South African army plane crashes, kills 11

A SOUTH African military aircraft on an unknown mission to an area near former President Nelson Mandela's village has crashed in a mountain range, killing all 11 people onboard, officials say.

The Douglas C-47TP Dakota, a twin-propeller aircraft, had taken off from Pretoria's Waterkloof Air Force Base on Wednesday morning, said Brigadier General Xolani Mabanga, a military spokesman.

The aircraft encountered bad weather in flight and failed to make its 10am landing.

On Thursday morning, soldiers found the wreckage in the Drakensberg mountains near Ladysmith in KwaZulu-Natal province, some 340 kilometres southeast of the air base, Mabanga said.

The Drakensberg, which in the local Afrikaans language means Dragon Mountains, have the highest peaks in South Africa, reaching to a height of about 3400 metres.

In a statement on Thursday, South Africa's Defence Department said an investigation would begin into the cause of the crash, which killed six crew members and five passengers.

The statement did not explain what the aircraft had been doing, nor did it name those killed in the crash.

Siphiwe Dlamini, a Defence Department spokesman, did not immediately respond on Thursday to a request for more information about the crash.

Mthatha is about 30 kilometres north of Qunu, the village where Mandela now lives after retiring from public life.

South Africa's military remains largely responsible for the former president's medical care.

However, military officials declined to say whether those on board had any part in caring for Mandela.

In November, another South African military flight crash-landed at Mthatha, injuring several people.

20.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

Tanks deployed near Egypt president palace

Tanks have been deployed outside Egypt's presidential palace following a night of deadly clashes. Source: AAP

EGYPT'S army has deployed tanks outside the presidential palace after a night of deadly clashes between opponents and supporters of President Mohamed Morsi.

Three tanks and three armoured personnel carriers were stationed metres from the front gate of the palace in northern Cairo on Thursday as hundreds of Morsi's partisans chanted slogans in support of the president.

The military pledged on Thursday not to use violence against protesters.

General Mohammed Zaki, head of the Republican Guard tasked with protecting the president, said that "the armed forces, and the Republican Guard, will not be an instrument of oppression against protesters," the official MENA news agency reported.

Egypt's army will clear protesters still outside the presidential palace at 1300 GMT (0000 AEDT) and ban any demonstrations near the complex after deadly overnight clashes, the presidency said in a statement.

"The Republican Guard has decided to clear the area around the presidential palace at 1500 local time and ban protests around institutions belonging to the presidency," the statement said.

20.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

Global food prices fall 1.5%: FAO data

GLOBAL food prices fell 1.5 per cent in November to their lowest level since June, with sugar, oils and cereals seeing the sharpest drops, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation says.

The Rome-based FAO's Food Price Index averaged 211 points, down from 213 in October.

The index had risen by 1.4 per cent in September.

On a 12-month comparison, the index was down three per cent.

Sugar prices fell mainly due to increased export capacity from Brazil, while cereal prices dipped because the prospect of export restrictions by Ukraine receded even though there was concern over supply prospects in South America.

The sugar price index fell 4.8 per cent to 274 points, cereals dipped 1.5 per cent to 256 points and oils slid 2.6 per cent to 200 points.

The meat price index inched down just 0.7 per cent to 175 points as the sector's profit margins are squeezed by higher feed prices.

The dairy index also went down only 0.5 per cent to 195 points.

20.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

18th-century French chateau razed in error

RESIDENTS of a sleepy French village in Bordeaux have been left dumbfounded after discovering their local 18th-century chateau was completely bulldozed "by mistake."

The mayor's office in Yvrac said on Wednesday that workers who were hired to renovate the grand 13,000-square-metre estate in November and raze a small building mixed up them up.

Former own Juliette Marmie says "the Chateau de Bellevue was Yvrac's pride and joy." She adds "the whole village is in shock. How can this construction firm make such as mistake?"

The chateau's current owner Russian businessman Dmitry Stroskin was away and returned home to discover his beloved chateau - with a grand hall that could seat some 200 people - was nothing but rubble.

20.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

Cameron urges setup of press regulator

BRITAIN'S prime minister has warned newspaper editors they must act quickly to set up an independent press regulator in the wake of a media ethics scandal.

David Cameron spoke days after a report he commissioned on press wrongdoing proposed that the press should be regulated by an independent body enshrined in law.

Cameron has expressed misgivings about that and on Tuesday participated in a summit to hear proposals for a new system not backed by law.

He told the BBC that "the clock is ticking" for the industry to implement changes outlined in the report from Lord Justice Brian Leveson, which made recommendations to root out a subculture of unethical behaviour that led to Britain's phone-hacking scandal.

20.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

Russia has 190km traffic jam

THE Russian government on Monday admitted it had to improve road services after a 190-kilometre traffic jam involving more than 4,000 trucks paralysed circulation on a key highway over the weekend.

According to Russian media, some drivers were stuck motionless in a remote part of the M-10 motorway surrounded by forest for up to 44 hours after heavy snow caused the traffic to build up.

Officials said that traffic on the M-10 motorway north of Moscow had been moving normally again since the early hours of Monday but acknowledged more needed to be done to prevent a repeat of the problems.

Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, the government pointman on transport issues, said it was clear road services had not worked effectively after traffic built up for 190 kilometres (118 miles).

