Wildfire edges closer to US nuke lab

LOS ALAMOS: A wildfire near the desert birthplace of the atomic bomb advanced on the Los Alamos laboratory and thousands of outdoor drums of plutonium-contaminated waste as authorities stepped up efforts to protect the site and monitor the air for radiation. Officials at the premier US nuclear-weapons lab gave assurances that dangerous materials were safely stored and capable of withstanding flames from the 95-square-mile fire, which at one point was as close as 50 feet from the grounds. Residents downwind are worried about the potential of a radioactive smoke plume if the flames reach thousands of barrels of waste stored in above-ground tents....

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Forty-eight-year-old Garry Robb, who escaped to northern Cyprus after being released on bail for drug dealing in the UK in 1996, will be re-arrested and deported to Cyprus on July 13

BRITISH criminal currently serving a prison sentence for drug dealing in the UK will soon be extradited to Cyprus to face accusations of developing and trading in Greek Cypriot properties in the north, the British Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) confirmed yesterday.It will be the first time the Cyprus government has brought a case in Cyprus against an individual for the illegal development of Greek Cypriot property in the north.Forty-eight-year-old...

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Six of the UK's most wanted men are suspected of being on the run in the Netherlands.

The men - three of whom are from Liverpool - are believed to be in and around Amsterdam.An appeal to trace them has been launched by Crimestoppers with the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA).Paul Finnigan, 22, and Mark Fitzgibbon, 40, are accused of being in involved in supplying drugs. Mark McKenna, 39, absconded from Subdbury prison in 2008.He was serving a 15-year sentence for conspiracy to supply class A drugs.Mr Finnigan, who is slim with...

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The owner of a snake sanctuary has died after apparently being bitten by one of his own animals.

Luke Yeomans, 47, had been due to open the King Cobra Sanctuary in Eastwood, Nottinghamshire, this weekend.Police confirmed they were called to a property in Brookhill Leys Road, near Eastwood, where Mr Yeomans had suffered a suspected heart attack.Officers confirmed the snake had been contained and there was no danger to the public.Depleted habitatIt was also confirmed the victim was pronounced dead at the scene.The RSPCA, Health and Safety Executive and Broxtowe Borough Council have been informed of the incident.Nottinghamshire Police said an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death was under way.In an interview with the BBC...

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Rich 20-year-old's antics damage Red Cross name

BEIJING - The country's only national Red Cross society is fighting to hang on to the public's trust after a scandal erupted in which a 20-year-old woman, who claimed to have a link to the society, boasted online about her luxurious lifestyle and triggered concern that donated money was being misused.The woman talked about her extravagant lifestyle on her micro blog and claimed to be the general manager of a company called Red Cross Commerce, which she said handled advertising on Red Cross vehicles.Netizens questioned whether the woman named Guo Meimei had financed her lifestyle out of money that had been donated to the society. Some even said...

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2 men found guilty in murder of Calif journalist

A jury convicted the leader of a financially troubled community group of three murders, including the shotgun shooting death of the first American journalist killed on U.S. soil for reporting a story in nearly two decades.Yusuf Bey IV, former head of Your Black Muslim Bakery, was found guilty Thursday in a month-long spree of violence that culminated with the August 2007 shooting of Chauncey Bailey while he walked to the newspaper where he was investigating the financial woes of Bey's group.Jurors also found co-defendant Antoine Mackey guilty in the murders of Bailey and Michael Wills, but deadlocked on a murder charge against him in the death...

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Reporters Without Borders is dismayed by the one-year jail sentence and fine of 100 euros that a Casablanca court passed today on Rachid Nini, the editor of Al-Massae, one of Morocco's leading newspapers,

Reporters Without Borders is dismayed by the one-year jail sentence and fine of 100 euros that a Casablanca court passed today on Rachid Nini, the editor of Al-Massae, one of Morocco's leading newspapers, at the end of a trial marked by judicial intransigence, repeated adjournments and a refusal to free him on bail.Held since 28 April, the newspaper editor was tried on charges of disinformation and attacking state institutions, public figures and the "security and integrity of the nation and citizens" under articles 263, 264 and 266 of the criminal code. Nini's lawyer, Khaled Sufiani, said he would appeal. "This is a very bad development for...

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Another journalist murdered in Mexico

On Tuesday, the body of newspaper reporter Noel López Olguín was unearthed in the city of Chinameca, Veracruz, after the head of a drug gang confessed to killing the journalist. Family members positively identified his body on Wednesday.Lopez, who disappeared in March, worked for La Verdad de Jaltipan and focused on the activities of the drug cartels and government corruption.According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), 12 journalists, including López, have been murdered in Mexico, in the last 18 months alone.According to Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission, since 2000, more than 50 journalists have been murdered in Mexico....

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German scientists are looking for clues about the source of the killer E.coli food bug in a restaurant

German scientists are looking for clues about the source of the killer E.coli food bug in a restaurant in the northern German town of Luebeck after 17 people fell ill after eating there, a newspaper reported on Saturday.The 17 people who fell sick from the E.coli bacteria included a group of German tax officials and tourists from nearby Denmark, the Luebecker Nachrichten newspaper said."The restaurant is not to blame," said Werner Solbach, a microbiologist at University Medical Centre Schleswig-Holstein. "However, the supply chain could give us important clues about how the pathogen was passed along."So far authorities in Germany have yet to...

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