Ex-MI6 agent Christopher Steele has been named as the author of the salacious 'dirty' Russian dossier containing outlandish claims about Donald Trump's sex life and bizarre footage held by the Kremlin's blackmail unit. Steele, 52, was seen fleeing his gated Surrey home (top right) in his car yesterday and appears to have been in such a rush most of the lights were left on. A security source said: 'He is terrified for his safety', adding he may now be abroad or in a safe house. Mr Steele served MI6 for nearly two decades in Moscow and security sources say he once worked with murdered Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko. After leaving the secret service he set up a security business based in a grand Belgravia office block with Christopher Burrows (bottom right today), also a former MI6 agent. He refused to discuss the report, if his colleague had written it or where he was hiding. Mr Steele was reportedly hired by enemies of Donald Trump and was asked to do a 'general' trawl on the billionaire's links to Russia. A former colleague said he is 'more showy and less grounded in reality than you might expect a former SIS (MI6) person to be'.

No, President-elect Donald Trump didn't pay prostitutes to urinate on his bed in the presidential suite at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Moscow, three years ago. Neither did Trump do this to deliberately defile a bed that had been used by Barack and Michelle Obama. Buzzfeed, the website part-owned by NBC that broke ranks and published the allegations and edited by Ben Smith admits it has no evidence to prove it's true, has not been able to independently verify it, and may never be able to verify it.

Nutritionist Nichola Whitehead has put together two very different meal plans: one healthy (left) and one full of junk food (right). But it's much harder to work out which one contains more calories than you may think. Can you guess which diet is more calorific than the other? Nichola says she drew up the plans to encourage people to focus on the healthiness of their food, rather than on counting numbers.

The horrific suicide video of a 12-year-old girl has gone viral - and police say there is nothing they can do to stop it. Katelyn Nicole Davis (pictured left and right), of Cedartown, Georgia, streamed herself on Facebook live on December 30, saying that she had been sexually abused by a family member. She continued filming as she hanged herself in the front yard of her Cedartown home. Now the video is being shared online, however, and Polk County authorities say they are powerless to stop it proliferating, Fox 5 reported Wednesday.

Extraordinary footage taken in the 9 News studio shows newsreader Amber Sherlock having a meltdown after realising she, a fellow journalist and her guest were all wearing white. She descended into rage after spotting 9 News presenter Julie Snook and psychologist Sandy Rae sporting similar dresses to her moments before going live. Directing her anger at her colleague, Ms Sherlock demanded Ms Snook put on a different coloured jacket, creating an extremely awkward situation for their guest. Speaking to her producer, the presenter said: 'I need Julie to put a jacket on because we're all in white. I asked her before we came on... Julie you need to put a jacket on. I told you two hours ago.' Ms Snook tried to claim her dress was actually blue, but she then agreed to put on a black jacket that was lying around in the newsroom. Despite their incredibly diva-esque row, the pair were all-smiles when they went on air.

Welcome to the era of the age-defying mid-lifers. We're now witnessing the inescapable rise of the Sister Mothers, so-called because they look more like siblings than mother and daughter. How is it that a generation of thirtysomethings are now being out-shone by attractive mums who, a generation ago, would have retreated to the slippered comfort of home and embraced a grey perm and elasticated slacks once they hit the menopause? (Pictured above: Sophie and Amanda, Vicky and Holly, Andressa and Marizete and Emily-Jane and Jillian)

On Wednesday's instalment of Good Morning Britain, Piers Morgan and his co-host Susanna Reid were seen questioning whether or not Amal Clooney is pregnant. And a day earlier, the 38-year-old human rights lawyer did little to quell the speculation as she wrapped up in a loose-fitting cream sweater for a romantic countryside stroll with her Hollywood actor husband George Clooney, 55. Amal cut a chic figure for the couple's relaxed walk near their riverside Berkshire home as she draped a green jacket over her top, which she teamed with grey cigarette cut trousers, tucked into a pair of knee-high brown boots.

