Phoenix Car Crash: Girl, 6, Dies In Accident

A six-year-old girl has died after her eight-year-old brother crashed the family car in Arizona.

The girl was found dead in the passenger seat of the car, wearing her pyjamas, police said.

The boy suffered ankle injuries after the family's Hyundai Elantra hit a pole at the side of the road, one block from their home in south Phoenix.

Police had spotted the vehicle moments earlier and were attempting to pull it over when the accident happened.

It is understood the children's mother raised the alarm after believing they had been kidnapped at 10pm on Wednesday night.

A frantic 911 call records the mother pleading with officers to find her children after they disappeared. 

A blackboard tribute to the girl

She had previously bathed the children and put them to bed, said police sergeant Steve Martos, of the Phoenix Police Department.

"It's a tragic story, all the way round," said Mr Martos, who did not give the children's names.

Police said they started to get numerous 911 calls from around 10.15pm.

One caller said the car had struck a fence. Another, who followed the vehicle, reported that children were inside.

At around 10.30pm, when police tried to pull the vehicle over, it veered to the right and hit a pole, Mr Martos said.

"This was one of those situations when the officers believed they were trying to rescue kids from a possible kidnapper," the police officer added.

"When they ran up to the vehicle, they found an eight-year-old in the driver's seat, and a six-year-old in the passenger seat, severely injured."

Both the children were in their pyjamas and the girl was not wearing a seat belt. The air bags did not deploy.

The mother had walked to the scene and discovered that her children were in the car. Police said they did not know what prompted the boy to take the car.

They have not spoken to him, but no criminal complaints are expected to be filed because he is too young.

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Seamus Heaney: Nobel Prize-Winning Poet Dies

Seamus Heaney, the Nobel Prize-winning Irish poet and playwright, has died.

Born in April 1939, the eldest of nine children, in Co Derry, Northern Ireland, Heaney won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1995.

The 74-year-old former teacher moved to Dublin in his later years and is survived by his wife Marie, and children Christopher, Michael and Catherine Ann.

He had been in hospital after suffering a short illness, his family said.

Seamus Heaney has been described as a "humble, modest man"

"The death has taken place of Seamus Heaney. The poet and Nobel Laureate died in hospital in Dublin this morning after a short illness," a statement on behalf of the family said.

"The family has requested privacy at this time."

Heaney was educated at St Columb's College in Derry, a Catholic boarding school, and later at Queen's University Belfast, before making his home in Dublin, with periods of teaching in the US.

He was an honorary fellow at Trinity College Dublin and last year was bestowed with the Seamus Heaney Professorship in Irish Writing at the university, which he described as a great honour.

His world-renowned poetry first came to public attention in the mid-1960s with his first major collection, Death Of A Naturalist, published in 1966.

As the troubles took hold later that decade, his experiences were seen through the darkened mood of his work.

His upbringing also played out in the poetry he wrote in later years.

He donated his personal literary notes to the National Library of Ireland in December 2011, joining the ranks of Irish literary master James Joyce and fellow Nobel winner WB Yeats.

During his literary career he held prestigious posts at Oxford University and at Harvard in the US.

He once praised the lyrics of US rapper Eminem, saying that the American singer had "sent a voltage around a generation" with his shocking lyrics about gun crime, gangs, rape and homosexuality.

Ireland's Arts Minister, Jimmy Deenihan, praised Heaney for his work as a literary great but also for promoting Ireland.

"He was just a very humble, modest man. He was very accessible," he said.

"Anywhere I have ever travelled in the world and you mention poetry and literature and the name of Seamus Heaney comes up immediately."

Mr Deenihan recently joined Heaney at an event at the Irish Embassy in Paris where the poet gave readings to an audience of 1,000 invited guests.

"He was a huge figure internationally, a great ambassador for literature obviously, but also for Ireland," the minister said.

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Beneath Greenland's Ice Lies a Giant Canyon

A valley far longer than the Grand Canyon has been discovered beneath a mile-thick sheet of ice in Greenland.

A Nasa airborne mission to the island has revealed the previously unknown giant canyon which has the characteristics of a winding river, at least 460 miles long.

This means it is longer than the Grand Canyon in Arizona, in the US, which is 277 miles long.

