Plane Smashes Into House But Pilot Is Unhurt

A pilot whose light plane crashed into a house in Colorado has walked out of the wreckage virtually unhurt.

The man even tried to put out the fire with a garden hose before he was forced away by burning fuel, authorities said.

The house near Denver was unoccupied at the time of crash on Monday afternoon.

The pilot suffered minor injuries.

Five teenagers were playing soccer at a nearby track when they saw the plane.

"We were over at the field when it started going down. We said, 'That plane is way too close,'" said 15-year-old Ryder Munera.

According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the aircraft was an agricultural and pest control plane.

It was towing a banner for an insurance company and was supposed to fly over a Colorado Rockies baseball game when the crash occurred, according to Tom Mace, who said he hired the pilot.

Mr Mace said the engine apparently malfunctioned and the pilot ditched the banner before the crash.

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Oscar Pistorius Neighbours 'Did Not Hear Reeva'

By Alex Crawford, Special Correspondent, in Pretoria

Oscar Pistorius' next-door neighbour has told a court he heard "very loud" cries from someone "desperate for help" on the night the athlete's girlfriend was shot dead.

But Michael Nhlengethwa, whose house is just 11 metres from the bathroom where Reeva Steenkamp was fatally injured, said he did not hear a woman screaming.

It appears to contradict the claims of an earlier witness, who said she heard "blood-curdling screams" on Valentine's Day last year, despite living further away from Pistorius' home.

The trial also heard from Mr Nhlengethwa's wife, Eontle, who was asked to repeat the noise she heard while her husband was searching their house for intruders after the couple were awoken by a loud bang.

Oscar Pistorius arrives at court in Pretoria for day 27 of his trial

She made a loud shrieking noise - at which point Pistorius leant forward, covering his ears with his hands - but insisted the "vibrating, high-pitched noise" was the sound of a man crying, not a woman screaming.

The prosecutor, Gerrie Nel, has suggested Ms Steenkamp ran into the toilet to take refuge after a furious row with Pistorius.

It is claimed she was facing the toilet door, talking to the runner, when he fired four shots.

However, the Nhlengethwas told the court they did not hear sounds of any argument.

Ms Steenkamp was shot dead on February 14, 2013. Pic: Stimulii

Instead, they said, they heard wailing coming from a man who sounded like he could have been in danger.

"The cry we heard was from someone who was desperate for help," Mr Nhlengethwa said. "It was very loud."

When asked during cross-examination whether he heard the sounds of a woman screaming, the witness replied: "No, not at all."

Another neighbour, Rita Motshuane, also imitated the noises she heard, hunching her shoulders and letting out a series of loud, painful wails.

She said the sound, which was so haunting it left her unable to move from her bed, came from a man, not from a woman.

The Nhlengethwas were originally on the state's list of witnesses but neither were called by the prosecution.

Mr Nhlengethwa said Pistorius, who always greeted him by walking over to talk and shake hands, once introduced Ms Steenkamp as his fiancee and said he was moving out of the Silver Woods estate in Pretoria to Johannesburg in order to be closer to her.

The witness said he expressed regret that his neighbour was leaving but added: "If it's for her, then it's worth it. That one's for keeps."

It was the first time the court had heard evidence the couple were apparently engaged.

Mr Nhlengethwa also spoke about the moment he arrived at Pistorius' house after the shooting and peered through the front door to find Pistorius kneeling over Ms Steenkamp.

"What I saw is difficult to explain," he said, telling the court he chose to wait outside as the scene was so distressing.

Pistorius, 27, denies murdering Ms Steenkamp in a premeditated attack, claiming he mistook her for an intruder.

The case was adjourned at lunchtime and will resume on Thursday after a public holiday in South Africa.

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Nigeria Schoolgirl Kidnap: Britain Offers Help

The UK is offering "practical help" to help Nigeria secure the release of more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped by Islamist militant group Boko Haram.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague revealed the country's potential involvement in the case after the organisation threatened to sell the abducted girls.

"We are offering practical help," he told reporters as he arrived for a Council of Europe meeting in Vienna to discuss ways to defuse the crisis in Ukraine.

"What has happened here ... the actions of Boko Haram to use girls as the spoils of war, the spoils of terrorism, is disgusting. It is immoral.

"I called the Nigerian foreign minister when this first arose ... to offer help from Britain, to express our concerns."

