Nigeria hostage deaths.Italy, UK, Greece confirm

The uk, Italy and Greece upon Sunday confirmed that hostages from their countries were among seven construction workers reported killed in Nigeria above the weekend.

"This was the act of cold-blooded killing, which I condemn inside strongest terms, " British Foreign Secretary William Hague said in a statement announcing that any British construction worker was one of several dead.

Nigerian militant group Ansar al-Muslimeen claimed responsibility to the February kidnappings of your seven construction workers through an office in northeastern Nigeria. Your group, widely known as Ansaru, released images of a lot of the bodies Saturday.

Italy's Foreign Ministry said Sunday who's appeared the report from the deaths "is founded. " Greece said certainly one of its citizens was one of several dead, and that his captors "at no stage either communicated or expressed demands to the release of the hostages. "

Ansaru blamed the deaths with a joint Nigerian-British military operation intended to free the hostages. Without directly addressing the maintain, Hague said, "Responsibility with this tragic outcome rests squarely using the terrorists. "

"I am grateful towards the Nigerian Government for his or her unstinting help and co-operation, " he said. "We are utterly determined to do business with them to hold the perpetrators with this heinous act to bank account, and to combat your terrorism which so blights the lives of people in Northern Nigeria and inside wider region. "

Some of the other hostages were through Lebanon, which had not commented within the reports Sunday.

All seven hostages were seized through an office of Lebanese-based construction firm Setraco in northeastern Nigeria upon February 18. In claiming responsibility to the attack, Ansaru said it taken them captive because of "transgression and atrocities" towards Islam in Afghanistan, Mali and also other locations.

Setraco's Nigerian subsidiary is associated with many major road construction projects in northern Nigeria.

Oughout. S. officials say Ansaru is usually an offshoot of the Islamist militant collection Boko Haram, which Nigerian authorities say is behind a recently available rash of killings and kidnappings in the country. Boko Haram -- whose name means "Western training is sacrilege" -- has killed greater than 2, 800 people within an escalating campaign to demand strict Islamic law upon largely Muslim northern Nigeria, as outlined by Human Rights Watch.

Ansaru has previously claimed responsibility to the December kidnapping of a French citizen nearby the border with Niger and with an attack on a prison in Abuja in Late.

Pope Benedict to resign

Pope Benedict XVI will resign on February twenty eight, his spokesman Father Federico Lombardi told CNN Monday.

The 85-year-old pope is actually resigning "because of state-of-the-art age, " Benedict told the cardinals with the Catholic Church on Monday.

"Strength of mind and body are necessary, strength which in the last few months has deteriorated in me towards extent that I also have to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to everyone, " the pope advised the cardinals, according towards Vatican.

The last pope to be able to resign was Gregory XII inside 1415. He did so to absolve a civil war within the church in which a couple of man claimed to end up being pope.

Benedict, the 265th pope, is the sixth German to serve as pope and also the first since the 11th hundred years. He became pope inside 2005.

He has led church as soon as the third-longest papacy in chapel history and during a time where the church is declining inside his native Europe nevertheless expanding in Africa along with Latin America.

Benedict's time as pope continues to be marked with a number of scandals and controversies, including countless new allegations of erectile abuse by priests.

23 murdered, dozens wounded in Iraq suicide bombing.

No less than 23 people were murdered and 49 were wounded when a suicide bomber blew himself up among members of an local Awakening Council throughout Taji, Iraq, on Monday.

Dozens of members with the council had lined upward outside an office to take delivery of monthly paychecks when the attacker detonated an explosive vest inside the crowd. Most of those murdered or wounded were members with the council, or al-Sahwa.

Taji is approximately 20 kilometers (12 miles) northern of Baghdad.

Meanwhile, in the separate incident in a western Baghdad neighborhood, a police officer was killed and three were wounded in a roadside bomb exploded next to their patrol.

Flame kills 7 in Bangladesh factory.

7 female workers lost their life on Saturday afternoon in yet another fire at a outfits factory in Bangladesh, police said.

