Yet Another Plane Falls Out of the Sky?!
February 27, 2009
Don’t you think that there is a proportionally larger amount on planes dropping out of the sky this year?!
I have never been particularly scared about flying before, but it now seems that plane crashes are occurring on a regular basis and this surely means that you and I have a far greater chance of ending up in one of these accidents?!
Turkish Airlines flight came down at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport (which I have been to 3 times). According to reports nine people were killed and at least 50 injured. The speculated reason is because the plane ran out of fuel… what?! I hear you say?!
Mustafa Bahcecioglu a survivor said:
“We are in the middle of a field now, approximately five to six kilometres from the airport. The majority of the passengers are injured but there are people who are not injured. Around 30 ambulances have come here.”
Huseyin Sumer another survivor said:
“The plane split into three parts. We are calling people to say the situation is not very serious but there might be casualties on the front side of the pane.”
Air Transport Intelligence Editor Kieran Daly said about Schiphol Airport:
“This is one of the best-equipped, most modern and most sophisticated airports in the world. There is no high terrain anywhere near the airport and pilots have every conceivable landing aid available to them. There are very long, very wide runways and an extremely competent air traffic control service. This is one of the last likely places in the world for an aircraft accident.”
Baby Found In Bag
February 25, 2009
In the news today is the story of a newborn baby found in a carrier bag by children on their way to school. The crying baby was found, wrapped in a blue blanket and placed in a reusable Tesco’s carrier bag.
The baby is either black or asian and was found in South London. The abandoned baby has been named Grace by the staff at Kings College Hospital.
Police have said:
“It is believed the baby was left outside the address after 4.20am this morning, as the occupant had returned from working a night shift at that time. She was very, very cold but, due to the speedy discovery by these children, she was brought to hospital very quickly and treated.”
Police are worried about the mother who could be in a physical and mental bad state.
Inspector Simon Rooke went on to say:
“I would ask her to please contact us as soon as possible. We are most concerned about her welfare at this time. I would like to stress to anyone who hears this appeal, in particular the mother, that they should not hesitate to call us. We are concerned for the welfare of the mother and want to ensure that she is receiving the appropriate medical attention”.
Worst Baby Shower Ever
February 18, 2009
Generally, the worst that can happen at a baby shower is that you received duplicate gifts, have to indulge in boring games and over eat rich foods. Last week however, the baby shower events to unfold were totally out of the norm, with people being charged for murder, other charges flying around, far too dramatic for a run of the mill baby shower.
A man turned up at the baby shower party in Mississauga looking to collect a debt; instead he was given a deadly stab wound by none other than the 7 month pregnant guest of honour. Only moments earlier the mother to be was slicing up bananas for her guests’ fruit tray.
Jazmine Besito organised the events said:
“I saw everything and it wasn’t very pretty, a baby shower gone wrong, totally wrong.”
According to Besito, Jay Kumar Atha burst into the expecting parents’ home and demanded repayment. None of the guests knew what the money was for however, Atha threatened he would take the TV and computer if they did not pay up.
Besito then said:
“He was disrupting everything and told him to come back when the baby shower was done, and he just wouldn’t leave”
According to guests when he started grabbing at the computer the pregnant woman went at him with the knife stabbing his chest once.
The pregnant Ms. Lanthier has been charged with second degree murder and her common law husband Mr. Malik with being an accessory after the fact.
According to local police the debt was related to money owed to Atha for drugs.
Man On Trial for Beheading
February 3, 2009
A man has gone on trial for murdering a Lithuanian woman and then dumping her head and hands in the sea.
A jury is currently being selected and the trial is likely to be held at the High Court of Edinburgh. The accused Vitas Plytnykas denies killing Jolanta Bledaite in Angus last year.
It is alleged that Plytnykas attacked Bledaite in her flat on March 29 last year. He is meant to have bound her legs, arms and mouth and demanded her cards and bank pins. According to reports he hit her repeatedly with a knife before suffocating her to death.
Following on from the above he also denies the following:
- Dumping her hands, feet and head into a river
- Dumping her body in the same river the next day
- Taking her possessions from her bedroom
- Setting fire to her papers and belongings
- Throwing her knives into the river
Very scary stuff indeed! It does make me wonder what kind of person would do something like this?! Is a person driven to this or just not mentally stable?! Then there’s the whole nature/nurture argument which I won’t get into now. Good God though, what is the World coming to?!
Da Vinci Drawings Found
December 24, 2008
The Louvre Museum has found drawings on the back of a Leonardo da Vinci painting previously undiscovered. The drawings are believed to be done by da Vinci himself, though how they have gone undiscovered for so long is not known.
The drawings feature part of a skull, baby Jesus with a lamb and a horse head and were on the back of The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne. The curator made the discovery on the back of the wooden painting.
