Asiana Airlines Crash Passengers Sue Boeing

A group of passengers on the Asiana Airlines flight that crash-landed in San Francisco last summer are suing Boeing, it has emerged.

About 80 of the plane's 291 passengers who survived the fatal crash are claiming some of the equipment on the Boeing 777 was defective.

Three Chinese schoolgirls were killed and 180 passengers were injured when Asiana Flight 214 came down on July 6.

The tail was knocked off and the fuselage of the plane burst into flames as passengers were fleeing down escape chutes.

The flight came down on July 6, 2013

Monica Kelly, an attorney for Chicago-based Ribbeck Law Chartered, told CNN: "We are asking for damages to be paid to the passengers and asking the court to hold Boeing partially liable."

The personal injury lawsuit was filed in Cook County Circuit Court, Illinois, on Friday.

The lawsuit alleges that because some of the equipment was improperly installed, or was defective, the pilots did not receive adequate warnings about low airspeed.

Debris was strewn across the crash-landing site

The suit says that Boeing knew or should have known its 777 passenger jet did not have inadequate auto-throttle control and low airspeed warning systems, according to the Chicago Tribune newspaper.

All of those who are named on the lawsuit were injured and were left with "pain and suffering, disability, mental anguish, loss of capacity for the enjoyment of life, medical treatment, loss of income, and medical expenses" it says.

Boeing has yet to comment.

A lawsuit was previously launched against Boeing by three San Francisco Bay families who claimed that the air giant failed to provide adequate training for pilots in South Korea.

The cause of the crash is still being investigated. 

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Syria's Assad 'Not Ready To Give Up Power'

Syrian President Bashar al Assad has reportedly said he is not ready to give up power and the issue is not up for discussion.

According to Russia's Interfax news agency, Mr Assad said: "If we wanted to surrender, we would have surrendered from the start (of the nation's civil war)."

He reportedly added: "We are on guard for our country. This issue is not up for discussion."

The president apparently made the comments to Russian MPs ahead of an internationally backed peace conference on Syria.

The main opposition group has voted in favour of attending the talks next week aimed at ending the conflict.

The Syrian National Coalition (SNC) confirmed it will participate in the discussions after 58 of its 73 delegates voted in favour of attending.

Western and Arab sponsors of the opposition group have pressured the SNC to attend the talks, which are due to begin on Wednesday in the Swiss city of Montreux.

Mr Assad's language continues to be defiant

The Syrian government had already committed to attending the talks, which are backed by the United Nations.

Sky correspondent Robert Nisbet in Damascus says security has been increased in the capital ahead of the conference.

He said: "There are roadblocks everywhere around the city. Our local producer says he has never seen security as tight as it is today.

"It would suggest the Assad government is nervous that perhaps an armed opposition group may want to stage some kind of event in the capital to show that the president hasn't regained control of the biggest city in Syria."

The conference will be the first face-to-face meeting between representatives of Mr Assad's government and the opposition since war broke out in March 2011.

More than 100,000 people have been killed since the conflict began and millions have been displaced.

The US and Russia have been trying to hold the peace conference since last year, and it has been repeatedly delayed.

Both sides finally agreed to sit together at the negotiation table after dropping some of their conditions.

The aim of the conference, which has been dubbed Geneva 2, is to agree on a roadmap for Syria's future based on one adopted by the US, Russia and other major powers in June 2012.

The plan includes the creation of a transitional government and eventual elections.

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Christie Aide Accused Of Holding Sandy Funds

An aide of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has been accused of holding back Hurricane Sandy recovery funds in order to gain backing for a politically linked project.

The Mayor of Hoboken Dawn Zimmer claims Mr Christie's lieutenant governor told her the city would only be given money if a particular commercial development was backed.

Hoboken is a suburb across the Hudson River from Manhattan and was hit badly by the superstorm which left many homeless.

Ms Zimmer told the Associated Press news agency that the conversation happened when Lt Gov Kim Guadagno pulled her aside at an event in May.