The Greenland Canyon, which is as deep as 2,600 feet in some places, is thought to predate the ice sheet that has covered Greenland for the last few million years.

"One might assume that the landscape of the Earth has been fully explored and mapped," said Jonathan Bamber, the lead author of the study and professor of physical geography at the University of Bristol.

"Our research shows there's still a lot left to discover."

The scientists used thousands of miles of radar data, collected by Nasa and researchers from the UK and Germany over several decades, to piece together the landscape lying beneath the ice sheet.

They found that the canyon stretched from almost the centre of the island to beneath the Petermann Glacier fjord in northern Greenland.

Evidence suggests that as much as four million years ago water flowed in the canyon and that it was part of a major river system.

Much of the data was collected by Nasa's Operation Icebridge campaign, an airborne study of polar ice, which is expected to return to Greenland next March.

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Syria: Obama Meets National Security Team

President Barack Obama is meeting with senior national security advisers at the White House to discuss plans for possible military action against Syria.

The meeting is expected to be be followed by the public release of a report on intelligence the US has gathered about last week's deadly chemical weapons attack in Syria.

Washington may proceed with military action against Syria even without allied support, US officials have said.

But they stressed no final decision has been made on America's response to the Syrian government's alleged chemical weapons attack, which is said to have killed 1,300 people.

Veto-holding members of the United Nations are at odds over a draft Security Council resolution that would authorise "all necessary force" in response to the alleged gas attack.

The UK's traditional role as America's most reliable military ally was called into question when David Cameron became the first British prime minister in history to be blocked by MPs over the prospect of military action.

A chastened-looking PM, struggling to make himself heard over calls of "resign" from the opposition benches, told them "I get it" as he abandoned hopes of joining any US strike on Syria.

Mr Obama is under pressure to provide a legal rationale for military action

Speaking after the historic defeat, the White House said Mr Obama would decide on a response to chemical weapons use in Syria based on US interests, but that Washington would continue to consult with Britain.

British chancellor George Osborne acknowledged that the inability to commit British forces to any American-led operation against Assad would damage the special relationship between Westminster and Washington.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I think there will be a national soul-searching about our role in the world and whether Britain wants to play a big part in upholding the international system, be that big, open and trading nation that I like us to be, or whether we turn our back on that."

Sky's Foreign Affairs Editor Tim Marshall said the relationship between Britain and the US was "bruised but not broken". "I don't think there's a divorce on the cards, a bit of bickering perhaps," he added.

US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel, speaking on a trip to the Philippines, said: "It is the goal of President Obama and our government ... whatever decision is taken, that it be an international collaboration and effort."

America is mulling whether to strike Syria without UN backing despite some of the more hawkish figures in the US cautioning against military action.

Former president, George W Bush, told Fox News Mr Obama had a "tough choice to make" but would not be drawn on what he should do.

He added: "I was not a fan of Mr Assad. He's an ally of Iran and has made mischief."

David Cameron was blocked by MPs over the prospect of military action

Former Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who helped spearhead US invasions in Iraq and Afghanistan, said: "There really hasn't been any indication from the administration as to what our national interest is with respect to this particular situation."

He said, if anything, the US should be more concerned with Iran.

Earlier, top US officials spoke to key Democrat and Republican politicians for more than 90 minutes in a conference call to explain why they believe the Syrian regime was responsible for the suspected chemical attack.

They have been pressing Mr Obama to provide a legal rationale for military action, and to lay out a firm case linking President Bashar al Assad's forces to the attack.

Tennessee Senator Bob Corker, a senior Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said after the briefing that "strong evidence of the Assad regime's continued use of chemical warfare" merited a military response.

It remained to be seen whether any sceptics were swayed by the call, given the expectation that officials would hold back classified information to protect intelligence sources.

"The main thing was that they have no doubt that Assad's forces used chemical weapons," New York Rep Eliot Engel, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said after the briefing.

But he said officials did not provide much new evidence of that.

A UN weapons expert at the site of an alleged chemical attack in Syria

"They said they have (intercepted) some discussions and some indications from a high-level official," he said, and that they possess intelligence showing material being moved in advance of the attack.

France announced that its armed forces "have been put in position to respond" if President Francois Hollande decides on military action.

