Spy Suspects Leave U.S. in Swap With Russia

Spy Suspects Leave U.S. in Swap With Russia

Ten convicted Russian sleeper agents were whisked out of the United States on a plane headed over the Atlantic Ocean late Thursday as part of a deal with Moscow to put a quick end to an episode that threatened to disrupt relations between the two countries.

Even as the Russian spies were being hastily deported, four Russian men deemed spies for the United States and its allies were being pardoned by the Kremlin and prepared for release to the West in exchange. President Dmitri A. Medvedev signed an order to free them and they were expected to leave Russia promptly.

Neither government would say where their respective prisoners were heading initially, but one official familiar with the situation said the Russian spies were flying first to Vienna, where they would be handed over before traveling onto Moscow or any other final destination. The four Russians were to be released Friday morning Moscow time and also head first to Vienna as both sides made clear they hoped to put the incident behind them soon.

The swift conclusion to the cases just 11 days after the arrest of the Russian agents evoked memories of cold war-style bargaining but underscored the new-era relationship between Washington and Moscow. President Obama has made the “reset” of Russian-American relations a top foreign policy priority, and the quiet collaboration over the spy scandal indicates that the Kremlin likewise values the warmer ties.

“The agreement we reached today provides a successful resolution for the United States and its interests,” Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said in a statement.

Within hours of the New York court hearing, the Kremlin announced that President Dmitri A. Medvedev had signed pardons for the four men Russia considered spies after each of them signed statements admitting guilt.

The Kremlin identified them as Igor V. Sutyagin, an arms control researcher held for 11 years; Sergei Skripal, a colonel in Russia’s military intelligence service sentenced in 2006 to 13 years for spying for Britain; Aleksandr Zaporozhsky, a former agent with Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service who has served seven years of an 18-year sentence;and Gennadi Vasilenko, a former K.G.B. major who was arrested in 1998 for contacts with a C.I.A. officer but eventually released only to be arrested again in 2005 and later convicted on illegal weapons charges.

In a statement, the Russian Foreign Ministry attributed the agreement to the warming trend between Washington and Moscow. “This action was carried out in the overall context of improved Russian-American relations,” it said. “This agreement gives reason to hope that the course agreed upon by Russia and the United States will be accordingly realized in practice and that attempts to derail the course will not succeed.”

A White House spokesman, Ben Rhodes, said the episode would not affect the reset and that the two sides would cooperate when possible “even as we will defend our interests when we differ.” Rahm Emanuel, the chief of staff, said the president was fully briefed on the decision. Mr. Emanuel said the case showed that the United States was still watchful even as relations improved. “It sends a clear signal to not only Russia but other countries that will attempt this that we are on to them,” he told the PBS program “NewsHour.”

The sensational case straight out of a spy novel — complete with invisible ink, buried cash and a red-haired beauty whose romantic exploits have been excavated in the tabloids — came to a dramatic denouement in court.

The 10 defendants sat in the jury box, while their lawyers and prosecutors filled the well of the packed courtroom. Some of the Russian agents wore jail garb over orange T-shirts, while others wore civilian clothes. Natalia Pereverzeva, for example, known as Patricia Mills, sat in jeans with a dark sweater.

Few of the defendants conversed with one another. Some looked grim. One, Vicky Peláez, appeared to be weeping as she gestured to her sons at the close of the hearing.

At one point, Judge Kimba M. Wood asked each of the 10 to disclose their true names.

The first to rise was the man known as Richard Murphy, who lived with his wife and two children in Montclair, N.J. He said his name was Vladimir Guryev.

Then his wife rose. “My true name is Lydia Guryev,” she said.

All but three — Anna Chapman, Mikhail Semenko and Ms. Peláez — had assumed false names in the United States.

The 10 each pleaded guilty to a single count of conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign government without properly registering; the government said it would drop the more serious count of conspiracy to launder money, which eight of the defendants also faced. They had not been charged with espionage, apparently because they did not obtain classified information.

All of them agreed never to return to the United States without permission from the attorney general. They also agreed to turn over any money made from publication of their stories as agents, according to their plea agreements with the United States attorney’s office in Manhattan. Several also agreed to forfeit assets, including real estate, in the United States.

At one point, the prosecutor, Michael Farbiarz, told the judge that although Russian officials had met with the defendants, they had done nothing to force them to plead guilty or entice them into doing so. Defense lawyers concurred.

