Brazil Plane Crash Captured On CCTV

A security camera has captured the moment a plane crashed on landing close to a major road in Sao Paolo.

The corporate jet overshot its designated runway at Congonhas Airport, slid down an embankment, bounced on a retaining wall and crashed in a cloud of smoke.

Media reports in Brazil claimed the pilot of the Cessna 525B Citation aircraft suffered serious injuries, but two passengers were largely unhurt.

The plane apparently failed to brake after touching down - and then smashed to the ground with its twin engines still operating.

All three people on board were able to escape the wreckage as fire crews doused the aircraft.

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'Kidnapping' In Los Angeles Sparks Huge Search

Hundreds of people, including police, rescue officials and volunteers, have been searching for a girl who witnesses said was attacked and abducted in a suburb of Los Angeles.

The girl, thought to be aged between 14 and 16, was seen on Monday being dragged away by a man at a leisure centre in El Sereno, east of central LA, as she was screaming and kicking.

According to witnesses, the man had also punched the girl and removed some of her clothing.

The Los Angeles Times reported that some 250 rescue workers and volunteers have combed the area around the centre, trekking through steep terrain. They were helped by helicopters and bloodhounds.

The search teams found a pair of Puma tennis shoes and leggings, but no other signs of a kidnapping, the newspaper said.

"While we have located some physical evidence that supports the abduction, we have not found any evidence that the young lady is still in the park," Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck told a news conference.

No reports for a missing person matching the girl's description have been filed.

The search was called off on Tuesday afternoon and there are no plans to resume it in the area, but police will continue investigating, news reports said.

Authorities have released a composite sketch of the man, who is believed to be between 18 and 20.

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Chinese Ship Carrying 'Missile Parts' Stopped

By Mark Stone, Asia Correspondent

A Chinese-flagged ship - thought to be carrying missile parts from North Korea - destined for Syria has been stopped by South Korean authorities, it has emerged.

The container vessel, the Xin Yan Tai, was impounded at the South Korean port of Busan in May this year, according to diplomatic officials at the United Nations in New York.

Within the ship's cargo, authorities claim to have found 445 graphite cylinders that could be used in a missile programme.

The shipment had been declared as lead piping. The cylinders are believed to have originated in North Korea.

According to South Korean diplomats, the shipment was destined for a Syrian company called Electric Parts.

"It appears the cylinders were intended for Syria's missile programme," a diplomat told Reuters news agency. "China assured us they will investigate what looks like a violation of UN sanctions."

China has said that it will investigate the discovery, which would be a violation of UN Resolutions.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei, speaking in Beijing, said China strictly followed UN resolutions and its own non-proliferation export controls.

"China will handle behaviour that violates relevant UN Security Council resolutions and China's laws and regulations according to the law," he said.

China's willingness to investigate has been welcomed by diplomats in New York.

"It's possible that the crew of the Chinese ship had no idea what this shipment really was. It's good that China's expressed a willingness to investigate," one official said on condition of anonymity.

The link between the North Korean exporter and Syria is not clear, although diplomats suggested the Syrian firm may be a subsidiary of the North Korean one.

The US and EU has imposed sanctions on Syria but there is no UN arms embargo against Syrian President Bashar al Assad's government.

President Assad has waged a 20-month military campaign against armed opposition. Some 30,000 people are said to have died in the violence.

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Taser Death: Police Branded 'Thuggish'

Police who tackled and tasered a Brazilian student on LSD could face further action after a damning report on the man's death.

An Australian coroner said officers acted like schoolboys in "Lord Of The Flies" when they crash-tackled Roberto Laudisio Curti and shocked him with 50,000 volts.

New South Wales coroner Mary Jerram said she could not determine what caused the 21-year-old's death but added that it was "impossible to believe that he would have died but for the actions of police".

All of her recommendations were accepted by police, including that five officers involved be referred to an independent watchdog and there be an immediate review of the criteria for use of taser stun guns.

Police have accepted their officers were in the wrong

But Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione, who admitted the coroner's report was "quite scathing", said tasers would continue to be used.

"These weapons save lives," he said.

Officers pursued a shirtless Curti - who had become paranoid and was acting erratically after sharing an LSD tab with two friends - in the mistaken belief that he had committed an armed robbery on a Sydney convenience store.

In shocking him at least 14 times, tackling him to the ground and blasting him with pepper spray, the actions of a number of police officers were "reckless, careless, dangerous, and excessively forceful", Ms Jerram said.

"They were an abuse of police powers, in some instances even thuggish."

She said one probationary constable used his stun gun in a "wild and uncontrolled" manner on the Brazilian, who issued terrible screams and groans as police piled on top of him while he lay on a city street.

"A few of the other constables seem to have thrown themselves into a melee with an ungoverned pack mentality, like the schoolboys in 'Lord of the Flies'," she said, referring to the novel and film about boys who turn savage after being stranded on an island.

A coroner said the actions of the police were "thuggish"

Ms Jerram said many of the police had "no idea what the problem was, or what threat or crime was supposedly to be averted, or concern for the value of life".

Police said Curti had shown a "superhuman" strength as he struggled against them, but the coroner said evidence from cameras on the tasers showed he was quickly handcuffed after being thrown to the ground.

