Oz woman saves apartment building from going up in flames – topless!

Melbourne, May 11 (ANI): A woman from Darwin has been hailed as a heroine after she put her own safety and modesty aside to save an apartment building from going up in flames – topless.

Fitness instructor Tash Bennett was sunbaking by the pool of the Alatai Apartments in Darwin city on May 6 when a nearby palm tree caught fire.

“I was just lying there when some ash fell on top of me. I wasn”t really paying attention because I was listening to my iPod,” the Courier Mail quoted her as saying.

Bennett, who raced to reception for help before rushing back to the pool to use the fire hose, only realised that she was topless after she battled the blaze for five minutes and then looked down at herself.

“I was pretty red faced on the day, having to hold myself while running to reception. I was sunbaking. I wasn”t exactly prepared,” she explained.

“But you”ve got to put out the fire before you deal with that,” she stated.

After the blaze, Bennett resumed her sunbaking while she waited for the fire crew to arrive.

Her husband, Daniel McNamee said he was proud of his wife”s quick action in the emergency.

“Apparently the flame was pretty high. It could have taken out the building,” he said.

“She was just lying there thinking, ”it”s getting pretty hot here”.

“It was only after the fire was out that she looked down and realised that she was topless. At one stage she had quite an audience, just having a laugh,” he revealed.

One witness, Johnny McCoy said Bennett had a full audience of residents while she battled the blaze.

“For the record, she was smoking hot herself, but provided all the boys a pretty awesome sight for an otherwise typical Thursday,” he said.

“Once she had the blaze under control, she then got her bikini situation under control and put everything back where it should be,” he added. (ANI)

Top anti-racism judge shot dead in Moscow

One of Russia’s top criminal judges has been murdered in the capital, Moscow.

Eduard Chuvashov had presided over several high-profile trials, including the sentencing of some of Russia’s most notorious neo-Nazis.

According to one of Russia’s main news agencies, a security camera recorded the moment the gunman entered the apartment building and opened fire.

The judge had just come out of his apartment.

Mr Chuvashov is reported to have died instantly after being hit in the head and chest.

The gunman, who managed to escape, is reported to have been in his 20s and of Slavic appearance.

Officials have been quoted as saying this was probably a contract killing connected to the judge’s work.

Local media said Mr Chuvashov was the judge who sentenced 12 ultra-nationalists from the Russian fascist group known as the “White Wolves” in February.

Mostly teenagers, the group were found guilty of a string of brutal murders against dark-skinned migrants from Central Asian countries, many of whom had been bludgeoned to death.

Building activity slumps in March

There was a significant fall in demand in Australia’s construction sector last month, with residential building falling flat after several months of solid growth.

The Performance of Construction Index by the Australian Industry Group and the Housing Industry Association fell 4.1 points to 48.7 in March.

It is now below the key 50-point level that indicates expansion.

Home building activity was muted, while apartment building and engineering construction extended declines from previous months.

However there was some better news in the commercial construction sector which continued to build on the gradual recovery that has been evident since January.

Australian Industry Group spokesman Peter Burn says he is concerned about a big fall in new orders in the house building and apartment sub-sectors.

“That fall comes at a time when there is already a shortage of housing and a growing gap between demand and supply,” he said.

Dr Burn says businesses attributed the decline in housing new orders to the end of the first home buyers’ boost and the five official interest rate increases since October.

A senior economist with the Housing Industry Association, Ben Phillips, says last month’s weakness highlights the fragility of the recovery in the sector.

“The residential construction numbers for houses and apartments confirm a worrying downward trend for the new homes sector,” he said.

“The strength of the nation’s housing recovery is looking shaky.

“Industry hopes for a sustained and necessary recovery are fading under the impact of higher interest rates and continued pressure from credit and land restraints,” Mr Phillips said.

Dr Burn says access to finance re-emerged as a big issue for the construction industry last month.

“The operating environment remained difficult in March, with tight credit conditions, subdued client demand and project delays having adverse impacts on construction companies.”

He says the industry will struggle with the Reserve Bank’s decision this week to raise the cash rate by 25 basis points.

“The further increase in official interest rates announced on Tuesday is likely to dampen activity at a time when new orders are already falling in all of the sub-sectors other than commercial construction,” Dr Burn said.

