Plane Crashes Into Homes: Six Feared Dead

Fire and rescue personnel surround the site of the crash

Up to six people are feared dead after a small plane crashed in the US and engulfed two houses in flames.

The multi-engine, propeller-driven plane struck the homes near Tweed New Haven Airport, in the town of East Haven, Connecticut, as it went in to land.

National Transportation Safety Board investigator Robert Gretz said there were casualty reports of two or three people in the plane and two or three on the ground.

The plane may have been carrying two passengers, officials said

He said authorities were at the scene looking for victims.

Soon after the crash, officials had said at least three people were missing: the pilot and two children, aged one and 13, in one of the houses.

Governor Dannel Malloy later said the plane may also have been carrying two passengers but officials were still trying to verify whether that was true.

The plane was coming in to Tweed New Haven Airport

East Haven fire chief Douglas Jackson said: "We haven't recovered anybody at this point, and we presume there is going to be a very bad outcome."

He added: "There was an intense fire. There's heavy damage to both structures that were affected on both sides, the motor vehicle and then the aircraft involved."

A neighbour, David Esposito, said he heard a loud noise and then a thump. "No engine noise, nothing. A woman was screaming her kids were in there," he said.

The retired teacher said he ran into the upstairs of the house, where the woman believed her children were, and started frantically searching but could not find them.

Firefighters said they are predicting a "bad outcome"

He returned downstairs and kept looking but then had to drag the woman out when the flames became too strong.

Mr Gretz said: "The plane struck two houses. One of the houses was struck more severely and part of the plane is actually in the basement, and obviously some of the house is in the basement as well.

"The state police are working with the fire department to go through the house to look for victims.

"What I saw was that it (the plane) was inverted with the left wing in one house, the right wing in the other, and I would say probably about 50 to 60% of it was consumed by fire, mostly the forward portion, forward of the wings.

"I was able to identify the two wings and the tail from what I saw, and with the forward portion being more buried towards the basement of the house."

Mayor Joseph Maturo said the houses were still unstable and crews had not yet completed a full search.

The plane, a Rockwell International Turbo Commander 690B, flew out of Teterboro Airport in New Jersey and crashed at 11.25 am US time.

Tweed's airport manager, Lori Hoffman-Soares, said the pilot had been in communication with air traffic control and had not issued a distress call.

"All we know is that it missed the approach and continued on," she said.

East Haven, which has a population of 30,000, is 80 miles (130km) northeast of New York City, on Long Island Sound.

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Mexico Drugs Boss Quintero Freed Over Blunder

US officials have expressed outrage after a Mexican drugs baron who ordered the killing of an American agent was released early from prison.

Caro Quintero was jailed for 40 years over the 1985 kidnapping - but he has walked free after 28 years because of a ruling that he was tried in the wrong kind of court.

The US Department of Justice said it found the decision "deeply troubling".

Mexico's relations with Washington were soured when Quintero, now in his 60s, ordered US Drugs Enforcement Agency agent Enrique Camarena kidnapped, tortured and killed.

The agent was snatched in Guadalajara, a major drug-trafficking centre at the time.

His body and that of his Mexican pilot were found a month later in shallow graves.

Quintero, who was apparently angry at Mr Camarena over a raid he sanctioned on a marijuana plantation, was eventually hunted down in Costa Rica.

High security at the Jalisco state prison where Quintero was held

His release was ordered after a decision that his trial had improperly taken place in a federal court.

He still faces charges in the US and is believed to have continued controlling the laundering of drug money from behind bars.

The Department of Justice said it continues to seek Quintero's extradition.

The Association of Former Federal Narcotics Agents in the US said it was "outraged" and it blamed corruption within Mexico's justice system for the early release.

It said: "The release of this violent butcher is but another example of how good faith efforts by the US to work with the Mexican government can be frustrated by those powerful dark forces that work in the shadows of the Mexican 'justice' system."

Quintero is considered the grandfather of Mexican drug trafficking.

He helped establish a powerful cartel based in the northwestern Mexican state of Sinaloa that later split into some of Mexico's largest cartels, including the Sinaloa and Juarez cartels.

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Japan Floods: Five Killed In Severe Weather

At least five people have been killed in severe floods and mudslides that struck in northern Japan.

Torrential rain led to widespread flooding in the town of Yahaba, in the Iwate prefecture, with residents forced to wade through waterlogged streets.

Some 300 people were evacuated on Friday.

Buildings were damaged in storms and mudslides

In the city of Senboku, in Akita prefecture, officials said three people were found dead on Saturday after a mudslide crushed two houses.

Two people remained missing and a major search was under way.

