All Information Available

Monday, May 13, 2013

In pictures: Northumberland night skies

This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so.

View the original article here

Ohio women 'were tied and chained'

8 May 2013 Last updated at 15:54 GMT Neighbours of Ariel Castro speak to the BBC

Cleveland's police chief has said the three women held captive in an Ohio house for about a decade were restrained with ropes and chains.

Michael McGrath told US broadcaster NBC that investigators believe the victims were allowed out in the backyard occasionally.

He added Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight were in good condition "considering the circumstances".

Chief McGrath said a charging decision would come later on Wednesday.

Former school bus driver Ariel Castro, 52, who owns the house where the women were found, has been arrested along with his two brothers, Pedro, 54, and Onil, 50.

Meanwhile, Cleveland public safety director Martin Flask said in a statement that no human remains had been found at the home, after "a thorough search". Police have said they are also searching other properties.

'Multiple-pregnancy reports'

Standing near the scene, Chief McGrath told NBC's Today Show: "Currently, today, we are interviewing the suspects that were arrested here the night before last. They are talking."

911 call: "Help me I'm Amanda Berry... I've been missing for 10 years"

He said the women had been allowed out of the house "very rarely".

"They were released out in the backyard once in a while I believe," he said.

Chief McGrath disputed claims by neighbours that police did not fully investigate reports of suspicious activity at 2207 Seymour Avenue, which is in a working-class district.

He said he was "absolutely" sure police did not miss any opportunities to find the women over the years.

Neighbours have told news organisations they had made multiple calls to police about the house to report women crying for help and the noise of pounding on doors.

Chief McGrath said he could not confirm reports that the captives had had multiple pregnancies.

Police have confirmed a six-year-old girl, Jocelyn, who was discovered along with the women, is Ms Berry's daughter. The girl was apparently conceived and born during her mother's captivity.

Pedro Castro (left), Ariel Castro (centre) and Onil Castro in a combination of police photos, 7 May 2013

Ariel Castro (centre) and his brothers are in custody

Twenty-seven-year-old Ms Berry, who disappeared in 2003 aged 16, escaped with the help of a neighbour who heard her screaming while her alleged captor was out of the house.

When police arrived they also found Ms DeJesus, 23, and Ms Knight, 32, in the house. Ms DeJesus had gone missing aged 14 in 2004, while Ms Knight had disappeared in 2002, aged 20.

Ariel Castro reportedly fled the neighbourhood, and was arrested at a nearby McDonald's restaurant, according to local media. It is unclear when his brothers were detained.

Backlash against 'psychic'

A neighbour, Israel Lugo, told the Associated Press that Ariel Castro had identified Jocelyn as "his girlfriend's daughter" when they went to a nearby park to play last week.

Elsie Cintron told the BBC her granddaughter saw a "naked lady crawling in the backyard"

Residents of the mostly Puerto Rican district said the former bus driver, a family friend of Ms DeJesus, had attended a candlelight vigil for her last year.

Cleveland Mayor Frank Johnson said on Tuesday that child welfare officials had paid a visit to Ariel Castro's home in January 2004 because he was reported to have left a child on a school bus while he stopped for lunch at a fast-food restaurant.

But no-one answered the door and an inquiry found no criminal intent, officials said.

Puerto Rico-born Ariel Castro was reportedly sacked from his school-bus driving job in November for "lack of judgment". He played bass guitar in Latin music bands in the area.

His son, Anthony, had written a news article about Ms DeJesus' disappearance in 2004.

Cleveland's police were pilloried in 2009 after the discovery of a home in a poor district where Anthony Sowell had killed 11 women.

Victims' families allege that police had not taken neighbours' reported suspicions seriously enough.

Meanwhile, there has been an online backlash against a self-proclaimed psychic, Sylvia Browne, who in 2004 told Ms Berry's mother, Louwana Miller, on TV that her daughter was dead and that her last words were "goodbye, mom, I love you".

Ms Miller died in 2006 of heart failure, aged 43.

Map of Cleveland showing location of last sightings and house that the women were rescued from

View the original article here

VIDEO: Playing flute to escape death camp

View the original article here

Day in pictures: 6 May 2013

View the original article here

Sunday, May 12, 2013

Amazon beats Google with China apps

6 May 2013 Last updated at 11:31 GMT A Chinese girl uses a mobile phone

The Chinese market has many home-grown stores offering paid apps Amazon has become the first Western technology firm to offer paid-for Android apps in China - beating Google to the lucrative market.