"We have realized seven bodies of employees who died either in the stampede or (after) jumping through the second floor of the factory being a fire broke out, Chowdhury Monzurul Kabir, the deputy commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, told CNN.

Higher than a dozen other workers had been hospitalized after being injured in the incident, according to the law enforcement officials.

Police and witnesses said the fire broke away at Smart Fashions Confined at Mohammadpur, located inside inland city of Dhaka, and it quickly spread to an additional floor where several hundred people, mostly women, had been working.

As the hearth spread, panicked workers tried out to head downstairs in addition to outside to safety. But those that did get down located a door locked within the first floor, according to help workers who escaped.

"There was no fire alarm inside the factory, and everybody rushed to get out of the two-story building while some workers shouted they saw flames within the second floor, " said Rezina Begum, one of the people employees who suffered accidents.

Saturday's fire comes two months after the country's most detrimental clothing factory fire that killed 112 people on Tazreen Fashions Limited within the outskirts of Dhaka.

In addition, it coincides with a visit to the Bangladeshi capital with a U. S. congressional delegation going to assess the safety of clothing factories inside South Asian nation.

The Smart Fashions Limited factory employed over 300 workers and wouldn't have proper fire health concerns, according to a flame service and civil protection official.

"The factory is usually illegally built, and there was no fire exit, inch Mahbubur Rahman, the flame service and civil protection director, told reporters.

Police said they want to track down the factory's operator.

"We've launched an research, and certainly we'll bring the perpetrators to justice, " said Kabir.

Bangladeshi-made garments make up 80% of the place's $24 billion in annual exports.

The country features about 4, 500 item of clothing factories, where workers create clothes for brands such as Tesco, Wal-Mart, JC Penney, Kohl's in addition to Carrefour. The sector earned $19 billion within the last few financial year, which ended in June 2012.

Nightclub fire kills over 230 in Brazil.

Flames raced from a crowded nightclub in the southern part of Brazil, killing more than 230 people early on Sunday.

The fire swept through Kiss nightclub from the city of Santa Maria.

Witnesses said a sparkle or firework lit through band members started the fire, though officials said the cause was still under study.

One amateur video showed firefighters trying to save people and dragging victims away from the entrance while smoke was still pouring out of your nightclub.

Another showed emergency services beyond the club and a lot of the survivors trying to guide them.

Brazil President Dilma Rouseff travelled to Santa Maria and visited victims in clinic after cutting short her vacation to a Latin American-European peak in Chile.

Brazil Health Minister Alexandre Padilha accompanied the president throughout the hospital visit.

Padhilha said in a news conference that almost all of the 117 people treated in hospitals ended up poisoned by gases they breathed through the fire.

Only a few suffered serious burns.

Santa Maria Mayor Cezar Schirmer decreed the 30-day mourning period after what seems to be the world's deadliest nightclub fire in more than a decade.

Santa Maria can be a major university city having a population of around a quarter of a million.

Hong Kong now takes Internet speed title.

Hong Kong was found to have the highest average peak link speed of just more than 54 megabits per second through the third quarter of 2012, in line with analysis by Akamai Engineering.

It's the first period speeds have shot prior 50 Mbps and, when the global trend continues, it's just gonna get faster. While there is a slight drop in pace in the quarter, over the 12 months average peak speeds surged 36%.
From the peak speed stakes, Hong Kong is accompanied by South Korea (48. 8 Mbps), Asia (42. 2 Mbps), Latvia (37. 5 Mbps) as well as Romania (37. 4 Mbps).

The us straggled in in fourteenth place with 29. 6 Mbps. U. S. state while using fastest connection is still Delaware which has a swift 10. 9 Mbps, even though the District of Columbia is actually catching up.

For the actual fastest average connection rates of speed in Europe, head over to Switzerland (8. 7 Mbps), which just beats the netherlands (8. 5 Mbps) for you to second, while the Czech Republic (7. 7 Mbps) is in third.
The place Not to ever be for speedy downloads available is China. Despite a 21% hop in connection speed through the quarter, the country's average peak connection reached merely 7. 1 Mbps. So that it is the slowest in Asia and gives it a lowly global rank of 123.