In Hanamaki, a mudslide killed one person and another person was found dead in a river in the town of Nishiwaga.

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Malaria Jab a Step Closer After Vaccine Trial

Tests on a new malaria vaccine have raised hopes the battle is being won against the disease which kills hundreds of thousands of people every year.

The experimental drug, which is known as PfSPZ and is made from living Plasmodium falciparum parasites, has proved highly effective in early-stage clinical trials.

Although the "proof of concept" trial was small - involving 40 adults - it could pave the way for the first vaccine offering 100% protection.

Manufacturing the vaccine was itself an achievement for researchers.

2010: 90% of all malaria deaths occurred in the poorest parts of Africa

Scientists first exposed sterile mosquitoes to malaria-infected blood before irradiating them to weaken the malaria parasites. Then the mosquitoes had to be carefully dissected to extract the parasites to make the serum.

"This was something that everybody said was not possible; and here it is," said Navy Captain Judith Epstein, one of the researchers from research company Sanaria, in Rockville, Maryland.

"We're in the first stages now of really being able to have a completely effective vaccine," she said, adding she hoped to see licensing of the vaccine within three to five years.

Early results of the vaccine are promising though not yet a breakthrough

Malaria infected 219 million people in 2010 and killed an estimated 660,000, according to the World Health Organisation - the equivalent of one child in Africa dying every minute.

"It's an important proof of concept," said Dr Anthony Fauci, director of America's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, adding that the results were the most promising yet of any experimental vaccine, though he resisted calling the trial a breakthrough.

"There are several more steps before you can feel comfortable that you have something that might be ready for prime time," he said.

"So we're really not there yet, but it's encouraging to see these very favourable results."

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Tapir Attack: Toddler Mauled During Zoo Visit

A Brazilian tapir has attacked a young girl and her mother during a trip to a zoo.

The attack happened during a supervised visit within one of the enclosures at Dublin Zoo. The child's mother was injured when she went to save her child.

The zoo says the incident was "an unfortunate accident" and said an investigation was under way.

A tapir is a large usually docile mammal, which looks a bit like a cross between a long-nosed pig and a small horse.

The zoo said a first aid team went to the scene immediately. The girl was taken to Dublin's Temple Street Children's Hospital. Her mother went to the Mater Hospital.

The youngster suffered deep abdomen and arm injuries and is understood to have had surgery.

In June, staff at Dublin Zoo celebrated the birth of a baby tapir to mother Rio, which is believed to have attacked the child.

Tapirs are normally shy but can defend themselves when scared. File picture

Rio's female baby is called Jenny and her father is called Marmaduke. Marmaduke is not thought to have been involved.

The tapir is normally vegetarian and many species are endangered in the wild in South East Asia and Latin America.

Related to rhinos and horses, the tapir's long, flexible snout helps collect leaves, shoots, fruit and small branches to eat.

They have strong jaws and sharp teeth which they use to defend themselves if under threat.

Dublin Zoo said the attack happened on Thursday during one of its regular supervised animal visits.

A spokeswoman said: "The welfare of our visitors and animals is of paramount importance and all steps are taken by our experienced staff to ensure optimum safety.

"Management at the zoo has launched an investigation into this regrettable occurrence and is reviewing all of its procedures with respect to supervised animal visits.

"Dublin Zoo would like to underline this was very much an isolated incident."

Attacks on humans by tapirs are not unknown. Although shy, when scared they can defend themselves.

In 1998, a keeper at a zoo in Oklahoma City was mauled and had an arm severed after opening the door to a female tapir's enclosure to push food inside.

The tapir's two-month-old baby was also inside the cage at the time.

In 2006, a Costa Rican politician became lost in the one of the country's national parks and was found by a search party with a "nasty bite" from a wild tapir.

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Vietnam: 'Jungle Men' Found Hiding From War

A father and son have been found living in the jungle more than 40 years after they fled US bombing during the Vietnam War.

Ho Van Thanh left his home village with his baby son Ho Van Lang in 1971 after a mine blast killed his wife and two of his children.

The pair apparently survived by foraging for fruit, lived in a timber treehouse and wore loin cloths made from tree bark.

The authorities were alerted after locals searching for firewood spotted the men deep in the forest in Quang Ngai province's Tay Tra district.

A team was set up to look for the pair - now aged 82 and 41 - and found them after a five hour search.

When found, Ho Van Thanh was too weak to walk and had to be taken out of the jungle on a stretcher.

Ho Van Thanh on the stretcher

The father could speak a little of the region's Cor language but the son only knew a few words.

