Midwest quake felt far and wide -- Thousands report feeling Illinois quake

April 18, 2008

• Thousands report feeling Illinois quake -- some even in Florida
• Tremor is strongest in region in 40 years
• Minor damage seen in Louisville, Kentucky; air traffic pauses in Indianapolis
• Magnitude-5.2 tremor strikes southern Illinois at 4:36 a.m.
• Aftershocks up to magnitude 4.5 follow quake

(CNN) -- People nearly 900 miles away felt a magnitude-5.2 earthquake that shook southern Illinois early Friday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

There were no immediate reports of major damage after the predawn quake, which struck at 4:36 a.m. (5:36 a.m. ET). However, some minor damage was seen in the region.

In Mount Carmel, Illinois, a porch collapsed, briefly trapping a woman in her home, The Associated Press reported. She wasn't hurt and was freed quickly, police told the AP.

Debris fell on a sidewalk and shattered in Louisville, Kentucky, after part of a cornice fell off a brick building, according to footage from the city's CNN affiliate WHAS-TV.

"I woke up when my windows started rattling," Louisville resident Stephanie Kellerman told CNN. "A few seconds later some plaster fell from my ceiling, and my cats reacted by fleeing the bedroom and scattering down to the first floor."

The epicenter of the earthquake -- the strongest in the region in 40 years -- was about seven miles below ground and 38 miles north-northwest of Evansville, Indiana, the USGS said. Nearly 10,000 people had sent reports of shaking to the USGS Web site by 9 a.m. ET.

People as far away as Niceville, Florida, 891 miles away, reported to the USGS Web site that they had felt the quake. Reports also came in from such distant places as West Virginia, Alabama and Kansas. "Pretty typically for these eastern-central U.S. earthquakes, they're felt over a very broad area," said Dave Applegate, USGS senior science adviser, adding that quakes in California tend to be more localized.

The Earth's crust is older and less fractured in the Midwest than in California, and the region's deep sediment "shakes a lot," Applegate said."Older crust, when you have an earthquake, it rings like a bell," he said.

The USGS said the largest historical earthquake in the region -- magnitude 5.4 -- shook southern Illinois in 1968.

People as far away as southwest Michigan and northeast Georgia e-mailed CNN to say they felt Friday's tremor. Air traffic was halted for an hour at Indianapolis International Airport while the control tower was evacuated, CNN affiliate WRTV-TV in the Indiana city reported. And buildings swayed in Chicago's Loop, The Associated Press reported.

"It shook our house where it woke me up," David Behm of Philo, Illinois, told the AP. "Windows were rattling, and you could hear it. The house was shaking Inches. For people in central Illinois, this is a big deal. It's not like California."

Radio talk-show host George Noory said he felt the quake in his St. Louis home. "Everything shook," Noory said. "I thought the building was going to collapse."

Bonnie Lucas, who hosts a morning show at WHO-AM in Des Moines, told the AP she felt her chair move for five seconds.

The earthquake occurred in the Wabash Valley fault system, adjacent to the New Madrid Seismic Zone, Applegate said. That zone, named for the town of New Madrid, Missouri, was the site of a series of huge tremors in 1811 and 1812.

Chicago Skyline Rattles in Rare Earthquake, First Jolt for Many

April 19 (Bloomberg) -- Mike Williams paused on his way to work in the Sears Tower, the tallest U.S. building, just hours after a 5.2 earthquake rattled the Chicago skyline yesterday. Was it wise to enter so soon? He shrugged. ``I'm just not worrying about earthquakes,'' said Williams, 50, a tax consultant with Ernst & Young whose office is on the 10th floor. ``They don't come often here.''

Chicago, birthplace of the skyscraper, got hit with its biggest quake since 1968 at 4:36 a.m. It was the first time many residents experienced such a tremor. Plates rattled, books slipped off nightstands, beds shimmied. No injuries were reported.

The rarity of earthquakes is built into the skyline of Chicago, a city that keeps expanding its high-rise construction legacy. The 1,450-foot (442-meter) Sears Tower will be supplanted as the tallest U.S. building when the 2,000-foot Chicago Spire under construction across town opens in 2011.

Chicago police got 126 calls right after the earthquake struck from residents unfamiliar with the sensation. ``I've never gone through any earthquake and I've lived in Chicago all my 47 years,'' said Colleen Muench, a livestock clerk at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange who was awake because her alarm was accidentally set too early. "I grabbed my kitchen counter and dishes in the cabinet shook,'' she said.

The quake, 7 miles (11 kilometers) underground, was centered about 280 miles south of Chicago and ranked second in intensity in Illinois only to the 1968 temblor measuring 5.3, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The state Emergency Management Agency reported scattered damage to homes, such as toppled chimneys, and to grain elevators. A second quake that measured 4.5 hit in the same area about five hours later, the Survey said. It wasn't felt in Chicago offices. Transportation agencies were checking bridges, tower cranes and viaducts that don't often undergo such jolts.

During yesterday's first quake, Chicago resident Jon Peterson woke up and looked at his clock at 4:37 a.m. The tremor was so physically insignificant he settled in to go back to sleep. He opened his eyes at 4:41 a.m., unable to sleep because the experience had been so unusual. ``I felt time stop,'' said Peterson, 48, a geologist with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Tremors strong enough to rattle dishes happen every one or two decades in the Chicago area, according to Amy Vaughan, a geophysicist with the National Earthquake Information Center in Denver.

While quakes in Chicago in the past 150 years have been rare and caused little damage, the broader region wasn't always so calm. Four quakes, measuring as large as 8.1, hit southeast Missouri from December 1811 to February 1812. They leveled towns and created waves on the Mississippi River so large that observers reported the water was running backward, the Survey said.

Tower sways in quake

April 20, 2008

AN EARTHQUAKE measuring 5.2 and the strongest to hit America's Midwest in 40 years, struck south-east Illinois, startling residents but causing only minor damage and no injuries. A tower at O'Hare International Airport swayed, with one controller telling the Chicago Tribune it felt like "being on the end of a fishing pole".

The quake, the strongest in the area since a 5.4 magnitude quake in November 1968, struck before dawn on Friday and was felt as far west as Kansas, as far east as Georgia and as far north as Michigan's Upper Peninsula. "Earthquakes of comparable size are felt over greater distances in the East than those occurring in the West," said US Geological Survey seismologist Harley Benz.

Friday's quake, classified as "moderate" by the USGS, was centred eightkilometres north-east of Bellmont, Illinois, in the south-east of the state, near Kentucky. Some bricks were knocked from a building in Louisville, Kentucky and residents near the epicentre were woken by several seconds of shaking strong enough to knock pictures off walls. Many other residents slept through the quake.

The quake was felt in Chicago buildings and the fire department asked operators of construction cranes to check they were firmly anchored before resuming work.

Source: The Sun-Herald

Police fire tear gas in Egypt riots

MSNBC

9:38 p.m. ET, Mon., April 7, 2008

MAHALLA EL-KOBRA, Egypt - Egyptian police attacked protesters who tore down a billboard of President Hosni Mubarak in a northern city Monday in the second day of violence fueled by anger over low wages and rising prices.

In another sign of dissatisfaction with the U.S.-backed government, the country's most powerful opposition group, the Muslim Brotherhood, said it was reversing a decision to participate in local elections Tuesday because of mass arrests of its members in recent months.

Prices of cooking oil, rice and other staples have nearly doubled since the beginning of the year and there are widespread shortages of government-subsidized bread throughout the country of 76 million people. Nearly 40 percent of Egyptians live under the internationally defined poverty line of $2 a day. Complaints that the government is not doing enough to help the poor have turned simmering dissatisfaction with repression and lack of economic opportunity into rare open unrest.

Thousands of demonstrators torched buildings, looted shops and hurled bricks at police in the Nile Delta city of Mahalla al-Kobra on Sunday. Nearly 100 others were arrested elsewhere in protests over economic problems. Thousands skipped work and school and hundreds protested.

Several hundred young men massed in Mahalla al-Kobra's main square on Monday, throwing rocks at a billboard of Mubarak and slashing it with knives before toppling it. Riot police charged the group, firing heavy volleys of tear gas, pulling some of the men to the pavement and beating them with batons or fists.

Protesters threw stones or canisters of tear gas at the police. At least 25 people were arrested, and 15 protesters and five policemen were hurt, security officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the press.

The government appears worried by the unrest and lifted import duties on some food items last week in an effort to lower prices. It strongly warned citizens against participating in the strikes and demonstrations, which are illegal in Egypt.

The Muslim Brotherhood said Mubarak's administration also had arrested more than 1,000 of its members and potential candidates, detaining 400 after the group announced last month that it would take part in Tuesday's municipal elections. The Brotherhood is a banned organization and its candidates run officially as independents, although their allegiances are generally known. On Monday the group urged supporters to boycott municipal polls, saying on its Web site that the elections "have already been fixed before being held."

November 27, 2009 1159 GMT (1959 HKT)

Lagos, Nigeria (CNN) -- Nigeria's president will not resign despite currently undergoing treatment in Saudi Arabia for a heart condition, his office said Friday. President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua and the vice president will continue in their respective roles and the latter will not assume presidential duties, a spokesman said. Yar'Adua has acute pericarditis -- an inflammation of tissue around the heart -- and is responding well to treatment, said Salisu Banye, the president's doctor. The illness was diagnosed last week after the president complained of chest pain following prayers at a mosque in the capital, Abuja. Yar'Adua was taken to the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where he had his last checkup in August, his doctor said.

May 6, 2010 - Updated 0053 GMT (0853 HKT)

Lagos, Nigeria (CNN) -- Nigeria's ailing President Umaru Yar'Adua, who gave amnesty to armed militants in the troubled oil-rich Niger Delta region, died Wednesday, the country's information minister said. He was 58.

Yar'Adua had not been seen in public since November, when he went to Saudi Arabia for treatment of an inflammation of tissue around his heart. He was diagnosed with that condition, acute pericarditis, last fall after he complained of chest pain. He returned to Nigeria in February but had remained out of sight.

Vice President Goodluck Jonathan has served as the country's acting leader since Yar'Adua fell ill.

Yar'Adua took office in 2007 in an election mired in controversy and accusations of vote-rigging. "There was ballot snatching, voters were molested, voters were beaten ... and also payment inducement to vote for certain candidates," said Eneruvie Enakoko of the Civil Liberties Organization, a human rights group in Lagos.

The president, a soft-spoken and unassuming figure who did not bask in the media spotlight like past leaders of the West African nation, pledged to fight to improve the country of 150 million people despite the accusations. "Our collective goal is to deliver for our children a Nigeria better, stronger, more peaceful, more secure and more prosperous than we met it," Yar'Adua said.

President Barack Obama issued a statement late Wednesday expressing his condolences to Yar'Adua's family and the Nigerian people. "President Yar'Adua worked to promote peace and stability in Africa through his support of Nigerian peacekeeping efforts as well as his strong criticism of undemocratic actions in the region," Obama said in the statement. "He was committed to creating lasting peace and prosperity within Nigeria's own borders, and continuing that work will be an important part of honoring his legacy."

His election followed wide support from his predecessor, leading critics to label him a puppet of the former president, Olusegun Obasanjo. After he was elected, Yar'Adua replaced some of Obasanjo's top officials, including the head of the army, a move analysts said was aimed at shedding off his predecessor's influence.

One of Yar'Adua's biggest successes was offering amnesty to militants in the troubled oil-rich Niger Delta region, a move that brought fragile peace to the area after years of conflict. The well-armed Niger Delta rebels have been battling Nigeria's armed forces over oil profits, which they say are unequally distributed. While he has hospitalized in Saudi Arabia, the militants called off the truce, dealing a blow to plans to end violence that has crippled oil production in the nation.

Analysts say he did little to institutionalize reform in a country where ywo-thirds of the population lives on less than a dollar a day. "Because many people feel disillusioned economically and as long as they have those sentiments -- I think the risk of radical uprisings in places like northern Nigeria and certainly southern Nigeria in the Delta will continue regardless of who is in power," said Rolake Akinola, an analyst at Control Risks West Africa.

