New Zealand Shark Attack: Wife Told By Text

The wife of a man killed by a great white shark at a New Zealand beach was told about the deadly attack by text message as she sat having coffee nearby, it has emerged.

Meg Strange was chatting with a friend at a cafe near Muriwai Beach in west Auckland when the pair heard there had been an attack, The New Zealand Herald has reported.

Mrs Strange tried to contact her husband Adam, who she believed was on the beach, after finishing an ocean swim.

When she got no answer, her friend sent a text message to Muriwai Lifeguard Service chairman Tim Jago.

"I got the text, 'I hear there's been a shark attack'," Mr Jago told the Herald.

"I said, 'Yes, I'm on the beach now.' And she said, 'I'm having a cup of coffee with Meg. She can't contact Adam.'

Adam Strange, a father-of-one, was a TV commercial director

"And I had to send a text back saying, 'It was Adam.' That's how quickly it happened."

Mrs Strange returned to Muriwai Beach on Thursday for a memorial for her husband, a father-of-one.

The prolonged attack by the 12-foot shark has shocked witnesses.

"He wasn't letting go. Normally two boats out there, guns being fired and being whacked over the snout with a paddle a couple of times would be enough,"  Mr Jago told The Herald.

Nigel Bradbury was at the beach with his daughter when he filmed the event on his phone.

''I was going to have a swim but we decided to have a picnic instead, and then we saw the inflatable (rescue boat) racing along the beach along with the quad bike towards Maori Bay,'' he told The New Zealand Herald.

Mr Bradbury said a police car parked next to him and within three minutes the police officer was in the rescue boat shooting at the shark to release Mr Strange's body.

''You could see it clearly, even though it was a fair way offshore. The water spraying up when he fired the gun - rapid fire and then you could hear the sound,'' he said.

Earlier, Mr Jago said Mr Strange was "a good water man" and was well known to the lifeguards who tried to save him.

Lifeguards had been traumatised, and were being offered support and counselling, he said.

Mr Strange was a TV commercial director and had worked around the world on several projects.

00.48 | 0 komentar | Read More

Berlin's New Airport Can't Switch Lights Off

Berlin's troubled new airport has been plagued with delays and now has a fresh technical hang-up - no-one can turn the lights off.

While the German capital has experienced one of the bleakest winters on record, there is no lack of light in Schonefeld where the new airport is being built.

The terminal lights burn around the clock because the workers on site have no means to switch them off, officials have confessed.

"It has to do with the fact that we haven't progressed far enough with our lighting system that we can control it," Horst Amann, the airport's technical director, told Spiegel Online.

Planned to replace Tegel and Schonefeld airports in 2011, Berlin Brandenburg Airport - also to be known as Willy Brandt Airport - has been under construction since September 2005.

But a catalogue of technical glitches, design errors and concerns about safety equipment has delayed its opening to the point where officials dare not give a date for its completion for fear of another deadline being broken.

"I will only name a date when I can take responsibility for it," added Mr Amann.

The cost of the project has also risen from around 2bn euros (£1.7bn) to 4.3bn euros (£3.7bn) - almost double the initial estimate.

The latest glitch has attracted widespread scorn in the German media.

When it eventually opens, the airport is expected to handle up to 27 million passengers a year.

00.48 | 0 komentar | Read More

China Parades Convicts On TV Before Execution

Four gang members from south-east Asian countries have been executed in China for the murder of 13 sailors on the Mekong river, after being paraded first on live state television.

Naw Kham, a Myanmar drug gang leader, and three of his accomplices faced lethal injection with a mixture of defiance and fear in the broadcast on CCTV which showed them being taken from prison to the execution site.

The four, along with two other accused, admitted at their trial last year pre-meditated murder, drug trafficking, kidnapping and hijacking in connection with a raid on two Chinese riverboats in October 2011, state news agency Xinhua said.

Naw Kham was described as "the boss of the largest armed drug trafficking gang" on the river which flows through China, Laos, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. He was nicknamed "the Godfather".

The incident sparked outrage in China, where photographs of the gagged and blindfolded victims circulated online, and the progress of the case has been given prominent coverage by state media.

Naw Kham was said to be the boss of a huge armed drug trafficking gang

In the broadcast, Naw Kham, 43, smiled slightly before grimacing as a restraining rope was tied around him in the prison in Kunming, in the southern province of Yunnan.

He then emerged into bright sunlight and a bank of television cameras, before being put into a van and driven away.

His fellow inmates, named by state media as Hsang Kham, 61, from Thailand, Yi Lai, 55, stateless, and Zha Xika, 28, from Laos, followed. The two older men looked grim-faced, while the younger convict's features crumpled.

