‘A driver was killed when a van carrying welding equipment exploded in a County Durham market town.
Windows in shops and homes were left shattered and wreckage was strewn across the centre of Wolsingham, near Bishop Auckland.
The 33-year-old local man, who worked as a welder near Durham, was in the van when the oxy-acetylene cylinders exploded.
Homes near the scene were evacuated after the incident on Saturday.
It is not yet known what caused the blast but Durham Police said there did not appear to be any suspicious circumstances.’
With photos of the scene./a>
‘Two French teenage girls were seriously injured when they jumped out of windows of different buildings in what appeared to be a coordinated suicide attempt, police have said.
A 14-year-old and a 15-year-old, who attended the same school on the Mediterranean island of Corsica, threw themselves out of a third floor and second floor window at their respective homes minutes after each other yesterday.
One witness told investigators he had overheard one of the girls telling the other on the phone: “Come on, we’ll do it: You jump. I jump!”
One of the girls had previously been in psychiatric care, a medical source said.
Hospital staff said the two girls were in a serious condition.’
‘Hogzilla is being made into a horror movie. But the sequel may be even bigger: Meet Monster Pig. An 11-year-old Alabama boy used a pistol to kill a wild hog his father says weighed a staggering 1,051 pounds and measured 9-feet-4 from the tip of its snout to the base of its tail. Think hams as big as car tires. [..]
The hog’s head is now being mounted on an extra-large foam form by Jerry Cunningham of Jerry’s Taxidermy in Oxford. Cunningham said the animal measured 54 inches around the head, 74 inches around the shoulders and 11 inches from the eyes to the end of its snout.
“It’s huge,” he said. “It’s just the biggest thing I’ve ever seen.”
Mike Stone is having sausage made from the rest of the animal. “We’ll probably get 500 to 700 pounds,” he said. ‘
‘The body of a man who apparently tried to break into an elementary school was discovered Friday in an air conditioning duct on the school’s roof, police said.
CBS affiliate KPHO correspondent Omadelle Nelson reports that a parent dropping her child off Friday morning at Sierra Vista Elementary School smelled something strange, but initial investigations did not turn up the source.
The body was found later when a plumber investigated the odor, said Roosevelt School District Superintendent Mark Dowling. The school was evacuated.
Authorities think the man tried to climb through the duct, got stuck, and died. It wasn’t known how long the body was there.
“Obviously because of the smell, there are indications that he had been there for some time,” said Sgt. Andy Hill, a Phoenix police spokesman.’
‘A man who fatally shot a teenage neighbor because he walked on the man’s carefully tended lawn was sentenced to life in prison.
Charles Martin, 67, must serve 18 years before he can be considered for parole, Clermont County Common Pleas Judge William Walker ordered Wednesday, adding that he would urge that Martin never be considered for parole. [..]
Martin told the court he was sorry the shooting occurred but said the teen knew how much Martin cared for his lawn and provoked him.
“He stepped on it and he walked 40 feet through it,” Martin said. “I cared about it. I cut it every five days.”‘
Followup to Man killed teen for walking across yard.
‘A mystery emu has been shot dead after a cross-border chase by police in Europe this week.
The Australian native fauna was first spotted in the German town of Grenzach-Wyhlen near the Swiss border.
“We are trying to find out how it got here in the first place,” a German police spokesman said. [..]
The police gave chase in patrol cars for hours but were no match for the agile fugitive, which darted down narrow alleyways and made tight turns.
Vets and staff from local zoos were called in to help, before the German police called upon their Swiss counterparts.
The emu was clocked at speeds up to 50 km/h, with police resorting to roadblocks, while the vets were unsuccessful in their attempts to sedate the bird with tranquiliser darts.’
‘A 14-year-old girl was murdered by a takeaway owner who joked with friends that she had been chopped up and mixed in with the kebabs, a court has heard.
It is alleged that Charlene Downes was killed by Iyad Albattikhi, who owns a fast food shop on Blackpool Promenade.
Prosecutors said Charlene was one of a number of girls who had sex with men who worked in fast food shops on the promenade, including Mr Albattikhi. [..]
Police started a missing persons inquiry, but later launched a murder probe after being told she had been “killed and chopped up”, the jury heard.
No trace of Charlene’s body has been found.’
I wonder if this is faked?
(6.0meg avi)
see it here »
Two men climb up the pole to help someone who appears to be stuck. It goes badly.
(3.2meg Flash video)
see it here »
‘A disabled gran was stabbed 97 times by her killer — for 32p in her piggy bank.
Frail Ann Alfanso, 61, was knifed in the head, body, hands and neck by drug-crazed John Mansfield.
Convicted robber Mansfield, 45, was high on heroin, morphine, cocaine and methadone when he used two knives and scissors to butcher his victim, who lived alone.
A court was told that one blade went right through one of Mrs Alfanso’s hands as she tried to protect herself. As he hunted for cash, Mansfield dragged her around her flat before raiding the piggy bank beside the phone and fleeing, leaving her for dead.’