The pair have been checked by doctors and a decision must now be made on how to reintegrate them to society.

Ho Van Thanh is believed to have lived a normal life in the hamlet of Tra Kem, but fled into the jungle after the explosion that decimated his family.

The men are thought to have grown their own food and even cultivated tobacco during their time in the wilderness.

Another son, Ho Van Tri, told Vietnamese newspaper VnExpress that he found them hiding out around two decades ago but could not convince them to return home with him.

The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era conflict that claimed millions of military and civilian lives and left surviving soldiers and victims traumatised.

The US dropped millions of tonnes of bombs on Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia during the war, which ended in 1975 with the fall of Saigon to North Vietnamese forces.

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Zimbabwe: Mugabe Claims Victory A Blow To West

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has declared his election victory an "enemy blow" to the "British and their allies".

Mr Mugabe accused his main rival Morgan Tsvangirai, who declared the election null and void, of being a tool of the West.

The president's re-election last week marks a 33-year unbroken run in power but there have been allegations of vote-rigging and election fraud.

Mr Mugabe, Africa's oldest leader at the age of 89, said his ZANU-PF party's two-thirds majority victory had "dealt the enemy a blow".

He added: "But now they, even as the whole of Africa is sending us messages of congratulations to say 'well done', they say the elections were not free. And where are they talking? London and Washington and Ottawa."

Voters were sent to the wrong polling stations and turned away

Mr Mugabe reminded Western governments that they had pledged to consider lifting sanctions if the elections were found to be free and fair.

Mr Tsvangirai has announced that his MDC party will challenge the outcome of the July 31 election in court, alleging vote-rigging and intimidation by ZANU-PF party officials.

The African Union and the Southern African Development Community have declare the elections "free" and "credible" but refused to go so far as to say they were fair.

This, despite, monitors finding evidence of "irregularities" including people being sent to the wrong voting stations and two million more voting cards being printed than necessary.

Some two million too many voting cards were printed

Foreign Secretary William Hague has voiced "grave concerns" over activities that "call into serious question the credibility of the election".

He said there was no evidence that the roll of eligible voters was made available for all parties to scrutinise ahead of the vote.

He added: "We also have concerns over reports of large numbers of voters who were turned away, particularly in urban areas, the very high numbers of extra ballot papers that were printed and additional polling stations apparently added on election day itself."

The United States, which maintains sanctions against Mr Mugabe, has said it does not believe Mr Mugabe's re-election was credible.

Morgan Tsvangirai will challenge the legitimacy of Mr Mugabe's victory

The European Union, which has been looking at easing sanctions, has also expressed concerns over alleged serious flaws in the vote.

Mr Mugabe, indicated his critics should not expect any let-up in economic nationalism policies, such as the violent seizure of white-owned farms after 2000, that have also earned Western disapproval.

He said: "Our task is to look ahead. What we say we shall do, we will do."

The Zimbabwe stock exchange's main Industrial Index shed 1% on Wednesday, following a 1.7% fall on Tuesday and an 11% drop on Monday, the first trading day after Mr Mugabe's re-election was formerly announced.

Investors fear that ZANU-PF's boosted majority could embolden it to pursue even more radical economic nationalism.

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Texas: Gunman Kills Four In Two Shootings

A gunman has shot dead four people and wounded up to four more in two separate but related shootings in Texas.

The first attack came at about 10.30pm local time on Wednesday night at a house on Long Canyon Trail in southwest Dallas.

Two people died and two more were wounded, according to police sources.

The man was apparently looking for his ex-girlfriend, but she was not at home.

The suspect is then said to have driven seven miles to another house in the suburb of DeSoto where a further two people were killed and one or two others were injured.

According to WFAA-TV, the man threw an explosive device which detonated before he then went inside.

Some of the victims are thought to be children while several of the wounded are understood to be in a critical condition.

The authorities said a man, who initially claimed to be a victim, was arrested.

Dallas police told local media that the suspect only stopped shooting when he ran out of ammunition. 

The TV station said the man has tattoos identifying him as a former member of the military.

Officials gave no details about what led to the shooting spree, but initial indications point to a domestic dispute.

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Zanzibar: Two British Teenagers In Acid Attack

Two British teenagers have had acid thrown in their faces in a late night attack on the island of Zanzibar.

Katie Gee and Kirstie Trup, both 18, were attacked as they walked through the streets of Stone Town, the historical centre of the capital of the east African island, by two men on a motor bike.

The acid splashed their faces, chests, backs and hands.

The pair, who had been working as volunteer teachers at an orphanage, were flown to hospital in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, for treatment after the attack on Wednesday night.

