‘The Soviet engineers gazed into the abandoned tunnel with dismay. It was 1974 and work was scheduled to resume on the construction of the Baikal-Amur Magistral (BAM), a railway line in north-eastern Siberia. The Dusse-Alin Tunnel had been completed in an earlier phase of the undertaking, as evidenced by the inscription “1947-1950” over the entrance and the busts of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin that earlier workers had hewn out of the nearby rock. But the harsh climate and intervening years had not been kind to the permafrost-piercing passage. Peering into the gaping hole, the worried workers could see something glinting inside. The BAM project, perhaps the greatest civil engineering endeavour the world has ever seen, had encountered yet another problem.’
‘On October 8th, 1871, the small Wisconsin logging town of Peshtigo was consumed by one of the most severe and woefully under-reported fires in human history.
After a hot and dry year, with a mere two inches of rain falling from July through September, churchgoers were praying for much-needed precipitation. The creeks had dried up, and the Peshtigo River, which many residents relied upon for transportation and water, was dangerously low.
In the midst of that quiet Sunday evening, the tiny township was totally annihilated – charred by a gigantic fire that engulfed the buildings, the countryside, and even the townsfolk themselves. Even today the little-known blaze holds the distinction of being the deadliest fire ever to occur in the US.’
‘A Rromanian priest charged with crucifying a nun he believed was possessed by the devil has had his 14-year prison sentence cut by half by an appeal court.
The court in the central town of Alba-Iulia also reduced from eight years to six the jail term imposed on one of four nuns found guilty of being accomplices to the exorism-turned-murder, while maintaing a five-year sentence for the other three.
The murdered nun, 23-year-old Irina Cornici of the Saint Trinity of Tanacu monastery in northeastern Romania, died after being gagged, chained to a cross and left without food or water for days.’
Followup to Priest jailed for exorcism death.
‘In a provocative article, an Italian medical professor argues that Pope John Paul II didn’t just simply slip away as his weakness and illness overtook him in April 2005. Intensive care specialist Dr. Lina Pavanelli has concluded that the ailing Pope’s April 2 death was caused by what the Catholic Church itself would consider euthanasia. She bases this conclusion on her medical expertise and her own observations of the ailing pontiff on television, as well as press reports and a subsequent book by John Paul’s personal physician. The failure to insert a feeding tube into the patient until just a few days before he died accelerated John Paul’s death, Pavanelli concludes. Moreover, Pavanelli says she believes that the Pope’s doctors dutifully explained the situation to him, and thus she surmises that it was the pontiff himself who likely refused the feeding tube after he’d been twice rushed to the hospital in February and March. Catholics are enjoined to pursue all means to prolong life.’
‘A Hartlepool man is facing jail after he urinated on a disabled woman who lay dying in the street.
The 27-year-old shouted “this is YouTube material” as he degraded Christine Lakinski, 50, who had fallen ill, magistrates heard. [..]
Anderson had smoked a cannabis joint and been drinking when he and two friends spotted her.
He tried to rouse her by throwing a bucket of water over her, before urinating on her and covering her with shaving foam. The incident was filmed on a mobile phone.
She was later declared dead at the scene, the cause of death being given as pancreatic failure.’
‘Uh, I don’t know, Um, I don’t know what to say. I don’t know. (pauses) I didn’t know anybody was there. Howdy.’
‘Two men fatally shot a 21-year-old man during a suspected home-invasion, then shot his 7-month-old son in the head as he was strapped in a car seat outside the home, police said. [..]
“We are angered as law enforcement officers and disturbed as human beings that anyone could commit such an unconscionable act against an innocent child,” Curran said. “We also find it morally reprehensible that people who may have information that could help our detectives solve this tragic case have seemingly been less than honest.” [..]
Investigators initially believed the infant was killed accidentally by a stray bullet, but later determined he was killed execution-style.’
‘Columbiana County sheriff’s deputies said Charles Hoyle, 34, of Boardman, was socializing with friends when he made the decision that ended his life.
Chief Deputy Allen Haueter said Hoyle was with two friends behind a home on Steubenville Pike Road when he asked one of his friends if he could ride his ATV.
While Hoyle was considered legally blind, he did at one point have a driver’s license, but Haueter said that license expired in 2000.
