Seattle News Chopper Crash: Two Killed

A news helicopter has crashed near Seattle's famous Space Needle, killing at least two people.

The chopper belonging to KOMO-TV was apparently attempting to lift-off from the station's rooftop when it went down.

Three vehicles were struck when the helicopter crashed onto Broad Street, between the station and Seattle's Space Needle.

Emergency crews found two people dead at the scene

The Seattle Fire Department said two people were found dead in the wreckage.

The news chopper was apparently attempting to land

A third person who managed to free himself from his car was taken to hospital in critical condition.

Only the tail of the helicopter could be identified among the burned metal.

An hour after the crash, firefighters had put out the fire and were cleaning up spilled fuel, which left a strong smell in the area.

In addition to being near the city's iconic Space Needle in Seattle Center, the crash site is by the EMP Museum, the music and culture museum founded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen.

Seattle Center is popular with tourists and locals, and is the site of many music and cultural festivals and sporting activities.

Other cities have experienced helicopter crashes as TV stations rush to cover the news from above major cities.

Two news helicopters collided in midair in Phoenix in 2007 as the aircraft covered a police chase. Four people were killed in the crash, which sent fiery wreckage plummeting onto a park. Four people in the helicopters were killed.

The helicopter involved in Tuesday's crash was used in a joint partnership between KOMO-TV and KING-TV.

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Afghanistan Rickshaw Suicide Bomber Kills 15

At least 15 people have been killed and dozens injured after a suicide bomb attack at a market in northern Afghanistan.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack in Maimanah, the capital of Faryab, a remote province that borders Turkmenistan and has a mixed population of Uzbek, Turkmen and Pashtun ethnic groups.

Provincial governor Mohammadullah Batash said the bomber targeted the Tuesday bazaar, adding: "The blast happened on the main roundabout, which was very crowded.

"The bomber used a three-wheeler packed with explosives. All 15 of the dead are civilians or street vendors, and at least 27 are also wounded."

Toryalai Adyan, the provincial police chief, and hospital officials gave a similar account and death toll.

Northern Afghanistan is generally more peaceful than the south and east of the country, but Islamist insurgents, rival militias and criminal gangs are active in some districts.

Security has been stepped up ahead of the presidential elections on April 5.

Last week, the Taliban urged its members to attack polling staff, voters and security forces.

Jan Kubis, the United Nations envoy to Kabul, said he was "gravely disturbed" by the Taliban threat to unleash a "campaign of terror".

Previous Afghan elections have been badly marred by violence, with at least 31 civilians and 26 soldiers and police killed on polling day in 2009, as the Islamist militants displayed their opposition to the US-backed polls.

President Karzai, who is barred from serving a third term in office, has consistently said Afghanistan will hold a safe and clean election, despite previous violence and allegations of massive fraud when he won the last poll five years ago.

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Big Bang 'Holy Grail' Discovered By Scientists

By Thomas Moore, Health and Science Correspondent

Scientists claim to have spotted echoes of the Big Bang for the first time, a discovery some consider to be the "Holy Grail" of astronomy.

The extraordinary find, which is already being hailed as worthy of a Nobel Prize, could reveal how the universe was born 14 billion years ago.

Astrophysicists at the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics announced they have detected primordial gravitational waves, tiny ripples in the fabric of the universe left over from those first moments.

The South Pole and BICEP Telescopes at the Amundsen-Scott Station

John Kovac, associate professor of astronomy at the Centre, who led the research, said: "Detecting this signal is one of the most important goals in cosmology today."

The existence of the waves backs up the theory of cosmic inflation, that in the first trillionth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a second the universe expanded faster than the speed of light.

The signal, detected by a specialised telescope at the South Pole called BICEP2, was far stronger than predicted.

Dr Clem Pryke of the University of Minnesota, who was also on the research team, said: "This has been like looking for a needle in a haystack, but instead we found a crowbar."

