Bird strike! The moment 200 starlings were sucked into passenger jet engine on take-off

By Mail Foreign Service

Last updated at 8:04 AM on 30th September 2009

Dwarfed by the jetliner, they look little more than a smattering of black dots.

But this flock of birds could have brought the plane crashing down in seconds.

They flew straight into the path of the Germania airlines flight to Kosovo as it took off from Dusseldorf airport with 80 on board.

 

Flight into danger: A flock of starlings fly straight into the path of the Boeing airliner as it lifts off at 200mph

 

More than 200 birds were sucked into one of the engines as one of the pilots can be seen watching what was happening. The markings directly below him are believed to be pitot tubes which measure the speed of the aircraft as opposed to holes in the fuselage created by the birds

‘It was like a scene from the Hitchcock movie The Birds. One second all was clear, and the next thing you saw were these birds swarming over the plane,’ said an onlooker.

It is thought more than 200 starlings were sucked into the right engine as the Boeing jet approached 200mph.

Others dented the fuselage but thankfully did not pierce it. Their splattered remains could be seen on the plane later.

‘The pitch of the engine said it all,’ said plane-spotter Juergen Kienast, who took these dramatic pictures.

‘It was like sticking a bit of metal pipe into a blender.’

Once airborne, the pilot reported engine damage and circled for almost 45 minutes before landing safely.

No-one was hurt and the plane had only minor damage.

A similar bird strike brought down an Airbus in the Hudson in New York in January this year.

The pilot managed a heroic emergency landing and all 155 on board survived.

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'Evil powers created half-man, half-goat creature'

 

The Daily Telegraph

September 28, 2009 11:30am

AN African village is reportedly shellshocked after the birth of a bizarre faun-like creature said to have the combined features of a man and a goat.

Bild reports the creature, which died just a few hours after birth in Lower Gweru, Zimbabwe, had a huge head and face which resembled a human, as well as goat legs and a tail.

Villagers said the end product was so scary even dogs were afraid to go close to it. They burned the corpse fearing it was an evil sign.

"This is indeed a miracle that has never been witnessed anywhere," elder Themba Moyo said.

The goat's owner called police after the birth.

"It’s the first time that my goat did this. I have 15 goats and it’s this goat that gave me birth to most of them. My goats often give birth to sets of twins," he said.

The Zimbabwe Guardian reports that Midlands Governor and Resident Minister Jason Machaya is adamant the creature is the result of a coupling between man and goat.

"This incident is very shocking. It is my first time to see such an evil thing. It is really embarrassing," he reportedly said.

"The head belongs to a man while the body is that of a goat. This is evident that an adult human being was responsible. Evil powers caused this person to lose self control.

"We often hear cases of human beings who commit bestiality but this is the first time for such an act to produce a product with human features."

A vet didn't have the chance to investigate the creature, but after inspecting photos, he told Bild he believed it was a child suffering from hydrocephalus, or water on the brain.

"The condition would have accounted for the abnormally large skull and for the chin, nose, ears and other body parts having shifted during development," he reportedly said.

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Teen Chops Off Father's Hands for Alleged Abuse

 

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

TAIPEI, Taiwan —  A 17-year-old Taiwanese boy has been arrested for chopping off his father's hands, allegedly to avenge years of physical abuse, a police official said Tuesday.

The boy cut through his father's wrists with a knife while he was asleep at the family's home in central Miaoli on Monday, the official said. The official was speaking on condition of anonymity, citing department policy.

The 37-year-old father, a divorced ironsmith, was in stable condition after doctors reattached his severed hands, the offcial said.

The father and son were identified only by their surname, Fan.

The police official said the boy admitted to cutting his father's hands off and showed no remorse, complaining that he was beaten after refusing to get a job while attending school.

The Apple Daily newspaper quoted the boy as telling police that since his mother left home some 10 years before, his father had frequently beat him. 

The boy said he bought a knife and planned to kill his father two days earlier after his father reprimanded him for refusing to work and denied him allowances, the report said.

The boy has been handed over to a juvenile court that will decide whether to file charges.