Yar'Adua, a former chemistry teacher, was married twice and has nine children.

A star 7.5 billion light years away exploded, giving off the brightest gamma-ray burst afterglow ever seen. Telescopic measurements show that the burst -- which occurred when the universe was about half its current age -- was bright enough to be seen without a telescope.

"We'd never seen one before so bright and at such a distance," NASA's Neil Gehrels said. The powerful supernova burst was visible to the naked eye for about an hour.

Barenaked Ladies singer survives plane crash -- Ed Robertson, wife and another couple were in a floatplane Sunday

August 25, 2008

Ed Robertson (center) was flying his plane Sunday afternoon when it went down.

TORONTO, Ontario (AP) -- The lead singer of the Canadian pop band Barenaked Ladies and three other people survived a plane crash in rural southeastern Ontario, authorities said Monday. Ed Robertson's Cessna 206 floatplane crashed in a wooded area near Bancroft, Ontario, on Sunday afternoon as he was trying to take off from Baptiste Lake, Ontario Provincial police Sgt. Bruce Quigg said. Quigg said no one in the plane was injured. Robertson's friend Gord Peel told The Belleville Intelligencer newspaper that the other passengers were Robertson's wife, Natalie, and their friends Julie and Jeff Jones. Peel, who said he has known Robertson for about a decade, arrived on the scene shortly after the crash and found the four friends walking on a road, shaken but unharmed. He said the plane stalled but Robertson managed to set it straight down into the trees with its nose resting on the ground. They had to get out through the windows but did not have a scratch, he said. "Everyone is fine and that is the important thing," Adam Smith, the band's manager, said Sunday night in an e-mail. "That's all the comment we have at this time." Spokeswoman Julie Leroux said Monday that the Transportation Safety Board of Canada is assessing the accident scene to determine whether an investigation will be launched.

Robertson is host of "Ed's Up" on the Outdoor Life Network. The show documents his travels by plane. He received his pilot's license in 2005 and is described on the OLN Web site as a "recreational pilot." Episodes involve landing his Cessna on water near cities across North America. This is the second time this summer that a member of the Barenaked Ladies has made headlines. Singer Steven Page was arrested in upstate New York last month and charged with possession of a controlled substance.

DJ AM, Blink-182's Barker severely burned in crash

September 21, 2008

DJ AM, left, and Travis Barker backstage at the MTV Video Music Awards on September 7.

(CNN) -- Musicians DJ AM and Travis Barker should fully recover from severe burns they suffered during a fiery jet crash in South Carolina that killed four people, a doctor said Sunday. DJ AM, whose real name is Adam Goldstein, and Barker, the former drummer for Blink-182, are being treated at the Joseph Still Burn Center in Augusta, Georgia, after suffering second- and third-degree burns in Friday night's crash, said Dr. Fred Mullins, the center's executive director. Barker received burns on his torso and lower body from the jet crash late Friday. Goldstein was burned on his arm and head, Mullins said. Though he expects a full recovery, Mullins said Barker and Goldstein could be hospitalized for weeks. Investigators, meanwhile, are trying to determine whether a blown tire caused the crash, which happened during takeoff from the Columbia Metropolitan Airport. Investigators found evidence that one of the jet's tires may have blown moments before takeoff, said National Transportation Safety Board spokeswoman Debbie Hersman. Federal investigators have recovered the jet's cockpit voice recorder, which captured a "sound consistent with a tire blowout," Hersman said. "The crew attempted to reject the takeoff but was unable to stop the aircraft before it departed the runway," Hersman said.

The Learjet 60 was taking off from the Columbia Metropolitan Airport at 11:53 p.m. Friday when it crashed, authorities said. Barker and Goldstein had played earlier at a free outdoor concert in Columbia's Five Points district, CNN affiliate WIS reported. The plane went off the end of the 8,600-foot runway and crashed through light towers and an antenna array before crossing a road and stopping at an embankment.

Lexington County Coroner Harry O. Harman said those killed in the crash were from California. He identified them as pilot Sarah Lemmon, 31, of Anaheim Hills; co-pilot James Bland, 52, of Carlsbad; Chris Baker, 29, of Studio City; and Charles Still, 25, of Los Angeles.

Baker was Barker's assistant, and Still was his security guard, according to The Associated Press. A publicist told AP the men were Barker's close friends.

One witness said he saw Barker and Goldstein trying to extinguish flames on their bodies by ripping off their clothing. "We turned to the jet to try and see if there was anything we could do, but immediately, there was nothing anyone could do," William Owens told CNN affiliate WIS in Columbia, South Carolina. "I felt ill or sick to think that these lives were snuffed out at that point."

FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said the twin-engine, private jet was cleared for takeoff on a flight to Van Nuys, California, and began its takeoff a few minutes before midnight. No other aircraft was on the runway and no vehicles were on the road, Bergen said. "The weather was clear with light winds," Hersman said.

On Saturday evening, Hersman said air traffic controllers saw sparks from the aircraft as it was going down the runway and immediately alerted fire-rescue crews at the airport. Authorities didn't know where the sparks originated but found "some rubber and other airplane parts on the runway," Hersman said.

The Learjet 60 was manufactured in 2006 and was powered by Pratt & Whitney 305A engines, Hersman said. The jet is owned by Inter Travel and Services Inc. and operated by Global Executive Aviation, she said. A Web site for Global Executive Aviation lists its headquarters as Long Beach, California.

In addition to playing with Blink-182, Barker has appeared in the MTV reality show "Meet the Barkers" along with his wife at the time, former Miss USA Shanna Moakler, according to MTV's Web site.

According to DJ AM's Web site, Barker and DJ AM recently collaborated on a mixtape titled, "Fix Your Face."

Quatrain 5.44

By sea the red one will be captured by pirates,
The peace will be troubled by his policy:
The anger and greed will be revealed by a false act,
For the great Pontiff the army will be doubled.

Iraqi police hunt for kidnapped archbishop

Mar 1, 2008

MOSUL, Iraq (AFP) — Iraqi forces fanned out in the northern city of Mosul on Saturday searching for a Chaldean Catholic archbishop kidnapped after a deadly attack that Pope Benedict XVI branded "atrocious". A special police team tightened security, "especially around the Nur district," said a senior police official in Mosul, speaking on condition of anonymity. He said a special task force has been formed to search for Faraj-Farraj Rahhu, the archbishop of Mosul, he added.

Rahhu was kidnapped by armed men after a shootout in Mosul's eastern Nur district late on Friday. Two bodyguards and his driver were killed.

The Syriac Christian archbishop of Mosul, Baptiste Georges Casmoussa, himself a kidnap victim two years ago, said he had begun negotiating with the kidnappers for his Chaldean counterpart's release. "We received a telephone call from the kidnappers and have begun negotiations for the release of Monsignor Farraj Rahhu," the Rome-based missionary news agency MISNA reported Casmoussa as saying. Casmoussa was himself kidnapped in January 2005 and held for a day before being released.

Rahhu, seized while on his way home after holding mass, was the latest in a long line of Christian clerics to be abducted in Iraq since the US-led invasion of the country in March 2003.

At the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI condemned the latest kidnapping as an "atrocious act which touches the whole of the Church" in Iraq, and expressed his "bitterness", a statement from the Vatican said. It also described the kidnapping as a "criminal" and "premeditated act."

In Baghdad, United Nations special representative for Iraq Staffan de Mistura condemned the kidnapping. "It is appalling that these attacks on communities that have lived peacefully together in north Iraq for centuries, are continuing," said de Mistura. The UN envoy called on the Iraqi government "to redouble its efforts in the protection of minorities in the country ... and to ensure that those responsible for such crimes are brought to justice."

Mariam, an Iraqi Chaldean Christian living in Baghdad, learnt of the Mosul kidnapping while watching the news on a Christian television network. "It is terrible that any religious cleric, Muslim or Christian, is kidnapped," she said.

Mariam, who gave just one name to protect her identity, believes that sectarian religious hatred did not play a role in the abduction of Rahhu. The archbishop "was targeted because of money, not because he was a Christian," she said.

She pointed to the case of Chaldean priest Hani Abdel Ahad, kidnapped in June in Baghdad. Abdel Ahad was released after being held captive a few days -- apparently after a ransom was paid with funds collected from abroad, she said.

The US embassy in Baghdad condemned Rahhu's abduction, but said they did not know who was responsible.

"We deplore and condemn this senseless act of violence, and are deeply concerned about the plight of Christian families and communities who are feeling increasing pressure from violence, insecurity and aggression," said US embassy spokeswoman Mirembe Nantongo. "We will continue to work with the Iraqi government to protect and support the Christian minority and all victims of violence, irrespective of religious affiliation," Nantongo said.

Iraq's Christians, with the Chaldean rite by far the largest community, were said to number as many as 800,000 before the US-led invasion nearly five years ago. The number today is believed to have dropped to half that figure.

Associated with the "Crusader" invaders and regarded as well-off, they are often victims of sectarian cleansing, killings and kidnappings at the hands of both Sunni and Shiite Islamists, as well as criminal gangs.

On January 6 a series of bombs exploded outside churches and a monastery in Mosul, in an apparently coordinated attack that wounded four people and damaged buildings, as Christians celebrated Epiphany.

Cardinal Emmanuel III Delly, the 80-year-old patriarch of the Baghdad-based Chaldean Catholic Church, was among 23 clerics the pope elevated to the status of cardinal in November.

Archbishop kidnapped in Iraq found dead

guardian.co.uk, Thursday March 13 2008

An undated photograph of Paulos Faraj Rahho, who was found dead after being kidnapped in Mosul, northern Iraq. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

A Chaldean Catholic archbishop kidnapped in northern Iraq last month was today found dead. The body of Paulos Faraj Rahho was discovered near the northern city of Mosul, where he was abducted on February 29.

Gunmen snatched him and killed his driver and two companions as they left mass. The SIR news agency quoted the auxiliary bishop of Baghdad, Monsignor Shlemon Warduni, as saying the kidnappers had buried Rahho's remains.

Warduni said the church in Mosul received a phone call from the kidnappers telling them the archbishop was dead and where his body had been dumped. "We are hurt by this painful incident," Warduni said. The archbishop's body is believed to have been buried several days ago. No one has yet claimed responsibility for his killing.

A spokesman for the Vatican, the Rev Federico Lombardi, said the Pope had been informed of the death and was "deeply saddened". "We had all kept hoping and praying for his release," Lombardi said. "Unfortunately the most absurd and senseless violence keeps dogging the Iraqi people, and especially the small Christian community."

Rahho's kidnappers had demanded increasing amounts of money and had refused to let other clergy to talk to him. They had claimed he was receiving "daily medical care from a doctor".

His killing is the latest act of violence targeted against Iraq's shrinking Christian community, which numbers around 700,000. Most are Chaldeans - Catholics who maintain autonomy from the Vatican but recognise the Pope's authority.

In an interview in November with the AsiaNews news agency, Rahho said the situation in Mosul was not improving and "religious persecution is more noticeable than elsewhere because the city is split along religious lines".

"Everyone is suffering from this war irrespective of religious affiliation, but in Mosul Christians face starker choices," he said. Since the 2003 American-led invasion of Iraq, Christians have been targeted by extremists who label them "crusaders" loyal to US forces.

U.S. outrage as Serb protesters burn embassy

BELGRADE (Reuters) - Serb protesters ransacked and set fire to the U.S. embassy in Belgrade on Thursday, venting anger at U.S. support for Kosovo's declaration of independence.

By Reuters
February 21, 2008

BELGRADE (Reuters) - Serb protesters ransacked and set fire to the U.S. embassy in Belgrade on Thursday, venting anger at U.S. support for Kosovo's declaration of independence. A charred body was found in the U.S. embassy, but all U.S. personnel had been accounted for, a U.S. official said.

