A GUNMAN who killed at least 10 people in southern Alabama began his murder spree by burning down his mother’s house where her body was later found.Officials have not been able to enter the house outside Kinston, near the Alabama-Florida border, to determine if she was shot, the Associated Press reported.After burning down the house, the gunman then headed east, into Geneva County, where he shot and killed five people – four adults and a child – at a home in the town of Samson.
Category Archives: America
Brazil’s five-day Carnival got into high gear on Sunday with its famous parades in Rio de Janeiro adding choreographed extravagance on top of lusty street parties and fancy-dress balls already underway.Locals, tourists and television audiences around the world were to be treated to thousands of dancers and the drum bands from the city’s samba schools marching behind topless, sequined beauties for two nights of colourful processions.
Bikini Atoll, the site of the United States’ largest hydrogen bomb test and the place that lends its name to the skimpy two-piece swimsuit, is seeking recognition as a world heritage site.”Nuclear bomb tests at Bikini Atoll shaped the history of the people of Bikini, the history of the Marshall Islands and the history of the entire world,” according to the Bikini proposal released here on Friday.The 86-page document, to be presented to UNESCO’s World Heritage program, has been drawn up by Bikini liaison official Jack Niedenthal and Australian-based consultant Nicole Baker.A world heritage nomination involves a multi-level review and a decision is unlikely to be made before June next year, Baker said.
A US airline has caused controversy by decorating one of its planes with a picture of a sexy swimsuit model.The Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-700 has been emblazoned with Sports Illustrated cover girl Bar Refaeli to celebrate the magazine’s annual swimsuit issue.The Israeli supermodel, currently dating actor Leonardo DiCaprio, is pictured lying seductively in a revealing white bikini along the length of the plane. Southwest Airlines unveiled the controversial plane for the first time at La Guardia aiport in New York.
Fire-damaged areas of Universal Studios’ famous backlot — a popular Los Angeles tourist attraction — will reopen to the public later this year, officials said Tuesday.A four-acre blaze at the site broke out last June, damaging facilities including a mock town square featured in Back to the Future and an alleyway made famous in 1973’s Oscar-winner The Sting.The fire also accounted for a New York City streetscape used in television shows including Seinfeld and NYPD Blue, as well as a building housing a mechanical King Kong that formed part of the studio’s popular tram tour.
ANOTHER US passenger jet has been hit by a bird mid-flight, forcing the pilot to return to the airport shortly after takeoff.The United Airlines Boeing 747’s engine was struck shortly after leaving Denver airport in Colorado, US, bound for San Francisco.Passengers panicked when the bird hit the right engine of the plane with a large thump.”We heard a large thump like we hit something, and the pitch of the engine changed dramatically to the point that it got real quiet, and there was a rattling, wheezing noise,” passenger Frank Crowe told the Associated Press.
A London couple visiting the Big Apple have settled into their hotel room – under the eyes of thousands of pedestrians and motorists. Duncan Malcolm and Katherine Lewis are receiving a complimentary five-day stay at Manhattan’s Roger Smith Hotel in exchange for guesting in a replica of one of the hotel’s rooms on the ground floor of a nearby building.As part of the agreement, the couple must keep the curtains on the room’s large glass windows open between 4.30 pm and 7.30 pm until Friday, allowing passers-by to watch them.
Google has helped New York City build an Internet Age service that lets visitors and locals alike virtually explore the Big Apple before taking to its busy streets.New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Wednesday launched a new nycgo.com website online and a technology-packed information center on Seventh Avenue near 52nd Street in Manhattan.”This dynamic site uses Google Maps to help you plan your New York experience,” Bloomberg said in a posting at Google’s website.
THE investigation into the US Airways Airbus crash into New York’s Hudson River has been hampered by the loss of both engines in the river and the inability to reach the plane’s black box, officials say.Investigators have questioned cabin crew and were to interview the pilot and co-pilot later today, Kitty Higgins, a member of the National Transport Safety Board, said.However, the main clues to why the plane crashed need to be found before investigators can know why the engines stopped shortly after takeoff from LaGuardia Airport, possibly because of a collision with birds.
Seven US airlines have sued the US Federal Aviation Administration, claiming the agency broke its own rules and may have compromised flight safety when it set new standards for pilot rest times last year without input from the carriers.The airlines, including American Airlines, Continental Airlines and United Airlines, filed the lawsuit on December 24 in the the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.The airlines said in the complaint that they should have had a chance to comment on the rules, which would place yet another financial burden on them.
