Paula Deen: Arrest Over 'Extortion Plot'

A man has been arrested for allegedly trying to extort $250,000 (nearly £170,000) from celebrity chef Paula Deen.

Authorities say the suspect, Thomas George Paculis, had threatened to go to the news media with "true and damning statements" he said Deen had made.

The  62-year-old has been charged with extortion.

Deen has become engulfed in a racism row.

The controversy erupted last month when a deposition was made public in which she was asked if she had used the "N word", and responded, "Yes, of course".

The questioning was part of a civil lawsuit, brought by former employee Lisa Jackson, which accuses Deen of using the slur when planning her brother's 2007 wedding.

It is claimed she wanted black waiters in white coats, shorts and bow ties for a "Southern plantation-style wedding".

Deen has denied being a racist.

Paula Deen on the Today show (Pic: NBC)

During an appearance on the Today programme, a tearful Deen said: "The day I used that word, it was a world ago. It was 30 years ago."

Asked if she is a racist, she replied: "No, I am not."

Paculis was a resident in Savannah, in Deen's home state of Georgia.

A criminal complaint filed in federal court in Savannah says Paculis was threatening to go to the media with statements made by Deen unless the star gave him a quarter of a million dollars.

According to the AP news agency, the complaint cites the text of an email Paculis wrote to Deen's lawyer, Greg Hodges, on June 24, days after Deen's controversy broke out. 

The text does not specify what the "damning" statements would be, but Paculis reportedly wrote that "there is a price for such information".

Mr Hodges then reported the case to the FBI.

Paculis has been ordered to appear in federal court in Savannah on July 16.

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Newlywed Brit Killed In Cancun Hit-And-Run

A newlywed has died in a suspected hit-and-run crash while he was on his honeymoon in Mexico.

Ray Cottam, 55, died in Cancun, the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) said.

Mr Cottam, of Middlestown, near Wakefield, West Yorkshire, was on holiday with his new wife Karen after their marriage at a hotel near Pontefract last Saturday, according to reports.

He reportedly worked for Fox's Biscuits in Batley, but had previously run a fish and chip shop in nearby Ossett.

Janet Barnes, 56, of Ossett, who worked with him at the chip shop and attended his wedding reception, said she was struggling to come to terms with what had happened.

She told the Yorkshire Evening Post: "He was a diamond - a one in a million. He would do anything for anyone.

"Him and Karen were made for each other. It is a total shock and we still can't believe it."

An FCO spokesman said: "We were made aware of the death of a British national in Cancun, Mexico, on June 30.

"We are providing consular assistance to the family at this difficult time."

Mrs Cottam is now back home in Middlestown being comforted by family.

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Levi Heir 'Tricked Girlfriend Into Abortion'

The former girlfriend of a Levi Strauss heir is suing him - alleging that he promised her $300,000 (£201,332) to abort their child but did not pay her when she terminated the pregnancy.

Christina Helm, 45, has filed a complaint against Daniel Haas in the Los Angeles Superior Court claiming his family pressured him to "fix" the problem of her pregnancy.

Miss Helm argues that Mr Haas was only worried about his public image and the media firestorm that could follow after it was revealed that he had fathered a child out of wedlock.

According to the lawsuit, Mr Haas had agreed to pay Miss Helm the money within 24 hours of proving she had terminated her pregnancy between September 7 and September 14 last year.

The complaint states that the family held an unnatural amount of influence over Mr Haas.

"Haas' personal predicament pushed him to the point where he would do and say anything to end his relationship with plaintiff, cause plaintiff's pregnancy to be terminated, and silence the whole affair from the public," the complaint reads.

Miss Helm says in the complaint that she never would have had the abortion had she known Mr Haas would not keep his end of the bargain.

She is seeking $307,500 in damages, in addition to punitive damages for breach of contract and emotional distress.

An offer of $300,000 was only made by Mr Haas a day after she served him with a paternity action, according to the lawsuit.

Miss Helm says she had been seeing Mr Haas for about 13 months when she became pregnant on June 8 last year.

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Whale Knocks Surfer Unconscious In Australia

By Jonathan Samuels, Australia Correspondent

A man surfing just off Sydney's Bondi beach has been knocked unconscious after an encounter with a huge whale.

Bishan Rajapakse was surfing with a friend 30 metres off the famous beach when the mammal, thought to be a southern right whale, appeared.