For consistency, South Korea was the best place to log on, boasting the best average connection speed involving 14. 2 Mbps. Asia came second at 10. 7 Mbps and Hong Kong third which has a surprisingly sluggish 8. 9 Mbps.

Their state of the Internet Report also revealed the superior sources of Internet problems, as well as the most prevalent targets.
Once again, China was found to get the single largest way to obtain attack traffic -- 33% -- through the quarter. Attacks from the nation doubled during the time, a statistic the report identified as "somewhat surprising. "

The us and Russia came next within the top three. In many, the top 10 countries were liable for almost three quarters involving global attacks.

Akamai releases its report every 1 fourth, based on information obtained from 680 million unique IP addresses linked to its cloud platform.

Dozens injured in Cairo clashes seeing that crowds mark Egypt demonstration anniversary.

The particular streets around Cairo's Tahrir Sq . were again roiled by simply violent clashes between law enforcement and protesters Friday, as crowds gathered to help mark two years since the start of the revolution that ousted president Hosni Mubarak.

At least 29 protesters have been treated in the last 12 hours for pieces, broken bones and birdshot accidents, Health Ministry spokesman Khaled El Khatib stated.
Six police officers have also been hurt near Tahrir Square, the Ministry said.

On a street a few blocks away from the square that leads to the Interior Ministry along with government buildings, police put up a barrier of concrete floor blocks.
Undeterred, young protesters threw rocks within the barrier at officers positioned there, and police told her sporadically by firing tear gas and blaring sirens.

The numbers making their way toward Tahrir Square grew throughout the morning.

On January 25, 2011, massive crowds accumulated in Tahrir Square to help protest Mubarak's regime, leading to his eventual ouster and couple of years of upheaval.

Gunman reported at Texas college

 

From cnn comes this report--

Three people, including one gunman, were wounded in shooting between two people at Lone Star College campus in Houston, Texas, school spokesman says

Second gunman is on the loose, but not believed to be on campus, school spokesman says

School being evacuated, school spokesman say

Below are the latest updates as they come to us; full story here

[Updated at 2:43 p.m. ET] Three people – one suspected shooter and two people caught in a "crossfire" – were wounded in a shooting that appears to have been between two people at the Lone Star College campus in Houston, school spokesman Jed Young said.

The wounded suspect is in custody, and the second gunman is on the loose but not believed to be on campus, Young said.
Authorities believe the school is "under control, but the school is still being evacuated," Young said.
Young said he doesn't know the conditions of the wounded. He said the shooting – apparently between two gunmen – was reported at about 12:31 p.m. CT.
Two apparently unintended targets were shot in a "crossfire," he said.
[Updated at 2:28 p.m. ET] The FBI and ATF have sent agents to assist local authorities, according to Shauna Dunlop with FBI Houston and Franceska Perot with ATF Houston.
[Updated at 2:27 p.m. ET] A witness told CNN affiliate KPRC that she hid underneath her desk while she heard five or six gunshots at Lone Star College.
[Updated at 2:26 p.m. ET] One person has been transported to Houston Northwest Medical Center, according to spokeswoman Ashley Walton.
She would not give any further details about the patient.
[Updated at 2:14 p.m. ET] Students were filing out of what CNN affiliate KHOU reports is the library on campus.
[Updated at 2:10 p.m. ET] Video from CNN affiliate KPRC shows law enforcement personnel herding people from one part of the campus to another.
[Updated at 2:02 p.m. ET] Students at a Lone Star College campus in Houston have been asked to take shelter after reports of a gunman on campus, a school spokesman said.
More than 10,000 students are at the North Harris campus of Lone Star College, spokesman Jed Young said.

[Initial post, 1:50 p.m. ET] A shooting has been reported at a Lone Star College campus in Houston, Texas, CNN affiliates KTRK and KPRC reported.
Footage from KPRC showed a large number of law enforcement personnel on campus, and at least two people being wheeled on gurneys toward ambulances.
This story is developing. We'll post more details as we get them.