He said he did not want to discuss exactly what help Britain was offering, just as US authorities have avoided going into detail.

It is thought Nigeria has so far not accepted either country's offer.

Boko Haram militants stormed an all-girl secondary school in the village of Chibok, in Borno state, on April 14 and packed the teenagers, who had been taking exams, on to trucks. They then disappeared into a remote area along the border with Cameroon.

The raid has shocked Nigerians despite a bloody five-year-old Islamist insurgency in the north of the country, and there have been claims that other countries should have done more and been quicker to offer help.

Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau has appeared in a video, chuckling as he stands in front of an armoured personnel carrier with two masked militants wielding AK-47s on either side of him.

"I abducted your girls. I will sell them in the market, by Allah," he says.

"Allah has instructed me to sell them. They are his property and I will carry out his instructions."

Boko Haram, seen as the main security threat to Nigeria, Africa's leading energy producer, is growing bolder and extending its reach.

The kidnapping occurred on the day a bomb blast, also blamed on Boko Haram, killed 75 people on the edge of Abuja, the first attack on the capital in two years.

The group's name means "Western education is sinful" and Shekau makes reference in the video to the fact the girls were undergoing Western education.

The girls' abduction has been hugely embarrassing for the government and threatens to overshadow the World Economic Forum for Africa it hosts from May 7 to 9.

On Sunday, authorities arrested a leader of a protest staged last week in Abuja that had called on them to do more to find the girls, further fuelling outrage against the security forces.

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Cornered 'Drugs Dealer' Shot In Face In Gang Hit

An alleged drug smuggler has been shot and killed in a busy Dublin street in a suspected gangland hit.

Christopher Zambra was shot in the face while cowering in a garden after abandoning his car close to the city centre, according to reports.

Zambra had been driving along Cooley Road, Drimnagh, at about 3pm on Sunday, when he was hemmed in by a Nissan Qashqai and a silver saloon car.

Six shots were then fired from a handgun into his Audi A4 before he got out of the car and sought cover, the newspaper said.

He ran along the pavement and into the garden of a house three doors away where his attackers caught up with him and shot him two or three more times.

Cooley Road, where Christopher Zambra was shot dead

The hitmen then made their escape and abandoned the Qashqai a short distance away on Benmadigan Road, where they set fire to it with the handgun inside.

The gun was later recovered and police are now examining it and the remains of the vehicle.

Forensic specialists have been at the scene of the shooting where a number of spent cartridges were seen littering the ground.

RTE said a post-mortem on Mr Zambra was due to be carried out but he is believed to have been hit several times by gunfire.

The Irish Independent claimed Zambra, from Drimnagh, in south Dublin, was aged 39 and a full-time drug dealer.

The Irish Times referred to him as a well-known gang figure who was known to associate with another man suspected of ordering the 2012 murder of a member of the Real IRA.

Zambra had been tried for the murder of another known trafficker John Carroll but was acquitted.

He was also an amateur musician who promoted his music on his own website.

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Pilot Dies As WWII Plane Stunt Ends In Flames

A vintage biplane has crashed in an upside-down stunt at a California air show, killing the 77-year-old pilot.

Edward Andreini was flying his plane low over the tarmac at Travis Air Force Base when the aircraft crashed.

The 1944 Stearman biplane caught fire, with a thick plume of black smoke seen in video of the aftermath.

Nobody else was injured.

The plane was flying close to the tarmac.

Mr Andreini had been flying since he was 16 and was a veteran of air shows in the US.

The plane was trying to perform a manoeuvre known as "cutting a ribbon" where it inverts and flies close to the ground so that a knife attached to the plane can slice a ribbon just off the ground, Colonel David Mott, 60th Operations Group commander at the base, told the San Francisco Chronicle.

A witness, retired photo journalist Roger Bockrath, said Mr Andreini was flying into a sometimes gusty wind on Sunday afternoon.

The National Transportation Safety Board is conducting an investigation

"He got down too low and hit the tarmac. He skidded about 500ft and just sat there," Mr Bockrath told The Sacramento Bee.

"The plane was essentially intact, just wrong side down," he said, adding that by the time fire crews arrived the aircraft was enflamed.

Remaining events at the Thunder Over Solano show, attended by an estimated 100,000 spectators each day over the weekend, were cancelled.

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Oscar Pistorius Trial: Athlete Was 'Frantic'

One of Oscar Pistorius' former neighbours has told the athlete's murder trial how he "begged" her to save his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp's life.

