July 1, BBC News

Motorists on Canada's biggest highway ended up with a bee in their bonnet after a truck transporting 12m of the insects overturned.

The lorry was carrying 330 crates of honey bees when it tipped over on a ramp in St Leonard, New Brunswick.

Bee experts were called in to help deal with the accident on the Trans-Canada Highway.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police said a downpour of rain helped to contain the bees in and around the vehicle.

"Bees don't like the rain... thousands of bees are hanging on the back of this truck and on the pavement right behind," said police spokesman Derek Strong.

'Disoriented and agitated'

The BBC's Lee Carter in Toronto says the bees had been used to pollinate a crop of blueberries, and were being transported home when the accident happened.

Afterwards, the highway was closed and beekeepers in white protective suits attempted to lure the insects back to their hives.

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photo: No-one was seriously injured in the incident, although a reporter was stung (AP)

June 23, Sydney Morning Herald

NEW JERSEY: Two-time American drag racing champion Scott Kalitta died on Saturday when his "funny car" burst into flames and crashed during the final round of qualifying for the Lucas Oil NHRA SuperNationals.

The National Hot Rod Association, the leading governing body for drag racing in North America, said on its website that Kalitta, who had 18 career victories, was killed at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park.

Witnesses told The Star-Ledger that Kalitta's Toyota Solara was travelling at an estimated speed of 480kmh when the car, which was leading the race, burst into flames, continued to the end of the track, struck a barrier and exploded.

Kalitta was taken to Old Bridge Township Hospital, where he was pronounced dead from multiple injuries.

He started his career at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in 1982. His father, Connie Kalitta, was one of the pioneers in American drag racing and a team owner.

His cousin, Doug Kalitta, also drives competitively.

"Scott was a terrific driver and, perhaps more importantly, a better person and a great father to his two kids," the NHRA said in a statement. "Our thoughts and prayers go out to his wife, Kathy, sons Corey and Colin, his cousin Doug, and his father Connie.

"He will be truly missed."

Drag racing is a match race between two cars along a 400-metre straight from a standing start.

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photo: No chance … Scott Kalitta died after his Toyota Solara 'funny car' reached an estimated speed of 480kmh before striking a barrier and exploding (AP)

Company claims earthquake caused devastating volcanic eruption

AP

June 11, MSNBC

JAKARTA, Indonesia - International scientists say they are almost certain a mud volcano that displaced tens of thousands of villagers in central Indonesia was caused by faulty drilling of a gas exploration well — not an earthquake as claimed by the company.

Debate over the eruption has flared since a seemingly endless torrent of hot, black sludge started oozing from a gaping hole near the country's second-largest city of Surabaya on May 29, 2006.

Well operator Lapindo Brantas, owned by the family of Indonesia's richest man, Welfare Minister Aburizal Bakrie, says it was triggered by a magnitude 6.3 earthquake that occurred 250 kilometers (155 miles) from the site two days earlier.

"We are more certain than ever that the Lusi mud volcano is an unnatural disaster and was triggered by drilling the Banjar-Panji-1 well," Richard Davies, a geologist at Durham University in Britain, said Tuesday.

He was the lead author of a study published this week in the academic journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters that said his team was 99 percent sure that drilling pressures caused a fluid leakage that led to an "underground blowout."

Lapindo noticed too late that an influx of water or gas entered the well after the drill was removed for the night, Davies said, adding "it is quite clear" the critical pressure was "more than the hole could withstand."

Michael Manga, a University of California researcher who authored the part of the report on the quake's impact, said while earthquakes can trigger eruptions, this one "was simply too small and too far away."

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photo: A picture taken from a helicopter shows the mud volcano in Sidoarjo, East Java, Indonesia, on May 28 (Fully Handoko / EPA)

June 10, BBC News

Saudi Arabian football authorities are investigating an error that led to the Syrian national anthem being played before a match against Lebanon.

Several Lebanese players were visibly angry when the wrong anthem was played before Saturday's game, reports say.

Officials at the stadium quickly realised their mistake, and eventually played the correct national anthem before the World Cup qualifying clash.

Lebanon went on to lose the match in the Saudi capital Riyadh, 2-1.

Syrian influence in Lebanon remains one of the most divisive issues there.

Tensions in Lebanon between the opposition movement led by Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran and Syria, and the pro-Western government erupted into violence last month.

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photo: Lebanon lost the match 2-1. (AP)

Stranded scuba divers chase off Komodo dragon on remote Indonesian island

By ALI KOTARUMALOS Associated Press Writer

June 9, ABC News

Indonesia - Scuba divers swept away in strong currents survived 12 hours in shark-infested waters before scrambling onto a remote Indonesian island where they faced yet another threat: a Komodo dragon.

The divers — three from Britain and one each from France and Sweden — came face-to-face with the giant, carnivorous lizard on Rinca's palm-fringed beach, and fought it off by pelting it with rocks and pieces of wood, Pariman, a port official said Sunday.

"Luckily, they were able to chase it away," said Pariman, who, like many Indonesians, goes by only one name.

The beasts have sharp, serrated teeth and often come out when they smell something new, including humans — whom they've been known to kill, Pariman said.

The divers encountered treacherous currents after plunging from their wooden boat off Tatawa island on Thursday afternoon. They drifted 20 miles from their dive site before swimming to Rinca, their last chance to avoid being swept into the open ocean.

