Gibraltar Row: Cameron Calls On EU To Step In

David Cameron has raised concerns over the situation at the Spain-Gibraltar border with the EU – as he considers taking legal action over the stalemate.

In a phonecall to EU Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso, the Prime Minister urged him to send monitors to review the lengthy border control delays - which have been instigated by the Spanish government.

Mr Cameron told Mr Barroso that despite calls to his Spanish counterpart proposing talks to find a solution, no way forward has been proposed.

A Downing Street spokesman said: "The PM explained that despite these efforts, the additional border measures continue and therefore we are now actively considering legal action and collating evidence on the sporadic nature of these measures which would prove that they are illegitimate."

EU Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso

Mr Cameron added that the border checks were politically motivated and disproportionate, and against the EU's right of free movement.

He told Mr Barroso that as guardian of the treaties, he should investigate the issue by sending EU monitoring teams to the border to gather evidence.

"The PM emphasised that the commission has a responsibility to do this as part of its role overseeing the application of Union law," the spokesman added.

Mr Barroso said the commission would not hesitate to take any measures necessary to uphold EU law.

The Spanish action followed the construction by the Gibraltar authorities of an artificial reef which Madrid claims ruins fishing in the area.

The centre-right Popular Party government of Mariano Rajoy, which is embroiled in a corruption row, responded by beefing up border controls and suggesting that a fee could be imposed on every vehicle entering or leaving the outpost through its fenced border with Spain.

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Egypt: Soldiers Enter Protesters' Mosque Refuge

Key Events In Egypt Since 2011

Updated: 12:32pm UK, Thursday 15 August 2013

January 25 - February 11, 2011 - Egyptians stage nationwide demonstrations against nearly 30 years of President Hosni Mubarak's rule. Hundreds of protesters are killed as Mubarak and his allies try to crush the uprising.

February 11 - Mubarak steps down and the military takes over. The military dissolves parliament and suspends the constitution, meeting two key demands of protesters.

November 28, 2011 - February 15, 2012 - Egypt holds multistage, weeks-long parliamentary elections.

In the lawmaking lower house, the Muslim Brotherhood wins nearly half the seats, and ultraconservative Salafis take another quarter.

The remainder goes to liberal, independent and secular politicians. In the largely powerless upper house, Islamists take nearly 90% of the seats.

May 23 - 24, 2012 - The first round of voting in presidential elections has a field of 13 candidates.

The Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi and Ahmed Shafiq, the last prime minister under Mubarak, emerge as the top two finishers, to face each other in a run-off.

June 14 - The Supreme Constitutional Court orders the dissolving of the lower house of parliament.

June 16 - 17 - Egyptians vote in the presidential run-off between Morsi and Shafiq. Morsi wins with 51.7% of the vote.

June 30 - Morsi takes his oath of office.

November 19 - Members of liberal parties and representatives of Egypt's churches withdraw from the 100-member assembly writing the constitution, protesting attempts by Islamists to impose their will.

November 22 - Morsi unilaterally decrees greater powers for himself, giving his decisions immunity from judicial review and barring the courts from dissolving the constituent assembly and the upper house of parliament. The move sparks days of protests.

November 30  - Islamists in the constituent assembly rush to complete the draft of the constitution. Morsi sets a December 15 date for a referendum.

December 4 - More than 100,000 protesters march on the presidential palace, demanding the cancellation of the referendum and the writing of a new constitution. The next day, Islamists attack an anti-Morsi sit-in, sparking street battles that leave at least 10 dead.

December 15, December 22 - In the two-round referendum, Egyptians approve the constitution, with 63.8% voting in favour. Turnout is low.

January 25, 2013 - Hundreds of thousands hold protests against Morsi on the two-year anniversary of the start of the revolt against Mubarak, and clashes erupt in many places.

February - March 2013 - Protests rage in Port Said and other cities for weeks, with dozens more dying in clashes.

April 7 - A Muslim mob attacks the main cathedral of the Coptic Orthodox Church as Christians hold a funeral and protest there over four Christians killed in sectarian violence the day before. Pope Tawadros II publicly blames Morsi for failing to protect the building.

June 23 - A mob beats to death four Egyptian Shi'ites in a village on the outskirts of Cairo.

June 30 - Millions of Egyptians demonstrate on Morsi's first anniversary in office, calling on him to step down. Eight people are killed in clashes outside the Muslim Brotherhood's Cairo headquarters.

