by CTV - Story: 92497May 23, 2013 / 10:08 pm
Photo: Contributed - CTV
The victim as 60-year-old Lynn Earle
A retired BC�policewoman has been found murdered at her home in one of Mexico's most popular tourist destinations, according to local newspapers.
Her body was discovered Wednesday morning in an area known as Sacbe in Playa del Carmen, though authorities are not yet sure how long ago she died.
Friends identify the victim as 60-year-old Lynn Earle, and the West Vancouver Police Department confirms a constable of the same name retired from their ranks 17 years ago.
The victim was reportedly stabbed multiple times in an apparent robbery.
Foreign Affairs said it will not be releasing details about the death until an investigation is complete.
News of the killing came the same day North Vancouver Mounties issued an appeal for information about Trevor Roseborough, who lived on a boat near Puerto Vallarta but hasn't been heard from in 16 months.
Last year, another two British Columbians were violently murdered in Mexico. Former Vancouver Island resident Ron Mackintosh was reportedly found tied to a tree near Barra de Navidad.
Robin Wood of Salt Spring Island was shot and killed during a robbery near Manzanillo.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Jina You
by The Canadian Press - Story: 92496May 23, 2013 / 9:43 pm
�An earthquake has struck Northern California's Plumas County with a preliminary magnitude of 5.7.
Rafael Abreau, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey's National Earthquake Center, says the temblor struck at 8:47 p.m. and was centred 10 kilometres west northwest of Greenville, and about 40 kilometres southwest of Susanville.
Abreu says there have been no reports of damage in early reports.
KCRA-TV in Sacramento reports that the quake was felt in downtown Sacramento, about 230 kilometres south of the epicenter.
There have been eight aftershocks ranging from 2.6-to-3.5-magnitude.
Abreu said the shaking measured by the quake could have inflicted light damage of structures.
by Trevor Rockliffe - Story: 92493May 23, 2013 / 8:42 pm
Photo: Contributed - @Gina_SVH twitter
Update: 10 p.m. (The Canadian Press):�
The Washington State Patrol said there were no deaths, and three people were rescued and taken to hospitals.
Update (The Canadian Press) :�An Interstate 5 bridge over a river north of Seattle collapsed Thursday evening, dumping vehicles and people into the water, the Washington State Patrol said.
The four-lane bridge over the Skagit River collapsed about 7 p.m., Trooper Mark Francis said. There was no immediate estimate of how many people were in the water or whether there were any injuries or deaths, he said.
It also was not known what caused the collapse of the bridge, about 130 kilometres south of Vancouver, BC. and about 100 kilometres north of Seattle in Skagit County, which stretches from the North Cascades National Park to a cluster of islands off the Washington coast.
Xavier Grospe, 62, who lives near the river, said he could see three cars with what appeared to be one person per vehicle. The vehicles were sitting still in the water, partially submerged and partly above the waterline, and the apparent drivers were sitting either on top of the vehicles or on the edge of open windows.
"It doesn't look like anybody's in danger right now," Grospe said.
Crowds of people lined the river to watch the scene unfold, The Skagit-Valley Herald reported.
Washington state was given a C in the American Society of Civil Engineers' 2013 infrastructure report card and a C- when it came to the state's bridges. The group said more than a quarter of Washington's 7,840 bridges are considered structurally deficient or�functionally obsolete.
As reported by Komo News:
The Interstate 5 bridge over the Skagit River collapsed Thursday evening, injuring an unknown number of people.
Both the northbound and southbound portions of the bridge dropped into the river sometime before 7 p.m., according to Washington State Patrol trooper Mark Francis.
Francis said several cars were on the bridge when it collapsed, and many are now in the water.
More details to follow
by The Canadian Press - Story: 92456May 23, 2013 / 12:58 pm
Photo: The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
LaTisha Garcia carries her eight-year-old daughter, Jazmin Rodriguez near Plaza Towers Elementary School after a massive tornado carved its way through Moore, Okla., leaving little of the school and neighborhood. This picture, published on hundreds of front pages around the world, has become one of the enduring images from the storm. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki,File)
A massive tornado was carving its way through town. There was no time to hesitate. LaTisha Garcia had to get to her children.
And so she raced against the storm. She had 30 miles to cover from her job in Edmond to Plaza Towers Elementary School, where her 8-year-old daughter Jazmin Rodriguez is a third grader.
She lost.