He does not need French parliamentary approval to launch military action that lasts less than four months.

Moscow and Beijing have both vetoed previous Western efforts to impose UN penalties on Syria.

China has also been keen to show it is not taking sides and has urged the Syrian government to talk to the opposition and meet demands for political change.

Mr Assad, who has denied using chemical weapons, vowed his country "will defend itself against any aggression".

Mr Obama has ruled out putting American forces on the ground in Syria or setting up a no-fly zone over the country.

He said any US response would be limited in scope and aimed solely at punishing Mr Assad for deploying deadly gases, not at regime change.

The most likely military option would be Tomahawk cruise missile strikes from four Navy destroyers in the eastern Mediterranean Sea.

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Syria: Napalm-Like Burns After School Attack

People suffering from Napalm-like burns have been speaking of an attack in which a plane apparently dropped an incendiary bomb on students in Syria.

Video said to be from the town of Urum al Kubra, close to Aleppo, shows a man reported to be a school teacher, who says the students were attacked as they tried to escape from an attack nearby.

"The plane hit a residential area in Urum al Kubra," he explains.

"We tried to get out quickly so we don't get hurt, but it seems someone's fate caught up with them today.

"A gathering of students formed, which is normal as the students needed to leave under these circumstances, and the plane hit us."

The injuries were like those caused by Napalm, according to doctors

The video, posted on the internet, is said to have come from an account associated with a rebel group in Aleppo.

In another video filmed in the aftermath of the attack, a doctor reports seven deaths and 50 injuries - and says the burns resembled Napalm injuries.

However, the use of the substance has not been confirmed.

Separate footage showed other victims of the alleged attack and a features a woman who introduces herself as Dr Roula, from organisation 'Hand in Hand for Syria'.

She says: "There was an attack on a college in an area close to here.

"It seems to be a chemical attack similar to Napalm, which causes huge burns. There are seven people dead so far and around 50 wounded.

UN chemical weapons inspectors will end their Syria mission by the weekend

"What we can do here is give wounded people first aid. Most of the cases can be treated here so we keep them here, and we sent some cases to Turkey, I mean the dangerous ones. "

A BBC television crew who witnessed the bombing reported no shrapnel injuries and said the victims resembled "the walking dead".

Napalm is not classified as an outlawed chemical weapon although it can cause devastating burn injuries.

Infamously used in the Vietnam War - and the Second World War - the jelly-like substance sticks to skin and burns at very high temperatures.

A United Nations convention prohibits using incendiary weapons against civilians, or against military targets located near civilian populations.

The pictures of the school attack emerged after MPs voted against military action over alleged chemical weapons gas attacks by the Syrian regime.

Some have described the outcome as a "humiliation" for the Government and it means the US may have to go ahead alone with any military strikes.

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Panama Skull Identified As California Woman

Skeletal remains found this month in Panama have been identified as those of an American woman who disappeared there in 2011.

DNA testing confirmed that the remains - a skull and some bones - found on the island province of Bocas del Toro came from Yvonne Lee Baldelli, Panamanian officials said.

Ms Baldelli went to Panama with boyfriend Brian Brimager in September 2011.

The 42-year-old from Laguna Nigel, California, was last seen in November that year. Her family reported her missing the following January.

Ms Baldelli was last seen in November 2011

"The whole family has been very sad and desperate," her sister, Michelle Faust, told the AP News Agency. "We didn't know where Yvonne was.

"The good thing about today is that once the evidence (from the remains) is studied we will be able to bring her home."

Forensic experts analysed blood samples and dental records to identify the remains, but the cause of death remains unclear and further testing will be carried out.

Her boyfriend, Brian Brimager, is being held

The skull and bones were found on August 20 in a bag by a man who was cutting bushes, prosecutors said.

"I saw the bag bit I thought it was robbed from the tourist beach," said Rigoberto Jole.

"I cut it with a machete and then I opened it - and there was a human head."

The family of Ms Baldelli, a clothing designer, said she was frequently out of touch so they did not immediately suspect anything was wrong.

Panama police say Mr Brimager left for Costa Rica and the US about 10 days after last being seen with Ms Baldelli.