CCTV cut to interviews with police officials outside the prison before returning to a studio discussion on the case. "He's eaten well, he's slept well, he's looking better than when he was arrested," said one of the panel.

Before the conclusion of the programme, which ran for almost two hours, a statement on the Yunnan provincial security bureau's website said all four had been executed.

Interviewed by CCTV earlier this week, Naw Kham said: "I miss my mother. Good people will turn bad in the Golden Triangle, you can't resist the temptation.

"I hope my children will not follow my example. I wish them a good future and hope they will study hard."

Shown a picture of the families of the dead, he said: "I have sent money to the relatives of the victims. Their pains are just like mine, I have children, I want to be with them when I get old.

"I want to live, I don't want to die."

Recent reports in Chinese state media said that officials considered killing him with a drone strike in Burma during the hunt but instead decided to capture him alive. In the event he was arrested in Laos and flown to China.

00.48 | 0 komentar | Read More

Retired Pope Spends First Night In Front Of TV

By Nick Pisa, Sky Correspondent

Former Pope Benedict XVI spent his first night in retirement watching TV after dinner and having a stroll around his summer residence, the Vatican has revealed.

Archbishop Georg Ganswein, his private secretary, disclosed the details of the 85-year-old ex-leader of the Roman Catholic Church's new life in a telephone call with Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi.

Monsignor Ganswein added that the Pope Emeritus, as he is now known, had also "slept well" after watching TV news bulletins of his final day in office.

The day had ended with a poignant helicopter ride from Rome to his residence 20 miles south of the Italian capital at Castelgandolfo, where he will remain for several weeks before moving into a specially prepared apartment at a convent within the Vatican.

Father Lombardi said: "In our conversation I was told he (Benedict XVI) was doing very well. He was relaxed, serene and peaceful.

"He was very appreciative of the reports which covered his last few intense moments. He had dinner and then went for a walk inside the palace at Castelgandolfo - in the Hall of the Swiss and then afterwards he prayed and went to bed.

"When he woke he celebrated Mass at 7am and had breakfast as well as reading all the messages he had received. He will then spend the afternoon in the gardens of Castelgandolfo in prayer."

Father Lombardi also revealed how the Pope Emeritus had brought with him several books to read on theology as well as music to listen to - and he also hopes to return to one of his favourite pastimes playing the piano in the evening.

Among the books that Benedict had taken with him was one called The Esthetic Theology of von Balthasar.  Hans Urs von Balthasar was a Swiss theologian who died in 1988 and whose funeral was attended by the former pope when he was still plain Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and he has described him as "perhaps the most cultured man of our time".

His new home at Castelgandolfo is a villa overlooking the crater lake Albano and he will be sleeping in a single bed no more than 75cm wide without a canopy - unlike the one he was used to in his eight years at the Apostolic Palace in his Vatican apartments.

There were reports in the Italian media that his new home meant that he would be at last able to smoke in peace - there have long been rumours that Benedict enjoyed a crafty cigarette but officials have always refused to confirm this, though Father Lombardi did dismiss a suggestion he was wearing "medical equipment", saying: "He is an elderly person but in good health. Recently we have seen him older, tired and every now and then with a stick but that's only to lean on."

Vatican officials also released rarely seen footage of the moment that Camerlengo or Vatican chamberlain Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone sealed up the former Pope's personal apartments in the Apostolic Palace, now that there is no Pope and it is a "sede vacante" (empty seat).

The ceremony takes place every time a Pope dies and is a throwback to centuries goneby where the Roman hordes would rampage through the palace on the death of a pontiff looting and pillaging, The rooms will now remain closed until a new pope is elected at next month's conclave.

In the video Cardinal Bertone is seen carrying a staff known as a ferula to show his authority and he could be seen applying white tape to the doors of the lift which Benedict used to take him from the second floor of the apartments to the third floor where he would appear at a window to give his traditional Sunday Angelus or sermon.

Red ribbon was also placed on the doors leading to the apartments and these were closed with a wax seal in a ceremony that took place at 8pm just as Benedict formally retired and which also started with prayers.

A similar sealing up ceremony also took place at the apostolic apartments in San Giovanni in Laterano which is the Pope's official church in Rome as his other title is also Bishop of Rome.

Meanwhile, letters have been sent out to the 206 cardinals who make up the College of Cardinals inviting them to formal talks which will begin in Rome on Monday - the main thing they will decide upon is the start date of the next Conclave at which the new pope will be elected.

However only those cardinals aged under 80 are eligible to vote and with recent resignations and illness it is thought the final number entering into the Sistine Chapel for the secret meeting will be 115 and the eyes of the world will be on the chimney watching for the white smoke which signifies the election of a new pope.

