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If he is acquitted of murder, South African law stipulates that the court must consider the separate, lesser charge of culpable homicide, or manslaughter, for which he could receive between six and 15 years in prison. Mr Pistorius also faces charges of illegally firing a gun in public and of illegally possessing ammunition, both of which he denies.

Oscar Pistorius faced a second day of tough cross-examination Oscar Pistorius has faced a second day of intense cross-examination at his trial in which he was accused of being selfish, reckless and a liar. Chief prosecutor Gerrie Nel focused on the athlete's character, enthusiasm for firearms and version of events before he shot his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

Sriracha maker Huy Fong Foods employs to up to 200 workers and earned about $85m (£50m) last year A California city has declared a factory which produces a popular Asian-style hot pepper sauce a public nuisance, after area residents complained of the odour.

The possible signal was detected by an Australia P-3 Orion searching the southern Indian Ocean A plane searching for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 has detected a possible new signal in the southern Indian Ocean, Australian officials say. An Australian P-3 Orion aircraft picked up the signal in the same area where an Australian vessel detected audio pings earlier this week, officials said.

Pro-Russian protesters have held rallies outside the seized government building in Donetsk Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned European leaders that Ukraine's delays in paying for Russian gas have created a "critical situation". Pipelines transiting Ukraine deliver Russian gas to several EU countries and there are fears that the current tensions could trigger gas shortages. Armed pro-Russian separatists are holed up in official buildings in Donetsk and Luhansk, in eastern Ukraine. Meanwhile, a European human rights body has stripped Russia of voting rights.

'Devastated' Conservative Party chairman Grant Shapps said: "Labour is making much of this today, but let's face it they have MPs who have gone to jail - which is something that hasn't happened on our side - for wrongdoing." Because Mrs Miller's case related to claims made between 2005 and 2009, before the expenses system was reformed, the investigation was governed by the rules which were in place at the time, Mr Shapps said,

Maria Miller has denied being forced to stand down as culture secretary after a damaging row about her expenses, insisting it was her decision. "I take full responsibility for my decision to resign. I think it's the right thing to do," she said. Appearing close to tears, she said the row had become an "enormous distraction" from "the incredible achievements of this government".

Teams searching for the missing Malaysian plane say they will wait for further contact with signals picked up over the weekend before using a submersible to search for debris. An Australian ship has heard signals that officials said could be consistent with "black box" flight recorders. It has not been able to reacquire them since Sunday, however.

Catalan lawmakers appealed to their Spanish counterparts ahead of the vote Spanish MPs have voted overwhelmingly to reject a request by the Catalan authorities to hold a referendum on independence on 9 November.

Police in Norway have released photos in a bid to identify a young man found in a snowdrift near Oslo in December, apparently suffering from amnesia. Police say they do not know where the man comes from but that he speaks good English with an East European accent.