Carice Viljoen, who raced to the 27-year-old's home after he called her father for help, said the distressed athlete was "frantic" from the moment she stepped inside his house on Valentine's Day last year.

Pistorius covered his ears with his hands as an emotional Ms Viljoen told the court: "He was saying, 'Please, please'. He was begging me to put her in the car and take her to the hospital.

"I was kneeling at Reeva's side and there was blood everywhere."

Ms Steenkamp was shot dead on February 14, 2013. Pic: Stimulii

Earlier, Ms Viljoen's father, Johan Stander, who worked on the luxury estate in South Africa where Pistorius lived, recalled the desperate phone call from the sprinter in the early hours of the morning.

He told the court: "He said, 'Please, please, please come to my house, please. I shot Reeva. I thought she was an intruder. Please, please come quick.'"

He said he arrived at Pistorius' house around three minutes later to find the athlete "broken", "screaming" and carrying Ms Steenkamp's body down the stairs.

"Oscar was crying, really crying," he said. "He was in pain. He asked us to help him. He wanted us to put Reeva in a car and take her to hospital.

"We tried to calm him down. He was broken. He was screaming, crying, praying."

Ms Viljoen said that after getting Pistorius to lay his girlfriend on the floor, she ran upstairs, grabbed a handful of towels and used them to try to stop the bleeding.

"Oscar was holding pressure on her hip," she said. "He had his finger in her mouth, trying to help her breathe.

"He just kept asking me, 'Where's the ambulance, where's the ambulance?'

"We tried our very best to keep her alive."

Mr Stander, who used to look after Pistorius' dogs while the athlete was competing overseas, told the court his neighbour was "committed" to saving Ms Steenkamp.

Mr Stander said he found Pistorius carrying his girlfriend down the stairs

The witness, a former administrator at the Silver Woods estate in Pretoria, also said Pistorius would ask to be kept abreast of local crimes when he returned from his travels.

In one incident, he said, thieves broke through a fence and used a ladder to gain access to a house - a scenario the athlete has previously said he was concerned about.

A woman was tied up by intruders during another break-in, he added.

Pistorius' legal team are set to call ballistics, audio and psychological experts over the coming days, as the trial enters what is likely to prove a critical phase.

Sky's Special Correspondent Alex Crawford, in Pretoria, said: "The defence has to counter several prosecution claims - not least that there was a pause between shots which, crucially, would have given Ms Steenkamp time to shout out in anguish before the fatal head shot."

Pistorius admits shooting his partner but denies a charge of premeditated murder, claiming he mistook her for an intruder.

The trial continues.

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Mombasa Hit By Bus And Beach Resort Blasts

At least three people have been killed and several others injured in twin bomb blasts in Mombasa, Kenya, officials say.

One blast happened at a busy bus station in Mwembe Tayari, near the city centre, when a grenade was thrown into a crowded minibus killing at least three people, and wounding more than 20.

At the bus terminus, victims were sprawled in a pool of blood and the road was littered with shattered glass from a bus.

"I didn't see who threw the object, but I heard a loud explosion before I fell to the ground. I then felt my legs go numb," Halima Sidi, 26, who works at a local supermarket, told Reuters at a hospital as nurses bandaged her wounded legs.

Mombasa county commissioner Nelson Marwa said: "What happened is a grenade was thrown at passengers.

The bombings happened at a bus station and the Reef Hotel

"The attackers were riding on a motorbike, and lobbed the grenade at the crowd of people at the bus terminus."

Another explosion occurred at a well-known beach resort hotel, the Reef Hotel, in the Nyali area of the city, although no casualties have been reported.

An unattended bag had been found on the beach, which was abandoned at the gate of the hotel after it was found to contain what turned out to be an explosive device, which subsequently went off.

One of the bombing victims is put on a stretcher. Pic: Daily Nation

Hotelier Mohammed Hersi told Sky News there had been no injuries and all the guests were safe.

A police official said: "We had two incidents. One at the bus station where three people have lost their lives. In the second incident that occurred near a hotel in Nyali there were no casualties."

While no one has immediately claimed responsibility for the blasts, Kenya has been targeted in the past by gun and grenade attacks in Mombasa and central Nairobi, which the government has blamed on the al Qaeda-linked Somali group al Shabaab.

