Mickeys

Le Havre, France – Three sailors have died of food poisoning on an oil tanker traversing the Channel between Britain and Europe, maritime authorities said, quoting the captain of the Marshall Islands-flagged vessel.

The captain of the Arionas reported the deaths overnight, French officials said, adding that the source of the food poisoning was not known.

The vessel was going from Cyprus to the Dutch port of Rotterdam.

taken from News24

Pretoria – With only 93 days to go before the start of the 2010 World Cup, residents of Mamelodi-East near Pretoria during violent protests on Tuesday threatened to disrupt the tournament.

They are demanding that the government immediately supply them with houses, electricity, running water and flushing toilets.

“If the government could spend millions of rands and prepare for the World Cup so quickly, it’s a disgrace that people are still living in squalor in squatter camps,” Vusi Nkosi, a resident, said on Tuesday.

A schoolgirl armed with stones walks towards a police vehicle in Tsamayaweg, Mamelodi-East.

“The soccer means nothing to us because we won’t be able to watch it anyway, since we don’t have electricity.

“This time we will fight and toyi-toyi like the ANC taught us.”

Over 6 000 people live in seven squatter camps in close proximity to each other in Mamelodi-East.

Riotous residents have been blockading Tsamaya Road, Hector Peterson Street and Hans Strijdom Avenue with burning tyres and rubbish since 20:00 on Monday.

On Tuesday the police repeatedly tried to disperse the crowd by firing rubber bullets at them and firing live rounds in the air.

Several people were hit by rubber bullets.

Johannes Maheso, police spokesperson, said four men were arrested.

This protest followed similar demonstrations in Hammanskraal, Soshanguve and Brits.

Veronica Mphahlele, a community leader, said the government promised in 2000 that they would be given permanent houses and land of their own.

“It’s 10 years later and we’re still in the same position. All they do is send police to come and shoot at us.”

The residents are accusing council members, the police and the metro police of illegally selling land and houses intended for the poor to enrich themselves.

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He loved him and was a big fan of his music, but now this musician had robbed them of their little boy, said a grieving Joyce Ntoga, aunt of Prince Mahube, 17, outside the Kliptown mortuary in Soweto, moments after she and other family members identified Prince’s body.

Phumelelo Masemelo's mother, Mameetse, lies in bed with a photograph of her son next to her.

Prince, Phumelelo Masemelo, 16, Mlugisi Cwayi, 17, and Andile Mthombeni, 19, died on Monday after musician Molemo Maarohanye, better known as Jub Jub and his friend Themba Tshabalala, drove their two Mini Coopers into the group of children.

The four friends died on the scene while two other schoolchildren, Fumani Mushanana, 17, and Frank Mlabo, 18, were seriously injured and taken to Chris Hani Baragwanath hospital.

One of the boys is currently in a coma.

Maarohanye – who had also been a contestant in Survivor SA: Santa Carolina – and Tshabalala were apparently drag racing when the accident happened.

Blood samples were taken to determine whether the men had used drugs.

Police were still waiting for the lab results, said police spokesperson Inspector Kay Makhubela.

According to metro police spokesperson inspector Edna Mamonyane, breathalyser tests showed that Tshabalala’s blood alcohol levels were twice over the legal limit and Maarohanye’s was under the legal limit.

Family, friends and bystanders reacted with shock and anger on Wednesday.

“He was such a clever boy and wanted to become an architect.”

“He always told his mother: ‘Give me only two years and I will change this little house of yours. Jub Jub robbed us of him and he loved Jub Jub so much,” said Ntoga.

Prince’s mother, Janette Mahube, was too shocked to talk to the media.

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Two women paramedics were attacked in Durban Deep, west of Johannesburg, while attending to a toddler who had suffered burn wounds, reports said on Monday.

Senior Superintendent Noxolo Kweza said the two women were called out to Durban Deep in Roodepoort on Friday night after receiving a call from a desperate mother that her 2-year-old son had been burnt.

The Star newspaper reported that the two paramedics drove to a pick-up point along Main Reed road where residents are often asked to bring their patients.

The mother, her son and two men, who are family friends, waited for the paramedics there. At one stage, the mother returned home to get a jersey for her son.

“While they [the paramedics] were busy with the child in the ambulance, three armed men appeared from the bushes, threatened the two men and told them to run away, otherwise they were going to shoot them,” said Kweza.

“The two men ran down the road and the suspects took the women into the bushes.

“They raped one woman and attempted to rape the other one.”

The two men, who ran away, alerted the police and accompanied them to the scene to search for the women.

The assailants fled when the police arrived on the scene.