Ms Faust said Mr Brimager is being held in California on obstruction of justice charges related to her disappearance.

Last year, FBI agents and Panamanian forensic specialists found traces of blood on the walls and floor of the El Sapo hostel in the Bocas del Toro archipelago, a popular tourist spot where Ms Baldelli was last seen.

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Syria Gas Attack: 'My Eyes Were On Fire'

Survivors have described the horrific aftermath of the "gas attack" in Syria in a series of chilling interviews from Damascus.

Victims told how a gas with "a faint green colour" stung their eyes "like needles", causing their legs to buckle and making their bodies convulse in pain.

One told how he regained consciousness after succumbing to the gas, seeing wild hallucinations "like Alice in Wonderland" with his "eyes on fire".

Others described how they saw hundreds of suffocating, twitching victims in the streets and in hospitals following a barrage of "whistling" rockets.

Girls who survived rest in a mosque in Damascus

In several interviews, released by the Associated Press news agency, witnesses told how the rockets made a "strange noise", never heard before.

The rocket assaults came around the same time on two suburbs on opposite sides of the capital: Moadamiyeh to the west and several districts to the east.

Ammar, a resident who said he miraculously survived the barrage on Moadamiyeh, where 80 people were killed, said he was awakened by shelling around 5am. 

He said he heard a screeching sound, followed by the sound of people screaming on Rawda street below his apartment - and saw the green gas.

A boy who survived and took cover in a Damascus mosque

"I ran out to see what was going on and saw people in various stages of suffocation and convulsions. I tried to help, but then my legs buckled and I fell to the ground," he said.

Ammar woke up at a makeshift hospital, where he said he spent five days getting oxygen and injections of atropine, which counteracts the effects of nerve gases.

A week later, Ammar said he has not fully recovered. He suffers bouts of cold sweats, exhaustion, hallucinations and a runny nose.

Worst of all, he said, were the nightmares.

"I can't sleep anymore. I keep seeing the people who died, the scenes from the hospital of people twitching and foaming. I can never forget that," said Ammar, 30.

A child victim of the attack

His father, who identified himself by his nickname, Abu Ammar, was at the nearby al-Rawda mosque waiting for dawn prayers when the first rockets hit.

He said some people ran outside and then came back in immediately, shouting: "Chemicals! Chemicals!"

He put water on a tissue and covered his mouth and nose, and then went out.

"I saw at least seven people lying on their backs, completely still," he said.

Qusai Zakarya said the rockets crashed with a strange whistle "like a siren".

Friends took him to the hospital, where he saw dozens of people crowding the rooms and corridors, many of them in their underwear.

Nurses and doctors doused them with water. That was when he fainted. When he came to, doctors were injecting him with atropine and he started vomiting.

"Strange colours came out of my stomach," the man said. He fainted again and later woke up in the street outside in his underwear, apparently moved out to make room for others.

Later, he felt well enough to go home and said he slept for 13 hours.

Many children fell ill after the assault

"When I woke up I felt like Alice in Wonderland," he said.

"Everything looked distorted and I couldn't remember anything.

"My eyes felt as if they were on fire, and every time I tried to smell something I felt terrible pain. My chest also ached," he said, his speech interrupted by a hacking cough.

To the east of Damascus, some 600 patients poured into a makeshift hospital in the district of Arbeen. Of those, 125 died, including 35 children.

Abu Akram said he was told by several medics that some people were found in their homes, with wet towels on their faces or hiding with their children in bathrooms.

"People didn't die in their sleep; they tried to save themselves," he said.

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Kenya Bus Crash Kills 41 People

At least 41 people have been killed in a bus crash west of the Kenyan capital Nairobi.

The crash happened around 2.00am (local time) near the town of Narok, around 160km (100 miles) west of Nairobi, the Kenyan Red Cross said.

At least 27 other passengers were injured.

The bus was travelling from Nairobi to Homa Bay on the banks of Lake Victoria when it flew off the road, rolled over and plunged down a hill.

"It is a horrible scene. Bodies are strewn all over," local traffic police official Samuel Kimaru said.

The bus crashed in a hilly area: Pic: Kenyan Red Cross

"It is difficult to tell exactly what happened but all indications point to speeding and possibly overloading."

