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Bus-Train Crash Kills 7, Injures 162 in Argentina

Michael Warren
The Associated Press
Tue, 13 Sep 2011 09:38 UTC
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© AP Photo/Rodolfo PezzoniA wounded passenger is carried out a train after it crashed in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2011.
A train slammed into a bus trying to beat it across the railroad tracks during rush hour Tuesday, ramming the vehicle into a platform and then striking another locomotive head-on. At least seven people were killed and more than 160 injured, authorities said.

The bus driver was among those killed, Argentine Transportation Secretary J.P. Schiavi said.

The force of the arriving train reduced the bus to a fraction of its width as it became wedged against the station platform. The front of the train then slammed into another train that was preparing to leave the Flores station in the opposite direction on the Sarmiento line, which connects the suburb of Moreno to the Once station downtown.

Schiavi said children also were among those injured in the accident, which happened at 6:15 a.m., just when many parents use public transportation to take their children to school.
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Life Preserver

Russia Supports Palestinian Bid to Win UN Statehood: Envoy


Agence France-Presse
Mon, 12 Sep 2011 08:16 UTC
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© European Press Association
Russia supports the Palestinian bid to win UN statehood despite resistance from Israel and the United States, Moscow's ambassador to the United Nations said on Monday.

"We will, of course, be voting for any of the Palestinians' proposals," Russia's UN ambassador Vitaly Churkin was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency. "We are saying that whatever you decide to do, we will support you."

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Nuke

Iranian Nuclear Plant Steps Up Operations

Ali Akbar Dareini
The Associated Press
Mon, 12 Sep 2011 08:48 UTC
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© Unknown
Tehran - Iran's first nuclear power plant stepped up operations Monday after more than a decade of delays, pumping out electricity at up to 40 percent capacity and marking a major step forward in the Islamic Republic's nuclear program.

The Bushehr nuclear plant - which officials say could begin full-power operations in December - is also a cornerstone of Iran's drive to become a technological leader among Muslim nations with efforts such as a space program and long-range missile development.

The U.S. and its allies accuse Iran of using its civilian nuclear program as a cover to develop nuclear weapons. Iran denies the claim and says it only seeks reactors for energy and scientific research.

Senior Iranian and Russian officials attended celebrations for the official launch of the 1000-megawatt Bushehr plant on the Gulf. It began to generate between 350 to 400 megawatts of electricity, equal to 35 to 40 percent of the reactor's full capacity.

The Russian-built plant was connected to the national power grid for a test run Sept. 4, generating 60 megawatts.
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People

Jordan's Abdullah: Israel's Situation Today More Difficult Than Ever

Roee Nahmias
YnetNews
Mon, 12 Sep 2011 09:21 UTC
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© Associated PressKing Abdullah (right) and Abbas
King says 'Jordan and the future Palestine are stronger than Israel is today. It is the Israeli who is scared today'

The king described a recent conversation he held in the US with "one of the Israeli intellectuals" who commented on events in the Arab world, arguing that they were good for Israel. "I replied and said that it was the opposite and that Israel's situation today is more difficult than ever before."

Abdullah reiterated that his country would not serve as an "alternative homeland to the Palestinians."

According to the Jordanian leader, "Jordan is Jordan and Palestine is Palestine. We support all Palestinian rights and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state - our policy hasn't changed. The subject of an alternative homeland must not be part of the discussion. It is unacceptable."
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Smoking

Malaysia: Smoking Ape Taken from Zoo, Forced to Quit Cold Turkey

Sean Yoong
The Associated Press
Mon, 12 Sep 2011 00:00 UTC
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© The Associated Press/The Canadian PressIn this photo taken Monday, Jan. 25, 2010, an orangutan, called Shirley, smokes at Johor Zoo in Johor Bahru, Malaysia. The captive orangutan often spotted smoking cigarettes given to her by zoo visitors is being forced to kick the habit, a Malaysian wildlife official said Monday, Sept. 12, 2011.
A captive orangutan often spotted smoking cigarettes given to her by zoo visitors is being forced to kick the habit, a Malaysian wildlife official said Monday.

Government authorities seized the adult ape named Shirley from a state-run zoo in Malaysia's southern Johor state last week after she and several other animals there were deemed to be living in poor conditions.

Shirley is now being quarantined at another zoo in a neighbouring state and is expected to be sent to a Malaysian wildlife centre on Borneo island within weeks.

Melaka Zoo Director Ahmad Azhar Mohammed said Shirley is not being provided with any more cigarettes because "smoking is not normal behaviour for orangutans."

"I would say she is not addicted ... but she might have formed a habit after mimicking human beings who were smoking around her," Ahmad told The Associated Press.
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Laptop

Facebook Voted More Necessary to Britons than Having a Flushable Toilet

Tori Floyd
The Right Click
Mon, 12 Sep 2011 00:00 UTC
facebook
© unknown
Facebook's ever-growing popularity and pervasiveness seems to be changing our priorities in today's society, according to one British survey.

The Daily Mail reports that a survey of 3,000 adults found people prioritized Facebook above having a stove, a flushing toilet and a shower.

