World News Thread & Breaking News!!

By Anthony Bond and Richard Shears

PUBLISHED: 03:45 EST, 13 April 2013 | UPDATED: 11:49 EST, 13 April 2013

More than 100 passengers had a miracle escape today after a plane crashed into the sea as it attempted to land off the coast of Bali.

Eyewitnesses said passengers fearing for their lives screamed in panic as the Lion Air jet fell short of the runway at Ngurah Rai Airport, near Denparsar.

The aircraft, carrying 101 passengers and seven crew members, smashed into the sea prompting a huge rescue effort.

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Many of the passengers escaped through emergency doors which opened half way along the fuselage and made their way to the shore in inflatable yellow dinghies.

After being evacuated off the plane, they were taken to the airport terminal for treatment.

Airport officials said that several people were injured in the crash, but the extent of their injuries were not known.

Lion Air is currently banned from flying with the European Union because of concerns over its safety levels.

Pictures from the scene show the passenger jet with its distinctive red Lion name on the side lying partially submerged in the water near rocks at the end of the runway.

The plane had broken its back - the rear section drooped further into the water and a large split could be seen in the last portion of the jet.

Other passengers milled about at the airport as police and officials attempted to establish what had happened to cause the jet to crash into the sea.

Bali Police Chief Arif Wahyunadi said: 'All passengers and crew have been taken off the aircraft as it lies in the sea.

'They are being attended to at the airport.'

Up to 45 people were taken to several different hospitals for treatment.

I Made Krisna Maharta, an official with Bali's search and rescue agency, said all of the passengers and crew were safely rescued. He said initial reports showed there were 101 passengers and seven crew members aboard the plane.

Mr Wahyunadi said the jet had originated in the city of Bandung, Indonesia's third largest city - a tourist attraction because of its ancient architecture.

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TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iranian state TV says at least 40 people have been killed by a major earthquake near the Iran-Pakistan border.

Press TV gave no further details on the extent of damage in the sparsely populated areas. But the quake shook buildings as far away as New Delhi and Gulf cities of Dubai and Bahrain.

Iran's seismological center said the 7.5 magnitude earthquake was centered near Saravan, a sparsely populated area about 48 kilometers (26 miles) from the Pakistani border. The U.S. Geological Survey put the preliminary magnitude at 7.8 and at a depth of 15.2 kilometers (nine miles).

The quake struck less than a week after a 6.1 magnitude quake hit near Bushehr, on Iran's Persian Gulf coast, killing at least 37 people.

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AssassinsMace said:

Did satellite pictures capture a murder in the Netherlands?

Google map these coordinates: 52.376552, 5.198303

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AssassinsMace said:

Did satellite pictures capture a murder in the Netherlands?

Google map these coordinates: 52.376552, 5.198303

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plawolf said:

Well I'm not saying they should all be wearing the exact same kit, but it just seems odd for police SWAT to choose military camo over your more traditional blacks, navy blues or dark greens.

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AssassinsMace said:

Did satellite pictures capture a murder in the Netherlands?

Google map these coordinates: 52.376552, 5.198303

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MwRYum said:

You mean from government surplus? Well that'd be an economical and practical choice, as long as it serves the purpose.

