accidents
Hong Kong clashes as police clear food stalls
Clashes have broken out in Hong Kong's Mong Kok district as police cleared illegal food stalls set up for Lunar New Year celebrations. Violence erupted overnight as food and hygiene inspectors tried to remove vendors from the junction of Portland Street and Shan Tung Street. Angry protesters threw bricks and other missiles...
Coast Guard to use dye to investigate mysterious oil spill coating Potomac River
Federal, state and local authorities are investigating an unidentified oily sheen covering a large swath of the Potomac River. The US Coast Guard will dye the river in order to find out where the spill came from. The substance could be seen Friday on an eight-mile stretch of the Potomac River near Washington DC, including at...
HomeNews Pay to rape: Australians avoid jail terms for raping 17yo girl after paying her $22,000
Three Australian men have dodged over a decade in jail despite admitting to raping a 17-year-old Norwegian girl in Croatia. Instead, after paying the victim around US$22,000, they were allowed to walk free. Dylan Djohan, 23, Ashwin Kumar, 23, and Waleed Latif, 21, who are all from Melbourne, were originally given a one-year...
Teenage twins killed on Calgary’s Olympic bobsled track
Twin teenagers died Saturday after sneaking onto the bobsled tracks from the 1988 Winter Olympics in the Canadian city of Calgary. Evan and Jordan Caldwell, 17, were killed after a “personal sled/toboggan” slammed into a gate between the bobsled and luge tracks. Six other boys were also injured. Three are in serious...
Universal karma? Indian man believed first to be killed by meteorite
An Indian may be the first known human being to have been killed by a meteorite hit. Authorities said that a small celestial body struck a southern college campus, killing a bus driver and injuring three others in an incident initially reported as a bomb. The “mysterious explosion” that took place on Saturday in...
Wife says singer and band leader Dan Hicks dies at age 74
MILL VALLEY, Calif. (AP) — Dan Hicks, a musician whose work in the 1960s helped define San Francisco's psychedelic sound, has died. He was 74. The singer, songwriter and bandleader, who led the musically eclectic band Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks, died Saturday after a two-year battle with throat and liver cancer, his...
3 killed after brief police chase in San Francisco streets
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Officials say three people died in a fiery crash after a car fleeing authorities crashed into a taxi in San Francisco streets. California Highway Patrol spokesman Officer Vu Williams said Sunday that the brief chase began after an officer tried to pull over the driver of a white Chevrolet sedan seen...
In Aleppo, underground schools face bombardments and burnout
At the unofficial schools run by Syrian activist group Kesh Malek in opposition-held districts of Aleppo, the children don't go outside to play during breaks in case a barrel bomb should drop from the sky. With 110 teachers, most of them new to the profession, the organization runs seven schools serving around 3,000...
EU calls on Turkey to let Syrian refugees cross border
Officials in the EU have urged Turkey to let in tens of thousands of Syrian refugees trapped on its border at Kilis after fleeing fighting. EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said there was a moral, if not legal, duty to provide protection. Turkey says the refugees are receiving food and shelter inside Syria and there...
Taiwan earthquake: Scores trapped in rubble in Tainan
At least 124 people remain trapped under the rubble of an apartment block in the Taiwanese city of Tainan after Saturday's earthquake, officials say. Tainan Mayor Lai Ching-te said many of them were buried deep inside the ruins of the 17-storey block. At least 20 people are now confirmed dead following the quake, which...
North Korea fires long-range rocket despite warnings
North Korea has fired a long-range rocket, which critics say is a test of banned missile technology. A state TV announcer said that North Korea had successfully placed a satellite in orbit. The launch was condemned by Japan, South Korea and the US, who have requested an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council later on...
‘Murderer!’ Turkey’s president heckled by female protesters, security brutally retaliates (VIDEO)
Turkish Presidential guards showed astounding levels of brutality towards female activists in Ecuador. Three women were violently hauled away and, according to their accounts, beaten in the face and breasts moments after heckling Recep Tayyip Erdogan. In an act of protest the three activist started screaming...