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A 14-year-old girl - named locally as Demi Pearson (main image) - was declared dead at the scene of the blaze in Salford before an eight-year-old boy and a seven-year-old girl died in hospital. A three-year-old girl is also fighting for her life in hospital. The 35-year-old mother of all the children is also in a serious condition in hospital, but has not been told of her children's deaths. The fire is being treated as suspicious and police have launched a murder probe. Police erected screens around fire-ravaged house today.

Britain is bracing for its coldest night in nearly seven years as temperatures fall to -15C (5F) tonight after a chaotic 'Black Monday' saw more snow and treacherous ice causing travel chaos. Much of the country has been paralysed in the last 30 hours following the first serious snowfall of winter - with more than 2,000 schools closed and at least 4,500 homes remaining without power today. And the Trades Union Congress told employers not to force staff to make hazardous journeys into work, saying firms should give staff advice on what to do when snow, ice and a lack of public transport stops them getting in. Pictured: Snowy conditions in Danbury, Essex (top left), cars edge through floodwaters on the A20 in Aylesford, Kent (bottom left), people make their way through snow and sleet on Westminster Bridge in London (top right), a boy slides on an inflatable tube at Bradgate Park in Leicestershire (bottom right), and a 'closed' sign hangs on the gate of Cobden Primary School in Loughborough, Leicestershire, after snowfall (centre).

In Wales (pictured today) around 500 schools are closed, 400 will not open today in Birmingham and approximately 300 are shut in both Staffordshire and Gloucestershire. Critics branded the closures 'ridiculous' and said headteachers were 'too quick' to close their doors to pupils in bad weather. Many parents have expressed their disbelief because their local schools have been closed because of snow - even though they haven't got any. Howard Webster wrote: 'I can't ever remember a time when my school was closed because of the weather: We're breeding a generation of wimps governed by a generation scared s***less by health and safety legislation'. Frank Crisp tweeted: 'Staggered to see local schools closed because of snow just seen the woman across the road who is in her 80s walking back from the paper shop and kids can't even walk to school'.

Much of the country has been paralysed in the past 24 hours following the first serious snowfall of winter - and today more than 2,000 schools are closed and at least 4,500 homes remain without power. Cars have been abandoned and motorists left stranded as some suffered crashes on the roads - while thousands spent the night at Heathrow, Birmingham, Stansted and Luton airports after flights were delayed or cancelled. Some 50,000 British Airways passengers are said to be stranded - 30,000 in the UK and 20,000 in Europe after a cold night which saw temperatures fall to -12.2C (10F) in the aptly-named Chillingham Barns, Northumberland. But people were quick to see the funny side and social media was full of memes and jokes about the UK as it struggled to deal with the adverse weather conditions, using the hashtags #SnowWatch and #BlackIceMonday.

The PM faced a grilling in the Commons on why she had agreed to hand over up to £39billion to Brussels when the country was still going through austerity. Conservative backbencher Philip Davies told Mrs May: 'She said there had been give and take in this negotiation and she is absolutely right - we are giving the EU tens of billions of pounds and they are taking it.' The PM insisted the government was taking 'responsibility' and insisted the taxpayer would soon see 'significant savings' that could be pumped into key public services. She also made clear the payment would be 'off the table' if a trade agreement with the EU was not reached. The clashes came as Mrs May was forced to move to appease anger in Dublin after David Davis played down the effect of the painstakingly-assembled deal and suggested it would not be 'legally enforceable'. The Brexit Secretary was embarrassingly sent out this morning to correct his comments - promising that Britain would stand by the arrangements and they were 'more than legally enforceable'.

Wu Yongning, 26, filmed himself doing pull-ups at the top of the Huayuan International Centre in Changsha, China, when he lost his grip and fell 45ft to his death on a terrace below. Uncle Feng Shengliang said Wu was planning to propose to his girlfriend two days after this video was filmed, and was going to offer her a bridal gift of £8,000. He was due to earn around £11,000 from the footage. Wu died on November 8, but the tragedy was only made public on December 8 when his family confirmed it.

Self-described feminist Meghan Markle, 36, wore the saucy ensemble while working as  'Briefcase Babe' on the US TV show Deal or No Deal back in 2006. Working on the series saw Meghan wearing a whole host of risque outfits. Another episode sees the future royal pose in a blue satin mini dress while in another she wears a black satin catsuit. Meghan joined NBC's Deal or No Deal in 2006, in which contestants choose from sealed briefcases that contained a marker for various amounts of money.

A Welshman who flew to the Dominican Republic to live with his internet girlfriend is now stranded in the country after she rejected him because he 'doesn't have any money'. Struggling mum-of-four Wilfa Soto Peguero claimed she agreed to get to know balding Brit Glyn Thomas Bailey in person after he offered to help her raise her children. But she claimed when she went to pick up at the Caribbean airport, he had no return ticket and no money. He became a celebrity on the island when she made a video and posted it to social media, begging someone to take Mr Bailey off her hands because she couldn't afford to feed him.

