Shocking Bieber Upset: Oil Spill Tops Twitter’s 2010 Trends – All Things Digital
Africa IBTimes Shocking Bieber Upset: Oil Spill Tops Twitter's 2010 Trends All Things Digital In the Twitterverse, after the BP oil spill and soccer, the next most popular topic of conversation in 2010 was the movie “Inception,” followed by the Haiti … Top Twitter Trends of 2010 The Next Web all 13 news articles
Coastal Recovery Report Almost Ready – WKRG-TV
WKRG-TV Coastal Recovery Report Almost Ready WKRG-TV The Alabama Coastal Recovery Commission will present its final report Wednesday on a plan to recover from the oil spill , and prepare for future economic … and more
Texas man charged with defrauding oil spill fund – Bloomberg
Reuters Texas man charged with defrauding oil spill fund Bloomberg By AP HOUSTON (AP) — A South Texas man has been charged with wire fraud for falsely claiming he was due more than $28000 from the BP PLC oil spill disaster … S. Texas man among seven indicted in BP claims scam Houston Chronicle Rancho Viejo man arrested in BP oil spill fund investigation Brownsville Herald Gulf spill documentary released The INDsider Reuters
Student and Teacher Freed after Hostage Drama
23 students including their teacher were freed after they have been hostage inside a classroom in Wisconsin. The hostage taker was said to be their classmate, and the long hours of hostage drama ended after the said hostage taker took his own life by shooting himself. The shooter was immediately taken to the hospital after the incident and it was found that he suffered from wounds that were self inflicted, aside from the bullets he put in his body.
According to police officials who investigated the bloody incident, the suspect who was 15 years old was armed with 2 guns, which he used inside their classroom to hostage 23 of his classmates including his teacher. The said hostage drams started at 3pm CST, and after almost 5 hours, he freed 5 of his classmates because they had to go to the restroom.
The negotiations progressed during the entire hostage taking, and everything seemed well. But at approximately 8pm, the police heard some shots fired which forced them to rush into the classroom. It was then that they officials found out that the suspect shot himself. After the shooting incident, the remaining hostages were safely taken out of the crime scene and they were reunited with their family outside the parking lot of the school.
Floods in Pakistan kill hundreds
Parts of Pakistan have been ravaged by flooding, leaving death and destruction in its wake.The recent monsoon rains have brought the worst flooding that those regions have seen in decades.
The Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwahas been hit so hard that the full extent of the destruction is becoming evident only today, as the water levels started to drop. Entire villages were discovered to have been washed away along with food storages and livestock. But more than that, the loss of life has been the most shocking and devastating truth of all to be faced. Over 1,100 people are estimated to have lost their lives in the disaster.
The government’s response to the situation has been slow and in some parts, non-existent. Perhaps this maybe because the Pakistani government is ill equipped and unprepared for such a large scale disaster. The political landscape has always been in turmoil and in recent years the added pressure to curb the breeding of terrorism within its borders has been an added burden. Unfortunately for the people caught up in the disaster, all that has led to thousands being left in the lurch and fast running out of options for survival.
The U.S. has sent several million dollars in aid as well as rescue equipment and food rations. Islamic militants have also sent aid to the region and this could turn out to be a big blow for the Pakistani and U.S. governments. Both have been fighting the militant for a long time and have been trying to turn public sentiment against the militants. The inefficiency of the local government could have a significant impact on the war on terror unless it is corrected very soon.
Mother Confesses to Murder
“I killed both of them. I told you”, were the chilling words a 911 operator heard on that fateful day. Saiqa Akhter is accused of killing her two children and she is not fighting the charges in any way.
A resident of Irving in Dallas, Texas Akhter said that she had first tried to poison the children by giving them bathroom cleaner. But when they refused to touch it, she used a wire to strangle both of them. Akhter then called 911 to confess. In the recording of the 911 call, Akhter can be heard saying that she killed them and that they were lying motionless and turning blue. Upon questioning by the operator as to why she had killed them, Akhter said that both of them were autistic and she didn’t want them to be like that. She also said that she wanted normal kids.
Akhter has been officially charged with capital murder for the murder of her son five year old Zain Akhter, who is also her eldest child. The same charge is pending for the murder of Faryaal Akhter her two year old daughter. She has asked for a court appointed attorney to represent her, but so far she has not been assigned one as yet. Although prosecutors have not stated their position, Akhter faces the possibility of a death penalty. If the prosecution decides to be lenient she will probably spend the rest of her life in prison.
The father of the children, Rashid Akhter, has not made any statements so far.
61 People Died When Two Trains Crashed in India
CALCUTTA, INDIA – An extremely fast express train hit another stationary public train in Calcutta, India earlier today, instantly killing 61 passengers in the crash. The collision was so powerful that it sent one of the train’s roof flying on top of an overpass. Officials investigating the accident states that they are considering sabotage in the incident.The residents in the nearby area struggled, and went over the crash site trying to free all the passengers who have survived, even before the rescue team of the country arrived together with their heavy equipments to cut the metal body of the trains.
