Azaan Kaleem death: Mother cannot forgive killers for laughing at trial

The mother of a teenager who was stabbed to death said she cannot forgive his killers after they "laughed and joked" at their trial.

Azaan Kaleem, 18, was with his girlfriend in Luton in March when a group of strangers "piled out of a car" and stabbed him. He died in hospital.

Four men were convicted over his death on Thursday at the Old Bailey.

Roseann Taylor, who switched off her son's life support, said: "They had no remorse or regard for what they did."

Mr Kaleem, who was Ms Taylor's only child, was "viciously attacked" after a disagreement.

Two men aged 18 and 19, who cannot be named, and Harrison Searle, 18, of Derwent Road, Luton, were convicted of murder.

Reece Bliss-McGrath, 20, of Exton Avenue, Luton, was found guilty of manslaughter. All four will be sentenced next month.

Ms Taylor sat through their four-week trial, in which CCTV footage of the fatal attack was repeatedly played.

"What I saw was like a pack of animals - rounding up, seeking something, finding it and stalking it - and that's what they did to my son.

"I had to watch the CCTV of son being murdered and all the while I was keeping my composure, the defendants laughed and joked and had fun.

"Azaan was just a person to them, he was just a name."

She said she got a call about the attack in Hartsfield Road and had hoped her "accident-prone" son would be [sitting] on the kerb, moaning about his latest scrape.

Instead, he was prone on the pavement, surrounded by paramedics. He had been attacked at 17:20, in full daylight.

"I was blocked by a police officer," she said.

"That was soul-destroying - to know your child is lying on the floor and you know its serious and you can't get to them. "

Asked about her last memory of her son, she said: "Switching his machine off.

"It was horrific. To stand behind your child and stroke their hair, and kiss their forehead and wait while a policeman has to watch for his heart to stop beating.

"They [the killers] even stole that moment, because it wasn't private.

"I wanted Azaan's organs to be given away because he was a healthy 18-year-old, and I wanted to give the gift of life to someone else.

"But Azaan became evidence we weren't allowed to do that."

She added: "It's changed my life for ever. No-one will ever call me mum again.

"I will get there one day, I will forgive them, but not yet."

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Italy storms: Two families killed in Sicily house

Two families have been wiped out in Italy after a river burst its banks submerging their house in Sicily.

Nine people died in the incident in Casteldaccia - from children aged one, three and 15 to their grandparents. Only three people who were outside the house at the time survived.

Three other people died when their cars were swept away on the southern island.

Days of heavy rain and winds have killed at least 17 other people in Italy, mainly in the north and west.

Some of the worst damage was to roads around Belluno in the northern Veneto region, after days of storms had dislodged mud, rocks and water.

Deadly storms hit Italy, flooding Venice

Six regions remain under alert - from Veneto to Sicily and Sardinia in the south.

The tragedy in Casteldaccia occurred overnight on Saturday.

Twelve members of two families had gathered to spend the night when water from river Milicia swamped the house.

Three of those on the premises had lucky escapes. A father and daughter had gone out on an errand at the time. The third - another father of two - survived by climbing onto a tree.

In addition to the three children, the dead included the mother of two of them, her brother, sister and their parents - and the mother of one of the surviving fathers.

One of the neighbours described the scene minutes before the incident.

"I heard the dogs barking. It was around 22:30 (21:30 GMT). I told my husband to go out to see what was happening. He opened the door and water filled the house," said Maria Concetta Alfano.

Town mayor Giovanni Di Giacinto spoke of a "frightening tragedy" - given the Milicia was only a small river that had never had much water.

"It has never presented a threat to Casteldaccia, and it wasn't a very rainy day, anyway," he added.

Elsewhere in Sicily:

A man and a woman died when their hired car was swept away in Cammarata

A petrol station worker's body was found in his jeep in Vicari

And rescuers are looking for a doctor who was heading into Corleone hospital to start his shift. His car has been found abandoned in a part of the road hit by flooding and landslides.

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BA passengers in three-day Orlando to Gatwick journey 'hell'

British Airways passengers who endured a 77-hour "journey from hell" back to London from Florida, have said they were treated "inhumanely".

Passengers have complained of sleeping on airport floors and holidaymakers crying on the "chaotic" journey home.

BA flight 2036 was supposed to take off from Orlando at 19:25 ET (00:25 GMT) on Thursday and arrive at Gatwick eight hours later - but it arrived in the UK on Sunday after going through New York.

BA has apologised to passengers.

The airline said it "appreciated that this was an exhausting and frustrating experience" for the more than 200 passengers on board and said sorry for the "long delay".Passenger Sarah Wilson whose £11,000 "dream" family holiday to Disney World "turned into a nightmare" has accused BA of "failing their passengers when they needed help most".

"BA's customer service was disgusting, absolutely abhorrent," said the mother-of-four from Undy, Monmouthshire, whose flights to Florida alone cost more than £4,000.

"The passengers were treated inhumanely, all we wanted was some food and drink, somewhere to sleep and to be kept informed - and they failed on all counts no matter what they claim."

The flight was due to leave Orlando on Thursday evening but after passengers waited on the plane for four hours for a technical fault to be repaired they were forced to disembark and stay in a nearby hotel.