The tornado got there first, and the destruction kept her from driving the final few hundred yards. And so she got out of her car and ran, arriving to find little left of the school and almost nothing of the neighbourhood.
Panic set in.
Survivors of the storm were frantic, pulling children from the twisted metal and piles of concrete rubble that remained of what was once a school. She knew her three youngest children were safe at their daycare, but Jazmin was somewhere inside the rubble.
Terror came next.
"Right when I ran up to ask if I could start pulling people out or try to help, some guy just handed her to me," Garcia said. "I only recognized her from her clothes. My mind was in so many different places, I couldn't even remember what she wore that day."
Finally, relief.
The emotion seared on her face, she scooped her daughter into her arms and set off across the now barren landscape away from the place where seven of Jazmin's schoolmates had died.
An Associated Press photographer, Sue Ogrocki, captured the moment: Mother and daughter, clutching each other, making their way to safety through a decimated neighbourhood. All that stood behind them was a tree stripped of its limbs and bark, brutally wrapped in sheet metal by the storm.
"It was a long way toward the end of the parking lot," Garcia recalled. "And she's a heavy girl. There were times I didn't think I was going to make it. But I did."
The picture was published on hundreds of front pages around the world, becoming one of the enduring images from the storm.
by The Canadian Press - Story: 92447May 23, 2013 / 11:23 am
Photo: The Canadian Press - The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
Jury members actress Nicole Kidman, left, and director Ang Lee arrive for the screening of Nebraska at the 66th international film festival, in Cannes, southern France, Thursday. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)
Thieves outsmarted 80 security guards in an exclusive French Riviera hotel and made off with a necklace that creators say is worth a staggering 2 million euros ($2.6 million) â'��' in the second such jewelry heist during this year's Cannes Film Festival.
The De Grisogono jewelry house said Thursday that the necklace was stolen after a party for festival attendees at the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc on Tuesday night. In a statement, it said the theft occurred "despite the large security measures set in place: over 80 security guards plus police."
A police official said Thursday that the "high value" necklace was stolen overnight from the luxurious resort town of Cap d'Antibes. She gave no further details and spoke on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to speak on the record about an ongoing investigation.
Cap d'Antibes is just down the coast from Cannes and even more exclusive. Its Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc often plays host to events during the festival, including Tuesday night's party, which included stars such as Sharon Stone, Ornella Mutti and others. The hotel is hosting another party Thursday night.
De Grisogono director Fawaz Gruosi said in the statement, "it is actually the first time it has happened in our 20-year history."
Last week, thieves stole about $1 million worth of jewels after ripping a safe from the wall of a hotel room in Cannes. The jewelry was taken from the Novotel room of an employee of Chopard, the Swiss-based watch and jewelry maker that has loaned bling to A-list stars walking the red carpet at the film festival.
___
Angela Charlton contributed to this report.
by The Canadian Press - Story: 92438May 23, 2013 / 9:38 am
Photo: The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
File-This June 16, 2011 file photo shows Anthony Weiner speaking to the media during a news conference in New York. The ex-congressman who resigned over raunchy tweets said late Tuesday that he's in the New York City mayoral race. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig,File)
Anthony Weiner's run for a renaissance is officially on.
The ex-congressman whose career imploded in a rash of raunchy tweets two years ago said in a YouTube video announcement late Tuesday that he's in the New York City mayoral race. He'd said last month he was considering it.
"I made some big mistakes and I know I let a lot of people down, but I also learned some tough lessons," he said in the video. "I'm running for mayor because I've been fighting for the middle class and those struggling to make it my entire life. And I hope I get a second chance."
With that, Weiner is embarking on an audacious comeback quest, hoping to go from punch line pol whose tweeted crotch shot was emblazoned on the nation's consciousness to leader of America's biggest city.
The Democrat is jumping into a crowded field for September's primary. He's arriving with some significant advantages, including a $4.8 million campaign war chest, the possibility of more than $1 million more in public matching money, polls showing him ahead of all but one other Democrat â'��' and no end of name recognition.
His participation makes a runoff more likely, and many political observers feel he could at least get to the second round.
But Weiner also has continued to contend with questions about his character and the scandal that sank his career just two years ago.
After a photo of a man's bulging, underwear-clad groin appeared on his Twitter account in 2011, he initially claimed his account had been hacked. After more photos emerged â'��' including one of him bare-chested in his congressional office â'��' the married congressman eventually owned up to exchanging racy messages with several women, saying he'd never met any of them. He soon resigned.
