Silver Scorpio - International News | Spot News | Top News | Flash News | Live News
Police have launched an investigation into the death of an elderly man in a caravan fire in the South Burnett region of southern Queensland last month.
Robert Pitman, 77, died in a fire that consumed his caravan and a shed at Gin Gin.
The cause of the fire and Mr Pitman’s death is still uncertain.
Police say they are also investigating a series of suspicious bank transactions on Mr Pitman’s account in the days leading up to his death.
Police are investigating four break-ins and two attempted break-ins at homes and businesses around south and west Tamworth.
Yesterday morning, a laptop and a mobile phone worth about $1,000 were taken from a west Tamworth home.
A short time later, a $2,400 computer was stolen from a home in south Tamworth.
In another case, the occupants of a house in south Tamworth awoke to someone trying to break into their house for a second time in three days.
Police want to speak to two men who caused an industrial vacuum cleaner to explode at a Perth petrol station.
The men are seen on security vision using the vacuum cleaner at the Bubbles car wash on Alexander Drive in Malaga earlier this month.
The men appear to be cleaning the boot, or using the vacuum cleaner to suck something out of a jerry can, when the machine catches alight.
Detective Constable Kay McKenna says the explosion caused $20,000.
“The two males have got back into their vehicle and can be seen driving away,” she said.
“It’s a two door vehicle, there’s a scorch mark on the rear right hand side, the driver’s side of the vehicle and it’s quite distinctive.”
Geraldton police are investigating reports two men were drag racing, moments before they lost control and crashed in Tarcoola overnight.
Emergency services were called to the Brand Highway near the corner of Durlacher Street just after 10:00pm (AWST).
Police say it appears the 19-year-old and 23-year-old drivers lost control of their high-performance vehicles, after sideswiping each other.
Both men escaped the crash unharmed and are expected to be interviewed by police today.
Part of the Brand Highway was closed to traffic for about an hour, while the wreckage was cleared.
Carnarvon police are investigating a series of assaults which have left two women with serious injuries.
Police say three separate domestic violence related disputes occurred at the weekend, leaving one woman with a broken arm and another with a broken wrist.
In one incident, a male offender allegedly broke into the home of his partner with an accomplice in the early hours of Saturday morning.
Police say the woman was assaulted and may require medical treatment in Perth for a broken wrist.
Two men have been charged with aggravated bodily harm and aggravated burglary.
Tamworth police are seeking to lay charges over a brawl involving 70 people at Coledale yesterday afternoon.
Officers say six cars pulled up outside a house on Sussex Street, to challenge one of the occupants.
When police arrived, rival groups were threatening each other on the street and yelling abuse.
It is alleged some were wielding knives and golf clubs.
Police say the scuffle broke up, but resumed later in the afternoon at nearby football grounds.
A man is recovering after being bashed by a group of men in central Bendigo early on Sunday morning.
Police say the 22-year-old was attacked by four people in an unprovoked assault in Rosalind Park about 5:00am (AEDT).
Earlier, a 17-year-old was taken to hospital after being knocked unconscious in Bridge Street.
Bendigo police were called to the area just before 3:00am when two groups were involved in a fight.
Police want anyone with information on either incident to contact Crimestoppers.
Police are investigating the death of a man who went missing after leaving a Northern Territory roadhouse.
Anthony Drummond, 40, had been working at the Three Ways Roadhouse but staff said he left unexpectedly on Friday.
A German tourist found his body near the Stuart Highway, north of the Renner Springs Road House, yesterday afternoon.
Territory Police Duty Superintendent Michael Murphy says it is not yet known how he died.
“At this stage the cause of death is not known,” he said.
“A forensic pathologist will do a post mortem.
“On conclusion of that examination a further determination will be made by the investigators, but we do treat most deaths as more serious until we have the evidence to suggest otherwise.”
Police say they will conduct more examinations into a drug lab uncovered in Queensland’s north-west.
Inspector Paul Biggin says a drug laboratory was found in a shed at a house in the Mount Isa suburb of the Gap yesterday.
He says officers from Brisbane and Townsville will assist in the investigations and ongoing work by local detectives is helping to reduce drug-related crime.
“At this stage we are very happy and pleased to the point that would put a significant dint in the local manufacturer of drugs and hopefully keep more drugs of the streets,” he said.
Police are preparing a report for the coroner into a fatal crash on the Charlestown Bypass on Saturday night in which an 80-year-old West Wallsend woman died.
The woman was driving in the southbound lanes at Hillsborough when she collided with a car travelling in the opposite direction.
She died at the scene, while the male driver and female passenger of the other car were taken to John Hunter Hospital with minor injuries.
Police are investigating the bashing of a man outside a Palmerston bar overnight.
The 35-year-old was punched by another man and kicked in the head while on the ground outside the Arch Rivals Tavern early this morning.
He is in a stable condition in the Royal Darwin Hospital and is expected to be released later today.