Riot police eventually dispersed the rampaging protesters but Washington was furious over the lack of security for its embassy in the Serbian capital. "I'm outraged by the mob attack," said the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Zalmay Khalilzad, adding he would ask the Security Council to condemn it unanimously. Hospital officials said 97 people were injured in the street clashes, including 32 police and a Dutch reporter.

Serbia considers Kosovo its historic heartland and has waged a diplomatic campaign against the secession of the predominantly ethnic Albanian region, which declared independence on Sunday. Local agencies reported lesser attacks on other diplomatic missions, including those of Britain, Germany, Turkey, Croatia and Bosnia, but none was entered. Gangs vandalized shops and banks, especially Western ones, and there was some looting, marring a state-backed rally by up to 200,000 Serbs against Kosovo's secession.

"As long as we live, Kosovo is Serbia," Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica told the crowd in front of the old Yugoslav parliament building. "We're not alone in our fight. President (Vladimir) Putin is with us," he said, paying tribute to the Russian leader who has opposed U.S. and European states' recognition of Kosovo. The "people's rally" was Serbia's biggest since protesters filled the streets in 1999 to protest at NATO bombing and then in October 2000, when they stormed the same parliament building to oust nationalist autocrat Slobodan Milosevic.

The atmosphere at the rally had been subdued as Serbs of all ages listened to speeches, melancholic patriotic songs and poems about Kosovo, seen as the birthplace of a medieval kingdom and Serbia's religious roots.

Police, nowhere to be seen when the U.S. embassy was attacked, moved in half an hour later, firing teargas and beating and detaining rioters to disperse the crowd. The building had been closed and boarded up after rioters stoned it on Sunday. Police in armored vans secured the streets and tried to cordon off the whole embassy district. People tried to flee clouds of teargas.

Serbian President Boris Tadic appealed for calm, calling on protesters to quit the streets and stop attacking embassies, saying: "This only keeps Kosovo distant from Serbia." Rioters -- many wearing balaclavas and scarves to hide their faces -- had attacked the U.S. embassy with sticks and metal bars after destroying two guard boxes outside. They ripped metal grilles from windows and tore a handrail off the entrance to use as a battering ram and gain entry.

One man climbed up to the first floor, ripped the Stars and Stripes off its pole and briefly put up a Serbian flag. Other people jumped up and down on the balcony, holding up a Serbian flag as the crowd below of about 1,000 people cheered them on, shouting "Serbia, Serbia." Black smoke billowed out of the embassy. Papers and chairs were thrown out of the windows, with doors wedged in the window frames and burning. Some 200 riot police arrived later, driving the crowd away. Some protesters sat on the ground, bleeding. Fire engines arrived to put out the flames, local media reported.

Kosovo clashes force U.N. withdrawal

March 17, 2008 -- Updated 1511 GMT (2311 HKT)

(CNN) -- Violent clashes with Serbs who took over a U.N. building in northern Kosovo led to dozens of injuries and arrests and forced the United Nations to withdraw its police personnel from the area. About 40 U.N. police and at least 12 NATO soldiers were hurt in the violence Monday morning, U.N. spokesman Alexander Ivanko said told CNN. A local journalist said about 20 others, mostly protesters, were taken to a hospital for treatment of shock, and a Serb member of the Kosovo police force was being treated for a gunshot wound.

The clashes began when the U.N. and NATO forces started an operation early Monday to evict about 300 Serb protesters who had taken over a U.N. court building in north Mitrovica, a divided Kosovo town where ethnic Serbs control the northern half and ethnic Albanians control the southern half. The Serbs took control of the building Friday and the United Nations tried over the weekend to negotiate with them to leave, Ivanko said.

When there was no resolution by Monday, U.N. police decided to use force, he said. The Serbs had been told very clearly as early as Sunday night that the U.N. forces would move in to take control, he said. "There are reports of possible gunfire and some grenades used against U.N. police and KFOR," Ivanko said from Pristina, the capital of Kosovo , as the violence flared. KFOR is the abbreviation for the NATO Kosovo Force. Ivanko said the protesters also threw rocks, Molotov cocktails, and firecrackers at police. NATO troops responded with tear gas, Ivanko said.

The violence prompted the United Nations to evacuate all international police personnel from northern Mitrovica. "The reason for this is the very serious security situation," Ivanko said. "We do have a substantial number of police officers there but they're under constant attack, and that's why the police commissioner decided to hand over the dealing of this situation, as we speak, to KFOR." U.N. police would likely continue controlling the entry points into Kosovo after withdrawal, Ivanko said, but KFOR troops will take over security.

The injured protesters were taken to the hospital for shock because police used stun grenades to control the crowds, according to a local journalist who asked not to be named. Stun grenades emit a deafening noise when they explode but are not intended to injure.

The violence was some of the worst in Kosovo since it declared independence last month. Kosovo had been a Serbian province, and Serbia's government has strongly rejected the declaration.

The United States, which is among the countries that has recognized Kosovo's independence, urged all sides in Kosovo to work together. "It's important that Kosovo develop as a multi-ethnic society," State Department spokesman Tom Casey told CNN. "A plan is in place to ensure minority rights." Regarding increased fears about the partition of Kosovo along ethnic lines, Casey said, "I don't think anyone believes that a partition of Kosovo is a remote possibility. Kosovo will be Kosovo now and in the future."

Ivanko said about 40 people were arrested in the clashes. They were arraigned in Pristina and were expected to be released later in the day, Ivanko said. The journalist described the scene as quiet but tense by mid-morning, with KFOR troops patrolling the street. The protesters who took over the U.N. building in Mitrovica were angry over losing their court jobs in 1999, Ivanko said.

NATO vows to respond firmly to Kosovo violence

Mon Mar 17, 2008 9:56am EDT

BRUSSELS, March 17 (Reuters) - NATO peacekeepers in Kosovo will deal firmly with any violence in the territory in line with the U.N. mandate for the operation, an alliance spokesman said on Monday. "NATO condemns in the strongest form the violence we have seen in northern Kosovo today," NATO spokesman James Appathurai said by telephone after alliance troops came under fire during Serb riots in the flashpoint town of Mitrovica. "(The NATO-led force) KFOR will respond firmly to any acts of violence, as is its mandate from the United Nations," he said of incidents that were the worst violence in the territory since the Albanian majority declared independence last month.

Separately the European Union, which is deploying a 2,200-strong police supervisory mission to take over from the United Nations in Kosovo, said it was watching with concern. "I hope very much that the calm will be recuperated ... I appeal to everybody who can calm the situation to do their utmost," EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said in Ljubljana. He rejected suggestions that the violence would delay the EU mission, which is due to take over by mid-June. "Let me be very clear. The answer is no. The mission is continuing its deployment according to the calendar that has been established," Solana said.

NATO holds the line after Kosovo riots

Reuters

Tue Mar 18, 2008 8:48am AEDT

NATO troops were left holding the line against a hostile Serb population in north Kosovo, after riots forced the pullout of United Nations police and civilian staff.

Armoured French infantry vehicles stood at the head of a column of trucks full of French and Spanish troops at one of the two main bridges separating Kosovo Albanians from Kosovo Serbs in the flashpoint town of Mitrovica.

The UN mission in the newly-independent country said the withdrawal of its police and officials from the Serb stronghold, whose people bitterly oppose Kosovo's independence from Serbia, was only temporary but could not say when they would return. The clashes highlighted the risk of Kosovo's partition along ethnic lines and cast further doubt on the deployment in northern Kosovo of a European Union police mission intended to take over much of the role of a nine-year-old UN mission.

French, Belgian and Spanish NATO troops in armoured personnel carriers (APCs) secured key points in the flashpoint town. The bridges to the Albanian south were closed. There were no UN or Kosovo police on the streets of the Serb north. "We will maintain our intention to deploy the mission throughout the territory of Kosovo," the EU's new Kosovo envoy, Pieter Feith, told a news conference. The violence, sparked by a UN police operation to retake a UN court seized three days earlier by protesting Serbs, was the worst since Kosovo's 90 per cent Albanian majority declared independence from Serbia on February 17.

NATO said its troops came under automatic gunfire as Serbs converged on the court following the dawn raid. Serb media reports said about 70 civilians were wounded, along with dozens of UN police and soldiers of the 16,000-strong NATO-led peacekeeping force.

NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe John Craddock said some Serbs may have been hurt, but he had no details. "I understand that today [NATO-led] forces had to use both lethal and non-lethal means to control the rioting crowd," he told reporters during a visit to Afghanistan. Soldiers had followed their rules of engagement, he said, adding: "We want to continue to impress upon the Kosovo Serbian leadership how important it is to maintain control. Violence serves no purpose."

Battle continues

The EU last month withdrew a small advance team from north Mitrovica for security reasons. A UN spokesman said staff would return "as soon as the security situation permits". NATO troops secured the entire perimeter of the compound housing the court and main police station.

Backed by big-power ally Russia, Serbia has rejected Kosovo's secession and its recognition by the United States and a majority of the EU's 27 members. Around 120,000 Serbs remain in Kosovo among two million ethnic Albanians. Almost half live in the north, adjacent to Serbia and in complete isolation from the capital Pristina. They reject the incoming EU mission as "occupiers". Russia has demanded restraint by NATO and Serbia said it was consulting Moscow on joint steps to protect Kosovo Serbs.

Serbia lost control over Kosovo in 1999, when NATO bombed to drive out Serb forces and halt the killing and ethnic cleansing of Albanians in a two-year Serb counter-insurgency war. Belgrade is now strengthening a network of parallel structures in Serb areas of Kosovo, severing ties between Serbs and Albanians in all aspects of civic life. "We have to be present here as a state to provide security for Kosovo Serbs," Serbian Minister for Kosovo, Slobodan Samardzic, told Serbian state television. Addressing the crowd in Mitrovica, Mr Samardzic said: "Our battle continues. Kosovo is part of Serbia."

Bulgaria Security Council Discusses Moves on Kosovo

novinite.com

March 18, 2008, Tuesday

Bulgaria's Security Council discussed Tuesday the current situation in Kosovo, and the possible courses of action of the Bulgarian government in this respect.

PM Sergey Stanishev chaired the meeting, which was also attended by the Foreign Minister Ivaylo Kalfin, the Defense Minister Veselin Bliznakov, the Interior Minister Rumen Petkov, the Chair of the State National Security Agency Petko Sertov, the Head of the Army Staff Gen. Zlatan Stoykov, the Director of the Intelligence Kircho Kirov, and the Head of the Military Intelligence Plamen Studenkov.

The PM was informed about the current developments in the newly independent Republic of Kosovo. The intelligence heads reported no Bulgarians from the international missions had been killed or injured in the recently escalating violence in the north of Kosovo.

The contacts and consultations that Bulgaria maintains on the Kosovo situation with other countries from Southeast Europe and EU members were also a discussed at the meeting.

The cabinet press service announced that the Council decided on the steps that the Bulgarian government was going to take with respect to Kosovo but did not provide any details. Meanwhile, several major Croatian newspapers published information stating that Bulgaria, Croatia, and Hungary may recognize independent Kosovo on Wednesday.

The National Security Council was convened after on Monday the UN special police stormed a courthouse in northern Kosovo town of Mitrovica evicting Serb demonstrators who had occupied the building.

In the escalating violence one Ukranian peacekeeper died, and several protesters and at least 22 UN policemen were injured after the raid, which stirred unrest in the Serb-dominated town.

Expert: L.A.'s 5.4 quake 'small sample' of one to come

July 29, 2008

• NEW: Few reports of damage or injury from "moderate" earthquake
• NEW: Experts, officials say earthquake is a reminder to be prepared
• 11:42 a.m. PT quake's epicenter was about 32 miles east of Los Angeles
• More than 30 aftershocks were recorded, largest was 3.6

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- A magnitude-5.4 earthquake shook the Los Angeles metropolitan area Tuesday, leaving residents rattled but causing no serious damage or injuries.