‘An expert on grief and bereavement has said Big Brother housemate Emma should be informed of her father’s death, despite the deceased’s request not to tell her.
Her father Raymond Cornell, 53, died of cancer in Adelaide, and his funeral was held on Monday.
Emma’s boyfriend Tim Stanton told News Limited that Mr Cornell had asked that his daughter not be told of his death until she left the house.
Director of the Australian Centre for Grief and Bereavement, psychologist Chris Hall, this morning said Emma should be given the information about the death of her father, so she can make her own choice about the best way to deal with it.’
‘An artist has offered to donate his own head to an Oxford museum – if a collection of shrunken heads has to be returned to South America.
Ted Dewan has written to Oxford University’s Pitt Rivers Museum to offer his own head for shrinking.
Museums have been facing an ethical debate about whether they should keep human remains on display or repatriate them for burial.
But the museum has now turned down Mr Dewan’s offer of a replacement head.’
‘Russian prosecutors say they will refuse to extradite Andrei Lugovoi, charged by Britain in the poisoning death of Alexander Litvinenko, to London because of a constitutional ban.
Earlier Tuesday British officials said they wanted to bring Lugovoi before a British court and charge him with the “extraordinarily grave crime” of murdering Litvinenko in London last November.
“I have today concluded that the evidence sent to us by the police is sufficient to charge Andrei Lugovoi with the murder of Mr. Litvinenko by deliberate poisoning,” Director of Public Prosecutions Ken Macdonald said in London.
Litvinenko, who was a fierce critic of President Vladimir Putin and had been granted political asylum in the UK, died in a London hospital last November, several weeks after he was poisoned with polonium-210.’
Followup to Radioactive killer was discovered by doctors only hours before death.
‘Ned Kelly, the legendary Australian bushranger who evaded police for two years before being captured and hanged in 1880, has gone missing again. His bones have vanished from a mass prison grave in Melbourne where they were believed to be buried. [..]
Pentridge closed in 1997 and the site is being redeveloped for housing, with the state conservation body, Heritage Victoria, overseeing the work. Archaeological tests were recently carried out at the mass burial site, but no human remains were found.
Archaeologists discovered evidence that the soil had been disturbed about 50 years ago, probably during major drainage works.
Ray Tonkin, the head of Heritage Victoria, said yesterday: “We now believe these remains were probably removed in the 1950s or 1960s, as part of the installation of large service pipes that took place at the prison at the time.” The remains of about 32 criminals are believed to have been lost, possibly dumped in a quarry.’
‘A Californian man who tried to kill his girlfriend by leaving her in a car parked across railway lines was himself killed when an oncoming train hurled the car into him as he fled.
His girlfriend survived, the Associated Press reported.
The man drove the car to the head of a line of traffic stopped at a level crossing in the San Fernando Valley neighbourhood of Sunland on Monday, police spokesman Mike Lopez said.
The man, who was seen arguing with the woman, then parked the car on the tracks and jumped out, leaving her behind, Mr Lopez said.’
‘In the emergency room at Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital, Edith Isabel Rodriguez was seen as a complainer.
“Thanks a lot, officers,” an emergency room nurse told Los Angeles County police who brought in Rodriguez early May 9 after finding her in front of the Willowbrook hospital yelling for help. “This is her third time here.” [..]
Parked in the emergency room lobby in a wheelchair after police left, she fell to the floor. She lay on the linoleum, writhing in pain, for 45 minutes, as staffers worked at their desks and numerous patients looked on.
Aside from one patient who briefly checked on her condition, no one helped her. A janitor cleaned the floor around her as if she were a piece of furniture. A closed-circuit camera captured everyone’s apparent indifference.
Arriving to find Rodriguez on the floor, her boyfriend unsuccessfully tried to enlist help from the medical staff and county police — even a 911 dispatcher, who balked at sending rescuers to a hospital.
Alerted to the “disturbance” in the lobby, police stepped in — by running Rodriguez’s record. They found an outstanding warrant and prepared to take her to jail. She died before she could be put into a squad car.’
Update: now with the 911 call.
(2.9meg Flash video)
see it here »
‘A woman’s head was cut off in a horrific incident at a meat processing factory.
One horrified worker said: “It was absolutely appalling, like something out of a horror film — everyone here is in shock.” [..]
Bernard Hoggarth, Delico chief executive, said: “This is horrendous for her family and for everyone who was working at the factory at the time.
“It’s such a tragic incident — we’ve never experienced anything like it.”
Health and Safety Executive spokeswoman Barbara Hewitt confirmed the woman had been decapitated.’
‘A Dutch primary school teacher dying of cancer is overseeing one last class project: her pupils are making her coffin.
Eri van den Biggelaar, 40, has just a few weeks to live after being diagnosed last year with an aggressive form of cervical cancer.
She asked the woodwork teacher, a friend, to build a coffin for her. “Why don’t you let the children make it?” replied Erik van Dijk.