Google's Chinese store for its mobile operating system - the most popular globally - only offers free apps.

Amazon's move paves the way for it to launch its Kindle e-reader devices in the country, analysts predict.

Other locally-based services already offer paid apps to China which is the world's largest mobile phone market.

But many of the home-grown services face issues with malicious software contained within apps, some of which are pirated versions.

In contrast, the Amazon store, which launched over the weekend, promises "quality and safety testing".

Massive market

As well as curating existing apps, Amazon said it will work with local developers to create programs specifically for local users.

The move is part of Amazon's strategy to dig deeper into the Chinese mobile phone market.

Compared to its dominant position in other countries such as the US and UK, Amazon controlled less than 3% of China's massive 169bn yuan (£17.6bn) business-to-consumer e-commerce market in the fourth quarter last year.

Amazon launched its paid-for apps over the weekend

In December last year, the retailer launched its Kindle web store, but is yet to sell the actual e-reader devices.

However, China, like many countries in the region, has a thriving market in counterfeit electronics - meaning many consumers are already likely familiar with Amazon's product.

Apple apology

Key competitor Apple already has a significant presence in the country.

China is currently Apple's second-largest market, with more than 17,000 outlets selling its products.

The company says it has eight stores in mainland China, with another three in Greater China, which includes Hong Kong.

However, Apple's reputation among Chinese consumers has taken a hit recently after chief executive Tim Cook was forced to apologise to customers over "misunderstandings" surrounding its repair policies.

"We are aware that a lack of communications... led to the perception Apple's attitude was arrogant and that we do not care and attach importance to consumer feedback," Mr Cook wrote.

View the original article here

Bride among dead in US limo blaze

6 May 2013 Last updated at 17:15 GMT The limousine was travelling on the San Mateo bridge in San Francisco when smoke started to escape from the back

A newlywed was among five women killed and four injured when a stretch limo turned into a fireball during a bridal party in San Francisco Bay.

Firefighters found five badly burned passengers in the back of the vehicle, which caught light on a major bridge in the city on Saturday night.

Bride Neriza Fojas, 31, was among those who died in the unexplained blaze, her relatives told local media.

The male driver and four other female passengers escaped the vehicle.

The driver was unhurt. One of the women had severe burns while the other three suffered injuries including smoke inhalation, police said.

'Within 90 seconds'

Two of the casualties, a 32-year-old and a 48-year-old, were in a critical condition in hospital on Monday, officials said.

The deceased were so badly burned that medical examiners will try to identify them using dental records.

Aerial footage showed about one-third of the back half of the limousine had been burnt out.

It is still unclear what caused the vehicle to burst into flames on the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge at the southern end of San Francisco Bay.

Driver Orville Brown, 46, said one of the passengers had knocked on the partition and complained of smoke in the back of the vehicle.

But he told the San Francisco Chronicle that he initially misheard her, amid loud music from the passengers' compartment, and thought she was asking for permission to smoke.

By the time he realised something was wrong and pulled over, "within maybe 90 seconds", the hired Lincoln Town Car was engulfed in flames, he said.

"I just wish that I could have done more," Mr Brown told the Chronicle. "It's something you never imagine will happen."

The women were reportedly picked up by the limo in the city of Oakland and were being driven across the bridge to Foster City.

They had been on their way to a hotel to celebrate with the husband of the new bride, her sister told the Chronicle.

Neriza Fojas, from Fresno, California, was planning to repeat her marriage vows in the Philippines next month, relatives told the San Jose Mercury News.

San Mateo County Coroner Robert Foucrault was quoted by the Chronicle as saying: "This is one of the most horrific things I've seen in 21 years with this office.

"Looking at it, they were on top of each other and doing what they could to get out."

He said all the women were nurses.

Limo Stop, the firm which operated the vehicle, issued a statement saying it would "do everything possible to investigate and assist authorities in determining the cause of this fire in order to bring forth answers and provide closure to victims and their families".

The San Mateo Fire Department and police are investigating the cause of the blaze.

The coroner said the authorities did not suspect anything criminal occurred.

View the original article here

VIDEO: Antarctic trek team battle elements

View the original article here