One lawyer, though, John M. Rodriguez, said Russian officials had made promises to his client, Ms. Peláez, but he assured the judge that they were not inducements to make her plead guilty. He said Ms. Peláez was told that upon her arrival in Russia, she could go to Peru or anywhere else; she was promised free housing in Russia and a monthly stipend of $2,000 for life and visas for her two children.



Ms. Peláez was not formally trained as a spy, her lawyer has said. He has also said that she had no desire to go to Russia as part of a swap. “I know we were the last to sign” a plea agreement, Mr. Rodriguez said after the hearing on Thursday.

The defendants included several married couples with children. American officials said after the court hearing that they would be free to leave the United States with their parents.

Perhaps the most recognizable of the agents was Ms. Chapman, who ran her own real estate firm and who had attained a degree of notoriety after tabloid newspapers worldwide chronicled her sex life and reprinted photographs of her in skimpy attire.

Administration officials who insisted on the condition of anonymity to discuss the delicate decision would not say who initially proposed a swap but added that they considered it a fruitful idea because they saw “no significant national security benefits from their continued incarceration,” as one put it. Some of the four Russians to be freed are in ill health, the official added.

Another American official, who was not authorized to speak about the case, said officials of the intelligence agencies were the channel for most of the negotiations, particularly Leon E. Panetta, the director of the C.I.A., and Mikhail Y. Fradkov, director of the S.V.R., Russia’s foreign intelligence agency.

The official said the American side decided “we could trade these agents — who really had nothing to tell us that we didn’t already know — for people who had never stopped fighting for their freedom in Russia.”

The spy ring case further fueled debate in Washington about Mr. Obama’s outreach to Russia even as he tries to persuade the Senate to ratify the New Start arms control pact he signed last spring with Mr. Medvedev.

“The lesson here is this administration may be trying to reset the relationship, but I don’t have any confidence that the Russians are,” said Representative Peter Hoekstra of Michigan, the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee. “They got caught.”

David J. Kramer, a former assistant secretary of state under President George W. Bush, wondered whether the administration could have gotten a better deal. “The White House risks appearing overeager to sweep problems under the rug,” he said.

But supporters of the administration said the spy case should not undermine the relationship or support for the treaty. Richard R. Burt, a former arms control negotiator who now heads a pro-disarmament group called Global Zero, pointed out that the United States ratified treaties during the cold war when there was an active espionage campaign waged between the two powers. “No arms treaty, including the New Start agreement, is based on trust,” Mr. Burt said.

On June 27, 2010, 10 people in Yonkers, Boston and northern Virginia were arrested and accused of being part of a Russian espionage ring, living under false names and deep cover in a patient scheme to penetrate what one coded message called American "policy making circles." The next day, an 11th accused member of the ring was arrested at an airport in Cyprus while trying to leave for Budapest.

The arrests were the result of an F.B.I. investigation that began at least seven years ago.

Criminal complaints filed in Federal District Court in Manhattan read like an old-fashioned cold war thriller: Spies swapping identical orange bags as they brushed past each other in a train station stairway. An identity borrowed from a dead Canadian, forged passports, messages sent by shortwave burst transmission or in invisible ink. A money cache buried for years in a field in upstate New York.

The suspected spy ring had everything it needed for world-class espionage: excellent training, cutting-edge gadgetry, deep knowledge of American culture and meticulously constructed cover stories. The only things missing in more than a decade of operation were actual secrets to send home to Moscow.

Most, and perhaps all, of the 10 suspects have agreed to plead guilty to help facilitate a swap between Russia and the United States.

Spies in American Suburbia

The spy ring assignments, described in secret instructions intercepted by the F.B.I., were to collect routine political gossip and policy talk that might have been more efficiently gathered by surfing the Web. And none of the suspects face charges of espionage, because in all those years they were never caught sending classified information back to Moscow. The 10 in custody have been charged with conspiring to act as unregistered agents of a foreign government, and eight were also charged with conspiring to commit money laundering. The eight could face up to 25 years in prison if convicted.

In June, court documents detailed what the authorities called the "Illegals Program," an ambitious, if puzzling, long-term effort by the S.V.R., one of the successors to the Soviet K.G.B., to plant Russian spies in the United States to gather information and recruit more agents. The network of so-called illegals — spies operating under false names outside of diplomatic cover — also used cyber-age technology, according to the charges. They embedded coded texts in ordinary-looking images posted on the Internet, and they communicated by having two agents pass casually with laptops containing special software flashed messages between them.