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2013/01/22/shooting-reported-at-texas-college/?hpt=hp_t3

Helicopter Crash In London

A helicopter crashed right into a crane and fell noto a crowded street in core London during rush hour or so yesterday, sending flames and dark-colored plumes of smoke into the air. The pilot and one person on the floor were killed and 13 others injured.

The helicopter crashed within misty weather just south of the River Thames near the actual Underground and mainline stop at Vauxhall, and near the headquarters of spy agency MI6.

Police said an individual had critical injuries. Six were taken to a nearby hospital with “minor injuries” and seven treated with the scene, London Ambulance Program said.

“It was something of the miracle that this hasn't been many, many times worse, ” said police Cmdr. Neil Basu.

The pilot, who lost his life, had requested to divert and land with at the nearby London Heliport due to bad weather, the heliport said within a statement.

“The London Heliport never gained connection with the helicopter, ” the actual statement said.

The Ministry of Defense said it absolutely was not a military helicopter, and also a British security official that spoke on condition regarding anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to talk to the press said the incident hasn't been terror-related.

The horrific scene unfolded with the height of the early morning commute when thousands of pedestrians in the community were trying to reach work. The weather during the time was overcast and misty with fog and poor awareness, according to weather foretelling of service the Met Company. Witnesses said the helicopter reach a crane atop some sort of 50-story residential building, the actual St. George Wharf Podium.

“I was 100 percent sure it absolutely was a terrorist attack, ” explained Allen Crosbie, site manager for the landscape firm Maylim Ltd., who had previously been working at the arena.

“There was debris all over the place, a ton of dark-colored smoke. Parts of the actual crane, parts of the actual helicopter. I heard bang, bang — I presume it absolutely was the helicopter hitting the crane after which it the ground. People have been just panicking. ”

85th Academy Honours: The nominees list

This particular year's Oscars host, Seth MacFarlane, and "Gangster Squad" presenter Emma Stone were up bright and early on Thursday to announce the nominees for your 85th Academy Awards.

Look into a partial list under, and see who is going to take home the Oscar.

Best picture 

• "Beasts of the Southern Wild"
• "Silver Linings Playbook"
• "Zero Dark Thirty"
• "Lincoln"
• "Les Misérables"
• "Life of Pi"
• "Amour"
• "Django Unchained"
• "Argo"

Actor

• Daniel Day-Lewis, "Lincoln"
• Denzel Washington, "Flight"
• Hugh Jackman, "Les Misérables"
• Bradley Cooper, "Silver Linings Playbook"
• Joaquin Phoenix, "The Master"

Actress

• Naomi Watts, "The Impossible"
• Jessica Chastain, "Zero Dark Thirty"
• Jennifer Lawrence, "Silver Linings Playbook"
• Emmanuelle Riva, "Amour"
• Quvenzhané Wallis, "Beasts of the Southern Wild"

Supporting actor

• Christoph Waltz, "Django Unchained"
• Philip Seymour Hoffman, "The Master"
• Robert De Niro, "Silver Linings Playbook"
• Alan Arkin, "Argo"
• Tommy Lee Jones, "Lincoln"

Supporting actress

• Sally Field, "Lincoln"
• Anne Hathaway, "Les Misérables"
• Jacki Weaver, "Silver Linings Playbook"
• Helen Hunt, "The Sessions"
• Amy Adams, "The Master"

Director

• David O. Russell, "Silver Linings Playbook"
• Ang Lee, "Life of Pi"
• Steven Spielberg, "Lincoln"
• Michael Haneke, "Amour"
• Benh Zeitlin, "Beasts of the Southern Wild"

Animated feature

• "Frankenweenie"
• "The Pirates! Band of Misfits"
• "Wreck-It Ralph"
• "Brave"
• "ParaNorman"

Foreign language film

• "Amour," Austria
• "No," Chile
• "War Witch," Canada
• "A Royal Affair," Denmark
• "Kon-Tiki," Norway