A specialised array of superconducting detectors used by BICEP2

Gravitational waves were predicted by Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity, but they have never been observed before.

The results will have to be confirmed by other research teams.

Astrophysicist Professor Avi Loeb, from Harvard University, said: "This work offers new insights into some of our most basic questions.

"Why do we exist? How did the universe begin?

"These results are not only a smoking gun for inflation, they also tell us when inflation took place and how powerful the process was."

Physicist and science presenter Martin Archer told Sky News: "The signs of both inflation and gravitational waves in the same experiment is quite frankly amazing."

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Missing Plane Mystery: Faces Of Flight MH370

By Sarah Hajibagheri, Sky News Producer

It is 11 days since Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 disappeared in the night and investigators appear no closer to knowing the fate of the passengers and crew on board.

The names of the 239 people currently missing are listed in black and white in the plane's manifest.

But these colour photos show the faces of those who were on the flight.

There were 14 different nationalities among the 227 passengers and 12 crew travelling from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, although the majority - 153 in all - were Chinese.

Other passengers came from the United States, Canada, Indonesia, Iran, Australia, India, France, New Zealand, Ukraine, Russia, Taiwan and the Netherlands.

The youngest is two, the oldest 76. Seven of the passengers are children, five of whom are yet to see their fifth birthdays.

On board the plane were sons, daughters, husbands, wives and grandparents. Some were embarking on a new start, others returning home.

Muktesh Mukherjee and his wife Xiaomo Bai

They included a famous stuntman, engineers, artists, Buddhist pilgrims, students, holidaymakers and honeymooners.

These are some of their stories:

:: The husband and wife returning to their sons

Muktesh Mukherjee and Xiaomo Bai were heading home to Beijing after a beach holiday in Vietnam.

Ms Bai, 37, had posted pictures of their break shortly before boarding the flight.

The couple's two young sons were waiting for them at home with Ms Bai's mother.

Mr Muktesh, 42, an Indian-born Canadian employed by US firm XCoal, met his wife while on a business trip to China in 2002.

They lived in Montreal before moving to Beijing.

:: The Hollywood stuntman

Stuntman Ju Kun

Ju Kun's kung fu moves have featured in films such as Fearless, where he doubled for martial arts actor Jet Li, and The Expendables.

The 35-year-old was travelling to Beijing to see his two young children before starting work on the new Netflix and Weinstein Company series Marco Polo in Malaysia.

In a statement, Weinstein said: "He was an integral part of our production team and a tremendous talent. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family at this difficult time."

:: Teen lovers

French students Hadrien Wattrelos, 17, and Zhao Yan, 18, were heading for school in Beijing.

They had enrolled themselves in the Lycee Francais International de Pekin, also known as the French School.

Hadrien posted a picture of himself and Ms Zhao on a social media site, accompanied with the phrase: "Je t'aime."

Ms Zhao replied: "Haaaaaa mon amour, trooooop mignon."

Two other passengers on the flight, Laurence Wattrelos, 52, and Ambre Wattrelos, 14, are believed to be Hadrien's mother and sister.

:: The student studying in Hull

Yue Wenchao, 26, is originally from inner Mongolia but had moved to the UK to study a postgraduate course at the University of Hull Business School.

He was flying to Kuala Lumpur to visit his girlfriend.

In one of his last posts on a social media site on March 7, he wrote next to a photo of her: "See u in Beijing!"

:: The New Zealander

Paul Weeks, a mechanical engineer, left his wedding ring and watch at home when he headed to Mongolia for a work trip.

The devoted father instructed his wife, Danica, to pass them on to his two sons, three-year-old Lincoln and 10-month-old Jack, "should anything happen".

Danica, who lives in Perth, Australia, says the hardest part of the ordeal is explaining Paul's absence to their two children.

:: The Australian travel-lovers

Bob and Cathy Lawton loved to travel.

The couple, who are in their fifties and from Springfield Lakes, Australia, are parents to three daughters, as well as doting grandparents.

