A gang is accused of raping and sexually abusing vulnerable girls as young as 13 after plying them with alcohol and drugs.  

Six 'naive' victims were lured to parties at houses and flats, where they were expected to carry out sexual favours and services in return, Newcastle Crown Court heard.

Soran Azizi, Palla Pour, Ribas Asad, Saman Obaid and Heiman Mohammed, all from Newcastle, are alleged to have committed a string of sex crimes including rape, paying for the sexual services of a child and trafficking. The men, who spoke through interpreters, denied all 31 of the charges against them at a hearing today.

Some of the sexual acts were carried out by the victims consensually, because they were 'in thrall' to their abusers, in return for 'rewards' of drink and drugs, the jury was told.

But prosecutor Anne Richardson said the victims were 'forced' at other times or were so intoxicated they were unable to consent to what happened to them.

Miss Richardson claimed the women and girls were treated as 'commodities', passed around various men and sometimes believed they were in relationships with their abusers. She told jurors: 'The case involves allegations of sexual exploitation and trafficking of young women and girls in the Newcastle Upon Tyne area of the North East of England.

'The alleged offences occurred over a number of years, namely between 2007 and 2014 and those who makes these allegations are, for the most part, immature and vulnerable people.

'It is the Crown's case that these personality traits were exploited by the defendants and that each of the young women were lured to various houses and flats where drugs and/or alcohol were made freely available to them.

'It is perhaps easy to make assumptions about the complainants based on their relative youth and their somewhat unusual lifestyles.

'But in due course, when you have heard all the evidence, you may consider that they were young, naive women, who were in the thrall to and under the control of these, for the most part, older and more worldly wise defendants.

'It is not always apparent to someone that what they are engaged in is in fact abusive and the law exists to protect those who cannot or do not want to protect themselves. 'In return, the Crown would say, these complainants were expected and encouraged to provide sexual favours and services, not because they wanted to do so, or through their own free and unencumbered will, but because they were beholden and in thrall to these men.' 

Azizi, 28, from Newcastle, denies charges of rape, sexual activity with a child and trafficking within the UK for sexual exploitation. Pour, 25, from Newcastle, denies offences of sexual activity with a child, paying for the sexual services of a child, causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, supplying controlled drug to another and permitting his premises to be used for the supply of drugs.

Asad, 29, from Newcastle, denies sexual assault, paying for the sexual services of a child, conspiracy to arrange or facilitate the prostitution of a child, supplying a controlled drug, causing a child to engage in sexual activity and sexual activity with a child.

Mohammed, 26, from Newcastle, denies charges of sexual activity with a child, paying for the sexual services of a child and supplying a controlled drug.

Humans drilling for oil and gas are to blame for rocketing levels of the greenhouse gas methane in our atmosphere, experts have warned.

New research found that Earth's last bout of global warming which occurred at the end of the last ice age 11,500 years ago, did not lead to a spike in methane levels.

Instead, the likely source of rising levels of atmospheric methane was from tropical wetlands, the authors of the new study say.

The study points to humans triggering the recent rise in methane in our atmosphere, rather than the gas escaping from Earth's permafrost as it is melted by climate change. Atmospheric methane has increased from 750 parts per billion in the year 1750 to more than 1,800 parts per billion today - mostly from human sources.

Fossil fuel production, the creation of rice paddies, and cattle ranching are the main offenders, the researchers say. The study suggests that human emissions of geologic methane may be as much as 25 per cent higher than previous estimates.

Although not abundant as carbon dioxide, methane is a much more powerful greenhouse gas, and so the rising levels are an important contributor to global warming.

Study coauthor Professor Edward Brook, from Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon, said: 'All of the natural gas that we mine is very old and leaking inevitably occurs during that process.

'Natural gas is considered a cleaner energy source than coal, but it can be a significant problem depending on how much of the methane is leaking out.'

Human methane emissions are the second largest contributor to global warming after carbon dioxide.

But there has been uncertainty as to the source of that methane and whether it has changed over time.

Professor Brook said: 'Our findings show that natural geologic emissions of methane - for example, leakage from oil seeps or gas deposits in the ground - are much smaller than previously thought.

Apple will unveil the eagerly anticipated iPhone 8 at a special event on 12th September, it has been claimed.

The event is also expected to see the launch of an iPhone 7s and 7s Plus, a new version of the apple watch and a new 4K Apple TV.

It could also become the first event to take place at the Steve Job Theater at Apple's new 'Spaceship' HQ, according to rumours. The dates come from information given to phone carriers, according to mac4ever which says 'Several testimonies corroborate our sources today' 

It comes as leaked images appear to show parts taken from the upcoming iPhone 8 in unprecedented detail.

The images, posted to Twitter by leaker Benjamin Geskin, claim to show the iPhone 8's OLED display cover and a variety of cables, including for the Lightning port.