Blood stains are visible on the side of a bus at one of the blast sites

Last year, a terrorist attack on a shopping mall in Nairobi left at least 67 people dead.

Sky's Foreign Affairs Editor Sam Kiley said the bombings bore the hallmarks of an attack by Islamic militants.

He said: "This could be seen as a counter-attack by radical al Qaeda-related groups against the body politic and the economy of Kenya by targeting an environment where tourists are likely to be."

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Landslide Buries Village: Rescuers Lose Hope

Rescue teams have abandoned the search for survivors after a landslide buried a hillside village in northern Afghanistan, killing at least 350 people under a tide of rock and mud.

Local people and emergency workers using shovels tried in vain to find victims trapped under the massive landslide that engulfed Aab Bareek village in Badakhshan province.

There are fears of further landslides in the area

Officials said that the final death toll could rise as high as 500 after Friday's disaster, updating earlier information that 2,500 people were feared dead.

"Based on our reports, 300 houses are under the debris," Badakhshan governor Shah Waliullah Adeeb said at the scene.

"We cannot continue the search and rescue operation anymore, as the houses are under metres of mud. We will offer prayers for the victims and make the area a mass grave."

Thousands of people have been displaced

The tragedy came after heavy rain earlier in the week.

The community in Badakhshan province which borders Tajikistan in the country's northeast, has been buried in more than 300ft of mud (100 metres).

Gul Mohammad Bedar, the deputy governor of Badakhshan, said: "The first figure (of 2,500 feared dead) that we announced was obtained from local people, not from our technical team.

"We think the death toll will not rise beyond 500."

Local people and dozens of police officers equipped with only basic digging tools began searching for survivors from first light on Saturday.

But it quickly became apparent there was no hope of finding anyone.

Afghan National Army troops in Kabul load supplies for survivors

The United Nations says the focus is now on the thousands of people who have been displaced by the disaster.

A memorial service was planned, and the site is expected to be designated as a mass grave, according to UN spokesman Ari Gaitanis.

He added the survivors need water, medical support, counselling, food and emergency shelter.

British charities are mobilising teams to help with the rescue effort. Save the Children sent five ambulances to the scene and are planning to distribute blankets and give medical assistance.

Other charities are monitoring the situation and stand ready to provide assistance if necessary.

The US and the Nato-led coalition in Afghanistan have offered to send help

There are also fears that another section of the mountainside could collapse, threatening the homeless and hundreds of rescue workers.

The Afghan military flew rescue teams to the search area on Saturday because the remote mountain region is served by only narrow, poor roads that have been damaged by more than a week of heavy rain.

Nato-led coalition troops are ready to assist, but have not yet been asked for help by the Afghan government.

US President Barack Obama has also offered to send help.

Seasonal rains and spring snow melt have brought destruction to large parts of northern Afghanistan, killing more than 100 people.

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Kiev Forces 'Making Advances' In Eastern City

Ukrainian government forces say they have reclaimed a television tower as they continue efforts to suppress pro-Russian activists in the east of the country.

Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said on his Facebook page that armed forces and the National Guard had launched the raid in Kramatorsk at dawn.

Insurgents set alight buses in the city on Saturday in an effort to ward off attacks.

A rebel blockade burns in the city of Kramatorsk

Russian television claims that 10 people have already died in violence.

Armed personnel carriers were seen driving through Kramatorsk on Saturday but appeared to later return to their airfield base on the edge of the city.

Ukraine's efforts to fight the pro-Russian insurgency has so far concentrated on the nearby stronghold of Slavyansk, where they launched an offensive on Friday and reportedly seized a number of checkpoints.

Separatists in Luhansk have been bolstering barricades, fearing an attack

The rebels have seized government buildings in around a dozen cities as they push for autonomy from Ukraine, with some ethnic Russians fearing oppression by the authorities in Kiev and calling on Moscow to intervene.

Ukraine, which was plunged into crisis following the ousting of President Yanukovych in February, says it is fighting "terrorists" who are being encouraged and helped by the Russian regime.

A deadly fire in the southern city of Odessa on Friday pushed tensions to a new high.

A wrecked tanker blocks the road in Kramatorsk

At least 31 pro-Russian activists died when a trade union building was petrol-bombed during fighting with groups loyal to Kiev.

Witnesses say some people were overcome by smoke, while others were killed jumping from windows in desperate attempts to escape. Police have been accused of standing by and doing little to prevent the tragedy.