The suspects had lived for more than a decade in American cities and suburbs from Seattle to New York, where they seemed to be ordinary couples working ordinary jobs, chatting to the neighbors about schools and apologizing for noisy teenagers. They were directed to gather information on nuclear weapons, American policy toward Iran, C.I.A. leadership, Congressional politics and many other topics, according to prosecutors. The Russian spies made contact with a former high-ranking American national security official and a nuclear weapons researcher, among others.

The 'Illegals Program'

Experts on Russian intelligence expressed astonishment at the scale, longevity and dedication of the program, and many questioned its worth. They noted that Vladimir V. Putin, the Russian prime minister and former president and spy officer, had worked to restore the prestige and funding of Russian espionage after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the dark image of the K.G.B.

Cells of undercover operatives, masked as ordinary citizens, are known in Russian as "illegals," and they occupy a storied position in Soviet culture.

Illegals, unlike most spies, live in foreign countries without the benefit of a diplomatic cover, which would have offered them immunity from prosecution if they were caught. Soviet intelligence services began training a corps of these agents shortly after the October Revolution in 1917, when few countries had diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union, and it came to be seen as a particular Soviet specialty.

It is both risky and very expensive work, since agents often spend years just developing a fake life story, known in Russian as a "legend," and because the KG.B. would often keep an agent in place abroad for years or even decades before he or she was able to gather useful information.

With the collapse of the Soviet Union, many career spymasters began to speak publicly about the adventures of the illegals, but several recent arrests have come as reminders that the tactic is still in use.

In 2008, Estonia found that one of its top intelligence officials was reporting to a Russian agent who was living under a Portuguese identity as Antonio de Jesus Amorett Graf. In 2006, Canadian officials arrested a Russian spy who had been living under an assumed Canadian identity as Paul William Hampel.

A Swap Between the U.S. and Russia

The exchange between Russian and United States could lead to a series of relatively quick guilty pleas, allowing the government to avoid a series of protracted trials. Prosecutors have not accused the suspects of passing classified information to their Russian handlers. But a resolution would allow the government to avoid a long legal battle in which sensitive information about intelligence techniques could be exposed.

On July 8, 2010, Igor V. Sutyagin, a Russian scientist convicted of spying for the United States in 2004, was released and flown to Vienna where he was met by a British official. Mr. Sutyagin was arrested in 1999 and accused of passing secrets about nuclear submarines and missile warning systems to a British company that prosecutors said was a front for the C.I.A. Imprisoned for 10 years, Mr. Sutyagin has maintained his innocence.

If the Russian suspects held in the United States sign on to the deal as expected, they are expected to leave the country promptly. As often occurs in plea bargains, the defendants will be allowed to plead guilty to one charge — conspiring to act as an unregistered foreign agent, which carries a maximum penalty of five years and has no minimum term. The government will presumably drop a second charge that most of the defendants face, conspiring to launder money, which carries a 20-year term. None of the defendants are charged with espionage.

Such a deal would also eliminate the possibility that a high-profile case would serve as an irritant to relations between the United States and Russia. Both countries have made clear they do not expect the charges to damage relations.

Octavia Nasr lose her job from CNN

Speak your mind, lose your job is the lesson I'm taking away from yesterday's sacking of CNN senior editor Octavia Nasr. Nasr, who had worked for the network for 20 years, tweeted this upon the death of Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah:

Sad to hear of the passing of Sayyed Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah ... One of Hezbollah's giants I respect a lot.

Nasr promptly published a mea culpa, blaming the 140-character brevity of Twitter for her "error of judgment." She regretted having tried to express complex views about Fadlallah's life's work in a simplistic forum. Then, she spent 3,964 characters trying to clarify her tweet and save her job. No luck. An internal CNN memo obtained by the New York Times stated that Nasr was sent packing because "her credibility" had "been compromised."

The dumping of Nasr follows the defenestration of Washington Post blogger Dave Weigel, whose resignation was accepted on June 25 after intemperate comments he had made about conservatives in a private listserv were leaked to FishbowlDC and the Daily Caller.
Weigel's acerbic listserv comments, some made before he went to work for the Post, bad-mouthed some of the very conservatives he had been hired to cover. Weigel called upon Matt Drudge to torch himself, labeled Newt Gingrich an "amoral blowhard," and otherwise disparaged conservatives. Weigel, too, has apologized, saying he regrets his rudeness and "hubris." In an Esquire.com piece published today, Weigel writes that he "had a bad habit of using [the listserv] as an idea latrine." (Idea Latrine would be a great name for a band.)