Police want to hear from any witnesses.
Police in northern Victoria are trying to find out what caused a fatal car crash near Wedderburn, north of Bendigo, on Saturday morning.
A 33-year-old man from Melbourne’s east was killed when his car crashed into a tree on Old Boort Road.
Police are preparing a report for the coroner.
Police are continuing investigations into a fatal road crash in central Queensland on Friday night.
Police say a 30-year-old motorbike rider was taken to the Rockhampton Hospital in a critical condition, but he died on Saturday.
They say his motorbike sideswiped a utility on the Capricorn Highway near Westwood, south-west of Rockhampton.
The Forensic Crash Unit is still looking into the crash.
SYDNEY: Australian police said they were investigating a string of hacking attacks against Melbourne-based companies, reportedly linked to recent violence against Indian nationals.
The cyber raids, which have occurred in the past week, are being probed by a specialist taskforce, a spokeswoman said, refusing to confirm media reports that they were linked to the Indian assaults.
“The Victoria Police e-crimes squad is investigating reports of alleged hacking of a number of different business servers hosted in Melbourne,” the spokeswoman said.
“The ongoing investigation is in its infancy and it would be inappropriate to comment any further.”
The Australian newspaper reported that several Melbourne construction and engineering firms had been attacked in recent days by a hacker called “Ghost Buster”.
“Your server data have been compromised … and have been encrypted,” Ghost Buster wrote on one.
“Stop racial attacks against Indian people,” the message said, vowing that until the assaults end, Australian servers will be hacked “every day”.
Attacks against Indians, including beatings and robberies, have been on the rise in Australia, threatening to damage diplomatic ties and the country’s 15.4-billion-US-dollar education export industry.
London, Aug 23 (ANI): Kerry Katona’s stepsister and closest confidante Pat Ferrier says that the reality TV star has admitted that she’ll die young.
Ferrier also says that Katona’s got a hole in her nose because of drugs.
“Kerry’s life is out of control now. She is a drug addict. Her nose is caving in – I’ve seen it with my own eyes. She needs to get help or she’ll die,” the News of the World quoted Ferrier as saying.
“If she doesn’t change her ways and keeps on going like this she’ll be dead before she’s 30. She’ll kill herself. And I’ve told her that. Shockingly, Kerry agreed with me. She just turned around and said, ‘I’m going to tell you something Pat. My mum will outlive me. I’ll die young,’ ” she added.
Katona’s life is in shambles ever since her coke snorting tape went public.
She lost out on her major source of income, a lucrative 250,000 pounds deal from frozen food giant Iceland.
To add to her problems is a police probe and the fear of going bankrupt.
And now she’s afraid she may lose the custody of her daughters to ex hubby Brian McFadden. (ANI)
London, Aug 21 (ANI): Drug scandal hit Kerry Katona will be questioned by social services after her return back home from holiday in Tenerife, it has emerged.
Child welfare officers will also speak to two of her children about the video that shows their mother snorting cocaine.
The seven-year-old Molly and one year younger Lilly Sue are believed to have been in the Cheshire mansion when Katona took coke.
Katona’s life is in shambles ever since her coke snorting tape went public.
She lost out on her major source of income, a lucrative 250,000 pounds deal from frozen food giant Iceland. To add to her problems is a police probe and the fear of going bankrupt. And now she’s afraid she may lose the custody of her daughters to ex hubby Brian McFadden.
The 28-year-old former Atomic Kitten was quoted by the Sun as telling a pal: “I can’t believe this is happening. I’m not going to let them take my kids.”
McFadden, who lives in Australia with fiancie Delta Goodrem, is expected file for the children’s custody soon. (ANI)
Taipei – Taiwan police on Sunday arrested a man for throwing banknotes from a taxi on the highway. Chen Ping-teng, 43, was arrested after he tossed 1,000 Taiwan dollar
(30 US dollar) bills from the window of a taxi on a highway in central Taiwan.
The taxi driver, suspecting Chen was the same man who threw money from a taxi on the highway Tuesday, causing traffic jams and triggering a police probe, drove Chen to a police station and handed him over to police.
During police questioning, Chen – who seemed to be mentally disturbed – admitted he has thrown an unknown amount of money across the island several times, including throwing 500,000 Taiwan dollars in 1,000 Taiwan dollar bill on the highway Tuesday.
Taiwan press gave wide coverage of Tuesday’s incident as some drivers, seeing Chen throwing money out of the taxi, pulled over to the road side to pick up the money, posing a hazard to other cars.
Chen said he has made 4 million Taiwan dollars from selling an apartment and wanted to give away part of it because he has been possessed by ghost and cannot sleep at night.
Police found 920,000 Taiwan dollars in 1,000 Taiwan dollar bills in two dark plastic bags Chen was holding. The edge of some bills have been burnt.