Katie Gee had been volunteering as a teacher

A close friend of Katie Gee's family told Sky News that the two girls had been walking along a street when they were subjected to a "mindless and senseless attack".

They said that the girls were still in hospital waiting for a return flight to London where they would continue to be treated in hospital for their injuries.

They added that the girls had both had an amazing experience during their time in Zanzibar and that they were aware how to dress and behave appropriately in a Muslim country.

The two teenagers, from London, were with the volunteering organisation i-to-i as part of a four-week trip.

Kirstie Trup was also injured in the attack

They had been due to return home from the island, a popular destination for gap-year travellers, to the UK on Sunday.

In a statement the organisation said: "The motive for the attack is as yet not known and we will await the report from the local authorities in Zanzibar before any comment can be made.

"The female clients had been volunteer teachers on Zanzibar and were in the final week of their trip.

"The safety of our customers is of paramount importance to us and our own investigation will be launched as soon as it is possible to do so."

The street in Stone Town where the attack took place

Their parents are understood to have been informed and the teenagers are expected to fly back on Thursday.

Deputy Police Commissioner Mkadam Khamis said: "Police in Zanzibar have launched a manhunt, and we ask for public assistance in identifying the attackers."

He added: "The motive for the attack on the volunteers, aged 18 years, has not been established."

Saleh Mohammed Jidawi, a senior health ministry official, said that the women's wounds were "not life threatening".

The assault is the first against foreigners in the popular tourist destination, however, there have been a series of local attacks in the archipelago, mainly on grounds of religion.

A Muslim cleric was subjected to an acid attack in November. In February a Catholic priest was shot dead and in December another priest was shot and wounded.

But police described the attack on the British teenagers as an "isolated incident" and refused to link it to rising religious tensions between Muslims and Christians.

The Indian Ocean islands, famed for their white sand beaches and historical buildings in Stone Town, listed as a world heritage site by Unesco, are mainly Muslim, with 3% of the 1.2 million people Christian.

The attack on the island, 22 miles off the coast of Tanzania, came at the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan as people began to celebrate the Eid holiday.

A spokesman for the Foreign Office said: "We are aware of an incident and are providing consular assistance."

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Koreas Agree To Talks: Complex May Re-Open

North And South: A Quick History

Updated: 2:23pm UK, Thursday 25 July 2013

By Mark Stone, Asia Corespondent, in Pyongyang

On the Korean Peninsula there are two versions of history. The version people learn depends on whether they are North Korean or South Korean.

Either way though, understanding both versions is key to understanding this most unusual of countries: its quirks, its people, its politics and its government's ability to survive against the odds.

There is no logical reason why the land that makes up the Korean Peninsula should be split into two countries.

The people either side of the border speak the same language and have the same ancestors.

But since 1945, it has been two countries: the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) and the Republic of Korea (South Korea).

From 1910 until the end of World War Two, the Korean Peninsula was Japanese territory.

With Japan's defeat, America and the Soviet Union took control of the peninsula.

They decided to split it in two: America didn't want the communist administration in Moscow to control the whole thing. Moscow felt the same about total American control.

And an agreement was reached between Washington and Moscow and an arbitrary line was simply drawn across the middle.

The North became The Democratic People's Republic of Korea. It adopted the communist ideology of its Soviet masters.

A young war hero called Kim Il-Sung became its prime minister.

The South adopted American-style democracy and became the Republic of Korea.

Just five years later though in 1950, Kim Il-Sung and his new army, backed by communist China and Russia, invaded the South.

Within months North Korean forces controlled almost the entire peninsula.

An American-led United Nations force fought back and the Korean War had begun.

Three years of fighting left well over a million people dead. Among them were soldiers from both Koreas, America, China, Russia and Britain.

But no side could claim victory. The border remained where it had been at the start - across the 38th Parallel - and to this day it is a heavily guarded and mined demilitarised zone.

In the decades that followed, the Soviet Union and China continued to prop up the North.

Inside the closed country, Kim Il-Sung's government controlled information and adopted their own version of history which states that the US-backed South Koreans invaded the North.

In 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed. North Korea had lost its main communist ally and trading partner.

The 1990s were dominated by a catastrophic famine in which millions died. A once strong country began to crumble.

And yet the country remained cut off, shunning most Western offers of help.

Kim Il-Sung, at his death in 1994, was declared Eternal President.

His son Kim Jong-Il ensured continuity and - on his death in 2011 - the leadership was assumed by his son, Kim Jong-Un.

And so through extreme control and isolation spanning 65 years, the Kim dynasty has cemented its cult of personality through which the state is still run.

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