One of the photos, originally found on Chinese social media site Weibo, shows the iPhone 8s' display compared to that of the iPhone 7. With less than a month to go until the handset is expected to be officially launched, Apple's flagship smartphone is now reportedly in mass production.

Rumours have followed the device since its announcement but leaks of images of components have stepped up their pace since production began.

Apple is anticipated to unveil the iPhone 8 alongside the iPhone 7s and iPhone 7s Plus in September. 

The iPhone 8 is expected to come with a 5.8-inch display, but the lack of bezels surrounding it means that the full case appears to be only slightly bit bigger than the 4.7-inches of the iPhone 7. 

In the months leading up to the official unveiling of Apple's next smartphone, rumours have been rapidly circulating online about its expected design, specifications and features. 

Many have come from physical accessories and components reportedly for the handset, as with this latest leak, A case for the iPhone 8 revealed what appears to be the best peek at the much-anticipated handset yet. 

The render of the case shows a 'notch' design with no home button, which lines up with all the information leaked about the device so far.

The latest in a string of leaked images comes from a case maker, who often get an early look at devices in order to have cases ready at the time of launch.

The leaked render comes courtesy of well-known Apple leaker Evan Blass, who shared it on Twitter.

Mark Gurman, another well-known Apple insider, replied saying the image above represents 'a good look at the notch' of the iPhone 8.

As The verge pointed out, it appears the case is an Urban Armor Gear design, which sells the exact same model for the iPhone 7 series.

A distraught Uber driver washed his genitals with a bottle of water after a passenger he tried to rape said she had HIV to stop him attacking her.

Suleiman Abdirizak, 42, 'freaked out' when the woman told him she was infected with the disease and doused his penis with water from a squash bottle, it is claimed.

He was so upset his victim had to comfort him and reassure him he would not contract the virus, Snaresbrook Crown Court was told.

Abdirizak is alleged to have raped the woman as he drove her home from a night out in Hoxton, east London 

Prosecutor Sarah Morris said the victim had been out of a meal and drink at Hoxton Bar and Grill on November 10 last year and felt unwell after drinking a bottle of wine.

She ordered an Uber and Abdirizak picked her up but took her on the wrong route home, jurors heard.

He suggested she cancel an Uber pool request, where passengers ride together for a cheaper rate, so that she was his only customer.

He then made some 'fairly inappropriate' comments to his passenger, Miss Morris said. During the journey Abdirizak turned off into a dead end in Stepney, and pulled up as the woman slept to fondle her thigh.

Miss Morris said: 'He got into the back and put his penis into her mouth.

'He said: "I'll only drive you if you suck my d***".

'She told him a lie, she told him she had HIV to keep him away from her.

'He immediately left her alone and rinsed out his mouth and penis with water.

'She started comforting him and reassured him that she could not get it by touching. 'She told her flatmate about what had just happened when she got home and he telephoned the police.

'The journey should have taken about 20 minutes. They were in that cab for 43 minutes.

'His telephone shows that for nine minutes they were in fact in Buckle Street.

'That's where the rape took place.'

Abdirizak said it was the woman who told him to stop the car because she was going to be sick.

'He said she got into the front seat next to him, getting close to him, asking what perfume he was wearing.

'He said it was her idea that they should go somewhere more private to be sick.

'He knew she was drunk, he described her as "annoying".

In her police interview the woman said she was 'scared inside' as she told the driver she had HIV.

She said: 'I remember the car stopped and by the time I woke up I could feel him touching the side of my leg.

'I said ''what are you doing?'' He said: "You a pretty girl, you must get that a lot".

'He got off his seat and then came to the back and by the time he came to the back he had already got his penis out.

'I said ''stay away from me.'' 

She added: 'I don't know how I thought of this idea to lie to him, I said I have an illness and you don't want to sleep with me.

'He thought it was an STD or something, I told him I have HIV and have had it for five years. 

A four-year-old boy has been crushed to death after a 450lb iron gate fell on him while he played football on a family holiday in italy 

Angelo Quirino, from Manchester, was visiting family near Rome when the freak accident happened on Saturday.

Reports suggest the youngster was playing with his brother when the tragedy occurred.

His uncle and neighbours near the property they had hired in Anzio, 40 miles south of the capital, rushed to help after hearing screams, but found him unconscious. The Manchester Evening News reports the youngster sustained injuries to his collarbone and head.

An air ambulance arrived at the scene and medics tried to resuscitate the youngster for more than 45 minutes, but to no avail.  

Italian media have suggested the boy was with his mother, brother and little sister and his father has flown out from Manchester after learning the news. 

Police immediately cordoned off their family's holiday villa and an investigation has since been launched to find out how the 200kg - 450lb - gate fell on him. 

The family of six-year-old football fan Bradley Lowery has announced they are 'mega excited' after a charity set up in his name is finally official. 