The 38-year-old man told reporters in Australia he saw the whale approach and the next thing he knew he was waking up on the sand.

He said: "I just remember this magnificent whale slowly coming to the right of me and coming for another look.

"I just kind of felt like talking to it like a dog or an animal, and say 'hey', that was it. Maybe it was giving me 'high five', I don't know."

Bishan Rajapakse pictured recovering in hospital

Mr Rajapakse was dragged to safety by fellow surfers and lifeguards and was then taken to a local hospital where he was treated for head and shoulder injuries.

Fellow surfer Richard Freeman, who was in the sea at the time, said: "That tail, the power in it. Oh my God.

"It was... I'm just glad he's all right, because it could have been such a different ending."

Whales are a common sight off Sydney's coast at this time of year as they migrate north, but it is very rare for them to swim so close to beaches.

Mr Rajapakse said it was the biggest whale he had ever seen.

The surfer was placed in an ambulance after the knock

He told reporters: "I certainly thought it was like a little minibus size. I've seen a few whales in Bondi before, you know, just walking, but this was the biggest I've seen.

"And we were so close to it. So it looked massive. It looked like an alien to us, you know, like one of those alien spacecraft or something. It was amazing."

Several people witnessed the incident from the beach.

Businessman Lachlan Harris said: "You just saw basically surfers, surfboards, swimmers thrown into the air like skittles, I've never seen anything like it.

"It was like they were soft toys getting thrown around the cot by a whale, and, you know, the whole beach sort of gasped basically," he said.

The whale swimming off Bondi Beach

Lifeguard Anthony Harries warned beachgoers to take care.

He said: "It is a good message not to go close to these mammals. They're extremely powerful and they can get up to 80 tonnes (78.74 tons)."

Mr Rajapakse has now been released from hospital. 

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India: Bomb Blasts At Buddhist Temple Site

There have been a series of blasts at three Buddhist sites in eastern India, injuring at least two people and drawing condemnation from the country's prime minister.

Multiple small bomb blasts hit one of Buddhism's holiest sites - the Bodh Gaya temple complex in eastern India - wounding two monks but the historic temple itself was not damaged.

Four blasts took place on the grounds of the Mahabodhi temple, or the Great Awakening temple, while another four explosions were reported at the nearby Karma temple and at a site with a 55-metre-tall (180-foot-tall) Buddhist tower.

Junior Home Minister R P N Singh said that no one claimed responsibility for the explosions and that an investigation would be carried out to find out who was involved.

But state police said they earlier warned officials that Islamic militants could target the site as revenge for Buddhist violence against Muslims in neighbouring Burma.

Officers said the blasts ranged from low to high intensity. He also said police recovered two unexploded bombs, which were defused in the area.

A Tibetan and a pilgrim from Burma suffered minor injuries in the blast at the Mahabodhi Temple and were taken to a hospital, senior police officer S K Bhardwaj said, adding that a temple gate was badly damaged.

Another explosion damaged an empty tourist bus parked near the Mahabodhi Temple, he said. The temple is a UNESCO world heritage site where Buddha is said to have attained enlightenment.

There were few people at the popular pilgrimage centres, which were targeted for the first time, according to Mr Bhardwaj.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh strongly condemned the blasts, saying "such attacks on religious places will never be tolerated".

The Buddhist sites attract a large number of pilgrims, especially from Japan, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Burma, but the main pilgrimage starts in September.

Mr Bhardwaj said there have been intelligence reports about the possibility of attacks on the sites, but he did not give any details.

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Solar Plane Completes US Cross-Country Feat

The first-ever manned planed that can fly by day or night on solar power has finished the final leg of a historic US cross-country journey.

Solar Impulse touched down at New York's John F Kennedy International Airport at 11.09pm on Saturday after leaving California in early May.

The plane has previously flown from Europe to Africa, but its creators said this was the first successful cross-continent flight.

The flight plan for the revolutionary plane, powered by some 11,000 solar cells, had called for it to pass the Statue of Liberty before landing early Sunday at New York.

But an unexpected eight-foot tear discovered on the left wing of the aircraft on Saturday afternoon forced officials to scuttle the fly-by and proceed directly to JFK for a landing three hours earlier than scheduled.

Pilot Andre Borschberg said: "It was a huge success for renewable energy. The only thing that failed was a piece of fabric."