In recent interviews, he has said he shouldn't have lied but did it because he wanted to keep the truth from his then-pregnant wife, Huma Abedin, a longtime aide to former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. She told The New York Times Magazine that she has forgiven him.
Weiner has taken a series of steps recently to rehab his image and reintroduce himself, including the lengthy magazine profile and a series of local TV interviews. He hasn't responded to interview requests from The Associated Press.
He also has released a platform of sorts, a list of ideas styled as a blueprint for helping the city's middle class thrive. He's made a point of highlighting one or more of the concepts on most days, via his newly revived Twitter presence.
The suggestions, some of them updates from a mayoral run he nearly made in 2009, range from giving every public school student a Kindle reader to using Medicaid money to create a city-run, single-payer health system for the uninsured.
Some seem to draw on his Washington experience, such as making more use of a federal cigarette-smuggling law. But others fall squarely within City Hall, including suggestions to create a "non-profit czar" in city government and eliminate paid positions for parent co-ordinators in schools.
The document also opens a window on a vision of the city â'��' a place with "a can-do attitude, competitive spirit and aggressive nature" â'��' that sounds not unlike Weiner himself. He was known during his seven terms in Washington as a vigorous defender of Democratic viewpoints, unafraid to get combative whether it was on cable TV or the House floor, and as a tireless and instinctive politician.
"Anybody who underestimates Anthony Weiner's ambition is a fool. And anybody who underestimates his ability as a candidate is a fool," retired Hunter College political science professor Kenneth Sherrill said. But "we're going to see, basically, if Weiner can take hits as well as he can dish them out."
In recent interviews, he has said he shouldn't have lied but did it because he wanted to keep the truth from his then-pregnant wife, Huma Abedin, a longtime aide to former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. She told The New York Times Magazine that she has forgiven him.
In seeking a second chance from the public, Weiner will have to overcome some voters' misgivings. In a recent NBC New York-Marist Poll, half said they wouldn't even consider him, though the survey also showed that more registered Democrats now have a favourable than unfavourable impression of him.
Weiner can expect opponents to hammer at his prior prevaricating, and he said in a recent interview on the RNN cable network that he couldn't guarantee that no more pictures or people would emerge.
by The Canadian Press - Story: 92426May 23, 2013 / 7:19 am
Photo: The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
Folklorist Elena Martinez of City Lore, and her partner Bobby Sanabria, talk about their tours of The Bronx borough of New York, Wednesday, May 22, 2013. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
A company that promised sightseer tours to the Bronx that included a New York City "ghetto" has stopped the bus rides under protest from an outraged neighbourhood.
Real Bronx Tours, which took mostly European tourists from Manhattan to see life in the South Bronx "from a safe distance," issued a statement this week saying it would immediately cease all tours there.
Three times a week, the $45 ride took visitors past food-pantry lines, a housing project and a park a guide described as a pickpocket hangout.
Tourists were told they'd get a look at the Bronx that reflects one of the darkest chapters of the city's history, the 1970s and '80s, when the tour website said "this borough was notorious for drugs, gangs, crime and murders."
The Bronx lost hundreds of buildings to fires intentionally set by landlords to collect insurance money, hence the phrase, "the Bronx is burning."
But residents say the tours are a misrepresentation of the area where former Secretary of State Colin Powell and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor lived in as children.
"Those days are over, the Bronx is being rebuilt, it's rising again," said Bronx resident and Grammy-nominated musician Bobby Sanabria.
On Monday, Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. and City Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito sent an open letter to the company owner, Michael Myers, saying they were "sickened by the despicable way" the borough was being portrayed to outsiders.
"We strongly urge you to stop profiting off of a tour that misrepresents the Bronx as a haven for poverty and crime, while mocking everything from our landmarks to the less fortunate members of our community who are availing themselves of food assistance programs."
The tour company did not respond to calls and emails requesting comment. It was not clear whether they would resume any of their tours. And by Thursday, the website of the company was no longer accessible.
Other companies in the city still offer regular guided trips to the Bronx.
by The Canadian Press - Story: 92423May 23, 2013 / 7:16 am
Photo: The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
This undated file photo provided by French nuclear manufacturer Areva shows part of the uranium mine of Arlit, in northern Niger. Attackers in Niger detonated two car bombs at dawn on Thursday, May 23, 2013, one in the city of Agadez where a military barracks was targeted and one in Arlit where a French company operates a uranium mine, injuring more than a dozen people. Paris-based nuclear giant Areva said in a statement that 13 employees were hurt in the attack in Arlit, in the northern part of Niger where in 2010, al-Qaida's branch in Africa kidnapped five French citizens working for the mining company.(AP Photo/AREVA/HO).