July 1 - Huge demonstrations continue, and Egypt's powerful military gives the president and the opposition 48 hours to resolve their disputes, or it will impose its own solution.

July 2 - Military officials disclose main details of the army's plan if no agreement is reached: replacing Morsi with an interim administration, cancelling the Islamist-based constitution and calling elections in a year. Morsi delivers a late-night speech in which he pledges to defend his legitimacy and vows not to step down.

July 3 - Egypt's military chief announces that Morsi has been deposed, to be replaced by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Constitutional Court until new presidential elections. No time frame is given.

Muslim Brotherhood leaders are arrested. Tens of thousands of Morsi supporters remain camped out in two mass sit-ins in Cairo's streets.

July 4 - Supreme Constitutional Court Chief Justice Adly Mansour is sworn in as Egypt's interim president.

July 5 - Mansour dissolves the Islamist-dominated upper house of parliament as Morsi's supporters stage mass protests demanding his return. Clashes between pro and anti-Morsi groups in Cairo and Alexandria, and violence elsewhere leave at least 36 dead. A Brotherhood strongman, deputy head Khairat el-Shater, is arrested.

July 8 - Egyptian soldiers open fire on pro-Morsi demonstrators in front of a military base in Cairo, killing more than 50. Each side blames the other for starting the clash near the larger of the two sit-ins, near east Cairo's Rabaah al-Adawiya mosque.

Mansour puts forward a time line for amending the constitution and electing a new president and parliament by mid-February. The Brotherhood refuses to participate in the process.

July 9 - Mansour appoints economist Hazem el-Beblawi as prime minister and opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei as vice president. A military announcement backs up the appointments.

July 26 - Millions pour onto the streets of Egypt after a call by the country's military chief for protesters to give him a mandate to stop "potential terrorism" by supporters of Morsi. Five people are killed in clashes.

Prosecutors announce Morsi is under investigation for a host of allegations including murder and conspiracy with the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

July 27  - Security forces and armed men in civilian clothes clash with Morsi supporters outside the larger of the two major sit-ins in Cairo, killing at least 80 people.

July 30 - The EU's top diplomat Catherine Ashton holds a two-hour meeting with detained Morsi at an undisclosed location. She is one of a number of international envoys, including US Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham, to visit Egypt to attempt to resolve the crisis.

August 7  - Egypt's presidency says that diplomatic efforts to peacefully resolve the standoff between the country's military-backed interim leadership and the Muslim Brotherhood have failed.

August 11 - Egyptian security forces announce that they will besiege the two sit-ins within 24 hours to bar people from entering.

August 12 - Authorities postpone plans to take action against the camps, saying they want to avoid bloodshed after Morsi supporters reinforce the sit-ins with thousands more protesters.

August 14 - Riot police clear two sprawling encampments of supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi, sparking running street battles that kill hundreds of people.

The presidency declares a month-long state of emergency across the nation as Vice President Mohamed ElBaradei resigns in protest over the assaults.

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Philippines: 300 Feared Dead After Ferry Crash

A ferry with over 800 passengers and crew on board has sunk after colliding with a cargo ship near the Philippine city of Cebu.

The coastguard said the MV Thomas Aquinas listed after hitting the Sulpicio Express Seven Cargo vessel and the captain gave the order to abandon ship.

A Navy boat guards the cargo ship that collided with the ferry

Officer Joy Villegas said the collision occurred on Friday evening close to the shore. The ferry was travelling from Cebu to Manila.

At least 24 people, including some children, were confirmed dead, 572 were rescued and 274 were still unaccounted for, the coastguard said.

Two rescue vessels were dispatched and other boats helped to get passengers out of the water.

A man is pulled to safety by Navy rescuerers

Danny Palmero, a former fisherman, said he was with friends who responded to the ferry's distress call and rescued seven people on their motorized outrigger canoe.

"I saw many flares being shot," he said. "As a former nautical student, I knew it was a distress signal."

Life rafts deployed by the ferry after the collision

Rachel Capuno, a security officer for the ferry's owners 2Go, told Cebu radio station DYSS that the vessel was sailing into port when it collided head-on with the cargo ship.

"The impact was very strong," she said, adding the ferry sank within 30 minutes of the collision.

Hundreds of passengers jumped into the ocean as the ship began sinking, said survivors. Many were asleep at the time of the collision.

An injured survivor is taken to hospital

Jerwin Agudong said he and other passengers leapt overboard after the ferry began taking on water and the crew distributed life jackets.

He told radio station DZBB that some people were trapped and he saw bodies in the water.

