Boy Snatched By Alligator At Disney Found Dead

The body of a two-year-old boy snatched by an alligator at a Disney resort in Florida has been recovered.

The child, named as Lane Graves, was paddling in a foot of water on a beach beside the Seven Seas Lagoon on Tuesday night when the animal dragged him away.

Boats, a helicopter and scores of police officers were involved in the search - and a body has now been recovered.

Fifty police officers were involved in the search

Lane is believed to have been drowned by the alligator.

Sheriff Jerry Demings said he had informed parents Matt and Melissa Graves, from Elkhorn, Nebraska.

"Of course the family was distraught but somewhat relived that they had found his body intact," he said.

A family friend released a statement on behalf of the couple thanking well-wishers for their "thoughts and hope-filled prayers".

The boy's father tried unsuccessfully to pry him from the jaws of the 4-7ft alligator before it disappeared into the 14ft-deep manmade lagoon.

Eyewitness Bill Wilson, visiting from Indiana, said the attack unfolded in less than 30 seconds.

He told the Orlando Sentinal: "I looked over and here comes one of the lifeguards. He said: 'Everybody get out of the water'. The mother was there and she was frantic, running up and down looking."

The body has been sent for a post-mortem examination.

Walt Disney World shut all of its Florida beaches and marinas as a precaution after the incident - the first such death in its 45-year history.

While "no swimming" signs are posted at the lagoon, there are no warnings of alligators.

Sheriff Demings said the authorities would work with Disney on the issue of warning signs. 

At least five other alligators were caught and cut open before they found the boy.

EgyptAir plane wreckage found in Mediterranean

A deep ocean search vessel has identified the remains of the EgyptAir plane that crashed in the eastern Mediterranean, killing 66 people on board, according to Egyptian authorities.

The investigation committee said in a statement late on Wednesday that the vessel "had identified several main locations of the wreckage, accordingly the first images of the wreckage were provided to the investigation committee."

The vessel was contracted by Egypt to join the search efforts for the data recorders and the wreckage.

A search team on board the vessel will now draw a map of the wreckage's distribution spots, the committee said in a statement.

The A320 disappeared from radar en route to Cairo from Paris in May. No group has claimed an attack after the incident.

Nigeria 'bows to pressure to devalue currency'

For months, Nigeria has been in the grips of a severe foreign currency shortage.  As oil prices plummeted so did the country’s foreign currency earnings meaning there was less cash to pay for imports. Unlike other major petroleum producers – such as Russia – Nigeria refused to devalue its currency. The country’s president wanted Nigerian businesses to make what they could not import. He wanted to diversify the economy away from the oil industry.  But that policy led to widespread shortages of raw materials, machine parts, and supermarket products.

The new exchange rate will be welcomed by businesses that were forced onto the black market in order to pay for their imports. On occasions they were paying almost double the official rate for dollars. Foreign investors may also be tempted back as they will get more value for their money.  But the new exchange rate is likely to push up already high inflation. And that will hurt tens of millions of Nigerians who live in abject poverty.

Nigeria 'bows to pressure to devalue currency'

For months, Nigeria has been in the grips of a severe foreign currency shortage.  As oil prices plummeted so did the country’s foreign currency earnings meaning there was less cash to pay for imports. Unlike other major petroleum producers – such as Russia – Nigeria refused to devalue its currency. The country’s president wanted Nigerian businesses to make what they could not import. He wanted to diversify the economy away from the oil industry.  But that policy led to widespread shortages of raw materials, machine parts, and supermarket products.

The new exchange rate will be welcomed by businesses that were forced onto the black market in order to pay for their imports. On occasions they were paying almost double the official rate for dollars. Foreign investors may also be tempted back as they will get more value for their money.  But the new exchange rate is likely to push up already high inflation. And that will hurt tens of millions of Nigerians who live in abject poverty.

Warning Over New Terror Attacks In France

Intelligence suggests that small groups of extremists are planning attacks in France and Belgium after leaving Syria.

Belgian intelligence services informed their French counterparts, who have now advised police across France. 

A French security official said the authorities remained "very cautious" about the information because they received such communications routinely. 

The official added that it was unclear whether there was any link to the murder of a senior policeman and his partner on Monday by a man who pledged allegiance to Islamic State. 

The government's overall understanding of the threat had not changed, the official said. 

French authorities are also on high alert over concerns that extremists could be planning to target the Euro 2016 football tournament. 

A Belgian newspaper, Derniere Heure, citing Belgium's anti-terror office, reported that fighters with access to weapons may have left Syria about 10 days ago, bound for Belgium and France. 

The paper said it had obtained an alert, saying that fighters travelling without passports were believed to be trying to reach Europe by boat via Turkey and Greece.  

