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Showing posts from March, 2017

Pakistan blast: Parachinar bomb leaves at least 24 dead

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At least 24 people have been killed and more than 70 injured in a blast outside a mosque in north-west Pakistan. The explosion happened in the city of Parachinar, a mainly Shia Muslim area on the Afghan border. Reports say a car packed with explosives was left near the women's entrance of the mosque as people gathered for Friday prayers. A faction of the Pakistani Taliban (TTP), Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (JuA), said it had carried out the attack. Many shops and vehicles close to the mosque were damaged in the powerful blast. "People were screaming for help... When I looked back everything was filled with dust," shopkeeper Sardar Hussain told AFP news agency. Kamran Ali told the Associated Press news agency he was inside his shop when the blast happened. "My shop partially collapsed and I was unable to move for the next 30 minutes or so, and then residents brought me to hospital," he said. The Pakistani Army sent a helicopter to help take the injured to ho
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Indonesian man's body found inside python - police

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A missing Indonesian man was found dead inside the body of a python, according to local police. Akbar went missing on Sunday on the island of Sulawesi, after leaving to harvest palm oil. In the search for the 25-year-old, police told BBC Indonesian that they had found a huge snake they suspected had swallowed the man. The reticulated python, reported to be 7m (23ft)-long, was cut open and the man's body was found. How can a snake eat a human? Reticulated pythons are among the world's longest reptiles and suffocate their victims before swallowing them whole. Pythons rarely kill and eat humans, although there are occasional reports of them swallowing young children or animals. Mashura, a spokesperson for the police in West Sulawesi province told BBC Indonesian that villagers reported to police that Akbar had been missing for 24 hours. Police then conducted a search and found the snake near the family's palm plantation. "They didn't find him (Akbar)
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Facebook launches Snapchat-style Stories with new in-app camera feature

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Facebook has launched its own version of the Snapchat Story feature. The company is encouraging users to take more pictures and add effects and filters like falling snow and rainbows. With the update, users will be able to get to the new in-app Facebook Camera with one swipe and will be able to share a picture privately with a friend, or share it on their news feed. As in Snapchat, users will be able to add a picture to a gallery but they'll disappear in 24 hours. Facebook-owned Instagram, Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp have all added similar features recently. Snapchat says it wants to concentrate on building gadgets and has called itself a camera company rather than a social media network. Facebook, which now has 1.86 billion users, denies it took its camera ideas from Snapchat and says it got them from its own users. "Our goal here is to give people more to do on Facebook, and that's really been the main inspiration," said Connor Hayes, a Facebook
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Samsung: Is Galaxy S8 the firm's most important phone yet?

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The Samsung Galaxy S8 will likely be the South Korean firm's biggest test yet: a phone that has to live up to the highest expectations and also the toughest scrutiny. Even in normal circumstances, the stakes are high when a phone maker unveils its latest flagship handset. But the past few months have been anything but normal for Samsung. And at the simultaneous release of the S8 in London and New York, the elephant in the room is a big one. This is the launch that follows the Note 7 scandal last year, the phone Samsung recalled and then eventually scrapped after some batteries overheated and caught fire. "With this launch, Samsung gets a chance to redeem itself after the Galaxy Note 7 fiasco...but it may be too early to say that Samsung's troubles are behind it now," says Kiranjeet Kaur of tech analysts IDC. How much damage has been done? While the Galaxy S models are the company's flagship line and widely seen as the only serious competitor t
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Toshiba's Westinghouse files for US bankruptcy

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Westinghouse, Toshiba's US nuclear unit, has filed for US bankruptcy protection. The US firm has struggled with hefty losses that have thrown its Japanese parent into a crisis, putting the conglomerate's future at risk. Westinghouse has suffered huge cost overruns at two US projects in Georgia and South Carolina. The Japanese government confirmed on Wednesday that it was aware of Toshiba's plans. What went wrong? Toshiba initially alerted investors in December 2016 that it faced heavy losses linked to a deal done by Westinghouse. Assets that it took on are likely to be worth less than initially thought and there is also a dispute about payments that are due. As a consequence, Toshiba initially hoped to sell its majority stake in Westinghouse. The Japanese company was also twice given permission to delay reporting its earnings until 11 April. The nuclear services business brings in about one-third of the industrial giant's revenue. Toshiba says it ex
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Jamie Vardy: Leicester striker 'had death threats' over Claudio Ranieri's sacking

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Leicester striker Jamie Vardy says he has received death threats and his family have been targeted since Claudio Ranieri was sacked as manager. The 30-year-old blamed "hurtful" and "false" accusations he influenced the club's decision to sack the Italian. Ranieri left in February, nine months after winning the Premier League, with the club 17th in the table. His successor, Craig Shakespeare, later denied reports of a player revolt. "It is terrifying," Vardy said. "I read one story that said I was personally involved in a meeting after the Sevilla game when I was actually sat in anti-doping for three hours. "But then the story is out there, people pick it up and jump on it and you're getting death threats about your family, kids, everything." Vardy said he was able to "get on with it" but added: "When people are trying to cut your missus up while she's driving, with the kids in the back of the ca
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Spider venom may offer stroke therapy

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A protein in spider venom may help protect the brain from injury after a stroke, according to research. Scientists found a single dose of the protein Hi1a worked on lab rats. They said it showed "great promise as a future stroke treatment" but had not yet been tested in human trials. The Stroke Association said the research was at its early stages but it would "welcome any treatment that has the potential to reduce the damage caused by stroke". The researchers, from the University of Queensland and Monash University, travelled to Fraser Island in Australia to hunt for and capture three potentially deadly Australian funnel web spiders. "We regularly collect spiders from Fraser Island off the south coast of Queensland," explained lead researcher Prof Glenn King. "The reason for this is that funnel-web spiders dig burrows that can be as deep as 20-30 cm. Thus, digging them up from hard clay soils is very difficult. Fraser Island is a s
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Duterte backtracks on gay marriage in Philippines