"It seems some were not able to get out. I pity the children. We saw dead bodies on the side, and some being rescued," he said.

Some of the rescued passengers

"One of the persons who jumped with us hit his head on metal. He is shaking and he is bloodied."

According to news reports, an 11-month-old baby was among those saved.

Accidents at sea are common in the Philippine archipelago because of frequent storms, badly maintained boats and weak enforcement of safety regulations.

The ferry sank after hitting the cargo ship near Cebu

In 1987, the ferry Dona Paz sank after colliding with a fuel tanker in the Philippines, killing 4,341 people in the world's worst peacetime maritime disaster.

In 2008, the ferry MV Princess of the Stars capsized during a typhoon, killing nearly 800 people.

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Peru Drugs: Melissa Reid Reunited With Father

The father of a British woman being held on suspicion of drug-smuggling in Peru has had an emotional reunion with his daughter.

William Reid told Melissa Reid, who turns 20 today, to "be strong" and vowed to bring her home after flying to the capital Lima.

Ms Reid, from Kirkintilloch in East Dunbartonshire, and Michaella McCollum Connolly, 20, from Dungannon, Co Tyrone, are suspected of trying to leave the country with £1.5m worth of cocaine in their luggage.

They were detained while trying to board a flight from the Peruvian capital to Spain last week.

The pair both deny the accusations, and say they are victims of a violent gang who coerced them into carrying the drugs.

Lawyer Peter Madden, who is representing Ms McCollum Connolly, is expected to arrive in Peru later on Friday.

As he left Belfast for Lima he said she would deny any allegations if charged, but warned that legal proceedings could be lengthy.

He said: "She is saying she has done nothing wrong, that she is innocent and that as far as any offences are concerned, if she is charged she will be denying it."

According to the Daily Mail, during their meeting at the Dirando police station,  Ms Reid told her father: "They made me do it."

She told him that while she worked on the Mediterranean island of Ibiza she was introduced to a British man who eventually forced her into meeting a gang of Colombian gangsters, who put a gun to her head.

She told her father the gang forced her to fly to Peru, saying: "I wanted to tell the air hostesses or anyone in the airports, but the men said they would know if we had spoken to anyone, that they were watching all the time.

"It was a choice between doing what I was told and getting it over and done with and hopefully getting back to Spain or trying to escape and being killed."

Ms Reid said she fears evidence in Peru has been contaminated by police because they did not wear gloves as they handled the food bags in which the drugs are said to have been stored, according the newspaper.

When she was told to return to her cell, her father told her: "We will do everything we can to get you out of here. We will work something out."

Police are waiting for a translator before officially questioning the two women, which is expected to happen in the next few days.

They may be held pre-charge for up to 30 days and could then spend up to three years in prison before a trial.

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Egypt: Call For 'March Of Anger' As UN Meets

Key Events In Egypt Since 2011

Updated: 12:32pm UK, Thursday 15 August 2013

January 25 - February 11, 2011 - Egyptians stage nationwide demonstrations against nearly 30 years of President Hosni Mubarak's rule. Hundreds of protesters are killed as Mubarak and his allies try to crush the uprising.

February 11 - Mubarak steps down and the military takes over. The military dissolves parliament and suspends the constitution, meeting two key demands of protesters.

November 28, 2011 - February 15, 2012 - Egypt holds multistage, weeks-long parliamentary elections.

In the lawmaking lower house, the Muslim Brotherhood wins nearly half the seats, and ultraconservative Salafis take another quarter.

The remainder goes to liberal, independent and secular politicians. In the largely powerless upper house, Islamists take nearly 90% of the seats.

May 23 - 24, 2012 - The first round of voting in presidential elections has a field of 13 candidates.

The Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi and Ahmed Shafiq, the last prime minister under Mubarak, emerge as the top two finishers, to face each other in a run-off.

June 14 - The Supreme Constitutional Court orders the dissolving of the lower house of parliament.

June 16 - 17 - Egyptians vote in the presidential run-off between Morsi and Shafiq. Morsi wins with 51.7% of the vote.

June 30 - Morsi takes his oath of office.

November 19 - Members of liberal parties and representatives of Egypt's churches withdraw from the 100-member assembly writing the constitution, protesting attempts by Islamists to impose their will.

November 22 - Morsi unilaterally decrees greater powers for himself, giving his decisions immunity from judicial review and barring the courts from dissolving the constituent assembly and the upper house of parliament. The move sparks days of protests.

