Teenager arrested after homemade device explodes at school

By Calvin Palmer

A 15-year-old student has been arrested after a homemade explosive device went off at his Massachusetts middle school.

Police Sgt. John Delaney said an eighth-grader faces charges of possession of an incendiary device and disrupting school in session after two devices were found today at Chestnut Accelerated Middle School in Springfield.

The boy is not being identified because of his age.

Authorities and school officials say two plastic soda bottles filled with a liquid plumbing chemical, tin foil and water were placed in a school stairwell.

As the school evacuated, an assistant principal tried to move one of the bottles after it had exploded and suffered burns to her hand from the chemicals.  She was taken to Baystate Medical Center for treatment.

“If someone was in the vicinity, they could have been blinded,” Delaney said.

No students were injured. The second device did not go off.

After the bomb squad cleared the scene, police found the culprit.  When asked by Springfield Police why he had placed the bombs the teenager said he wanted winter break “to start a few hours early.”

[Based on reports by the Associated Press and CBS3Springfield.com.]

British Airways jet crash lands at London City Airport

By Calvin Palmer

A British Airways jet, flight BA 8456 from Amsterdam, with 71 people on board lost its nose wheel as it landed at London’s City Airport this evening.

The plane, a BAE Avro 146-RJ100,  skidded to a halt on the runway. 

The 67 passengers and four crew members were evacuated safely. One person was taken to hospital with minor injuries. Paramedics treated four other people with minor injuries.

A spokesman for British Airways said: “The nose wheel of a British Airways aircraft suffered a failure on landing at London City Airport.

“As a precaution the emergency slides were deployed and the passengers were evacuated down the slides on to the runway.

“Unfortunately one passenger sustained a minor injury and is currently on the way to hospital. There was one other minor injury.

“We don’t know the nature of the injury or how it was caused yet.”

The airport was closed and a spokesman said 11 flights were being diverted – eight to Stansted Airport, one to Heathrow, one to Luton and one to Southend.

A spokesman for the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) said: “The AAIB has started a field investigation following the incident at London City Airport and three of our investigators have been sent to the scene.”

London City Airport handled 3.3 million passengers last year and is home to 10 airlines which serve more than 30 destinations in the UK and Europe.

[Based on reports by BBC News and the Press Association.]

Man gets life in prison for murder of girl found hanging from garage rafters

By Calvin Palmer

A man pleaded guilty today to the murder of a six-year-old Texas girl whose half naked body was found hanging from the rafters of her family’s garage.

Shaun Earl Arender, 21, entered his guilty plea and then testified about the crime, his part of a plea deal, before being sentenced to life in prison.

In his testimony, he implicated the boyfriend of the child’s mother, Kevin Wayne Anders, in the girl’s death. Anders has been jailed on child pornography charges since shortly after the murder.

Hanna Mack’s body was found hanging before sunrise on a September morning in 2007 in a rural area about 10 miles southwest of Corsicana, Texas.

Arender, who lived less than a mile from the Mack home in Navarro Mills, 65 miles south of Dallas, was charged nearly three weeks after the girl’s body was found. He was already in jail on unrelated burglary and drug possession charges.

Navarro County District Attorney Lowell Thompson had discussed the plea deal with the girl’s family, and they agreed that life in prison was acceptable. The sentence for capital murder in Texas is life in prison or death.

“As the district attorney, it is my sole decision to seek the death penalty or life without the possibility of parole,” Thompson said. “My main concern is to see that justice is served for Hanna Mack and the citizens of Navarro County.”

Family members said Dana Mack last saw the youngest of her three daughters sleeping on the couch around 1:00 a.m. When she discovered Hanna’s body hours later, at a time when the first-grader would have otherwise been getting ready for school, neighbors said Dana drove to a nearby store where she worked and pleaded for help.

A DNA sample taken from the shirt Hanna was wearing indicated Arender was a possible match, according to an arrest affidavit, which stated “the defendant was then and there in the course of committing or attempting to commit the offense of aggravated sexual assault against Hanna Mack.”

Navarro County authorities later confirmed she was sexually assaulted.

Hanna died by asphyxiation, according to the affadavit.

[Based on reports by the Corsicana Daily Sun and Associated Press.]

Debris from space collision poses “serious danger” to telecom satellites

By Calvin Palmer

The crash of two space satellites earlier this week was today described by space experts as a “catastrophic event” that could pose “a serious danger” to communication satellites orbiting the Earth.

Russian Mission Control chief Vladimir Solovyov said the collision on Tuesday of a derelict Russian military satellite and a working U.S. Iridium commercial satellite occurred in the busiest part of near-Earth space — some 500 miles (800 kilometers) above Earth.

“800 kilometers is a very popular orbit which is used by Earth-tracking and communications satellites,” Solovyov said today. “The clouds of debris pose a serious danger to them.”

Solovyov said debris from the collision could stay in orbit for up to 10,000 years and even tiny fragments threaten spacecraft because both travel at such a high orbiting speed.