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Letter sent to Obama tests positive for ricin, FBI says
Published April 17, 2013
| FoxNews.com
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The FBI has confirmed that a letter addressed to President Obama has "preliminarily tested positive" for ricin, a day after lawmakers said another letter sent to the Capitol Hill office of Sen. Roger Wicker tested positive for the same substance.
The warnings come amid a flurry of reports on suspicious packages on Capitol Hill. Fox News has learned of at least three suspicious packages or envelopes in two separate Capitol Hill office buildings, though Capitol Police now say those packages have been removed and the areas have been cleared.
The package alerts compounded security concerns in the wake of the letter incidents and the Boston bombing, which the FBI has said do not appear to be related.
Both of the suspicious letters were apparently intercepted on Tuesday. They never reached the Hill or the White House.
An FBI bulletin obtained by Fox News said the letter sent to Obama is still being screened, though it initially tested positive.
The bulletin said both letters included the phrase: "To see a wrong and not expose it, is to become a silent partner to its continuance."
Both were signed, "I am KC and I approve this message."
The letter to the Mississippi Republican was intercepted at an off-site mail screening facility.
Authorities declined to comment on a suspect or any other aspect of the investigation being led by Capitol Police, but Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., told the Associated Press police have a suspect in mind.
"The person that is a suspect writes a lot of letters to members," McCaskill said as she emerged from a classified briefing.
Testing is apparently still underway. The letter tested positive for ricin in a field test, but the FBI released a statement Wednesday saying tests have shown "inconsistent results" and the substance is being further analyzed.
According to a Homeland Security Department handbook, ricin is deadliest when inhaled. It is not contagious, but there is no antidote.
Wicker thanked law enforcement officials in a statement for "their hard work and diligence in keeping" those who work in the Capitol safe, adding that the matter is part of an ongoing investigation by Capitol Police and the FBI. "Gayle and I appreciate everyone's thoughts and prayers," he said.
As of Tuesday night, mail delivery had only been stopped to the Senate, not the House.
"It is of concern," Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, said after learning about the incident in a briefing with other senators late Tuesday.
The envelope had a Tennessee postmark and no return address.
The letter inside included an implied threat to effect of: "You haven’t listen to me before. Now you will, even if people have to die," Politico also reported.
Sources say officials are familiar with the person believed to have sent the letter as the person has sent other letters before.
FBI Director Robert Mueller and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano were on Capitol Hill on Tuesday for a scheduled talk about cyber security. But that briefing morphed into talks about Boston, after the bombings Monday.
Senate Sergeant at Arms Terry Gainer conducted a separate briefing for senators specifically on ricin.
It's unclear whether the letter had any connection to the Boston attack.
The mail-screening system was established after the Anthrax attacks of 2001 that closed the Hart Senate Office Building.
Fox News' Chad Pergram and Mike Levine and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Head of Libya's Islamic extremist militia suspected in attack on US ambassador has been shot
Published April 14, 2013
| Associated Press
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TRIPOLI, Libya – A security official says the leader of an Islamic extremist militia in Libya suspected of involvement in an attack in Benghazi that killed the U.S. ambassador has been shot.
Sufyan bin Qumu, a former Guantanamo Bay detainee, was shot Sunday in the area of al-Thruwn in the eastern city of Darna, a stronghold of Islamic extremists.
The security official says he was taken to a nearby hospital and is in the intensive care unit. He spoke anonymously in line with regulations.
Residents of eastern Libya, where the September attack against the U.S. consulate took place, have been standing up to Ansar al-Shariah. Protesters stormed the group's compound in Benghazi days after the attack.
No suspects have been named in the attack that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.
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Rockets Fired From Egyptian Sinai Land in Israel
By ISABEL KERSHNER
JERUSALEM — Two rockets fired from the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula struck the southern Israeli resort of Eilat on Wednesday, causing no damage or injuries, according to the Israeli military. The first such attack on that city in a year, it underscored the continuing threat from militants operating across the desert border.

But rather than serving as a new source of tension between Israel and Egypt under President Mohamed Morsi, a former leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, Israeli officials spoke of close cooperation between the two countries over what they viewed as a joint interest.

“There is constant and in-depth dialogue with the Egyptians,” Amos Gilad, a senior Israeli Defense Ministry official, told Israel Radio after the attack. “Egypt considers any kind of terror to be a threat to Egypt and it is very committed to the peace agreement with us. This commitment has improved and is more intensive.”

Mr. Gilad added: “The rocket fire is meant to kill and to cause panic and to complicate our relationship with Egypt. We will make every effort to prevent this.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, who was in London attending the funeral of Margaret Thatcher, the former British prime minister, spoke with his defense minister, Moshe Yaalon, and held security consultations about how to respond to the rocket attack, according to a statement from Mr. Netanyahu’s office.

A shadowy Islamic extremist group, the Mujahedeen Shura Council — Environs of Jerusalem, said it had fired the two rockets at Eilat in support of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.

“This is a strike against the enemy in the language it understands very well and in the place that it did not expect,” the group said in a statement, without specifying the location from which the rockets were fired. The group, which also operates in Gaza, called on Hamas, the Islamic group that controls the Palestinian enclave, to stop pursuing extremist fighters of the Salafi movement and to release those it has arrested.

Israel’s deputy minister of defense, Danny Danon, said the weapons and training for Islamic militants operating between Gaza and Sinai came from Iran.

“The same forces that fired rockets at Eilat also want to topple the current regime in Egypt,” he told Israel Radio. “Egypt, Jordan and Israel all want to stop these groups, which are connected to Iran and to Al Qaeda.”

He added, “There is cooperation, even close cooperation, between Egypt, Israel and Jordan, all of whom share an interest in fighting these elements.”

Israel signed a peace treaty with Egypt in 1979 and one with Jordan in 1994. Israelis were concerned for the future of the relations with Egypt after the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak in 2011 stripped Israel of a trusted regional ally.