November 30  - Islamists in the constituent assembly rush to complete the draft of the constitution. Morsi sets a December 15 date for a referendum.

December 4 - More than 100,000 protesters march on the presidential palace, demanding the cancellation of the referendum and the writing of a new constitution. The next day, Islamists attack an anti-Morsi sit-in, sparking street battles that leave at least 10 dead.

December 15, December 22 - In the two-round referendum, Egyptians approve the constitution, with 63.8% voting in favour. Turnout is low.

January 25, 2013 - Hundreds of thousands hold protests against Morsi on the two-year anniversary of the start of the revolt against Mubarak, and clashes erupt in many places.

February - March 2013 - Protests rage in Port Said and other cities for weeks, with dozens more dying in clashes.

April 7 - A Muslim mob attacks the main cathedral of the Coptic Orthodox Church as Christians hold a funeral and protest there over four Christians killed in sectarian violence the day before. Pope Tawadros II publicly blames Morsi for failing to protect the building.

June 23 - A mob beats to death four Egyptian Shi'ites in a village on the outskirts of Cairo.

June 30 - Millions of Egyptians demonstrate on Morsi's first anniversary in office, calling on him to step down. Eight people are killed in clashes outside the Muslim Brotherhood's Cairo headquarters.

July 1 - Huge demonstrations continue, and Egypt's powerful military gives the president and the opposition 48 hours to resolve their disputes, or it will impose its own solution.

July 2 - Military officials disclose main details of the army's plan if no agreement is reached: replacing Morsi with an interim administration, cancelling the Islamist-based constitution and calling elections in a year. Morsi delivers a late-night speech in which he pledges to defend his legitimacy and vows not to step down.

July 3 - Egypt's military chief announces that Morsi has been deposed, to be replaced by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Constitutional Court until new presidential elections. No time frame is given.

Muslim Brotherhood leaders are arrested. Tens of thousands of Morsi supporters remain camped out in two mass sit-ins in Cairo's streets.

July 4 - Supreme Constitutional Court Chief Justice Adly Mansour is sworn in as Egypt's interim president.

July 5 - Mansour dissolves the Islamist-dominated upper house of parliament as Morsi's supporters stage mass protests demanding his return. Clashes between pro and anti-Morsi groups in Cairo and Alexandria, and violence elsewhere leave at least 36 dead. A Brotherhood strongman, deputy head Khairat el-Shater, is arrested.

July 8 - Egyptian soldiers open fire on pro-Morsi demonstrators in front of a military base in Cairo, killing more than 50. Each side blames the other for starting the clash near the larger of the two sit-ins, near east Cairo's Rabaah al-Adawiya mosque.

Mansour puts forward a time line for amending the constitution and electing a new president and parliament by mid-February. The Brotherhood refuses to participate in the process.

July 9 - Mansour appoints economist Hazem el-Beblawi as prime minister and opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei as vice president. A military announcement backs up the appointments.

July 26 - Millions pour onto the streets of Egypt after a call by the country's military chief for protesters to give him a mandate to stop "potential terrorism" by supporters of Morsi. Five people are killed in clashes.

Prosecutors announce Morsi is under investigation for a host of allegations including murder and conspiracy with the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

July 27  - Security forces and armed men in civilian clothes clash with Morsi supporters outside the larger of the two major sit-ins in Cairo, killing at least 80 people.

July 30 - The EU's top diplomat Catherine Ashton holds a two-hour meeting with detained Morsi at an undisclosed location. She is one of a number of international envoys, including US Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham, to visit Egypt to attempt to resolve the crisis.

August 7  - Egypt's presidency says that diplomatic efforts to peacefully resolve the standoff between the country's military-backed interim leadership and the Muslim Brotherhood have failed.

August 11 - Egyptian security forces announce that they will besiege the two sit-ins within 24 hours to bar people from entering.

August 12 - Authorities postpone plans to take action against the camps, saying they want to avoid bloodshed after Morsi supporters reinforce the sit-ins with thousands more protesters.

August 14 - Riot police clear two sprawling encampments of supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi, sparking running street battles that kill hundreds of people.

The presidency declares a month-long state of emergency across the nation as Vice President Mohamed ElBaradei resigns in protest over the assaults.

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New Zealand Struck By Series Of Strong Quakes

A series of strong earthquakes has hit New Zealand, sending people scrambling for cover and causing the capital, Wellington, to shake "like jelly".