00.48 | 0 komentar | Read More

Horsemeat: Four New Products Test Positive

Tests on four beef products sold by Birds Eye, Taco Bell and catering supplier Brakes have been found to contain horsemeat.

Checks revealed contamination of Birds Eye Traditional Spaghetti Bolognese and Beef Lasagne, Taco Bell's ground beef and Brakes' spicy minced beef skewer, the Food Standards Agency said.

Ten tests on the four products returned results of more than 1% horsemeat, the FSA said, and all four have been withdrawn from sale.

US-owned Tex-Mex restaurant chain Taco Bell said that it was "disappointed" to have discovered the horsemeat in tests it carried out on beef supplied to its UK restaurants by a sole European supplier.

"We immediately withdrew ground beef from sale in our restaurants, discontinued purchase of that meat, and contacted the Food Standards Agency with this information," it said in a statement.

"We would like to apologise to all of our customers, and we can reassure you that we are working hard to ensure that every precaution is being undertaken to guarantee that we are only supplied with products that meet the high standards we demand."

Overall, the Food Standards Agency has received 5,430 test results

Birds Eye had already withdrawn the spaghetti bolognese, lasagne and a third ready meal, a shepherd's pie, from sale in Britain and the Republic of Ireland as a precaution after tests found 2% of horse DNA in a chilli con carne dish it sold in Belgium.

They are made by the same Belgian manufacturer, Frigilunch NV.

"No other Birds Eye products have tested positive for horse DNA, nor do they share the same supply chains as Frigilunch NV," the company said in a statement.

"Going forward we are introducing a new ongoing DNA testing programme that will ensure no minced beef meat product can leave our facilities without first having been cleared by DNA testing."

Brakes, which is based in Ashford, Kent, is the supplier for the House of Commons Catering Service and last month it withdrew its steak and kidney pie, beef and onion pie, steak and kidney suet pudding, and beef Italian meatballs as a precaution.

It also supplies pubs among 19,000 customers who buy around 48,000 cases of products containing beef every week.

It too said it was introducing new tests after the discovery, alongside 259 negative tests.

"Our tests also confirmed one positive equine DNA finding at between 1% and 10% on a Brakes spicy minced beef skewer and one positive test reported by a customer of our subsidiary division Creative Foods, on a lasagne manufactured exclusively for them," it said.

"Brakes have also segregated a frozen burger as a precaution after equine DNA at 1% was reported to the Food Standards Agency.

"Brakes and Creative Foods are very disappointed to have been let down by our respective suppliers and have sincerely apologised to our customers.

The latest findings come in the third round of checks on products

"As any responsible company, we have a duty of care to all our customers and the consumers they serve to guarantee the integrity of the products we purchase."

The discoveries were made in the third round of tests carried out since January.

A total of 19 products have now been confirmed to contain over 1% of horse DNA.

No tests to date on samples containing horse DNA have found the veterinary drug phenylbutazone, or bute, to be present.

Across the industry, a first wave of tests found horse meat in products including Aldi's special frozen beef lasagne and special frozen spaghetti bolognese, Co-op frozen quarter-pounder burgers, Findus beef lasagne, Rangeland's catering burger products, and Tesco Value frozen burgers and Value spaghetti bolognese.

A second wave of tests revealed contamination of Asda's chilled beef bolognese sauce, beef burgers, minced beef and halal minced beef sold by Sodexo, which supplies food to schools, care homes and the armed forces, and a Whitbread Group lasagne and beef burger.

Earlier, the British Retail Consortium said test results for horsemeat in all minced beef lines used by the UK's largest supermarkets had revealed no new cases of contamination.

Some 95% of products sold by retailers have now been checked, it said, with the latest round of checks since February 22 including 361 tests on 103 products.

A total of 1,889 tests have been carried out by the trade organisation's members since January 20, with 0.3% of them finding contamination.

Meanwhile in Germany, authorities say they have found a carcinogenic substance in animal feed delivered to more than 3,500 farms - but stressed that any risk to humans was unlikely.

Aflatoxin B1 is a chemical produced by fungus that can grow on hay or grains and appear in the milk of animals that eat the mildewed feed.

The state agriculture ministry in Lower Saxony said the contamination originated from a shipment of corn from Serbia.

It said it did not believe there was any danger to consumers and there was no indication legal limits on aflatoxins in milk had been exceeded.

00.48 | 0 komentar | Read More

Pound Falls As Triple Dip Fears Fuelled

Sterling has fallen to a two-and-a-half-year low against the dollar after manufacturing figures for February revealed a fall in output.