Cathy's last Facebook post before embarking on their latest adventure read: "Off to China."

:: The father and child

Hu Xiaoning, 34, was travelling home to Beijing with his three-year-old daughter Hu Siwan.

Proud mum Zhang Na has been an active user of China's microblogging site Weibo, regularly posting family photos.

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Rolling Stones Cancel Gig After Scott's Death

The Rolling Stones have cancelled their concert in Perth after the death of L'Wren Scott - Sir Mick Jagger's girlfriend.

The band had been due to kick off the six concert Australia and New Zealand leg of their world tour on Wednesday.

However, the concert will not be going ahead following the apparent suicide of the fashion designer at her Manhattan apartment on Monday.

It is understood that police do not suspect foul play.

"No further information is available at this time, ticket holders are asked to hold on to their tickets until a further update is available," Frontier Touring said on its Facebook page.

The Stones tweeted after landing in Australia. Pic: @RollingStones

Unconfirmed reports said Jagger, 70, had flown back to New York.

Tributes have poured in for the 49-year-old model, as it emerged her British fashion company had been losing millions of pounds.

A spokesman for Sir Mick, who had been in a relationship with Scott since 2001, said: "He is completely shocked and devastated by the news."

Accounts filed with Companies House in October show Scott's British company, LS Fashion Ltd, was running at a loss of more than £3.5m in 2012, up from more than £2.5m the previous year.

The documents also show the firm owed more than £1m, despite having assets totalling a similar amount.

The Rolling Stones had flown to Australia on Monday ahead of a performance at the Perth Arena, in the west of the country, which had been scheduled to take place on Wednesday.

Police outside Scott's apartment block in Chelsea

Three days ago they played a show at the grand ballroom of Singapore's Marina Bay Sands, rounding off the Asian dates of their 14 On Fire tour.

As news broke of her death, tributes from the world of fashion and showbusiness flooded on to Twitter.

Bianca Jagger, one of Sir Mick's former loves, tweeted: "Heartbroken to learn of the loss of the lovely and talented L'Wren Scott. My thoughts and prayers are with her family. May she rest in peace."

Fashion designer Marc Jacobs wrote: "Rest in peace, L'Wren Scott. You'll forever be missed."

Scott and Sir Mick had been together since 2001

Scott, who was originally called Luann Bambrough but changed her name to launch her modelling career in her teens, was brought up in Utah as a Mormon.

She worked in Paris for a number of years, with the likes of Thierry Mugler and Karl Lagerfeld, then went on to return to the US as a stylist. The designer was a wardrobe consultant for films such as Eyes Wide Shut and Ocean's Thirteen.

She met Sir Mick when she worked as a stylist on a photo shoot. She launched her fashion line in 2006 with fans of her work said to include Sarah Jessica Parker, Nicole Kidman and Michelle Obama, and she has also designed for Banana Republic.

Sir Mick's daughter Georgia May Jagger was also in Australia for work but has cancelled a catwalk appearance in Melbourne and flew back to New York.

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Facebook Bid To Save Dog That Mauled Boy

More than 46,000 people are supporting a Facebook campaign to spare the life of a dog that mauled a four-year-old boy.

The campaign was launched ahead of a court hearing this month to decide whether Mickey, a pitbull that bit Kevin Vicente in the face, should be euthanised.

Kevin received injuries that will require months and possibly years of reconstructive surgery, according to doctors.

He was taken to hospital with broken eye socket, cheek bone and lower jaw bone.

Since the February 20 attack in Phoenix, Arizona, the dog has become the object of the Save Mickey campaign on Facebook.

"Mickey is facing death because an unsupervised child went onto Mickey's property while Mickey was enjoying his bone. The child tried to take the bone," the campaign says on its Facebook page.

The case has stirred debate in Arizona, pitting animal rights activists against friends and family of the boy and other sympathisers.