Georgia 'Toff' Toffolo shared a triumphant photo of herself eating three plates of food in bed on Monday after she was crowned the winner of I'm A Celebrity in Australia. And the Made In Chelsea beauty, 23, looked content as she swapped her hammock and jungle gear for a luxury bed at five star Palazzo Versace Hotel and her silk PJs. Still sporting her crown of flowers, she ate breakfast like a king for the first time in three weeks after her grueling stint in the jungle saw her survive on a slimming diet mainly made up of beans and rice. 

From boasting about their criminal past (bottom centre) to scrawling in pen across the page (top centre), these job-seekers struggled to understand even the most basic rules of putting together a CV. One childish applicant added a picture of a monkey to his resume (top left) while another features a bizarre portrait (bottom left). Some kept information to a minimum on their applications (top right). Meanwhile one callous person tried to use an employee's death to their advantage (bottom right).

Stunning photos show indigenous Kamaiurá people diving underwater and swimming beneath a waterfall in the Amazonian basin in a remote part of Brazil. The Kamaiurá, whose name means 'a raised platform to keep meat, pots and pans', were first contacted by the outside world in 1884. Its population was ravaged by disease in the 1950s but the region was declared a national park by the Brazilian authorities in 1961 to prevent the spread of deadly epidemics.

A beaming President Vladimir Putin shook the hand of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad before declaring that their military alliance had been a victory for the Syrian regime. Speaking during a visit to a Russian military airbase near Latakia, northeast Syria, Putin announced that he has ordered a pullout of 'a significant part' of Russian forces from Syria after helping Assad defeat the 'most battle-ready group of international terrorists,' apparently referring to ISIS. Putin and Assad watched a parade by Russian troops and met with air force pilots (bottom right) before a sit-down meeting (top right) during the Russian president's flying visit.

Several celebrities have come out in support of a young Tennessee boy pleading to be left alone by bullies. Keaton Jones (left), of Knoxville, asked his mother, Kimberly Jones, to record a video of him asking why bullies at school were bothering him. In the clip he explains through tears that bullies make fun of him because of his nose, call him ugly and have even poured milk on him. Celebrities among the likes of (clockwise from top left) Hailee Steinfeld, Mark Ruffalo, Mark Hamill, Cardi B, Kevin Jonas, Chris Evans, and Demi Lovato have all shown their support and have even offered to take Keaton on trips and to premieres.

EXCLUSIVE: Sixties poster girl Marianne Faithfull (top right today), 70, opened the doors to her stylish apartment in Montparnasse, Paris, for a new interview. The singer's walls are adorned in striking works of art while half of her bed is covered in books (top left). Tucked away in the bathroom is a photo of her and Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger (inset bottom together in 1969) and on a side table sits a hand-written note from Keith Richards (bottom left). The profile gives a remarkable insight into the former wild child's new life in her adopted home, France, where she lives alone and takes daily walks around Paris with the help of a cane.

Holly Willoughby, 36, (inset) enjoyed some quality time with her children (main) while the UK was covered in snow on Sunday, but when the This Morning presenter shared a sweet snap of her little ones in her back garden, her followers spotted something very strange lurking in the background (top right).

Three people have been hurt after a house was blown to pieces by an early morning gas explosion that was so fierce it also damaged six neighbouring properties. An elderly man was dramatically pulled alive from the rubble (shown top and left) by rescuers, while the bedroom of a house next door was ripped away by the blast, injuring the couple living there (pictured before the blast, right). Jeanette Jasper, 79, is said to be in a serious condition in a major trauma centre in Coventry after she was crushed by a wall as she lay in her bed. Her husband John, 80, who was in the kitchen at the time of the explosion, has also been hospitalised. Pictures from the site, in the Birstall area of Leicester, reveal debris strewn across the street, windows blown out and door frames hanging off their hinges.

A trio of the president's accusers reemerged on Monday to hound him for sexually harassing them. Samantha Holvey, Jessica Leeds and Rachel Crooks had previously made allegations against Trump and appeared on Megyn Kelly 'Today' to demand justice as the White House resumed its claim that the issue had been litigated in last year's election. 'All of a sudden, he's all over, me, kissing and groping and groping and kissing,' said Leeds, a self-proclaimed Democrat, who says she revealed her story because 'I wanted people to know what kind of a person that Trump really is...what a pervert he is.' Leeds claims that Trump assaulted on a plane in the '70s and called her a 'c***' when he ran into her some time later at a party in New York while he was still married to his first wife Ivana.

The world is one huge, must-see place. Breaking it down into manageable priorities can be tricky and even the most seasoned tourist can find decision-making overwhelming. Fortunately for us, the experts at National Geographic Traveler have created a bucket list for 2018, including Hawaii (main), Albania (bottom left) and Jordan (top right).