In the wake of Weigel's departure, his ultimate boss, Post Executive Editor Marcus Brauchli, offered this mind-bending statement to Post reporter Howard Kurtz. "[W]e can't have any tolerance for the perception that people are conflicted or bring a bias to their work. ... There's abundant room on our Web site for a wide range of viewpoints, and we should be transparent about everybody's viewpoint." [Ellipsis in the original.]

Brauchli seems to be saying that Post reporters can bring biases to their journalism, just as long as they don't reveal them. But the post-ellipsis part of his statement appears to contradict that reading, because if everybody were to suddenly become transparent about their viewpoints at the Post, perception of bias would rise, crest, and surely swamp readers. And Brauchli can't possibly want that.

Brauchli's confusion over where reporters should stow their personal luggage—in a dark and locked closet or in the vestibule where anybody can pick through it—goes to the center of the two controversies. That journalists have opinions and express them in private and sometimes (to their frequent regret) in public should come as no shocker. If you prick them, they bleed, too.

But such biases shouldn't be thought of as invasive weeds, choking the garden, but as nutrients. The job of a journalist is to gather evidence, test it, and come to conclusions wherever feasible. Such an enterprise is impossible to undertake without biases. Indeed, like scientific inquires, almost every new story always begins with some sort of bias or hunch or leaning. A reporter or an editor thinks this story is more promising or interesting than that story, therefore they agree to pursue it. But without reporting both stories—or every possible story, which is impossible—how can the editor and reporter really know which was the "right" story to assign? They can't. They can only trust their biases.

Biases may be necessary for the production of quality journalism, but as anybody who has ever listened to a blowhard or read a listserv or Twitter feed knows, they're not sufficient. Nor is objectivity the key, or what passes for objectivity in journalism these days. As Tom Rosenstiel and Bill Kovach explain in their 2001 book, The Elements of Journalism the key element is verification. Lamenting the loss of the original meaning of "objectivity" in journalism, the duo writes:

When the concept originally evolved, it was not meant to imply that journalists were free of bias. Quite the contrary. The term began to appear as part of journalism early in the last century, particularly in the 1920s, out of a growing recognition that journalists were full of bias, often unconsciously. Objectivity called for journalists to develop a consistent method of testing information—a transparent approach to evidence—precisely so that personal and culture biases would not undermine their work.

The journalistic method was the thing that was supposed to be objective, not the journalist, a method that depended on verification of results and findings. Rosenstiel and Kovach complain about how the old journalism of verification has been "overrun" by the new journalism of assertion that we consume on TV and radio. They also bellyache about the neutral voice adopted by unscrupulous journalists who want to appear objective when they're completely in the tank for somebody. This, they write, is a "form of deception." In my book, this kind of deception—and not shooting off your mouth—should be a firing offense.

Which brings us back to Weigel and Nasr. To the best of my knowledge, neither journalist has been criticized for producing substandard or otherwise shoddy work for their network or newspaper. Both appear to be committed to the journalism of verification, although I'm more confident about vouching for Weigel's work, which I know well, than Nasr's, which I don't. Weigel's jerkiness on a private listserv doesn't bother me much at all. If you were to purge the Post newsroom of every reporter who had been a jerk sometime in his career, you'd be facing an acre of empty desks. In fact, jerkiness was one of the attributes that I used to look for in a candidate when I was on the management side of the editorial divide.

That Weigel's bad manners bothered his Post bosses so much that they felt compelled to accept his resignation speaks poorly for the paper. That CNN walked Nasr off the plank because she expressed a smidgeon of "respect" for a Hezbollah-supporting cleric in a tweet speaks of cowardice.

The work is the thing. Until somebody can show me shoddy journalism by Weigel and Nasr, I'll defend them. Nobody should be sacked to pacify the nitpickers.

******

While we're on the subject of Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, see this nuanced piece about him in Foreign Policy by David Kenner, who writes what I believe Nasr was thinking. And while we're on the subject of sacking people who speak their minds, let's revisit the Helen Thomas affair. Nobody who read my 2003 piece about her should have been surprised by her comments about Jews and Israel. Should she have been shown the door? Seeing as her views couldn't have been a surprise to her employers at the Hearst News Service, I'd say "nah" because the work is the thing. Should I be fired for my impudence? Of course. Send letters of recommendation that I can use in future job applications to slate.pressbox@gmail.com. Monitor my Twitter for my compensation demands. (E-mail may be quoted by name in "The Fray," Slate's readers' forum; in a future article; or elsewhere unless the writer stipulates otherwise. Permanent disclosure: Slate is owned by the Washington Post Co.)