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FBI: Bloody Silhouette of Child Found in Casey Anthony's Trunk

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

An FBI forensics lab identified a blood stain outline of a child in the fetal position in the trunk liner of accused child killer Casey Anthony’s truck, according to newly released documents.

The new information came in an e-mail from FBI Intelligence Analyst Karen B. Cowan to another agency employee in an email dated Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2008.

The 23-year-old Orlando woman is charged with killing her 2-year-old daughter Caylee, hiding the child's remains and lying to investigators about a baby sitter kidnapping her.

“If you look closely at this photo, there appears to be the outline or silhouette of a child in the fetal position," Cowan wrote.

The e-mail was included among thousands more pages of information pertaining to the Anthony case that were released by the Florida state attorney's office on Tuesday.

"You can make out what may be the back, bottom, and legs most clearly," Cowan said in the message. "The image is best viewed on a computer screen, rather than a printout, but several of us can see this image and agree there is good chance we are seeing something significant."

Included in the newly released documents was information that duct tape found on the mouth of slain toddler Caylee Anthony was contaminated by an FBI document examiner.

The contamination was discovered after FBI lab workers noticed female DNA on the duct tape which neither matched Caylee Anthony, Casey Anthony or the toddler's grandmother, Cindy Anthony. Samples were taken of FBI workers who had handled the duct tape and a match was found with a forensics document examiner.

The forensics lab that identified the blood stain also confirmed Caylee's identity when her remains were found in December 2008, six months after she disappeared. Her mother didn't report her missing for a month.

 

Anthony has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder charges and remains behind bars in Orlando. Her trial was pushed back from October 2009 to January 2010, but could be delayed even further.

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Murdered woman whose body was found in suitcase went on internet date before she was killed

 

By Daily Mail Reporter

Last updated at 11:52 AM on 30th September 2009

A woman whose body was found stuffed in a suitcase in a dried-up pond had been on a date with a man she met on the internet before she was killed, it emerged today.

The care worker was last seen two weeks ago as she went to meet the man she had met on advertising site Gumtree.

The 37-year-old from Cricklewood, in London, was caught on CCTV leaving Elephant and Castle tube station on September 12 but then vanished.

Her remains were found in a suitcase by a dog walker, in a dried up pond near Rochester in Kent on Friday.

 

Image: Footage from CCTV on September 12 shows Leah Questin leaving Elephant and Castle tube station, before boarding a number 172 bus

A man has been arrested after the decomposed remains of Miss Questin, 37, were found in a suitcase dumped in a pond in Kent

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said a 35-year-old man was arrested at an address in Lewisham, south east London, early yesterday morning and remains in custody at a north London police station.

Results of a post-mortem examination carried out on Friday proved inconclusive and forensic tests are on going to establish the cause of death.

Ms Questin, who was originally from the Philippines was reported missing by a friend at around midday on September 12 after last being seen at her home address.

The suitcase was found by a dog walker at 1.30pm last Thursday.

Detective Chief Inspector, Peter Lansdown, of the Homicide and Serious Crime Command, based at Hendon, said: 'As a result of inquiries into Leah's disappearance, we have established through CCTV footage, that she travelled alone on the 172 bus in the area of Elephant and Castle and was heading south.

'She boarded this bus on the New Kent Road shortly after exiting Elephant and Castle underground station.'

'Leah is described as 4ft 11in tall with a petite build. She has a light complexion and long black hair. Leah was wearing a red top and blue jeans.

'I appeal to anyone who saw Leah in south-east London or on the 172 bus or its route on Saturday September 12 to contact us.

 

Police search farmland at Cliffe, Rochester, where Leah's remains were found

 

'We also need to hear from anyone who may have seen her after September 12 and up until her body was found as we need to understand where she was going, who she was meeting and how she came to be murdered.'

The investigation was handed over to the Met after initially being dealt with by Kent Police.

Detectives earlier said they believed the body had been kept elsewhere before being dumped at the remote spot, known locally as the Old Pond.

Det Chief Insp Lansdown added: 'We continue to liaise with our colleagues at Kent Constabulary and I would like to thank them for their work during the early stages of this inquiry.'