"This is not Kevin versus Mickey," said attorney John Schill, who will argue in support of the dog at the court hearing.

"Having Mickey killed is not going to take away Kevin's pain or injuries. The only thing this is going to do is kill a poor, innocent dog."

Pitbulls are viewed by some as a dangerous breed, a reputation their fans dispute.

The court hearing is scheduled for March 25.

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Pistorius Trial: Objects Moved At Scene

A police photographer has admitted some objects were moved when photographing the aftermath of Reeva Steenkamp's killing.

Bennie Van Staden told the court he had moved a gym bag in Pistorius' bedroom but did not know who shifted around objects including flip flops, a fan and TV remote control.

Pictures of the room taken two days apart were shown, with the defence claiming they showed a "great disturbance" in the scene.

Mr Van Staden says he may have moved the mat under the gun

Mr Van Staden also said he may have moved a bathmat while photographing a handgun after pictures showed the weapon in different positions.

However, when asked by the prosecution "on the 14th, did you change the scene?" he answered "no".

The photographer also admitted someone had moved the cricket bat Pistorius apparently used to beat down the bathroom door to get at his model girlfriend.

But under prosecution questioning he later agreed it had shifted just "millimetres".

The defence claimed objects were also moved around in Pistorius' bedroom

Paralympian Oscar Pistorius is charged with the premeditated murder of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, who he shot dead at his home on Valentine's Day last year.

The 27-year-old says he thought she was an intruder and killed her by mistake.

In a twelfth day of evidence in South Africa, the defence portrayed a disorganised crime scene and suggested a second officer was also taking photos of the bathroom area at the same time as Mr Van Staden.

Defence lawyer Barry Roux showed time-stamped photos on the court monitor and said police ballistics officer Lt. Col Motha was also working in the bathroom passage.

Mr Van Staden denied he and his colleague were in the same area and said "as far as I can remember" he was alone.

However, the witness appeared surprised when a close-up of one of his photos taken outside of the bathroom appeared to show someone else inside the room.

Ballistics expert Capt. Chris Mangena also began giving evidence on Tuesday.

He described how he went to Pistorius' house and used a steel rod and laser beam to map the trajectory of the bullets fired through the bathroom door by Pistorius.

Capt. Mangena said the four bullet holes were 93.5cm, 97.3cm, 99cm and 104.3cm above the floor. Pistorius claims he was not wearing his prosthetic legs when he fired the fatal shots.

Pistorius was one of the stars of the 2012 Paralympics in London

The defendant was also measured with and without his artificial legs, the court heard.

"Shoulder level was 156cm with the prosthesis, 123cm shoulder level without the prosthesis," said Capt. Mangena.

Reeva Steenkamp's mother, June Steenkamp, needed comforting as more graphic evidence came out, with the witness describing photos of bullet entry and exit wounds to her daughter's head.

Pistorius hunched over and covered his ears.

Capt. Mangena also said he found bruising on Ms Steenkamp's back but did not know what had caused it.

Pistorius is also accused of illegally possessing ammunition, as well as two further counts related to shooting a gun in public in two separate incidents before the killing.

The trial continues.

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Putin: West 'Has Crossed A Line On Crimea'

Russian President Vladimir Putin has received a standing ovation in parliament after defending Crimea's breakaway vote to join Moscow.

To regular applause during a televised address to the nation, he pointed out that 82% of Crimea's residents turned out for Sunday's referendum, and more than 96% of them voted to join Russia.

He said the vote was "quite convincing" and was held "in full accordance with democratic procedures and international legal norms".

A Russian military personnel carrier in Simferopol, Crimea

"The (Crimean) issue has a vital importance, a historic importance for all of us," he said.

US Vice President Joe Biden, who has arrived in Poland for a two-day trip through Eastern Europe, dismissed Russia's actions as "nothing more than a land grab".

