World News joined 0012

[OMEN]

A stranded rafter is lowered to shore from a helicopter after being hauled across the Colorado River on Sunday.
PHOENIX - Days of heavy rains around the Grand Canyon created flooding that breached an earthen dam Sunday and forced helicopters to pluck scores of residents and campers from the gorge. No injuries were immediately reported.

The weather and dam breach caused flooding in a side canyon containing a village where about 400 members of the Havasupai tribe live and where some of the evacuations occurred, said Gerry Blair, a spokesman for the Coconino County Sheriff's Department.

There were no confirmed reports of damage in the village, Supai, which is on high ground, Blair said. Many residents and campers chose to stay there, Blair said.
"We're not as concerned about it as we initially were," he said.

The dam breaching was only one factor in the flooding, Blair said. The dam isn't a "huge, significant" structure, he said.

Still, a flash flood warning remained in effect, and search and rescue teams planned to stay in the village overnight as a precaution. Blair said authorities were still trying to contact some people known to be in the canyon, though the majority were accounted for.

Some hiking trails and footbridges were washed out after the dam breach about 45 miles upstream from Supai, said Grand Canyon National Park spokeswoman Maureen Oltrogge. Trees were uprooted, the National Weather Service said.

About 150 people had fled by helicopter, and evacuations continued until dark for those who wanted to leave, Blair said.

The effort was initially intended to include about 200 campers and possibly 200 village residents, Blair said, but he didn't know how many them were taken out.

As much as 8 inches of rain since Friday caused trouble even before the dam was breached. A private boating party of 16 people was stranded on a ledge at the confluence of Havasu Creek and the Colorado River on Saturday night after flood waters carried their rafts away, Oltrogge said.

The boaters were found uninjured and were rescued from the Grand Canyon, whose floor is unreachable in many places except by helicopter.

Rescuers tried to find visitors staying at the Supai Campground and escort them to safety, Oltrogge said.

Evacuees were being flown to a parking area 8 miles from Supai and then, if needed, bused to a Red Cross shelter in Peach Springs, about 60 miles southwest of Supai, said Tracey Kiest, a spokeswoman for the Red Cross. She said about 30 people were there as of Sunday night.

The area got 3 to 6 inches of ran Friday and Saturday and got about 2 more on Sunday, said Daryl Onton, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Flagstaff.

"That's all it took — just a few days of very heavy thunderstorms," he said.

Supai is about 75 west of the Grand Canyon Village, a popular tourist area on the South Rim. Havasu Creek feeds the Colorado, which runs the length of the canyon.

The flooding came on a weekend during the busy summer tourist season, when thousands of visitors a day flock to the canyon for spectacular views, hikes or to raft its whitewater.

The helicopters lifting residents out were from the National Park Service, the National Guard and the Arizona Department of Public Safety, Oltrogge said.

In 2001, flooding near Supai swept a 2-year-old boy and his parents to their deaths while they were hiking.

The Grand Canyon has been the traditional home of the Havasupai for centuries.

NBC

[JohnCenaFan28]

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[Black Widow]

One man has died and more than 60 people have been injured after a double decker coach careered off a bridge in a Staffordshire village.

Two people critically injured in the incident have been flown from the scene in Alton by air ambulance to nearby hospitals.

The crash is understood to have occurred when a coach travelling from the nearby Alton Towers theme park collided with a number of vehicles on a bridge over the River Churnet before crashing into a garden.

Emergency services said a 20-year-old woman in a critical condition has been airlifted to a hospital in Selly Oak, Birmingham.

Another victim seriously hurt has been taken to the University Hospital of North Staffordshire in Stoke on Trent.

Chief Inspector of Staffordshire police, John Maddox said the bus had "careered down a steep hill, collided with a number of vehicles, before falling off the bridge onto a private garden".

Murray Macgregor from West Midlands Ambulance Service confirmed to Sky News that one man had died.

He said the tour coach had been carrying around 70 people following a visit to the nearby Alton Towers theme park, approximately half a mile away.

Forty-four 'walking wounded' were taken to Alton Towers hotel, half a mile away, for examination.

It is thought that many of the victims do not have English as their first language.

A spokeswoman for Staffordshire Fire and Rescue service said 25 firefighters were at the scene.

She said: "The heavy rescue team has just arrived and they are now going to attempt to lift the coach."

Two helicopters, eight ambulances, four rapid response cars, a doctor and two first responders were sent to the scene after the emergency services were contacted at 5.53pm.


sky news

[JohnCenaFan28]

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[Black Widow]

A teenager and a man have been charged with the murders of honeymooners Catherine and Ben Mullany in Antigua, police have said.

The couple, from the Swansea Valley in South Wales, were both shot in the head in a suspected bungled robbery at the Cocos Hotel, on the Caribbean island, on July 27.