A total of 42 people died in the violence, according to the Interior Ministry.

Flowers at the scene of the deadly fire in Odessa

Russia said it was "outraged" and denounced the "criminal irresponsibility" of the pro-Western authorities in Kiev.

Sky News Correspondent Katie Stallard, in Odessa, said people are still bringing flowers to lay outside the building during a second day of official mourning.

"There are real fears about where this goes from here," says Stallard.

"There is already talk of pro-Russian separatists publishing names and contact details of who they say are pro-Ukrainian protesters, who they accuse of being involved in the violence."

Some people died when they jumped from the building

Separatists are also gearing up for a government attack in Luhansk, close to the Russian border.

Pro-Russians have been pictured fortifying barricades and have imposed a curfew on the city's population of 400,000.

Ukrainian forces were also killed on Friday when two helicopters were shot down in Slavyansk during the government's operation to take over the checkpoints.

Kiev claims the aircraft were downed by sophisticated rocket launchers, contradicting Russia's repeated claim that it is not secretly helping the separatists.

Russia currently has tens of thousands of troops near Ukraine's border, and Kiev says its neighbouring country is preparing to invade under the pretext of protecting ethnic Russians in the east.

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Ukraine Observers Freed Amid New Offensive

Military observers kept prisoner in Ukraine for more than a week have been released as bloody clashes in the country show no sign of letting up.

The seven observers and their five assistants, from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, were seized in Slavyansk on April 25.

The separatists had previously accused the observers of being "Nato spies" and said they were to be used as human shields.

A prisoner-swap was thought likely, although they were set free today without any conditions.

Two of the observers pictured while they were being held in Slavyansk

Colonel Axel Schneider, the head of the observers, said the group had shown "strength" and said the captivity was "unforgettable for us".

The release comes as Ukraine launched a dawn military operation against separatists in the east of the country.

Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said troops had seized control of a television tower in Kramatorsk, near the rebel stronghold of Slavyansk.

Fresh scuffles broke out outside the burned building in Odessa on Saturday

"We are not stopping," Mr Avakov wrote on his Facebook page. Heavy fighting is now being reported in the town, according to Ukraine's anti-terrorist centre.

The violence comes hours after 31 people died after a building in Odessa was set on fire during clashes between protesters.

Police said some people inside the trade union building were overcome by smoke and others were killed jumping from windows as they tried to escape.

A pro-Russian activist fires a gun during clashes with rivals

Pro-Russian and pro-Kiev activists fought running battles as the southern port city saw some of its worst violence since President Victor Yanukovych was ousted in February.

The Interior Ministry said a total of 42 people were killed in Odessa.

Russia said it was "outraged" and denounced the "criminal irresponsibility" of the pro-Western authorities in Kiev.

Russia's foreign ministry called on Ukraine and its "Western backers to end the anarchy and take responsibility for the Ukranian people".

At an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council, the UK accused Moscow of "breathtaking" hypocrisy over the latest clashes.

A protester throws a petrol bomb at the trade union building in Odessa

The UK's ambassador to the UN, Sir Mark Lyall Grant, said Russia had "funded, equipped and directed" some of those involved in the insurgency.

"Many" pro-Russian separatists were also said to have been killed on Friday as the Ukrainian army took control of checkpoints around Slavyansk.

Two Ukrainian soldiers were also killed as two helicopters were shot down in the city, acting president Oleksandr Turchynov said.

People wait for rescue on an upper-storey ledge during the fire

The Ukrainian Security Service said one was shot down with a surface-to-air missile, adding that the sophisticated weapon undermined Russia's claims that Slavyansk was simply under the control of armed locals.

Sky News Chief Correspondent Stuart Ramsay, in Donetsk, said the Ukraine government is in a "very difficult position".

"If they want to take control of these towns they are going to have to put a lot of soldiers on the ground and bring in police from other parts of the country. If that happens it will absolutely be violent – it will only escalate further.

"Russia has made it clear that would be a reason for them to intervene to protect ethnic Russians.

"If Kiev doesn't do that, they are going to see the eastern parts of the country drift away."

Russia has tens of thousands of troops near Ukraine's border, and Kiev claims its neighbouring country is preparing to invade and that it is stoking the unrest in the east.

Moscow denies the allegations, but has warned Russia would respond to attacks on Russian citizens or interests in the east, where insurgents have seized government buildings in around a dozen cities.

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