CNN:
MONTERREY, Mexico (AP) -- A car plowed into a weekend bike race along a highway near the U.S.-Mexico border, killing one and injuring 10 others, police said.
The 28-year-old driver was apparently drunk and fell asleep when he crashed into the race, said police investigator Jose Alfredo Rodriguez.
A photograph taken by a city official showed bicyclists and equipment being hurled high into the air by the collision.
Rodriguez said Juan Campos was charged with killing Alejandro Alvarez, 37, of
CHINESE officials ignored warnings from five eminent seismologists that a strong earthquake would strike the mountainous
The Government appeared to be trying to suppress evidence of the warnings last week and none of the seismologists could be traced for an interview.
The four seismologists, Long Xiaoxia, Yan Junping, Sun Hu and Wang Zuzheng, calculated that stress factors along the Sichuan-Tibet tectonic fault indicated that a quake measuring above 6.7 on the Richter scale would strike this year. They suggested the Government should set up emergency headquarters and organise local disaster teams to train city dwellers and farmers how to protect themselves.
The fifth expert to issue a warning is said to be in seclusion, afflicted by heartache over the loss of so many children.
Geng Qingguo, a renowned seismologist, had come out off retirement to present his dire predictions to a meeting of specialists on April 26 and 27. Geng outlined his calculations that an earthquake of more than 7 on the Richter scale would occur along the boundaries of
The scientist dispatched a copy of his findings to the State Earthquake Bureau in
The quake struck with a Richter scale force of 7.9 on May12.
None of this would be known but for the fact that one of Mr Geng's colleagues, Li Shihui of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, disclosed the whole story in his blog after the earthquake.
"His opinion was not accepted by the State Earthquake Bureau," Dr Li wrote, "and when he heard of the
Neither Dr Li nor Mr Geng is now available for comment, as the public anger intensifies. Access to the blog has been blocked by web censors. …..theaustralian
Unfortunately
I was having breakfast this morning with my daughter in one of the most busiest place in
I was thinking should I do something?. But what?. I guess like most of us, we just cannot handle the situation and not get involved. Does he need help?, what if I woke him up and asked him if he needs help? And instead , he scolds you or worse still punches you in the face for spoiling his sleep!
So to be a good Samaritan also has its drawbacks. So the least I could do is let the professional handle it. So I just took a photo and sent it to a local newspaper hopping that they would investigate and do something.
Worries about potential defections were believed to be a main reason that Abdullah promised on Saturday to increase funding and improve administrative policies for Abdullah and other top officials in Umno, the biggest party in BN, were scheduled to hold a two-day retreat later this week to discuss measures to safeguard their hold on power.
Some Malaysian government lawmakers who were planning to defect to the Opposition might change their minds now that the prime minister has announced policy changes to win their allegiance, Opposition leaders said today.
Officials in the Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) nevertheless voiced confidence that enough members of Parliament will still switch sides by September to topple Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's government.
Syed Husin Ali, deputy president of the PKR, insisted that the "core people who are fully
committed" about defecting will not change their minds because they realise Abdullah's reforms were not enough to tackle their grievances.
"There will be a few people who will be influenced by this. There will be some marginal effect," he said, adding that the crossovers would be announced in September "by the latest."……AP
Maoist rebel girls rest during training in
A young militia fighter hands over bullets at a UN disarmament point in the
A Fatah al-Islam member poses with a rifle in
A young rebel fighter mans a large-caliber machine gun on the Chad-Sudan border. UNICEF estimates that there are 250,000 child soldiers worldwide.
Shan State Army soldiers in Lashio are members of
A young Chadian army soldier is photographed in Am Timan. Despite the government's pledge to demobolize hundreds of child soldiers, an estimated 7,000 to 10,000 remain in the country's armed forces and groups.
A young Palestinian member of Fatah al-Islam trains with a weapon at Nahr al-Bared refugee camp,
Teenage fighters from the Justice and Equality Movement arm themselves in the
Young Tamil Tiger rebels stand guard in eastern
A young female fighter with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia stands guard in Los Pozos. The Marxist rebel group has been fighting to overthrow the Colombian government for forty years.
Many of us regularly hear the phrase “the ugly Singaporean”. This story really tells you volumes what that phrase means…..imagine you mother dying and you fighting over money?????!,,how low can one get then this?
EVEN as their cancer-stricken mother faced her last days, they were unhappy over how she had made out her will - which gave one of them $50,000 more than the rest.
It was so bad that they were engaged in a heated argument with each other at their mother's home while she lay on her deathbed.
In the midst of the siblings' heated quarrel, Madam Chew's condition took a turn for the worse.
An ambulance was called and the paramedics found Madam Chew, who had terminal lung cancer, in a critical condition.