Mr Kimaru said police had had a difficult time recovering the bodies because the area was "hilly and bushy".

"We've dozens of others injured and we are not certain how many because they were taken to various hospitals ... we have officers checking with the hospitals," Mr Kimaru said.

He said it was unclear if the driver was dead or among the injured.

Kenyan roads are notoriously dangerous, with buses badly maintained and often overloaded so operators can maximise profits.

In February, 30 people died in a bus crash in the east of the country, and in July a school bus crash killed 20, most of them children.

Traffic regulations and fines were toughened late last year, although the local press continue to highlight police corruption as a major hurdle in tackling the issue.

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Syria: Russia And US Send Warships To Med

Russia and the US have sent further warships to boost their military capacity in the Mediterannean as expectations grow of an imminent strike on Syria.

Syria's ally Russia is sending an anti-submarine ship and a missile cruiser to the Mediterranean, according to Russian news agency Interfax.

An armed forces source reportedly said the planned deployment was in response to the "well-known situation" - a clear reference to the conflict in Syria.

The navy has denied the deployment is linked to events in Syria, saying it is part of a planned rotation of its ships in the Mediterranean.

UN inspectors continue their investigations but will leave on Friday

In the US, a defence official has said a fifth destroyer, the USS Stout,  has been deployed to the Mediterranean and is "heading and moving east".

The guided missile destroyer is due to relieve the Mahan, but both ships might remain in place for the time being, the official said.

Other destroyers in the region - the Ramage, the Barry and the Gravely - criss-cross the Mediterranean and could launch their Tomahawk missiles toward Syria if so directed by US President Barack Obama.

President Assad was shown on state TV meeting Yemeni politicians

Russia is strongly against any military intervention in Syria, with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov believing it would seriously destabilise the region.

Mr Lavrov has said any attack without UN Security Council approval would be a "crude violation" of international law.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin has spoken to German leader Angela Merkel by phone, with the pair agreeing the Syrian conflict can be solved politically, the chancellor's spokesman said.

"The chancellor called on the Russian president to use negotiations in the UN Security Council for a quick, unanimous international reaction," he added.

Public opinion in Germany is overwhelmingly against military action in Syria, less than four weeks before an election in which Mrs Merkel hopes to win a third term.

Mr Lavrov has warned against an attack without Security Council approval

The warship reports come after US President Barack Obama said the US had studied evidence and concluded that the Syrian government was behind the alleged attack.

Mr Obama said any strike would be to "send a shot across the bow" and give a "pretty strong signal that [Syria] better not do it again".

He added the US had not yet made a firm decision about how to respond, but that it could take action even without the backing of allies or the United Nations.

However, behind the scenes, US intelligence officials are reportedly saying the intelligence is no "slam dunk".

The president's national security adviser Susan Rice, intelligence director James Clapper, defence secretary Chuck Hagel and secretary of state John Kerry are to brief Congress on Syria later, according to Reuters.

Questions are said to remain about who actually controls some of Syria's chemical weapons and whether President Assad himself explicitly ordered the alleged attack.

Military action is unpopular in Germany, where Mrs Merkel faces an election

Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta told state radio that his country condemned the Assad regime but would not join any military operation without UN Security Council authorisation.

The Syrian leader was shown meeting Yemeni politicians on state television on Thursday.

It quoted President Assad as saying the country would defend itself in the face of any aggression.

A draft resolution by the UK on authorising a strike failed to win the approval of the UN Security Council on Wednesday as Russia reiterated its objections.

China has also entered the discussion and warned the West against any military action. 

"China calls on all parties to exercise restraint and remain calm and to remain committed to the correct track of political solutions," Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said.

British involvement in any strike will be debated today by politicians in the House of Commons.

Meanwhile, United Nations weapons inspectors set out on Thursday morning for the Damascus suburbs in a third day of investigations.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has pleaded for all sides to hold off on any military strikes.

He said his inspection team would soon finish its investigation, leaving Syria on Friday and reporting their findings to him the following day.

Last week's alleged chemical attack is claimed to have killed 1,300 people.

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China Blogger Makes TV 'Prostitute Confession'

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4:52pm UK, Thursday 29 August 2013

The businessman was shown in a pison jumpsuit on state TV

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