A number of cross-border attacks have added layers of complexity to an already fraught relationship between Israel and Egypt. In a particularly brazen assault last August, gunmen opened fire on an Egyptian Army checkpoint in the northern Sinai Peninsula, killing 16 soldiers. They then detonated a truck packed with explosives at the border fence with Israel and drove an armored vehicle, also loaded with explosives, about a mile into Israel before Israeli airstrikes destroyed it.

Israel has urged Mr. Morsi to clamp down on militants operating in the wild terrain of the peninsula, but has also been wary of any Egyptian military buildup in the area that could violate the terms of the peace treaty that is decades old between the two countries.

Rockets from Sinai have struck Eilat on two previous occasions, in 2012 and 2010. Both rockets on Wednesday fell in open spaces in the city. A battery that is part of Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system, and is supposed to protect Eilat from rocket fire, failed to operate.

Fares Akram contributed reporting from Gaza

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Post-Election Tensions Escalate in Venezuela as Demonstrations Turn Deadly
By WILLIAM NEUMAN
CARACAS, Venezuela — Tensions escalated here on Tuesday as the newly elected president, Nicolás Maduro, and his opponent blamed each other for the violence that the government said had left seven people dead, and Mr. Maduro accused the United States of being behind that violence.

The new president vowed to crack down on protests and said he would block a march called by his opponent, Henrique Capriles Radonski, to demand a recount of the vote. Mr. Capriles claims he is the real winner of the extremely close election on Sunday and has refused to recognize the result.

Mr. Capriles responded to Mr. Maduro on Tuesday by calling off the march to the headquarters of the National Electoral Council, which had been planned for Wednesday, saying he had received information that the government planned to infiltrate the march and cause violence. He called on his followers instead to bang pots at their homes in a traditional Venezuelan protest.

Mr. Maduro was declared the winner of Sunday’s election with 50.8 percent of the vote, to 49 percent for Mr. Capriles, according to the current government count. The tally has Mr. Maduro ahead by about 270,000 votes, out of 14.8 million cast, although not all votes have been counted. Among those outstanding are votes from Venezuelans living in foreign countries, who tend to vote for the opposition.

Mr. Maduro is to complete the six-year term of President Hugo Chávez, who had cancer and died March 5. His new term began in January.

In an extraordinary day of charges and countercharges, Mr. Maduro cut into regular television and radio programming three times with special national broadcasts that all stations are required to carry.

Each time he angrily criticized Mr. Capriles, sometimes working himself into what seemed to be near hysteria, shouting until he was nearly out of breath, often stabbing his finger directly at the camera. He compared the opposition to Nazi Germany, accused them of planning a coup, and said they hoped to bring about a civil war like those in Libya and Syria.

“The march to the center of Caracas will not be permitted,” Mr. Maduro said in his first broadcast, from a government-run health clinic. “I will use a hard hand against fascism and intolerance. I declare it. If they want to overthrow me, come and get me. Here I am, with the people and the armed forces.”

He said five people died at opposition protests on Monday in different parts of the country, and, pointing a finger at the camera, he said Mr. Capriles was responsible. Mr. Maduro later raised the death toll to seven, but the number of deaths related to the protests could not be independently confirmed.

At an afternoon news conference, Mr. Capriles said the government had given T-shirts to people who would attend Wednesday’s march and then carry out violent acts. “Their agenda is violence,” he said. “Our agenda is peaceful protest.”

Mr. Capriles also questioned the government claims that all the deaths cited were associated with the protests.

In a second broadcast, from an office of the government-run oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela, Mr. Maduro lashed out at Washington.

“The United States Embassy has financed all the acts of violence in this country,” he said, adding that violent groups were directed by two American military attachés whom he had expelled the day that Mr. Chávez died. He accused another American Embassy employee of plotting to sabotage the nation’s electrical system.

In each broadcast, Mr. Maduro returned to the theme of threats to his government. At one point he demanded that television stations choose sides. “Decide who you are with, with the country and peace and the people, or are you going to go back to be with fascism?” he shouted.

A United States State Department spokesman said in a written statement, “We continue to completely reject the Venezuelan government’s claim that the United States is involved in any type of conspiracy to destabilize the Venezuelan government or to harm anyone in Venezuela.”

The third time Mr. Maduro broke into regular television and radio programming, he cut off the broadcast of Mr. Capriles’s news conference. Speaking from a hospital, he told his supporters to play loud music and shoot off fireworks each night to drown out the opposition’s pots and pans protest.