D-8 Summit Nigeria 2010

D-8 Secretary General, Dipo Alam, was on a official visit to Abuja, Nigeria, on 25-26 January 2010 as a part of series of his working visit to relevant D-8 Member countries to coordinate the preparation for the Abuja Head of States meeting 2010 as well as the farewell to the post which he will soon be entrusted to another diplomat as his successor. Dipo Alam has been recently appointed by the President of Indonesia as Cabinet Secretary Minister of the Republic of Indonesia, and shall return to Indonesia to embark on his new post and serve the country.

Members of D-8, an organisation for cooperation among eight developing countries of the world, will establish a joint investment fund that will boost trade and commerce among member countries, Dipo Alam, said.

Alam, who met Monday in Abuja with several minister of the Nigerian cabinet, such as the minister of Science and Technology, Alhassan Bako Zaku, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Jibril Maigari, and Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Humphrey Aba, said the group is working on visa simplification agreement which will allow free access to member states which include Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey. “One of the things we want to establish soon is the joint fund. The grant is meant for private sector to prepare feasibility study,” he said.

“Iran has pledged its readiness to contribute 15 million euros to the fund, and we hope that other member countries would follow that initiative,” said Alam. He said that the grant would further be made available to investors, who are expected to return the grant after executing the project. The focus of the group is on development of small and medium scale enterprises.

The D-8 chief stated that four countries, Pakistan, Malaysia, Turkey and Iran have ratified the visa simplification agreement and there are hopes that before the end of July, Nigeria would have signed on to the agreement so that Nigerians can travel with ease to these countries to transact business. This list would soon be including Indonesia, he said.

Alam commended the robust economic activities going on Nigeria, saying that Nigeria is the leading economy among the D-8, having overtaken Malaysia.

“According to World Bank report of 2009 for D-8, Nigeria is number 1 followed by Malaysia. Nigeria is a promising destination for investment and we expect there is benefit for D-8 and also for Nigeria when Nigeria chairs the group for next two years,” he said.

Boosting intra-trade volume through Economic cooperation measures

He revealed that the D-8 countries now have three per cent of the total world trade and their target is to increase it from three to 15 per cent in the next 10 years.

The organisation was established with the objective of enhancing cooperation in the economic sector through sharing of expertise in order to improve the position of member countries in the global economy. The D-8 member states have a population of 930 million people, who are predominantly Muslims.

Zaku said no nation can survive economically without cooperation. “Some of the countries have what others do not have. When we come together, we move forward,” he affirmed.

Alam also met with the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, in which discussion transpired in the plan to hold D-8 Central Bank Governors Meeting which shall elaborate how to improve good governance in banking sector, optimum fiscal stimulus in financial turmoil phase, joint investment fund and Islamic Finance.

Ready to Host D-8 Summit and Committed to be D-8 Chairman 2010-2012

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Federal Government has also pledged its commitment towards the successful hosting of the Developing Eight Nations (D-8) Summit in Abuja in July 2010. Nigerian Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan gave the assurance on Monday to Alam, who paid him a courtesy call at the State House, Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Jonathan, who expressed satisfaction at the line-up of programmes and activities for the Summit as disclosed by Alam, however assured that the nation’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs will work out the details for the successful hosting of the Summit. The Vice-President particularly expressed delight in the involvement of the private sector in the programme, noting that the sector is key to driving the economy.

Earlier, Alam said that he was in Nigeria to explain the progress made so far by the D-8 and to discuss the Summit to be hosted in Abuja in July and as well as inform Jonathan about his recent appointment as Cabinet Secretary in his country, Indonesia. In the occassion, Alam listed some of the expectations of the D-8 Summit to include Investment Cooperation Declarations, Joint Investment Projects among member nations, signing of a memorandum of understanding and signing of projects, among member nations.

On Sunday evening, the Indonesian Embassy in Nigeria also held a dinner reception which was attended by high commissioner of D-8 countries, such of Nik Mustafa Kamal bin Nik Ahmad (Malaysia), Khosrow Rezazadeh (Iran), Major-Gen. (rtd.) Asif Duraiz Akhtar (Pakistan), Mustafa Aykut Sezgin (Turkey), as well as CEOs of various Indonesian companies that invested in Nigerian market such as Indofood (represented by Adhi Sunarto) and Indorama (represented by General Manager, Veeramani).

Davinia Douglass Burned face Recovery

The photo of Davinia Douglass clutching a mask to her burned face became one of the most memorable images of the 7/7 attacks, which killed 52 and injured 770.

