Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is the name for a range of similar conditions, including Asperger syndrome, that affect a person's social interaction, communication, interests and behaviour.

In children with ASD, the symptoms are present before three years of age, although a diagnosis can sometimes be made after the age of three.

It's estimated that about 1 in every 100 people in the UK has ASD. More boys are diagnosed with the condition than girls.

There's no "cure" for ASD, but speech and language therapy, occupational therapy, educational support, plus a number of other interventions are available to help children and parents.  People with ASD tend to have problems with social interaction and communication.

In early infancy, some children with ASD don’t babble or use other vocal sounds. Older children have problems using non-verbal behaviours to interact with others – for example, they have difficulty with eye contact, facial expressions, body language and gestures. They may give no or brief eye contact and ignore familiar or unfamiliar people.

Children with ASD may also lack awareness of and interest in other children. They’ll often either gravitate to older or younger children, rather than interacting with children of the same age. They tend to play alone.

They can find it hard to understand other people's emotions and feelings, and have difficulty starting conversations or taking part in them properly. Language development may be delayed, and a child with ASD won’t compensate their lack of language or delayed language skills by using gestures (body language) or facial expressions.

Children with ASD will tend to repeat words or phrases spoken by others (either immediately or later) without formulating their own language, or in parallel to developing their language skills. Some children don’t demonstrate imaginative or pretend play, while others will continually repeat the same pretend play.

Some children with ASD like to stick to the same routine and little changes may trigger tantrums. Some children may flap their hand or twist or flick their fingers when they’re excited or upset. Others may engage in repetitive activity, such as turning light switches on and off, opening and closing doors, or lining things up.

Children and young people with ASD frequently experience a range of cognitive (thinking), learning, emotional and behavioural problems. For example, they may also have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), anxiety, or depression.

Dawn raids took place on 10 addresses this morning as police attempt to catch a murderer who escaped from prison six months ago.

Shaun Walmsley, 28, has been on the run since two men armed with a knife and a gun confronted prison guards outside Aintree University Hospital during a visit from HMP Walton on February 21.

Today a 26-year-old man wanted on warrant was arrested and an 18-year-old man was held on suspicion of money laundering following the recovery of a large quantity of cash from a property in Kirkdale.

The early-morning operation was undertaken in a bid to hit individuals suspected of gun, drugs and a host of other offences linked to the his underworld network.

Searches of properties in the Kensington, Toxteth, Everton, Anfield, Fazakerley, Bootle and Vauxhall areas of the city are continuing.

A number of raids have also taken place in cells at Walton jail as part of the same operation. He escaped from custody on February 21 during the scheduled hospital appointment and used a gold-coloured Volvo as a getaway vehicle. The car was later found abandoned in Fazakerley.

Superintendent Natalie Perischine, of Merseyside Police, said: 'We are still working to establish Walmsley's whereabouts and will not stop until we have found him. 'In the meantime, we will continue to disrupt those who we believe are linked to Walmsley and who are also believed to be involved in serious organised crime on Merseyside.

'We know that some members of the criminal fraternity on Merseyside will know where Walmsley is and I would urge them to think long and hard about what they know and to come forward.

'He is a violent individual and we are determined to put him back behind bars and we will leave no stone unturned in the coming months. As police raided addresses in search of Walmsley officers some 30 miles away were hunting 'dangerous' arsonist Anthony Curry who escaped from prison yesterday. 

Curry, who was jailed in 2013 for manslaughter, burglary and arson, escaped from HMP Kirkham between midday and 2pm yesterday, according to police.

The 43-year-old was sentenced to 12 years after admitting the manslaughter of retired lecturer Christopher Proctor, 88, and burning his house down to destroy any evidence.

During sentencing the judge said it was 'difficult to imagine a more serious case of manslaughter'. 

He was found and arrested on Thursday afternoon. 

Japan has wheeled missile defence systems into the heart of Tokyo after North Korea threatened to send a volley of rockets over the country towards Guam.

Pictures show how a PAC-3 Patriot missile unit has been moved in to a compound at the Defence Ministry in the capital after officials said they could shoot down North Korean rockets if they pass overhead. 

Sales of bomb shelters in Japan are said to have increased as tensions continue to rise in the region while officials in Seoul have vowed to bolster their defences. But South Korean citizens - long accustomed to its neighbour's fearsome rhetoric - are staying remarkably calm as the crisis unfolds, it has been reported.

Officials in Hawaii, meanwhile, say they are working on how to warn its 1.4million residents in the event of an attack. 