She was immediately taken to hospital.
And she died half-an-hour later.
Now, nearly 3 1/2 years after her death, the five siblings are still fighting it out over her will.
The sticking point is that Madam Chew had willed to her eldest son Roger, $50,000 more than to his other four siblings.
His siblings are also unhappy that Roger had been made sole executor of his late mother's estate.
His siblings argued that Roger had masterminded and constructed the will, and never imagined that his siblings, who have 'swallowed many of his previous misdeeds would want to expend energy, time and money to challenge the validity of the will'.
They alleged that he had 'forced' their mother to sign the will.
The day before Madam Chew died, the four siblings got another lawyer to see her to amend her will so that her estate would be split equally with no one getting anything more than the rest.
A draft was prepared, but Madam Chew died before the second will could be executed.
The essential question, however, was whether the will that Madam Chew made on 3 Jan 2005 was valid.
And the district court's answer: Yes, it was.
Judge Leong found that Roger, who is represented by lawyers Lim Joo Toon and Joseph Tan, had proved that the will was valid and that his siblings' suspicions were without merit and unsupported by the evidence.
He noted that there was nothing to support the siblings' strong belief that the will was signed as a result of undue influence or fraud.
The judge concluded: 'Regardless of whether the $50,000 was a repayment or a gift to the plaintiff, it was Madam Chew's property to bequeath.
The blast left a huge crater outside the embassy, damaging the building and a nearby development agency. Several cars were destroyed by the force of the explosion and some were on fire, an AFP reporter said.
Government-run
"It was a vehicle-borne explosive device, apparently a suicide attack," a senior security official told AFP. He said the dead included two policemen stationed outside the embassy...CNA
It looked like a scene from one of the But the fire that raged through Universal Studios yesterday was all too real.
About 500
Crowds watched from the neighbouring theme park as smoke billowed thousands of feet into the sky.
The fire devoured the Back to the Future set as well as the building housing the King Kong set, which is visited on the studio's tram tour.
Worryingly, firemen were seen passing spools of old films out of another blazing
storage building that contained 40,000 to 50,000 priceless original and master versions of movie classics dating back to the early days of
Fire chiefs said the video vault had been 'compromised' by the flames.
But NBC Universal president Ron Meyer said duplicates were stored at another location.
The fire broke out just before dawn on a sound-stage at the 400-acre studios, which were founded in 1912.
The exact cause was unknown but may have something to do with construction work on the site.
dailymail
Money fell from the sky in
The mad dash for the cash -which was thrown from a plane in a marketing stunt -left many cut, battered and bruised.
A girl of 13 collapsed and had to be taken to hospital.
The 100million rupiah, or nearly ??6,000, up for grabs amounts to a fortune in the South-East Asian country.
Those who managed to snatch a few notes took home more than they could earn in a month.
The money was dropped by author Tung Desem Waringin as a stunt to promote his book on business motivation.
With the cash bundled in bills of 1,000 and 5,000 rupiah (between 5p and 25p), he set off in the light aircraft to fly over a football stadium in Serang, 40 miles from the capital Jakarta.
Rumours of the stunt had been circulating for at least a day and the stadium was filled with the city's poor.
On the first and second runs, the notes fell 500 yards from the stadium, so the crowds dashed from the ground to scoop up what they could.
On the third run the money fluttered down into the stadium so they all had to scamper back into the arena.'....dailymail
daily mail:When Jon Matthews was told he was terminally ill and should not make plans for Christmas he began preparing for the end.
He wrote a will and paid for his funeral.
The 58-year-old former salesman had placed a £100 wager at odds of 50/1 that he would remain alive until June 1, 2008 - at which time he would become by his doctors' best estimates the patient to survive longest after being diagnosed with the terminal disease mesothelioma.
Yesterday, Mr Matthews's determination to beat the odds was rewarded. He wore a jacket, hat and broad smile as he picked up his £5,000 winnings from a betting shop near his home.
Mr Matthews, who lives in a village outside
'Last year I thought, "Well, I've survived Christmas and I don't feel too bad".
'I'm not really a betting man, just once a year or so, but I got hold of William Hill and placed a bet. They checked all the facts out and that's why they gave me odds of 50/1.
'The longest the doctors have ever heard of anyone surviving mesothelioma after diagnosis was 25 months. Today is 25 months and a week so I've beaten that record.'
William Hill spokesman Graham Sharpe said: 'We had never been asked to accept a bet of this nature before, but as Jon approached us directly and was adamant that it would give him an additional incentive to battle his illness, we offered him the bet he wanted.
'Never, in 30 years in the business, have I been so pleased to pay a winning client £5,000.'