Beeld newspaper said the three men fled in the ambulance, which was later found abandoned in the area.

The two women had not yet made statements to the police because they had been too traumatised.

Both women were admitted to the Life Flora Clinic.

The boy was not injured in the attack and was admitted to hospital for treatment to the burn wounds.

taken from News24

Baby Ashleigh Louw died on Friday, Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital clinical manager Dr Pungie Lingham said.

“Sadly, she has passed on,” he said. “Our condolences go out to the family.”

He said she died around midday but could not reveal the cause of death for privacy reasons.

“Baby Ashleigh was very ill and she’s been in ICU [intensive care unit] under very intense management both medically and otherwise,” said Lingham.

Ashleigh had an operation on January 17 after being born on January 9 with her heart outside her chest, covered only by a thin layer of skin.

The condition is known as Pentallogy of Cantrell which occurs in one in a million babies.

taken from News24

Two children died and 85 people were hurt – eight of them seriously -when a goods truck ploughed into a busload of schoolchildren in Polokwane on Friday morning, said police and paramedics.

The truck driver told police the vehicle’s brakes failed after he exited the N1 highway outside Polokwane, said Superintendent Moatshe Ngoepe.

He hooted to warn motorists at the intersection of Church street and the Tzaneen bypass.

The truck hit a panel van, then a minibus, then a bus, which overturned onto an Opel Corsa, said Ngoepe.

He said there were 70 children on the bus and more in the minibus. All were pupils at the nearby Dihlathaneng Primary School and had been on a school educational tour.

Netcare 911 spokesperson Chris Botha said five children were trapped in the minibus. The jaws-of-life were used to extricate them. Two of them died. Both were 10 years old.

All the patients were stabilised in a disaster treatment centre set up on the scene before being taken to various hospitals in the area, he said.

Ngoepe said no arrests had been made. People were investigating a culpable homicide.

taken from News24

Tons of relief aid and a helicopter carrying rescuers have been dispatched to the region, Minister for Relief, Disaster Preparedness and Refugees Tarsis Kabwegyere said on Wednesday.

Rescuers clawed through mud in driving rain in a desperate bid to find survivors from a huge landslide feared to have killed hundreds in villages in eastern Uganda.

At least 80 bodies have already been found on the slopes of Mount Elgon and at least 300 people are missing in the villages.

More torrential rain fell as rescuers dug through the mud with spades and and tools as mechanical diggers could not get up the slopes. Army helicopters flew up medical supplies to treat the injured.

After days of heavy rain, the mudslide engulfed the villages near the Uganda-Kenya border late on Monday.

Olyamboka Sam was praying when the disaster struck.

“I was in the church when I saw the landslide coming carrying stones and trees. Everyone was running from the church,” said Sam, who was being treated for a fractured arm at a hospital in Bududa, the nearest town.

The 24-year-old man told how he saw two women, two children and a man carried away to their deaths. Other survivors said the mudslide moved so fast that victims had no chance to escape.

Teams from UN agencies were heading for the stricken villages on Mount Elgon with food and other relief items.

The Uganda Red Cross said 80 bodies had been recovered that at least 300 people were missing after the wall of mud came down the hills near Mount Elgon.

“The situation is really very terrible,” said Bududa district Vice Chairman Geofrey Natubu “People fear there are actually 300 who have died.”

“It is raining quite heavily right now, so the place is becoming impossible to reach,” he added.

Doctors and paramedics at Bududa hospital struggled to cope with the numbers of injured survivors.

Namasa Elina, 18 said she believed 11 members of her family were engulfed by the racing heaps of earth.

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Three teenage girls have been hit and killed by a train on the tracks of a rail bridge in Florida.

Emergency vehicles at the scene. Pic: Florida Today

A fourth teen, a boy, had gone ahead of the girls and made it safely to the other side when he saw the train approaching.

Following the tracks was the only way off the trestle bridge, which spans a creek in Melbourne, Florida.

Police said the boy shouted to the girls, warning them to go faster – but they failed to reach the end in time and were hit from behind.

“At this time it is unknown why the juveniles were walking on the train tracks,” Lieutenant March Claycomb said.

A nearby level crossing had to be closed for several hours, causing cars to be diverted around the accident scene, reports said.

Lt Claycomb said the victims have not yet been named as officers were still trying to contact next of kin.

The city’s police department along with the Florida East Coast Railway Police are investigating the accident.

Local resident John Vallee told Florida Today: “I was watching TV and I heard the train hit its emergency brakes and heard all the cars start slamming together, so I was curious to see what was going on.”

He said he walked up to the guarded crossing and saw a body near the first carriage.