It comes after North Korea warned it will complete a plan to unleash an 'enveloping fire' around Guam by mid-August. This will involved firing four Hwasong-12 missiles over Japan and into waters near the tiny US island, officials claimed. Tokyo, which has in the past warned it would shoot down any North Korean missiles that threaten its territory, responded that it could 'never tolerate' provocations from the reclusive state. In April it emerged that sales of nuclear shelters and radiation-blocking air purifiers have surged in Japan  as North Korea pressed ahead with missile tests in defiance of U.N. sanctions.

A small company that specializes in building nuclear shelters, generally under people's houses, said it had received eight orders in April alone compared with six orders during a typical year.

The company, Oribe Seiki Seisakusho, based in Kobe, western Japan, also has sold out of 50 Swiss-made air purifiers, which are said to keep out radiation and poisonous gas, and is trying to get more, said Nobuko Oribe, the company's director.

Meanwhile, officials in Hawaii have revealed how they plan to respond in the event of a North Korean attack,CNN reports. 

Lt. Col. Charles Anthony, director of public affairs for the state's Department of Defense, said: 'If North Korea uses an intercontinental ballistic missile, from launch to impact (in Hawaii) is approximately 20 minutes;

Vern Miyagi, administrator for Hawaii's Emergency Management Agency, added: 'Pacific Command would take about fives minutes to characterize a launch, where the missile is going, which means the population would have about 15 minutes to take shelter.

Hate crime reports jumped sharply as Britain was hit by a spate of terrorist attacks earlier this year, new figures show.

Police registered increases in the incidents in the days immediately after the atrocities at Westminster Manchester and London Bridge.

Alleged race or faith hate offences accounted for the vast majority of rises, according to the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC). Figures compiled from forces in England, Wales and Northern Ireland showed the daily totals were well above typical levels two days after the Westminster, Manchester and London Bridge attacks, with 234, 273 and 319 hate crime incidents respectively.

The NPCC said this pattern was not seen after the Finsbury Park attack in June, with 223 incidents.

Figures for the weeks including the attacks show hate crime was up compared to the previous year for all but Finsbury Park.

The sharpest increase was observed around the Manchester bombing, when the weekly tally was 50% higher than the same period in 2016.

NPCC lead for Hate Crime Assistant Chief Constable Mark Hamilton said: 'We know that terrorist attacks and other national and global events have the potential to trigger short-term spikes in hate crime and so we have been carefully monitoring community tensions following recent horrific events. 'Reporting from police forces show that levels of hate crime peaked in the wake of the attacks but quickly subsided within a few days. 'This is in line with trends we have seen before, though obviously still a real concern for the police service and wider society.

'As terrorists seek to divide us, it is more important than ever that we continue to stand united in the face of hostility and hatred.' 

Hundreds of people bared all for London Zoo's annual naked fun run to raise money for endangered tigers.

The risque runners took part in the Streak for Tigers charity event, with aims to raise more than £40,000 to help the Zoological Society London's conservation work.

People were encouraged to cover themselves in their own stripes or don a tiger costume before they took to the starting line, with the race starting after the zoo had closed to visitors.

Money raised by the event will go towards the zoo's work protecting Sumatran Tigers from deforestation and poachers in Indonesia. 

• Streak for Tigers is a charity event with the aim to raise more than £40,000 to help ZSL's conservation work 
• Three hundred streakers bared all and unleashed their wild side to take part in the yearly event at the zoo
• Funds raised by the fun run will go towards the zoo's work protecting Sumatran Tigers in Indonesia

A furious BMW driver launched a racist rant at a traffic warden because he gave him a ticket for parking on double yellow lines. 

Mark Winstanley, 36, hurled vile abuse at the parking attendant on a street in Chester in March this year.

During the tirade of slurs he called his victim a 'black t***' and a 'f****** n*****'.

Today, Winstanley was sentenced to 200 hours community service and made to pay £100 compensation, after admitting committing a racially aggravating hate crime. The traffic warden's body-camera captured the unpleasant incident, which erupted after Winstanley spent six minutes parked on double yellow lines while he 'went to Sainsbury's and the bookies'.

Winstanley, from Chester, screamed at his victim and accused him of being a liar before threatening to 'f** him up' and getting in his car to speed off.

He raged: 'So I'm allowed five minutes, I've been here for six minutes so you waited one minute. Well I'm off. Okay you black t***. 'You're a f****** dead man, I'm going to f*** you up, you n*****. I will be back round in a minute. You watch you're f****** self.'

Not content with one outburst, Winstanley came back to the scene a short time later and subjected the warden to a second onslaught of insults.

On returning, he said: 'You f****** liar, I weren't here for more than five minutes.

'You are a liar and a c*** and I'm going to appeal this anyway. F****** n*****.' After the verbal attack, Winstanley was traced by police and was arrested when he attended Blacon police station, in Chester.