Space consultant James Oberg, who worked on NASA’s space shuttle program, described the crash over northern Siberia as “catastrophic event.”

NASA said it was the first-ever high-speed impact between two intact spacecraft, with the Iridium craft weighing 1,235 pounds and the Russian craft nearly a ton.

“At physical contact at orbital speeds, a hypersonic shock wave bursts outwards through the structures,” Oberg said. “It literally shreds the material into confetti and detonates any fuels.”

David Wright at the Union of Concerned Scientists’ Global Security said the collision had possibly generated tens of thousands of particles larger than 1 centimeter (half an inch), any of which could significantly damage or even destroy a satellite.

He likened the debris to “a shotgun blast that threatens other satellites in the region.”

The U.S. military tracks some 17,000 pieces of space debris larger than 5 to 10 centimeters (2 to 4 inches), along with some 900 active satellites. But its main job is protecting the international space station and other manned spacecraft, and it lacks the resources to warn all satellite operators of every possible close call.

Oberg said the limited accuracy of tracking data and computer calculations makes it impossible to predict collisions, only their probability.

“The collision offers a literally heaven-sent opportunity for the Obama administration to take forceful, visible and long-overdue measures to address a long-ignored issue of ‘space debris,'” Oberg said.

[Based on a report by the Associated Press.]

Ex-Soviet soldier found guilty of murdering mutilated migrant woman

By Calvin Palmer

A former Soviet soldier was today found guilty at Edinburgh High Court of murdering a Lithuanian woman whose severed head was gound by children playing on a beach in northeast Scotland.

Vitas Plytnykas, 41, suffocated Jolanta Bledaite at her flat in Brechin, Angus, in March after forcing her to give him access to her savings. He then chopped up the 35-year-old’s body and dumped the mutilated parts in the sea.

Two young sisters, aged eight and 11, found the victim’s severed head and hands washed up on Arbroath beach.

Accomplice Aleksandras Skirda, 20, also from Lithuania, pleaded guilty to murder last October and testified against Plytnykas, who had been previously convicted of manslaughter in June 2001 after stabbing a man to death in Germany in a row over money. Both will be sentenced later.

Politicians have asked how somebody with a conviction for killing was allowed entry into the United Kingdom. As an EU citizen he was free to move to any member state despite his conviction.

Scottish Tory justice spokesman Bill Aitken said Jolanta could still be alive if Plytnykas had been barred from entering the country.

Aitken said: “This is a truly tragic case, where a convicted killer is able to walk into this country with the authorities being completely unaware of his record.

“Indeed it is not clear that the Crown knew of this man’s conviction at the time of his being indicted for this horrific crime.

“Had the law been in place whereby the authorities here had known of his past, he could have been barred from entering the country and the young life of Jolanta Bledaite could have been saved.

“There needs to be a much greater exchange of information on the part of the police in European countries. The tragic outcome of this case must encourage a much greater degree of cooperation.”

The UK Border Agency said it was working to ensure criminals could not exploit free movement.

Bledaite had arrived in the UK to earn enough money to buy a home in Lithuania and had saved around £10,000, close to the amount needed, when she was murdered.

Having initially travelled to Ireland, in 2006 she moved to Angus in Scotland, an area popular with migrants seeking work as fruit pickers. For around two years Bledaite worked on local farms.

Skirda became her flatmate in Brechin at Earlsden House, known locally as the Polish Palace due to its high proportion of eastern European tenants.

Despite being bound and threatened, Bledaite refused to give in to her attackers, initially giving them an incorrect pin number when they demanded her bank details.

In court, Lord Pentland told Plytnykas he had committed a “truly monstrous and evil crime.”

He added: “With chilling composure and determination you put this evil plan into effect. Jolanta Bledaite was reading quietly, you burst into her bedroom, forced her to disclose her pin number, and having taken money from her bank account you suffocated her.”

Speaking after today’s verdict, Detective Inspector Gordon Cryle, of Tayside police, described her killing as one of the most horrific murders to have been committed in Angus in living memory.

“Jolanta Bledaite’s final moments of life must have been filled with terror and dread,” Cryle said. “These evil men showed her no mercy whatsoever, blinded by a callous determination to rob her of her hard-earned savings.”

Police believe the killers must have thought they had committed “the perfect murder” because Bledaite had made it known she was leaving the country imminently and they could create the impression she had left.

[Based on reports by The Guardian and BBC News.]

9/11 widow Beverly Eckert killed in Buffalo air crash

By Calvin Palmer

President Barack Obama today paid tribute to one of the victims of last night’s air crash in Buffalo, which killed 50 people.

Beverly Eckert whose husband was killed in the 9/11 terror attack on the World Trade Center in New York was one of the passengers aboard Continental Connection Flight 3407 from Newark in New Jersey when the plane crashed into the affluent Buffalo suburb of Clarence Center, as it approached Buffalo Niagra airport.

Eckert and the other 44 passengers aboard the aircraft were killed along with the four crew members.  One person on the ground also died.