What do you get when you cross a pug with a beagle, a shihtzu with a Yorkshire terrier or a maltese with a poodle? The answer is Britain's latest pet craze - as 'puggles', 'shorkies' (shown number 1) and 'maltipoos' (number 4) have seen the number of designer dogs rise almost eightfold in a decade. Last year the most popular were the 'cockapoo' (number 6), a cross between a cocker spaniel and poodle, and the 'labradoodle', a mixture of labrador and poodle, according to research. Crossbred dogs are often family-friendly, having inherited some of the best traits from their breeding pairs. They are also hypoallergenic, so allergy-sufferers can own them. Owners include Jennifer Aniston, who has a labradoodle (number 3), and Sylvester Stallone, who has a puggle (number 5). White Cross Vets, which has 16 practices, said that in 2006 it had 115 designer crossbreeds registered. By last year, it had 886.

The s-400 Triumph air defence system has been providing air cover for Russian forces in Syria since November, and is now being deployed on home soil around the city of Moscow. It is capable of hitting moving airborne targets including planes and incoming missiles and has a range of 400km and trucks (pictured) were seen carrying what appeared to the the protection mechanisms. The news has emerged the day the US sent more than 3,000 troops to Poland in response to Nato's concern Russia was becoming more aggressive.

A man who tips the scales at a whopping 68½ stone (960 lbs) is claiming to be the world's strongest man. Gentle giant Arbab Khizer Hayat has already been named Pakistan's hulk man. A thrilling video shows the big man stopping a tractor and cars with his bare hands. 25-year-old Hayat says he wants to become a weightlifting champion.

Anyone with £82million lying around in spare change at some point in 2016 could have struck one of the biggest real estate deals around. A luxury residential property in the exclusive Peak neighbourhood of Hong Kong (top left) fetched $270million (£221million), a record for China. In Texas, Beal Bank founder Andrew Beal shelled out $100million (£82million) for a 28,000-square foot mansion in Dallas (bottom left). Detroit Pistons owner Tom Gores paid $100million (£82million) for a 30,000-square-foot property in exclusive Holmby Hills (top right). Hugh Hefner originally asked for $200million (£164million) for his prized Playboy Mansion (bottom right), but he had to settle for a measly $100million (£82million).

Sophie Braithwait, 19, of Sheffield, who starved herself to look like Cheryl Cole has told how she shrunk to just under 5st 13lbs after developing anorexia and living on an apple a day (left). The turning point came when she passed out from a blood test because her body was so weak, and she has now recovered (right) with the support of he boyfriend (inset) and family.

Prince Harry's girlfriend Meghan Markle looked glum as she stepped out for her first yoga session of the new year in Toronto. It's the first time the Suits actress has been spotted out and about since her romantic getaway with the royal (inset) to see the Northern Lights earlier this month. Having spent Christmas apart, the loved-up couple celebrated the new year together before flying out to Tromso, on the Norwegian fjords, where they also whale watched and enjoyed romantic lake trips.

Camden Council is reviewing a request to cut down the 80 foot tree (right), heavily trim another and remove wisteria, honeysuckle and a group of hornbeams which are blamed for causing cracks to a house (inset) in a side-street in the north London area. Locals are unhappy, however, at the prospect of losing a tree which has stood for generations and become a local landmark in their back gardens. The application was submitted by the couple's neighbour. Ms Weisz, the star of The Mummy and The Constant Gardener, married Bond star Craig (together, left) in 2011. An engineer's report said the trees have caused subsidence in the neighbouring property, built in 1850.

Mother-of-one Maxine Caulfield (right) was walking her dogs in the 'haunted' woods of Slieveanorra in Northern Ireland when she said her pets used their 'sixth sense' to spot the mystery 'beast'. She took photos of the area but it wasn't until she returned home that she saw a strange 'furry' figure (left) that she believes may be Bigfoot. Ghost stories have been told about the woods since a US Air Force B17 Flying Fortress bomber crashed into a mountain there, killing eight of the ten people on board.

Sandra Weir, 41, (pictured left) launched the brutal attack on Mary Logie, 82, (right) at the pensioner's home in Leven, Fife, (inset) last January. The grandmother, also known as Rae, suffered 31 injuries to her head and neck, including multiple skull fractures. Prosecutors believe Weir, a heroin addict who drained the pensioner's bank accounts for drugs money, then left her victim lying seriously injured but alive for hours before returning to deliver the fatal blows. Emergency service sources have claimed that when they arrived she took out her phone for a game of Candy Crush.