Niger's interior minister says that a suicide attacker, who penetrated a military garrison in the city of Agadez, has taken several cadets hostage.
Minister of the Interior Abdou Labo said by telephone that the attacker is draped in an explosive belt and is threatening to blow himself up. He said authorities are negotiating with him.
The attacker survived the initial assault on the camp earlier Thursday, which killed 20 Niger army soldiers and three jihadists.
The car bombing in Agadez occurred at the same time as a suicide attack on a mine operated by French nuclear giant Areva in the Nigerien city of Arlit. Thirteen employees of the mine were injured. The al-Qaida spinoff, Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa, claimed responsibility for the attack.
by The Canadian Press - Story: 92417May 22, 2013 / 9:53 pm
Photo: The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
In this picture provided by the Cancer Center and Institute of Oncology in Gliwice, Poland, a 33-year-old Polish man whose face was torn off by stone-cutting machinery is shown after undergoing a total face transplant. Doctors performed the surgery on May 15 in a 27-hour operation. AP Photo/Cancer Center and Institute of Oncology in Gliwice)
A 33-year-old Polish man received a face transplant just three weeks after being disfigured in a workplace accident, in what his doctors said Wednesday is the fastest time frame to date for such an operation. It was Poland's first face transplant.
Face transplants are extraordinarily complicated and relatively rare procedures that usually require extensive preparation of the recipient over a period of months or years. But medical officials said the Polish patient's condition was deteriorating so rapidly that a transplant was seen as the only way to save his life. The patient is now being watched for any potential infections.
In a photo taken Tuesday, just six days after the surgery, the patient, identified only by his first name, Grzegorz, was shown giving a thumbs-up sign from his hospital bed. Another picture, based on computer tomography, showed the extensive damage to his skull.
He was injured in an April 23 accident at his job at a stone mason's workshop near the southwestern city of Wroclaw when a machine used to cut stone tore off most of his face and crushed his upper jaw.
He received intensive treatment at a hospital in Wroclaw that saved his life and eyesight. But an attempt to reattach his own face failed, leaving an area close to the brain exposed to infections, doctors said. The damage was too extensive for doctors to temporarily seal the exposed areas.
So he was taken to the Cancer Center and Institute of Oncology in Gliwice, the only place in Poland licensed to perform face transplants. The centre has experience in facial reconstruction for patients disfigured by cancer and its experts have practiced face transplants on cadavers.
Doctors at the centre said the 27-hour face and bone transplant was performed May 15 soon after a matching donor was found.
The surgery reconstructed the area around the eyes, the nose, jaws and palate and other parts of the man's face. Pictures show stitches running from above the patient's right eye, under the left eye and around the face to the neck.
The donor, a 34-year-old man, was chosen from a national registry of potential donors after his age, gender, blood group and body features were determined to be a good match for the injured man.
The head of the team of surgeons and other specialists, Dr. Adam Maciejewski, said it was the first time a face transplant was carried out so soon after the damage. Face transplants are usually a last resort after conventional reconstructive and plastic surgeries have been tried.
"In such an extensive injury, where the structures close to the skull base and in contact with the brain area are exposed, any infection would be dangerous, not to mention the impossibility to function normally, including problems with breathing, with eating," Maciejewski said. "All that led us in one direction."
"We assume the surgery will allow the patient to return to normal life. He will be able to breathe, to eat, to see."
Maciejewski said that over time, the face will mould to the man's facial bone structure and he will not look like the donor.
by The Canadian Press - Story: 92416May 22, 2013 / 9:45 pm
Photo: Contributed - AP Photo / Miura Dolphins
80-year-old Japanese adventurer Yuichiro Miura, right, is greeted by his friend climber Kenji Kondo while resting at his camp at 6,500 meters during his attempt to scale the summit of Mount Everest on Saturday.
An 80-year-old Japanese mountaineer on Thursday became the oldest man to reach the top of Mount Everest, a Nepali official and Miura's Tokyo-based support team said.
Yuichiro Miura, who also conquered the 8,850-metre peak when he was 70 and 75, reached the summit at 9:05 a.m. local time, according to his support team. Miura and his son Gota called them from the summit to report the news.