The deputy said the men helped Hoyle onto the ATV anyway and warned him to go slow, but Hoyle didn’t listen.
“When the men put Mr. Hoyle on there, he took off, full acceleration,” said Haueter. “And they were screaming at him to hold back and stop, and they couldn’t catch up to him. Then he struck a smaller tree and he hit a larger one head-on.”‘
‘Iraqi officials Monday condemned the weekend killings of eight civilians during a Baghdad street battle involving American security contractors and said they would shut down Blackwater, the company involved.
Blackwater said its employees acted in self-defense. The U.S. State Department said it plans to investigate what it calls a “terrible incident.”
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to express regret for the weekend killings, both governments said. [..]
An Interior Ministry spokesman, Brig. Gen. Abdul Kareem Khalaf, said, “We have revoked Blackwater’s license to operate in Iraq. As of now they are not allowed to operate anywhere in the Republic of Iraq. The investigation is ongoing, and all those responsible for Sunday’s killing will be referred to Iraqi justice.”‘
‘A man who left his girlfriend’s body to decompose in his Jeep Cherokee must pay her parents $500,000 for interfering with their rights to properly bury her, a Jackson County jury has ruled.
In 2005, Matthew C. Davis, 42, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to seven years in prison for abandoning a corpse and 15 more for three unrelated drug charges.
Police found the decomposed body of Amber McGathey, 22, in Davis’ Jeep on June 6, 2004. Prosecutors believed McGathey died of a drug overdose four days earlier, when a witness saw a man wheeling a shopping cart with what appeared to be a body in it.
On Wednesday, the jury ordered Davis to pay $250,000 each to Boyd McGathey, of Parkville, and Debra Augustine, of Waterloo, Ill. They had sued under a rarely used legal doctrine called “interference with the right of sepulcher and burial.”‘
‘A man who prosecutors said made a practice of getting teenage boys drunk has been found guilty of manslaughter for getting one of them killed.
Ryan Schultz, 31, had a blood-alcohol level more than three times the legal limit an hour after the crash that killed Sonny Hart in May 2006, the prosecution said.
Schultz bought whiskey for a group of boys and drank with them at a park north of Salem, the prosecution said. [..]
Schultz believed that “the way to live life and have fun was to get a bunch of teenage boys drunk,” Deputy District Attorney Tiffany Underwood said in closing arguments.’
‘A man accused of killing a pet pig may blame the pig as part of his defense.
Joseph Calarudda is charged with stabbing 300-pound “Porky” to death as its owners pleaded for him to stop.
Calarudda is going on trial this week for felony theft of livestock. One of his defenses may be that the pig was aggressive and dangerous.’
‘A coroner has called for “insult chatrooms” to be banned after a man took his own life while being watched by others on a web cam.
A verdict of suicide was returned on Kevin Whitrick, 42, of Wellington, Telford, Shropshire, who died in March.
The court heard he was using Paltalk, which urged users to insult each other, when he said he wanted to kill himself.
He hanged himself while some internet users urged him on and others tried to stop him, coroner Michael Gwynne heard.’
‘A Venezuelan man who had been declared dead woke up in the morgue in excruciating pain after medical examiners began their autopsy.
Carlos Camejo, 33, was declared dead after a highway accident and taken to the morgue, where examiners began an autopsy only to realise something was amiss when he started bleeding. They quickly sought to stitch up the incision on his face.
“I woke up because the pain was unbearable,” Mr Camejo told newspaper El Universal.’
‘An Oregon man was sentenced to 10 years in prison Friday after hiring another man to kill his wife.
Susan Kuhnhausen fought off the hit man and actually strangled the attacker with her bare hands killing him.
During Friday’s sentencing hearing held up a picture taken of her bruised face after the attack and said, “This is what I would have looked like if I die.” [..]
Susan called it a cowardly plan.
“If I ever believed you deserved to be dead, I would at least have had the balls to kill you myself,” declared Kuhnhausen.’
‘Hundreds of athletes participating in a popular Orlando triathlon this weekend are being required to sign waivers notifying them of the dangers of swimming in hot lakes and can skip the water portion of the event in the wake of several recent amoeba-related deaths.