Adapted screenplay

• "Beasts of the Southern Wild," Lucy Alibar and Benh Zeitlin
• "Argo," Chris Terrio
• "Lincoln," Tony Kushner
• "Silver Linings Playbook," David O. Russell
• "Life of Pi," David Magee

Original screenplay

• "Flight," John Gatins
• "Zero Dark Thirty," Mark Boal
• "Django Unchained," Quentin Tarantino
• "Amour," Michael Haneke
• "Moonrise Kingdom," Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola

Original song

• “Before My Time” from “Chasing Ice," music and lyrics by J. Ralph
• “Everybody Needs A Best Friend” from “Ted," music by Walter Murphy and lyric by Seth MacFarlane
• “Pi's Lullaby” from “Life of Pi," music by Mychael Danna and lyric by Bombay Jayashri
• “Skyfall” from “Skyfall," music and lyric by Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth
• “Suddenly” from “Les Misérables," music by Claude-Michel Schonberg, lyric by Herbert Kretzmer and Alain Boublil

Original score

• Dario Marianelli, “Anna Karenina"
• Alexandre Desplat, “Argo"
• Mychael Danna, “Life of Pi,"
• John Williams, “Lincoln”
• Thomas Newman, “Skyfall”

Visual effects

• “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey”
• “Life of Pi”
• “Marvel's The Avengers”
• “Prometheus”
• “Snow White and the Huntsman”

Makeup and hairstyling

• “Hitchcock”
• “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey”
• “Les Misérables”

Cinematography

• Seamus McGarvey, “Anna Karenina”
• Robert Richardson, “Django Unchained”
• Claudio Miranda, “Life of Pi”
• Janusz Kaminski, “Lincoln”
• Roger Deakins, “Skyfall”

Costume design

• Jacqueline Durran, “Anna Karenina”
• Paco Delgado, “Les Misérables”
• Joanna Johnston, “Lincoln”
• Eiko Ishioka, “Mirror Mirror”
• Colleen Atwood, “Snow White and the Huntsman”

Documentary

• “5 Broken Cameras”
• “The Gatekeepers”
• “How to Survive a Plague”
• “The Invisible War”
• “Searching for Sugar Man”

Documentary short

• “Inocente”
• “Kings Point”
• “Mondays at Racine”
• “Open Heart”
• “Redemption”

Animated short

• “Adam and Dog”
• “Fresh Guacamole”
• “Head over Heels”
• “Maggie Simpson in “The Longest Daycare”
• “Paperman”

Live action short

• “Asad”
• “Buzkashi Boys”
• “Curfew”
• “Death of a Shadow (Dood van een Schaduw)”
• “Henry”

Film editing

• William Goldenberg, "Argo"
• Tim Squyres, "Life of Pi"
• Michael Kahn, "Lincoln"
• Jay Cassidy and Crispin Struthers, "Silver Linings Playbook"
• Dylan Tichenor and William Goldenberg, "Zero Dark Thirty"

Landslide in Southwest China: 46 dead after

Burrowing yourself and machines, Chinese soldiers and emergency crews toiled , frigid slopes seeking the few missing following a devastating landslide killed lots of villagers.

By early Thursday, word came that the actual tragedy had struck the actual mountain community in Gaopo.

The landslide killed 46 people within the southwest China village, based on state-run Xinhua news firm.

A powerful avalanche of mud and dirt had recinded 10% of village.

Twenty-seven grownups, and 19 children.

Video from state-run CCTV showed the fact that was once Gaopo, the little community in China's Yunnan Land. Some houses were crushed; others had ceased to be able to exist entirely, except intended for stray bricks that manufactured their way downhill.

Earlier, rescuers drenched in are like a magnet swarmed the scene, digging fervently with shovels, seeking signs of life.

As a substitute, they found shredded clothing, wallets and other proof those killed in the actual disaster.