She said the Republican governor's aide made it clear that Sandy aid was tied to the project - a proposal by New York City-based Rockefeller Group to build on prime real estate in Hoboken city.

Ms Zimmer told AP: "I was directly told by the lieutenant governor - she made it very clear - that the Rockefeller project needed to move forward or they wouldn't be able to help me."

Mr Christie's office has denied Ms Zimmer's claims, calling her statements politically motivated.

Hoboken was hit by flooding

The governor is already embroiled in another scandal involving traffic jams apparently manufactured to settle a political score.

That scandal has tarnished Mr Christie's image as a straight talking Republican capable of working across the partisan divide.

The 55th governor of New Jersey was reelected in November 2013 by a wide margin and with 60% of the vote.

Because of his popularity, he has been widely tipped as a Republican presidential candidate for the 2016 election.

A spokesman for his office, Colin Reed, said the administration has been helping Hoboken secure assistance since Sandy struck.

Mr Christie himself has yet to comment.

Several member of Mr Christie's staff have been subpoenaed over the closing of approach lanes near the George Washington Bridge in September.

It has been claimed that emails from the aides suggest that the bridge lanes were closed to harm a political rival. The closures caused traffic chaos.

The bridge connects New Jersey with Manhattan and is the busiest in the world.

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Bomb Threat Forces Plane's Landing In Brazil

A bomb threat has forced a passenger plane to make an unplanned landing in the Amazon city of Manaus.

The plane's diversion to the city - one of the sites for the 2014 World Cup - disrupted travel plans for people moving through the Eduardo Gomes airport.

A search of the plane didn't turn up any device, local media reported.

Footage filmed on a mobile phone showed passengers queuing up trying to get information.

The plane's diversion also disrupted travel plans for other people moving through the Eduardo Gomes airport in Manaus.

American traveller Bill Jackson said his flight from Manaus to Brasilia was delayed.

"We were supposed to have already been boarded and left. However, we find out that there's been a bomb threat. And the authorities are searching for whatever evidence they can find. Fortunately, there's been no bomb go off. And we hope none does."

Police in Manaus said the TAM Airlines flight took off from Brasilia on Saturday morning, heading to the city of Boa Vista.

A note left in a bathroom in Brasilia's airport claimed that a bomb was on board the jet.

It had already taken off when the note was discovered, so officials sent the plane to Manaus, where it safely landed.

Police in Manaus said no arrests have been made.

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Child Marriage 'Legitimises Lifetime Of Abuse'

By Niall Paterson, Sky News Correspondent

Child marriage often leads to a lifetime of abuse for girls, according to a new report.

Campaign group Equality Now says such underage unions, often when the children involved are too young to understand even the concept of marriage, are part of a "continuum of abuse" often linked to genital mutilation, rape, violence and sex trafficking.

It says ending child marriage should be a priority internationally - and suggests that it should be tackled not as a single incident of abuse, but in relation to other example of discrimination and violence against women and girls.

Jacqui Hunt, the London director of Equality Now, said "Child marriage directly affects approximately 14 million girls a year. It legitimises human rights violations and the abuse of girls under the guise of culture, honour, tradition, and religion.

"It is part of a sequence of discrimination that begins at a girl's birth and continues throughout her entire life.

"Furthermore, when a child bride gives birth, the vicious cycle of poverty, poor health, curtailed education, violence, instability, disregard for rule of law and legal and other discrimination often continues into the next generation, especially for any daughters she may have."

Child marriage affects about 14 million girls a year

Drawing together evidence from both the developed and developing world, the report concludes that without a comprehensive, joined up approach to tackling child marriage, linking together healthcare, education, a properly enforced legal framework and community and political leaders, girls will "remain vulnerable, not only to being married off at a young age, but to a lifetime of abuse".

Unicef estimates that between 2011 and 2021, 100 million girls will have become child brides - which equates to 25,000 a day.

Sky News spoke with one child bride who now campaigns against underage marriage.

Alematsahye Gebrekidan, the founder of the Former Child Wives Foundation, was married aged 10 in Ethiopia, to a boy himself only 16 years old.