In his news conference, Mr. Capriles said that his campaign had received information on thousands of voting irregularities, including opposition witnesses who were forcibly removed from voting centers and voters intimidated by armed motorcyclists.

The government said that the seven people who were killed were supporters of Mr. Maduro. But the father of one of those killed, Ender José Bastardo, 21, disputed that account.

The Justice Ministry said that Mr. Bastardo, a mechanic, was among a group of people celebrating Mr. Maduro’s victory in Cumanacoa, in eastern Venezuela, when they were attacked by a group that opened fire. Mr. Bastardo was killed and two other people were wounded.

But Mr. Bastardo’s father, William Bastardo, 45, said he and his son were marching in a protest against Mr. Maduro’s election, banging pots, when shots were fired from a nearby building. “I demand justice for my son,” the father said at the morgue in the nearby city of Cumaná, “and that peaceful protest be respected.”

Paula Ramón and María Eugenia Díaz contributed reporting from Caracas, and María Iguarán from Cumaná, Venezuela.

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17 April 2013 Last updated at 13:09 ET BBC
Margaret Thatcher: Queen leads mourners at funeral
COMMENTS (193)
The Queen has led mourners in St Paul's Cathedral at the funeral of Baroness Thatcher, Britain's longest serving prime minister of modern times.
More than 2,000 guests from around the world paid their last respects at the biggest such occasion since the Queen Mother's funeral in 2002.
Thousands of members of the public and the armed forces lined the funeral procession route through London.
PM David Cameron said it was a "fitting tribute" to a major figure.
Four thousand police officers were on duty in central London but, despite concerns about demonstrations, only a small number of protesters voiced their opposition to Lady Thatcher's policies and there were no arrests.
Elsewhere, around the country:
Residents of a South Yorkshire village scarred by pit closures "celebrated" her funeral
Miners in a former pit village in County Durham gathered during the funeral, exactly 20 years after their pit's closure
A rose was unveiled in memory of Baroness Thatcher in Grantham, Lincolnshire, where she was born
Students at Somerville, Lady Thatcher's former Oxford University college, gathered to watch the funeral
Self-styled "Essex Man" Bill Sharp witnessed Baroness Thatcher's funeral procession
The congregation at St Paul's included Lady Thatcher's family and all surviving British prime ministers Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and Sir John Major, the current cabinet and surviving members of Lady Thatcher's governments.
There were tears, and occasional laughter, as the Bishop of London, The Right Reverend Richard Chartres, paid tribute to Lady Thatcher's forthright character in a simple service, which, at her personal request, did not include any eulogies.
"After the storm of a life led in the heat of political controversy, there is a great calm," said The Right Reverend Chartres.
"The storm of conflicting opinions centres on the Mrs Thatcher who became a symbolic figure - even an ism.
"Today the remains of the real Margaret Hilda Thatcher are here at her funeral service.
"Lying here, she is one of us, subject to the common destiny of all human beings."
Chancellor George Osborne appeared to wipe away a tear as the Bishop of London reflected on Lady Thatcher's life.
'Beloved mother'
The day began with Lady Thatcher leaving Parliament for the last time as a hearse took her body from the crypt chapel of St Mary Undercroft in the Palace of Westminster to the start of the military procession at St Clement Danes in The Strand.
The union jack draped-coffin was topped with a large bunch of white flowers and a note, by Lady Thatcher's children Sir Mark and Carol, reading: "Beloved mother, always in our hearts."
A gun carriage drawn by six black horses carried the coffin through the streets to St Paul's, where the funeral service began with readings from the King James Bible by Mr Cameron and Lady Thatcher's 19-year-old granddaughter Amanda, and hymns chosen by the former prime minister.
The service ended with a blessing from the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby.
Lady Thatcher's coffin was borne out of the cathedral and returned to a hearse which took it to the Royal Hospital Chelsea and then to Mortlake Crematorium in south west London for a private cremation.
Lady Thatcher, who was Conservative Prime Minister from 1979 until 1990, died on 8 April, following a stroke, at the age of 87.
She was accorded a ceremonial funeral with military honours, one step down from a state funeral.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Mr Cameron said it would have been seen as extraordinary not to commemorate her life.
Asked about those who wanted to challenge his view of Lady Thatcher, the prime minister said: "Of course people have the right to disagree and take a different view.
"But when you're mourning the passing of an 87-year-old woman who was the first woman prime minister, who served for longer in the job than anyone for 150 years I think it's appropriate to show respect."
There were more than 50 guests associated with the Falkland Islands, including veterans from the 1982 conflict with Argentina, but Argentina's ambassador to London, Alicia Castro declined an invitation to attend.
Alan Southern, a former member of the Parachute Regiment who fought in the Falklands War, said: "Lady Thatcher was an absolutely wonderful lady. She loved the armed forces and she did so much for the country, she put the 'great' back in Great Britain."
In total, two current heads of state, 11 serving prime ministers and 17 serving foreign ministers from around the world attended.
Notable absences were former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who could not attend because of ill health, and former US first lady Nancy Reagan, who was also unable to come.
Six police forces from outside London sent specialist officers to help with escorting foreign dignitaries.
There were union jacks on display, as well as flags from the US, Canada, Scotland, Poland and the Falkland Islands.
St Paul's has published a full funeral order of service.