Bob Worley, 64, a farmer who lives near the Old Pond where the body was discovered, said: 'My partner was told by police that some remains were found in a suitcase in the pond, which is dried out now.

'I guess it could have been there for several weeks as the water level has fallen quite a bit in that time, it must have been dumped there.'

Another neighbour, who asked not to be named, said she lived just two minutes away from where the body was found and described it as a quiet area with few other houses.

She said: 'I'm pretty shocked, you just don't expect that to happen.'

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Toddler Attacked by Wild Cat at Zoo but Escapes Serious Injury

 

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

NORMAN, Okla. —  A Norman zoo director says a 3-year-old boy was not seriously injured when he was clawed by a 45-pound European lynx after the child approached a chain link fence enclosing the cat.

Janet Schmid, director of the Little River Zoo, said Tuesday the boy suffered superficial wounds on the side of his head in the incident about 3 p.m. Monday.

She said the cat has been placed in an inside enclosure, and a solid fence has been erected to keep the public away from its outside area.

The outside area is a chain link enclosure, including a fenced-in top.

She said the boy was looking at swans when, following his sister, he left a path at the zoo, went through a rope barrier, over a low railroad-tie retaining wall and up to the cat's fence.

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Malaysia Upholds Caning for Muslim Woman Who Drank Beer in Public

 

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia —  A Muslim woman sentenced to caning for drinking beer wants to get the punishment over with now that it has been confirmed by an Islamic appeals court judge, her father said Tuesday.

If the punishment is carried out, Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, a 32-year-old mother of two, would become the first Muslim woman to be caned in Malaysia, where about 60 percent of the 28 million people are Muslims.

The case has ignited a debate in this moderate Muslim-majority country whether conservative Islamists, who advocate harsh punishments, are gaining influence over the justice system and whether Islamic laws should intrude into people's private lives.

According to local media reports Monday, chief Judge Abdul Hamid Abdul Rahman of Pahang state's Shariah courts decided to uphold the sentence passed by the state high court on Kartika after a one-month review of the case. No date was immediately set for the caning.

Kartika's father, Shukarno Abdul Muttlib, 60, told The Associated Press that while the family had yet to be informed of the judge's latest decision, his daughter "accepts the punishment" and would like it to be carried out sooner rather than later.

"We obey the law," he said, adding that "it's a challenge ... (but) it's the way of my life."

Pahang court and religious department officials declined to talk about the case Tuesday. Others could not immediately be reached.

Kartika, a former model and nurse, was sentenced in July to six strokes of the cane and a fine of $1,400 for drinking beer in December 2007 at a beach resort in violation of Islamic laws. Islam prohibits Muslims from drinking alcohol.

Kartika, who pleaded guilty, refused to appeal her sentence and was on the verge of being caned on Aug. 24. But the punishment was halted at the last minute following an uproar in the media and among rights activists.

Instead, the government asked the Shariah High Court Appeals Panel in Kuantan, the capital of Pahang, to review the verdict. Judge Abdul Hamid, who headed the panel, ruled that the sentence was correct and should go forward.

The caning would be done with a thin stick on the back and would be largely symbolic rather than aimed at causing pain, unlike the caning of rapists and drug smugglers with a thick rattan stick on bare buttocks that causes the skin to break and leave scars.

Deputy Home Minister Abu Seman Yusop said the prisons department has trained personnel who can carry out the caning in accordance with Islamic rules.

The date and time for the whipping will have to be decided by the court first,he said.

Malaysia follows a dual-track justice system. Shariah laws apply to Muslims in all personal matters. Non-Muslims — Chinese, Indians, Sikhs and other minorities — are covered by civil laws, and are free to drink.

Only three states in Malaysia — Pahang, Perlis and Kelantan — impose caning for drinking alcohol. In the other 10 states it is punishable by a fine.

