Air Algerie: Briton Among Plane Crash Victims

A British man who died on an Air Algerie flight which crashed in northern Mali has been named as David Morgan.

He was among 118 people, including 54 French nationals, killed when flight AH5017 came down in the remote Gossi region, close to the border with Burkina Faso on Thursday.

The UN peacekeeping mission in Mali has said its experts have found the plane's second black box as investigators try to establish what happened to the jet which encountered bad weather.

A 10-year-old girl perished along with her entire family in the tragedy

The first photos have emerged of the crash site. Debris from the plane, which was flying from  Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, to Algiers, Algeria, could be seen scattered over an area of desert south of Gao.

Burnt-out wreckage and parts of the fuselage could be made out against the charred sand.

A statement from the Foreign Office said: "It is with deep regret that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office confirms the death of a British man onboard Air Algerie flight AH5017.

Flight AH5017 had been heading to Algiers when it crashed in southern Mali

"We are providing consular support to his family at this tragic time, and we ask that the media respect the privacy of those grieving."

Meanwhile, a 10-year-old French girl is reported to have spoken of her fears before the flight.

The girl, called Chloe, perished in the tragedy along with her parents, Bruno Cailleret and Caroline Boisnard, as well as her elder brother and grandmother.

French President Francois Hollande said no one survived the crash

The loss of the entire family in the disaster has left the small town of Menet in central France "devastated", according to Denise Labbe of the town hall.

The five had been returning from a trip to Burkina Faso, where Ms Boisnard's uncle lived.

They had been due to land in the southern city of Marseille after flying via Algiers, which is where the doomed aircraft was heading.

The plane was owned by Spanish private airline Swiftair and operated by Air Algerie.

It vanished from radar over West Africa and no one survived the crash, French President Francois Hollande said.

Ms Labbe said: "Everyone is devastated in the town. We all know the family, who live in front of the town hall.

"No one can quite believe it. It's like having a bad dream."

Chloe had been excited about the trip to Burkina Faso, she said, adding: "She had confided in her teacher before leaving about her fear of taking the plane, which she was doing for the first time".

Ms Boisnard's brother had gone to meet them at the airport and became aware of the tragedy when the family failed to appear at the arrivals gate.

A family of 10, including four children, from the Rhone-Alpes region of France were also killed in the crash.

The number of people killed was increased from 116 to 118 after the final passenger manifest was released.

23.17 | 0 komentar | Read More

DNA Test Clears Convicted Rapist 24 Years On

A man who served 12 years in prison for a rape he did not commit will have his name cleared after DNA testing identified another man as the culprit.

Michael Phillips pleaded guilty to the 1990 rape of a 16-year-old girl because his lawyer advised him to avoid going to a trial.

On Friday, a Texas district court judge ruled that Mr Phillips' conviction should be vacated.

"I always told everyone I was innocent," said Mr Phillips

The case now heads to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, but it was not immediately clear when it would make a ruling.

"I never imagined I would live to see my name cleared," said Mr Phillips, who suffers from sickle cell anaemia and uses a wheelchair.

"Six of my siblings died from the same disease, so I thank God for sustaining me in prison," he said in a news release from the district attorney's office.

"I always told everyone I was innocent and now people will finally believe me."

Mr Phillips said his lawyer at the time told him not to go to trial because a jury would likely not side with a black man accused in the rape of a white girl.

Furthermore, the victim had picked him out of a photo line-up.

Mr Phillips' reversal of fortune is due to an ongoing project by Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins, who is testing old rape kits.

"This is a great day for Mr Phillips but a terrible day for our justice system," Mr Watkins said on Friday. 

The district attorney said there was no DNA from Mr Phillips to compare to the profile from the semen in the rape kit.

But when the semen was put into the FBI's database, another person was identified as the culprit.

Mr Phillips, 57, was released in 2002 but his failure to register as a sex offender later landed him back in jail for six months.

He now lives in a nursing home.