"I was married when I was a little girl. The decision was taken by the parents, we [she and her husband] did not know. I was playing outside and they called me in and told me I was going to be married.

"I was scared, and ashamed, and embarrassed."

Alem Gebrekidan's was forced into marriage when she was just 10

Alem's wedding day was, for her, no happy occasion.

"I was crying, I was very upset and angry because I was scared. I didn't know what was happening to me.

"It is the culture [there]. If you are 15 years old they say you are old, too old, so you should be married.

"It's tradition."

She gave birth to a child at age 13. One month later, her husband was killed in the war. Forced to grow up at such a young age, she deeply regrets the loss of her childhood.

"I feel shamed. I feel empty inside, empty.

"When I see a child playing with a doll ... I miss those things."

And she has a simple message for others who have similar experiences: "Don't be ashamed, come out and get support.

"It's not your fault. It's not your choice."

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Rosetta Craft To Land On Comet At 24,600mph

A spaceship is about to embark on one of the most technologically advanced missions ever attempted - by landing on a comet at 24,600mph.

An internal alarm will wake the Rosetta craft at 10am on Monday after two and a half years of deep-space hibernation.

It will then chase 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko as it begins to move closer to the Sun, before harpooning the 2.5-mile wide frozen dirtball and trying to make a landing.

Project scientist Matt Taylor, from the European Space Agency (ESA), compared the feat to the Bruce Willis film Armageddon in which Willis lands on an asteroid to save the world from destruction.

An ESA computer animation of the Rosetta spaceship

"It will be an amazing achievement for human endeavour, an 'Armageddon' type thing," he told the Sunday Telegraph.

"We're not just landing on the Moon, we're dealing with something dynamic, which is kicking off tonnes of dust and gas every minute."

Rosetta was launched in March 2004, from Kourou, in French Guiana, and is now 500 million miles from Earth and close to the orbit of Jupiter.

The comet is travelling at 24,600mph - far faster than a space ship - so the ESA craft has spent the time since its launch using the gravitational pull of the Earth and Mars to act as a sling shot and allow it to accelerate.

"It flew almost 10 years in space and in the last two and a half years it was so far from the sun that we couldn't keep it completely active so we had to switch it off," said Dr Paolo Ferri, head of the ESA's mission operations department.

When Rosetta is near the comet, it will launch its lander craft

"We have no contact since two and a half years and on Monday we'll have the first signal since then."

Scientists compare Rosetta's mission to a fly trying to land on a speeding bullet.

It will arrive at 67P in August, where if all goes to plan, it will become the first spacecraft to orbit a comet and land a probe on its surface.

Comets are the primitive building blocks of the solar system, and are thought to have helped 'seed' Earth with water, and perhaps even life. Their icy surface is embedded with dust, grit and particles from space, Nasa says.

They are left over from a planet-building time when our sun was just a spinning disc of dust and gas.

An ESA animation of the lander landing on the comet

By studying the comet's dust and gas, Rosetta will help scientists learn more about the evolution of the solar system, it is hoped.

"Over the millennia of the history of Earth, comets have actually affected our evolution, they probably have affected the evolution of life as well, from the start of life to the destruction of life," Dr Ferri said.

"There are many theories about comets hitting the earth and causing global catastrophes. So understanding comets is also important to see in the future what could be done to defend the earth from comets."

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'Exorcism' Mother 'Stabs Children' In Maryland

A mother accused of stabbing her two toddler children to death believed she was performing an exorcism, police have said.

Zakieya Avery, 28, and her friend Monifa Sanford, have been charged with murder over the deaths of Norell Harris, one, and Zyana Harris, two.

The two women were also charged with attempted murder after Avery's older children Taniya Harris, five, and Martello Harris, eight, were seriously injured.

Police - who said they found a "very bloody" crime scene - believe the children may have been knifed to death as they slept in their beds.

Officers were called on Friday to the home in Germantown, Maryland, where the women were living.

A neighbour called 911 after noticing a knife lying next to a blue car with the door left open.

The crime scene in Germantown was surrounded by police cars

The keys were still in the ignition and the car was covered in blood, police said.