“It’s going to be hard for me to get to sleep,” Mr Vallee said. “I can’t get it out of my mind.”

taken from SkyNews

A lottery winner who repeatedly told his family “I’d have been better off broke” has been found buried five-feet deep under a concrete slab.

Mr Shakespeare often wished he had never bought the winning ticket

American Abraham Shakespeare, 47, who scooped $31m (£20m) in 2006, vanished nine months ago, although he was not reported missing until November last year.

His friends and family had hoped he was on a beach in the Caribbean, but police found his remains in the woods of a private property near Plant City in Florida.

Using heavy equipment, investigators broke up the large concrete slab and for two days they dug up dirt, much of it by hand, and sifted through it.

Mr Shakespeare’s body was so badly decomposed that detectives had to use fingerprints to identify him.

The property where he was found belongs to the boyfriend of a woman named as Shar Krasniqi who befriended Mr Shakespeare in 2007, authorities said.

Police believe Mr Shakespeare was murdered, but they do not yet know how he died and have made no arrests.

Mr Shakespeare’s brother, Robert Brown, said his sibling often wished he had never bought the winning ticket.

“‘I’d have been better off broke.’ He said that to me all the time,” Mr Brown said.

Before his windfall, Mr Shakespeare was an assistant truck driver who lived with his mother. He was barely literate and had a criminal record.

After he struck lucky, he bought a million-dollar home and was said to be extremely generous to others.

“He really didn’t understand it at all,” said Samuel Jones, a friend since childhood.

“It was moving so fast. It changed his life in a bad way.”

Mr Jones said Mr Shakespeare would tell him: “I thought all these people were my friends, but then I realised all they want is just money.”

taken from SkyNews

A 4-year-old girl and her 18-month-old brother drowned in Florida, Roodepoort, on Sunday morning, as she was presumably trying to save him.

Pool safety

The boy was first to fall into the swimming pool and his sister apparently also fell in when she tried to pull him out.

The children’s mother was visiting a tenant on the property. The swimming pool was not fenced in or covered.

Johannesburg emergency services spokesperson Nana Radebe said it was not clear what had happened exactly and the mother was too traumatised to provide details.

“We tried to revive the children but they were declared dead on the scene.”

Radebe pleaded with people to cover and fence their pools and also to keep the gate locked.

When Beeld arrived at the house on Sunday afternoon, only the owner of the house was at home. Ameenah Thomas, 34, said she was not at home when the children drowned.

“We came back from Cape Town and saw all the emergency services vehicles standing here. I at first thought there had been a burglary,” she said.

The bodies of the children were already in body bags when Thomas arrived. “The mother was devastated,” she said.

“The tenant’s husband said he heard screaming. One of the children was floating in the swimming pool. They pulled out the child and the neighbours helped to pull out the other one,” said Thomas.

taken from News24

Mossel Bay – The owner of a Mossel Bay surfing school has described how he and two other surfers rushed into the sea to help three boys and a man who were in trouble in the sea at Diaz Beach on Saturday.

“We aren’t heroes,” said Llewellyn Whittaker, about himself and two other surfers, Michael Sheppard and Heinrich Engelbrecht.

Another two boys drowned in the incident. Only one of the two boys has been identified. He is 11-year-old Nkululeko Xaka from Kwanonqaba, according to Bernadine Steyn, Southern Cape police spokesperson.

At about 13:45 on Saturday, a group of boys went swimming at the beach. Whittaker described how he had started a surfing lesson on Saturday shortly after a development competition for juniors had finished at Diaz beach.

“I had barely started explaining to my student – a medical doctor whom I only know as Janine – how sea currents work, when I first spotted three people in the waves. It looked like they were in trouble.”

Whittaker dashed into the sea with the surfboard he was using for the lesson.

Initially he only saw a man and two boys in the ocean.

He pulled the man onto his surfboard and swam to the beach with one of the boys. “The boy wasn’t breathing.”

According to him, an unknown youth tried to pull another boy from the water, but the victim kept pulling the youth under.

“It was very bad – the youth (who tried to save the boy) was yelling ‘I can’t go on, I can’t go on’.”

Sheppard rushed into the surf after he heard Whittaker whistling and saw him waving his arms. He and Engelbrecht brought two more boys, who were lying face down in the water by that time, to the beach.

Steyn confirmed on Sunday that two boys (one who went swimming and one who presumably tried to save him) were still in hospital.

According to the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI), the adult man was also taken to hospital. His condition was stable.

taken from News24

A teenager who went missing more than two years ago, today inherits ‘a considerable sum of money’.