Now pupils of the school in Someren, who normally plane wood for baskets and placemats, have been helping with the finishing touches. They have already sawed more than 100 narrow boards and glued them together. Only the lid needs to be completed.
The coffin now stands in the middle of one of the classrooms.’
Some lions attack a young buffalo and then have to fight a crocodile for the kill.
It seems to be going well for the lions .. until the rest of the buffalo herd arrives.
(27.9meg Windows media)
see it here »
‘Foreign patients who travel to China for transplants are likely receiving organs culled from political prisoners who are alive when their corneas, kidneys and livers are harvested, then left to die, an international group of doctors armed with a chilling Canadian report is warning.
In a new twist on an old practice of using organs from executed criminals, China has since 2000 turned to living donors and outlawed Falun Gong members to supply a growing trade in medical transplants, Doctors Against Organ Harvesting said yesterday during a public forum held at the University of Toronto. [..]
“Each person who travels to China for an organ causes the death of another human,” said Dr. Torsten Trey, a Washington, D.C.-based physician and founding member of Doctors Against Organ Harvesting.’
‘A thief fleeing a jewelry store was killed when his bicycle was struck by a bus, police said.
Authorities said the 42-year-old man snatched a US$2,000 gold chain from the Bronx jewelry store on Friday and was making his getaway. A store clerk and two bystanders were chasing the man on foot when he pedalled into an intersection and was hit by a fast-moving bus, police said.
The suspect was taken to a hospital, where he died from head injuries. Five passengers who were jostled when the bus slammed on its brakes were also examined at the hospital. [..]
The necklace was still missing, and may have been thrown from the scene or grabbed by a bystander after the accident.’
It goes up, but it doesn’t seem to come back down.
(462kB Windows media)
see it here »
‘Two men drank themselves to death after one of them received a payout for being mistakenly identified as a murder suspect, an inquest has heard.
Gareth Roberts, 47, and his flatmate Ian Stedham, 43, were found dead in their Pwllheli flat in February.
Mr Roberts had received £10,000 in compensation from the Daily Mail after being wrongly identified as a suspect in the murders of five prostitutes.
The coroner recorded a verdict of death as a result of alcohol abuse on both.’
‘A Canadian hitchhiker, who stole an elderly man’s car after he offered her a ride, died a few minutes later when she lost control of the vehicle and crashed into trees, police said.
The crash happened near the town of Hawkesbury — about 100 km (60 miles) northeast of Ottawa — after the man stopped to pick up 20-year-old Mandy Deschambeault.
“The male driver proceeded to step out of his vehicle momentarily at which point the female jumped in the driver seat, stealing the male person’s car,” local police said in a statement Monday.
“She proceeded to lose control of the … car, crossing the other lane hitting trees. The female was ejected from the vehicle and found to be without vital signs.”‘
‘A window cleaner drowned in his own bucket after collapsing.
Mark Fairhurst, 35, was found with his head in the pail by a customer.
The dad of one collapsed due to a heart condition — but a post mortem showed the cause of death was drowning, an inquest heard.
Customer Elizabeth Bebe, of Wigan, Greater Manchester, told the hearing: “I came home that evening and went outside to hang some washing at the back when I saw a ladder propped up against the wall.
“I then saw Mark lying motionless on the ground, with his arms tucked in and his head tilted inside the bucket.
“It looked like he had been in that position for some time.”‘
‘These suicide notes were gathered at the coroners’ offices by a suicidologist/psychiatrist who asked to be anonymous. He edited identifying details out of the compiled manuscript, and we changed the names. But the text of each letter plus the age and sex given are real. All these people did kill themselves. Were they ambivalent about it? About half the hundred or so letters we saw seemed to have some element of doubt.’
This is a little animation of one soldiers point of view of combat in Iraq. It’s interesting, although probably not psychologically sensible. 🙂
(10.7meg avi)
see it here »
‘A Helton Street man called Middletown police Friday night to report that he had shot a woman in the face.
Middletown police and fire units responded at 11:18 p.m. to 4205 Helton St., where they found Debbie Dockery, 47, fatally wounded from a gunshot.
Charles Frost, 59, was taken into custody, said Middletown police Lt. Don Owens, who confirmed early Saturday that “the suspect called us” to report the homicide.’
‘A police officer will avoid criminal charges despite admitting he took marijuana from criminal suspects and, with his wife, baked it into brownies.
The police department’s decision not to pursue a case against former Cpl. Edward Sanchez left a bad taste in the mouth of at least one city official, who vowed to investigate. [..]
The department’s investigation began with a 911 call from Sanchez’s home on April 21, 2006. On a 5-minute tape of the call, obtained by the Free Press, Sanchez told an emergency dispatcher he thought he and his wife were overdosing on marijuana.
“I think we’re dying,” he said. “We made brownies and I think we’re dead, I really do.”‘
Also, there’s a recording of the 911 call. 🙂
(13.2meg Windows media)
see it here »