The huge Sunderland supporter died last month after he was diagnosed with neuroblastoma when he was just 18 months old.

His story touched the hearts of people across the world, with celebrities, football stars and clubs supporting him throughout his brave battle.

A Just Giving page which was set up to help other families in similar situations has raised more than £390,000 after almost 11,000 people donated to the cause. His mother, Gemma Lowery, from Blackhall Colliery, Co Durham, announced the news on Tuesday that the Bradley Lowery Foundation is now a registered charity. 

She said: 'We're mega excited to announce that after a lot of behind the scenes work, we've got a registered charity number for the Bradley Lowery Foundation.

'We're hoping to support, advise and encourage families on their fundraising campaigns to reach their target and get their child medical treatment and equipment. 'We'll give out some grants, but we'll also spend time building rapport with families to support them in all kinds of different ways. 

'We're also hoping to get a holiday home for families to use for short breaks, to give them some normality in their lives.'

It comes as Bradley will be remembered with a charity match held by Everton FC next month.  

A host of celebrities are set to form teams Bradley's Blues and The Lowery Legends for the game at Goodison Park on September 3.

He was a mascot for Everton, Sunderland and England last year. On Tuesday, Everton FC's Twitter account posted a video of the youngster, including clips of him on the pitch at Goodison, along with a link to buy tickets to the charity fixture.

The Sunderland fan was shown wearing an Everton shirt with the message 'Cancer has no colours' written on the back.

Everton Chairman Bill Kenwright said: 'There's little that I could ever add to the tributes to Bradley, that have already been fulsome throughout the world of football - and onwards.

'I didn't know him for long. But from the second he walked out onto the pitch with his beloved Sunderland Football Club against us, I felt an overwhelming 'blue' need to support him.

'(Majority shareholder) Farhad (Moshiri) and my Everton colleagues immediately supported that need.

'Everyone at Everton feels honoured to support this match to celebrate the short life of one of football's all-time greats - there's only one Bradley Lowery.'

Tickets cost £10 for adults or £5 for under-16s and can be booked online at evertonfc.com/bradley. 

Police today arrested a man found with class A drugs at a 'kink rave' after a reveller in his 50s was found dead in a tent and a woman in her 40s was airlifted to hospital. 

Clean-up teams allegedly found the duo as they cleared the controversial Flamefest site after the three-day event over the weekend near Royal Tunbridge Wells in Kent. 

The man was pronounced dead and the woman was taken away in a helicopter. This afternoon, a man in his 20s was arrested on suspicion of possession of class A drugs.

It was also revealed tonight that the woman was out of intensive care in hospital.

The festival caused uproar in the exclusive town after it was announced, offering an 'adult play area' staffed by dominatrix and a variety of kinky workshops. Police will be searching a number of addresses in relation to the investigation, but said they do not expect to make any more arrests. 

Only yesterday organiser Helen Smedley praised everyone involved including stewards and 'dungeon monitors' for helping to run the 'brilliant' event.

Miss Smedley had previously said members of the public would not witness 'outdoor sex' as revellers would go to 'safe places' to romp at the 'private event'.

Around 250 people paid up to £600 to attend the weekend-long festival - which finished on Sunday - and organisers drafted in extra security to stop gatecrashers.

But South East Coast Ambulance Service were called to reports of two people found unconscious at a field in the Southborough area of the town at 6am today.

Witnesses reported seeing five police cars and two ambulances today at the site.

Police were pictured focusing the investigation close to a white bell tent among other bell tents on the site. An area outside one of the tents was taped off. One neighbour, who wished to remain anonymous, said he was woken by the sound of the air ambulance landing at around 6am today.

He said: 'We heard at about 6am this morning the helicopter flying over. We heard at the beginning it was two ladies who had died of carbon monoxide poisoning.

'We've since been told it was a man in his 50s and a young woman. We don't know for sure. It's so sad.

'Maybe they were cold and put a stove in their tent or something? That's all we know. The police have been there all morning.'

A black private ambulance drove out of the campsite today carrying the body of the man. A post mortem will now be held to establish the exact cause of death. 

Zulhash Uddin, ward councillor for High Brooms and Tunbridge Wells at the local council, has called for a full review of safety measures at future events. 

He said: 'It is so sad to hear that somebody has lost their life. My heart goes out to the family affected.

'More importantly safety is a number one issue at events like these and this will trigger a review when we do get the council issuing permits and licensing.

'Obviously local people did raise concerns about the festival. I am sure this will be looked at by the appropriate agencies.

'As a local representative obviously I will be speaking to the relevant agencies to make sure if there's anything we can learn to make sure it never happens again.

'This is very tragic. Obviously for now we need to be patient and find out the exact cause of this incident.'

A 10-year-old girl fought off a pervert after he sexually assaulted her as she walked through the woods.