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This is your lucky day: What masked gun raider told terrified woman who was seven months pregnant as he raped her

By Rebecca Camber

Last updated at 8:41 PM on 29th September 2009

 

Police want to speak to this man who was filmed on CCTV in Finsbury Park 30 minutes before the attack

A heavily pregnant woman was raped at gunpoint by a burglar who told her it was her 'lucky day'. 

The 33-year-old victim was only two months away from giving birth when masked raiders burst into her home and held a sawn-off shotgun to her partner's head.

She was dragged upstairs by one of the three attackers wearing a balaclava.

Despite the desperate pleas of her boyfriend who begged them not to harm the mother-to-be, she was forced to perform a sex act by the masked man, who threatened to shoot the couple if she did not follow his orders.

Last night she told of her terrifying ordeal as police offered a £20,000 reward to capture her depraved attackers.

'I just wanted to protect my baby,' she told the BBC's Crimewatch programme.

'I was absolutely terrified and being so late in the pregnancy I didn't want to get into a fight where they might hurt me or hurt the baby. He said it was my lucky day.'

The victim, from North London, who does not want to be identified, has since given birth to a healthy child. But she said the attack had devastated her life.

'Everything that you believe to be safe is no longer safe. You can't walk

into the bedroom and feel relaxed because you remember that someone was in there who wasn't supposed to be in there.'

The sex attack, which is classified as rape, took place on May 14 last year, but police have only just released details as the victim was too traumatised to speak out at the time. 

She was watching television with her 39-year-old boyfriend at 10.30pm when he went to investigate a noise outside the front door of their home in Finsbury Park.

He saw some men wearing scarves and balaclavas at the end of the path and tried to shut the door but they forced their way inside, pushing him to the floor.

 

Police believe these two men, captured on camera outside a mini-market at the corner of Seven Sisters Road and Durham Road, ten minutes before the attack  could be part of the gang

An object in a cloth bag, thought to be a sawn-off shotgun, was held to his head while the gang demanded the keys to the couple's grey Audi TT car.

As his pregnant girlfriend was dragged upstairs, he begged them not to harm her, but one of the men hit him with the butt of the gun.

He told Crimewatch: 'I pleaded, I was shouting, "She's pregnant, she's pregnant, leave off her, tell me what you want".'

The three men left in the Audi after grabbing property including a mobile phone, iPod, cash, debit cards and a laptop.

Police decided to offer the reward after failing to trace the gang. They have released images of three men caught on CCTV at a nearby shop a few minutes before the attack, whom they wish to question. 

 

The area of North London where the attack took place

The sex attacker is described as black, 6ft, aged 18 to 25 and stocky. He wore a black balaclava, black jacket, black tracksuit bottoms and black shoes.

A second man was black or Asian, 5ft 6in and about 18. He wore light grey tracksuit bottoms, black trainers and a zip-up jacket with red sleeves.

The third suspect, who had the gun, was black, 5ft 10in, and aged between 18 and 22. He was wearing burgundy tracksuit bottoms.

Police say they are keen to trace the men, if only to eliminate them from the inquiry.

Details of the incident were revealed at a time when police are battling a surge in burglaries in London, in particular gangs who target houses to steal the keys of luxury cars parked outside.

Detective Inspector Robert Pack, investigating the Finsbury Park case, said: 'Every rape is a very serious crime but what makes this all the more shocking was that the victim was so clearly heavily pregnant.

'Concerns for the unborn baby can only have exacerbated what was already an emotionally and physically traumatic experience.

'Allegiances may have changed since the attack and we would urge anyone with information to contact us.

'I hope there are people out there who are prepared to do the right thing and tell us what they know.'

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Afghan girl killed by RAF leaflet drop

 

Agence France-Presse

September 30, 2009 12:44pm

Britain's Ministry of Defence said it was investigating the accident which it described as "highly regrettable,'' The Times said.

The drop occurred over a rural area of Afghanistan's southern Helmand province on June 23 as part of an information campaign, the newspaper said.

"Sadly one of the boxes failed to fully open and on landing caused serious injuries to an Afghan child,'' an RAF spokesman said.

"The child was treated at the local medical facility in Kandahar where, despite the best efforts of staff, she died as a result of her injuries.''

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