Two dead after shooting at US hotel

A US man shot a woman then took his own life at a hotel-casino on the Las Vegas Strip, sending frightened patrons fleeing.

The shootings happened at about 8.30pm on Friday near the high-rise Excalibur hotel's front entrance, Las Vegas Metro Police Lieutenant Ray Steiber said.

The woman, a vendor at Excalibur's concierge desk, was fatally wounded and was pronounced dead later at a local hospital.

The man died at the scene after turning the gun on himself, Steiber said.

The shooting happened as the hotel's registration desk was busy with the National Finals Rodeo and other events in town.

Steiber said patrons scattered at the first sound of gunfire, and no-one else was wounded.

Neither the gunman nor the victim was identified, and Steiber said the relationship between the two wasn't immediately clear.

Witnesses on the casino floor said they saw poker players abruptly leaving their tables and many distraught people running for the exits after gunshots rang out, the Las Vegas Sun reported.

Trisha Banks, 14, and her sister Danielle Banks, 17, were at the hotel for a holiday cheerleading party with 80 other cheerleaders when they heard four shots.

They hid under some tables until the situation was cleared about 10 minutes later.

"It's scary after what happened this morning (in Newtown, Connecticut) and then this," Trisha Banks told the Sun.

"How can people do this?"

MGM Resorts International owns the Excalibur and several other hotels on the Las Vegas Strip.

Company spokesman Gordon Absher said the hotel and casino remained open to guests and patrons. However, the area where the shooting took place was cordoned off by police while they investigated the double shooting.

The Excalibur has approximately 4000 rooms and is located at the intersection of Tropicana Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard.

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Man in coma after scrap yard fire

A man is in coma with severe burns after an explosion caused a fire at a Sydney metal yard. Source: AAP

A MAN has been burned across 20 per cent of his body in a fire at a scrap metal yard in southwest Sydney.

The 26-year-old was operating a machine to move scrap metal at the yard on Claremont Avenue in Greenacre on Friday evening when an explosion occurred.

A fire broke out and the man managed to free himself from the console of the excavator, but not before he suffered serious burns. explosion the fire broke out.

A NSW Fire and Rescue spokesman on Friday night said six crews were called out to fight the fire.

"It's scrap metal so it has oil, plastics, paint ... but then once you heat up aluminium then it will burn as well," he told AAP.

The man remains in a stable condition in an induced coma at Royal North Shore Hospital with burns to 20 per cent of his body.

The fire was contained and extinguished by early Saturday morning, police said.

Investigators from Bankstown Local Area Command and WorkCover will look into the cause of the fire.

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Three boats intercepted in past 24 hours

Three boats carrying more than 200 people have been intercepted off the Australian coast. Source: AAP

THREE boats carrying a total of 214 people have been intercepted off Australia's north-east coast since Friday.

The boats were carrying between 54 and 101 people each.

HMAS Maryborough, operating under the Australian Maritime Safety Authority's Rescue Coordination Centre (RCC), helped a vessel that sought assistance north-east of Christmas Island early on Saturday.

The vessel had earlier been detected by a Customs and Border Protection surveillance aircraft.

Initial indications suggest 54 passengers were on board.

On Friday a boat carrying 101 people was intercepted north of Christmas Island by HMAS Pirie, operating under the Border Protection Command, after being detected by an RAAF maritime patrol aircraft.

Border Protection Command said 97 passengers and four crew were on board.

A third boat carrying 56 passengers and three crew was intercepted by HMAS Bathurst northeast of the Ashmore Islands, also on Friday.

Passengers from all three boats will be transferred to Christmas Island for the usual security, health and identity checks.

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Carr offers Sri Lanka $34m education aid

FOREIGN Minister Bob Carr has announced millions of dollars in aid to boost educational opportunities in Sri Lanka, hoping it will help stem the flow of illegal immigrants from the island.

Carr told reporters in Colombo that $A34.35 million will be spent over four years to help some four million primary and secondary school children in Sri Lanka and contribute to a "stable society with economic growth".

"We've got an interest in a stable Sri Lanka... with economic growth," he said, adding that improving educational opportunities in Sri Lanka was in Australia's interest in order to tackle problems of people smuggling and human trafficking.

Carr is on a three-day visit for talks with Sri Lankan leaders on measures to deal with the increased flow of boatpeople attempting to seek asylum in Australia.

Sri Lanka's defence ministry announced on Friday that nearly 3000 of the country's nationals had been stopped from journeying by boat to Australia during the current year.

Australia has sent more than 500 Sri Lankans back to Colombo since August.

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Gunmen kill Nigeria politician: police

Gunmen on a motorcycle have shot dead a prominent lawmaker in northern Nigeria, police say. Source: AAP

GUNMEN on a motorcycle have shot dead a prominent lawmaker in northern Nigeria, police say, in the latest in a series of such attacks in a region hit hard by a radical Islamist group.

It was not clear who carried out the shooting in Kano, Nigeria's second city, on Friday, but Boko Haram Islamists have repeatedly targeted politicians in the north as part of an insurgency that has killed hundreds since 2009.

"I can confirm that Danladi Isa Kademi, a lawmaker at the Kano state house of assembly was shot dead by two gunmen around 6pm (local time) today," said Kano state police spokesman Magaji Majia.

"The gunmen came on a motorcycle and fired several shots into the lawmaker," who was serving as the minority leader in the state assembly.

Kademi was shot outside a guesthouse he owned, Majia said.

Another state politician was killed in similar circumstances last month in Kano, weeks after a prominent retired general, Mohammed Shuwa, was shot dead at his home in the northeastern city of Maiduguri.