The first tremor, a 6.5-magnitude, struck at 2:31pm local time in the Cook Strait, around 58 miles (94 km) west of Wellington at a depth of six miles (10 km), the US Geological Survey said.

It was followed by several aftershocks measuring up to 5.7 and was felt from Christchurch in the South Island to Auckland in the North Island.

Authorities said there were no initial reports of injuries or major damage to buildings, and no tsunami warnings have been issued.

The quake caused a violent jolt in Wellington.

"Lots of aftershocks. 'Beehive' wobbling around like a jelly, but all OK," economic development minister Steven Joyce tweeted, referring to New Zealand's distinctive parliament building.

Resident Juli Ryan tweeted: "That was pretty wild, I was sitting in my parked car watching buildings shake like leaves."

There were reports of power cuts to areas of the South Island, and Wellington's airport was briefly closed to check the runway for damage.

Train services were also stopped in case railway tracks had buckled in the quake, but there were no reports of significant damage.

Lifts were out of action in some office buildings and, as the aftershocks continued, many businesses sent their workers home early, causing large traffic jams in the capital.

A quake of a similar strength in the same area three weeks ago broke water mains, smashed windows and downed power lines.

New Zealand is part of the so-called Pacific 'Ring of Fire' that has regular seismic activity - around 5,000 tremors a year.

A massive earthquake in the city of Christchurch in 2011 killed 185 people and destroyed much of the city's downtown.

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Gibraltar: Spain Defiant As Border Row Hots Up

Spain has said it will not back down over extra checks at the border with Gibraltar despite the threat of legal action by the UK.

Downing Street said it was looking at the "unprecedented step" after the Spanish government failed to lift the additional controls over the weekend.

A spokesman for Prime Minister David Cameron said the new measures, which have caused tailbacks of several hours for people trying to cross the border, were "politically motivated and totally disproportionate".

But Spain remained defiant, saying it would not abandon the checks and claimed they were "legal and proportionate" as the diplomatic row between the two countries intensifies.

The European Commission plans to send a team of investigators to the border in the next couple of weeks, who will observe the controls, following complaints from several MEPs and EU citizens about long waits there.

It comes as three Royal Navy warships set sail for the Mediterranean in what defence officials stressed was a long-scheduled deployment.

The vessels included the flagship HMS Bulwark, helicopter carrier HMS Illustrious and frigate HMS Montrose.

HMS Westminster will visit Gibraltar for three days

As part of the operation, a fourth warship, the frigate HMS Westminster, will dock in the UK overseas territory of Gibraltar for a routine visit for three days this month, while other ships in the task group are expected to go to Spanish ports.

A Number 10 spokesman said: "Clearly the prime minister is disappointed by the failure of Spain to remove the additional border checks this weekend. We are now considering what legal action is open to us."

The diplomatic spat between the UK and Spain was sparked by the creation of an artificial reef by the Gibraltarian authorities, which the Spanish claim will destroy fishing in the area.

Madrid responded by beefing up border controls, leading to lengthy queues, and suggesting that a 50 euro (£43.30) fee could be imposed on every vehicle entering or leaving the Rock through the fenced border with Spain.

The Royal Gibraltar Police tweeted on Sunday that Guardia Civil checks had caused queues of up to two hours at the border, with Spanish officers checking "every car" going into the Rock.

There have been queues of up to two hours at the border

Reports in the Spanish media suggested that the diplomatic row could escalate to the United Nations, with Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's government receiving support from Argentina.

Spanish foreign minister Jose Garcia-Margallo is expected to propose that the two countries present a "united front" over Gibraltar and the Falkland Islands, the El Pais newspaper reported.

Mr Garcia-Margallo will sound out his Argentinian counterpart, Hector Timerman, during a meeting in Buenos Aires next month as he prepares for a "180-degree turn in policy towards the colony", the newspaper said.

Meanwhile, Spanish defence minister Pedro Morenes has said it is "totally normal" for British warships to dock in Gibraltar in what is a "routine visit", according to reports.

Mr Morenes reportedly told the Europa Press news agency: "Neither the British nor the Spanish government have an interest in there being bad relations."

He also said that aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious had requested and been granted permission to stop off at the southern Spanish naval base of Rota on August 18, proving that there was no military escalation between the two countries.

The MoD's operation in the Mediterranean, Adriatic and Gulf - codenamed Cougar 13 - is due to last around four months and will include a series of exercises as well as escort duties and counter-piracy operations.

Four Royal Navy warships, the lead commando group from 3 Commando Brigade Royal Marines and elements of naval air squadrons will be supported by five vessels from the Royal Fleet Auxiliary.

