Live snakes, lizards found inside checked luggage

MADRID: Spanish police said Tuesday they found five snakes, two lizards and thousands of insects alive and hidden inside two suitcases that arrived on the holiday island of Gran Canaria on a flight from Madrid.

A man who had checked in the luggage in the Spanish capital was detained for questioning at the airport of Las Palmas, police said in a statement, without giving further details.

The luggage contained species often sold as exotic pets: a boa constrictor, a python molurus, found in Southeast Asia, and three python regius, a species found in Africa.

It also contained two leopard gecko lizards, a species naturally found in the deserts of Asia, two frogs and 200 dubia cockroaches which are normally found in Central and Southern America.

The suitcases also contained 3,500 crickets, about 1,000 worms, 100 grasshoppers and several snails.

The snakes, frogs, lizards, snails and cockroaches were kept in plastic containers while the crickets, worms and grasshoppers were stored in cardboard boxes. (AFP)

Unusual new penguin flu found in Antarctica

WASHINGTON: A new kind of bird flu has been detected for the first time in Adelie penguins in Antarctica, though the virus does not seem to make them sick, researchers said Tuesday.

The virus is unlike any other avian flu known to science, said the report in mBio, a journal of the American Society for Microbiology.

"It raises a lot of unanswered questions," said study author Aeron Hurt, senior research scientist at the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza in Melbourne, Australia.

The findings show that "avian influenza viruses can get down to Antarctica and be maintained in penguin populations," he said.

The study is the first to report on live avian influenza virus in penguins, though previous research has found evidence of influenza antibodies in penguin blood.

But it remains unclear how often various strains of bird flu are introduced into Antarctica, whether the deadliest types could make it there, and which animals or ecosystems allow the virus to survive.

Hurt and colleagues collected samples from some 300 Adelie penguins at Admiralty Bay and Rada Covadonga during January and February 2013.They found live, infectious avian influenza virus in eight samples, or nearly three percent of the birds. The penguins did not appear to be sick.

All the samples were found to be H11N2 influenza viruses that were highly similar to each other.

But when researchers compared the genome sequences of four of the viruses to a publicly available database of animal and human viruses, "we found that this virus was unlike anything else detected in the world," said Hurt.

"All of the genes were highly distinct from contemporary AIVs (avian influenza viruses) circulating in other continents in either the Northern or Southern Hemisphere."

One well known kind of bird flu is H5N1, which is believed to be carried by migrating ducks. Some 650 people have been infected with H5N1, and about 60 percent have died, according to the World Health Organization. It is also highly lethal to domestic poultry. (AFP)

Body found of boy who made first call from Korea ferry: report

SEOUL: The body of a high school student who made the first distress call from a sinking South Korean ferry was recovered from the submerged vessel on Thursday, news reports said.

The student, identified by his surname Choi, had called the emergency 119 number at 8:52am on Wednesday last week, three minutes before the crew of the 6,825 tonne Sewol sent their first distress signal.

The timing of his terrified message -- "Save us. The ship is sinking" -- has fuelled anger over the slow response of the Sewol´s captain and crew as the disaster unfolded.

The confirmed death toll stood at 162 on Thursday, with 140 still unaccounted for -- their bodies believed trapped in the ship that capsized in circumstances that have yet to be fully explained.

Yonhap news agency said divers had retrieved the boy´s body from inside the ferry on Thursday morning and it had been identified by his parents.

A DNA test was being carried out to formally confirm his identity, Yonhap said.

The boy was one of 325 students from the same high school who were on the ferry, bound for the southern resort island of Jeju, when it capsized.

During his 119 call, Choi was bombarded with questions about the ferry´s coordinates and the number of people on board.

A coastguard official later told reporters that emergency services had mistaken him for a crew member.

The captain and 11 crew members have either been arrested or taken into police custody awaiting charges.

MH370: Object found on Australian coast not from missing plane

AP In this map provided on Wednesday by the Joint Agency Coordination Centre, details are presented in the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 in the southern Indian Ocean. A metal object found on a beach in Western Australia does not belong to the missing Malaysian jet, authorities said on Thursday

A metal object found on a beach in Western Australia does not belong to a Malaysian jet that vanished nearly seven weeks ago, authorities said on Thursday as a robotic mini-submarine scouring the Indian Ocean seabed scanned more than 90 per cent of the focused search area.