2 Charged With Murder After Deadly Ill. ‘Greed’ Fire

MAYWOOD, Ill. — Prosecutors say the owner of an apartment building in a Chicago suburb had his maintenance man set it on fire, killing seven people, because he wanted to collect the insurance money.

Prosecutors say the owner told police he wanted the building burned when the children living there were at school. Instead, they allege, the maintenance man started the fire on a Sunday morning when residents were asleep.

Cook County state’s attorney Anita Alvarez says the Feb. 14 fire was motivated by “sheer greed.” She says the owner had an insurance policy on the building worth $250,000.

The owner, 60-year-old Lawrence Myers, and the maintenance man, 47-year-old Marion Comier, are charged with murder and arson. They pleaded not guilty Friday and were ordered held without bond.

FBI raids home of suspect Afghan terrorist with links to Pak

Colorado (US), Sep.17 (ANI): Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents scoured the Colorado home of an Afghan national – Najibullah Zazi – who has traveled to Pakistan and is linked to an Al Qaeda terror cell. There is a strong suspicion that he attended a terror training camp there.

Twenty-five-year-old Zazi is also said to have been involved in a plot to attack the New York City subway systems.

The search with bomb-sniffing dogs took place on Wednesday in Aurora, Colorado, sources told the Daily News.

“Zazi has certainly had some bad connections to people overseas,” said a source familiar with the ongoing case.

FBI agents and deputies from the Arapahoe County sheriff’s office stood outside his apartment building as authorities rooted around inside.

The suspect was spotted in a Queens mosque last week and also was seen in lower Manhattan, the sources said.

Zazi managed to lose his FBI tail after he was warned about the federal attention, the sources said.

Despite intense around-the-clock scrutiny on Zazi and four other reputed cell members, authorities had yet to make an arrest in the case. (ANI)

Iranian youth recounts how he was raped, beaten for questioning Ahmadinejad’s victory

Tehran, Sep. 11 (ANI): A teenaged engineering student has revealed that he was locked up, beaten and raped multiple times for daring to protest against President Ahmadinejad’s disputed re-election.

“When I first participated in the protests I was not demonstrating against the Leader or the Islamic Republic. I was protesting Ahmadinejad’s cheating. But today, I say ‘Death to Khamenei’, and having been raped by his henchmen I also say ‘Death to the Dogs of Khamenei,” Times Online quoted Ardeshir, 19, as saying.

Ardeshir recounts that after being arrested he was driven to an apartment building 90 minutes away that was clearly an unofficial detention centre.

“A Basiji called Mahmoud urinated on my face, saying that this would teach me not to oppose the divine wishes of the Great Leader of the Revolution. ‘We have been sent to re-educate you, you spoilt Western piece of shit.

“Another Basiji came up and raped me. At this point I felt that I was not me. I seemed to have shut down and separated from my body. Why these people who claim to be the most religious in our society can do such things?” report quoted him, as saying.

A hospital report confirms he suffered anal damage. He has temporarily abandoned his studies temporarily and seeks solace by playing the santur, an Iranian instrument.

“He has extreme feelings of self-hatred resulting from a sense that he will never be clean again, and from shame over the repeated rapes,” his psychologist says.

Ardeshir – not his real name – is one of scores of detainees who have been raped and tortured by their jailers in the past three months in what appears to be a systematic attempt to break their will, the report concludes. (ANI)

US mid-West states suffer loss worth almost 5 m dollars after storms

Washington, Aug.21 (ANI): Communities across four mid-West American states were looking over the damage caused by powerful storms on Wednesday night. At least 18 suspected tornadoes left behind a huge clean-up job and the loss is estimated to be in the region of about five million dollars.n Minnesota, the storms arrived with little warning, and left behind remarkable damage.

Storm-watchers spotted at least three funnel clouds around Minneapolis Wednesday afternoon. The sudden strong winds picked a woman up off the street and toppled trees in an instant.

Skies looked similar across the neighboring states-Iowa, Illinois and Indiana.

Storms in Central Illinois sent at least six people to the hospital with injuries and left thousands more without power. An Indiana apartment building could not withstand the winds, reports ABC News. The Midwest expects to face more severe weather through the weekend, while the East Coast focuses on Hurricane Bill.

The Category 4 hurricane is now in the Atlantic and could cause large swells and beach rip currents by the weekend.