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'Whitey' Bulger: Victims' Families Want Peace

By Amanda Walker, US Correspondent

Bulger was born in 1929 in Boston's 'Southie' neighbourhood - an area he went on to dominate.

He was first arrested at the age of 14 when a life of crime and violence was born.

Over the years local folklore portrayed him as a Robin Hood-style figure - dedicated to protecting the area's streets and their residents.

In court a very different picture was painted - the prosecution called Bulger "one of the most vicious, violent and calculating criminals ever to walk the streets of Boston".

They said he made millions of dollars from drug trafficking and extortion of drug dealers, bookmakers and local businesses - committing multiple murders along the way.

Patricia Donahue, along with her three sons, has attended every day of the seven-week trial. She believes Bulger murdered her husband, a family man with no criminal record, because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

In 1982 Michael Donahue was leaving the Pier 4 restaurant in the then-notorious waterfront area with his friend and former gang member, Edward Halleran, who had asked him for a lift home. The prosecution claimed Bulger opened fire on their car, killing them both. Halleran was his target but Donahue lost his life

Patricia said: "How can anybody do the things that he's done?

"The people that he's hurt ... The people that he's killed ... I don't understand that. My children come from a family where there was no violence so now all of a sudden I have to tell them that not only was he killed but he was shot to death."

Bulger lived his later years in Santa Monica

Fueling the anger of Patricia and other families, Bulger chose not to testify during the trial but his defence team said he vigorously denied two things; being an informant, or "rat", and killing two women.

People close to the trial said for Bulger it was all about legacy and making sure he was remembered as a "good" bad guy.

He opted to live out his days quietly, hiding from law enforcement in laid back Santa Monica.

But the modest apartment he shared with his wife soon gave up the dark secrets of his past.

Guns, fake IDs and over $800,000 in cash were found hidden in the walls of his small apartment. The jury raised a question over what should be done with that money.

Steve Davis is the brother of Debra Davis, one of the women Bulger was accused of killing.

"He goes away (but) we're still scarred with this," he said.

"You know, these people gonna forget his name three months from now. 'Whitey who? What trial?' But the victims' families, we're scarred. We got to serve a life sentence on this."

Boston author Kevin Cullen has written extensively on the case. He says the FBI giving Bulger immunity is what allowed him to commit his crimes over such a long period.

"What separates him from a John Dillinger or an Al Capone or a John Gotti is that he had the nation's premier law enforcement agency, the FBI, actively assisting him," he said.

"So in some respects, he tops all those guys. He was able to get the FBI to help him kill people.

"The FBI didn't just look the other way because he was their informant. They actively assisted in targeting people. They told him who might be talking about him, who might turn him in to other authorities. And he went out and killed these people."

A 1953 mugshot shows a square-jawed Bulger in the vigour of defiant youth, with lawless decades stretched out ahead of him.

His last photograph in custody, taken two years ago, shows a white-haired bearded old man, with countless vicious crimes behind him, still challenging the camera.

Hollywood stars are clamouring to turn the years that span the two into a movie. But for his victims and their families, this is a reality that has haunted them for decades.

Now they are ready for some peace.

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James 'Whitey' Bulger Guilty Of 11 Killings

Boston gangster James 'Whitey' Bulger has been found guilty of gangland crimes including 11 murders and racketeering.

The 83-year-old faces life in prison after being convicted of committing or playing a role in the killings during the 1970s and 80s while he led the city's Winter Hill Gang.

Bulger showed no reaction upon hearing the verdict, which brought to a close a case that not only transfixed the city with its violence but also exposed corruption inside the Boston FBI.

Bulger's lawyer JW Carney Jr said he intends to appeal, because the judge did not let him present an immunity defence.

A 1953 Boston police booking photo after an arrest

Sentencing has been set for November 13.

The former mob boss was one of the nation's most wanted fugitives after fleeing Boston in 1994, and was finally captured in Santa Monica, California, in 2011.

He was charged primarily with racketeering, a catch-all offence that listed 33 criminal acts - among them, 19 murders that he allegedly helped orchestrate or carried out himself.

The racketeering charge also included acts of extortion, money-laundering and drug dealing.

The jury had to find he committed only two of those acts to convict him of racketeering.

A surveillance image of Bulger entered as evidence. Pic: US Attorney

The panel of eight men and four women deliberated for nearly five days before deciding Bulger took part in 11 of the 19 killings, and found him guilty on a list of other counts, including possession of machine guns.