Pilots Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg

"It was supposed to be the shortest and easiest leg. It was the most difficult one," said Bertrand Piccard, one of the two pilots.

The aircraft soars to 30,000 feet and can reach a top speed of 45mph.

Most of the 11,000 solar cells are on the super-long wings that seem to stretch as far as a jumbo jet's.

It weighs about the size of a small car and soars with what is essentially the power of a small motorised scooter.

The Solar Impulse has made stopovers in Phoenix, Dallas-Fort Worth, St Louis, Cincinnati and Dulles during its two-month journey.

The cross-country flight is a rehearsal for a planned 2015 flight around the globe with an upgraded version of the plane.

Solar Impulse's creators view themselves as green pioneers, promoting lighter materials, solar-powered batteries, and conservation as adventurous.

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Asiana Plane Crash Lands: 'No Engine Problems'

A passenger plane which crash landed at San Francisco International Airport, killing at least two people, had no engine or mechanical problems, according to the airline's boss.

Around 180 people were injured after the South Korean Asiana Airlines jet slammed into the runway, broke off its tail and then the aircraft caught fire. 

The Boeing 777, which flew from Seoul to the US west coast city, was carrying 291 passengers and 16 crew members.

Some 181 people were taken to nine hospitals - 49 of whom are in a serious condition.

The debris of the aircraft's tail is seen on the runway after the crash

The dead were female Chinese teenagers, aged 16, from the same school who were seated at the back of the plane. They were found outside the aircraft.

The victims from Jiangshan city, in Zhejiang Province, south of Shanghai, were on a school trip.

Asiana Airlines chief executive Yoon Young-Doo said: "We purchased this airplane in March 2006... currently we understand that there are no engine or mechanical problems."

Mr Yoon said the crew had made an in-flight broadcast as usual, "asking passengers to buckle up for landing. There was no emergency alarm".

He declined to comment directly on whether the crash on Flight 214 was due to pilot error.

A plume of smoke rose from the plane after the crash landing

But he said the two pilots had been fully trained in compliance with Korean regulations and had more than 10,000 flying hours of experience between them.

Mr Yoon also declined to say whether he believed the crash could have been caused by an error by air traffic controllers at San Francisco.

Terrorism had been ruled out as a cause of the accident, the FBI confirmed.

Eyewitnesses reported seeing the plane's tail section break off during the crash. South Korea's transportation ministry said the tail hit the runway before it crashed.

A fire started when the plane landed and passengers were forced to use emergency inflatable slides to escape the aircraft, witnesses added.

Parts of the tail and the landing gear were strewn across the runway. TV footage showed the top of the fuselage had been burned away and one engine appeared to have broken off.

The wreckage is visible next to one of the runways at the airport

David Eun, believed to be a passenger on the aircraft, posted on Twitter: "I just crash landed at SFO. Tail ripped off. Most everyone seems fine. I'm ok. Surreal."

He added: "Fire and rescue people all over the place. They're evacuating the injured."

Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Laura Brown said the Boeing 777 was supposed to land on runway 28 left at San Francisco International Airport.

She said the sequence of events was still unclear, but it appeared the plane landed and then crashed.

Debbie Hersman, chairman of the Transport Safety Board, said: "Teams are going to be focused on operations, human performance, survival factors, the airport, airport operations and they are going to be focussing on the aircraft - the systems, the structures and the power plants.

"It's still too early for us to tell (what happened).

A statement from San Francisco General Hospital said 10 patients from the crash - eight adults and two children - were in a critical condition.

Asiana is second in size to the South Korean national carrier Korean Air. 

It has recently tried to expand its presence in the United States, and joined the Star Alliance, which is anchored in America by United Airlines.

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Egypt: Muslim Brotherhood Stands Behind Morsi

The Muslim Brotherhood's official spokesman has told Sky News the organisation will continue to campaign against Egypt's military coup and for the re-instatement of Mohamed Morsi as president.

Gehad El-Haddad has insisted his organisation supports only non-violent protest, and criticised the international community for its response to the coup.

"There's a hypocritical nature of international community that they need to get rid of in the 21st century. This is not the world 100 years ago or 50 years ago," he said.

"Unless the leaders man up to their promises ... and the democracy that their people stand for, then they're not going to have the clout in the next election and they're probably going to fall afterwards.