Staff at a pizza restaurant in Crimea's Simferopol watch Mr Putin's speech

America and its G7 allies - Britain, Germany, Canada, France, Japan and Italy - will gather next week at The Hague to discuss "further steps they may take" against Russia.

Mr Putin said he did not want to "carve up" Ukraine, but said the West had "crossed a line" with its behaviour over the former Soviet country.

Mr Putin said Crimea is of 'vital importance' to Russia

"They are trying to drive us into a corner," he told a joint session of parliament in Moscow.

He also accused the West of hypocrisy, pointing to Kosovo's bloody independence from Serbia, which was backed by the West and opposed by Russia.

People queue to withdraw money from a bank in Crimea

His speech came as he signed a treaty making Crimea officially part of Russia. It coincided with a mass rally, celebrating ties between Russia and Crimea, in Moscow's Red Square.

Mr Putin also thanked Ukraine's soldiers for "not staining themselves in blood in Crimea".

He said the peninsula's future was decided without a shot being fired because it was "practically impossible to fight the will of people."

Joe Biden arrives in Poland for a two-day mission in the region

Western leaders say Crimea's vote was illegal and have imposed travel bans and asset freezes on senior Moscow officials.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said Russia's actions "are in flagrant breach of international law and send a chilling message across the continent of Europe."

After the speech, Mr Putin signed a treaty making Crimea part of Russia

After Mr Putin spoke, British Foreign Secretary William Hague tweeted: "Preparatory work is now underway for a third tier of sanctions, including economic and trade measures."

Members of a Ukrainian self-defence force train near Kiev

Meanwhile, one of Ukraine's top politicians told Sky News his country is ready to fight if Russian soldiers cross the border from Crimea into mainland Ukraine.

Serhiy Taruta, governor of the eastern city of Donetsk, warned: "We're going to have a war. Our people will take up arms and they will protect our country."

Under the Russian treaty, Crimea will ditch Ukraine's currency, the Hryvnia, and adopt the Rouble next month.

It is also due to move time zones - adopting Moscow time, which is two hours ahead of Kiev - on March 30.

The peninsula is also offering Crimean soldiers the chance to join the Russian army.

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Missing Plane: China Satellites Scan For MH370

Missing Malaysia Plane: What We Know So Far

Updated: 12:39pm UK, Tuesday 18 March 2014

Mystery surrounds the fate of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, even as more information emerges about the sequence of events that led to its disappearance 11 days ago.

THE FLIGHT (Malaysian time is eight hours ahead of UK time).

What we do know:

Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, with 239 people on board, took off from Kuala Lumpur at 12.41am (local time) on Saturday, March 8 heading north to Beijing.

At 1.07am, the plane sent its last ACARS transmission which provides engine maintenance data to the ground.

The ACARS (Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System) was then deliberately switched off by someone on the jet up to half an hour after that.

The last words from the Boeing 777 were heard from the cockpit, where a person, believed to have been the co-pilot, said "All right, good night" to Malaysian air traffic control at 1.19am.

At 1.21am the jet, carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew, dropped off air traffic control screens after its transponder - which responds to civilian radar - was turned off on purpose by a person on board.

The plane, which was north of Malaysia and flying towards Thailand, was then deliberately diverted from its planned route as it is turned sharply to the west.

At 2.15am, the flight was picked up by Malaysian military radar south of Phuket island in the Strait of Malacca, hundreds of miles west of its last known location.

At 8.11am - nearly seven hours after the plane was first thought to have gone missing - a satellite high above the Indian Ocean received the last signal from the aircraft.

The final "handshake" communication put the jet somewhere in one of two flight corridors.

One is a northern arc stretching from northern Thailand to Kazakhstan, the other is a southern one from Indonesia to the vast southern Indian Ocean.

What we do not know:

Who deliberately switched off the plane's two crucial communication systems - ACARS and the transponder?

Was the co-pilot under duress when he made the last verbal contact with air traffic control?

Where exactly was the plane when it sent its last signal at 8.11am?