Detective Superintendent Keith Niven said: "Evidence was put before the Director of Public Prosecutions last night and the decision was taken to charge two men, a 17-year-old and a 20-year-old."

Police on the island had previously said they were questioning three people in connection with the shootings.

A total of eight people have been arrested throughout the investigation.

Some of the arrests led to drug-related charges unconnected to the Mullanys' deaths.

Two women, aged 32 and 22, appeared before magistrates in the Caribbean island's capital of St John's on Thursday last week. The charges they face are understood to relate to property stolen from the Mullanys' holiday cottage.

In a statement, police said: "A number of individuals were detained and questioned this week as a result of a proactive police operation.

"Consequently, some have been charged with drug-related offences unconnected to the Mullanys' murder.

"At this stage, we are not in a position to disclose any further information regarding these individuals.

"So far as the two females arrested and charged last week... they are still remanded in custody at Her Majesty's Prison.

"Again we are not in a position to disclose any details regarding their arrests and charges except to say they are linked to the other three persons presently in police custody."

The statement said the Director of Public Prosecutions would be consulted when inquiries were complete.

Local police are continuing to work with a team from Scotland Yard who have flown out to assist with the investigation.

Mrs Mullany, a doctor, died instantly when at least one gunman burst into the couple's isolated cottage as they slept.

The attack left her new husband, a physiotherapy student, with a bullet lodged in his head.

He died at Morriston Hospital in Swansea on July 3 after being flown home.

The 350-strong Antiguan police force has no computers, no crime database and only one forensics-trained officer.

And the force has been battling a rising tide of violent crime on the island in recent months.


sky news

[JohnCenaFan28]

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[Black Widow]

By ROBIN PERRIE
Published: Today

THIS is Vikki Thorne, the woman cop nicked for allegedly working as a £100-an-hour hooker.

The brunette posed in this tiny G-string in a series of sexy snaps for a tarts’ agency called Notorious Girls.

Her face was blocked out on their website, but today we unmask the alleged WPC prostitute known as “Kelly”.

She has been suspended by her force and has gone into hiding.

A source said: “She was one of the most popular girls in the agency and entertained up to 20 clients a week.

“She made up to £500 a time for an overnight ‘girlfriend experience’.

“She’s got a great body and is very pretty. You can see why she made a lot of money.”

On her website profile, single Vikki, 28, who works for Northumbria Police, was said to be “very eager to please”.

She wore knee-high boots and sexy lingerie and was willing to take part in spanking and role-play sessions.

But she refused to wear a UNIFORM or see punters from Sunderland, where she was based at Houghton-le-Spring nick.

The businessman’s daughter, who drives an Audi TT and lives in a new detached house, was among 14 people held last week in northern England and Scotland in a police probe into prostitution and corrupting public officials.

All 14 were bailed.

Among them were the owners of Notorious Girls, Neil and Natalie Lock, both 27. The pair made £800,000 a year from the agency.


sky news

Sexy ... Vikki Thorne in web pic



'Hooker cop' ... how Vikki Thorne would look in uniform



Hooker rap ... WPC Vikki Thorne is facing probe

[JohnCenaFan28]

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[Black Widow]

Cyber groomer Aabid Khan, who turned a 15-year-old schoolboy into Britain's youngest terrorist, has been jailed for 12 years.

The terror tutor had managed to recruit the teenager to a "worldwide" holy war against non-Muslims.

Khan, who was possibly plotting to attack the Queen, was a "key player" in radicalising others as well.

He had spent years building up a computer "encyclopaedia" of extremist material.

By the time he met 15-year-old schoolboy Muhammad Munshi from Dewsbury he even had a file on various members of the Royal family.

He lost little time enrolling the teenager in his "mission in life" - the destruction of Western values and the "wiping out" of all "kuffar" or non-believers.

The youngster, whose grandfather is a leading Islamic scholar, was in the middle of his GCSEs when arrested on his way home from school in 2006.

London's Blackfriars Crown Court heard he had two bags of ball-bearings, the shrapnel of choice for suicide bombers, in his pockets and notes about martyrdom under his bed.

Leading a double life of obedient pupil by day and surfer of jihadist websites at night, he also downloaded detailed instructions about making napalm, other high explosives, detonators, and grenades, and "how to kill".

The schoolboy boy then sent them to his "terrorist facilitator" Khan, and fellow cell member Sultan Muhammad, who also had a large library of terror documents on his computer.

Twice-married Khan, 23, a former fast food restaurant worker from West Yorkshire, was found guilty of three counts of possessing articles for a purpose connected with terrorism.

His cousin and "right-hand man", post office night sorter Muhammad, also 23, was convicted of three possession charges and one of making a record of information likely to be useful in terrorism. He was jailed for 10 years.

Munshi, now 18, was also found guilty of making an offence. He will be sentenced next month.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith branded all three a "very real threat" following their convictions yesterday.


sky news

[JohnCenaFan28]

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