"We pulled out there several people, one of whom was breathing weakly, inch said Li Yongju, 50, a resident on the neighboring community of Zengjiazhai. "But before too long, he died. "

Zhou Benju was given birth to in the landslide struck area, then married a male from Zengjiazhai and moved there. A loud sound woke her, and later she learned the toll the event had taken on the girl family.

"In this disaster,... my grandma, brother, uncle and my aunt's members of the family died, " Zhou stated, according to Xinhua.

The particular landslide struck Friday a . m ., triggered by rain along with snow that had unhealthy the largely rocky region for 10 days, Li Lianju, deputy director on the Yunnan Land and Means Department, told state media.

The Zhaojiagou area of Gaopo village had not experienced landslides before, based on Li.

But Friday a . m ., 46 people in the community of 468 people have been buried, according to a nearby civil affairs bureau.

A pair of others suffered nonlife-threatening traumas, Xinhua reported.

The disaster prompted an enormous search and rescue effort that included in excess of 20 excavators and front-end loaders.

And there was more than 1, 000 soldiers, police, firefighters and mine rescuers engaged in the effort, local authorities said.

UN welcomes tranquility deal in Central Cameras Republic.

The U. N. Security Council now welcomed the cease-fire agreement and peace deal within the Central African Republic that can allow President Francois Bozize to stay in office and let the opposition to run the government.

The council emphasized the importance for "expeditious implementation" of the agreements reached in Libreville, Gabon on Friday been the 11 of the month, and called with all parties "to carry out them in good faith. "

A rebel offensive stopped next to the capital and posed a grave threat for Bozize.

A council statement overdue Friday urged speedy usage of all people requiring humanitarian assistance and immediate release off civilians being held by armed groups.

Council members also demanded a sudden end to reported man rights violations including concentrating on ethnic minorities, recruitment and usage of child soldiers, and erotic violence.

Facebook Pages Manager App For Android Is Out Now.

Facebook has launched the Pages Manager app for Android. The app joins this Facebook and Facebook Messenger apps inside the Google Play Store and is currently sitting at edition 1. 0. Also exactly like the other Facebook branded apps, the Pages Manager app can be acquired for free and with all the requirement of Android a couple of. 2 or later pertaining to use.

As for using the app, this will do just the thing the name implies — let you manage your Facebook Pages. In fact, it will help you manage multiple Facebook Pages. The app will let you post new updates in addition to images, reply to comments and view and answer private messages sent on your Page.

In addition, the app will provide notifications to help you to keep up with fresh activity in real-time. Concerning the notifications, judging from a rapid read of the comments, you may want to take note of whether or not you truly need these because right now, it looks like there is no way to turn them off. Simply put, if the notifications are not what you are looking for, you may want to be able to skip this app in the meantime.

And for the final bit, which we suspect are going to be most important to several, the Pages Manager app will help you view your latest Pages Insights (the stats). That each being said, while the Insights are nice to get, if you can dwell without seeing those on a mobile device, you can probably handle almost all of the other activities using a normal Facebook app.



.

Microsoft to kill Messenger on March 15.

Microsoft will be killing off its Windows Messenger chat service on March 15, transitioning its greater than 100 million users to Skype.

The company released its plans to bring to close Messenger in November, but Microsoft sent a company timetable to its end users through e-mail on Tuesday. Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500) is directing customers to register to Skype with the Windows Live login information, noting that their contact lists will automatically arrive in the Skype application.


Microsoft bought Skype with 2011 for $8. 5 million, but its integration with the Internet communications system has been a bit of a slog. Skype has some sort of Windows app, but strangely enough, it lacks a Windows Phone 8 app -- just about the most offers an app for iPhone and Android devices. A preview version of any mobile Skype app for Windows Phone is the works and will be available "soon, " good Skype team.
Microsoft has also failed to generate a Skype app for the actual Xbox, although rumors abound any particular one is coming this calendar year.

The Windows Live Messenger assistance has faded in acceptance as Skype, social systems and Google's (GOOG, Fortune 500) chat service became an even more common way of communicating with friends and family. Three years ago, Microsoft said the service had greater than 300 million users, nonetheless it maintains just a third of that customer base today.