Five years on, the scars Davinia, 29, suffered in the suicide bombings have healed.

Davinia was seen, white gauze on her face, at Edgware Road tube station on July 7 2005 as she was helped by ex-firefighter Paul Dadge.

She said: "I went from being convinced I would be seriously scarred for life and that my life would be ruined to being hopeful the medics would be able to put me back together.

"The worst point was when I was alone in the hospital bed wondering what the future held."

She was on the Circle Line train when Mohammad Sidique Khan detonated a bomb leaving six dead.

She was treated at the Chelsea and Westminster hospital where consultant Greg Williams said: "We are not magicians but we do what we can."

Davinia wed business consultant Erik Douglass, 37, on Valentine's Day 2009.

Victim Davinia hails bomb rescuers

SHY bomb victim Davinia Turrell yesterday hailed the heroic 7/7 emergency services as a symbol of all that was best in Britain.

Making her first public appearance since she was last seen with a surgical mask pressed against her burns Davinia, 24, stood alongside Tony Blair at the Mirror's Pride of Britain awards event.

In one of the most emotional moments of a heart-tugging night honouring the nation's everyday heroes and heroines she presented the emergency services, hospital staff and transport workers with a special Beyond the Call of Duty award.

Davinia declared: "I'd like to take this opportunity to express my eternal gratitude to all those who acted so quickly and so bravely at the scene of the London bombings.

"All were simply fantastic and treated myself and my family with the utmost kindness, care and compassion.

"I'm honoured to present this well deserved award to the emergency services not only for their fantastic response on the 7th July but also for their everyday heroism which can go unnoticed."

Brave Davinia was rewarded with a three-minute standing ovation.

She was cruelly burned at Edgware Road Tube on a day of terror attacks which killed 52 innocents, and was pictured being shepherded to safety in the protective arms of former firefighter Paul Dadge.

In her calmness and courage, Britain knew it would overcome. Last night only the palest of scars showed on her skin, a testament to the skill of surgeons.

Tony Blair told the ceremony in London: "When I heard the news I was at an international summit for world leaders.

"To a person they were awestruck by how the emergency services coped that day and how the people of London and this country responded. I was so proud of this country."

After a year blighted by conflict, terrorism and violence on our streets all our 17 Pride of Britain winners are everyday people who restore faith in humanity. They were honoured at the ceremony - held in association with British Gas and to be screened on ITV1 tonight - in the company of world leaders, royalty and celebrities.

Guests included Prince Charles, Mr Blair and wife Cherie, David and Victoria Beckham, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas and Bob Geldof.

Among other famous faces were Jamie Oliver, Sarah Ferguson, Hollywood actress Anjelica Huston, double Olympic medallist Dame Kelly Holmes, Charlotte Church and Sir Cliff Richard.



Dr Who star Christopher Ecclestone told how 12-year-old Cameron Weir saved the lives of his brother and disabled sister after their car plunged into a canal.

Eight-year-old Shea Thomas, cruelly burned by a petrol bomb, brought tears to the eye as she bounded on stage to receive her Child of Courage Award.

A special award went to mum of three Jane Tomlinson, 41, who defied warnings she had months to live following breast cancer diagnosis and went on to raise more than £1million by entering marathons.

Another special award went to the brave McCartney sisters from Belfast who stood up to the IRA after their brother was murdered. Former US president Bill Clinton sent them a video tribute.

Ashleigh Huxley, nine, had no idea she was getting a Child of Courage award for saving her brother from a house fire until Ant and Dec turned up at her Salisbury school to fly her to the event.

All were chosen from thousands of worthy entrants by a team of judges.

The A-list guests at the event, hosted by Carol Vorderman, were humbled by the stories they heard.

Ozzy Osbourne said: "Whenever I have a bad day I just think of these poor people. We don't have bad days."

Hell's Kitchen chef Gordon Ramsay said: "It's a humbling experience. These people have been through extraordinary events. They're an inspiration."

Model Nell McAndrew, who recently had a miscarriage, added: "It's good to come to things like this because it makes you realise there are people far worse off."

Victoria Beckham said: "Some of the people getting these awards are just amazing. It's so emotional I was thinking about wearing waterproof mascara."

We all hope that if and when the moment comes, we can be heroes. That we can cast our fears aside and find an inner strength we never knew we had.

Last night the Mirror honoured those who rose to the challenge and beyond. The nation is proud of every one.

(courtesy for Mirror.co.uk)