People from around the world took to Reddit to share photos of the very worst roommate behaviour, including unwanted pranks (top right), passive aggressive notes (bottom left) and a kitchen sink left piled high with dirty dishes (bottom right). One disappointed diner shared a photo of a partially-eaten pizza (top centre) while another flatmate was disgusted to find a box filled with urine on their fridge shelf (top left).

An arrested man's fingers were chopped off when a police station door was slammed shut, leading to calls for the force to fit 'finger guards'. Decorator Jamie Clark (pictured, left, following the accident), 28, was left 'screaming in agony' and begging to be let out of the cell after losing his fingers (inset, his hand after the incident), but says nobody came to help until a piece of his flesh was found in the corridor. The father-of-one says he was pepper sprayed, stripped naked and bundled into the room in Llanelli, South Wales, after being wrongly accused of attempting to assault a police officer.

Chandler Self won the women's division of the BMW Dallas marathon with a time of 2:53:58 - but not without the help of 17-year-old Ariana Luterman, who helped her cross the finish line. Luterman, of Addison, Texas, was running the final two miles of the race with Self, a psychiatrist from New York, as part of a relay team with her elite high school, the Greenhill Academy. In the final half mile of the race, Self began to collapse, and in the final 200 yards she fell to her feet several times. Each time, Luterman helped her to her feet. As they reached the finish line, Luterman pushed Self ahead, and with the support of the teen, Self lunged across and won the race.

The 2.7-acre Tavern Island in Norwalk, Connecticut, which was first inhabited by European settlers in 1651, is just an hour from New York City. Just a five-minute boat ride from the mainland, the showpiece of the property is the 6,000-square-foot stone manor, which is accompanied by a one-bedroom boat house; a tea house; a two-bedroom caretaker's cottage; and a maintenance shed. The property also boasts two private beaches and a 75-foot-long swimming pool.

It was the lift of the series, a show-stopping display of strength and balance that laughed in the face of gravity. However, Joe McFadden and his partner Katya Jones' move didn't quite come off for the fans that tried it at home. (Pictured left and inset: Strictly fans attempt to master the daring move pulled off by Joe and Katya (Right) on Strictly during Saturday night's semi-final)

Huge crowds packed a public memorial in Zagreb, Croatia for a service to remember war criminal Slobodan Praljak whose final act was to kill himself in front of UN judges (right). Public buses ran free of charge to the ceremony for the wartime military commander, who swallowed potassium cyanide last month during a court hearing broadcast live around the world. About 2,000 people filled the main concert hall (left) where the memorial was held, while hundreds more crowded into the building's entry and hallways to watch on giant screens.

This fiendishly hard word puzzle contains 15 images that represent words or phrases, and some are so difficult they're bound to leave you scratching your head. From a metal bed frame festooned with flowers (top left), to a piece of furniture carved out of a vegetable (top centre), you may just be kicking yourself when you find out the answers to these play on words.

An Australian mother-of-two has been left red-faced after spotting a very embarrassing mistake in her children's Santa photo. Tammie Hopley, 29, paid $35 for a selection of meet and greet photos of her children Ryder, two and Ledger, 10 months. But it wasn't until the next day when she realised the photos she had purchased weren't quite as innocent as they appeared. So can you spot the mistake?

The so-called Thomas Fire is only 15 percent contained, now threatening the city of Santa Barbara and the nearby coastal town of Carpinteria, and is on track to become one of the worst wildfires in California history. It has already destroyed 583 structures and scorched 173,000 acres, the authorities say. New evacuations were ordered in Carpinteria, a seaside city in Santa Barbara County that has been under fire threat for days. The new evacuation zone encompasses the entire town of Carpinteria, which has a population of 13,000, and extends within two miles of the Santa Barbara Zoo.

The bad Santa was filmed berating the terrified child during a visit in a village in the northern Romanian county of Bistrita-Nasaud. Santa was in fact the boy's 40-year-old uncle and had been asked by the boy's mother to give him a telling off. She said she'd never hit him but she wanted to 'teach him some discipline'.

Miniature American donkey Ottie (pictured), is six inches shorter than the current Guinness World Record holder at just nine months old. But despite being fully grown, he's not eligible to take the official title until he reaches maturity at a year old. Owner Cheryl Griffiths (inset), 48, from Sawtry, Cambridgeshire, said: 'Ottie's amazing and he's such a good addition. He makes a great pet. My mum has already said she wants to take him off me and he's small enough to walk around her house.'

Footage shows brave amputee Jay Fein hopping into position at a weightlifting competition in Austin, Texas. After taking a few deep breaths, Fein stoops down and lifts the 275lb barbell clean off the ground. Incredibly, he manages to maintain his balance on the single leg, before throwing the weight down and shouting 'Yeah!'

Pinky the cat has got into the routine of lying down to allow the puppies to rush over and drink her milk at feeding time. The story is even more remarkable as it emerged the puppies are from a rival dog named Ruby, who Pinky spent her life fighting - although it does not seem she has carried her grudge to the latest generation. Pinky and Ruby belong to Mohan Naik, from Belthangady in South India.