However, the temblor served as a warning to southern Californians who had not experienced an earthquake in some time: the "Big One" remains a possibility.

"This is a sample, a small sample," said Kate Hutton, a seismologist at the California Institute of Technology. "This is somewhere between small and moderate." She said there is a 5 percent chance the quake could be a precursor to a larger earthquake. After 24 hours, she said, that chance will drop to 1 percent.

"Every earthquake relieves some stress," Hutton said. "It's usually only a drop in the ocean. In other words, the amount of stress released by this earthquake is minuscule compared to the amount that's built up and is building up for the Big One when it happens some day in the future."

And when will that be?

"From a geologist's point of view, the answer has to be soon," she said. "But geologists are used to thinking on millions of years and thousands of years time scale, so I don't think that gives any useful information for people, except be prepared at any time because it could happen at any time."

A 5.4 magnitude quake is considered by the USGS to be "moderate," which can cause slight damage to buildings and others structures. So far this year, 39 "moderate" earthquakes of between magnitude 5.0 and 5.9 have occurred in the United States, and 790 globally.

The last moderate quake to strike California was a magnitude 5.4 in April in the northern part of the state. A magnitude 4.4 struck the greater Los Angeles area in August 2007. There is a 99 percent chance of California experiencing a quake of magnitude 6.7 or larger within the next 30 years, according to the Uniform California Earthquake Rupture Forecast, sponsored by the U.S. Geological Survey, the California Geological Survey and the Southern California Earthquake Center and published in Science Daily in April.

"This earthquake reminds us to be prepared," said California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. "We were very fortunate that there were no serious injuries or property damage." He said he believes the state is "as prepared as anyone can be. We have continuous discussions about that. We are fanatics about emergencies and to be ready."

The largest earthquake in recent years in California was a magnitude 7.1 in 1999, Hutton said. But it was centered in the desert, near Twentynine Palms, in a sparsely populated area.

Tuesday's quake struck about 11:42 a.m., according to the USGS. Its epicenter was about 2 miles southwest of Chino Hills and about 5 miles southeast of Diamond Bar. The epicenter was about 7.6 miles deep, making it a fairly shallow quake, according to CNN meteorologist Chad Meyers. In general, earthquakes centered closer to the surface produce stronger shaking and can cause more damage than those further underground. But most Southern California earthquakes tend to be fairly shallow, officials said.

More than 30 aftershocks were recorded. Hutton said the largest was a magnitude 3.6.

Los Angeles police said a downtown hotel sustained some structural damage, but no one was injured and the building was not evacuated. There were some unconfirmed reports of minor injuries. The White House was also monitoring the situation, said spokeswoman Dana Perino.

Despite the absence of serious damage or injuries, some Los Angeles-area residents were left rattled. The quake was felt as far south as San Diego, California, and the USGS said it received reports of light shaking as far north as Rosamond, California, about 55 miles north-northeast of Los Angeles.

Reports from those who felt the quake poured into CNN. Did you feel the quake? "My house was like a fun house. Everything was moving," said Danny Casler, 28, of Huntington Beach. He said he was sleeping when his house began shaking, and some things fell in the living room. He said he ran out of the house in his boxer shorts. Attorney Kevin Crisp said he was on the phone with his partner, who burst out, "Big quake!" Crisp said he felt it about five seconds later. "This was very impressive. Long and very uniform. Really had the building going." He said doors were swinging on the hinges and bottles of wine were rolling back and forth on his shelf.

"It just started with a really strong jolt," said Wendy Criner. "I ran and got my daughters from different rooms, and we squatted in the living room. I did have stuff fall off the shelf, some books in my daughters' room and some things in the kitchen."

The quake knocked out a ground radar system at Los Angeles International Airport, but that has not interfered with operations, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Technicians were working to restore the system, which helps controllers monitor traffic on the ground. Also, tiles fell from the ceiling in one terminal as water flowed from a burst pipe.

The calculation of the quake's magnitude fluctuated as seismologists reviewed the data. Initially classified as a magnitude 5.8, the quake's intensity was reduced to a 5.6 and then to a 5.4. Because the earthquake magnitude scale is exponential, a 5.8 magnitude quake is four to five times more intense than a 5.4.

Two nuclear plants are in the vicinity of the quake's epicenter near Chino Hills, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The closest to the epicenter is in San Onofre, 50 miles south, but an NRC spokesman said, "this is well below the threshold for any conceivable damage to the plants."

"In the U.S. particularly in California, buildings are generally built well enough that it takes about a 5.5 for there to be some damage, so we do have the potential for damage," said Don Blakeman, an analyst for the USGS. "It depends on the structures [and] the ground the building is built on."

He said he would expect objects to be knocked from shelves and some windows broken. "It's kind of on the margin where you'll get some structural damage from these. We may find that some of the older homes and buildings that weren't retrofitted suffer more damage than the newer structures. "I would expect some cracked buildings," he said. "There is the potential for injuries, but hopefully we won't have too much of that."

Blakeman's comments came before the quake's magnitude was dropped to a 5.4. However, he said afterward that the change does not affect his expectations, although obviously there is less potential for damage.

Still, the quake jolted the nerves of many Californians. "I've lived in California, I've lived through several of them," Margot Wagner of Santa Barbara told CNN. "It's always a little unnerving."

Thousands stranded by Channel Tunnel fire -- 32 people treated for smoke inhalation; 6 hospitalised

September 11, 2008

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Thousands of passengers and truckers are stranded in France and England after a fire broke out in the undersea Channel Tunnel linking the two countries. French police said six suffered smoke inhalation and 26 others were taken care of by the Red Cross but not hospitalized.

People inside the 50-kilometer (30-mile) tunnel, known as the Chunnel, were evacuated through a service tunnel that runs between the two train-carrying tunnels, Eurotunnel officials said. Passenger and freight trains on the key route linking Britain to mainland Europe have been canceled until Friday at the earliest.

In Paris, about 1,000 people were reported to have had travel plans disrupted. The tunnel closure will affect thousands of travelers, Simon Montague, a spokesman for Eurostar said. "Probably at the order of 2,000 who were actually in transit, and several more thousands who would've been hoping to travel with us tonight," he said.

"Obviously our highest priority tonight is to help those travelers who have not been able to complete their journeys."

Police in Kent, England, said the fire broke out 11 kilometers from the French entrance to the tunnel at about 3.55 p.m. French time (1355 GMT). The fire continued to burn nearly four hours later, according to Georges Bos, the prefecture of France's Pas de Calais region. He told BFM-TV that six people suffered from smoke inhalation.

A spokesman for French police in Arras added the fire is thought to have begun on a lorry which overturned.

Eurotunnel said 32 people were aboard the shuttle train transporting trucks when the fire broke out. No passenger trains were going through the tunnel at the time of the fire, they said.

The Channel Tunnel system has two tunnels running trains and the third service tunnel between them. Eurotunnel runs the tunnel system and freight train services. Eurostar operates the passenger trains that use the tunnel.

A spokeswoman for Eurostar said none of the company's trains was in the tunnel at the time of the incident. She said: "We have got services on both sides of the tunnel and they have been stopped. They are at various stations on either side of the tunnel. We are looking at what to do with them."

Geoff Dossetter, external affairs director with the UK's Freight Transport Association, says about 60 percent of UK exports to the European Union go through the tunnel.

The $15 billion undersea tunnel opened in 1994 and it now takes just over two hours for the passenger train trip from London to Paris. There are also passenger services to Brussels, Belgium.

A massive fire broke out inside the tunnel in November 1996, causing structural damage but no serious injuries. A truck on a Eurotunnel lorry shuttle caught fire before the train entered the tunnel, and the fire spread to nearby cars.

13 hurt in Yemen attack; U.S. Embassy thought target

March 18, 2008

(CNN) -- The American Embassy in Yemen was the target of a mortar attack Tuesday, the U.S. State Department said, contradicting a suggestion from the Yemeni government the attack targeted a school where 13 were injured.

Yemeni soldiers at a checkpoint in San'a after an explosion Tuesday at a school near the U.S. Embassy. "Our conversations in Yemen have led us to the conclusion that the attack was directed against our embassy," according to a statement released Tuesday evening. "Since this is an ongoing investigation, we are not going to talk about the specifics of the case."

Earlier, a source with knowledge of the circumstances surrounding Tuesday's mortar attack in the capital city of San'a -- but unauthorized to speak on the record -- told CNN there was a "clear and strong indication" the U.S. embassy was targeted. "My strong belief is that there is almost no doubt this is an effort directed at the U.S. embassy," the source said.

The Yemeni government said the attack Tuesday -- which injured 13 students, three critically, at the Seventh of July school for girls, near the embassy -- could have stemmed from a personal dispute involving the school's headmistress.

Yemen's ambassador to the United States, Abdulwahab Abdulla al-Hajjri, said the attack was "a private dispute."

"The target was someone inside the school," al-Hajjri said. "It had nothing to do with the U.S. Embassy. The U.S. Embassy was not a target."

However, CNN's source said the Yemeni government is calling this a private dispute to "distract us" from their security "failure." The source said Yemeni investigators are also looking at this as a terrorist attack and are "energetically pursuing that line of thought. That reflects the seriousness in which they approach it." The source indicated the Yemeni government "does not have anyone in custody" but "they are looking for someone."

Yemeni soldiers guarding the embassy were hurt in the attack.

The U.S. Embassy will be closed Wednesday.

Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh condemned the attack and offered rewards to anyone who assists in the investigation, according to Saba, Yemen's official news agency.

The San'a city council called the incident "a horrible terrorist work" and said "the attack goes against Islamic teachings and cultural values; and no one would do such a thing except those who have weak souls," Saba reported.

13 deaths linked to severe weather -- Massive flooding in Missouri, Arkansas, southern Illinois, southern Indiana and southwestern Ohio

March 19, 2008

PIEDMONT, Missouri (AP) -- Residents of low-lying towns stacked sandbags or grabbed belongings and evacuated Wednesday as a foot of rain pushed rivers over their banks in the nation's midsection. At least 13 deaths had been linked to the weather, and three people were missing.

Joe Kiefer, 17, a high school baseball player, tosses sandbags to hold back the Meramec River on Wednesday. 2 of 3 Record or near-record flood crests were forecast in several towns in Missouri. Flooding was reported in large areas of Arkansas and parts of southern Illinois, southern Indiana and southwestern Ohio. "We've got water rising everywhere," said Jeff Korb, president of the Vanderbugh County, Indiana, commissioners.

The National Weather Service posted flood and flash flood warnings from Texas to Pennsylvania on Wednesday. After two days, rain had finally stopped Wednesday afternoon in much of Missouri and Arkansas. The weather system crawled toward the Northeast, drenching the Ohio Valley and spreading snow over parts of northern New England. A parallel band of locally heavy rain stretched from Alabama and Georgia to the mid-Atlantic states.

Atlanta, Georgia, police closed some downtown streets in case the stormy weather knocked down more glass and debris from buildings damaged by Friday's tornado. In Ohio and other areas, the rain fell on ground already saturated from heavy snowfall less than two weeks ago.

A foot of rain had fallen in sections of southern Illinois and at Mountain Home, Arkansas, and Cape Girardeau, Missouri; 6.2 inches fell at Evansville, Indiana, the weather service said.

Five deaths were linked to the flooding in Missouri, five people were killed in a highway wreck in heavy rain in Kentucky, and a 65-year-old Ohio woman appeared to have drowned while checking on a sump pump in her home. In southern Illinois, two bodies were found hours after floodwaters swept a pickup truck off a rural road.

Searches were under way in Texas for a teenager washed down a drainage pipe, and two people were missing in Arkansas after their vehicles were swept away by rushing water.

Searchers in Missouri found the body of Mark G. Speir Jr., 19, on Wednesday about 2 miles downstream from where he was reported swept into a creek the previous evening. "He was going down the creek screaming and hollering," Lawrence County emergency management chief Mike Rowe said.

