Society's ChildS


Sherlock

The 40-year mystery of America's greatest skyjacking: America's most elusive fugitive finally in sight?

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© Seattle FBIArtists sketch of D. B. Cooper
After hijacking an aeroplane and extorting $200,000 from the FBI, DB Cooper coolly made his escape via parachute. Forty years on, is America's most elusive fugitive finally in sight?

The night before Thanksgiving, 1971, a man calling himself Dan Cooper, wearing a suit and raincoat, walked up to the Northwest Orient desk at Portland airport in the United State's Pacific Northwest and spent $20 on a one-way ticket to Seattle.

On the plane, he donned a pair of dark sunglasses, ordered a whiskey, lit up a cigarette and coolly handed the stewardess a note. In capital letters, it read: I HAVE A BOMB IN MY BRIEFCASE. I WILL USE IT IF NECESSARY. I WANT YOU TO SIT NEXT TO ME. YOU ARE BEING HIJACKED.

What happened next would ensure Cooper a place in the pantheon of American folk heroes. He asked the stewardess to relay the following request to the captain: he wanted $200,000 and four parachutes, and in return, he'd allow 36 people to leave the aircraft when the plane landed in Seattle. The FBI organised the swap, and when the plane was sky-bound again, with just the pilot, co-pilot, one stewardess and Cooper on board, his instructions were to head for Mexico, maintaining an altitude under 10,000 feet. Then, somewhere over the lower Cascade mountains, 25 miles north west of Portland, Cooper released the plane's aft stairs, stepped out, and, with one of the parachutes strapped to his back, jumped into the stormy night and was never seen or heard from again.

Pistol

Two Frenchwomen Murdered in Argentina

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© Agence France-PresseThis file photo shows a cable car high above the city of Salta, at the foothills of the Andes mountain range, in northern Argentina. Two French female tourists have been shot to death outside Salta, where they were found by local hikers, according to authorities
Two French female tourists were shot to death in northern Argentina, where they were found by local hikers, according to authorities.

"They are two Frenchwomen, found shot to death in a touristy area of Salta province," Judge Martin Perez told TN television on Saturday.

The bodies of the women, both 30, were spotted Friday by hikers near San Lorenzo hill, west of the provincial capital, the judge said. The hiking area popular with tourists leads to an observation point offering a panoramic view of the city and surrounding area.

"Salta needs to clear up this appalling crime immediately," Governor Juan Manuel Uturbey said at a press conference at his office.

Uturbey said the victims' identities were known but he did not immediately announce them, though police sources told El Tribuno de Salta newspaper the women were Houria Moumni and Cassandre Bouvier.

Heart - Black

UK: Xbox Addict 'Dies from Blood Clot'

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© Agence France-PresseIndonesian children play online games at a cybercafe in Jakarta. The family of a budding computer programmer have launched a campaign to raise awareness about the health risks of playing online computer games after their son died following a marathon session on his Xbox
The family of a budding computer programmer have on Saturday launched a campaign to raise awareness about the health risks of playing online computer games after their son died following a marathon session on his Xbox.

A post-mortem revealed that 20-year-old Chris Staniforth -- who was offered a place to study Game Design at Leicester University -- was killed by a pulmonary embolism, which can occur if someone sits in the same position for several hours.

Deep vein thrombosis normally affects passengers on long-haul flights, but medical experts fear youngsters who spend hours glued to their consoles might also be at risk and have urged them to take regular breaks.

Professor Brian Colvin -- an expert on blood-related conditions -- said it was "unhealthy" for youngsters to spend long periods in front of their consoles.

Cell Phone

US, Texas: Disagreement Over Texting at Movie Theater Leads to Assault Charge

texting
© deposit photos
Meet Dale Fout and Brenda Godwin. One weekday in April, they both went to a movie theater in Grapevine. Sat a row apart. Didn't know each other.

By coincidence, they were born in the same year, two days apart. Both are 54. Fout, a marketing consultant, describes himself as a 220-pound "pretty big guy. I'm broad. I'm not fat. Used to play football." Godwin says she is a 136-pound skin care specialist. Here's how they met in the theater.

Her side

"He had his phone out. The light was shining at me. I'm thinking, 'He's going to turn it off.'" But he didn't. 'OK, this is ridiculous.' So I reached over and tapped him on the shoulder. It was very bright. I was only trying to get his attention. He whipped around and said, 'Don't ever touch me.' I was a little taken aback. 'I wouldn't have touched you if you didn't have your phone out.'

"He jumps up and whirls around towards me and says, 'I am charging you with assault,' and he flew out of the theater."

His side

"I got a text, and I responded to it because it was something important. It was something that was on a deadline situation, OK. I held it against my chest purposely where I could barely see it. ... I could text but hide the majority of the light coming from the phone.