The Louvre said:
“This is an exceptional discovery because drawings on the back of paintings are very rare and no example by Leonardo was previously known. The style of the drawings recalls the style of Leonardo, but research is ongoing to clarify their authorship.”
NPower Hit By Ofgem
December 22, 2008
In the news today, Ofgem have announced that they will fine NPower owned by German energy giants RWE £1.8 million. 
According to Ofgem, NPower have not tried to prevent the mis-selling of its energy supply contracts to customers.
NPower have sacked six sales staff following their own investigation in May after allegations people had been misled. The ruling states that consumers should be fully aware that they are entering a contract.
Following the mis-sells, management failed to follow up the claims of poor door to door sales staff.
Sarah Harrison of Ofgem has said:
“This decision sends a clear message to energy suppliers that failing customers and falling short of licence standards will lead to Ofgem action”.
Ofgem have said that 2009 will bring tougher regulations for door to door sales staff to try and prevent mis-selling. Suggestions that door to door sales staff should provide written quotations comparing their offer with that of their existing supplier have been mentioned.
A further 17 staff from NPower have been sacked following the investigation that began in April. Hopefully energy suppliers will begin to realise that they are not invincible. Though, it is questionable how much effect £1.8 million will have on NPower.
Hold Up At Stansted
December 8, 2008
More than 50 protestors brought Stansted Airport to standstill this morning. According to police reports protests started at 3:15am when security was initially breeched. There have been 39 arrests after it was deemed “a criminal act” which will be dealt with in the courts. The protests were in disapproval of the plans to build another runway at the airport.
This morning flights were due to leave at 6:10am however the incident is only now being resolved. Ryanair who had to cancel 52 flights said that this was unacceptable and are demanding an investigation into the affair.
It is rather worrying however that they managed to penetrate the air field with the threat of terrorism as it currently is. The amount of people who would relish the fact that it is possible to break into a UK airfield is quite scary. I think this situation needs rectifying very quickly before something terrible happens!
Co-Pilot Goes Loco Mid Flight!
November 30, 2008
In the news this week is the airline co-pilot who went loco mid flight… needing to be wrestled out of the cock pit before a stewardess helped with the emergency landing. 
The flight from Toronto to London with Air Canada found the pilot being restrained and sedated. According to a safety report the pilot began talking in a “rambling and disjointed” way before refusing to observe safety procedures.
The pilot then said that his colleague was so “belligerent and uncooperative” that he was unable to fulfil his job. Once this decision was made, the pilot called a number of air stewards to remove the co-pilot, and then two on board doctors sedated him.
The question was then raised by the pilot whether any passengers were qualified pilots; however no one had the qualification. It then came to light that a steward had an expired commercial pilots licence and so was the best option to aid with the emergency landing.
Pilot, plus Air Steward managed to land the plane at Shannon Airport in West Ireland. There were over 150 people on the dramatic Boeing 767 during the flight that day.
Little information was officially given relating to the event and no names of staff were given. It was said that the loco co-pilot was a veteran with licence, who had recently passed a medical examination and had over 6,500 hours flying experience under his belt.
This is terrifying!!!!
Violence Continues In India
November 28, 2008
A Business man from Briton had to blockade himself into his Mumbai hotel room when it was attacked.
The Oberoi Hotel was taken by militants on Wednesday while Mark Abell was staying there. There was no food and very little water and Mark said that he was;
“Surrounded by explosions, gunshots and people screaming”
The attacks saw one British national killed and at least 7 injurred following the attacks. It wasn’t until Friday that the situation was taken back into control by authorities.
After freeing many guests and staff from the hotel, police found 24 bodies. Still now rescue attempts are still going on at The Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, another luxury hotel. There have been over 130 people found dead following the attacks and many more injured. The involvement of Britons is currently being investigated.
This massive out brake of violence is harrowing and the potential involvement of Britons is worrying. Not only this, but India is accusing Pakistan of involvement, which could cause international conflict.
Major UK Names Enter Administration
November 26, 2008
High Street old timer Woolworths with 815 stores UK wide has today gone into administration.
This will put thousands of people out of work with the board of directors meeting at 6pm to make a decision regarding Woolworth’s future.
Not only this, but MFI are also set to go into administration. Problems cited have been less demand, cash flow problems and credit terms being withdrawn. Though not all of the 110 stores are closing, only 24 will remain open.
Back to Woolworths, all 815 stores are in danger with 25,000 potential redundancies. Woolworths have continued to struggle with their £385 million debt, which has been made worse recently as they have had to pay cash to suppliers as they could no longer get trade insurance.
Though there have been great efforts to find buyers for their business, today they have had to accept their fate in administration. I think this goes to show that as much as the Labour Party would like us to believe that the recession will be over in 6 to 12 months, this is unlikely to be the case.
We should look to the long term and prepare for the worst. The recent budget plans seem to be a gamble with Britain’s future, this is the time to be careful and prepare for the next couple of years of doomy finances, not risk everything.