The schoolgirl was attacked when she was walking through the woods in Claygate, Surrey, but managed to kick the man and sprint off.

Police have now launched a manhunt for the bearded Asian man, who was wearing blue Chelsea jogging bottoms. 

Officers released an e-fit of the suspect, who is described as being 40 to 45 years old and 6ft 1ins tall with a 'stocky build'. 

He has collar length black hair and a full black beard and was wearing a grey or white T shirt.

The suspect was later spotted by witnesses running in Claygate and was heading towards nearby Chessington.  

The assault took place in the woods which run parallel a street, Foxwarren, between 6pm and 6.30pm on Thursday, August 17.      

Detective Constable Helen Flower, who is investigating the incident said: 'I'd like to reassure the community that we're making every effort to identify this man as quickly as we can. Alternatively the independent charity Crimestoppers can be contacted anonymously on 0800 555 111

After roaming the planet for 165 million years, it is thought the dinosaurs were wiped off the face of the planet when an asteroid crashed into Earth 66 million years ago. 

The impact of the asteroid would have thrown up huge amounts of debris, and new computer simulations have revealed the extent to which this affected our planet. 

The findings suggest that Earth would have been plunged into darkness for as long as two years. The new results were found by the National Centre for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) with support from Nasa and the University of Colorado Boulder.

The team used computers to model what Earth might have looked at the end of the Cretaceous Period, after a large asteroid struck what is now the Yucatán Peninsula, beneath the gulf of Mexico.

The impact is likely to have set off earthquakes, tsunamis and even volcanoes across the planet.

Now the new computer models may help scientists understand why more than three quarters of the species on the planet at the time died, while some survived. 'The extinction of many of the large animals on land could have been caused by the immediate aftermath of the impact, but animals that lived in the oceans or those that could burrow underground or slip underwater temporarily could have survived,' said NCAR scientist Charles Bardeen, who led the study.

'Our study picks up the story after the initial effects - after the earthquakes and the tsunamis and the broiling.

'We wanted to look at the long-term consequences of the amount of soot we think was created and what those consequences might have meant for the animals that were left.'

In March this year, core samples revealed life quickly re-emerged all around the globe after the Yucatan Peninsula asteroid struck, according to Dr Christopher Lowery, a researcher at the University of Texas-Austin, speaking at a conference at the Lunar and Planetary Sciences Conference (LPSC) in Houston.

But the new study showed life on Earth would have looked very different for years after the collision.

The simulations found 15,000 million tons of soot would have been sent into the atmosphere after the asteroid hit, forming a barrier between the Earth and sunlight. 'At first it would have been about as dark as a moonlit night,' said co-author Owen Toon, a researcher at the University of Colorado Boulder.

Gradually the layer of soot would have dispersed, brightening the sky, but photosynthesis would have been impossible for more than a year and a half.

As the asteroid would have already damaged the plants on Earth beyond repair, the lack of sunlight would have hit phytoplankton in the oceans the hardest.

An Australian burns survivor, who was doused in methylated spirit and set alight by a jealous woman, has vividly recalled the horror of the attack in a new book.

Dana Vulin, 31, from Perth, has undergone more than 200 surgical procedures since she was set on fire in February 2012 by Natalie Dimitrovska - who was jealous Dana had spoken to her estranged husband during a party. 

Dana was at home the night Dimitrovska visited her, accompanied by a friend, Daniel Stone.

Dimitrovska demanded to know where her husband was - wrongly thinking Dana and he were romantically linked. 'The flames were everywhere: my shoulders, my naked stomach — only my boobs were protected by my tiny boob tube.

'The flames spread to my head, my hair went up in seconds, and when I reached up to wipe the burning chemicals off my face, my hands were already on fire.'

Dana said her instinct was to drop and roll - but by doing so spread the fire further around her body. 'The pain was excruciating, but through my screaming I could hear Natalie and Daniel making their escape through the sliding door,' Dana wrote in her book.

'They were laughing at me while I burnt alive.

'When I stood up the flames were getting worse, and I could barely think through the pain. 

'Panicked, I turned to the sink, trying to put the flames out by pouring a bucket of water over myself. Dana said she kept screaming for help - desperate for anyone to hear - while across the room her beloved dog, Killer, was whining in terror. 

'I knew that I needed to get help. I was as good as dead without it. 

'As I fumbled with the front door I could feel the skin falling from my fingers,' she wrote.

'I managed to get the door open and crossed the hallway to the unit next to mine, kicking at the door while yelling for help. 

'Long moments passed. There was no answer. 'Even after the fire was finally extinguished the chemicals continued burning me and it was so intense.

'I screamed so loud and for so long that when someone finally came, he wasn’t even my neighbour.

'The guy who turned up was working out in the gym of an apartment building next to mine, and he’d heard my screams and come running.