"Imagine 200 people turning up in the early hours to check in to a hotel," Ms Wilson said. "It was a chaos and there was not a BA representative in sight taking charge.

The 44-year-old said the coach back to Orlando Airport was delayed twice before eventually leaving at about 20:00 ET on Friday.After the flight left for Gatwick at 01:00 ET on Saturday, Ms Wilson said the flight was diverted to New York's JFK airport 40 minutes after take-off.

"The captain said over the tannoy, the original problem had come back," said Ms Wilson.

"They had to drop the landing gear, lose fuel to make the plane lighter and divert to New York - it was the roughest one-and-a-half hours on a flight I'd ever experienced, made worse as I suffer from travel sickness.

"Children were having panic attacks, the turbulence was awful and people were scared, tired and hungry.On arrival at JFK, first of all we had to wait until 06:00 ET for the BA staff to arrive and then told there was no food waiting and getting a hotel would be difficult because the New York Marathon was on and everywhere was fully booked.

"One mother asked where she could get formula for her seven-month-old baby and the reply was 'it would be difficult to find anywhere at this hour'. She was in tears.

"Children were sleeping on floors in JFK's Terminal 7 but my husband found a hotel in Queens for us to sleep for a few hours but we paid ourselves.

The passengers eventually left the US on Saturday evening and arrived back in London on Sunday morning.

"It was a horrendous experience but BA's handling is the issue" added Ms Wilson.

"Unfortunate things happen but it's how you deal with a crisis that's important and BA didn't have a contingency plan.

"Their communication with the passengers - most of whom were beside themselves by the end - was non-existent."So much so they put on food for us eventually in the BA business lounge at JFK on Saturday evening but didn't tell anyone. We only found out by luck but most of the passengers didn't know.

"I'm glad to be home but to top it all, my suitcase is still in JFK. I admit I've had a bit of cry. There were a lot tears from passengers.

"It was the journey from hell when it was supposed to be a holiday on a lifetime that we'd saved up for years to go on."

British Airways apologised and confirmed its "aircraft diverted to New York on Saturday morning as a precaution, following a minor technical issue".

"We sent a relief aircraft out to New York on Saturday morning to get customers back to London Gatwick as quickly as possible.

"Customers were rebooked where possible and while there were limited hotel rooms available, our teams on the ground cared for customers in our first class lounge providing bedding, food and drinks to ensure they were comfortable during their stay."

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Breeders' Cup: Man arrested for drunkenly riding horse

A man has been arrested for getting on a horse while drunk and nearly making it to the track at the Breeders' Cup meet in Kentucky, local media report.

Michael Wells-Rody, 24, sneaked into "a restricted area", grabbed a horse and was "in the track entrance" before being stopped, says a police report.

It added he was "under the influence of alcoholic beverages" and was "loud and disorderly" when asked to dismount.

The $6m Breeders' Cup Classic was won by Accelerate at Churchill Downs.

Enable, ridden by Frankie Dettori, won the Breeders' Cup Turf race to become the first horse to win both a Breeders' Cup fixture and the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.

The Breeders' Cup is one of the biggest meetings on the American racing calendar.

According to the report in the Kentucky Herald Leader, Wells-Rody has been charged with alcohol intoxication in a public place and disorderly conduct, and is scheduled to appear in court on Monday.

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New Caledonia: French Pacific territory rejects independence

Voters in the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia have rejected a bid for independence.

Final results showed that 56.4% chose to remain part of France while 43.6% voted to leave - a tighter result than some polls had predicted.

Turnout was about 81%. The vote was promised by a 1988 deal that put an end to a violent campaign for independence.

President Emmanuel Macron said it showed "confidence in the French republic".

"I have to tell you how proud I am that we have finally passed this historic step together," he added.

New Caledonia has large deposits of nickel, a vital component in manufacturing electronics, and is seen by France as a strategic political and economic asset in the region.

 where the process of decolonisation has not been completed.

About 175,000 people were eligible to vote in Sunday's referendum New Caledonia, east of Australia, where indigenous Kanaks make up 39.1% of the population.

French nationalism is strong among the territory's ethnic Europeans - constituting 27.1% of the population - and observers say even some Kanaks back staying part of France.

The remaining third of the population of New Caledonia's 268,000 inhabitants are also largely said to oppose independence.The remote islands receive about €1.3bn (£1.1bn; $1.5bn) from the French government every year.

During a visit to the capital, Nouméa, in May, Mr Macron said that France would be "less beautiful without New Caledonia".

France first claimed the islands in 1853 and once used them as a penal colony.

In the 1980s there were deadly clashes between French forces and Kanaks.

The climax of that conflict came when Kanak separatists killed four French gendarmes and took another 23 hostage in a cave. The subsequent French assault cost the lives of 19 Kanaks and two soldiers.In 1988 representatives from the both pro- and anti-independence camps agreed to end the violence and eventually hold a self-determination referendum.

A No vote may not spell the end of the independence drive. Two further referendums on independence can still be held before 2022.

A Yes vote would have made New Caledonia the first French territory to break away since Djibouti (1977) and Vanuatu (1980).

New Caledonia is represented in the French parliament by two deputies and two senators.

It has a congress which elects an executive with powers over some policy areas - notably policing, education and local laws.

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