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By Regina Dennis

WEST, Texas (Reuters) - A fiery explosion tore through a fertilizer plant and leveled dozens of homes in a small Texas town late on Wednesday, killing as many as 15 people, injuring more than 160 others and spewing toxic fumes that forced the evacuation of half the community, authorities said.

Police initially estimated that between five and 15 people had perished in the blast, which rocked the town of West, located about 20 miles north of Waco and 80 miles south of Dallas, shortly before 8 p.m. local time on Wednesday.

Public safety officials said they expected the death toll to climb as search teams combed through the rubble of the demolished plant and surrounding homes.

"I've never seen anything like this," McLennan County Sheriff Parnell McNamara said. "It looks like a war zone with all the debris."

Ground motion from the blast, triggered by a fire of unknown origin at the West Fertilizer Co plant, registered as a magnitude 2.1 seismic tremor and created a jolt felt in Dallas and beyond, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.

Waco Police Sergeant W. Patrick Swanton said investigators would examine whether the blaze was the result of foul play or a chemical reaction, adding that the blast site was being treated as a crime scene for the time being.

"We are not indicating that it is a crime, but we don't know," Swanton told reporters early on Thursday, some nine hours after the blast. "What that means to us is that until we know it is an industrial accident, we will work it as a crime scene." He said there was no immediate evidence of a crime.

The explosion came two days before the 20th anniversary of a fire in nearby Waco that engulfed a compound inhabited by David Koresh and his followers in the Branch Davidian sect, ending a siege by federal agents.

About 82 members of the sect and four federal agents died at Waco.

West Mayor Tommy Muska told Reuters that five or six volunteer firefighters who were among the first to arrive at the fertilizer plant were missing.

Firefighters had been battling the fire and evacuating nearby residences and a nursing home for about 20 minutes before the explosion occurred.

Officials said flames that continued to smolder inside the plant initially posed two threats: the possibility of setting off further explosions and the emission of hazardous fumes into the town.

Swanton said a residual fire burning underneath additional chemical tanks had been brought under control, "and I don't think that is any longer a threat."

Texas Public Safety Department spokesman D.L. Wilson said about half the town, about eight to 10 blocks, had been evacuated and that "we might even have to evacuate on the other side of town" if winds shift.

But emergency management personnel downtown determined that there was no immediate danger to the public from the smoke from the fire, Swanton said.

Officials said a full assessment of property damage would not come until after dawn.

Wilson said 50 to 75 homes were damaged by the explosion and a fire that followed, and a nearby 50-unit apartment complex had been reduced to "a skeleton standing up." Muska put the number of destroyed homes at between 60 and 80.

Wilson said 133 people had been evacuated from the nursing home, which was heavily damaged, but it was not immediately clear how many residents of the facility were hurt. A middle school in town also was heavily damaged.

'KIDS SCREAMING'

Three hospitals in Waco and Dallas that were receiving the bulk of patients from the disaster reported treating more than 160 injuries combined.

"We are seeing a lot of lacerations and orthopedic-type injuries ... things you would expect in an explosion," said David Argueta, vice president of operations at Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center in Waco.

Jason Shelton, 33, a father of two who lives less than a mile from the plant, said he heard fire trucks heading toward the facility five minutes before the explosion and felt the blast as he stood on his front porch.

"My windows started rattling and my kids screaming," Shelton said. "The screen door hit me in the forehead ... and all the screens blew off my windows."

Governor Rick Perry issued a statement saying his office had "mobilized state resources to help local authorities" deal with the incident.

A White House official said the Obama administration was aware of the situation and monitoring local and state response through the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

(Additional reporting by Steve Gorman, Tim Gaynor, David Bailey and Marice Richter; Writing by Steve Gorman; Editing by Cynthia Johnston, Lisa Von Ahn and Scott Malone)

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