A massive fire erupted in a factory in Melbourne, Australia Thursday, sending huge flames and thick smoke into the night sky. Fire crews battled a huge wall of flames, as about 500000 gallons of motor oil burned. (May 20)
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Yay for the UK, it’s now one step closer to catching up to the Japan of last decade. Mobile carrier Orange is today launching the UK’s first mobile phone contactless payment service, dubbed Quick Tap, for purchases up to
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Virgin Galactic has released a video showing close up video of SpaceShipTwo’s first feather flight. The eleven minute, 5 second flight took place earlier this month and was the 7th glide flight of the new space ship. An eighth flight was completed last week. After establishing a stable glide, test pilot Pete Siebold raised the twin Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : Autopia Discovery Date : 18/05/2011 18:45 Number of articles : 5
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A Central Florida high school principal is on administrative leave after questions about him performing hypnosis on students arose. (May 20)
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A Taliban suicide bomber rammed his motorbike into an armoured vehicle taking American officials to the US consulate in northwest Pakistan Friday, in a strike the militants said was in revenge for the raid that killed Osama bin Laden. (May 20)
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A roadside bomb has hit a US consulate vehicle in the Pakistani city of Peshawar, causing minor wounds to some Americans, an embassy spokesman said. Two armoured vehicles were travelling on University Road…
Continue reading …Shannon Paolini In Critical Condition After Narrow Escape In Colorado Springs Suburb Standoff (UPDATE)
May 20, 2011 No Comment
FOUNTAIN, Colo. — The deaths of a man and toddler found inside a home following a six-hour standoff in Colorado are being investigated as a murder-suicide and a woman wounded while trying to escape was fighting for her life Tuesday, authorities said. UPDATE: The Colorado Springs Gazette has released updated details and information about the identities of the victims in Fountain, Colorado suburban neighborhood standoff. According to the Fountain police report, the shooter has been identified as Gammall Perez. Perez doused the home in gasoline, shot his girlfriend Shannon Paolini, leaving her in critical condition today, killed their young son Gavin before he finally committed suicide after a six-hour standoff on Monday. Several bullet holes were found in a residence five houses down from where the murder-suicide took place, investigators found. There was so much gasoline in the home that authorities brought in fans to air-out Paolini’s house, The Gazette reports. Paolini and Perez were the biological parents of Gavin although the two were not married, The Gazette goes on to report. Paolini owned the house and served as a financial services specialist with the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office since August 2007. According to Perez’s Facebook page, he worked at RGIS, an inventory services solution provider, attended Fountain-Fort Carson High School and attended Michigan State University. Fountain Police Chief Todd Evans, in a statement made to The Colorado Springs Gazette, said that the home was an “ugly, ugly scene.” EARLIER: Officers found the bodies Monday night in the home in Fountain, just south of Colorado Springs, after trying unsuccessfully to contact the man. Fountain Police Chief Todd Evans said the house had been doused with gasoline, according to The Gazette. Authorities haven’t identified the two found dead, but Evans described them as a family. Authorities are waiting for autopsy results on how they died. The woman wounded before the man barricaded himself in his home was identified as Shannon Paolini. She has worked as financial services specialist at the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office since August 2007, sheriff’s officials said. Paolini is in critical condition and fighting for her life, Sheriff Terry Maketa said. The sheriff’s office plans to start a fund to help her and her family. The standoff began after police responded to the report of a disturbance at the house around 2:30 p.m. Monday. Two officers found an armed man at the house and retreated to coordinate a response with other officers who had responded, witnesses and Evans told The Gazette. Neighbor Tiffany LaGuardia told the Colorado Springs newspaper that a woman ran out of the house, was shot and then collapsed as she tried getting into a pickup. The man went back inside the home. A neighbor held the woman’s head until paramedics arrived. “She came out screaming and yelling for help,” LaGuardia said. “He came out shooting her. He came chasing her down, gunned her down.” Police Cmdr. Mike Haley said there was a second report of shots fired shortly after the woman was wounded. Police tried unsuccessfully to contact the man on the phone and public address system for several hours before a SWAT team entered the home and found the bodies.