The closely watched Markit/CIPS purchasing managers' index showed a slump in activity to 47.9 - well below the 50 level which separates growth from contraction.

It was the first time since last November the sector's activity shrunk, and followed 50.2 in January.

The value of the pound slipped following the data, and fell below $1.50 on Friday afternoon - its lowest since the middle of 2010. 

Sterling has only been beneath the $1.50 mark for four of the 200 years since the US Declaration of Independence.

The last time it was at this level was briefly during the 2010 election and coalition-building process, and before that the 2008/09 recession.

Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit, said the manufacturing data increased the chance that Britain will slip back into recession. 

"The return to contraction of the manufacturing sector is a big surprise and represents a major set-back to hopes that the UK economy can return to growth in the first quarter and may avoid a triple-dip recession," he said.

"The data so far this year point to manufacturing output falling by as much as 0.5%, meaning a strong rebound is needed in March to prevent the sector from acting as a drag on the economy as a whole in the first quarter."

The struggling sector contributed to the UK's worse-than-expected 0.3% decline in output in the fourth quarter of last year, and a negative reading for the first quarter of 2013 would see the UK enter a triple-dip recession.

Nawaz Ali, a market analyst with Western Union, said the manufacturing data could increase pressure on the Bank of England (BoE) to launch a new round of asset purchasing - or quantitative easing - as early as next week.

"The data is a major setback for sterling and the size of the manufacturing decline indicates that there is still a chance the British economy may suffer an unprecedented triple-dip recession," he said.

"The data also adds to growing concerns that not only could the BoE re-start monetary printing in March, the central bank's new flexible inflation strategy puts it in a position to launch a prolonged period of asset purchases, similar to what the US have done and what the Bank of Japan is planning to do."

More quantitative easing is likely to hit sterling further because it increases its supply and drives the currency's exchange value lower.

So far this year, sterling - which was also hit by Moody's downgrade of the UK's credit rating - has lost 7.5% against the dollar.

00.48 | 0 komentar | Read More

Philpott Trial Hears Secret Police Recordings

By David Crabtree, Midlands Correspondent

A man accused of starting a house fire which killed his six children is alleged to have whispered to his wife: "I didn't mean to do it. On my life."

Mick Philpott, 56, his wife Mairead, 31, and a third defendant Paul Mosley each deny six counts of manslaughter after the blaze in Derby last May.

In the days after the fire, covert recordings were made of the Philpotts' conversations in a police vehicle and a hotel bedroom. 

In the van on May 31, Mick is heard asking his wife: "Are we sticking to the story?"

Mairead replies: "Hmmm." Mick whispers: "Good."

He then asks her: "Do you know something? Have they got any evidence on you? They've got nothing on me, nothing."

During another conversation he said to his wife: "I love you so much. Look at me. We will walk free and prove our innocence, right?

Paul Mosley is also on trial

"And then we will sort them out, promise you."

Mairead replied: "Yeah, like I said, we can't even bury the kids."

The Philpotts' defence team disputes the contents of some of the recordings and called Martin Barry, a forensics speech analyst, who said he had listened to the disputed recording "several thousand times".

The prosecution alleges Mick can be heard to say: "You definitely sticking with the story? I didn't mean to do it, on my life."

Mr Barry agreed the comments "definitely sticking with the story" and "on my life" could be heard, but disputed the words "you" and "I didn't mean to do it".

The expert told the court the comments were "unclear" and "obscured" by the noise of the van.

The prosecution claims the children's deaths were a result of a "plan" devised to frame Mick's ex-mistress Lisa Willis that went wrong.

The judge at Nottingham Crown Court also decided to allow the release of a 999 call made on the night of the fire.

The Philpotts can be heard sobbing and pleading for help and telling the operator that the children were trapped in an upstairs bedroom.

Jade, 10, and brothers John, nine, Jack, eight, Jesse, six and Jayden, five, all perished in the blaze on Victory Road in Allenton.

Their brother Duwayne, 13, was taken to Derby Royal Hospital, but died three days later after being transferred to a Birmingham hospital.

The trial continues.

00.48 | 0 komentar | Read More

Sinkhole Swallows Up Man At Florida Home

A man in Florida has been swallowed up by a sinkhole measuring 30 metres (100 feet) across which opened up under his bedroom.

Jeff Bush was trapped under rubble after the home in Brandon, east of Tampa Bay, began to collapse into the 15m deep hole on Thursday night.

Hillsborough County Fire Rescue officials told reporters the 36-year-old missing man was now presumed to have died. 

"It's not confirmed, but I think it's safe to presume," spokeswoman Jessica Damico told reporters.

There were five adults and one child inside the house at the time.