Hurricane Bill could pick up steam as it moves north, but forecasters still don’t know how close the hurricane will get to land. (ANI)

La Brea Fire – Santa Maria Fire – La Brea Fire Continues To Grow – 6th St./La Brea Ave. Apartment Fire; Traffic Snarls – La Brea Fire Pushes North and East

La Brea Fire | Santa Maria Fire | La Brea Fire Continues To Grow | 6th St./La Brea Ave. Apartment Fire; Traffic Snarls | La Brea Fire Pushes North and East

The Los Angeles Fire Department is broke about 25 miles east of Santa Maria and 10 miles east of Tepesquet Peak a two story apartment building with fire showing from the attic that began shortly before 2:30 p.m. at 5449 6th St. between Detroit St. and La Brea Ave, no injuries are reported.

The La Brea Fire had charred 10,000 acres in the Los Padres National Forest of Sunday evening.120 firefighters fought the fire. Four helicopters and eight air tankers battled the blaze Sunday, knocking it down at 3:45 p.m. 6th St. is currently closed in both directions between La Brea and Detroit until further notice.

Building Collapse in China – Building Collapse in Sanpada – Building Collapse in Shanghai – Internet Rumour – Rumour – Sanpada Building Collapse – Sanpada Tower Collapse – Lotus Riverside

Building Collapse in China – Building Collapse in Sanpada – Building Collapse in Shanghai – Internet Rumour – Rumour – Sanpada Building Collapse – Sanpada Tower Collapse – Lotus Riverside

The news of ‘Building Collapse in Sanpada, Mumbai’ spreading through emails and forums in the internet is  just a Rumor, incident has hapned in  China , Shanghai. The building namely “Lotus Riverside” apartment complex collapse in Shanghai China.

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There is an unauthenticated information about a ‘Building Collapse in Sanpada, Mumbai’ spreading through emails and forums in the internet.

The story displayed in some websites, emails is as follows

At least 20 people, including eight children, were killed and 21 others were injured when a portion of a four-storey building in south Mumbai collapsed in the wee hours on Wednesday, officials said.

The dead included eight children, same number of women and four men, they said adding, the injured were admitted to the government-run J J Hospital.

A portion of the building ‘Dutt Niwas’ collapsed at around 5:15 am, R E Pawar, DCP (Zone II) said.

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Shanghai building collapse

In a bizzare and very sad incidence The building at Shanghai’s “Lotus Riverside” apartment complex toppled over almost intact, killing one worker.

Moreover, there has been rumor on the internet that this incidence took place in Sanpada, Mumbai. But let me confirm once again that the incedence took place in Shanghai not Sanpaga, Mumbai.

Original news article : BBC News

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building collapse in sanpada, mumbai is a Rumor; The building at Shanghai’s “Lotus Riverside” apartment complex collapse in china, Building Collapse In Sanpada False News It in China Shanghai

The building, one of 11 in a wider project, fell over early on Saturday when pillars that were supposed to be buried deep under the earth were uprooted. The event has sparked worries about construction safety in China.reports bbc news. check out photos of building collapse in china, shanghai at bbc news.
The rumor on the internet that this incidence took place in Sanpada, Mumbai, is worrying mumbaikar’s but its Rumor: Propety blog

more photos of building collapse in china, sanpada building collapse, building collapse in shanghai, sanpada tower collapse, jp morgan india at Shanghai holds 9 linked with building collapse

The pictures building collapse in china that of Shanghai and it happended on 27th/ 29th June 09

What Caused The Collapse?

Is a case of shoddy construction – known in Chi

Governor Sanford’s beautiful Argentine mistress identified as Maria Belen Chapur

New York, June 26 (ANI): South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford’s Argentine mistress has been identified as Maria Belen Chapur, a 43-year-old divorcee and high-powered international businesswoman.

The athletic brunette at the center of a media storm following Sanford’s confession of an affair, lives in an upscale apartment building next to the Buenos Aires Zoo, in a trendy neighborhood that is also near the US Embassy. Maria has two children, speaks English, Portuguese and Chinese, Terra Argentina reported.

A witness who works in the building described her to Buenos Aires Continental Radio as a beautiful brunette with big eyes who plays tennis on a nearby lawn and runs every morning in her neighborhood.

The witness told the radio station that someone matching Sanford’s description arrived at the complex, alone, with a small sports bag last week and asked to go inside the building.