The statute of limitations has expired on the crime and the perpetrator who was identified remains free, a district attorney's office spokeswoman said.

23.17 | 0 komentar | Read More

US Evacuates Libya Embassy Amid Militia Strife

The United States has evacuated its embassy in Libya and warned all Americans in the country to "depart immediately", as fighting between militias in the capital Tripoli intensifies.

The mission staff were driven safely overland to neighbouring Tunisia, escorted by the US military. 

State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said in a statement: "Securing our facilities and ensuring the safety of our personnel are top department priorities, and we did not make this decision lightly. 

"Security has to come first. Regrettably, we had to take this step because the location of our embassy is in very close proximity to intense fighting and ongoing violence between armed Libyan factions."

Smoke in Tripoli after heavy fighting between rival militias on Friday

American personnel at the Libyan embassy, which was already operating with limited staffing, left the capital at around dawn on Saturday, said Ms Harf. 

Speaking during a visit to Paris, Secretary of State John Kerry said they had decided to temporarily suspend diplomatic operations in Tripoli because "freewheeling militia violence" posed a "real risk" to its personnel.

US officials are taking no chances after the deadly 2012 attack on its mission in the eastern city of Benghazi, when Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans died.

Tripoli has been engulfed for weeks in bloodshed between militias

The State Department has also issued a travel warning against travel to Libya, urging all Americans already in the country to get out.

The statement cautioned that "the security situation in Libya remains unpredictable and unstable".

It also warned that the country is awash with military-grade arms, including "antiaircraft weapons that may be used against civilian aviation".

An aircraft damaged by shelling at Tripoli International Airport last week

Tripoli has been engulfed for weeks in bloodshed between militias that has killed and wounded dozens, with fighting especially intense around the city's airport.

The last time the US suspended operations at its Tripoli embassy was in February 2011, during the revolution that toppled Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. The mission reopened a few months later.

23.17 | 0 komentar | Read More

'Pregnant' Burglar's Suspected Accomplice Held

A suspected intruder is facing a murder charge after his alleged accomplice, pleading she was pregnant, was shot dead by the US homeowner, who has not been arrested.

Armed with a handgun, California householder Tom Greer, 80, chased the burglars from his property and caught up with the woman in an alleyway before opening fire.

Long Beach police said Andrea Miller, 28, was pronounced dead at the scene.

According to investigators, she did not appear to be an expectant mother, as she had claimed, but a post-mortem examination would establish the facts.

At a press conference on Thursday, police said Miller's alleged accomplice, Gus Adams, had been arrested.

They said the 26-year-old was facing charges of burglary and murder, because of his suspected involvement in a felony that led to a death.

The incident happened on Tuesday night

He is being held in custody, with bail set at $1m.  

Investigators said they were still deciding whether to recommend charges against Mr Greer.

California homeowners are allowed to defend themselves if they are in "imminent danger of serious bodily injury or death", police said.

It must be determined whether Mr Greer went too far in pursuing the suspects and firing on them outside his home.

Mr Greer said he returned to his Long Beach home on Tuesday night to find a man and woman ransacking it for cash.

The retiree said he was punched to the floor by both burglars, breaking his collar bone.

The woman continued to hit the householder, police said, while her accomplice began trying to pry open a safe.

As both of them turned their focus back to the robbery, Mr Greer went to get his .22-calibre revolver.

He told NBC Los Angeles: "I come back and they see me with a gun, and they run."

While the man managed to flee, Mr Greer said he caught up with the woman in the alley behind his house.

"She says, 'Don't shoot me, I'm pregnant! I'm going to have a baby!' And I shot her anyway," he told NBC.

"She was dead. I shot her twice, she best be dead. He had run off and left her.

"I shot her so that's going to leave a message on his mind for the rest of his life."

Mr Greer told NBC that the same couple had robbed him on two previous occasions.

Neighbours say the retiree had been the victim of numerous burglaries before.

Local resident George Prince told KTLA: "Some people have the ability to protect themselves, other people don't. Fortunately, this person did have that ability."