Paige has been missing since 2007. She has a Playboy tattoo on her neck

Paige Chivers disappeared from home in Blackpool in August 2007.

Today is her 18th birthday and she becomes legally entitled to an inheritance from her mother who died from cancer.

An extensive police investigation has resulted in the questioning of almost 3,000 people.

More than 1,200 statements have been taken and four people have been arrested on suspicion of murder. All four have been released without charge.

Chief Inspector Mark Rothwell, of Lancashire Constabulary’s major investigation team, said: “Today is a significant milestone in Paige’s life.

“The fact that she is set to inherit a substantial amount of money is a huge incentive for her to get in touch if she is able to.”

He said that if she didn’t make contact it would heighten fears that she had come to harm.

Paige is of slim build, with shoulder length light brown hair.

She has a distinctive Playboy tattoo with the word ‘Playgirl’ underneath on the back of her neck and a tribal tattoo across her lower back.

A £12,000 reward remains on offer for any information about her.

taken from SkyNews

Scotland wing Thom Evans has had neck surgery after being injured in the RBS 6 Nations clash against Wales at the Millennium Stadium.

The incident happened towards the end of the first half

The 24-year-old Glasgow player was carried off following a sickening first-half collision and taken to Cardiff’s University Hospital.

Scotland Rugby team doctor James Robson said Evans was “moving his arms and legs”.

Full-back Chris Paterson, who won his 100th cap, was also being treated after suffering damage to his right kidney.

Robson said: “Thom has sustained damage to his neck that has required surgery.

“He is moving his arms and legs, and we are hoping for a speedy recovery.

“Chris sustained damage to his right kidney during a collision in the first half.

“On behalf of the players, their families and the entire Scotland party, I would like to thank the hospital staff and the medical team at the Millennium Stadium for the quality of their care.”

Scotland head coach Andy Robinson added: “Our thoughts are with Thom and Chris. We wish both a speedy recovery.”

Evans, who played for Wasps before he joined Glasgow in 2006, has won 10 caps for Scotland, and is a former England Under-21 international.

His elder brother Max, who was among the substitutes today, scored Scotland’s second try as they built an 18-9 interval advantage.

Wales won the game 31-24.

taken from SkyNews

Dick Francis, the best-selling novelist and former jockey, has died at the age of 89.

Dick Francis

His son, Felix, said he was “devastated” as he paid tribute to his “extraordinary” father.

Francis, from Oxfordshire, the author of 42 novels, was “rightly acclaimed” as one of the greatest thriller writers in the world, his spokesman said.

Horseracing pundit John McCririck called Dick Francis a “great jockey, “a gentleman” and “the kind of man that everybody in racing liked”.

He told Sky News he would be best remembered for the 1956 Grand National when the Queen Mother’s horse Devon Locke that he was riding collapsed about 50 yards from the winning post.

He said Francis showed “dignity in defeat” and “the way he conducted himself afterwards was absolutely amazing”.

McCririck added: “He was the first of the jockeys to come out and become a writer. His best-selling novels time and again had racing themes that were throughout his career.

Francis rode 2,305 races between 1948 and 1957, winning 345

“He wrote about racing, the sport he loved, that were best-selling year in, year out.”

McCririck went on: “He was a man who enjoyed life, who realised he had a life after racing.”

Francis wrote a volume of short stories, an autobiography and the biography of Lester Piggott.

Even Money, written with Felix, was published in September 2009 and Crossfire, the new Dick and Felix Francis novel, will be published in autumn 2010

Francis was also one of the most successful post-war National Hunt jockeys, winning more than 350 races.

He retired from racing in 1957 and took up writing, first for the Sunday Express and then, in 1962, with the novels.

Francis also had a distinguished military career, serving the RAF in 1940, initially stationed in the Egyptian desert before he was commissioned as a pilot in 1943.

His wife, Mary, to whom he was married for 53 years, died in 2000.

He also had five grandchildren and one great grandson.

There will be a small funeral at his home in Grand Cayman, followed by a memorial service in London in due course, his spokesman said.

taken from SkyNews

Rescue workers walk along the wreckage of two commuter trains in Buizingen, Belgium. At least twenty people were killed in the collision.

Two trains crashed head-on outside of Brussels on Monday, killing at least 20 people, officials and Belgian broadcaster VRT said.

The local trains collided near Halle, some 15 kilometres (9 miles) southwest of Brussels at around 08:30 (07:30 GMT).

VRT said 20 people were killed, but officials from the train line operator were unable to immediately confirm that figure.

Train services, including the high-speed line between Brussels and Paris, were blocked.

taken from News24