An estimated 300 houses and businesses were flooded in Piedmont, a town of 2,000 residents on McKenzie Creek. Dozens of people were rescued by boat. Outside St. Louis, Missouri, the Meramec River was threatening towns including Eureka and Valley Park, where Chandra Webster's kids ran bags of toys and clothes to the car while she moved boxes of belongings to the second floor and her husband moved furniture out of harm's way. "It's a lot of work, but it's worth it to save your stuff," Webster, 34, said Wednesday. "In '82, we lost everything when I was a little girl. I don't want to put my kids through that."

The Meramec River hit a record 39.7 feet that year; flood stage is only 16 feet. A levee completed just three years ago is designed to hold floodwaters of 43 feet, three feet above the crest forecast for later this week.

Valley Park Alderman Steve Drake helped fill sandbags with other volunteers. "We've got everybody working together," Drake said. "It's going to be interesting."

Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt said he was seeking a federal disaster declaration for 70 of the state's 114 counties and the city of St. Louis.

The James River was approaching record levels of more than 33 feet above normal at the small Ozarks hilltop town of Galena, west of Branson, flooding a commercial strip and homes near the town, Stone County emergency management chief Tom Martin said.

Widespread flooding in Arkansas had washed out some highways and led to evacuations, said Tommy Jackson, a spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management. The Highway and Transportation Department reported state roads blocked in 16 counties.

Some residents of southern Illinois had to evacuate. In Marion, firefighters used their own fishing boats to rescue 13 residents of the city's housing authority. Key roads were closed in the Cincinnati area, and water 4 feet deep was reported in the suburb of Sharonville, police said.

Ohio rescue workers were busy helping people out of cars swamped by the flooding. "The biggest problem has been people driving into floodwater," a rescuer said. "There are a lot of stupid people. When that sign says 'Road closed, high water,' that's what it means."

Soggy Midwest Braces for More Flooding

Mar 20, 4:43 PM (ET)

By DOUG WHITEMAN

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Residents warily watched as rivers continued to rise Thursday from heavy storms that killed more than a dozen people and dumped as much as a foot of rain on the Midwest. While the first day of spring brought much needed sunshine Thursday to Ohio and other states, authorities warned that many rivers would crest well above flood stage in the next several days.

The death toll rose to at least 15, after authorities said a man drove his pickup truck into floodwaters in southeast Ohio and drowned early Thursday. Two other people died in the flooding in Ohio. Many areas remained flooded Thursday.

Drivers trying to reach downtown Columbus from the south were being detoured off heavily traveled U.S. 23 because its northbound lanes were flooded at Interstate 270, an outer-ring highway.

President Bush declared a major disaster in Missouri on Wednesday night and ordered federal aid to supplement state and local recovery efforts in areas affected by flooding. Seventy counties and the city of St. Louis also are eligible for federal funding for emergency protective measures.

Several areas in Missouri were bracing for record-level flood surges expected to hit Friday and Saturday. Authorities were straining to keep pace with some of the worst flooding to hit their region in decades.

The National Weather Service was forecasting record flooding along the Meramec River near St. Louis. Some residents had already been evacuated Thursday. The Black, Big and St. Francis rivers in southeastern Missouri also were expected to see significant flooding.

The town of Fenton put out a call asking volunteers to help put down sandbags against the floodwaters Thursday. Gov. Matt Blunt said cities can count on the state for help as he activated the Missouri National Guard.



Widespread Flooding Forecast

Mar 20 01:45 PM US/Eastern

By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID
AP Science Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - Government forecasters said Thursday that the floods washing over large parts of the Midwest are just a taste of things to come, with one meteorologist complaining about a jet stream "on steroids." Record rainfall and melting snow packs will continue to cause rivers to overflow in large areas of the country, the National Weather Service said.

The greatest flooding danger includes much of the Mississippi River basin, the Ohio River basin, the lower Missouri River basin, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, most of New York, all of New England and portions of the West, including Colorado and Idaho. "Overall moisture is unprecedented for this time of year over an area that extends over 1,000 miles," said Doug LeComte, a meteorologist at the government's Climate Prediction Center.

Joanna Dionne, a meteorologist at the weather service's Hydrologic Services section, added that "all the ingredients are there for flooding in this broad area and up into the northeast."

"American citizens should be on high alert to flood conditions in your communities. Arm yourselves with information about how to stay safe during a flood and do not attempt to drive on flooded roadways," said Vickie Nadolski, deputy director of the weather service.

Heavy rains have dumped as much as a foot of rain in the Midwest this week, leaving behind more than a dozen deaths. Rivers were cresting above flood stage in Ohio and flooding also was reported in parts of Arkansas, southern Illinois, southern Indiana, Missouri and Kentucky.

For remainder of article, go to http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8VHA6MO0&show_article=1.

Midwestern storms bring flooding, tornadoes

June 7, 2008 -- Updated 0132 GMT (0932 HKT)

• Slow-moving tornado in Chicago's southern suburbs
• Emergencies declared in 10 Indiana counties
• Interstates were closed; some dams were close to collapse
• Minor injuries reported after tornado in Wisconsin

FRANKLIN, Indiana (AP) -- Severe storms flooded central Indiana with as much as 10 inches of rain Saturday and spawned tornadoes that ripped up roofs and flipped tractor-trailers in Wisconsin and the Chicago suburbs. The floods in Indiana threatened dams, inundated highways and forced the Coast Guard to rescue residents from swamped homes. To the northwest, Chicago-area residents ran for cover as tornadoes touched down throughout the region.

Wisconsin had a few minor tornado injuries, and at least one injury was reported near Chicago. Indiana had been spared any reported deaths or injuries due to flooding. "At this point, mercifully, we believe all Hoosiers are secure," Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels said. "We hope that will continue."

Daniels declared an emergency in 10 counties as the Coast Guard was called in from the Great Lakes to help with flooding that has forced hundreds of people from their homes. No injuries or deaths have been reported. Ninety percent of the small town of Paragon, southwest of Indianapolis, was underwater, State Homeland Security Director Joe Wainscott said.

Water reached the first floor of Johnson Memorial Hospital in Franklin, but no patients had to be moved, county Commissioner Tom Kite said. Cars were submerged up to their windshields in the county government building parking lot. "We have dams failing in the Prince's Lakes area," threatening the town of Nineveh, about 30 miles south of Indianapolis, Kite said.

Indiana State Police reported evacuations in the Lake Lemon area, about 10 miles northeast of Bloomington. Dams near Gold Point were close to collapse, police said.

Near Martinsville, southwest of Indianapolis, Ben Pace watched motorboats rescuing neighbors. The rain didn't appear that bad when he woke up, Pace said, but he then watched water rise 6 to 8 inches in his backyard shed. "Then I realized that it's worse than it's ever been," he said. A rescuer came by boat to his front door to get him. He managed to grab some
clothes and his dog, leaving the home with knee-deep water in his bedroom.

Interstate 70 was closed in Clay County in west-central Indiana, and Interstate 65 and another major route, U.S. 31, were closed near Franklin.

Residents of Helmsburg, about 40 miles south of Indianapolis, were taken by bus to a YMCA in Nashville, said Wayne Freeman, the Brown County Red Cross chairman.

In western Indiana, water more than a foot deep surrounded homes on Terre Haute's east side. U.S. 41 was the only route open into Terre Haute, and it was down to one lane by midafternoon.

J.D. Kesler, deputy director of the Vigo County Emergency Management Agency, said that more than 200 people had to be rescued from their homes, vehicles and nursing homes there. "The ground is just saturated. When you get this much rain, it's flash-flood time," Kesler said.

Peter Perdoue, 35, a mortgage broker from Terre Haute, heard a trickle Saturday morning and checked his daughter's basement room. The water had risen above the window. "It was almost like I was standing inside an aquarium," he said. Within a few hours, sewage started backing into his basement, and it wasn't long before the waters had filled his basement up to the 10-foot ceiling. More than 30,000 electricity customers lost power, the Indiana Utilities Regulatory Commission said.

Near Chicago, Will County Sheriff's Department spokesman Pat Barry said a tornado damaged several homes in the Wilmington area and toppled trees and power lines. A person was injured on Interstate 57 in the southern suburbs, and a swath of the major highway closed as authorities worked to clear overturned trucks, said state Trooper Mark Dorencz.

Tornadoes were also reported in Lake County, north of the city, and in Livingston County, to the southwest.

Central and southeastern Wisconsin were pelted with baseball-size hail in a storm that blew roofs off homes and toppled trees and power lines. Heavy rains also pelted the area, causing flash flooding. Authorities said a camper was hurt in Rio and four more people suffered minor injuries after a house had its windows blown out near the Village of Randolph. Authorities also said a tornado spun a police car around

Flooding built up around Milwaukee, where water as deep as 2 feet in roads caused parked cars to drift and closed parts of an interstate highway. On the south side of town, two vacant buildings partially collapsed because of the heavy rains, authorities said. No injuries were reported.

Deadly storms flood Midwest

June 9, 2008

• Storms displace thousands in Nebraska, knock out water treatment facility
• One person reported killed, four hurt when lightning hits Connecticut park
• Heavy rains flood communities, threaten levees across Midwest
• 4 reported dead in Michigan and Indiana

(CNN) -- Heavy storms continued to wreak havoc from the Midwest to the East Coast on Sunday, forcing evacuations and threatening levees as lakes and rivers swelled.

At least five people were reported killed in Michigan, Indiana and Connecticut, and about 1,000 were displaced from their homes in Nebraska.

Lightning struck a pavilion at a Connecticut state park, killing one person and injuring four, state environmental spokesman Dennis Schain told The Associated Press.

Two delivery workers for The Grand Rapids Press in Michigan were killed Sunday morning after their car fell into a deep ravine created when a rain-swollen creek washed out a road, according to a story posted on the newspaper's Web site.

Also in Michigan, a woman died when a small trailer blew over on top of her Sunday afternoon west of Lansing, Michigan, Sheriff Mike Raines told the Lansing State Journal.

Several storms plowed eastward through central Michigan, downing trees and power lines all over Ingham County, said Sgt. Mike Perez, the county's emergency management program manager. One woman in a Lansing city park was struck by a tree, though her injuries were not life-threatening.

Meanwhile, heavy rains flooded central Indiana throughout the weekend, where Gov. Mitch Daniels signed an order Friday declaring a disaster emergency in 41 counties -- the first step toward obtaining federal assistance. Rescue workers in boats pulled people from rising workers while others sought refuge on their rooftops.

At least one person died as the result of rising waters, according to a police spokesman in Columbus, Indiana. The victim was swept away while driving a car through flood water.

Columbus Regional Hospital in Johnson County was evacuated and closed Sunday due to flooding, which damaged the facility's laboratory, radiology and pharmacy services and left mud on the main level, according to the hospital's Web site.

The worst-hit areas were communities about 25 miles south of Indianapolis and further west in Terre Haute, with most towns receiving 6-10 inches of rainfall, said John Hendrickson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. He said some affected areas hadn't seen a such flooding for 100 years.

A small community downstream from the levee at Princess Lake was trapped as roadways leading out remained submerged Saturday afternoon, Hendrickson said. Officials were worried about two levees as water spilled over them in Johnson County, one of the hardest hit areas. But they have so far held up. Storms in Nebraska spun out an early-morning Omaha tornado about a quarter-mile wide that moved northeast.

Jeff Leanna, a member of the fire department's community response team, submitted photos from the scene to CNN showing housing pushed off their foundations, a flattened trailer home and several businesses with their roofs blown off and windows blown out. "The damage is spotty," he said, but power outages were widespread. "It sort of came out of nowhere. The tornado touched down before the sirens went off."

A levee burst in the Iowa town of Parkersburg, still reeling from a deadly tornado that struck two weeks ago, according to the National Weather Service. Flooding from the levee break shut down portions of three interstate highways.

