Thousands Evacuate as Colombian Volcano Erupts in Shower of Hot Ash
Spoiler:
BREAKING NEWS — Colombia's Nevado del Huila volcano erupted in a shower of hot ash, prompting authorities to evacuate thousands of people and declare a state of alert.
There were no reports of damage or injuries.
The volcano, 150 miles southwest of Bogata, erupted at 11:08 p.m. Monday (0508 GMT Tuesday), according to the Colombian Institute of Geology and Mining.
Martha Calvache, deputy director of the institute's seismic department, told Caracol Radio that authorities were unable to estimate the size of the eruption.
She said the volcano was expelling ash. "Other types of material could come, like lava, but we don't at the moment know the exact situation," she said.
Caracol Radio reported that between 13,000 and 15,000 people who live near the volcano were being evacuated.
19 Children, 2 Adults Burned to Death in Uganda School Dorm
Spoiler:
KAMPALA, Uganda — An overnight fire a primary school dormitory in Uganda killed 19 school children and two adults, police said Tuesday.
By the time the fire brigade reached the school, most of the girl's dormitory had already burned down at the school about 7 1/2 miles from the capital, Kampala. The students were between the ages of 7 and 10 and the adults were their matrons.
Police spokeswoman Judith Nabakooba said authorities were investigating the cause of the blaze.
The doors to the dormitory had been locked from the outside and there was no electricity during the time of the fire, said school worker James Kiiza.
"We suspect that bad people are responsible for the fire," he said. "We cannot say it was due to electricity short circuit. And the door was locked from outside, which shows that someone could have first locked the door before setting the fire."
Kiiza said there were few people around because workers have been on strike for more than a month because they have not been paid, a common occurrence in Uganda.
Judge: Teen Can Attend Catholic School Over Atheist Dad's Objection
Spoiler:
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A judge has ruled that a teen can attend a Louisville Catholic high school, despite objections by his atheist father.
Oldham County family court Judge Tim Feeley said in a ruling published Monday that 14-year-old Michael Ryan can attend St. Xavier High School because that's where he wants to go.
His divorced parents disagreed over whether their son should go to the religious school, which his mother Susan Bisig wanted.
David Ryan's lawsuit argued that the state's Constitution says no one can be "compelled to send his child to any school to which he may be conscientiously opposed."
But The (Louisville) Courier-Journal reports on its Web site that the judge was persuaded th
at it was in the teenager's best interest to attend St. Xavier.
David Ryan's attorney said they will probably appeal the ruling.
Girl, 18, Started Drinking at 12, Had Liver Failure at 14
Spoiler:
She started drinking alcohol at the age of 12. One year later, Natasha Farnham was drinking up to six bottles of wine a day.
And even when she was diagnosed with liver failure at the age of 14, Farnham, of Twerton in Bath, Somerset, England, didn’t stop drinking.
In fact, she was rushed to the hospital after drinking 16 bottles of wine, hard cider and other alcoholic beverages over the course of three days.
Now, at the age of 18, Farnham has entered rehab and suffers from permanent memory loss, it is being reported by London’s Daily Mail.
“I didn’t think my drinking was a problem because all my friends were getting wasted every weekend as well,” Farnham told the newspaper. “But, now I have no short-term memory and doctors warn me that if I drink anymore I will die.”
Farnham hopes her story will reach other teenagers who think it is OK to drink alcohol.
The teenager, who dropped out of school at the age of 14, is unemployed. It was only after she was charged with burglary that she decided to enter rehab, she said.
Farnham takes medicine daily to reverse the effects of her failing liver.
Incest Couple: Society Has a Problem, Not Us
Spoiler:
A father and daughter who had a child together say it is society that has a problem with their incestuous relationship and they are OK with it.
John and Jenny Deaves from South Australia caused controversy after admitting on national television last week that they had a 9-month-old daughter together.
"It's everybody else out there in society that has the problem, we don't have the problem," Jenny Deaves said on Australia's "60 Minutes" Sunday night.
"If you've got something to say, say it for Christ's sake," her father, John, said. "Don't go attacking the kids or the car or anything else, it's not the Australian way."
"We're sure once people get to know us they'll realize that we're not going to pass on any disease to them, we're not going to bite their head off and we're not nasty terrible people," Jenny Deaves said.
The couple spoke Sunday about the death of their first child, Jackson, in 2001.
John Deaves said the death of the four-day-old boy from a heart defect had nothing to do with the genetics of their relationship.
The current affairs program, aired on Australia's Channel 9, has been under attack after the station's news and current affairs boss admitted viewers did not get the full story on last week's show.
News chief John Westacott said that "on balance" the program should have included the fact that the couple's previous son had died.
