.

Alex Salmond during his visit to the brewery

Alex Salmond and the Yes campaign visited the Eden Mill distillery and brewery in Guardbridge, Fife and the Better Together campaign, represented by shadow Scottish secretary Margaret Curran and Labour MSP Iain Gray, headed to Glasgow's Tennent Caledonian Breweries.

Mr Salmond and the Scottish Government have been working to develop a £4.5m food and drink export plan.

But Ms Curran argued young people would benefit by the increased employment opportunities in a united Britain.

During the visit Mr Salmond hailed the results of the poll.

He said: "I have always thought we would win. The polls are obviously very encouraging. But I am much more encouraged by the reaction on the streets."

Downing Street said the only poll that matters is the vote itself and insisted there would not be a change in tactics.

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Ebola Patient Flees Clinic In Search For Food

Video has emerged of Liberian ebola clinic workers dressed in contamination suits chasing an escaped patient through the streets after he left a treatment centre to visit a market.

There were chaotic scenes as crowds followed infected man, who was wearing a wristband to show he had tested positive for the disease, and some stallholders argued with him as he approached.

The patient escaped from Monrovia's Elwa hospital, which last month was so crowded with cases of the deadly disease that it had to turn people away.

One woman at the scene said: "The patients are hungry, they are starving. No food, no water.

"The government needs to do more. Let Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf [the President of Liberia] do more."

Crowds followed the escaped ebola patient at a distance

Onlookers cheered as health workers arrived in their protective outfits and try to convince the patient to give himself up.

The man, who shows no outward signs of the diarrhoea and bleeding that the virus causes, refuses to return with the health workers and they eventually grab him and carry him away to a waiting ambulance.

At least 1,552 people have been killed by the current ebola outbreak, with 3,062 patients infected overall, according to the latest figures from the World Health Organization.

The UN agency has warned that more than 20,000 people could be infected with ebola before the outbreak comes to an end.

The patient was eventually confronted by health workers

There has been widespread panic buying, a shortage of staple foods and severe prices in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia since movement restrictions were imposed to stop the spread of the virus.

At one market stall in Liberia, a nation which has suffered 694 fatalities so far, the price of cassava skyrocketed by 150% in a matter of days.

And despite the UN's World Food Programme launching an emergency operation to get 65,000 tonnes of supplies sent to deprived areas, many patients in quarantined areas are starving.

The UN has launched an operation to feed people in deprived areas

To compound the problem, labour shortages are expected in all three West African countries, weeks before the main harvesting season for maize and rice begins.

The production of other crops such as rubber, palm oil and cocoa could also be seriously affected, sending thousands of vulnerable people further into poverty.

Vincent Martin of the FAO added: "Even prior to the ebola outbreak, households in some of the affected areas were spending up to 80% of their incomes on food.

"Now these latest price spikes are effectively putting food completely out of their reach."

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Wedding Brawl Ends With Groom Held By Police

A groom has spent his wedding night in police custody after allegedly harassing a waitress at the reception and then getting into a brawl.

According to a criminal complaint, Mark Williams, 35, touched the waitress several times during a wedding cruise in Pennsylvania.

He allegedly tried to pour alcohol down her throat - even as she told him she was pregnant.

The couple leaving a court the day after their wedding. Pic: KDKA

After the boat docked early on Monday, he allegedly scuffled with the waitress' boyfriend.

The police were called and Williams was led away by officers as his wife stood on the dock in her wedding dress.

He faces charges including riot, harassment and resisting arrest, news reports said.

The couple were seen leaving a municipal court on Monday, but did not speak to reporters.

Also facing charges is Williams' off-duty state trooper brother, David Williams, who allegedly assaulted two Pittsburgh police officers who were called to the scene.

A third man, a member of a local school board, also faces charges. CBS said he punched at a car window and screamed he was HIV positive as he was being taken away.

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Rotherham Abuse Scandal: Twelve New Victims

Twelve more victims have come forward with allegations of child sexual abuse in Rotherham, police have said.

South Yorkshire Chief Constable David Crompton said the dozen reported the claims since a damning report was published last week into a child sex exploitation scandal in the town.

The Jay Report criticised the failure of both Rotherham Council and South Yorkshire Police to respond to the abuse of 1,400 young people between 1997 and 2013.

The report detailed harrowing examples of girls from Rotherham - many of them in local authority care - who were raped, trafficked and threatened with extreme violence.

It found senior council officers, elected members and police officers were aware of the problem for years but failed to tackle it.

Mr Crompton told an MPs' committee he now has 62 officers dedicated to dealing with child sex abuse, compared to just three in 2010 and eight in 2012.