Possible targets were said to be a Brussels shopping centre, an American fast-food chain and police. 

Belgium's security threat analysis centre said it would not be changing its advice. 

We are still on level three, quite a high level of threat," said Crisis Centre spokesman Benoit Ramacker.

Level three - of four - means the threat is considered serious, possible and probable.

Belgium has been on level three or above since the Paris attacks in November. 

Mr Ramacker declined to comment on the latest intelligence, saying "there is a lot of information coming in." 

Sir Philip Green: 'We'll Sort' BHS Pensions

Sir Philip Green has apologised for the sale of BHS and its "sad" collapse, telling an MPs' inquiry he is finding a solution to the £571m pension deficit - pledging "we'll sort it".

The retail tycoon said he took ultimate responsibility for the pension shortfall under questions from the joint Business and Work & Pensions committees.

It has proved to be the combative and tetchy session that was predicted - lasting more than four hours so far.

On the controversial sale of BHS last year for £1 to Dominic Chappell's Retail Acquisitions, Sir Philip said he would "1,000,000%" never have sold BHS to him had advisers told him not to - despite a Goldman Sachs 'sniff test' identifying he had previously been declared bankrupt.

He added that Retail Acquisitions was fully aware of the pension liability - insisting it was in the firm's due diligence - but in hindsight "we found the wrong buyer" and he was "sorry" the deal was done with the loss of 11,000 jobs.

Sir Philip looked to dominate the exchanges with MPs from the off and was accused of being "thin-skinned" for taking issue with many lines of questioning.

He argued it was unreasonable for him to have seen every bit of paper and been told everything. At one stage the billionaire even asked a committee member, Richard Fuller, to stop staring at him because it was making him uncomfortable.

He first told the committee: "Nothing is more sad than how this has ended and I hope during the morning you will hear that there was no intent on my part for anything to be like this and didn't need to be like this.

"I just want to apologise to all the BHS people who are involved in this and have been involved".

He admitted mistakes were made in the running of BHS under his watch - including on stock purchases and going online late.

The Topshop tycoon said he had "too strong an emotional tie" with BHS and had probably held onto it for too long and should have sold in 2002 to escape expensive leases that were already in the business before he bought it in 2000.

He was asked to account for £400m in dividends exceeding profits between 2002 and 2004. He dismissed that insisting profits over the period totalled £537m and his Arcadia retail empire had injected £600m into BHS.

However, he did acknowledge an ongoing £20m annual payment to his wife from the purchase of BHS by Arcadia.

He went on to describe a "disconnect" with pension trustees and was never involved with their strategy, arguing he could not do everything in a very large company. He admitted communication was poor but he was "not in charge of the pension fund".

He apologised for not getting involved in tackling a growing deficit until 2012 and said he took responsibility for its size but added that the pensions regulator had failed to make contact until recently.

Following lengthy exchanges, the billionaire confirmed he was working with Deloitte on a plan to ensure the 20,000 members of the schemes get a solution but he stopped short of committing that each person would get their full entitlement.

His remarks implied his likely contribution would be higher than the £275m cost of paying benefits under the Pension Protection Fund.

Boy, 2, Snatched By Alligator At Disney Resort

Police are searching for a child who was snatched by an alligator near Disney's Magic Kingdom Park in Florida.

The two-year-old boy was paddling in a foot of water on a beach beside the Seven Seas Lagoon at 9pm when the animal attacked and dragged him away.

Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings said: "The father was there nearby and the alligator came up and attacked. The father struggled and tried to get his son and was not successful and he alerted others nearby to assist him."

The Disney resort and lagoon into which the boy was dragged

The mother also tried to rescue the boy and a nearby lifeguard was told of the attack, Demings said.

"We have in excess of 50 law-enforcement personnel at the scene actively searching the lake," he added.

"As a father and a grandfather, we are hoping for the best in the circumstances but, based upon my 35 years of law enforcement experience, we know we have some challenges ahead of us."

Police have cordoned off the area near the Grand Floridian Resort & Spa while boats and a helicopter search the 14ft-deep man-made lagoon which is bordered by three holiday resorts and sand beaches.

Disney spokeswoman Jacquee Wahaler said everyone at the resort was devastated and that Disney is helping the family.

When asked if the resort was aware of alligators on the property, Ms Wahaler advised there were signs that said "no swimming".

Sheriff Demings said there had been no other recent reports of similar alligator attacks on the lake.

"We have no record of this happening before," he said.

It is not clear if the child's family, who are from Nebraska, were staying at the resort.

Magic Kingdom Park is one of four theme parks in the Walt Disney World Resort.