As well as pleading guilty to the hate crime, he also admitted several driving offences and was banned from driving for six months and six points have been added to his licence.

Senior Crown Prosecutor Simon Pover said: 'The whole shocking incident was captured on the traffic warden's body camera.

'This was vital evidence in this case and probably led Winstanley to plead guilty to the charges at an early opportunity.

'When the traffic warden approached him on that day, Winstanley was parked on double yellow lines, he had no insurance and no driving licence - driving offences for which he was also charged and to which he also pleaded guilty.

'The traffic warden was just doing his job on that day but suffered a series of racist insults as a result.

'The Crown Prosecution Service prosecuted the case as racially aggravated hate crime and the sentence was increased to take account of that element of the offending.

'When we can prove to a court that a case is a hate crime, we will ask for an uplifted sentence to reflect the serious impact on the whole community of such offending.' 

President Donald Trump says his administration will announce plans as early as next week to spend billions more than it already is on missile defense - after saying his warning to North Korea of 'fire and fury' wasn't tough enough.

The United States' nuclear arsenal is in 'tip-top shape and getting better and getting stronger' since he signed an executive order demanding improvements, Trump said Thursday after a national security briefing, 'and we have it now in very, very good shape.' 

'I would like to de-nuke the world,' Trump stated. 'And until such time this scourge disappears we will be so much better and so much stronger than anybody else.'

Trump had rebuked critics of his heated 'fire and fury' threat to North Korea in earlier remarks on the topic of nuclear armament during a question and answer session with reporters.

'Maybe it wasn’t tough enough. They’ve been doing this to our country for a long time, for many years, and it’s about time that somebody stuck up for the people of this country and for the people of other countries,' Trump countered. 'So if anything, maybe that statement wasn’t tough enough.'

Trump said Kim Jong-Un should be 'very, very nervous' about U.S. retaliation. 'Because things will happen to them like they never thought possible, OK?' he said.  

He warned Kim in remarks from his golf club's doorstep not to even contemplate an attack on the U.S. or its allies or he will pay the ultimate price. Unlike previous American leaders, Trump said, he is not 'weak and ineffective' and will follow through on his threats. 'He has disrespected our country greatly. He has said things that are horrific. And with me he’s not getting away with it. He got away with it for a long time, between him and his family. He’s not getting away with it. This is a whole new ballgame. He’s not going to be saying those things and he’s certainly not going to be doing those things.

Trump said, 'I read about we’re in Guam by Aug. 15. Let’s see what he does with Guam. He does something in Guam, it will be an event the likes of which nobody’s seen before, what will happen in North Korea.'

An attack on Japan or South Korea would be just as provocative, Trump said. 'We’re going to be increasing our budget by many billions of dollars because of North Korea and other reasons having to do with the anti-missile.'

The president spoke to reporters ahead of a national security briefing this afternoon on the intensifying crisis with North Korea and right after in what turned into a mini-press conference. 

Trump's outburst at his doorstep in Bedminster came right as a leading expert on Northeast Asian affairs warned in conversation with DailyMail.com that North Korea could 'lash out' against the U.S. if it believes that a military assault is imminent.

'The wording itself I thought was over the top. It sounded like it had been penned by Pyongyang. I think it was a distraction and unhelpful,' The Heritage Foundation's Bruce Klingner said of Trump's previous address.

Heritage is a top-ranked think tank worldwide. It is the most influential conservative organization in the U.S. Its analysts are mostly aligned with Trump's administration. 

Trump's reaction to Kim's taunting 'could confirm growing concerns by our allies that the US is contemplating a preventative attack,' Klingner said in the moments before networks started airing video of Trump's claim to reporters that his 'fire and fury' rhetoric was maybe not strong enough.

Ryan Giggs’ protracted £40 million divorce from estranged wife Stacey Cooke will reach its conclusion when she is granted a decree nisi on Friday morning.

The former Manchester United and Wales midfielder, 43, has been locked in a lengthy court battle with Stacey, 39, over a share of his fortune, earned during a trophy-laden 24-year career.

Giggs’ seven-year marriage to long-term partner Stacey, with whom he shares two children, has weathered a series of potentially damaging storms, including his eight-year affair with younger brother Rhodri’s wife Natasha Lever. A six-month fling with Welsh TV personality Imogen Thomas, best known for an appearance on reality show Big Brother, was also exposed - despite the retired sportsman obtaining a gagging order.

His marriage to Stacey ended last April following alleged flirting with a waitress employed at George’s, the upmarket Manchester restaurant he opened in 2014.

The sun report that neither party will be in attendance when the decree nisi is granted at Central Family Court in London. 'The husband was a professional footballer,' said Mr Justice Cobb. 'He has a number of business interests, and has (had) a role in coaching and management.