23.17 | 0 komentar | Read More

MH17: Woman Boasts Of Having Victim's Mascara

By Yulia Bragina, Moscow Producer

An Instagram user from eastern Ukraine has boasted about apparently getting mascara from one of the victims of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17.

A user called Katya, nicknamed Zolotusya and from Torez, published a photo, commenting: "Mascara from Amsterdam, from the field to be precise, you know what I mean."

The town of Torez is only a few miles from where MH17 came down last Thursday.

Users responded angrily to the claims

The post sparked outrage among other Instagram users and when asked where she got the mascara from, Zolotusya replied: "One looter I know gave it to me, let's put it this way."

The profile has since been removed from Instagram. 

Sky News managed to speak to one user who has been following Katya for several months and they confirmed seeing the post a few days ago.

There were reports of looting at the crash scene of MH17, but little hard evidence to back up the allegations.

Relatives of many victims have been cancelling their loved ones' credit cards, fearing they could be used by looters.

A Dutch newspaper reported that victims' phones are being answered by voices with heavy "Eastern European accents".

The crash scene is difficult to secure as it spans more than 10km (6.2 miles) and is inside the zone of heavy fighting between the Ukrainian army and pro-Russian separatists.

The separatists were criticised for not properly securing the crash site

Moscow and the separatists, who are widely believed to be under the Kremlin's control, were heavily criticised for not properly securing the area in the first few days after the crash.

The OSCE observer mission had to negotiate every visit to the area with the armed rebels and had to work under heavy restrictions.

Some of the victims arrived in the Netherlands this week for identification

Alexander Borodai, the self-proclaimed Prime Minister of the Donetsk People's Republic, blamed the OSCE and other experts for dragging their feet and complained they were not allowed to at least get the bodies out of the sun.

Russian President Vladimir Putin called for the safety of international investigators but never officially condemned the handling of the crash site by the separatists.

23.17 | 0 komentar | Read More

Three American Journalists Detained In Iran

Four journalists, including three Americans, are being held in Tehran "for questioning", according to an Iranian official.

The Washington Post said its Tehran correspondent, Jason Rezaian, and his wife were among those arrested on Tuesday evening.

Two American freelance photographers are also being held.

Iran's IRNA news agency quoted Gholamhossein Esmaili, the director general of Tehran province's justice department, as saying the journalists were "detained for some questions".

He said the judiciary would provide further details following "technical investigations".

Mr Esmaili added that Iranian security forces are "vigilant towards all kind of enemies' activities", according to IRNA. 

Mr Rezaian, 38, holds both American and Iranian citizenship, while his wife, Yeganeh Salehi, is an Iranian citizen who has applied for permanent US residency, according to The Washington Post.

Ms Salehi works as a correspondent for a newspaper based in the United Arab Emirates, the newspaper added.

The two photojournalists have not been identified.

In a statement published by the newspaper its foreign editor, Douglas Jehl said: "We are deeply troubled by this news and are concerned for the welfare of Jason, Yeganeh and two others said to have been detained with them."

Mr Rezaian has served as The Post's correspondent in Tehran since 2012, Mr Jehl said.

The New York-based Committee to Project Journalists called on Iranian authorities to immediately explain why the journalists were detained and called for their immediate release.

Sherif Mansour, the committee's programme co-ordinator for the Middle East, said: "Iran has a dismal record with regard to its treatment of imprisoned journalists.

"We hold the Iranian government responsible for the safety of these four."

The committee said Iran and China, which each have about 35 journalists in detention, are the leading jailors of journalists worldwide.

23.17 | 0 komentar | Read More

Deadly Ebola Outbreak Spreads To Nigeria

An Ebola outbreak that has left 660 people dead in West Africa has spread to Nigeria - the continent's most populous country.

Earlier this week, a Liberian man vomited and had a high fever on board a passenger plane to Nigeria.

He was immediately quarantined upon arrival in Lagos but died in hospital from the virus on Friday. 