The actual service, which debuted since MSN Messenger in 1998, will continue to live on in China and taiwan.

Google just invests $200 million in Texas wind farm

Google announced another big environmentally friendly energy deal on Wednesday, purchasing a $200 million stake inside a wind farm in gulf Texas. The 161 megawatt Spinning Spur Wind Project throughout Oldham County, Texas, generates enough energy to power greater than 60, 000 homes, the particular search giant said. Its 70 turbines are located in a particularly windy parts of Texas Panhandle and also began spinning full-time within the last few weeks of 2012.

"We search for projects like Spinning Inspire because, in addition to making more renewable energy and strengthening the local economy, they also make for smart investments, " Kojo Ako-Asare, Google's older manager of corporate money, said in a post.

Ako-Asare added that the wind farms offer "attractive returns in accordance with the risks. "
Google's massive data hosts rack up enormous power bills. Greenpeace, the environmental activist party, estimates that Google's eight current and planned server farming could consume 476 megawatts of electricity as long as they were operating at entire capacity. That's enough to power every one of the homes in San Diego. Google has said who's doesn't use nearly very much energy, because its servers will never be operating at full capacity.

Spinning Spur is the particular 10th green energy expenditure Google has made considering that 2010. It's the second priciest investment, behind only the $280 million stake throughout SolarCity, a solar techniques company. The company features five solar investments and also five wind investments.

In every, Google has invested greater than $1 billion in environmentally friendly energy.

The company said all 10 projects are equipped for generating a combined two gigawatts of power -- plenty of to power 500, 000 homes to get a year.

7 killed with Peru helicopter crash, which includes Americans.

Investigators are working to determine what brought about a helicopter crash in the central Peru that killed seven people, including all 5 Americans.

The team was supporting oil exploration businesses near Pucallpa, Peru, when the helicopter they were journeying in crashed Monday mid-day, according to Columbia Helicopters, the particular Portland, Oregon-based company in which employed the victims.

Minutes as soon as the helicopter took off in the Pucallpa Airport, authorities lost communication with all the pilot, and people inside the control tower could view a heavy smoke column inside the distance.

A company official said Tuesday that it was unclear what brought about the crash.

"We've notified all of the authorities and are cooperating with everyone fully, and we'll do everything we could to learn any causes... of the accident, said Michael Fahey, Columbia Helicopters chief executive and CEO.

"It's an exceptionally sad day for us. We operate globally, but we're a household and we're very near to our employees. And I personally knew lots of the individuals who died while our other employees know many of them, " Fahey told reporters with Oregon. "We're grieving for the kids. "

Columbia Helicopters has dispatched an investigation team to do business with Peruvian authorities, Fahey mentioned.

The victims were the particular aircraft's pilots and crew. No other passengers were agreeable, Columbia Helicopters said.

Both Peruvians killed in the particular crash were Igor Castillo in addition to Luis Ramos. The Americans were referred to as Dann Immel, Edwin Cordova, Jaime Pickett, Darrel Birkes in addition to Leon Bradford.

A local police chief said three with the bodies were found away from the site of helicopter's accident and explosion, and people bodies had no burn injuries, leading authorities to think the three passengers jumped out ahead of the crash.

Syria troops repulse the rebel attack.

Government troops have repulsed a rebel attack over a police school in the actual northern city of Aleppo, eradicating and wounding opposition fighters.

The incident comes the afternoon after a rare community speech by President Bashar Assad, during which he called on Syrians to be able to fight rebels who he characterised as religious extremists.

State news agencies did not specify the number of casualties reportedly inflicted on the "terrorist group", the pro-regime media's usual term with the rebels.

The rebels get recently made significant moves, capturing air bases and military installations within the east and around Damascus, the actual seat of Assad's energy.

In his speech, Assad spelled out terms for a serenity plan but dismissed any potential for dialogue with "murderous criminals".