Detailed pictures of the object were enough to convince investigators that it wasn’t a lead in the search for the plane, the Australian agency leading the search for the aircraft said.

“We’ve carefully examined detailed photographs that were taken for us by the police, and we’re satisfied that it’s not a lead in terms of the search for MH370.” Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) spokesman Martin Dolan said.

Australia’s joint agency co-ordination centre announced on Wednesday that police had taken possession of an object 10km from the town of Augusta. Malaysian officials were provided with photographs of the object.

The find in Western Australia came shortly after the suspension of the air and underwater search for the plane due to poor weather conditions.

Possible promising leads have turned out to be false alarms for weeks in the lengthy search for the Boeing 777-200 which disappeared mid-flight on March 8 with 239 people, including five Indians, aboard. One major challenge that is complicated the search is that the ocean is full of garbage.

Other objects spotted in the Indian Ocean earlier turned out to be trash, jellyfish and fishing gear.

Inclement weather and ex-tropical cyclone Jack, which is moving south across the Indian ocean, may delay the resumption of the search today.

“Today the Australian Maritime Safety Authority has planned a visual search area totalling approximately 49,567 square kilometres. The centre of the search area lies approximately 1,584 kilometres north west of Perth,” according to Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC).

The focused underwater search area to locate the black box is defined as a circle of 10km radius where four acoustic signals were detected.

The remote submersible Bluefin-21 is conducting an underwater search mission, having scoured 90 per cent of the focused area of interest.

Australia indicated the approach to the search might be revised with more powerful underwater vehicles if Bluefin’s search yields no results. It is mulling deploying a more powerful system that tracked the Titanic 29 years ago to locate the wreckage of the plane.

The Malaysia Airlines flight went missing more than a month ago, but search officials are yet to find anything that would confirm the fate of the plane.

MH370: Object found on Australian coast not from missing plane

AP In this map provided on Wednesday by the Joint Agency Coordination Centre, details are presented in the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 in the southern Indian Ocean. A metal object found on a beach in Western Australia does not belong to the missing Malaysian jet, authorities said on Thursday

A metal object found on a beach in Western Australia does not belong to a Malaysian jet that vanished nearly seven weeks ago, authorities said on Thursday as a robotic mini-submarine scouring the Indian Ocean seabed scanned more than 90 per cent of the focused search area.

Detailed pictures of the object were enough to convince investigators that it wasn’t a lead in the search for the plane, the Australian agency leading the search for the aircraft said.

“We’ve carefully examined detailed photographs that were taken for us by the police, and we’re satisfied that it’s not a lead in terms of the search for MH370.” Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) spokesman Martin Dolan said.

Australia’s joint agency co-ordination centre announced on Wednesday that police had taken possession of an object 10km from the town of Augusta. Malaysian officials were provided with photographs of the object.

The find in Western Australia came shortly after the suspension of the air and underwater search for the plane due to poor weather conditions.

Possible promising leads have turned out to be false alarms for weeks in the lengthy search for the Boeing 777-200 which disappeared mid-flight on March 8 with 239 people, including five Indians, aboard. One major challenge that is complicated the search is that the ocean is full of garbage.

Other objects spotted in the Indian Ocean earlier turned out to be trash, jellyfish and fishing gear.

Inclement weather and ex-tropical cyclone Jack, which is moving south across the Indian ocean, may delay the resumption of the search today.

“Today the Australian Maritime Safety Authority has planned a visual search area totalling approximately 49,567 square kilometres. The centre of the search area lies approximately 1,584 kilometres north west of Perth,” according to Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC).

The focused underwater search area to locate the black box is defined as a circle of 10km radius where four acoustic signals were detected.

The remote submersible Bluefin-21 is conducting an underwater search mission, having scoured 90 per cent of the focused area of interest.

Australia indicated the approach to the search might be revised with more powerful underwater vehicles if Bluefin’s search yields no results. It is mulling deploying a more powerful system that tracked the Titanic 29 years ago to locate the wreckage of the plane.

The Malaysia Airlines flight went missing more than a month ago, but search officials are yet to find anything that would confirm the fate of the plane.