Public broadcaster NHK showed footage of Miura's daughter Emili talking with them via speaker phone in Tokyo, clapping when her brother told her they had reached the top.
"This is the world's best feeling," Miura said. "I'm also totally exhausted."
The climbers planned to stick around the summit for about half an hour, take photos and then start to descend, Miura's Tokyo office said.
Nepalese mountaineering official Gyanendra Shrestha, at Everest base camp, confirmed that Miura had reached the summit, making him the oldest person to do so.
The previous oldest was Nepal's Min Bahadur Sherchan, who accomplished the feat at age 76 in 2008, just a day before Miura reached the top at age 75.
Sherchan, now 81, was preparing for his own attempt on the summit next week, meaning that Miura's record may not last long, again.
On his expedition's website, Miura explained his attempt to scale Everest at such an advanced age: "It is to challenge (my) own ultimate limit. It is to honour the great Mother Nature."
He said a successful climb would raise the bar for what is possible.
"And if the limit of age 80 is at the summit of Mt. Everest, the highest place on earth, one can never be happier," he said.
by The Canadian Press - Story: 92413May 22, 2013 / 7:07 pm
Photo: The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
In this photo provided by BluePearl Veterinary Partners, Vernon Yates, founder of Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation, lays his hands on Ty, a 400-pound tiger, as staff prepare to surgically extract a 4-pound hairball from the big cat on Wednesday, May 22, 2013, in Clearwater, Fla. (AP Photo/Courtesy BluePearl Veterinary Partners, James Judge)
It's not unusual for a cat to get a hairball, but a 400-pound (180-kilogram) tiger needed help from veterinary surgeons when he couldn't hack up a soccer ball-sized hairball by himself.
The 17-year-old tiger named Ty underwent the procedure Wednesday at a veterinary centre in the Tampa Bay area community of Clearwater. Doctors said in a statement that they safely removed the 4-pound (1.8-kilogram) obstruction from Ty's stomach.
The tiger, which is cared for by Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation in Florida, was brought to veterinarians after not eating for nearly two weeks. Doctors said they detected the hairball using a scope with a camera.
Vernon Yates, whose non-profit group regularly assists law enforcement agencies with seized animals, says he's thankful the hairball was removed and Ty is doing fine.
by Contributed - Story: 92393May 22, 2013 / 12:31 pm
Photo: YouTube
More than 100 autos were set afire by Swedish rioters
Rioters have lit fires and stoned emergency services in the suburbs of Stockholm, Sweden for the third night in a row after a man was shot dead by police and rioters have been reacting to "police brutality".
Incidents were reported in at least nine suburbs of the Swedish capital and police made eight arrests.
On Sunday night, more than 100 cars were set alight, Swedish media report.
Police in the deprived, largely immigrant suburb of Husby shot a man dead last week after he reportedly threatened to kill them with a machete.
The founder of a local youth group told Swedish media the riots were a reaction to "police brutality".
Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt told reporters on Tuesday that Sweden would not be intimidated by rioters.
On Tuesday night, cars were torched in western and southern Stockholm, and stones were thrown at police officers and firefighters. One area affected, Rinkeby, saw similar rioting in 2010.
Kjell Lindgren of the Stockholm police told Aftonbladet newspaper that the unrest had spread from the original rioting in Husby.
"It feels like people are taking the opportunity in other areas because of the attention given to Husby," he said.
Earlier on Tuesday, Prime Minister Reinfeldt said: "We've had two nights with great unrest, damage, and an intimidating atmosphere in Husby and there is a risk it will continue.
"We have groups of young men who think that that they can and should change society with violence. Let's be clear: this is not okay. We cannot be ruled by violence."
More than 80% of Husby's 12,000 or so inhabitants are from an immigrant background, and most are from Turkey, the Middle East and Somalia.
Mr Reinfeldt said the situation in the district had been improving in recent years, with more jobs being created and a falling crime rate.
However, local people accused the police of racism.
Rami al-Khamisi, a law student and founder of the youth organisation Megafonen, told the Swedish edition of online newspaper The Local that he had been insulted racially by police. Teenagers, he said, had been called "monkeys".
He said the crowd was reacting to a "growing marginalisation and segregation in Sweden over the past 10, 20 years" from both a class and a race perspective.
Justice Minister Beatrice Ask said anyone who felt mistreated by police should file a report.
An investigation is under way into the shooting of a man, 69, last Monday after police were called out to a home in Husby where the man was allegedly brandishing a machete.