"When we went out of Egypt after the January 25th revolution to visit world leaders and diplomats ... they said: 'We are very sorry. We got it wrong for 30 years. We supported the dictatorship, the Mubarak regime in Egypt. We will make it up to you and we won't do it again'.

"They broke both promises. In one year only they managed to overturn it and are refusing to recognise it as a military coup."

Gehad El-Haddad says the Muslim Brotherhood will continue its campaign

Opponents of Mr Morsi have again flocked to Tahrir Square as the ousted Egyptian president's supporters massed for rival demonstrations to keep up the pressure on the army for toppling him.

The rallies come as the coalition that backed Mr Morsi's ouster wavered over the choice of Nobel Prize laureate Mohamed ElBaradei as interim prime minister to lead the country out of crisis.

Demonstrations by tens of thousands of members of Mr Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood have degenerated into violence in recent days, killing at least 36 people and injured 1,400 across the country.

The Tamarod movement, which engineered mass protests that culminated in the military's overthrow of Mr Morsi on Wednesday, led calls for people to gather at Tahrir and Ittihadiya presidential palace to "complete the revolution".

The opposition has wavered over appointing Mohamed ElBaradei as interim PM

The Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) called on Mr Morsi supporters to converge on Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque, Cairo University and the Republican Guard headquarters.

The demonstrations, the FJP said, were to support the "legitimacy" of Mr Morsi's election in June last year and to "reject the military coup" that ousted him.

Morsi's single year of turbulent rule was marked by accusations he failed the 2011 revolution that ousted autocratic president Hosni Mubarak by concentrating power in Islamist hands and letting the economy collapse.

In an interview published on Sunday, Mr ElBaradei called for "inclusion of the Brotherhood in the democratisation process".

"No one should be taken to court without a convincing reason. Former president Morsi must be treated with dignity," the winner of the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize told German news weekly Der Spiegel.

The official MENA news agency said on Saturday that caretaker president Adly Mansour had appointed Mr ElBaradei, only for his office to later deny any final decision had been taken.

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Abu Qatada Denies Terrorism Charges In Jordan

Radical preacher Abu Qatada has pleaded not guilty to terror charges - just hours after his deportation from the UK to Jordan.

After landing at an isolated airstrip near the Jordanian capital Amman, Qatada was driven by police escort to the heavily guarded State Security Court.

There he was charged by military prosecutors with conspiracy to carry out terrorist acts.

The 53-year-old denies involvement in a plot to attack American and Israeli tourists and faces a retrial.

Qatada leaves Amman's State Security Court in a police vehicle

No reporters were allowed into the hearing, but a court official said Qatada was remanded in custody for 15 days at the maximum security Muwaqqar prison, which houses dozens of convicted terrorists.

His lawyer, Taysir Diab, said he would be lodging an appeal on Monday for Qatada to be released on bail.

It is understood Jordanian authorities allowed Qatada's family to greet him on his arrival in Amman.

Home Secretary Theresa May told Sky News that she was "very pleased" to have finally succeeded in deporting the cleric.

The military plane carrying Qatada arrives at Amman Airport in Jordan

"He is now where people wanted him to be - which is not in the UK, but back in Jordan," she said.

Accompanied by four police officers, Qatada left for Jordan in the early hours on a military plane from RAF Northolt in west London.

It marks the end of an eight-year legal battle to remove Qatada, described by the Government as a "truly dangerous individual" and a "key player" in al Qaeda-related terrorism.

Sky News correspondent Mark White said: "He has been a thorn in the side of five home secretaries who have tried to get rid of him. As far as the British Government and senior politicians are concerned, there will be quiet celebration that he has finally left the country."

Qatada glances out of the military plane flying him to Jordan

Qatada used his human rights to make a series of costly challenges to moves to deport him to his native country.

The case became a national embarrassment, with critics of European human rights legislation claiming it rendered UK politicians powerless to remove someone who they believed to be a clear threat to national security.

Prime Minister David Cameron said: "I am absolutely delighted. This is something this Government said it would get done and we have got it done.

"It is an issue, like for the rest of the country, has made my blood boil. That this man, who has no right to be in our country, who is a threat to our country, and that it took so long and was so difficult to deport him.

"But we've done it, he's back in Jordan, that's excellent news."

The Home Office spent a total of £1.7m on legal fees from the many court proceedings.