More dead pigs found in China river: report

BEIJING: At least 170 dead pigs have been found in a Chinese river, state media reported Thursday -- the latest in a string of similar incidents that have raised fears over food safety.

The animals were found floating in a tributary of China´s second-longest waterway, the Yellow River, in northwestern Qinghai province, the official Xinhua news agency said.

The grim discovery follows a series of scandals involving dead pigs in Chinese rivers. Last year 16,000 carcasses were found drifting through the main waterway of the commercial hub of Shanghai.

In Qinghai -- the furthest west such an incident has been reported -- "the source of the dead pigs is still under investigation," Xinhua said, citing local authorities.

Industry analysts say sick pigs are sometimes dumped in rivers by farmers hoping to avoid paying the costs of disposing of the animals by other means.

Around 500 dead pigs are recovered every month from a Chinese reservoir in the southwestern province of Sichuan, state-run media reported in March.

Authorities also found 157 dead pigs last month in a river in central Jiangxi province. China is a major producer of pork, which surveys have found to be the country´s most popular meat.

 

UK: Body of missing Pakistani student found

Police searching for a Pakistani student of Bradford University, who went missing in Liverpool more than six weeks ago, have recovered a body from the River Mersey.

Aamir Qudeer, 21, a first-year engineering student, was last seen in Bradford on February 26, before travelling by train to Leeds and then vanishing in Liverpool.

His family have made repeated pleas for information on his disappearance, including appeals in Bradford, Leeds and Liverpool city centres.

Investigating officer Detective Inspector Neil Benstead said: "We can confirm that we were alerted by Merseyside Police to the discovery of a man's body, which was found in the river in South Liverpool on the morning of Sunday, 13 April.

"The body was recovered by emergency services, following a call from a member of the public at about 9am.

Canadian charged in webcam attack found guilty

TORONTO: A jury on Monday convicted of first-degree murder a Canadian man accused of attacking a Chinese student in her Toronto apartment as her boyfriend watched via webcam in China.

Brian Dickson, 32, had offered to plead guilty to manslaughter, but the prosecution rejected the lesser charge in the death of Qian Liu.

Justice Anne Molloy imposed a life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years.Liu was found dead in April 2011, just a few hours after her boyfriend in China watched via webcam as she tried to fend off an attacker who appeared at her door.

The boyfriend told police he saw Liu struggling with a man before her computer was shut off.The case received international attention.Robert Nuttall, Dickson´s lawyer, said his client has been "absolutely remorseful for a very long time."

"He didn´t say anything. He just accepted the verdict," Nuttall said.The prosecution presented the theory that Dickson forced himself on Liu then killed her by asphyxiation to cover it up.

Liu, who was 23, had moved to Canada to study English. Dickson lived in an apartment in the same house as Liu, just outside the campus of York University.

Police said Liu´s laptop computer, webcam and mobile phone were taken from the apartment the night of the attack. Police said the online chat was on a live streaming camera and was not recorded.Liu´s father wiped away tears as the verdict was read.

Karachi: Two bodies found in Manghopir

KARACHI: Bodies of two unknown men have been found in Manghopir area of the city, Geo News reported on Wednesday.

According to reports, the bodies were stuffed in gunnybags. The men were shot in the head. Rescue sources said that the bodies have been shifted to a hospital for medico-legal formalities.

Kidnapped LHV found dead in Peshawar

PESHAWAR: A lady health visitor (LHV) who used to perform duty as polio vaccinator was found dead near the Pashto Daaman after eight armed men broke into her house, tied her spouse and five children and kidnapped her from the Gulozai village on the night between Sunday and Monday.

The attack is considered to be the worst of its kind against vaccinators if it is proven to be a polio-related act. The family has made it clear that they have no enmity with anyone.

Senior police officials, however, believe the initial evidence collected in the case indicated that the incident was not an attack on the polio worker but was related to some other issue. The officials didn’t disclose the motive for the murder.

Villagers and family members said Salma Farooq, along with her children and spouse, was asleep in her house in Gulozai, located in the limits of the Chamkani Police Station, when eight armed men broke into her house. The gunmen allegedly fastened her spouse and children, including three daughters and two sons, and picked up the woman, who is an LHV at a local Basic Health Unit.