In nearby New Hartford, which also sustained severe tornado damage last month, water gushed over a levee and forced the evacuation of about 650 people 10 miles east to Cedar Falls, said Bret Voorhees, spokesman for Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management. Others in Mason City were left without clean drinking water after floodwaters severely damaged a water treatment plant, he said.

Flood waters continued to rise throughout Iowa on Sunday, with the northern part of the state receiving up to 5 inches of rain from a single afternoon storms, Voorhees said . Waters were expected to crest mid-week at the earliest, he said, adding that at least 1,000 people were already displaced across the state.

Flooding uproots homes, threatens dams

June 11, 2008

• Several houses washed away as bank fails, water pours out of lake
• Ten deaths blamed on stormy weekend weather; most were in Midwest
• Flooding in Indiana tops levels set in the great deluge of 1913
• Along East Coast, people swelter through heat wave

LAKE DELTON, Wisconsin (AP) -- An embankment along a man-made lake gave way under severe flooding Monday, unleashing a powerful current and ripped several homes off their foundations and down the Wisconsin River. Floodwater threatened dams across the Midwest, and military crews joined desperate sandbagging operations to hold back Indiana streams surging toward record levels. Stormy weekend weather was blamed for 10 deaths, most in the Midwest.

While the Midwest struggled with flooding, the East was locked in a sauna. Heat advisories were posted Monday from the Carolinas to Connecticut, with temperatures topping 100 from Georgia to Virginia. New York City recorded a high of 99.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said Monday it would close a 250-mile stretch of the Mississippi River -- from Fulton, Illinois, to Clarksville, Missouri -- as soon as Thursday because of flooding, bringing barge traffic to a halt. The closure could last up to two weeks, corps spokesman Ron Fournier said.

In Wisconsin, an embankment forming the side of the man-made Lake Delton failed, and the water poured out into the nearby Wisconsin River.

The 245-acre lake nearly emptied, sweeping away three homes and tearing apart two others. "It's horrible. There's no way we could stop it," said Thomas Diehl, a Lake Delton village trustee. "The breach is between 300 and 400 feet wide. The volume (of water) was just so great there wasn't anything anyone could do."

Don Kubenik, 68, burst into tears Monday after seeing the $500,000, 2,800-square foot home he built in 2003 snapped into pieces. The businessman from suburban Milwaukee said he spent every weekend here. "That house had everything you can imagine and now it's all gone," Kubenik said. "My boat's gone. The pier's gone. Everything is gone."

A couple thousand people in Columbia County about 30 miles north of Madison were urged to evacuate below the Wyocena and Pardeeville dams, said Pat Beghin, a spokesman for the county's emergency management. The Wyocena Dam's spillway had washed out, and workers were sandbagging to try to save it, Beghin said. The Pardeeville dam also was overflowing, he said.

More flood preparations in Iowa City, Coralville

Aerial tour of flooding in Eastern Iowa

Flooding puts Cedar Rapids, much of Iowa under water

BY LARRY McSHANE
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Saturday, June 14th 2008, 4:00 AM

Water from the swollen Cedar River rushes past downtown buildings Thursday, June 12, 2008 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Officials estimated that 100 blocks in Cedar Rapids were under water forcing the evacuation of nearly 4,000 homes and leaving cars underwater on downtown streets. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

The streets in Cedar Rapids, Iowa - all 400 blocks of them - were filled with floodwaters and other strange sights: floating Dumpsters and utility poles and sandbags piled in vain. The cresting Cedar River wreaked widespread havoc Friday on Iowa's second-largest city, forcing the evacuation of 3,000 homes and a downtown hospital while collapsing a railroad bridge.

Houseboats were swept away as the fast-rising river created a lake in downtown Cedar Rapids, where a breach in the levee turned roadways into waterways. It was the worst Midwest flooding in 15 years, when the Cedar River crested at just over 19 feet - compared with a crest of more than 31 feet yesterday.

The waterlogged sandbags were stacked outside Mercy Medical Center, where 176 patients were transferred out as the waters seeped inside. Its emergency generator was at risk, and workers were moving furniture and supplies off the ground floor as the river continued to rise. The evacuees included about 30 frail and elderly patients from a hospital nursing home, officials said.

Cedar Rapids resident Latrina Walker, forced from her home by the waist-deep water, wound up in a local shelter with her four children. "I don't know how much damage is done," she said. "I'm just really scared right now." Others who failed to heed evacuation warnings were ferried to safety by rescuers in boats, reminiscent on a much smaller scale of the scenes from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

Helicopter shots from above Cedar Rapids, a city of 124,000, showed cars disappearing and buildings receding in the rising tide. City officials said more than 400 city blocks downtown were submerged, with more flooding elsewhere - although details on outlying areas were sketchier. The downtown library, with its 300,000 books, was shut down after workers relocated some of its collection from lower shelves to avoid the rising water.

While Cedar Rapids was the worst hit, the entire state of Iowa was battered by bad weather and flooding. Gov. Chet Culver declared 83 of the state's 99 counties as disaster areas. In Des Moines, 100 miles to the southwest, officials issued a voluntary evacuation order for much of downtown and other areas bordering the Des Moines River. Mayor Frank Cownie said the evacuations in the state's capital were an attempt "to err on the side of citizens and residents." Despite the flooding and evacuations, Iowa authorities reported no fatalities or serious injuries linked to the weather woes.

Red River reaches record level, floods Fargo with uncertainty

March 27, 2009

FARGO, North Dakota (CNN) -- Fifteen helicopters from the U.S. Northern Command along with active-duty military personnel are being sent to Fargo, North Dakota, to assist the state as it prepares for record flooding, a U.S. military official told CNN.

The military personnel being sent to Fargo are from a "contingency response force" made up of active-duty troops, the official said.

Above-freezing temperatures, followed by heavy rains this week, caused the Red River to swell and surpass its 1897 record of 40.1 feet early Friday morning. The swollen river threatened to rise further as the city's mayor vowed to "go down swinging. "Right now, we think the river is beginning to crest," said Fargo Mayor Dennis Walaker. "As long as we stay under 42 feet, I think we got a chance; if we go over 42, there's going to be some more evacuations."

As of 8:15 p.m., the river churned at 40.78 feet, nearly 22 feet above flood stage and almost a foot above the previous record of 40.1 feet, set in 1897.

Sandbagging operations, which have churned furiously throughout the week, continued Friday, drawing praise from local and state officials, including North Dakota Gov. John Hoeven.

"North Dakotans have come together in a big, big way. Our volunteers are doing a magnificent job building this flood protection and we want to say thank you to them," he said. "There's a sense of perseverance and resolve and determination."

Buses and evacuation staging areas have been staged west of Fargo, Hoeven said, and hundreds of people already have evacuated Fargo neighborhoods, hospitals and a nursing home.

Fargo Deputy Mayor Tim Mahoney said authorities were evacuating the city's "vulnerable populations" and were asking for voluntary evacuations in sites near retaining dikes.

The National Weather Service predicted the river would reach 42 feet Saturday, and forecasts indicated it would remain there into next week.

But the weather service warned the river might reach 43 feet -- the height to which most of the city's dikes have been raised -- if warmer temperatures expected in the middle of next week melt the record snowfall. "What's going on here really is an inspiration for the country," said Sen. Kent Conrad, D-North Dakota. "The eyes of America are on Fargo, North Dakota, and they're getting a very good impression of what the people of North Dakota are like."

Authorities would not try to raise the city's dikes above 43 feet, Walaker said. Sandbags are used to bolster dikes in residential areas around the city, while the city dikes are reinforced with clay. "We have most of the south side of Fargo, and along the river, good to 43, so we're not going to proceed with trying to get it to 44," he said at a news conference Friday morning. "Now is that a gamble? We don't think so."

National Weather Service spokesman Patrick Slattery in Kansas City, Missouri, said the river's level means uncertainty for officials and volunteers who are scrambling to mitigate the flooding in the area. Emergency responders can extrapolate the effects of the rising river, he said, but they cannot know for sure how accurate the predictions are because they have never seen the river so high. "At some point, especially when you're dealing with record levels, you reach a point when there's nothing else you can do," Slattery said. "Start alerting people to be ready to get out of there."

Lt. Gen. Russel Honore, who led the military response to hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2007, warned that sandbags can only buy time. "You cannot depend on a sandbag dike to save your life; you put it up to try to save your property," he said. "Once you put it up, you need to leave, because that sandbag dike could break at any given time." Sandbags also are less effective against cold water, Honore said.

Water began seeping Friday under a dike that runs across a partially submerged athletic field, prompting officials to ask volunteer sandbaggers to come help.

About 150 people showed up as the water on the other side of the dike continued to rise. "We're going to be OK. We're going to be fine," Melanie Engel Unger said as she passed 40-pound sandbags from her left to her right.

Daryl Braham said he was confident the volunteers would be able to maintain the dike's integrity. He was hopeful the cold weather -- temperatures were well below freezing Friday -- remained. "It's kind of a blessing in disguise because it's slowing things down," he said.

Fargo officials early Friday evacuated a neighborhood of about 150 homes after they found cracks in a levee, according to a city news release. Capt. Tod Dahle said the residents were evacuated because the neighborhood lies between a primary and contingency levee.About 100 people were evacuated Thursday from a nursing home, as were 40 others from a nearby neighborhood. No one was in immediate danger, officials said. "We were disappointed yesterday and early this morning about the two areas that we had to evacuate," Walaker said. "Is that going to be it [for evacuations]? We don't know. We don't have any real crystal ball to look into."

MeritCare Hospital and MeritCare South University had evacuated 177 patients as of Friday, MeritCare Health System spokeswoman Carrie Haug said.

Some were taken to hospitals elsewhere in North Dakota; others were taken across the river to Minnesota, she said. Monday, the health system canceled elective procedures to reduce its patient numbers ahead of the evacuations, Haug said.

Across the Red River from Fargo, a U.S. senator said some homes had been lost in Moorhead, Minnesota. Emphasizing that there are two states dealing with the river's rise, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota, said, "This is a time at which the forces of nature, of the Red River, will meet the forces of the human spirit."

Clay County emergency center spokesman Dan Olson said some residents in Moorhead were being asked to evacuate. He called it a "directed evacuation," rather than a mandatory one. It also applied to large parts of nearby Oakport Township, he said. The emergency center is setting up a call center where evacuees can register to be tracked. A spokeswoman at the city's emergency call center said she would put the number of evacuees in the "high hundreds."

"We know our highways are pretty congested" with people leaving, Kasey Cummings said. Minnesota State University at Moorhead and Concordia College had voluntarily closed, she said.

To the west, about 1,500 people who evacuated North Dakota's capital, Bismarck, on Wednesday were able to return home Thursday, after the Missouri River dropped more than 3 feet, the North Dakota Department of Emergency Services said.

It has happened three times since August 1980, skipping only the year 1987 thus far.

Playboy celeb, model, and actress Dorothy Stratten (right) was first; shot to death during a murder-suicide in August 1980 by her estranged and jealous husband, Paul Sneider.

Fourteen years later, in June 1994, former model Nicole Brown Simpson (centre) was allegedly stabbed to death by her jealous, ex-husband and former football star O.J. Simpson.

Seven years later, in May 2001, actor Robert Blake allegedly shot his swindling and aspiring model wife, Bonny Lee Bakley, to death as she sat in a car outside their favourite restaurant. Neither Simpson nor Blake were found guilty in a court of law.

Chris Benoit Strangled Wife With Electrical Cord, Bag Over Son's Head

By Gia Cortina
The Post Chronicle

June 26, 2007

Chris Benoit strangled his wife to death with an electrical cord on Saturday and smothered his son to death with a bag on Sunday. He then hung himself to death on Monday, according to Associated Press reports. Sources claim that Chris Benoit hung himself in the weight room in the family home.

Our friends at TMZ broke the story initially, writing: 'Several Atlanta-based law enforcement sources have told TMZ Benoit may have strangled his wife on Saturday, then smothered his son in his bed a day later. Investigators refuse to officially comment, pending final confirmation by the coroner on the cause and time of the deaths.