The news site also reported that she worked for an agribusiness company called Bunge, but that appears to be incorrect. According to their lovesick emails that were given to South Carolina’s State newspaper, Shapur also makes semi-regular trips to New York City, the Daily News reports.

Celebrity gossip website TMZ quoted Buenos Aires bar owner Carlos Soto as saying he saw the governor and his mistress last week.

He said they were “all over each over” in his Italian bar and restaurant, “kissing, holding hands and drinking wine.” Soto said Maria has green eyes, dirty blonde hair and an impressive figure.

Sanford, who caused a national furor when he went missing last week, told the press on Wednesday that he had been in Argentina for six days.

He implied he had gone to end things with Shapur and appeared very emotional about the loss, praising her repeatedly. He said they met innocently eight years ago and kept up an email friendship that sparked into romance a year ago.

Sanford was visiting with his wife and four sons at their beach home on Sullivans Island today, his staff said. His wife of 20 years, who learned of the affair about five months ago and kicked him out two weeks ago, said she’d give him a chance to fix their marriage.

Jenny Sanford is an impressive woman, too: a former vice president in mergers and acquisitions at Lazard Frères on Wall Street, a millionaire heir to the Skil power tool fortune and a canny campaign manager for her husband. (ANI)

Hong Kong man jumps to his death after killing wife with hammer

Hong Kong – A retired Hong Kong sailor leapt to his death after killing his wife with a hammer, knife and chisel, police said Wednesday.

The 70-year-old is believed to have jumped from the window of his 10th-floor window after attacking his 72-year-old wife.

His body was found lying on a third-floor podium of his apartment building late Monday night.

Police broke into his flat, and found his wife dead lying in a pool of blood and the three bloodstained tools close by. Both husband and wife were declared dead at the scene by paramedics.

Police said the case had been classified as a murder-suicide. (dpa)

Police: Youth admits taking part in killing of family of four

Eislingen, Germany – A 19-year-old youth has admitted to taking part in the killings of four members of a family in south-west Germany, prosecutors said on Friday.

The teen told police that he and his friend, 18, gunned down the friend’s parents and two sisters at the family’s apartment in Eislingen a week ago, a spokesman for the prosecutor’s office in nearby Ulm said.

The youth did not give a motive for the killings, which were carried out with two pistols stolen last year from a local marksmen’s club frequented by the 18-year-old.

The guns and 31 rounds of used ammunition were found in a woods wrapped in a plastic rubbish bag. The 19-year-old said his friend had hidden them there, according to police.

Police said the duo behaved like professional killers. They first shot dead the two sisters, aged 24 and 22, while their parents were out for the evening with friends in a local restaurant.

They then went to the restaurant themselves and joined the parents, returning to the apartment an hour later to wait for the couple, aged 57 and 55, to come back.

An hour later, in the early hours of April 10, they shot dead the two adults in the hallway of the flat, police said.

The 18-year-old has remained silent about what happened since he and his friend were detained for questioning a day after the killings.

Investigations showed traces of powder burns on the hands of both youths, indicating they had recently fired guns.

The killings were reported to police by 18-year-old, who said he found the bodies of his family when he returned home after spending the night with his friend.

Police immediately suspected a family member or someone with close links to the family because there were no traces of a break-in and the flat was not ransacked.

The father practiced alternative medicine in the basement of the apartment building, which was owned by the family. The mother was a teacher and her daughters were studying to be teachers.

The killing occured three days after a man opened fire in a court in Bavaria, killing his sister-in-law and injuring two other people before turning his gun on himself.

That shooting happened less than a month after a teenager went on the rampage in and around his former school in Winnenden, south-west Germany, killing 15 people. (dpa)

Weapons stolen from gun club of teen arrested over fourfold murder

Eislingen, Germany – More than 20 weapons were stolen from the shooting club of 18-year-old who was arrested in connection with the murder of four members of his family, police said Monday. Long and short range weapons with large and small calibres were stolen from the marksman’s club last October, police said. The corresponding ammunition was also missing.

The youth and his friend, aged 19, are being treated as prime suspects in Friday’s shootings, in which the father, mother and two sisters of the teenager were found dead with gunshot wounds in the family apartment.

There were no traces of break-in or ransacking in the flat.