And he said 104 convictions had been secured since the start of 2013, while 40 more suspects were on bail.

His force conducting nine "multiple victim, multiple offender" investigations, including two in Rotherham, he said.

An independent inquiry by an external police force will look into the force's handling of sex abuse complaints.

Meanwhile, Home Secretary Theresa May has said Rotherham Council and South Yorkshire Police were guilty of a "complete dereliction of duty" over the scandal.

Addressing MPs in the House of Commons, she said the report made "shocking reading," adding there was no excuse for victims' appeals for help being ignored.

She said: "We must ensure these perpetrators are brought to justice. We will not delay in taking action now to protect children who are at risk of sexual exploitation.

"All local authorities working with other public bodies, like the police, health and children's services, have a responsibility to keep our children safe."

Ms May said she would be chairing meetings with other ministers to look at what happened in Rotherham and consider what can be done to prevent the situation happening again.

Her comments come as South Yorkshire's Police and Crime Commissioner is expected to face a grilling from MPs after his refusal to resign over the Rotherham abuse scandal.

Shaun Wright was responsible for children's services at the town council for five of the 16 years when children were reported to have been targeted by gangs of older men.

The Home Affairs Select Committee will ask Mr Wright to appear on September 10, along with Rotherham Council's chief executive Martin Kimber and director of children and young people's services Joyce Thacker.

Mr Wright has faced mounting pressure to step down following the Jay Report.

He quit the Labour Party last week after it threatened to suspend him over the scandal.

But he has so far refused to quit as police commissioner despite calls from a number of senior figures, including Prime Minister David Cameron.

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Sir Cliff Raid: Police And BBC Deny Wrongdoing

The director general of the BBC has told MPs the broadcaster would "never have run the story" over a planned search of Sir Cliff Richard's home if police had warned it would be "damaging" to the investigation.

Lord Tony Hall told the Home Affairs Select Committee: "If the chief constable came to a news editor, head of news gathering or myself and said to us, 'if you run this story you will hamper this investigation, it will be damaging to this investigation, we would never have run the story."

"Had at any point the police said this is damaging... we would have responded."

The chief constable of South Yorkshire Police earlier told the MPs the BBC put his force in "a very difficult position"

Sir Cliff's Berkshire home was searched by police on August 14

David Crompton told the committee the broadcaster "made it clear" it would run a story about the investigation without some kind of deal.

He said: "We were placed in a very difficult position because of the original leak and the BBC came to us knowing everything that we knew, as far as the investigation was concerned.

"My concern was that if we showed the BBC the door, the very clear impression which had been left with my staff in the media department was that they were likely to publish the story. That would have impeded our investigation.

"I'm confident that we made the right decision in difficult and unusual circumstances."

Committee chairman Keith Vaz put it to Mr Crompton the broadcaster had blackmailed him, to which the police chief replied: "Blackmail is a very strong word. The BBC made it clear to my staff that they were in a position to publish. It put us in a very difficult position."

Sir Cliff's Berkshire home in Sunningdale was searched by officers from South Yorkshire and Thames Valley Police on August 14 as part of an investigation into an alleged sexual assault on a young boy at a religious event in 1985.

Sir Cliff was in Portugal at the time of the raid

The broadcaster was informed of the raid the day before and told not to turn up at the scene before 9.30am, but a crew arrived hours before the search began.

The force has complained to the BBC - which has confirmed the leak about the probe did not come from South Yorkshire Police - about its coverage of the search, which Sir Cliff, who was in Portugal at the time, was not warned about in advance.

Asked if he regretted his force's actions of entering into a deal with the BBC, Mr Crompton replied: "The coverage was disproportionate and made our actions look heavy-handed and intrusive. I do regret that."

Agreeing to hand over text messages and emails, Mr Crompton admitted he did not seek to speak to the broadcaster's senior management about the story beacause "I did not really have that much faith that we could trust it wouldn't be published".

He also reiterated to the committee that the BBC journalist - Dan Johnson - made it clear "the original information leak had come from Operation Yewtree".

Scotland Yard's assistant commissioner Martin Hewitt has denied the leak came from the Metropolitan Police's investigation into historical sex crime, launched in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal.

The BBC's head of newsgathering Jonathan Munro told the committee: "Dan Johnson totally denies mentioning Yewtree by name or the Metropolitan Police force or indeed any other clue as to the identity of the source for the original story."

Mr Vaz put it to Mr Crompton: "You blame the Met. You blame the BBC. But as far as you are concerned your staff did everything right."

Mr Crompton conceded his force may have been "a little naive" about entering into a deal with the BBC and assume journalists would not arrive before the operation, to which Mr Vaz said it showed "a gross lack of competence".

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