Police say they tried unsuccessfully to negotiate with the man after learning a woman was inside the flat along with him. They then stormed the flat.
by The Canadian Press - Story: 92380May 22, 2013 / 10:21 am
Photo: The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
Artillery Place road is closed in Woolwich southeast London near the scene where British officials said one person has died and at least two people have been wounded in an attack on Wednesday.
British official says a violent attack near a London barracks is being investigated as a possible terrorist act.
Police said two men attacked another man on Wednesday. One man is dead and two others were injured.
A British government official who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about the investigation said details had emerged that were indicative of a "terrorist-motivated attack."
While details were scant, Prime Minister David Cameron called the killing "truly shocking" and said he had asked Home Secretary Theresa May to call an urgent meeting of the government's emergency committee.
by The Canadian Press - Story: 92369May 22, 2013 / 6:29 am
Photo: The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
This image made from video broadcast on Egyptian State Television shows members of the Egyptian security forces after their release by kidnappers, in Cairo, Egypt, Wednesday, May 22, 2013. Six Egyptian policemen and a border guard kidnapped by suspected militants in the volatile Sinai Peninsula last week were freed by their captors Wednesday after successful mediation, the country's military spokesman said. (AP Photo/Egyptian State Television)�
Six Egyptian policemen and a border guard kidnapped by suspected militants in the volatile Sinai Peninsula last week were freed by their captors Wednesday after successful mediation, the country's military spokesman said.
The release, which followed a security buildup and a massive show of force by the military in northern Sinai, brought an end to a crisis that had stirred anger with the public and within the security forces and held the potential to embarrass both the military and Islamist President Mohammed Morsi had it dragged on.
The captors freed the seven men early Wednesday in the middle of the desert, and some were able later to speak to their families by telephone, according to officials and state TV. Military spokesman Col. Ahmed Mohammed Ali said on the army's official Facebook page that the release came about as a "result of efforts by military intelligence, in co-operation with the honourable tribal leaders and Sinai residents."
Morsi, however, trumpeted their crisis' end as the outcome of an "operation" that showcased "perfect" co-ordination between the armed forces, the police and security agencies. He also called for unity in a nation deeply divided, with the president and his Islamist backers in one camp and moderate Muslims, liberals, leftists and Christians in the other.
After their release, the men were flown in a military helicopter to an air force base in a Cairo suburb, where Morsi greeted them on the tarmac with a kiss on each cheek as they disembarked. Prime Minister Hesham Kandil and Defence Minister Abdel-Fatah el-Sissi were also on hand to receive the men.
Morsi later thanked the armed forces, security agencies as well as the people of Sinai and their tribal chiefs for their efforts to resolve the standoff. He also vowed to hunt down the kidnappers, saying "there will be no going back on bringing the criminals to account."
by The Canadian Press - Story: 92368May 22, 2013 / 6:27 am
Photo: Contributed - WKMG
WKMG reports the victim may be linked to Boston bombing suspects
A man was fatally shot when a team of FBI agents swarmed an apartment complex near Universal Studios in Orlando.
The shooting happened early Wednesday.
The FBI did not immediately return a phone call early Wednesday from The Associated Press seeking details.
An FBI spokesman told Orlando television stations that their agent was conducting official duties when the shooting occurred. No further details were released, but the agency says an update is expected later Wednesday.
WKMG Channel 6 is reporting the victim had connections with the Boston bombing suspects.
by The Canadian Press - Story: 92366May 22, 2013 / 6:13 am
Photo: Contributed
The Costa Concordia cruise ship leans on its side of the Tuscan Island Isola del Giglio, Italy, Saturday, Jan. 12, 2013.
A judge in Italy has ordered the captain of the Costa Concordia to stand trial in the shipwreck of the cruise liner, which struck a reef off Tuscany last year, killing 32 people.
Francesco Schettino will be the only defendant in the trial, which begins on July 9 in the Tuscan town of Grosseto. The indictment was announced on Wednesday.
Five other defendants successfully sought plea bargains in their cases, which are now being handled separately.
Schettino is charged with manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning the ship while many of the 4,200 passengers and crew were still aboard. He denies the charges.