Montgomery County Police said Avery was arrested as she tried to flee from the house. 

Officers had to force their way into the property, where they found Norell and Zyana dead in their bedrooms with multiple stab wounds.

Their siblings were taken to hospital along with Sanford with injuries.

Sanford was arrested on Saturday after being released from the hospital.

Officers believe a small red knife may have been used in the attack

Stunned neighbours organised a small memorial of stuffed animals near the crime site.

One neighbour, Gabriella Lemus, said: "It's just such a tragedy, because who could do that to their own children?"

Another, Roger Florencio, said: "I have a child myself, and I can't imagine what person could do that to their children."

The injured children are being treated in Children's Hospital in northwest Washington.

The two women each face two counts of first degree murder and two counts of attempted first degree murder. 

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Thailand Explosions: Dozens Hurt In Bangkok

Dozens of people have been hurt after two grenade attacks at the site of an anti-government demonstration in Bangkok.

It is the latest violence in a political crisis dividing Thailand as the army urges both sides to settle their differences.

According to witnesses, the explosions in the capital happened two minutes apart, with the first about 100-200 metres from a stage set up by protesters.

The blast left a small crater beside a market stall, while the second was near a row of stalls selling anti-government T-shirts.

At least 28 people were injured, including seven seriously, in the explosions near Victory Monument in the north of the city, medics claimed.

Police said the blasts were caused by fragmentation grenades similar to one that killed a man and wounded dozens of other people on Friday in a similar explosion in Bangkok targeting protesters.

It is the latest in a series of attacks

Then on Saturday night, a gunman opened fire on anti-government protesters in the city's Lad Prao district, where demonstrators have taken over a key road junction.

A 54-year-old volunteer guard was shot in the back and seriously wounded in the attack about 300 metres from a protest stage.

It is still unclear who is behind the violence.

It is the latest episode in an eight-year-old crisis that broadly pits Bangkok's middle class and royalist establishment against poorer, mainly rural supporters of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and her self-exiled brother Thaksin.

Hundreds of anti-government protesters at a rally in Bangkok

The demonstrators, who control several small areas of the city, are trying to overthrow her government and derail the upcoming February 2 elections.

​Ms Yingluck's opponents - a minority that can no longer win at the polls - argue the Shinawatras are using their electoral majority to impose their will and stifle democracy.

They accuse former Mr Shinawatra of corruption and nepotism. He has lived abroad since 2008 to avoid a prison sentence after being convicted of corruption.

The crisis boiled over again late last year after the ruling party attempted to push through an amnesty bill that would have allowed him to return from exile.

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Norway Fire: Laerdal Inferno Engulfs Village

At least 90 people have been taken to hospital as a huge fire rips through a Norwegian village famous for its unique wooden buildings.

The blaze has destroyed at least 23 buildings in Laerdalsoyri

Scores of people have been evacuated from their homes in Laerdalsoyri and dozens taken to hospital with "light injuries", the municipality of Laerdal said in a statement.

Farmers have been helping as firefighters tackle the fire

The blaze has destroyed at least 30 buildings, including 16 homes, industrial buildings and community centres.

It also destroyed at least three buildings in the protected area of the village of Laerdalsoyri.

Parts of the village are on the Unesco World Heritage list

It was not immediately clear what caused the fire, which started on Saturday night and quickly spread, fanned by strong winds.

Local firefighters, helped by farmers, have been struggling to contain the inferno.

The scale of the fire is clear from some distance away

Villagers are hoping a firefighting helicopter due to arrive on Sunday will help to contain the flames.

The inferno ripped through some of the village's famous wooden buildings

The Laerdal district is a popular tourist destination, known for its stave church and well-preserved 18th- and 19th-century wooden houses.

Parts of the western Norway village, which has a population of around 1,150, have made it on to the Unesco World Heritage list. 

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Madonna Sorry For 'N-Word' Slur On Instagram

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5:20pm UK, Sunday 19 January 2014

Madonna said it was used as a "term of endearment" towards her son

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