Nigerian health minister Onyebuchi Chukwu said it was the first case of Ebola to be confirmed in Nigeria since the current outbreak emerged this year.

The disease already has hit Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.

Authorities are investigating anyone who may have come into contact with the deceased man.

The latest outbreak has killed at least 660 people in West Africa

Mr Chukwu said: "All ports of entry into Nigeria, including airports, seaports and land borders, are placed on red alert.

"Ministry of health specialists have been positioned in all entry points. Active surveillance has also been stepped up."

He added: "We have already got in touch with all the passengers. We are monitoring and investigating."

Liberia's chief medical officer identified the Ebola victim as a government official with the finance ministry.

He flew to Nigeria to attend an international conference.

Ebola, one of the world's most deadly and contagious diseases, has killed at least 660 and infected 1,093 in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea, and now Nigeria, according to the World Health Organisation.

23.17 | 0 komentar | Read More

MH17: Victim's Parents Visit Crash Scene

The parents of one of the victims of the Malaysia Airlines plane disaster in eastern Ukraine have travelled from Australia to the crash site to honour their daughter.

Fatima Dyczynski, 25, was among 298 people on board flight MH17 when it came down on July 17 while travelling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.

She had been making her way to Australia to see her parents.

Jerzy Dyczynski and Angela Rudhart-Dyczynski crossed territory held by pro-Russian rebels to reach the area where the wreckage came down in fields outside the village of Hrabove.

The couple appeared emotional at the crash scene

The couple, appearing emotional, walked among the debris and scorched earth and laid a large bouquet of flowers.

Mr Dyczynski, who wore a white T-shirt with a portrait of Fatima, said: "We are for peace. She (Fatima) was for peace, she is for peace and she will be forever for peace."

His wife said: "We have promised our daughter we will come here. We should have come here the minute it happened."

She added: "She was full of life," adding her daughter, an aerospace engineering student, used to want to be a pilot.

They last spoke to their daughter shortly before she boarded the doomed flight, where there were no survivors.

A section of the plane's fuselage

The couple, from Perth, had arrived on a minibus at the rebel-held zone, ignoring their government's safety warnings.

Some 28 Australians were killed in the tragedy, which has been blamed on separatists shooting down the airliner, mistaking it for a Ukrainian plane. The rebels denied they were responsible.

Investigators are still trying to get full access to the site as Dutch and Australian police head to the area to try to secure it.

Human remains are still at the scene more than a week after the aircraft came down, says Australia's Prime Minister.

23.17 | 0 komentar | Read More

Bodies 'Still Remain' At MH17 Crash Site

Human remains are still at the site of the Malaysia Airlines crash in eastern Ukraine more than a week after the aircraft came down, says Australia's Prime Minister.

Tony Abbott is sending 190 police officers along with a small number of its defence forces to try to help secure the area which is currently controlled by pro-Russian separatists.

The Australians will join 40 plain-clothes military police from the Netherlands who are set to begin escorting forensic experts to the vast crash site.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak will travel to the Netherlands on Wednesday to discuss the downed jet with his Dutch counterpart where they will discuss how to get investigators full access to the area.

A section of the plane's fuselage

Some 227 bodies out of a total of 298 people killed in the flight MH17 disaster have been handed over to Dutch authorities, but many more remains lie under the sweltering heat at the scene.

"Plainly there are unrecovered body remains in the area. And it's the presence of unrecovered remains that makes it more important than ever that an international team be dispatched to the site," said Mr Abbott, stressing it was a humanitarian mission.

"Every day the site remains unsecured, there is more interference and the remains are subject to the ravages of the European summer, animals, disturbance."

Two cargo planes have flown 38 more coffins carrying victims out of Ukraine to Holland where they will be taken to a forensic centre for identification and investigation.

Debris is spread over a large area

The White House has said Russian President Vladimir Putin was "culpable" in the downing of MH17.