The Concordia ran aground off the tiny island of Giglio. Schettino's lawyer says he faces as much as 20 years in prison if convicted.
by The Canadian Press - Story: 92365May 22, 2013 / 6:09 am
Photo: The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
In this Saturday, May 18, 2013 photo distributed by Miura Dolphins, 80-year-old Japanese adventurer Yuichiro Miura, right, is greeted by his friend climber Kenji Kondo while resting at his camp at 6,500 meters (21,325 feet) during his attempt to scale the summit of Mount Everest. According to his management office, Miura plans to accomplish the ascent on Thursday, May 23 to be the world's oldest person to reach the world's highest peak. (AP Photo/Miura Dolphins) MANDATORY CREDIT
An 80-year-old Japanese extreme skier who climbed Mount Everest five years ago, but just missed becoming the oldest man to reach the summit, was back on the mountain Wednesday to make another attempt at the title.
Unfortunately for Yuichiro Miura, the 81-year-old Nepalese man who nabbed the record just before he could in 2008 is fast on his heels.
Miura on Wednesday was already in the "death zone," the steep, icy, oxygen-deficient area close to the 8,850-meter (29,035-foot) summit. His rival, Min Bahadur Sherchan, from Nepal, was at the base camp preparing for his own attempt on the summit next week.
On his expedition's website, Miura explained his attempt to scale Everest at such an advanced age: "It is to challenge (my) own ultimate limit. It is to honour the great Mother Nature."
He said a successful climb would raise the bar for what is possible.
"And if the limit of age 80 is at the summit of Mt. Everest, the highest place on earth, one can never be happier," he said.
Miura reached the South Col, the jumping-off point for most final ascents, on Tuesday, according to his website, which also posted pictures of him eating hand-rolled sushi inside a tent.
"Miura is reported to be in good health and he and his team are aiming to reach the summit on Thursday morning," said Gyanendra Shrestha, a Nepalese mountaineering official at the base camp.
If Miura makes it to the top, he would capture the record. But it would only last a few days if Sherchan is able to follow him.
Miura's daughter, Emili Miura, said he "doesn't really care" about the rivalry. "He's doing it for his own challenge," she said.
The situation was not too different five years ago, when, at the age of 75, Miura sought to recapture the title of oldest man to summit the mountain. He had set the record in 2003 at age 70, but it was later broken twice by slightly older Japanese climbers.
He reached the summit on May 26, 2008, at the age of 75 years and 227 days, according to Guinness World Records. But the record eluded him because Sherchan had scaled the summit the day before, at the age of 76 years and 340 days.
Sherchan, a former Gurkha soldier in the British army, first began mountaineering in 1960 when he climbed Mount Dhaulagiri, the 8,167-meter (26,790-foot) high peak in Nepal, according to his grandson, Manoj Guachan. Always an adventurer, and unbowed by age, he walked the length of Nepal in 2003.
Sherchan and his team said Wednesday that they were prepared for their new climb, despite digestive problems he suffered several days ago.
"Our team leader has just arrived back at base camp and we are holding a team meeting on when exactly I will head up to the summit," Sherchan, who uses a hearing aid, said by telephone from the base camp. "I am fine and in good health. I am ready to take up the challenge. Our plan is to reach the summit within one week."
It takes three to four days for climbers to reach Camp 4 on South Col from base camp, and another day to reach the summit.
There are only a few windows of good weather during the climbing season in May for people to attempt the summit. That could favour Miura.
Conditions should be favourable Wednesday and Thursday, but they were expected to deteriorate after Friday, said Shrestha, the mountaineering official at base camp.
Sherchan's team is also facing financial difficulties. It hasn't received the financial help that the Nepal government announced it would provide them. Purna Chandra Bhattarai, chief of Nepal's mountaineering department, said the aid proposal was still under consideration.
Miura faced difficulties of his own.
He fractured his pelvis and left thigh bone in a 2009 skiing accident, and had an operation in January for an irregular heartbeat, or arrhythmia, his fourth heart surgery since 2007, according to Emili Miura.
His daughter said Miura decided to go ahead with the expedition despite the surgery because he felt that at age 80, he was running out of time.
"If he was in his 60s, he probably would have waited for another year or two, but at the age of 80 he's not getting any younger. He has a strong determination that now is the time," she said in a phone interview.
by The Canadian Press - Story: 92353May 21, 2013 / 7:27 pm
Photo: The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
This Tuesday, May 21, 2013 photo shows aerial photo shows destruction left behind by Monday's tornado in Moore, Oklahoma. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
Rescue workers neared the end of the search for survivors and the dead in the Oklahoma City suburb where a mammoth tornado destroyed countless homes, cleared lots down to bare red earth and claimed 24 lives, including those of nine children.