Assad appeared confident and relaxed in the one-hour speech - the first public address in 6 months. He struck a rebellious tone, ignoring international demands for him to step down and saying he is getting ready to hold a dialogue -- but only with those "who have not betrayed Syria. " He also vowed to remain the battle "as long as there is certainly one terrorist left. "

He offered a nationwide reconciliation conference, elections and also a new constitution but ordered to provide regional and Western international locations stop funding and arming rebels attempting to overthrow his regime 1st.

Syria's opposition swiftly declined the proposal. Those combating to topple the regimen, including rebels on the floor, have repeatedly said they'll accept nothing less compared to the president's departure, dismissing any type of settlement that leaves him within the picture.

China urges Sudan, S Sudan to maintain negotiations .

A new Foreign Ministry spokesman on Monday said China embraces positive gestures recently produced by Sudan and South Sudan, urging these to maintain negotiations.

"China welcomes the positive gestures produced by Sudan and South Sudan to settle their differences, " spokesman Hong Lei said for a daily press briefing.

Hong's comments came following Sudan President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir and President of South Sudan Salva Kiir Mayardit held a gathering on Friday and Weekend in Addis Ababa,  of Ethiopia.

The two nations agreed to speed up formation of the civil institutions for the disputed area of Abyei and set timetables to the implementation of the cooperation deal signed because of the two countries in September a year ago.

China expects both sides to begin from the fundamental likes and dislikes of both nations and regional peace and stableness, carry out their signed agreements, maintain momentum in their negotiations and resolve unsettled issues at a beginning date, Hong said.

Jailbreak! Kitty caught with saws, soccer drills for kids and phone in Brazilian prison.

prison guards in Brazil's northeast Alagoas state say they have foiled a jailbreak plot which has a surprising accomplice: a grayscale cat.

The cat had a mobile phone, drills, assorted batteries and a couple of saws taped to its body when it had been spotted by guards on December 31 since it was about to enter into the prison in Arapiraca, in accordance with a statement released Weekend by Alagoas state prisons.

Prison officials states that the items attached to the cat were for being used to facilitate some sort of prison break.

The prison's over 250 inmates were almost all considered suspects as officials said they didn't immediately know who the actual cat was suppose for being aiding.

The incident is under investigation, and the cat was handed over to animal control, the actual statement said.

India rape victim's family wants hospital in the woman's village.

The family of an Indian woman who died after a savage gang rape would choose to see a new medical center, named after her, to keep her memory alive.

Her brother told CNN by simply phone from eastern India on Sunday how the family's home village, in a backward region, still doesn't always have a well-equipped health treatment center.

"It will be great if our village obtains a hospital in the woman's name. That will keep the woman's memory alive and serve a reason, " said the 20-year-old, who asked not to be named.

The young man referred to the victim as "Didi" -- Hindi pertaining to elder sister.
"Didi cherished watching movies, " he said.

"Talaash, " that means "search" in Hindi as well as Urdu, was the previous Bollywood film they discovered together, on a notebook in New Delhi.

This rape victim was the actual eldest of three littermates, with two younger siblings. A physiotherapy student, she was expecting an internship with a hospital in the indian capital in January.

"After the woman's internship, she would 've got a job. And that would have been a great help to our house, " said the brother, himself a student.

This individual described his sister as both soft and strict.

"Didi was cheerful. But she'd also scold me easily didn't score well inside exams. She would correct me if i made any mistakes inside studies, " the brother recounted.

The family was still struggling with the traumatic loss, he said.

"My mother is trying to normalize. But my dad often breaks down. The girl memories haunt us. It's more challenging at night, " he said.

The family also regrets that will help came too late when the victim was lying hurt along a street after the vicious sexual assault on her on the night of December 16.

"That's the condition in our country. People don't show up quickly to help the actual injured people or car accident victims. Mindsets have to switch, " said the victim's brother.

Nonetheless, he felt the protests how the attack sparked were validated.

"You need these protests to create about a change inside laws. And laws needs to be made so tough that will nobody should even visualize committing such crimes. Rapists deserve death sentence, " he said