"'60 Minutes' knew about the birth of the first child and doctors believe it wasn't because of the father-daughter relationship [that the baby died] but, on balance, it would have been better to include that fact," Westacott said on Saturday.
The couple have previously been convicted of incest and put on three-year good-behavior bonds which stipulate they not have sex.
Police are investigating whether the channel paid the couple for the interview, breaching laws under which criminals cannot benefit financially from their offenses.
Television Star Exits Scientology
Spoiler:
Ruggedly handsome actor Jason Beghe was best man at the wedding of "X Files" star David Duchovny (his childhood pal) and actress Tea Leoni. In 1998, he starred as Demi Moore’s love interest in “G.I. Jane.” He’s been featured in numerous TV dramas such as 'Criminal Minds,' 'Numb3rs', and 'CSI.'
In 2005, Beghe appeared in promotional spots for the Church of Scientology.
But now Beghe has escaped the Church after taking courses since 1994. He’s made a video that’s up on YouTube.
This is what he has to say: “Scientology is destructive and a rip off.”
He also says: “It’s very, very dangerous for your spiritual, psychological, mental, emotional health and evolution. I think it stunts your evolution. If Scientology is real, then something’s f——ed up.”
“It ain’t deliverin’ what it’s promised. It sure has not. “
The video is billed as a three-minute teaser to a longer interview with Beghe that’s on its way. But the short video packs a powerful punch. Beghe still uses a lot of Scientology lingo like “OT” and “clear.” Still, it’s quite easy to understand the point he’s making. After 14 years and a tremendous amount of money, he’s seeing Scientology in a different light.
Beghe has completed so many courses that he’s considered a top Scientologist, or “OT 5”—similar to Tom Cruise, John Travolta and Kirstie Alley. But Beghe reveals: “The further up the bridge the worse you get.”
He adds: “I don’t have an agenda. I’m just trying to help. I have the luxury of having gotten into Scientology and after having been in it, been out. And that’s a perspective that people who are still in and not out do not have.”
i like how they phrased it "escapes from"
Man Accused of Handcuffing New Bride in Dog Cage
Spoiler:
A man is accused of handcuffing his wife inside a dog cage days after they were married in Las Vegas.
Canton police Lt. Greg Boudreaux says 28-year-old Matthew George also fired gunshots inside the home. His wife, Mary Swihart, was not injured.
George was found in a car pulled to the side of the road early Sunday in neighboring Springfield Township. Boudreaux says George had taken a large number of pills and was hospitalized at Akron City Hospital.
A spokeswoman says George wasn't at the hospital Monday.
Boudreaux says charges of abduction, assault and domestic violence are pending.
Accused Cannibal, Convicted Sex Offender Dies in Prison
Spoiler:
DEER LODGE, Mont. — Convicted sex offender Nathaniel Bar-Jonah, who authorities accused of killing and cannibalizing a young boy in Great Falls, was found dead in his cell early Sunday at the Montana State Prison.
Bar-Jonah was serving a 130-year sentence for kidnapping, sexually assaulting and choking a teenage neighbor boy.
In 2000, authorities also charged Bar-Jonah with murder in the 1996 disappearance of 10-year-old Zach Ramsay. Authorities said they had evidence suggesting Bar-Jonah had butchered the boy and disposed of his body in meals served to neighbors. They were later forced to dismiss the murder charge after Ramsay's mother said she would testify she believed her son was still alive.
Sunday morning, shortly after shift change at 6 a.m., Bar-Jonah was found unresponsive in his cell, prison spokeswoman Linda Moodry said.
"Emergency medical response was initiated and he was transported to Powell County Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 7:06 a.m.," Moodry said in a written statement.
Moodry said the cause of death is unknown at this time. She added that Bar Jonah had been in poor health recently and said an autopsy will be performed by the state medical examiner to determine cause of death.
The death is under investigation by Department of Corrections investigators in cooperation with the Powell County Sheriff's Office, Moodry said.
Bar-Jonah moved to Montana after facing legal trouble in Massachusetts.
In 1977, Bar-Jonah pleaded guilty in Worcester Superior Court to charges of kidnapping, attempted murder and impersonation of a police officer after he posed as a police officer and kidnapped two boys in Shrewsbury. Bar-Jonah attempted to assault the boys, and when they resisted, he tried to strangle them. One of the boys escaped and found help.
Later, a plea deal in another case allowed Bar-Jonah to move to Montana with his family.
Judge: Teen Can Attend Catholic School Over Atheist Dad's Objection
Spoiler:
So... a kid wants to go to school and the father objects. Basically.
Girl, 18, Started Drinking at 12, Had Liver Failure at 14
Spoiler:
We should be allowed to post this one in the LC. I'm not saying anything more about it.