Scientists concluded the storm was a rare and extraordinarily powerful type of twister known as an EF5, ranking it at the top of the enhanced Fujita scale used to measure tornado strength. Those twisters are capable of lifting reinforced buildings off the ground, hurling cars like missiles and stripping trees completely free of bark.
After nearly 24 hours of searching, Moore's fire chief said he was confident there were no more bodies or survivors in the rubble.
"I'm 98 per cent sure we're good," Gary Bird said Tuesday at a news conference with the governor, who had just completed an aerial tour of the disaster zone.
Authorities were so focused on the search effort that they had yet to establish the full scope of damage along the storm's long, ruinous path.
They did not know how many homes were gone or how many families had been displaced. Emergency crews had trouble navigating devastated neighbourhoods because there were no street signs left. Some rescuers used smartphones or GPS devices to guide them through areas with no recognizable landmarks.
The death toll was revised downward from 51 after the state medical examiner said some victims may have been counted twice in the confusion. More than 200 people were treated at area hospitals.
By Tuesday afternoon, every damaged home in Moore had been searched at least once, Bird said. His goal was to conduct three searches of each building just to be certain there were no more bodies or survivors.
The fire chief was hopeful that could be completed before nightfall but efforts were being hampered by heavy rain.
Crews also continued a brick-by-brick search of the rubble of a school that was blown apart with many children inside.
No additional survivors or bodies have been found since Monday night, Bird said.
Survivors emerged with harrowing accounts of the storm's wrath, which many endured as they shielded loved ones.
Chelsie McCumber grabbed her 2-year-old son, Ethan, wrapped him in jackets and covered him with a mattress before they squeezed into a coat closet of their house. McCumber sang to her child when he complained it was getting hot inside the small space.
"I told him we're going to play tent in the closet," she said, beginning to cry.
"I just felt air so I knew the roof was gone," she said Tuesday, standing under the sky where her roof should have been. The home was littered with wet grey insulation and all of their belongings.
"Time just kind of stood still" in the closet, she recalled. "I was kind of holding my breath thinking this isn't the worst of it. I didn't think that was it. I kept waiting for it to get worse."
"When I got out, it was worse than I thought," she said.
Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin lamented the loss of life, especially of the nine children killed, but she celebrated the town's resilience.
"We will rebuild, and we will regain our strength," Fallin said.
From the air, large stretches of the town could be seen where every home had been cut to pieces. Some homes were sucked off their concrete slabs. A pond was filled with piles of wood and an overturned trailer.
Also visible were large patches of red earth where the tornado scoured the land down to the soil. Some tree trunks were still standing, but the winds ripped away their leaves, limbs and bark.
In revising its estimate of the storm's power, the National Weather Service said the tornado, which was on the ground for 40 minutes, was a top-of-the-scale EF5 twister with winds of at least 200 mph (320 kph).
The agency upgraded the tornado from an EF4 based on reports from a damage-assessment team, said spokeswoman Keli Pirtle. Monday's twister was at least a half-mile (nearly a kilometre) wide, and it was the first EF5 tornado of 2013.
Other search-and-rescue teams focused their efforts at Plaza Towers Elementary School, where the storm ripped off the roof, knocked down walls and destroyed the playground as students and teachers huddled in hallways and bathrooms.
Seven of the nine dead children were killed at the school, but several students were pulled alive from under a collapsed wall and other heaps of mangled debris. Rescue workers passed the survivors down a human chain of parents and neighbourhood volunteers. Parents carried children in their arms to a triage centre in the parking lot. Some students looked dazed, others terrified.
Plaza Towers and another school in Oklahoma City that was not as severely damaged did not have reinforced storm shelters, or safe rooms, said Albert Ashwood, director of the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management.
More than 100 schools across the state do have safe rooms, he said. He added that a shelter would not necessarily have saved more lives at Plaza Towers.
Officials were still trying to account for a handful of children not found at the school who may have gone home early with their parents, Bird said Tuesday.
President Barack Obama pledged to provide federal help and mourned the death of young children who were killed while "trying to take shelter in the safest place they knew their school."
Moore has been one of the fastest-growing suburbs of Oklahoma City, attracting middle-income families and young couples looking for stable schools and affordable housing. Many residents commute to jobs in Oklahoma City or to nearby Tinker Air Force Base.
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Associated Press writers Tim Talley, Ramit Plushnick-Masti and Nomaan Merchant and Associated Press photographer Sue Ogrocki contributed to this report.
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