Continue reading …Months after the earth shaking tragedy that had struck in East Asia, at its opposite end,in Western Asia, a Eurasian country has been hit by a 5.9 magnitude earthquake that killed at least three people. Turkey-A 5.9 in magnitude earthquake bombarded the country and partly caused some infrastructures to collapse including a mosque in Western 5.9 Magnitude Earthquake Quakes Turkey is a post from: Daily World Buzz
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Flight carrying 308 passengers to London returns to Bangkok after increased vibration and high temperatures in engine A Qantas flight to London was forced to return to Bangkok after one of its engines began experiencing trouble shortly after takeoff, the airline said. The Australian carrier said there was “an increase in vibration and high temperatures” in one of the plane’s four engines on Friday. The pilots shut the engine down and landed the Boeing 747-400, which was carrying 308 passengers, soon after. “We believe the cause is similar to events that other airlines are experiencing and is subject to an increased monitoring programme from the manufacturer Rolls-Royce,” the airline said in a statement. A Qantas spokesman declined to specify which airlines had faced similar problems with the engines. Rolls-Royce came under increased scrutiny after one of its Trent 900 engines on a Qantas A380 disintegrated after takeoff from Singapore in November. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau’s interim report on the A380 incident said a manufacturing defect in an oil pipe deep within one of the engines led to an oil leak, which sparked a fire. The fire caused one of the engine’s giant turbine discs to disintegrate, sending pieces of it shooting through the plane’s wing. On Monday, a Rolls-Royce Trent 700 engine caught fire on a Cathay Pacific flight bound for Jakarta, Indonesia, forcing it to make an emergency landing in Singapore. Cathay Pacific and Rolls-Royce are investigating the incident. Qantas’s Boeing 747 aircraft use Rolls-Royce RB211 engines. Rolls-Royce Airline industry Thailand Australia guardian.co.uk
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Embattled retailer sells its 314 store book chain to fund controlled by Russian billionaire Alexander Mamut HMV has sold its Waterstone’s book chain to a fund controlled by Russian billionaire Alexander Mamut for £53m. Last week HMV alerted the market to interest in Waterstone’s from multiple bidders although it emerged that Mamut, who counts Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich among his friends, was considered to be the front runner . Mamut, who already owns San Francisco-based social networking site LiveJournal, already holds a 6.7% stake in HMV. Mamut has bought the business for cash through A&NN Capital Fund Management, a company controlled by a trust in which Mamut has an interest. The deal is expected to be completed by the end of June. HMV Group, which issued its third profit warning in April this year, put the 314-strong Waterstone’s chain up for sale in March. The company said on Friday that the sale represents an “important step towards strengthening the capital structure of the remaining HMV Group”. HMV said that it needs to reduce its borrowing requirements in the short term to “achieve a satisfactory refinancing” and “has concluded that the most timely and effective way to achieve this is through the disposal of Waterstone’s”. “We expect this deal to enable the Group to achieve a reduction in the group’s borrowing requirements, and, in turn, focus on plans for transforming the HMV Group into a broad-based entertainment business,” said Simon Fox, the chief executive of HMV Group. The proceeds of the sale – which will see £40m paid on completion in June and £13m in October – will be largely used to reduce HMV’s borrowing requirements. “We are extremely pleased to have reached an agreement to acquire Waterstone’s and its great heritage,” said Mamut. “I believe that our investment and strategy will secure a dynamic future for the UK’s largest bookshop chain and I look forward to working with its booksellers in building on the principle of excellent bookselling, which is at the very heart of the business.” HMV said that the sale is conditional on shareholder approval and also from the pension trustee, the pensions regulator as well as HMV’s banks “including a renegotiation of the group’s lending facilities”. “Any such transaction would likely be subject to, amongst other things, shareholder, lending bank and pension trustee approval,” the company said. “There can be no certainty that any transaction will be concluded and a further announcement will be made as and when appropriate.” HMV Group reported that total group sales continued to slide down 15.2% year-on-year in the 17 weeks to the of April. Within this HMV UK & Ireland saw sales fall 18.8% with international operations, in Canada, Hong Kong and Singapore, down 6.7%. Waterstone’s reported a sales fall of 11.3%. The company said in the 53 weeks to the end of April group profits before tax and exceptional items would be about £28.5m. Year end net debt is expected to be £170m. Media business HMV Retail industry Waterstone’s Booksellers Music industry Mark Sweney guardian.co.uk
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