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Two dead after shooting at US hotel

A US man shot a woman then took his own life at a hotel-casino on the Las Vegas Strip, sending frightened patrons fleeing.

The shootings happened at about 8.30pm on Friday near the high-rise Excalibur hotel's front entrance, Las Vegas Metro Police Lieutenant Ray Steiber said.

The woman, a vendor at Excalibur's concierge desk, was fatally wounded and was pronounced dead later at a local hospital.

The man died at the scene after turning the gun on himself, Steiber said.

The shooting happened as the hotel's registration desk was busy with the National Finals Rodeo and other events in town.

Steiber said patrons scattered at the first sound of gunfire, and no-one else was wounded.

Neither the gunman nor the victim was identified, and Steiber said the relationship between the two wasn't immediately clear.

Witnesses on the casino floor said they saw poker players abruptly leaving their tables and many distraught people running for the exits after gunshots rang out, the Las Vegas Sun reported.

Trisha Banks, 14, and her sister Danielle Banks, 17, were at the hotel for a holiday cheerleading party with 80 other cheerleaders when they heard four shots.

They hid under some tables until the situation was cleared about 10 minutes later.

"It's scary after what happened this morning (in Newtown, Connecticut) and then this," Trisha Banks told the Sun.

"How can people do this?"

MGM Resorts International owns the Excalibur and several other hotels on the Las Vegas Strip.

Company spokesman Gordon Absher said the hotel and casino remained open to guests and patrons. However, the area where the shooting took place was cordoned off by police while they investigated the double shooting.

The Excalibur has approximately 4000 rooms and is located at the intersection of Tropicana Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard.

17.52 | 0 komentar | Read More

Man in coma after scrap yard fire

A man is in coma with severe burns after an explosion caused a fire at a Sydney metal yard. Source: AAP

A MAN has been burned across 20 per cent of his body in a fire at a scrap metal yard in southwest Sydney.

The 26-year-old was operating a machine to move scrap metal at the yard on Claremont Avenue in Greenacre on Friday evening when an explosion occurred.

A fire broke out and the man managed to free himself from the console of the excavator, but not before he suffered serious burns. explosion the fire broke out.

A NSW Fire and Rescue spokesman on Friday night said six crews were called out to fight the fire.

"It's scrap metal so it has oil, plastics, paint ... but then once you heat up aluminium then it will burn as well," he told AAP.

The man remains in a stable condition in an induced coma at Royal North Shore Hospital with burns to 20 per cent of his body.

The fire was contained and extinguished by early Saturday morning, police said.

Investigators from Bankstown Local Area Command and WorkCover will look into the cause of the fire.

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Three boats intercepted in past 24 hours

Three boats carrying more than 200 people have been intercepted off the Australian coast. Source: AAP

THREE boats carrying a total of 214 people have been intercepted off Australia's north-east coast since Friday.

The boats were carrying between 54 and 101 people each.

HMAS Maryborough, operating under the Australian Maritime Safety Authority's Rescue Coordination Centre (RCC), helped a vessel that sought assistance north-east of Christmas Island early on Saturday.

The vessel had earlier been detected by a Customs and Border Protection surveillance aircraft.

Initial indications suggest 54 passengers were on board.

On Friday a boat carrying 101 people was intercepted north of Christmas Island by HMAS Pirie, operating under the Border Protection Command, after being detected by an RAAF maritime patrol aircraft.

Border Protection Command said 97 passengers and four crew were on board.

A third boat carrying 56 passengers and three crew was intercepted by HMAS Bathurst northeast of the Ashmore Islands, also on Friday.

Passengers from all three boats will be transferred to Christmas Island for the usual security, health and identity checks.

17.52 | 0 komentar | Read More

Carr offers Sri Lanka $34m education aid

FOREIGN Minister Bob Carr has announced millions of dollars in aid to boost educational opportunities in Sri Lanka, hoping it will help stem the flow of illegal immigrants from the island.

Carr told reporters in Colombo that $A34.35 million will be spent over four years to help some four million primary and secondary school children in Sri Lanka and contribute to a "stable society with economic growth".

"We've got an interest in a stable Sri Lanka... with economic growth," he said, adding that improving educational opportunities in Sri Lanka was in Australia's interest in order to tackle problems of people smuggling and human trafficking.

Carr is on a three-day visit for talks with Sri Lankan leaders on measures to deal with the increased flow of boatpeople attempting to seek asylum in Australia.

Sri Lanka's defence ministry announced on Friday that nearly 3000 of the country's nationals had been stopped from journeying by boat to Australia during the current year.

Australia has sent more than 500 Sri Lankans back to Colombo since August.

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Gunmen kill Nigeria politician: police

Gunmen on a motorcycle have shot dead a prominent lawmaker in northern Nigeria, police say. Source: AAP

GUNMEN on a motorcycle have shot dead a prominent lawmaker in northern Nigeria, police say, in the latest in a series of such attacks in a region hit hard by a radical Islamist group.

It was not clear who carried out the shooting in Kano, Nigeria's second city, on Friday, but Boko Haram Islamists have repeatedly targeted politicians in the north as part of an insurgency that has killed hundreds since 2009.

"I can confirm that Danladi Isa Kademi, a lawmaker at the Kano state house of assembly was shot dead by two gunmen around 6pm (local time) today," said Kano state police spokesman Magaji Majia.

"The gunmen came on a motorcycle and fired several shots into the lawmaker," who was serving as the minority leader in the state assembly.

Kademi was shot outside a guesthouse he owned, Majia said.

Another state politician was killed in similar circumstances last month in Kano, weeks after a prominent retired general, Mohammed Shuwa, was shot dead at his home in the northeastern city of Maiduguri.

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