She was flying to Buffalo last night to celebrate what would have been her husband Sean Rooney’s 58th birthday.

When he died in the World Trade Center, she became one of the most visible, tearful faces in the aftermath of the terror attacks and eventually became one of the leading anti-terrorism campaigners in the United States.

President Obama, speaking in the White House’s East Room, said Eckert “was an inspiration to me and to so many others, and I pray that her family finds peace and comfort in the hard days ahead”.

A week before her death, Eckert met with President Obama at the White House as part of a group of 9/11 families and relatives of those killed in the bombing of the USS Cole, discussing how the new administration would handle terror suspects.

The cause of the crash is not yet known. The 74-seater aircraft, belonging to Colgan Air in Virginia was trying to land in light snow and fog at 10:20 p.m.

Suspicions initially centered on ice on the wings causing a complete failure of the twin turbo-prop Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 plane.

Air traffic control received no mayday report warning ahead of the plane coming down. Neither the pilot nor controller showed any signs of distress before the jet went off the radar.

The Department of Homeland Security said there was no indication that terrorism was involved.

The plane came down on a house, killing one person but two people inside managed to survive.

New York State police spokeswoman Rebecca Gibbons said: “The fact that the damage is limited to the one residence is really amazing.”

Dave Bissonette, an emergency control director in Clarence, said: “It is remarkable that it only took one house. As devastating as it was, it could have easily wiped out an entire neighbouhood on a strafing run type of thing.”

Those in the house who survived — Karen Wielinski, 57, and her 22-year-old daughter Jill — were taken to hospital for treatment for minor injuries.

The plane’s crew members were Capt. Marvin Renslow, 47, of Tampa, Florida; first officer Rebecca Shaw; and flight attendants Matilda Quintero and Donna Prisco. An off-duty crew member Capt. Joseph Zuffoletto was also aboard.

[Based on reports by the Associated Press, The Daily Telegraph and The Times.]

Accused arsonist held in isolation at a secret location

By Calvin Palmer

The man charged with starting one of the bushfires in Australia is being held in isolation and under tight security amid fears for his safety.

Fears of possible vigilante action led to a court ban on reporting the identity of the 39-year-old Latrobe Valley man who faces counts of arson causing death, intentionally or recklessly causing death and possession of child pornography.

Police drove him to Melbourne to be held at a secret location rather than hold him in a country police station for fear of vigilante reprisals.

Three men hurled abuse as he was driven from Morwell Magistrates’ Court in a police van.

Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon pleaded for calm amid fears of a violent backlash against suspected arsonists, who may have been responsible for up to 130 of the 181 bushfire deaths.

“I am very concerned there are a lot of people who are very angry about these fires, and they have a perfect right to be angry,” she said. “There’s enough emotion and enough harm at the moment. We all understand that, but we don’t need any more.”

She said survivors should resist the temptation to take vigilante action.

“We need community restraint, we don’t need anyone to be considering vigilante behavior. That is not going to help any of us.”

The suspect was charged in Morwell Magistrates’ Court in connection with the blaze at Churchill in Gippsland, which killed 21 people.

He did not make a bail application and was remanded by Magistrate Clive Alsop to appear at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Monday.

The arson charge carries a maximum penalty of 25 years.

[Based on a report by the Melbourne Herald Sun.]

Man charged in connection with fatal bushfire at Churchill

By Calvin Palmer

Police today charged a suspect in connection with one of the deadly bushfires that swept across Victoria, Australia, killing 181 people.

The suspect, who cannot be named, was charged at Morwell Magistrates’ Court with one count of arson causing death and one count of intentionally lighting a bushfire.

The 39-year-old man has also been charged with with possessing images of child pornography.

Both charges relate to incidents which occurred last Saturday, February 7.

Det Sen-Sgt Adam Shoesmith of the Arson Squad said the suspect was arrested in a public place in Churchill and “went without a fight”.

Officials have vowed to pursue murder charges against alleged arsonists if the evidence supports it.

According to The Age newspaper, the man is from Churchill and has been remanded to appear in Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Monday.

His lawyer said the man was in a fragile mental state and he did not appear in court.

The scale of the bushfire disaster became clearer today. The tally of homes destroyed is more than 1,800, leaving 7,000 people homeless.

Officials said the nation had pledged a total of more than A$75 million ($50 million) in donations to various charity funds for survivors.

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd ordered military bases to be opened to house some of the homeless. Hundreds of people who lost their homes have moved into tent cities erected by the army near hard hit towns.

Arson specialists have concluded that the fires had six separate sources, four of which were not suspicious. Foul play was suspected in the fire that destroyed the town of Marysville — where more than 10 percent of the population may have perished. Police have said they are nearly certain the Churchill fire was arson.

The arson charge carries a maximum penalty of 25 years, with the bushfire charge carrying a maximum penalty of 15 years. A murder conviction carries a maximum life sentence.

[Based on reports by the Melbourne Herald Sun and Associated Press.]