The victim's brother, Jerry Bush, tried unsuccessfully to pull him from the sinkhole after hearing a loud crash at around 11pm and screams for help.

The sinkhole is not visible outside the house. Pic: WTVT

"I know in my heart, he's dead," he told CNN.

"I heard a loud crash like a car coming through the house and I heard my brother screaming," he explained.

"All I seen was this big hole, real big hole and all I seen was his mattress."

He jumped into the hole and started digging.

"I couldn't find him. I thought I could hear him holler for me to help him," he said.

The brother then had to be rescued by a sheriff's deputy.

"I went into the bedroom and I saw the sinkhole in the entire bedroom," Deputy Douglas Duvall said.

"I saw the family member inside the hole who was trying to get the victim out. I reached out and was able to grab his hand and pull him out of the hole."

The sinkhole started opening up as the man lay in bed at the house

Engineers determined the sinkhole extends for 15 metres in both directions from the central point in the bedroom.

But it is not visible above ground except from inside the house.

Overnight the home became too unstable to continue rescue efforts. People living in neighbouring homes were also evacuated.

Authorities said they used equipment that can detect sounds as faint as a mouse running over a floor in an attempt to find the missing man, but nothing was detected.

Sinkholes are common in seaside Florida, where underlying limestone and dolomite can be worn away by water and chemicals, leading to a collapse.

00.47 | 0 komentar | Read More

'Cannibal Cop' Case: Two Men Arrested In UK

Two men have been arrested in Kent as part of an investigation linked to a US case involving a policeman accused of plotting to kidnap, kill and eat dozens of women.

Gilberto Valle's trial in New York has been told of a stream of internet correspondence between the former NYPD officer and a Briton who used "MeatMarketMan" as an email address and "Moody Blues" as on online name.

The pair are believed to have met through an extreme sexual fetish website.

Prosecutors in New York allege Valle's cyber co-conspirator Moody Blues told the officer he had killed and eaten at least two women.

A string of graphic exchanges between Valle, 28, and Moody Blues were read out to the court by FBI agent Corey Walsh on Wednesday.

In one, Moody Blues insisted he and Valle would need a secluded place to cook a woman alive.

"I have a place on the mountains," Valle wrote. "Nobody's around for three quarters of a mile."

In another, Valle suggested a woman would be easy prey because she lived alone.

"I can knock her out, wait until dark and kidnap her right out of her house," he wrote, according to prosecutors.

Mr Walsh said Moody Blues suggested eating his victim alive, but Valle responded: "I'm not really into raw meat."

When asked Friday whether there had been any arrests related to the Valle prosecution in the States, Kent Police said they had briefly detained two men from Canterbury, the cathedral city situated southeast of London.

Kent police identified the men only as a 57-year-old and a 30-year-old, saying that they had been arrested on February 21 on suspicion of conspiracy, child grooming and possession of child abuse images.

Police said the men have since been released on bail, without charge.

The statement added: "Kent Police has been in contact with US law enforcement agencies in relation to this investigation."

Valle has pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to kidnap and improper use of a federal database system. If convicted, he could face a life sentence.

His defence lawyers say the more outlandish examples of online exchanges between Valle and friends he met on extreme sexual fetish websites were merely engaging in fantasies.

00.47 | 0 komentar | Read More

South Africa Cops Charged Over Van Man Murder

Eight South African police officers have been arrested on suspicion of murder after a video showed a man being handcuffed to a moving van.

South Africa's police watchdog arrested the men over the death of a Mozambican taxi driver who died in custody after being dragged by the police vehicle.

Earlier, police in Pretoria held a press conference to placate a nation outraged by the footage showing Mido Macia being dragged through the streets.

He was later found dead in a police cell with serious head and internal injuries.

National Commissioner of the South African Police Service, General Riah Phiyega, said the eight officers had been suspended and disarmed.

The station commander in Daveytown, a township east of Johannesburg, had also been removed from his post, she said.

"Any one death is one too many," Ms Phiyega said. "We believe in the principle of police being policed."

The Daily Sun, a South African newspaper, posted footage of the dragging incident, which occurred on Tuesday.

It was apparently filmed by several people on mobile phones.

Witnesses said Mr Macia, 27, drew the attention of police when he parked in a way that blocked traffic, and then got into an row with officers.

"We are going to film this," several onlookers shouted in Zulu as the police subdued Mr Macia.

One bystander can be heard shouting: "What has this guy done?"

President Jacob Zuma condemned the killing of Mr Macia.

Some commentators drew comparisons with the 1977 death of anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko, who also suffered head injuries in police custody.

00.47 | 0 komentar | Read More