The survey, conducted by One Poll for London's Science Museum, was originally part of the museum's new exhibition on the necessity of fresh water. Each participant was asked what they couldn't live without. The results of the study were a bit of a shock, prompting the museum's Exhibition Manager, Sarah Richardson, to describe the results as 'crazy.'

"Brits are obsessed by the weather, so it's not surprising sunshine was rated as the top thing we couldn't live without," said Richardson in The Daily Mail. "But to say you can't live without material things over drinking water is crazy."
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Heart - Black

Only Hockey Player to Survive Russian Plane Crash Dies of His Injuries in Moscow Hospital

Lynn Berry
The Associated Press
Mon, 12 Sep 2011 00:00 UTC
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© The Associated Press/The Canadian Press/Dmitry BrushkoRelatives of Belarusian ice hockey player Ruslan Salei, killed in Wednesday's plane crash near Yaroslavl, mourn during a funeral ceremony in Minsk, Belarus, Saturday, Sept. 10, 2011.
The only member of a top Russian hockey team to survive a plane crash that killed 44 people died Monday of his injuries in a Moscow hospital.

The Vishnevsky hospital said 26-year-old Alexander Galimov died of the severe burns that covered about 90 per cent of his body, despite the best efforts of doctors in its burn unit, considered one of the best in Russia.

The crash Wednesday of a chartered Yak-42 jet outside the western city of Yaroslavl took the lives of 37 players, coaches and staff of the local Lokomotiv Yaroslavl ice hockey club. The only other person to survive, flight crew member Alexander Sizov, remained in intensive care at Moscow's Sklifosovsky hospital.

Unlike many other members of Lokomotiv who were European Union citizens and once played in the NHL, Galimov was a native of Yaroslavl and a product of its youth program.
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Stop

Fake Lottery Scams Running Rampant Across US

Jonathan Hodgson
News Junky Journal
Mon, 12 Sep 2011 14:11 UTC
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© Getty Images
Fake lottery scams are stronger than ever. Most of us have received a mysterious email offering millions of dollars as the recipient of some nebulous overseas jackpot. Often preying on seniors and others who are willing to believe that their luck has turned and fortune has finally smiled on them.

With a still struggling economy and most Americans now on-line, scammers are working hard to get you to part with your money. Many of these lottery scams center on a potential victim being contacted via email and told they have won a large cash prize. Then the scam artist informs the victim that they must pay a fee - often several thousand dollars - to secure release of the funds. It's usually described as taxes or a processing fee.

Some really bold scammers follow up those emails with repeated calls to their victims. Jamaican thieves recently targeted a West Virginia man, pressing him for taxes, bank charges and other fees in order for him to receive a purported $10 million lottery prize. Before he caught on, the rip off artists collected more than $40,000.00 from the victim over a 10-month period, as reported by WTOV9. The state's Attorney General is investigating.

How could this happen? "They convince people that the winnings are real, using personal information about you. But, most of that information is actually available on the internet for anyone to see," says seven time lottery game grand prize winner, Richard Lustig.
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People

UN Recognition of a Palestinian State Receives Public Approval in Europe

Harriet Sherwood
The Guardian, UK
Mon, 12 Sep 2011 03:00 UTC
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© Darren Whiteside/ReutersPortraits of youths pasted on the West Bank barrier show the flags of countries backing the Palestinian bid for statehood.
Polls in France, UK and Germany show the majority of people back recognition of a Palestinian state by the UN

The majority of people in the UK, France and Germany want their governments to vote in favor of recognizing a Palestinian state if a resolution is brought before the United Nations in the next few weeks, according to an opinion poll.

The three European countries are seen as crucial votes in the battle over the Palestinians' bid for statehood at the UN, which meets next week. All three are pressing for a return to peace negotiations as an alternative to pursuing the statehood strategy, but they have not declared their intentions if it comes to a UN vote.
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Wall Street

At least 75 Kenyans dead after pipeline explosion

Tom Odula, Katharine Houreld & Malkhadir M. Muhumed
Associated Press
Mon, 12 Sep 2011 15:50 UTC
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© AP Photo/Ben CurtisJoseph Mwangi, 34, is aided by ambulance workers as he lies in a state of shock after discovering the charred remains of two of his children, one aged 6 the other of unknown age, at the scene of a fuel explosion in Nairobi, Kenya, Monday, Sept. 12, 2011.
Nairobi, Kenya - Joseph Mwangi hoped and prayed his children had escaped the inferno caused when a leaking gasoline pipeline exploded on Monday, sending flames racing through a Nairobi slum and killing at least 75 people.

Then he saw two small blackened bodies in the wreckage of his home.

"Those were my children," he sobbed, collapsing in anguish amid the charred corrugated iron sheets and twisted metal.

Mwangi had been feeding his cow when the call went out around 9 a.m. - a section of pipe had burst near the river that cuts through the slum and gasoline was pouring out. Men, women and children grabbed pails, jerry cans, anything they could find to collect the flowing fuel.

Mwangi had planned to get a bucket and join them - he'd done so before with earlier diesel leaks without any problem, he said, and a bucket of fuel could pay a month's rent. "Everybody knows that fuel is gold," the 34-year-old said.
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