'He played football nationally and internationally for many years, and has a high media profile. He is now 43 years of age.

'His marriage to the wife came to an end last year. The husband and wife have two children. This information is well known to the public at large.'

He added: 'This couple have a significant profile in the media, both nationally and internationally.

'That they are divorcing, and that their financial remedy proceedings are being pursued in the English courts, are pieces of information already in the public domain, and the publication of that information cannot legitimately be restrained by order.'

But he said it was 'appropriate' for hearings be to be staged in private.

A child rapist who police paid £10,000 to spy on the Newcastle abuse gang has insisted that he is 'not a bad guy'.

The informant, known as XY in order to protect his identity, went to 30 sex parties where he took drugs and had access to vulnerable girls, a court heard. 

Police denied sending the man to the 'sessions' where girls were abused, insisting he told them only where and when they were.

He had previously served time behind bars for raping a teenage girl and police were criticised over his part in their lengthy investigation. The informant told The sun he was 'good' at what he did and ended up helping the police.  

He said: 'I was a one-off. I was good at what I did. If it wasn't for me I know they wouldn't have got those people. Nobody else could have got into the circles that I got into.

'I've put hundreds of people behind bars over the years - I'm not the bad guy here. 

'Yes, I may have had a bad past but when I left prison I tried to make a difference. I wanted to give something back to society.' A barrister told Newcastle Crown Court last October that XY – who has 53 previous convictions – had admitted attending 30 parties where he took drugs.

The lawyer suggested detectives tolerated his behaviour because of his 'high value' information.

At these parties girls were passed around 'like commodities' while 'stupefied' on alcohol and drugs. XY said: 'I was chilling with the boys. I had to make it look like I was their friend.'

Defence barristers were trying to have the case against the gang thrown out because of XY's involvement. The BBC's Inside Out programme reported that a defence barrister told the court: 'This is a case where a rapist was put into the field where he would be with vulnerable young women when intoxicated. When intoxicated there have been some 30 occasions that have been disclosed by XY that he had been to parties.

'The police were happy for him to be going to parties, taking drugs, being out of control because of the high value of the information. This is an affront to the public conscience.

'He had committed a series of frauds, he was arrested for assaulting someone in a mosque, he attempted to incite a female in July 2015, he was arrested for breaching the sex offenders' register.'

When asked this week if XY went to the parties, Northumbria Police Detective Superintendent Steve Barron said: 'His instruction was to find out when they were to take place and prevent the abuse of young people.'

But Chief Constable Steve Ashman said: 'Can I 100 per cent confirm that [XY did not go to the parties]? Possibly not.' He claimed the 'correct safety mechanisms' had been in place.

Judge Penny Morland dismissed the application to throw out the case, but described XY's evidence as 'inherently unreliable' and 'clearly dishonest'.

They were the world's oldest living conjoined twins at the time of their death in 2003 aged 53.

Snatched from their Russian mother following their birth, Masha and Dasha Krivoshlyopova were subjected to a variety of cruel medical 'experiments' by Stalin's Soviet medical authorities. 

The girls shared a blood system but had separate nervous systems - so were seen as ideal subjects for research. 

Treated as medical guinea pigs they were burnt, frozen, starved, electrocuted, kept forcibly awake and injected with radioactive and other toxic substances in the name of 'science'.

The twins were institutionalised for much of their lives but their horrific story has now been revealed in full for the first time by journalist Juliet Butler.

Ms Butler befriended Masha and Dasha and said despite sharing the same genetics, horrific childhood and all of their lives the same lower body - the sisters had wildly different personalities. 

One was a cruel, domineering 'psychopath' who was 'emotionally abusive' to her caring, empath sister who remained gentle and kind and longed for a normal life. 'Dasha was in an emotionally abusive relationship - similar to the situation some people find themselves in with a partner. 

'But while those people have a chance to leave, Dasha physically couldn't.

'Masha denied Dasha everything she ever longed for – a chance of love, a relationship with their mother, a job and even what she wanted most: a separate body.' 

Ms Butler, who has written a novel based on their lives, The Less You Know The Sounder You Sleep, has provided fascinating insights into the tragic pair that reignite the nature versus nurture debate. Used as guinea pigs 

Almost immediately after the twins were born on January 1950 by caesarean section, they snatched from their mother Yekaterina - who was told her babies had died shortly after birth.

Dasha and Masha were taken away to, a medical institute in the Moscow region, the Academy of Medical Sciences Pediatric Institute, to be used as medical guinea pigs.

The girls shared a blood system but had separate nervous systems - so were seen as ideal subjects for research.