"At the start of the snowfall, not even a half of the available technical hardware was used," he told Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.

"Many drivers were stuck without provisions and fuel in the middle of a forest. This is not a European road but a Russian one, a forest road," he said.

Emergency Situations Minister Vladimir Puchkov described the problems as "a good lesson for all the services."

"They need to work on the roads and not in their warm offices," he warned.

Thousands of drivers waited for hours without moving in their lorry cabs Sunday in temperatures of minus five degrees Celsius.

Officials claimed that they had been given enough provisions but Puchkov admitted this had not always been the case.

"We had problems from the point of view of the highway services and ensuring that drivers had food, water and medication," he said.

Puchkov added: "Systems of keeping the drivers informed were not ready."

The traffic jam was caused by a heavy snowfall -- unusually severe for early winter -- late on Friday and was further complicated when the authorities manoeuvred a snow plough through the vehicles to clear the road.

According to the interior ministry, the traffic jam extended to 190 kilometres and involved more than 4,000 trucks.

Medvedev said that the road services needed to work efficiently and prevent such incidents from happening.

But the prime minister appeared to admit that such problems were inevitable given Russia's harsh climatic conditions.

"Drivers need to be prepared for the fact that the weather in our country is very, very complicated and there is always going to be snow," Medvedev said on television.

Traffic police said Monday that average speeds had by late morning returned to the normal 80 kilometres an hour after the vehicles started moving.

The M-10 motorway -- known as the "Russia" highway -- connects Moscow and Saint Petersburg and is one of the busiest in the country. It goes through the Tver region 160 kilometres (99 miles) north of Moscow where the traffic jam was at its worst.

The state RIA Novosti news agency said that by the afternoon a new traffic jam was starting to form on the highway just outside the city of Tver as weather forecasters warned of a heavy evening snowfall.

20.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

Aussie chef killed in Peru crash

AN Australian chef has died after a head-on car crash in Peru.

The 26-year-old from the Gold Coast had recently opened a restaurant in Lima.

He was reportedly killed after colliding with an out-of-control truck in a remote rural region of southern Peru on Friday.

Three other people, including the man's girlfriend, were also killed in the crash.

The Department of Foreign Affairs is providing assistance to the man's family.

20.08 | 0 komentar | Read More

Fire sparked at paper mill

ABOUT 50 fire fighters have battled for more than hour to control a blaze at a Melbourne paper mill.

The Metropolitan Fire Brigade responded to an alarm at the Amcor paper recycling factory at Alphington about 6.30pm (AEDT).

Crews found a large fire in a 100-metre long paper making machine on the first floor.

They took over an hour to control the blaze, the brigade said in a statement, adding that they were aided by 115 fire protection sprinkler heads protecting the machine and the Amcor on-site fire team.

The machinery was significantly damaged and some damage was also caused to the roof.

Crews will remain on scene throughout the night.

The fire started within a heat processing unit.

20.08 | 0 komentar | Read More

Man stabbed with beer bottle

A MAN was stabbed with a broken beer bottle after a brawl at a bottle shop in Cooma.

About 8.30pm on Saturday police were called to a bottle shop in Sharp Street, where the alleged attack occurred.

Police said there was an earlier altercation between the occupants of a parked vehicle and several customers entering the store.

A 33-year-old man was found with lacerations to his chest after allegedly being glassed twice with a broken beer bottle.

He was taken to Cooma Hospital and treated for minor lacerations to his stomach. He was later released.

A 22-year-old man was arrested at the scene, with a 25-year-old man fleeing before police arrived.

The 22-year-old man was charged with affray and common assault and will appear at Cooma Local Court on January 9, 2013.

Police have questioned the other man, who is expected to be charged.

20.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

Iran sacks police chief over blogger's death

TEHRAN'S cyber police chief has been sacked for negligence in events leading to the death in custody of an Iranian blogger, Iran's police said on its website.

Colonel Saeed Shokrian "was removed from his post due to negligence and lax supervision over personnel under his command," police.ir reported, quoting a decree by Iran's police chief, Esmaeel Ahmadi Moghadam.

His dismissal came weeks after the fate of blogger Sattar Beheshti, reportedly tortured to death after criticising Iran's regime in his posts, provoked an international outcry.

Beheshti, 35, was found dead in his cell in a Tehran prison on November 3 after being arrested on October 30, according to chief prosecutor Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejeie.

His death also provoked outrage inside the regime, in a rare case of Iran accepting international criticism over a human rights complaint.

Judiciary officials have promised a lawful probe into the case, leading to seven arrests so far, according to Iranian media.

"The judiciary will investigate the case within the framework of law, and will confront those responsible for the incident," Mohammad Javad Larijani, head of the judiciary's High Council of Human Rights, said in remarks reported by media. He however called the death "suspicious".

Mehdi Davatgari, a lawmaker overseeing a parliamentary inquiry into Beheshti's death, had earlier called for the removal of Colonel Shokrian.

Preliminary investigations by the coroner, the prosecutor and the parliamentary committee suggest Beheshti's death was caused by mistreatment, either through beating or psychological torture, at the hands of the cyber police.

Iran formed the police unit in early 2011 to combat "cyber crimes," particularly those committed on social networking sites which are popular among the opposition and dissidents.

20.08 | 0 komentar | Read More