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Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has said he opposes gay marriage, after previously declaring he would consider legalising it. Mr Duterte clarified that he had "nothing against gays", saying several of his relatives were homosexual. The controversial politician had previously appeared supportive of LGBTQ rights, saying in 2015 that same-sex marriage was "good". But he is otherwise known for his conservative views especially on crime. He has waged a much-criticised war on drug users and dealers leading to thousands of extra-judicial killings. His latest remarks were made on Sunday night to Filipino expatriates in the Burmese capital of Nay Pyi Taw while on an official trip to Myanmar. A transcript of the speech was only given to journalists on Monday. In a meandering speech addressing criticism of his now-suspended war on drugs, Mr Duterte accused the West of imposing its values on the Philippines, then referred to a recent Time magazine story o
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Many dead in Kintampo freak tree accident Ghana waterfall

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At least 18 people, mainly high school students, have died after a large tree fell on them at a popular waterfall spot in Kintampo, Ghana, police say. The students were swimming during a storm when the freak accident happened, local police chief Owusu Boampong told the BBC. Twenty-two others were injured and are being treated at local hospitals. Rescue teams used chainsaws to cut through the fallen tree and free those trapped underneath, local media report. President Nana Akufo-Addo has tweeted his condolences to the families of the victims. Police and fire service personnel were involved in the rescue operation at the scene in Ghana's central Brong-Ahafo region, 400km (250 miles) north of the capital Accra. An eyewitness told Ghana's Starr News that most of those involved were students of the Wenchi Senior High School, but that there were also tourists.
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Emma Watson private photos stolen in 'hack'

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Emma Watson is taking legal action after dozens of private images of her appeared online. A spokesman for the Beauty and the Beast star confirmed the pictures - which show her trying on various outfits - were stolen. "Photos from a clothes fitting Emma had with a stylist a couple of years ago have been stolen," her publicist said. "They are not nude photographs. Lawyers have been instructed and we are not commenting further." News of the theft comes a week after Watson sparked fierce debate over whether she was anti-feminist for exposing part of her breasts in a Vanity Fair photoshoot. The actress was previously threatened in 2014 with a leak of nude images, after a speech she gave on gender equality as a UN Ambassador for Women. Speak at a Facebook event in 2015, she said? "I knew it was a hoax, I knew the pictures didn't exist. "The minute I stepped up and talked about women's rights I was immediately threatened - within less than 1
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Syria conflict: Deadly attack on Damascus court complex

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At least 25 people have been killed in a suicide bomb attack at the main court complex in the centre of the Syrian capital, Damascus, state media report. The bomber detonated an explosive vest after police tried to stop him entering the Palace of Justice, which is close to the famous Souk al-Hamidieyh market. Two hours later, a second bomb blast was reported in Rabweh, to the west. The bombings come on the sixth anniversary of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad. What began as an Arab Spring uprising against an autocratic ruler has mushroomed into a brutal proxy war that has drawn in regional and world powers. Activists say more than 320,000 people have been killed and 11 million displaced.
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Japan's gripping manhunt ends in capture

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Japanese police have captured a fugitive who had eluded authorities for weeks in a bizarre drama that gripped the country. Tatsuma Hirao, 27, had made a run for it from an open prison in the town of Imabari. Police deployed more than 6,000 officers on the small island of Mukaishima, using everything from dogs to helicopters and drones. He was caught at a train station in Hiroshima, about 50km (30 miles) away. Hirao was not considered a dangerous criminal. Serving five and a half years for theft, he was being held at a facility where inmates are free to walk about without walls or fences. The system did not work in the case of Hirao. The first clues following his getaway were on Mukaishima. On the face of it, the 57 sq km (22 sq mile) island of 22,000 people should not have been an easy place to hide. Yet despite using helicopters, sniffer dogs and drones, Hirao kept eluding his pursuers. All the police found were small clues: fingerprints, items like socks or mobil
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Woman trapped in billionaire's New York lift all weekend

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A woman has been rescued after spending an entire weekend trapped in her billionaire employer's lift, authorities said. The woman, reported to be 53-year-old Marites Fortaliza, entered the elevator at the Manhattan townhouse owned by investment banker Warren Stephens on Friday evening. Firefighters responded to an emergency call at 10:00 local time (15:00 GMT) on Monday and forced the lift open. Ms Fortaliza is recovering in hospital. According to a family statement reported by the Associated Press Ms Fortaliza was dehydrated but in a stable condition at Weill Cornell Medical Center. She has been "a valued member of the Stephens extended family for 18 years" and a family member accompanied her to the hospital, they are quoted as saying. Mr Stephens is the head of Stephens Inc, an investment bank based in Little Rock, Arkansas. Authorities said Ms Fortaliza was trapped between the second and third floors of the house, on the Upper East Side of the city nea
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Governor jailed for sexual assault

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A former South Korean governor and one-time presidential contender has been sentenced to three and a half years in prison for rape, five months after he was controversially acquitted for the same crime. Ahn Hee-jung was jailed by an appeals court Friday for the rape and assault of Kim Ji-eun, his former assistant, Kim's lawyer Jung Hye-sun told CNN. Speaking after the verdict, Kim thanked her lawyers and witnesses who supported her case. "I can say goodbye to my torturous time when I was forced to live feeling like a witch to be burnt," she said. "I'd like to share all the help I received with other victims who still have to prove everything in their lonely fights. I'd like to send my solidarity to all the victims of sexual crimes whether they spoke about their cases but were ignored or couldn't speak about their issues and quietly watched my trial." Kim came forward with the allegations during an interview with South Korean
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