One source told TMZ that Benoit was texting friends during Sunday's WWE "Vengeance" Pay-Per-View program -- possibly watching the show with his son, who may have been alive at the time.' Steroids and other drugs were found in the house along with the "instruments of death."

To those who knew Chris Benoit, this is unbelievable. He was the consummate professional, a family man.

The Calgary Sun reported that Bret Hart said, "He was like a family member to me, and everyone in my family is taking it real hard. It's almost like reliving the whole Owen (Hart) death over again." Bret continued..."Chris was always one of the good guys -- a straight guy and a hard-working guy. When you list off all the qualities of someone like Benoit, he had a lot of integrity and was a good, family man. He was really respected and really loved by everybody."

Bret's older brother Ross Hart, a producer and former part-time wrestler, further described the onetime 'Canadian Crippler' as respectful, polite and very humble. "We kind of adopted him when he first broke into the business in 1986. He's been an outstanding mentor to the next generation of Hart family wrestlers," said Ross.

In addition, Gregory Helms posted this message on his MySpace blog ... To my friend Chris Benoit R.I.P. I was sitting here at my computer when I got a call informing me of the death of Chris Benoit and his family. Other than saying that my thoughts go out to his remaining family, I don't know what to say. Chris had just called me on Thursday to check on me as he has every week since my surgery and now days later I find out that he's gone.

He was my friend. This hurts! This f**king sucks!!!! Rest in peace my friend! Love you!

With so many friends...so many people who both loved and respected him...how could this have happened? Many of the WWE Superstars last night spoke about how Benoit helped them with their own problems...both professional as well as personal. However, they also commented on how he was very quiet about his own personal life.

Benoit left bible next to slain wife, son: cops -- Prescription steroids found in house

By ELIZA BARLOW, SUN MEDIA
edmontonsun.com - World

Tue, June 26, 2007

Hometown hero Chris Benoit strangled his wife, smothered his seven-year-old son and put a Bible next to their bodies before hanging himself from a weight machine in the family’s suburban Atlanta home, authorities said.

A law enforcement official also said authorities are looking into whether steroid use may have been a factor in the murder-suicide. Prescription anabolic steroids were found in the Canadian pro wrestler’s home, authorities said.

Authorities also revealed the killings were spread out over the weekend, with Benoit, 40, remaining in the home with the corpses for as long as a day before killing himself.

Nancy Benoit, 43, was killed Friday in an upstairs family room, her wrists and feet bound, and blood under her head, Fayette County District Attorney Scott Ballard said.

Daniel, 7, was likely killed a short time later, his body found in his bed, said Ballard.

Benoit’s body was found in a downstairs weight room, hanging from the pulley of a piece of exercise equipment.

All three bodies were discovered Monday. WWE said on its website that it asked local police to check on the family after friends received several “curious text messages” from Chris Benoit early Sunday.

Authorities say they’re confident the deaths are the result of a murder-suicide.

WWE Canada president Carl DeMarco was among mourners offering condolences to Chris Benoit’s surviving family at their home near Sherwood Park, a source close to the family told Sun Media. DeMarco flew out from Toronto late Monday and visited the family today.

Chris Benoit’s father Michael Benoit was stoic when reached by phone, vowing the family would cope. “We’ll be fine... We’ll make it.”

Chris Benoit also leaves two children from a previous marriage – David, 14, and Megan, 10, who live in Strathcona County. Benoit was born in Montreal but grew up in Edmonton, graduating from Archbishop O’Leary Catholic high school in 1985.

Known as “The Canadian Crippler,” he trained under Calgary’s Stu Hart in Stampede Wrestling.

He held several titles over his career, but realized his dream at Wrestlemania 20 in 2004, when he won the WWE world heavyweight championship.

Shockwaves continue to reverberate through Edmonton’s wrestling community over the loss of a man who was an idol to many. “I’m devastated. He was an absolute role model. Everybody loved him, everybody respected him,” said Kurt Sorochan, promoter and owner of Prairie Wrestling Alliance. “I think there wasn’t a more focused guy in the wrestling business. He was always very gracious, very courteous, very professional, just an all-around nice guy. It doesn’t make any sense at all.”

According to U.S. media reports, Chris and Nancy Benoit’s marriage went through some rocky patches. The pair married in 2000. Nancy managed several wrestlers and went by the ring name “Woman.”

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Nancy Benoit petitioned for protection against domestic abuse as part of a 2003 divorce filing, describing her husband as “threatening.” A judge granted a restraining order in May 2003, but both were dismissed three months later on Nancy Benoit’s request.

Benoit Update: Gruesome New News On Benoit Deaths

Reported By RyanClark
ImpactWrestling.com

6/26/2007

District Attorney Scott Ballard was interviewed on the Fox News channel and stated that a cable was found around the neck on Nancy Benoit. He said Daniel was found face down on his bed, also strangled.

Ballard said in the weight room in the basement, Benoit wrapped a cable from a weight machine around his neck. He first wrapped a cloth around his neck. When Benoit let the cable go, the weights lifted up and strangled him.

TMZ.com has posted the court documents of Nancy Benoit's 2003 request for a restraining order against Chris Benoit as well as custody of Daniel Benoit. Here is the link: http://www.aolcdn.com/tmz_documents/0626_benoit_dismiss.pdf

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - A professional wrestler who killed himself and his family was a former customer of a company implicated in an upstate New York investigation of illegal steroid sales. That's according to the Albany County District Attorney's Office, which is conducting the investigation here. Authorities in Fayetteville, Georgia, say today that Chris Benoit strangled his wife, suffocated his 7-year-old son before hanging himself over the weekend.

Investigators found anabolic steroids in the house and want to know whether the muscular man was unhinged by the bodybuilding drugs, which can cause paranoia, depression and explosive outbursts known as "roid rage." In Albany, the DA's office confirms the 40-year-old Benoit was a customer as recently as last year of the south Florida company MedXLife. 2 of its co-owners pleaded guilty to drug charges in Albany County in April, admitting they helped get prescriptions drugs in 2006 for customers in upstate New York who had no medical need for them. The pair testified Signature Pharmacy of Orlando filled the orders. MedXLife, no longer taking orders, attracted customers through its Web site.

Chris Benoit Murder-Suicide Crime Details

2snaps.tv - Pop culture for the masses

Posted June 27th, 2007 by Molly Celaschi in News

The WWE has issued a press release and some various news sources have announced further details into the Chris Benoit Murder-Suicide after the District Attorney gave statements. The details are as follows:

Benoit murdered his wife on Friday night. She was found bound by her ankles and wrists. Blood was near her head (no exact injury specified yet) and a bible was found at her feet. A sheet was wrapped around her, but no word as to why.

Benoit then murdered his 7 year old son Saturday in a similar fashion and was also found with a bible near him.

Benoit was texting 2 co-workers at the WWE with his full address, information on how to enter his property including “The dogs are in the enclosed pool area. Garage side door is open,” some bible phrases, and parts of his will. This caused the WWE to notify authorities.

Benoit was found Monday in his basement gym. He had strangled himself with a cord from a work out machine.

A rep for the WWE has ruled out “roid rage,” despite drugs being found on the premises.

"The physical findings announced by authorities indicate deliberation, not rage.

The wife's feet and hands were bound and she was asphyxiated, not beaten to death. By the account of the authorities, there were substantial periods of time between the death of the wife and the death of the son, again suggesting deliberate thought, not rage.

The presence of a Bible by each is also not an act of rage."

A couple things seem interesting here. First, it is to be assumed that he stayed for 2 days with his dead wife and 1 day with his dead son before killing himself. Also noteworthy is the fact that he stated the dogs were enclosed in the pool area. But when authorities had arrived, the dogs were roaming the property.

That might mean nothing. Or it could mean someone else had been there or that Benoit had left the premises before committing suicide.

Retired NFL QB Steve McNair killed in murder-suicide by 20-year-old woman

BY Rich Schapiro
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

NY Daily News

Saturday, July 4th 2009, 4:59 PM

Quarterback Steve McNair #9 of the Baltimore Ravens has reportedly been found shot dead in his Nashville home. Sahel Kazemi was also found at the scene of McNair's death.

Former NFL star quarterback Steve McNair was found dead with multiple gunshot wounds in a Nashville condominium Saturday - and authorities hinted he was murdered by a girlfriend who then turned the gun on herself.

Cops discovered McNair's bullet-riddled body slumped on a sofa inside his rented condo's blood-spattered living room, authorities said. A woman McNair was reportedly dating, identified as Sahel Kazemi, 20, was found dead only a few feet away with a single bullet wound to the head. A gun was lying nearby, Nashville police said.

"At this moment nothing has been ruled out, but as far as actively looking for a suspect tonight, the answer would be no," Nashville police spokesman Don Aaron said. It remained unclear what might have triggered the slaying, Aaron added.

McNair, 36, who was married and had four children, had reportedly been dating Kazemi for a few months. They met at a Dave & Buster's restaurant where Kazemi worked, her former boyfriend told the Tennessean newspaper. Neighbors of Kazemi told the paper they often spotted McNair visiting her apartment. At times, she returned home in a black limousine, and not long ago, she showed up with a brand new Cadillac Escalade she said was a gift from her boyfriend. "She is the sweetest girl, and she did not deserve this," Kazemi's ex-beau, Keith Norfleet, told the newspaper upon learning of her death. "He was making her believe they were going to be together, and everything would be perfect."

Cops were alerted to the deaths by a longtime friend of the ex-Tennessee Titans great after he walked into the grisly scene about 1:30 p.m. McNair was spotted returning to his condo about 2 a.m. Saturday, Nashville police said.

Fred McNair, Steve McNair's oldest brother, said family members likely will travel to Nashville tomorrow to comfort the beloved gridiron star's wife. "It's still kind of hard to believe," Fred McNair said. "He was the greatest person in the world. He gave back to the community. He loved kids and he wanted to be a role model to kids." Authorities said McNair's wife, Mechelle, was devastated. "Mrs. McNair obviously is very, very distraught by what has taken place," Aaron said.

McNair and Kazemi were inside a 2007 black Cadillac Escalade, registered to both of them, on Thursday when cops pulled over the vehicle and charged her with driving under the influence, Nashville police said. Kazemi had bloodshot eyes and the smell of alcohol on her breath but she refused a Breathalyzer test because "she was not drunk, she was high," according to the affidavit. McNair, who recently opened a restaurant in Nashville, was not arrested.

His shocking death prompted a flood of tributes from former coaches, players, NFL execs and even the governor of Tennessee. "He was one of the finest players to play for our organization and one of the most beloved players by our fans," Tennessee Titans owner Bud Adams said. "He played with unquestioned heart and leadership and led us to places that we had never reached, including our only Super Bowl."

Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen also mourned the loss of the man who led the Titans to the Super Bowl 10 years ago. "Andrea and I were very saddened by the news of Steve McNair's death," Bredesen said. "He has always felt like part of the Nashville family, and he will be sorely missed."

The hard-nosed QB played 13 seasons in the NFL before retiring from the league last April.

A three-time Pro Bowl pick, "Air" McNair played college football at Alcorn State before joining the Houston Oilers as the third overall pick in the 1995 NFL draft.

McNair played 11 seasons with the Titans, who moved from Houston, leading the team to the Super Bowl in 1999. The Titans lost that game in heartbreaking fashion when McNair completed a pass near the St. Louis Rams' goal line in the contest's waning seconds, but receiver Kevin Dyson failed to cross the line. McNair was the co-MVP of the league in 2003, sharing the award with Peyton Manning. That year, McNair threw for 3,215 yards and 24 touchdowns with only seven interceptions.

McNair played his final two seasons with the Baltimore Ravens. The Mississippi native led the Ravens to a 13-3 record in 2006. But he injured his groin during the season opener in 2007 and never regained his Pro Bowl form. He retired last April.