Mamata Banerjee, the Railway Minister rushed into the accident site and has stated that there is a high possibility of sabotage in the event. It can be recalled two months before this incident that Maoist rebels were accused of derailing the same line which cost 145 lives. Officials say that they have doubts in their mind about whether the event that took place was really an accident. The accident happened early this morning (2 a.m.) when the train Uttarbanga Express hit the stationary train Vanachal Express when it departed the station at Sainthia which is about 200 kilometers (125 miles) of northern Calcutta.
The incident destroyed two of the passenger cars and also the luggage car which turned into something like a twisted metal. The impact of the collision was so strong that it made the roof of one train fly and land on the overpass on top of the tracks.It has been noted that the railways in India are very susceptible to accidents because of the country’s poor maintenance on these tracks.
Deaths in Iraq Now at 43 Due to Suicide Bombing
BAGHDAD – Officials of Iraq recently stated that the number of deaths due to the suicide bombing incident is now up to 43. Reports say that the suicide bomber sacrificed his life to blow up the security personnel near the southwest district of Baghdad last Sunday morning. The incident happened in Radwaniya, killing most of the security forces of the anti-Al-Qaida group known as the Sons of Iraq or the Sahwa who were in line to get their paychecks.
This incident has led the officials of the Yarmouk hospital to speak with the condition that their identities kept anonymous because of their lack of authority to speak to the people of the press. Back in 2006, the Sahwa fighters broke ties with their former allies the Al-Qaida and have joined the United States and the government of Iraq to fight against these terrorists. Since then, the Sahwa fighters became the key element to the lessening of terror and violence in the country.In earlier news, it was stated that 11 were killed in the bombing, and 9 of them are Sahwa fighters while the two were Iraqi soldiers based on the statement of an official of the Yarmouk hospital in Baghdad.
This has been the worst incident that has happened in two years since the violence in Iraq has significantly dropped due to the alliance of the Sahwa fighters with the Iraqi soldiers and the United States. But despite the decrease in violence, the Sahwa fighters and the Iraqi soldiers have always been the target of terrorism and surprise attacks from the Al-Qaida.
Drug Gang Steps Up Hostilities
Drug Gang Steps Up HostilitiesThe drug war in Mexico took a new twist yesterday. Members of the La Linea drug gang blew up a car bomb in Ciudad Juarez, in what is seen as retaliation to the steps that police have taken to shut them down.The planning that went in was more elaborate than simply exploding the bomb. An unnamed wounded man was used a decoy and dressed up in a police officer’s uniform. The gang then called in a false report about an officer being shot and detonated the bomb when a help arrived.
The 22 pound explosive instantly killed the decoy, a police officer and a rescue worker who responded to the call. Police suspect that a cell phone could have been used to detonate the device, as charred batteries connected to a cell phone were recovered from the scene.The attack is seen as retaliation for the arrest of one the gang leaders, Jesus Acosta Guerrero, which occurred earlier that day. Guerrero was in charge of operations and is suspected of being involved in more than 25 murders and attacks on police officers.
In the last 4 years, over 25,000 people have died in the drug wars.Local residents of Ciudad Juarez were traumatized by the incident and are extremely apprehensive of events which could unfold in the days ahead. Their fears are well founded as the gang promised more violence by painting graffiti on wall of a prominent mall which read “What happened is going to keep happening against all the authorities, we have more car bombs.”.
More al-Qaida Arrests
Three men were arrested in Norway in connection with a planned terrorist attack. The three men were suspected members of al-Qaida and therefore had been under surveillance for almost a year. Officials claim that the unnamed men were planning an attack with powerful portable bombs. Similar bombs were used in the failed suicide attack last year on the New York Subway system.
The man who planned that attack is also said to be behind the Norway plan as well. Salah al-Somali was al-Qaida’s chief of external operations, a title which meant that he was in charge of planning attacks worldwide. Al-Somali perished last year, thanks to an airstrike by a CIA drone. So far police have not been able identify the intended targets of the Norwegian bombers. They only know that the three men were engaged in making Peroxide bombs. The same bombs were also used in the New York attack.
Al-Qaida’s second in command, Ayman al-Zawahri, has put Norway on the list of counties to be attacked. But so far no clear reason has emerged for Norway to be a target for al-Qaida. A terrorism expert from the Swedish Defense Research Agency, Magnus Norell, stated that the presence of Norwegian troops in Afghanistan could be one of the reasons. He also said that the controversy caused by a Danish newspaper in 2006 could be another reason. In that incident 12 cartoons were published depicting the Prophet Muhammed in ways that were offensive to the Islamic world. The cartoons were also reproduced in Norwegian newspapers.