Incest Couple: Society Has a Problem, Not Us
"Don't go attacking the kids or the car or anything else, it's not the Australian way."
Spoiler:
No.... but apparantly incest is.
Man Accused of Handcuffing New Bride in Dog Cage
Spoiler:
What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.
_________________ Blame it on a simple twist of fate. ~ Bob Dylan "To commemorate a past event, you kill and eat an animal. It's a ritual sacrifice. With pie." ~ Anya <3
Hehehe, all he needs is a bottle of Chianti and some fava beans... _________________ Blame it on a simple twist of fate. ~ Bob Dylan "To commemorate a past event, you kill and eat an animal. It's a ritual sacrifice. With pie." ~ Anya <3
By CHARLES NTIRYCHA,
AP
Posted: 2008-04-15 14:25:53
Filed Under: World News
GOMA, Congo (April 15) - A Congolese jetliner carrying around 85 people failed to take off Tuesday from an airport in this eastern town, crashing at high speed into a busy market neighborhood at the end of the runway, officials said.
Government officials initially said there were only six known survivors but later in the day an airline official said 60 people had survived. Local officials said dozens of bodies were pulled from the wreckage, though it was unclear if they had been passengers.
Smoke and flames engulfed the charred ruins of the aircraft, which appeared to have broken in two when it slammed into the rooftops of about 10 cement homes just outside the airport, destroying them instantly. Soldiers kept onlookers away after U.N. peacekeepers helped douse flames at the crash site.
"Smoke was rising from the plane," said Christian Kilundu, a spokesman for the Goma office of World Vision, an international aid group that has an office less than half a mile from the crash site. "As fire extinguishers were trying to put out the flames, I spoke to a priest who had been pulled from the wreckage. He was disorientated and had no idea what had happened."
Officials said they had no information on casualties among residents of the area.
The plane was operated by the private Congolese company, Hewa Bora, and was headed to the central city of Kisangani, then the capital, Kinshasa. Hewa Bora's Dirk Cramers said 53 passengers and seven crew were taken from the site and were at local hospitals.
Julien Mpaluku, the governor of the province, said there were 79 passengers on board and six crew members.
"We have already picked up many bodies — dozens of bodies. There are a lot of flames, which makes it difficult to know if the bodies we are picking up are those of passengers of the plane or else passers-by or people that lived in the area where the plane crashed," Mpaluku said.
Employees at World Vision said the plane "failed to leave the ground," plowing instead "through wooden houses and shops in the highly populated Birere market."
The plane appeared to have been "totally flattened" by the impact, said Rachel Wolff, a U.S.-based spokeswoman for the organization who has been in contact with her colleagues in Congo.
World Vision employees who visited the scene of the crash said they saw at least eight bodies. Hours afterward, the market stalls where women had been selling their wares earlier in the day were still in flames, said Wolff.
A former pilot who survived the crash, Dunia Sindani, gave a similar account in an interview broadcast over a local U.N. radio station. The plane suffered a problem in one of its wheels — possibly a flat tire — and did not gain the strength to lift off, Sindani said.
Earlier, conflicting accounts said the plane had crashed just after takeoff.
The tragedy underscored the dangers of plane travel in Congo, which has experienced more fatal crashes than any other African country since 1945, according to the Aviation Safety Network.
Just last Friday, the European Union added Hewa Bora Airways to its blacklist of airlines banned from flying in the EU, without specifying a reason.
On Tuesday, European Union spokesman Michele Cercone said she had no information on Hewa Bora specifically but she said that all airlines based in Congo are banned from EU air space.
"That is because there is a general lack of effective control by the civil aviation authorities there to monitor and maintain minimum technical standards" for airplanes, Cercone said.
The EU's current list of banned airlines shows 50 airlines based in Congo, including Hewa Bora. Cercone said that until a few weeks ago one Hewa Bora plane was allowed to fly to Europe under a special exemption, but that has expired.
Associated Press writers Eddy Isango in Kinshasa, Congo and Robert Wielaard in Brussels contributed to this report.
_________________ Blame it on a simple twist of fate. ~ Bob Dylan "To commemorate a past event, you kill and eat an animal. It's a ritual sacrifice. With pie." ~ Anya <3
oh my, very important ! _________________ Peace is a lie. There is only passion.
Through Passion, I gain strength.
Through Strength, I gain power.
Through power, I gain victory.
Through victory my chains are broken.
It's Emma Thompson's birthday, too! _________________ Blame it on a simple twist of fate. ~ Bob Dylan "To commemorate a past event, you kill and eat an animal. It's a ritual sacrifice. With pie." ~ Anya <3
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