One woman in the gallery taunted Bulger as he was being led away, apparently imitating machine-gun fire as she yelled: "Rat-a-tat-tat, Whitey!"

US Attorney Carmen Ortiz said afterwards that she hoped the verdict would mark "the end of an era that was very ugly in Boston's history".

During the two-month trial, federal prosecutors portrayed Bulger as a cold-blooded, hands-on boss who killed anyone he saw as a threat, along with innocent people who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Bulger, who was the model for Jack Nicholson's underworld character in Martin Scorsese's 2006 film The Departed, was seen for years as a benevolent tough guy who bought Thanksgiving turkeys for south Boston's working-class residents and kept hard drugs out of the neighbourhood.

Machine guns said to belong to Bulger's gang

But that image was shattered when authorities started digging up bodies.

"This is not some Robin Hood story about a guy who kept angel dust and heroin out of Southie," prosecutor Fred Wyshak told the jury in closing arguments.

Bulger's disappearance in 1994 proved a major embarrassment to the FBI when it came out at court hearings and trials that Bulger had been an informant from 1975 to 1990.

The gang leader fed the bureau information on the rival New England Mafia as well as members of his own gang while he continued to kill and intimidate.

Bulger and his gang also paid off several FBI agents and state and Boston police officers, dispensing Christmas envelopes of cash and cases of wine to get information on search warrants, wiretaps and investigations to stay one step ahead of the law.

At his trial, Bulger's lawyers detailed the corruption inside the FBI and accused prosecutors of offering absurdly generous deals to three former Bulger loyalists to testify against him.

The defence portrayed the three key witnesses - gangster Stephen 'The Rifleman' Flemmi, hit man John Martorano and Bulger protege Kevin Weeks - as pathological liars who pinned their own crimes on Bulger so they could get reduced sentences.

But overall, the defence barely contested many of the charges against Bulger, and even conceded that he ran a criminal enterprise that raked in millions through drugs, gambling and loan-sharking.

His lawyers did, however, strongly deny he killed women, something Bulger seemingly regarded as a violation of his underworld code of honour.

They also spent a significant amount of time disputing Bulger was a "rat" - a label that seemed to set off the hotheaded gangster more than anything else, causing him to shout obscenities in the courtroom.

Bulger had hoped to argue he was given immunity for all his crimes by a now-dead federal prosecutor. But Judge Denise Casper disallowed such a defence, and Bulger did not testify.

"I feel that I've been choked off from having an opportunity to give an adequate defence," he complained to the judge as the trial wound down.

Bulger's life story fascinated Bostonians for decades.

He grew up in a south Boston housing project and quickly became involved in crime, while his younger brother, William, rose to become one of the most powerful politicians in Massachusetts as state Senate president.

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Syria Airstrikes Leave More Than 30 Dead

More than 30 people have reportedly been killed in Syrian government air strikes in Latakia province and the northern city of Raqa.

Seven children were among at least 13 civilians who died in an air raid on Raqa, the only provincial capital in rebel hands, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group.

It said the raid was apparently aimed at positions of the jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) which largely controls the city.

ISIS has been the dominant force in the city since its capture by rebels in March.

Residents have held several protests against the policies of ISIS which follows an extremist line of Islam, according to the Observatory.

Government forces attack Raqa, the only provincial capital in rebel hands

An Italian Jesuit priest and activist, Paolo Dall'Oglio, who hoped to negotiate with ISIS in Raqa, went missing in the city at the start of August.

In the coastal Latakia province of northwest Syria, at least 20 people were killed in several air strikes on the Sunni rebel town of Salma, the Observatory said.

At least six of those killed were Syrian rebel fighters while four were foreign volunteers, said Rami Abdel Rahman, who heads the Observatory.

Latakia province is a stronghold of the Alawite minority of Syrian President Bashar al Assad, apart from rebel-held pockets.

Islamist rebel forces have captured about 10 Alawite villages in Jabal al-Akrad, a mountainous area of the province.

The army has hit back, sparking fierce fighting that has left dozens dead on both sides.

Smoke rises in the town of Salma

Rebels have kidnapped a leading Alawite cleric, Sheikh Badreddine Ghazal, said the Observatory, which relies on a network of activists on the ground and medics for its information.

In Damascus, a car bomb ripped through the Shaghur district of the capital late on Saturday, wounding several people, three of them children.

In Aleppo province, further east, government troops stormed a village overnight, killing 12 people, the Observatory said.