The creepy CCTV footage was posted online, apparently by the child's concerned father. It is unclear as of yet where the video was filmed but shows very strange events in the girl's home. Her dad is said to have installed the cameras after she complained that something was bothering her.

This is the moment a self-proclaimed 'Welsh Steve Irwin' was nearly EATEN after boasting it was 'no big deal' he was petting a lion. A tattooed and shirtless Robbie Gaine, 29, was petting the lion before it turned and lunged for him - forcing him to hide in the predator's den. Robbie is on a 21-day lads' holiday to Thailand and decided to visit an animal sanctuary on Tuesday where they could feed wild animals and pose for pics next to them. Dad-of-one Robbie proudly stood next to the lion and boasted it was 'no big deal, nothing to see here' as he stroked the big cat at the safari park a few hours drive from Bangkok.

Miss Universe contestant Chalita Suansane, from Thailand, arrived at the airport with 17 large suitcases that tipped the scales at 300kg (seen right) - ten times the baggage allowance. But the 22-year-old beauty queen (left) was not worried about the extra weight, insisting it 'wasn't all that heavy'. Miss Suansane (inset with just some of the cases) was photographed as she jetted off to Manila, in the Philippines, where the annual pageant starts on Saturday.

Audrey Doering and Gracie Rainsberry, hugged for the first time ever Tuesday (left). They grew up in Wisconsin and Washington respectively and didn't know about each other until last month. Audrey's mother looked for her daughter's 'finding ad', a photo that gets published in Chinese newspapers when a baby is placed in an orphanage. The mother (pictured right, first from left) was shocked to see that the photo (inset) featured not one but two babies - meaning her daughter had a sibling. She later tracked down the Rainsberrys, leading to Tuesday's emotional reunion. Audrey and Gracie had spoken via FaceTime before, but had never met in person.

The distressing video shows a hysterical toddler (left) pulling at her aunt's 'lifeless' body. It is part of a grim online craze in South Africa for posting pictures by people faking their own deaths (pictured right, a woman pretending to have been stabbed and a man appearing to have been run over). The mother of the distraught two year-old, who posted a 20 second clip of her child's distress as she attempts to rouse her inert aunt on the floor, has remained defiant in the face of calls for her to be prosecuted and lose custody of the girl. 'My baby was in on the joke,' Bontle Goitsimang insisted to MailOnline. 'She knew what was going on, she realised it was a joke, I think she is laughing more than crying.' WARNING: Graphic content.

Two men lay splayed out on the floor with fruit placed around their limbs and above their heads in the footage reportedly filmed during a Sikh festival in southern India. A man wearing a large orange blindfold and wielding a sledgehammer high above his head then attempts to smash the fruit. A large crowd looks on in awe as he is seen successfully breaking the watermelons and coconuts placed around the first volunteer.

Oscar Jefferson (left), 8, who only moved to the Costa del Sol with his family two years ago, was comforted by one of the show's judges after he began crying on the Spanish version of the cookery show. The junior chef was attempting to cook his grandfather Michael Jefferson's take on fish and chips but sadly failed to finish the dish in time (top right). Viewers of the show could not help but fall in love with the boy after he described in Spanish how he'd 'let his granddad down'.

Carmel Munro, from Vinifera, Australia, walked into her garden shed on January 9 to find a female redback spider battling a snake that it had caught in its web. Despite tossing and turning the large snake cannot shake itself free as the spider approaches to inject its venom.

The pair were filmed happily grooving away on a dance floor in Kyrgyzstan until the man attempted a risky move. Miscalculating his strength he launched his dance partner over his shoulders leaving her lying on her back on the dance-floor. He attempts to keep dancing with her afterwards.

Instead of tackling a monster burger or a huge plate of hot dogs Myles Scott (pictured), from London, took eating challenges in a much healthier direction. The 26-year-old filmed himself opening his mouth as wide as possible and shoving an apple inside. He then proceeded to chew and chew until the fruit was completely gone, stopping only very briefly to remove the apple stalk.