Qatada was taken from Belmarsh to RAF Northolt under police escort

Mrs May said the Jordanian national's departure marked "the conclusion of efforts to remove him since 2001 and I believe this will be welcomed by the British public".

She added: "I am glad that this government's determination to see him on a plane has been vindicated and that we have at last achieved what previous governments, Parliament and the British public have long called for.

"This dangerous man has now been removed from our shores to face the courts in his own country.

"I am also clear that we need to make sense of our human rights laws and remove the many layers of appeals available to foreign nationals we want to deport. We are taking steps - including through the new Immigration Bill - to put this right."

Qatada had became an object of hate to many

It was a treaty signed between the UK and Jordan that finally secured Qatada's departure, giving him the assurances he needed to leave his taxpayer-funded home behind.

The agreement, announced by Mrs May earlier this year, aimed to allay fears that evidence extracted through torture will be used against the father-of-five at a retrial.

In a shock move, Qatada pledged in May to leave Britain with his family if and when the treaty was fully ratified, a process that to the relief of many concluded earlier this week.

It is understood he will be held in solitary confinement in prison, until the Jordanian authorities can put him on trial.

Jordanian information minister Mohammed Momani said the country "is keen on credibility and transparency" in handling Qatada.

Theresa May believes Qatada's departure will be widely welcomed

He added the deportation of the Palestinian-born cleric "sends a message to all fugitives that they will face justice in Jordan".

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said: "Abu Qatada should have made this decision to face justice in Jordan before, as this has dragged on far too long, but it is extremely welcome news that this saga is now at an end."

Qatada originally fled the Middle East and arrived in the UK in 1993. He was granted asylum the following year.

His increasingly radical sermons caught the attention of the security services in Britain and in numerous other countries.

A Spanish judge described him as the "spiritual head of the mujaheddin in Britain".

A number of people arrested on terrorism offences, including British born "shoe-bomber" Richard Reid, admitted seeking religious advice from him.

His sermons were found in the Hamburg flat used by a number of the 9/11 hijackers.

In 2001, on the eve of tough new British anti-terror laws allowing for the detention without trial of foreign terror suspects, Qatada went on the run, before later being arrested and held in Belmarsh prison.

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Canada Train Explosions: Five People Killed

By Tom Parmenter, Sky News Correspondent

Five people have died and at least 40 are missing after a train carrying crude oil came off the rails in Canada, sparking a number of explosions.

The crash happened as the unmanned 73-car freight train travelled through Lac-Megantic in Quebec on Saturday morning.

Fires continued burning nearly 24 hours after the accident and up to 2,000 people were forced to leave their homes.

The train's operator confirmed it had been parked out of town, but they are unsure how it "got released".

Massive flames and thick smoke could be seen. The derailment caused several tanker rail cars to explode in the downtown area.

More than 1,000 residents were told to leave the area (Pic: Quebec police)

Lieutenant Guy Lapointe, a spokesman with Quebec provincial police, said: "I don't want to get into numbers, what I will say is we do expect we'll have other people who will be found deceased unfortunately.

"We also expect that down the line the number of people who are reported missing with regards to people who have actually lost their lives will be much higher."

No one was on board the train when it rolled into the town, according to the operator the Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway (MMAR) company.

Edward Burkhardt, president and CEO of Rail World Inc, the parent company of MMAR, said: "If brakes aren't properly applied on a train, it's going to run away.

"But we think the brakes were properly applied on this train.

"We've had a very good safety record for these 10 years. Well, I think we've blown it here."

A train wagon burning after the explosion

Mayor Colette Roy-LaRoche was nearly in tears as she addressed the media, according to the Montreal Gazette.

"When you see the downtown of your city almost destroyed you think, how are we going to get through this? But I can assure everyone here that all the authorities and ministries have been very supportive," she said.

"We've deployed all the resources possible."

Four tanker cars blew up after the train, which had 73 cars in all, came off the rails shortly after 1am local time.

Environmental experts have also arrived in the town to assess how much oil may have spilled into the Chaudiere River.

Environment Quebec spokesman Christian Blanchette said: "Right now, there is big smoke in the air, so we have a mobile laboratory here to monitor the quality of the air.

"We also have a spill on the lake and the river that is concerning us.

"We have advised the local municipalities downstream to be careful if they take their water from the Chaudiere River."

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