"We struggled against the current for several hours, but eventually stopped," Laurent Pinel, 31, of France, told The Sunday Times of London. The group tied their diving vests together to preserve energy, he said. Once on the island, they scraped mussels from the rocks for food, he said.

The divers ran into the Komodo dragon on Friday afternoon. The next day, rescuers aboard one of 30 boats searching the waters spotted them waving frantically on the shore and took them to Flores island for medical treatment.

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photo: Rescued European divers arrive at Labuhan Bajo port, Flores island, Indonesia, Saturday, June 7, 2008. All five Europeans who went missing while scuba diving in treacherous waters off eastern Indonesia were found alive Saturday on a remote island. (AP Photo/ Oby Lewanmeru)

By Ben Blanchard

May 13, Reuters

CHENGDU, China - Nearly 10,000 people were killed by the earthquake that hammered southwest China, officials said on Tuesday as rescuers struggled to reach the worst-hit areas, where many more may have died.

Rescuers worked frantically through the night, pulling bodies from schools, homes, factories and hospitals that were demolished by the 7.8 magnitude quake, which rippled from a mountainous area of Sichuan province across much of China on Monday afternoon.

The toll from China's worst earthquake for over three decades appeared sure to climb as troops struggled on foot to reach the worst-hit area, Wenchuan, a hilly county of 112,000 people 100 km (62 miles) from Sichuan's provincial capital, Chengdu.

About 900 teenagers were buried under a collapsed three-storey school building in the Sichuan city of Dujiangyan.

Premier Wen Jiabao, who rushed there, bowed three times in grief before some of the 50 bodies already pulled out, Xinhua news agency reported.

"Not one minute can be wasted," Wen said, state television showed. "One minute, one second could mean a child's life."

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photo: A woman survivor tries to escape from the debris of a collapsed building after an earthquake in Dujiangyan, Sichuan province, May 12, 2008 (REUTERS/Stringer)

April 28, NY Times

BEIJING — A predawn collision between two passenger trains in Eastern China on Monday has killed at least 66 people and injured 247, according to Xinhua, the state news agency, making it one of the deadliest rail accidents in recent years.

The two trains, one heading from Beijing to Qingdao and the other traveling between Yantai and Xuzhou, collided at 4:40 a.m. in the town of Zibo, Shandong Province.

Witnesses said one train derailed at a bend and then struck the other, throwing at least ten cars into a ditch. Wire reports quoted a rail official saying that a new timetable introduced on Monday might have contributed to the crash.

Last September, a collision involving two trains took place on the same line, although there were no deaths. In January, 18 track workers were killed on the Beijing-Qingdao route after they were struck by a train traveling 75 m.p.h. in the dark.

Chinese newspapers frequently report railway fatalities, although most of them involve small numbers of deaths from collisions between trains and vehicles at track crossings.

China has one of the world’s most heavily used rail systems. In recent years, at least $100 billion has been spent on improvements and expanded service.

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photo: Rescuers work at the site where two trains collided in east China's Shandong province (Fan Changguo/Xinhua, via Reuters)

April 11, DailyMail

A woman plunged to her death from her bedroom window after suffering paranoid delusions caused by a tick bite, an inquest heard.

Jan Linton, 56, was bitten when she stayed on a friend's nine-acre estate in France.

Within six months she was acting "very strangely" and claimed the police were "out to get her", Westminster Coroner's Court was told.

It is believed she had contracted Lyme disease, a tick-borne illness which is notoriously hard to diagnose in its later stages and can cause psychosis and delusions.

She died instantaneously from multiple injuries after falling three storeys from a window in her flat in West Brompton, South-West London, in January.

Six months earlier she was bitten by a tick while working on land around a house owned by her friend of 20 years, Rhian Bradley.

Miss Linton, described as a "very active and independent lady" of private means, stayed on in France until late December when she returned to London to seek medical help for debilitating joint pains that left her walking on crutches, which she thought could be related to the bite.

Miss Linton, whose father was a surgeon, knew of the risk of Lyme disease.

Her private GP suspected the disease and sent her for tests. But her mental state rapidly deteriorated, the inquest heard.

Miss Bradley, who lived with Miss Linton, said her friend became exhausted from a lack of sleep and started suffering from delusions.

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photo: Up to one in three ticks carries Lyme disease (National Pictures)

Fatalities were aboard Cessna jet, which reportedly was headed to France

March 30, MSNBC

LONDON - A small plane crashed into a residential area south of London on Sunday, killing five people and completely destroying a house, police and rescue officials said.

Fire and police officials said they had found no survivors amid the flaming wreckage. Officials said the plane was carrying two pilots and three passengers.

"No survivors were found, but I can confirm that there were no people involved in the houses," said Jim Bascran, of the London fire department.

Police said they would not release any more information on the identities of the dead until their next of kin had been notified.

The private plane crashed into a house in Farnborough in Kent, just south of London, sometime after 2:30 p.m. local time, officials said. The neighborhood, Broadwater Gardens, lies near Biggin Hill Airport, about 12 miles from central London.

The small airport was an important Royal Air Force fighter station during World War II, but now serves private jets and helicopters.

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photo: Wreckage smoulders after a Cessna jet crashed into a home south of London, England, on Sunday. All five aboard the aircraft were killed (Getty Images)