The 18-year-old suspect and his 19-year-old friend both deny the charges. They are being held in police custody.

The son had told police he found the victims when he returned home on Friday morning after spending the night with a friend.

The victims of Friday’s attack were all shot with a small calibre gun, the post mortem revealed.

However the police cannot yet confirm whether there is a connection between the weapons theft and the fourfold murder.

The father practiced alternative medicine in the basement of the apartment building, which was owned by the family. The mother was a teacher. The two daughters were studying to be teachers.

Three other families who live in the building said they did not hear any shots.

The killing came three days after a man opened fire in a court in Bavaria, killing his sister-in-law and injuring two other people before turning his gun on himself.

That shooting happened less than a month after a teenager went on the rampage in and around his former school in Winnenden, south-west Germany, killing 15 people. (dpa)

Son a suspect in killing of family of four in Germany

Eislingen, Germany – Police were Saturday questioning an 18-year-old in the slaying of his parents and two sisters at the family home Eislingen, south-west Germany. A police spokesman said the youth and his friend, aged 19, were being treated as prime suspects in Friday’s shootings.

“The circumstances indicate it was somebody who had close links to the family or was a family member,” said police spokesman Rudi Bauer.

The son told police he found the victims when he returned home on Friday morning after spending the night with a friend. The father, 57, mother, 55, and two sisters aged 24 and 22, were in different rooms of the apartment.

“All the corpses had gunshot wounds,” the police spokesman said. “There were no traces of a break-in. The flat was not ransacked”

The son was a member of a local marksmen’s club, according to police, who were still searching for the murder weapon on Saturday.

Police have been questioning the teenager for two days, along with friends and acquaintances of the family.

“Basically, we are concentrating on everyone closely connected with the family,” said another police spokesman.

The father practiced alternative medicine in the basement of the apartment building, which was owned by the family. The mother was a teacher. The two daughters were studying to be teachers.

Three other families who live in the building said they did not hear any shots.

The killing comes three days after a man opened fire in a court in Bavaria, killing his sister-in-law and injuring two other people before turning his gun on himself.

That shooting happened less than a month after a teenager went on the rampage in and around his former school in Winnenden, south-west Germany, killing 15 people. (dpa)

Man with fetish for women’s underwear arrested

Kuala Lumpur, Apr 6 (ANI): A man with a fetish for women’s underwear has been arrested for stealing more than 70 panties, with most of them belonging to nursing students.

As per Penampang district police chief Deputy Supt Madang Usat, the man pretended to distribute flyers and business cards to gain access at the Ramin Court apartment complex at Jalan Nosoob, reports the Star Online.

He revealed that two of the trainee nurses living in separate units at the apartment building had lodged reports on March 20 and April 3, claiming that their panties had been stolen in the break-ins.

Nothing else was taken besides the panties, and, upon investigation, the police were led to the 34-year-old unemployed local man.

Some of the stolen panties were recovered from his car, and the suspect later led the police to another two packages hidden under a stairway at the Donggonggon business centre. (ANI)

Death toll in Ecuadorian military plane crash rises to eight

Quito – Rescue teams found another body in the rubble Friday after a military plane crashed into an apartment building in Ecuadorian capital Quito, taking the death toll to eight.

The eighth victim was a handicapped woman who lived alone.

The aircraft crashed into a building amid thick fog Thursday and exploded. All five people on board the eight-seat propeller Beechcraft plane and two people on the ground were found dead shortly after the crash.

Four people were injured, one of them seriously, officials said. The flight recorder was also recovered.

The plane was flying low as it prepared to land in Quito and grazed a tree before it flew into the building, witnesses said. It went down about 2.5 kilometres from the airport.

It was on a training flight from Manta on Ecuador’s central coast and was carrying three military personnel and the wife and 12-year-old son of the pilot, Defence Minister Javier Ponce said.

The seven-storey building’s top three floors partially collapsed when the plane crashed into it.

Authorities were sweeping the area for more victims Friday, and experts were evaluating whether the building had suffered structural damage.

The cause of the crash was not immediately known, but an investigation was launched.

The Guapulo neighbourhood, where the crash took place, has now seen four crashes in the past 27 years, causing 30 deaths. A 1988 crash killed the air force commander and a 1992 accident killed tourism minister Pedro Zambrano.

President Rafael Correa and Ponce visited the crash site Thursday night. dpa