Did the plane crash or did it land safely? One Malaysian official said the aircraft could have been on the ground when it sent its final signal.

THE SEARCH

What we know:

Some 26 countries have been looking for flight MH370, using at least 43 ships and 58 aircraft.

The nations helping in the hunt were Malaysia, Australia, Bangladesh, Brunei, China, France, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Myanmar, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Turkmenistan, the UAE, UK, US, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.

Search teams are concentrating on the northern and southern flight corridors.

It is a massive area of 2.24 million square miles - which is about the size of Australia.

The northern search corridor includes countries with busy airspace that likely would have noticed an unidentified aircraft in their territory.

China, India and Pakistan are among the nations that say they have seen no sign of the plane.

Australia is leading the search efforts in the southern Indian Ocean.

It has sent two AP-3C Orion aircraft, one of which is searching north and west of the Cocos Islands. Two more search aircraft were being deployed.

The search area has dramatically expanded. It was previously in the South China Sea and around India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands, but these operations have now been halted or suspended.

What we do not know:

There has been speculation that the plane could have flown as low as 5,000ft using "terrain masking" to try to avoid radar.

Malaysian authorities have rejected these claims.

Of course, the main issue is that the exact location of the jet is still unknown.

THE SUSPICIONS

The investigation is focusing on the possibility the jet was deliberately diverted by the pilots or someone on board with considerable flying experience.

Police seized a flight simulator from the captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah's home on Saturday and also searched co-pilot Fariq Abdul Hamid's home.

Authorities said no suicide notes were found at either property.

Mr Zaharie, 57, was an active supporter of Malaysia's opposition, whose leader Anwar Ibrahim was convicted of sodomy - illegal in Muslim Malaysia - just hours before MH370 took off.

But those who knew Mr Zaharie rejected media reports he was deeply upset by the Anwar case.

Mr Fariq, 27, had his reputation called into question by a South African woman who accused him of inviting her to join him in the cockpit during a flight in 2011, in breach of security rules.

Malaysia Airlines said it was "shocked" by the reported security violation, but could not verify her claims.

Investigators are checking the backgrounds of all 227 passengers and 12 crew members, as well as the ground crew, to see if links to terrorists, personal problems or psychological issues could be factors.

Authorities are considering if the two pilots were involved in the disappearance, were they working together or alone, or with one or more of the passengers or crew?

Did they fly the plane under duress or of their own free will?

Did one or more of the passengers manage to break into the cockpit or use the threat of violence to gain entry and then seize the plane?

And what possible motive could there be for diverting the jet?

Officials have not commented on reports that police were investigating a passenger who had aviation experience.

Mohd Khairul Amri Selamat said on social media sites he was a flight engineer working for a Swiss-based private jet charter company.

The 29-year-old's apparent experience means he would have a knowledge of in-flight computer systems and be able to carry out repairs.

And all the time the plane is not found, the anguish for the passengers' families goes on.

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Ukraine: Crimea Crisis 'Enters Military Stage'

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk says the Crimea crisis has now entered a "military stage" after Russian troops stormed a military base in Simferopol.

Soldiers in the base, on the outskirts of the Crimean capital, say they were fired at and have barricaded themselves in, Interfax news agency quoted a Ukrainian military spokesman as saying.

"One Ukrainian serviceman has been wounded in the neck and collarbone," he said.

"Now we have barricaded ourselves on the second floor. The headquarters has been taken and the commander has been taken.

"They want us to put down our arms, but we do not intend to surrender."

Mr Yatsenyuk called the attack a "war crime".

An unidentified serviceman told Fifth Channel television: "We are being stormed.

"We have about 20 people here and about 10 to 15 others, including women."

Sky's Nick Martin, in Crimea, said there are reports that Russian forces threw stones and debris at the Ukrainian soldiers.

Observers said three or four gunshots were heard at the base.

Police are clearing bystanders from the area, Martin said.

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