Warnings were issued to Central Florida swimmers this month after a 14-year-old boy died of amoebic meningitis and two others died of amoebic encephalitis after spending time in lakes.
A portion of the OUC Downtown Orlando Triathlon Saturday will involve swimming through Lake Underhill which is hotter than 80 degrees.
Officials with the Central Florida Sports Commission said they have been investigating the best way to handle the situation for months.’
Followup to Brain-Swelling Amoeba Blamed For 2nd Child’s Death.
‘A man hiding from intruders who broke into his flat in north-west London and killed his friend was put on hold when he called police, a court has heard.
Ahmad Gharbi, 49, hid in a cupboard in the flat in Kilburn when the gang attacked his friend Timothy Stilwell in June last year, the Old Bailey heard.
Mr Stilwell was stabbed more than 20 times and beaten over the head. [..]
He went to the living room where he saw four men trying to push through the patio doors with a paving slab, before running to another room and hiding in a cupboard, said David Howker QC, prosecuting.
“He got his mobile out and called the police but was put on hold for some reason so had to try again,” said Mr Howker.’
‘The body of a 41-year-old man was found in a wooded area next to a guillotine he built and used to kill himself, police said.
The man, from the Detroit suburb of Melvindale, was discovered Monday by workers from a shopping center near his home. [..}
Allen Park Deputy Police Chief Dale Covert said the roughly six-foot tall guillotine was bolted to a tree and included a swing arm. Covert said police also found several store receipts detailing the materials used to assemble the device.
“I can’t even tell you how long it must have taken him to construct,” he said. “This man obviously was very determined to end his life.”‘
‘An Italian woman died when she was struck in the head by a helicopter’s rotor blades following a joyride in outback Northern Territory, a report has found. [..]
A preliminary report released today said the pilot was asked by the station owner to take four adults and two children, all relatives of his from Italy, for a scenic tour of the station.
Afterwards the pilot – a station manager who had worked there for 12 years – lost control as he took off because of a gust of wind.
“The pilot reported that, just as he regained control of the aircraft, he heard and felt the main rotor blade strike something, and saw the woman fall forward,” the report said.’
‘A U.S. citizen has confessed to using an axe to kill a Dutch student after failing to find a soldier to attack, his lawyer said Tuesday.
The suspect, Carlos Hartmann, 41, of Tecumseh, Mich., has confessed to the Sept. 8 killing on a train platform in the southern city of Roosendaal, defence lawyer Peter Gremmen said.
Gremmen said Hartmann wanted to punish the Netherlands for its support of the war in Iraq. [..]
“He hates soldiers, and says that the army kills people, so it would be legitimate if he were also to kill someone . . . from the American military – or from its NATO allies,” Gremmen said in a telephone interview.
When he failed to find a soldier at the Roosendaal train station, “he got such a crazy, disturbed idea that he killed a civilian,” Gremmen said.
Hartmann did not attempt to escape and was arrested shortly after the killing.’
‘Madonna and Britney Spears have been targeted as the spreaders of “Satanic culture”.
The aggressive comments were launched by spokesman and senior leader of Palestinian terror group The Popular Resistance Committees, a group based in the Gaza Strip and responsible for the increase in shootings and bombings in the region.
Muhammad Abdel-Al is quoted in new book ‘Schmoozing With Terrorists: From Hollywood to the Holy Land Jihadists Reveal their Global Plans – to a Jew!’ attacks the two pop stars, labelling them “prostitutes”.
Abdel-Al rants, “If I meet these whores I will have the honour – I repeat, I will have the honour – to be the first one to cut the heads off Madonna and Britney Spears if they will keep spreading their satanic culture against Islam.”‘
‘She waited on her porch for a car made of bones to come and take her to hell.
Instead, when sheriff’s deputies arrived, she calmly went to jail, expecting the floor there to open up and deliver her to her fiery fate.
Were Jennifer Kukla’s visions, as described to police and psychiatrists, fantasies fueled by psychotic delusions? Or were they proof she knew right from wrong when she slit the throats of her two young daughters?’
‘A Noble boy’s parents were pleased charges were filed over their son being killed by a police bullet intended for a snake. But the charges don’t ease the pain of their loss, they said. [..]