"She said something. I couldn't make it out. That's why I turned. She was probably saying something like, 'Get off your phone.' I turned, and she pushed. She just happened to push my neck at the time my neck was in an awkward position. Kinda like having a little fender bender, and you get a little whiplash in your neck, you know."

Stormtrooper

US: Cop Under Fire for Beating, Arresting Man - for Videotaping Police!


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© unknownMitchell Crooks
Photo shows injuries after beating by Officer Derek Colling
A Las Vegas police officer under investigation for the videotaped beating of a man in March violated several Metropolitan Police Department policies, an internal investigation found.

Mitchell Crooks' complaint about officer Derek Colling's excessive force was sustained, Deputy Chief Gary Schofield said Friday.

The specific policy violations will not be released until the case is finalized.

Crooks, 36, received a letter from the Internal Affairs Bureau notifying him of the findings earlier this week.

He said he was pleasantly surprised.

"It seems like they're saying he was guilty, which is what I've been saying," Crooks said. "I really hope he gets fired."

Colling has been on paid suspension since April 1.

Info

US, Michigan: Truck Driver Stunned in Bizarre Incident

police car, cop car, sirens
Sheriff: Driver held people at bay with chain saw

A logging truck driver was shot with a stun gun after authorties said he threatened people with a running chain saw.

Iron County, Mich., sheriff's officials were called to a logging truck crash on Highway 2 near Pentoga Trail in Crystal Falls Township around 10 a.m. Thursday. Callers to 911 said the driver was holding people at bay with the chain saw.

When officers arrived, they found the driver in a ditch with the chain saw running, yelling for people to stay back and leave him alone. The truck, which belonged to Shamco Trucking of Iron River, Mich., had hit a large tree and was totaled. Deputies as well as the driver's employer tried to get him to put the saw down.

When the driver refused to put the saw down, two deputies shot him from behind with a Taser. The driver, identified as Shawn Tranti, 40, of Iron River was arrested and taken to a hospital for a mental health evaluation. He was not hurt in the arrest.

Arrow Down

Bizarre Caribbean Airlines Crash

A Caribbean Airlines jet from New York overshot the runway after it arrived in Georgetown, Guyana, and broke apart injuring several dozens of people. None of the 163 passengers on board were killed, officials told The New York Times.

The passengers were aboard a Boeing 737-800 and began applauding the pilot's landing in Guyana just after midnight when things went wrong, accoridng to The Times.

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© Reuters / STR NewCaribbean Airlines jet is seen broken at Cheddi Jagan International airport outside Georgetown July 30, 2011. The packed Caribbean Airlines jet carrying 163 people crashed and broke in two Saturday as it landed in Guyana at night, injuring several passengers but killing no one. The Boeing 737-800 overshot the runway and burst through a perimeter fence after arriving at Georgetown's Cheddi Jagan airport just past midnight from New York. The front of the plane snapped off and it stopped meters from a deep jungle ravine.

Light Saber

US, Tennessee: Mom Arrested at Airport Screening Defends Actions

Andrea Abbott
© unknownAndrea Abbott booking photo
A Clarksville mother charged with disorderly conduct after she berated Transportation Security Administration officers who were trying to pat down her teenage daughter is defending her conduct.

Andrea Abbott provided a statement to The Tennessean through her attorney, Brent Horst.

It reads, "The officer was rude and bullied me. He had no intention of resolving the problem and assisting in the situation, but his solution was to put me in jail and threaten to put my daughter in foster care. I was simply trying to protect my daughter."

According to an account of the July 10 arrest in police records, Abbott first refused a body scan for her daughter and herself, saying she didn't want "someone to see our bodies naked."

People

US, Florida: Rally Calls for Dignity: TSA Screening Violates Citizens' Rights, Speakers Say


Following a wave of press coverage of the 95-year-old woman who was asked to remove an adult diaper in order to board a plane at Northwest Florida Regional Airport last month, radio host Burnie Thompson hosted a rally Thursday to protest passenger screening practices by the Transportation Security Administration.

"The last straw was the 95-year-old woman right here in our backyard," Thompson told about 130 people gathered at the Emerald Coast Convention Center for the American for Dignity rally. "We want no more humiliation and harassment."

Thompson said the TSA's screening tactics violate the Fourth Amendment, which protects citizens from unreasonable searches.

"Buying an airline ticket is not probable cause," Thompson said. "If it is reasonable to search an American who hasn't done anything, what would be unreasonable?"

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© Nick Tomecek / Daily NewsA rally for Americans for Dignity was held at the Emerald Coast Convention Center to protest TSA procedures in airports.

X

Russia: Eight dead, one missing in Moscow River boat accident

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© Photo Denis VoroninMoscow River boat accident
Eight people drowned and one was missing on Sunday after a pleasure boat collided with a barge and sank in the Moscow River, the Emergencies Ministry said.

"Another body has been recovered. The fate of one person is still unknown," the ministry said.

Previous reports put the death toll from the boat sinking at seven.