"He was a tremendous leader and an absolute warrior," said New England Patriots senior football adviser Floyd Reese, who was GM of the Titans when McNair played there. "He felt like it was his responsibility to lead by working hard every day, no matter what."

Samari Rolle, who played with McNair on the Ravens and Titans, described him as the perfect football player. "If you were going to draw a football player, the physical part, the mental part, everything about being a professional, he is your guy," Rolle said. "I can't even wrap my arms around it. It is a sad, sad day. The world lost a great man today."

In June, McNair opened a restaurant near the Tennessee State University campus called Steve McNair's Gridiron9. "I always wanted to retire and teach kids about life, and I'm still doing that with my camps," McNair told the Tennessean last week. "This is something that I can still give back to the community."

Wife held in boxing champ's killing in Brazil

Monday, July 13, 2009

(CNN) -- Brazilian authorities detained the wife of former world boxing champion Arturo Gatti as a suspect in his killing, according to local reports.

Gatti was found dead Saturday in a hotel in Brazil, where he was taking a vacation with his wife, Amanda Carina Barbosa Rodrigues, and their young child.

The 37-year-old Canadian, who was born in Italy and made his name as a fighter based in New Jersey, was staying in the northeast seaside resort of Porto de Galihnas.

Rodrigues, 23, was being held in a police station in the city of Recife in connection with the killing, a police official in Porto de Galihnas told CNN. Police official Osmar Silva Santiago confirmed local reports that Gatti's body was found Saturday morning in his hotel room with strangulation marks.

"This crime is being investigated by our homicide experts and we hope to have more answers tomorrow," Santiago said. Police recovered a blood-stained purse strap from the scene, according to media reports.

Rodrigues became a suspect because of inconsistencies during her interrogation, local reports quoted homicide task force chief Josedith Ferreira as saying.

Gatti made his name in a series of three fights against "Irish" Micky Ward, losing the first but triumphing in the other two. He held the IBF super-featherweight and WBC light-welterweight titles, and he also won the WBC junior welterweight belt but lost it to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2005.

Gatti retired in 2007 after suffering a knockout defeat by Alfonso Gomez in his comeback, ending with a record of 40 wins and nine losses.

He grew up in Montreal, Quebec, after leaving Italy at an early age, and returned to the city following his retirement. According to Gatti's official Web site, the Italian-born pugilist won "Fight of the Year" for three consecutive years.

WAS IT PREMEDITATED?
Cops: Wife may have pushed Gatti to drink

NJ.com

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

RIO DE JANEIRO - The Brazilian wife of Arturo Gatti is asking to be released from jail, where she is being held on charges she strangled the former boxing champion with her purse strap as he drunkenly slept. Her lawyer said yesterday he petitioned a court to release Amanda Rodrigues while the investigation continues, and that he expects the court in Recife to rule today at the earliest.

Police, meanwhile, say Rodrigues, who once worked as a stripper in Weehawken, remains the sole suspect in the murder. Police spokeswoman Milena Saraiva said the killing may have even been premeditated and Rodrigues may have encouraged Gatti to drink excessively so she would be able to overpower him later. "He was very drunk and that made it easier for her," Saraiva said. "He was sleeping when she did this. She waited for the moment when he was drunk enough for her to do it."

Saraiva underscored, however, this was just one theory police are considering.

Rodrigues told investigators she awoke Saturday at about 6 a.m. to find her husband's body in the apartment they rented in Porto de Galinhas, a seaside resort. She then called police, which her lawyer said indicates her willingness to help authorities.

But police say they are certain she killed Gatti - who lived in Montreal but considered Jersey City his hometown - in their apartment where they and their 10-month-old son arrived for a second honeymoon last week. The boy was unhurt and is in the care of Rodrigues' family.

Rodrigues told police she had a fight with Gatti after dinner Friday night and he pushed her to the ground, resulting in minor injuries to her elbow and chin. Witnesses also reported to police the couple fought and Gatti was drunk.

Police yesterday said Gatti had marks on his throat, indicating he was strangled, and a knife wound to the back of his head. They displayed a bloodied, white purse strap that was found near Gatti's body, along with a small steak knife. Saraiva said she could not confirm if Gatti was first strangled and then cut with the knife, or the opposite.

Those close to Gatti in the United States say they are mystified by what happened, though they knew his relationship with Rodrigues was rocky. "What I've been hearing is that him and the girl fought a lot," said Buddy McGirt, Gatti's one-time trainer. "Whatever it is, it's crazy. If they fought that much, leave the person. You don't kill them or have someone else kill them."

Former boxing champion Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini said he didn't know Rodrigues, but he knew Gatti, like many boxers, was prone to drink and party to excess. "You could see, a lot of guys are tortured, man, they live a lifestyle," Mancini said. "I don't know if it's them or how they think they're expected to act. But they all want that rock star life."

Jasmine Fiore, Bikini Model, Found Strangled to Death in Suitcase

Zimbio

August 19, 2009

Jasmine Fiore, a professional bikini model based in Las Vegas, was found strangled to death and left in a suitcase in Buena Park, CA. Fiore had recently met and married Ryan Jenkins, who had appeared as a contestant on the reality show Megan Wants a Millionaire.

Now police are seeking her husband Ryan Jenkins, a reality show contestant, in connection with the murder. They have named Jenkins as a person of interest, and are asking the public to be on the look out for Jenkin's car, a black BMW X5 with Canadian plates HLY275. They also say he may be driving Fiore's car, a white 2007 Mercedes CL S550 with black rims, tinted windows, and paper plates reading "Platinum Motors."

Fiore's body was discovered by a local man, Frank DiStefano, who was digging through the trash looking for recyclables. Speaking to ABC News, DiStefano said, "[The suitcase] was partially opened, I lifted it up one time and saw skin, but Iwasn't sure, so I lifted it up again.Then when I saw the marks on the body and everything, I verified that it was a body. I immediately called 911."

Police: Killer Removed Bikini Model's Teeth and Fingers

Crimesider - CBS News

August 21, 2009 9:56 AM

BUENA PARK, Calif. (CBS/AP) New gruesome details have emerged in the murder of a former swimsuit model, who police believe may have been killed by her reality TV contestant ex-husband.

The teeth and fingers of 28-year-old Jasmine Fiore were removed before her naked body was stuffed into a suitcase and thrown in a California trash can over the weekend, according to police.

A preliminary coroner’s report indicated Fiore had been strangled. Police believe Jenkins went to such horrific lengths to impede identification of Fiore’s body.

The former swimsuit model’s ex-husband, reality TV contestant Ryan Alexander Jenkins, 32, is the prime suspect and authorities have already charged him with her murder.

There is now a manhunt going on for Jenkins, who is Canadian.

Fiore, a former swimsuit model, and Jenkins were briefly married after a quickie Las Vegas wedding this year, and had been fighting in recent months.

Prosecutors said the two checked into a San Diego hotel last Thursday, and Jenkins checked out the next morning. Fiore was not seen alive again.

The two met in Las Vegas after Jenkins finished taping for “Megan Wants a Millionaire” in early March, the couple got married on March 18, said Fiore's mother, Lisa Lepore.

But in May, “they had a big blowout,” and fought because he was jealous of her ex-boyfriends, Lepore said. “She had the marriage annulled.”

Jenkins then went to Mexico to do another reality TV show, but struggled to get Fiore back when he returned. It was not immediately clear which show he appeared on.

“He convinced her … that he was really the guy for her,” Lepore said. “He wrote poems and stories, and prayed, and (claimed he) had this huge spiritual awakening.”

Jenkins had been violent toward Fiore before. Court records show that Jenkins was charged in June in Clark County, Nev., with a misdemeanor count of “battery constituting domestic violence” for allegedly hitting Fiore in the arm and is scheduled for trial in December.

Jenkins also has a criminal history in his hometown of Calgary.

He was sentenced to 15 months of probation in January 2007 on an unspecified assault charge, according to the Alberta, Canada Ministry of Justice. No further details were available.

Reality star Ryan Jenkins found hanged in Canadian motel

Daily Contributor

24 August 2009

Reality TV star Ryan Alexander Jenkins, who was being sought over the murder of his model wife Jasmine Fiore, has been found dead in an apparent suicide inside a motel in Canada. The 32-year-old was found hanging inside his room at the Thunderbird Motel in Hope near Vancouver, officials said.

According to reports, Jenkins arrived at the motel in a car with Alberta license plates. The manager of the establishment said the woman traveling with the reality star paid cash for three days. But when the couple didn’t check out, he broke into the room and found Jenkins hanging from the bar of a clothing rack. The identity and whereabouts of the woman has not been revealed.

US police have been hunting for Jenkins since the mutilated body of Fiore was found stuffed into a suitcase in a rubbish bin in Buena Park, California. Her fingers and teeth had been removed, and investigators had to identify her with the serial number on her breast implants.

Jenkins, an investment banker from Calgary, ran into Fiore, 28, at a strip club in Las Vegas. They were reportedly married 48 hours later.

UPDATE: TMZ.com is reporting that the mystery woman who allegedly helped reality TV star Ryan Jenkins get a motel room in Canada, could be Paulina Chmielecka—Jenkins’ former fiancée.

digitaljournal.com

Jul 14, 2010

The Democratic Green Party of Rwanda's First Vice President Andre Kagwa Rwisereka was found dead, his head almost completely severed from his body, in the wetlands of the Makula River near Butare, Rwanda, on the morning of July 14, 2010. His body had been left approximately 3 kilometers from Butare, where his car had been dumped. He was 61 years old and is survived by four children.

The President, Vice Treasurer, Communications Secretary, and Secretary General of the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda traveled to Butare yesterday in response to reports that Rwisereka had disappeared and that his car had been found abandoned. Today the Party issued a release announcing that Rwisereka had been assasssinated, and that his brother Antoine Haguma had confirmed seeing his body, with his head almost completely severed. The Rwanda Greens also reported that Rwisereka's national ID, driver’s license, house keys, and car keys were found inside the car, now packed at Police Headquarters in Huye-Butare town, and that his passport had been found in his house in TABA-Butare.

The Democratic Green Party of Rwanda is one of three viable opposition parties in Rwanda. All three have been excluded from the country's 2010 presidential election with polls now scheduled for August 9th.

Journalist Jean Leonard Rugambage was slain outside his home on June 24th, on the same day that Parti Social-Imberakuri presidential candidate Bernard Ntaganda and members of the Parti Social-Imberakuri and FDU-Inkingi Parties were arrested protesting their exclusion from the election. Rwanda Greens President Frank Habineza was arrested and then released, on the same day, while protesting the arrest of the other opposition party members outside the U.S. Embassy, which is next door to Rwandan President Paul Kagame's offices.

Digital Journal reached Democratic Green Party of Rwanda President Frank Habineza, who is also President of the African Greens Federation, by phone as he was returning to Butare today, June 14th, driving from Rwanda's capital Kigali, with the Party's Vice Treasurer and Secretary General. "This is very sad and shocking," he said. "We are calling on the Rwandan government to undertake a complete investigation. We are also asking the international community to intervene into the Rwandan situation."

Yesterday Reporters without Borders (RWB) called on the European Union and other international donors to suspend their assistance to the Rwandan government and to stop providing financial support for the 9 August presidential election following a series of grave press freedom violations, including the assassination of Umuvugizi Newspaper journalist Jean Leonard Rugambage, followed by the arrest of the Editor-in-Chief, and a designer and reporter for Umurabyo Newspaper. “How much longer will the international community continue to endorse this repressive regime?” they asked.

The London Guardian reported that Rwanda Police Spokesperson Eric Kariyanga said that Rwisereka had reportedly been carrying a lot of money and that robbery may have been the motive, but Habineza said, "No, it wasn't a robbery because they left his car, they left the keys to his car inside the car, they left the keys to his house inside the car with his National identity card inside the car. If they were thieves, they would have taken his car. If they were thieves, they would have taken the keys to his house and gone to take things from his house, They left the keys to his car and his house inside the car."