In his strongest comments yet since the plane was shot down, White House spokesman Josh Earnest linked the crash to Russia, which the US has criticised for providing arms to Ukrainian separatists.

Mr Earnest also confirmed reports that Russian troops are firing heavy artillery on Ukrainian military across the border, describing it as an escalation of the conflict.

A plane carrying Dutch military police leaves for Ukraine

The US has previously accused Russia of providing arms to Ukrainian pro-Russian separatists.

Russia, however, has called the latest US accusations of Moscow's involvement in the Ukrainian conflict a baseless "smear campaign".

Meanwhile, European Union ambassadors have reached a preliminary deal on stepped-up sanctions against Russia, targeting its defence and technology sectors and its access to European capital.

Hearses take victims' bodies to a forensic centre in Holland

EU spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic said EU member states must decide whether the measures need to be approved by a summit meeting of the trade bloc's 28 member countries to go into effect.

The ambassadors also ordered asset freezes and travel bans against more Russians and pro-Russian Ukrainians accused of undermining Ukraine.

The US has accused Russia of arming Ukrainian separatists

Alexander Bortnikov, head of the FSB, and Mikhail Fradkov, head of the foreign intelligence service, were among 15 Russians and Ukrainians, and 18 companies and other organisations named in the latest sanctions list published in the EU's Official Journal.

The Russian foreign ministry said the additional sanctions would hamper co-operation over international and regional security issues.

23.17 | 0 komentar | Read More

Truce Extended As Gaza Death Toll Tops 1,000

Israel has agreed to extend a 12-hour "humanitarian" truce in Gaza by four hours as the Palestinian death toll reached 1,000.

It comes as world leaders continue their attempt to thrash out a wider ceasefire in Paris. 

Parts of Gaza came under heavy bombardment minutes before the break in hostilities at 8am (6am UK time), with Israeli shells killing 18 members of a Palestinian family, according to the Gaza health ministry.

The Al Najar family had apparently been trapped in their house in Khuzaa village for two days when the shells hit.

A Palestinian woman stands outside destroyed homes in Shejaia, Gaza

Doctors in Gaza said 85 bodies have been pulled from rubble since the ceasefire started, taking the number of Palestinians killed in 19 days of violence to more than 1,000.

Three Israeli soldiers were also killed in combat prior to the ceasefire, meaning 40 military personnel have died since their operation began on July 8. A total of three civilians have been killed by rocket fire into Israel.

Israel is reportedly continuing its search of Hamas tunnels during the truce - though both sides have so far observed a break in fire.

Gaza's northern district of Beit Hanun photographed during the ceasefire

An unnamed Israeli official confirmed they would now observe the truce until 12am (10pm UK time).

He said: "As far as Israel is concerned, there is no reason to prevent Gaza's people from stocking up on supplies, so long as the military can continue its work against the tunnels. Our war is not against the population."

US Secretary of State John Kerry remains "confident progress can be made" on a seven-day truce that would "bring people together to create a more durable plan".

However, on Friday evening Israel's defence minister told troops: "You need to be ready for the possibility that very soon we will instruct the military to significantly broaden the ground operation in Gaza."

John Kerry and his counterparts are in Paris for talks

Mr Kerry is in Paris for talks with British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond and other counterparts from Europe, Turkey and Qatar.

Mr Hammond said the focus was to negotiate an extension to the 12-hour ceasefire before trying to find a long-term solution to the crisis.

Earlier, Mr Kerry told a news conference in Cairo a "fundamental framework" for peace was in place and that it would "ultimately succeed".

"The world is watching tragic moment after tragic moment unfold and is wondering when everybody is going to come to their senses," said Mr Kerry.

A map showing the areas of conflict and violence

An unnamed source from the Israeli government said they were seeking modifications as the truce proposal "leans too much towards Hamas demands".

In London, anti-war protesters marched from the Israeli embassy to the Houses of Parliament today.

Similar protests are taking place in France and Germany.

23.17 | 0 komentar | Read More