Al-Nusra Front jihadists and other rebel fighters in the eastern city of Deir Ezzor seized control of the offices of Syria's ruling Baath party in the Howeika district, sparking regime bombardment, the Observatory said.

More than 100,000 people have been killed in the past 29 months of conflict.

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Zanzibar Acid Attack: Suspect Preacher 'Shot'

A radical Muslim preacher wanted over an acid attack on two British teenagers in Zanzibar has been caught by police, according to reports.

It was claimed that Sheikh Issa Ponda Issa was shot in the shoulder with a tear gas canister as he tried to escape from officers after being cornered near the Tanzanian coastal city of Dar es Salaam.

He was reported to be fighting for his life in hospital.

Friends Katie Gee and Kirstie Trup, both 18, continue to be treated in hospital in London and are said to be "well rested and comfortable".

The girls are continuing to receive treatment in a Chelsea hospital

Police said five men are being questioned by officers on the Indian Ocean island after the women were attacked by men on a motorbike as they walked along a road.

Zanzibar's assistant police commissioner Mkadam Khamis Mkadam told an east African newspaper: "They were accosted by two men riding a motorcycle ... they poured this liquid ... we suspect it was acid, before they ran away."

The young women were enjoying the last week of a trip as volunteer teachers to the predominantly Muslim island when the corrosive substance was thrown at them in an apparently unprovoked attack.

They had planned to return in time to collect their A-level results next week, with Miss Trup hoping to study history at the University of Bristol while Miss Gee is considering the University of Leeds, it was reported.

The street on the island where the attack took place

Family members of both teenagers have been at their bedsides after they were flown home and taken to a burns unit in London.

Meanwhile, Tory MP Bill Cash, who sits on the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Tanzania, has urged the Foreign Office to further upgrade its travel warning for tourists visiting both Zanzibar and Tanzania because it was "more than just an ordinary criminal event".

The Foreign Office updated its Tanzania travel advice page on Friday with details of the attack and warns British nationals to "take care" and read its travel advice.

Mr Cash said: "People need to be extra vigilant and the Foreign Office and High Commission need to make a very thorough evaluation of the threat, as these latest attacks would seem to be on religious grounds.

"The threat to tourists going to Tanzania and Zanzibar needs to be upgraded without doubt."

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Idaho: Teenager Rescued After Suspect Killed

US Abductor 'May Have Explosives'

Updated: 5:28pm UK, Saturday 10 August 2013

The car of a man suspected of killing a woman and her son, and then abducting her 16-year-old daughter, has been found in Idaho.

San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore said horseback riders reported seeing two people matching the description of the suspect and girl in the Cascade area 70 miles northeast of Boise on Wednesday.

Investigators have said an "unusual infatuation" with the teenager might have driven suspect James Lee DiMaggio, 40, to flee with Hannah Anderson from his burned-out home on the California-Mexico border.

"That is kind of a working theory, that it may be something of a motivator," San Diego County Sheriff's Captain Duncan Fraser said. "It's definitely something that we're looking at."

Evidence found in the rubble of the home lead police to believe DiMaggio may have explosives and might abandon his blue Nissan Versa after rigging it to explode.

"In the event that someone comes across the car, they need to use caution," Captain Fraser warned.

On Sunday night, authorities found the body of 44-year-old Christina Anderson when they extinguished flames at DiMaggio's rural home. A child's body was also discovered as they sifted through rubble in Boulevard, a tiny town 65 miles east of San Diego.

The body was identified several days later as eight-year-old Ethan Anderson.

DiMaggio allegedly told Hannah a couple of months ago he had a crush on her and would date her if they were the same age. 

A 15-year-old friend, Marissa Chavez, witnessed the remarks when DiMaggio was driving them home from a gymnastics competition.

"She was a little creeped out by it. She didn't want to be alone with him," she said.

DiMaggio is wanted on suspicion of murder and arson in a search that began in California and quickly spread to Oregon, Washington, Nevada, British Columbia and Mexico's Baja California state.

A possible sighting was reported in northeast California near Alturas on Wednesday afternoon, followed by another about 50 miles along the same road near Lakeview, in south-central Oregon.

Captain Fraser, whose office has had hundreds of leads on DiMaggio's whereabouts, said the Oregon tip appeared "very credible". "We're taking it very seriously," he said.

DiMaggio, a telecommunications technician, was said to have been like an uncle to Hannah and Ethan Anderson and had been close to both of their parents for years.

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