The explosion happened near San Francisco airport and created a huge ball of flames that swept across and engulfed over 50 buildings, officials have said.

Residents of the area admitted they thought the loud bang from the blast was either an earthquake or a plane crashing.

The injured have been transported to local hospitals – including those with burn treatment centres. Regrettably, the local coroner’s office has reported one fatality.

The gas line that exploded belongs to the Northern California utility Pacific & Electric Co.

The fire is still burning, despite the efforts of water-dropping aircraft and land-based fire crews tackling the blaze constantly. The fire spread rapidly after high winds descended after the explosion at around 6pm on Thursday night, local time.

Dennis Haag, the San Bruno Fire Department Chief, said: “The fire is being contained at this point.”

Official figures from the Home Office and the Office for National Statistics (ONS) have revealed that immigration increased by one fifth last year – boosted by the influx of foreign students being allowed into the country.

196,000 more people entered Britain than left it last year, compared with a net migration of 163,000 in 2008.

The figures mean that under Labour’s power (since 1997), three million foreign national were added to the British population.

Meanwhile, separate figures showed that student visas have shot up by a third – bringing the fear that the immigration route is being exploited as a loophole in the system for both legal and illegal immigration.

The overall number of migrants allowed to remain in the country on a permanent basis also increased by a third, while asylums granted (4,190) hit their highest level since 2003.

In total, 567,000 people migrated to Britain last year, while just 371,000 emigrated.

Photo copyright Eversheds LLP

23-year-old Leah Betts found the fox with the pet, Reggie, in its mouth. Before she could do anything, the fox escaped back through the window.

Miss Betts said: “I won’t leave my windows open at night now and it gets really stuffy, but I’m so paranoid.

“To think it was brave enough to come in and stand on my bed like that – I couldn’t believe it.”

Miss Betts was sat with her young son at her home in Folkestone, Kent, when she heard a noise coming from her bedroom.

She ran upstairs thinking it was her dog whimpering, but she found him outside her closed bedroom door.

She opened the door to see the fox on her bed with the kitten in its mouth.

After the fox had escaped, Miss Betts headed over to the kitten to find it was still alive. However, it’s injuries were so severe that after a few days, the feline had to be put the sleep.

“I think they should bring back fox hunting.” Miss Betts concluded, saying she was grateful her son wasn’t younger – as he would have been asleep in that room at the time.”

The news comes after nine-month-old twins Isabella and Lola Koupparis were mauled by an urban fox in June while they slept in their cots in East London.

Photo by peupleloup

31-year-old Gareth Williams had been working for MI6 on a one-year placement, but was due to return to his original job at the GCHQ listening station based in Cheltenham at the start of September.

Police believe that the spy may have had a row with a lover over his decision to return to Gloucestershire, which led to his death.

His murder, however, may still be linked to his work with MI6 – and police haven’t ruled this out.

Officers were seen examining Mr. William’s mobile phone yesterday, which was discovered along with several different sim cards placed besides it. They were also analysing CCTV footage from the cameras near Mr. William’s flat.

Mr. William’s may have known his killer – as there was no sign of forced entry at the flat based in Pimlico, central London.

46-year-old Brian Johnson was jailed for causing death by dangerous driving after he recklessly attempted to cross a flooded river in Wales.

Louise Ferreira, who drowned as the water swept the Land Rover downstream, was on holiday celebrating her GCSE results.

The court heard that two Land Rovers had successful crossed the river near Llyn Brianne, Powys. But Mr. Johnson’s Discovery was swept away, leading to the death of Miss. Ferreira.

The court also heard that an off-road specialist said they should not make an attempt to cross the bulging river, as it was too dangerous. A video was shown in which a man can be heard saying: “If it goes wrong I’ll jump in and we’ll grab the girls; we don’t want them to go under.”

The judge said the case was that serious that an immediate sentence was warranted.

The figure was revealed in a new report commissioned by the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) – which highlighted, for the first time, the true extent of immigration prostitution and sex trafficking in this country.

Over 2,500 women were said to have been trafficked into England and Wales and forced to work as sex slaves.

In addition to this, just under 10,000 prostitutes at brothels and other ‘businesses’ were considered to be “vulnerable migrants” working against their will in the sex industry. Researchers, however could not be sure if these workers had been trafficked.

Police officials said they were surprised by the number of Chinese sex workers across the country.

In one example, one women brought into the UK doesn’t know she’s going to be used as a prostitute but is forced into selling herself to pay off a large debt.

Photo by Rainer Ebert

Home Office minister, Lynne Featherstone, will announce plans to stop the clamping in England and Wales. She will say the law needs to be brought up-to-speed to how it is in Scotland – where clamping on private land was said to be ‘extortion’ and ‘theft’, and was subsequently banned by a judge.

According to The Daily Telegraph, Ms. Featherstone will speak to officials in Northern Ireland about implementing a ban there too.

The cowboy clamping industry – which involves removing cars parked without permission on private land (which can cost the owners as much as £400 to release) – is believed to be worth around £1billion a year.

If brought in, new laws would include measures to stop companies removing cars on private land without permission. Ms. Featherstone added that companies who wanted to protect their land could easily erect barriers to prevent people parking there.

Photo by ell brown

The flight – which was travelling from Bogota into the Caribbean resort island of San Adres – crashed short of the runway. At the time of the crash, locals had reported lightning and heavy winds.

The only person killed on the Aires airline Boeing 737 was 65-year-old Amar Fernandez de Baretto.

As the plane crashed, it broke into several pieces on the runway.

The injured passengers were taken to local hospitals for treatment.

Colonel Gustavo Barrero of the Colombia Air Force commented to reporters: “The plane arriving from Bogota landed in the middle of an intense electrical storm.”

Deputy Director of Colombia’s aeronautics authority, Donald Tascon, added: “The captain of the airliner told us it was struck by lightning. We are inspecting the remains of the plane to try to establish what the damages were and what caused the accident.”

Screenshot of the Sun 4 U Direct homepage

Travel firm Sun 4 U has left around 1,200 British holidaymakers stranded abroad after it collapsed yesterday.

However, those already on holiday with Atol (Air Travel Operators’ Licensing) protected packages should be able to carry on enjoying their getaway as planned.

Holidaymakers who booked their break with Sun 4 U through their travel agent but have yet to travel would be able to obtain their money back if they were covered by an Atol agreement. They would not, however, be able to go on the holiday they booked, and would have to find an alternative getaway.

Those who booked their entire holiday through the collapsed firm will now have to contact their airline and hotel to see if they are still allowed to travel on the package.

Birmingham-based Sun 4 U announced it had stopped trading on its website. A written announcement was published on the site saying: “Sun 4 U Limited has ceased trading as of 11th August 2010 at 2100hrs. For further information please contact ABTA’s claim handlers CEGA on 01243 621 500.”

The news comes after Goldtrail Holidays, another tour operator, collapsed recently. Around 16,000 holiday makers were left abroad when the company went into administration.

Useful link:

• http://www.sun4udirect.com/Important%20CAA%20Documentation.pdf

The 19-year-old shot himself using a shotgun he had taken from the farm he shared with his grandparents.

The teenager’s grandmother was worried that money had disappeared on several occasions, so she questioned Joshua about it.

Detective Constable John Farrow said: “There had been a minor family issue about Joshua possibly taking money from a pot kept at the farmhouse.”

The boy’s mother, Paula, said her parents viewed Joshua like a son, and she cannot believe he took his own life over a few pounds.

The body of Joshua Maher was discovered in a van by two men who had stopped on a lay by on the A390 in Cornwall in February.

Barrie van den berg, assistant coroner, recorded a suicide verdict.