Police turned Chen over for prosecution on charges of destroying national currency and disrupting traffic. (dpa)
Patna, April 9 (IANS) The father of Rahul Raj, the youth from Bihar shot dead by the police in Mumbai last year, filed a petition in the Patna High Court Thursday demanding a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) or an autonomous inquiry committee, following the clean chit given to the policemen involved.
K.P. Singh said he filed a petition in the court, seeking a CBI probe into his son’s killing after Mumbai Police’s crime branch Tuesday cleared the police officials involved in shooting.
Contending that Mumbai Police probe was in violation of the National Human Rights Commission guidelines, he said the investigation team should have sought the opinion of the family members and close relatives of the person facing any charge.
Singh said that he would challenge the inquiry report of Mumbai Police and would demand the formation of the autonomous inquiry committee. He said that he had also requested Mumbai Police to send a copy of the first information report (FIR) lodged in that case.
The police shot dead Raj, 25, Oct 27 after he allegedly attacked the conductor of a bus in Mumbai and fired at a passenger with his revolver. Before being shot dead, he had said that he wanted to kill Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray for inciting party workers to attack youths from Bihar who were in Mumbai for a railway recruitment examination.
The killing sparked a row between politicians of Maharashtra and Bihar with several parties demanding a judicial probe into the incident. Maharashtra Chief Secretary Johny Joseph is conducting an independent probe into the incident while Mumbai Police’s crime branch was conducting an internal enquiry into it.
A teaching union has clashed with the education watchdog over the value of school inspections. Skip related content
Related photos / videos
Teaching union clashed with education watchdog over the value of school inspections
Related content
* Bank learns lessons from Japan’s deflation mistakes
* Video: Claudia Lawrence’s dad makes fresh appeal
* Police probe ‘shocking’ attack on schoolboys
* Related Hot Topic: Education
Have your say: Education
It came after Ofsted released the findings of an independent survey of teachers which found overwhelming support for the inspection process.
The NASUWT responded by saying the inspections placed unbearable pressure on teachers.
Ofsted’s survey of 1,330 teachers – 643 from primary schools and 687 from secondary schools – was carried out by the National Foundation for Educational Research.
Almost 90% of teachers who took part said Ofsted inspections helped their schools set new priorities for the future. In addition, 84% of teachers questioned believed it was important that their lessons were observed by inspectors. The survey also found that 85% of teachers agreed that inspection led to improvements in teaching and learning.
Ofsted said teachers were overwhelmingly in favour of pupils being consulted as part of the inspection and being informed about its findings.
Christine Gilbert, the Chief Inspector of Schools, said: “I am pleased with this level of support from teachers, following the recent finding that more than nine in 10 parents support inspection. Few organisations could hope for such support for their work. However, we know we must continue to improve. The new school inspection arrangements we are introducing from September 2009 will enable us to make even more of a difference.”
It follows an earlier, separate, Ipsos MORI survey for Ofsted which found that more than 90% of parents supported school inspections.
Chris Keates, General Secretary of the NASUWT, said: “The devil is always in the detail of these surveys. The survey states that 84% of teachers think it is important that their lessons are observed by inspectors. That does not mean they like inspection, it means that they expect to be held accountable. Ofsted is clutching at straws in seeking to claim otherwise.
“What we do know is that inspections place unbearable pressure on teachers and that recent changes to the inspection regime have increased the culture of fear and simply transferred unacceptable scrutiny of teachers’ work from external inspectors to school leaders.”
Copyright © 2013 · eleven40 theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in
Ronaldo faces police inquiry for kicking in teen girl’s car window
London, Jul 2 (ANI): Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo is facing a police probe after he lashed out and kicked in a teenage girl’s car window.
Ronaldo, 24, claims that he was protecting his mom when he kicked the car window that terrified 17-year-old Sara Pardal, who was filming his family heading to an Elton John concert, was sitting in.
The winger faces an inquiry for allegedly wounding and destroying property after Pardal, treated in hospital for cuts, complained to police in the Portuguese capital Lisbon.
“I regret what I did, but I can’t promise that I would not react in the same way again in the same circumstances,” the Daily Star quoted the defiant footie as saying.
“Because when my mother is involved it is very difficult for me to keep a calm state of mind,” he said.
Ronaldo, his mum Dolores, 54, his two sisters and pals were about to head to the gig when he spotted Pardal, believed to have been with a freelance photographer.
He leapt from his 200,000 pounds red Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano, and smashed the window near the cowering teen, who claimed she was a fan of his.
“I was accompanied by my mother and he by a young woman who throughout our whole journey ostensibly and provocatively filmed all our movements,” Ronaldo said.
“This persecution caused my mother to be so disturbed and upset that I had to stop my car to try to convince them to leave us in peace,” he stated.
He further claimed that the photographer tried to sell a video of the incident to the firm representing him.
“We cannot make any comment whatsoever,” a police spokesman added on July 1. (ANI)