Villagers from Gulozai and nearby villages blocked the Peshawar-Islamabad Motorway for more than an hour on Monday morning to protest the kidnapping of Salma Farooq, the wife of Mohammad Karim. The angry villagers demanded her safe recovery.

However, the police recovered her mutilated body from near the Shah Alam River in Pashto Daaman village a couple of hours after the protesters reopened the road. Police said there were signs of severe torture on her body before she was shot dead.

Despite the police denial, most of the villagers, especially the families of the vaccinators in the nearby towns and all over Peshawar, believed that it was an attack on polio workers. Over 60 people have so far been killed all over the country while several sustained injuries in attacks on polio vaccinators and police and other security personnel guarding them since December 2012. Most of the attacks were carried out in Peshawar.

Around 4,500 policemen in Peshawar and other districts have been guarding the vaccination teams during the weekly immunisation campaigns on Sunday under the Sehat Ka Insaf programme, which is mostly focusing on eradicating the poliovirus.

Dead Body Found in Actor's Pool

Veteran actor Ranjeet was shocked to find his driver Nagraj Gowda's dead body in his bungalow at Juhu. Nagraj is like one of the members in the family and has been working with them for 30 years. Ranjeet said, "Last night when my wife went to check his sugar level he was not in his room. We searched around the house but found him in the pool. We immediately pulled him out and took him to the hospital, but he was declared dead before admission," Rajeev said to Mid-Day.

 

"His health complications had been troubling him for some time now. But we were taking care of him like family and he was undergoing treatment," he added.

 

According to Ranjeet, he said he was clueless if it was an accident or a suicide. The Juhu police have taken over the case and it is yet to find out if it’s a case of suicide or accident. "I really don't know whether he fell into the water or jumped. We don't know how he slipped out of the room when his brother and son both were there," Ranjeet said. As per Nagraj's mother's wish, his last rites will be arranged at his hometown in Karnataka.

Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger’s girlfriend L’Wren Scott found dead in New York

The spokesman said Jagger, 70, was "completely shocked and devastated" by the death of the 49-year-old Scott. US media reported that the former model was found hanged.

Fashion designer L’Wren Scott, the girlfriend of Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger, has been found dead at her apartment in New York, the rocker’s spokesman said.
The spokesman said Mick Jagger, 70, was “completely shocked and devastated” by the death of the 49-year-old Scott. US media reported that the former model was found hanged.
Jagger is currently in Australia, where he is touring with the Stones, who were due to perform in Perth on Wednesday. Scott had dated the Rolling Stones frontman since 2001 following his split from wife Jerry Hall.
There had been no public sign that anything was wrong. The designer’s official Twitter account was last updated with a link to a fashion shoot, after police were called to her apartment.
Jagger’s first wife Bianca tweeted her condolences. “Heartbroken to learn of the loss of the lovely and talented L’Wren Scott. My thoughts and prayers are with her family. May she rest in peace,” she wrote.
New York police refused to release any name but confirmed that officers found a dead woman at 200 11th Avenue in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood shortly after 10:00 am (1400 GMT).
“Upon arrival, officers discovered a 49-year-old female unconscious and unresponsive,” a police spokeswoman told AFP.
“She was pronounced dead on arrival. The investigation is ongoing. The medical examiners will determine the cause of death.”
A spokesman for the New York Fire Department confirmed only that firefighters had found a dead body when called to the address to respond to a “possible cardiac arrest.”
“We cannot release any more information before any proper family notification,” the police spokeswoman said.
US media reports said the six-foot, four-inch (1.93m) Scott was found with a scarf tied around her neck. No note was found, local media reported.
Famous for her relationship with Jagger, Scott was also a hugely successful designer whose body-hugging and figure-flattering dresses were loved by Hollywood stars and Michelle Obama alike.
Only last month she had debuted her line at London Fashion Week.  In a relationship for well over a decade with Jagger, she had appeared to give the aging rocker a degree of romantic stability despite the couple’s 21-year age gap.
He has had a multitude of high-profile relationships with models, singers and actresses, and has seven children with four different women.
He twice married models — Bianca and Jerry Hall — while other ex-lovers include singers Marianne Faithfull and Carla Bruni, who is now married to former French president Nicolas Sarkozy.