Officer Paul Bradley Rogers, 34, and Sgt. Robert Shawn Richardson, 29, are accused of causing the death of Austin Haley, 5, by negligently firing at a snake. A bullet ricocheted and hit the child while he was outside fishing with his grandfather, investigators said.
Rogers, an officer in training, fired the shot that killed Austin. Rogers only had been on the Noble police force about a month, District Attorney Greg Mashburn said Friday. Richardson, Rogers’ supervisor, gave the order to shoot, officials said.
Mashburn said the decision to charge the officers is one of the most difficult he’s made.
“I conclude that these officers failed to do something that a reasonably careful person would do by firing a weapon at a nonpoisonous snake that was stuck in a birdhouse without knowing what laid behind their location,” he said.’
‘The body of a stillborn baby was put in a supermarket carrier bag after it was delivered and left with the parents for two hours as they waited at hospital. [..]
The body was put in a bag when an ambulance took her to the Royal Sussex County Hospital. She said it stayed in the bag while she waited in A&E. [..]
She said she had to wait in a room in A&E for two hours without being examined, and that during that time her baby was in a plastic bag on top of a cabinet in the room with her and her husband, Michael.
She also said that when she was moved to another ward, the bag was placed on a windowsill.’
‘A Chinese man due to be deported to face serious criminal charges at home is in a Sydney hospital after swallowing razor blades.
The man, known as Mr Qi, has been held in detention since his visa was revoked in February 2004, when Chinese authorities issued a warrant for his arrest.
He had been due to be deported to China today to face charges of kidnap and murder, after the Federal Government was given an undertaking from Beijing that he would not face the death penalty if convicted. [..]
“He would rather die here than go back,” Mr Rintoul said.’
‘”The head fell on the severed surface of the neck and I did not therefor have to take it up in my hands, as all the newspapers have vied with each other in repeating; I was not obliged even to touch it in order to set it upright. Chance served me well for the observation, which I wished to make.
“Here, then, is what I was able to note immediately after the decapitation: the eyelids and lips of the guillotined man worked in irregularly rhythmic contractions for about five or six seconds. This phenomenon has been remarked by all those finding themselves in the same conditions as myself for observing what happens after the severing of the neck…’
‘The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issued a long-awaited apology today for the massacre of an immigrant wagon train by local church members 150 years ago in southwestern Utah.
Elder Henry B. Eyring of the Quorum of the Twelve read the church’s statement on assignment from the church’s governing First Presidency during a memorial ceremony at the grave site of some of the massacre victims at Mountain Meadows, about 35 miles northwest of St. George. The statement also places blame for the Sept. 11, 1857, massacre on the local church leaders at the time and church members who followed their orders to murder some 120 unarmed men, women and children.’
‘Recently released surveillance footage shows just how two trains crashed into a Hammond mother’s minivan Saturday, killing her two daughters.
The video, captured by Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District cameras at the Hammond station parking lot, shows a CSX freight train traveling east, toward Johnson Avenue, near the Hudson Street intersection.
The video, captured by Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District cameras at the Hammond station parking lot, shows a CSX freight train traveling east, toward Johnson Avenue, near the Hudson Street intersection.
Suddenly, a dark-colored minivan driven by Edie Bolanos blurs into the picture. Outpaced by the train, the eastbound van starts to pick up speed in the adjacent parking lot, parallel to the freight train. The van eventually takes the lead.’
(2.7meg Flash video)
see it here »
‘Police are putting out an urgent warning to the public to avoid vials of a deadly drug that were stolen from a veterinary office overnight.
Several 100-milliliter vials of Euthasol, used to euthanize animals, were stolen from a veterinary clinic, according to Bourne Police Sgt. Christopher Farrell. Police declined to name the clinic, but said it was on the Cape side of the canal.
The break-in was reported when employees opened up this morning, and the missing medication, a liquid with extremely high concentrations of Phenobarbital, was discovered.
“It’s deadly. That’s the only way to put it,” Farrell said. The liquid was contained in small brown glass vials with red caps and is labelled Euthasol.’
‘Two South African men have been arrested in Soweto for allegedly going on a drinking spree in a stolen hearse with a body in the back, police say.
The men were caught after the hearse ran out of petrol and they asked three women they had met at a drinking den to help push the hearse, local media say.
The men told the women they were on their way to bury the body of a relative but the women told the police.’