A family spokesman said further action should be taken against the police

She said one officer lay across his back, another knelt on him and others held his arms and legs as he was then repeatedly tasered by two officers while another sprayed pepper spray in his face.

Minutes later he was seen to be unresponsive and could not be revived.

Curti's family members welcomed the findings but said they would still be pushing for those responsible to be held accountable.

"Whilst nothing will ever bring Beto back, we continue to push for those responsible to face the consequences of their appalling behaviour on that night," family spokesman Michael Reynolds told journalists.

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McAfee 'Keeping On The Move' After Killing

John McAfee says he is moving every four hours to avoid police who want to question him about the murder of his neighbour.

The anti-virus software pioneer denies killing American Gregory Faull, 52, who was found dead in a pool of blood at his home on Sunday.

Three people who worked for Mr McAfee, 67, are under interrogation, said Belize police.

Mr McAfee, who has amassed a $100m (£63m) fortune, told CNBC television he had been "accused of something I didn't do".

He said he was keeping on the move out of fear for his safety, worried that police want to "shake him down" and extort money from him.

A police report said that Mr Faull was shot in the back of the head. It said there were no signs of a break-in, and a laptop and cell phone were missing.

"We are looking for Mr McAfee to interrogate him," police spokesman Raphael Martinez said, adding he was "not suspected of murder".

Police raided Mr McAfee's mansion on Ambergris Caye, an island off the northeastern coast of Belize, on Sunday to question him about the murder.

Earlier in the year, police searched the property for weapons and drugs, and detained him for several hours.

Mr McAfee claimed afterwards he had been arrested because he refused to make a donation to a local politician's campaign.

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China Set To Unveil Xi Jinping As New Leader

Runners And Riders For China's Top Jobs

Updated: 2:46pm UK, Wednesday 14 November 2012

By Mark Stone, China Correspondent

China's Communist Party is set to announce the names of the seven people who will rule the world's most populous nation.

So far the only certainties are that Xi Jinping will become president and Li Keqiang will be premier. The make up of the Standing Committee will have a bearing not just on the pace of reform within China itself but also on its relations with the outside world.

It is already clear that the frontrunners for the top jobs come from a more varied background than their predecessors.

:: Xi Jinping

Cautious Reformer

Training: Engineer

China's incoming president, 59-year-old Mr Xi has been quoted as saying the Communist Party must embrace political reform to stave off social and economic problems. His other main challenges will be maintaining China's economic growth, perhaps through boosting private business, and fighting corruption. The son of a Mao-era revolutionary, Mr Xi spent his teenage years living in a cave in Shaanxi province. He is married to folk singer Peng Liyuan, who some predict may be a more active First Lady than her predecessors and has already been involved in high profile health campaigns. His daughter is studying at Harvard under an assumed name.

:: Li Keqiang

Cautious Reformer

Training: Lawyer

Expected to take over from Wen Jiabao as premier, a role focused on economic matters, Mr Li, 57, counted political reformers among his friends at university before becoming a protégé of outgoing president Hu Jintao. The law graduate rose through the party ranks, acting as party chief in relatively poor provinces like Henan where he was criticised for his slow reaction to an HIV epidemic involving tainted blood. Mr Li speaks English and is married to an English literature professor. He is said to be keen on tennis.

:: Li Yuanchao

Reformer

Training: Mathematician

Mr Li, 62, is a 'princeling' - the son of an influential politician - who  studied in the US and is seen as being reform-minded, having courted foreign investment and advocated reform of the party. He has served as party secretary of Nanjing city and Jiangsu province and more recently as head of the department which appoints officials to key posts. At the time of the 1989 Tiananmen Square incident, Li was a student at Beijing University. He was scrutinised by the conservative Party elders for his sympathy towards the incident. His son is a student at Yale. Along with Xi and Li Kequang, he has long been considered the most secure candidate for the committee though conservative elders have raised objections.

:: Zhang Dejiang

Conservative

Training: Economist

Previously a vice-premier, Mr Zhang, 65, is a North Korea-trained economist and is seen as a conservative. His hopes of making the top tier of Chinese politics were boosted when he was promoted to replace the disgraced Bo Xilai as party boss of the south-western metropolis of Chongqing after Bo and his wife Gu Kailai were implicated in the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood.

:: Wang Qishan

Financial Reformer

Training: Academic

Mr Wang, 64, is a former academic who became a protégé of ex-president Jiang Zemin. Much of his work has been on economic projects, including a stint as governor of the China Construction Bank. Seen as being good in a crisis, he was appointed mayor of Beijing during the SARS crisis in 2003. He was described as 'bold' and as having a 'wicked sense of humour' by former US Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson.

::Yu Zhengsheng

Potential Reformer

Training: Military Engineer

Mr Yu, 67, is party boss in Shanghai, China's financial hub, a post he inherited from Xi Jinping in 2007. A former engineer specialising in designing missiles, his brother defected to the US in 1985, a political blow he managed to recover from. He has publicly branded the Cultural Revolution, in which six of his family members perished, a 'serious personal mistake' made by Mao Zedong. His age along with the controversy caused by his brother's defection may result in him missing out on a place on the Standing Committee. Some see the possible reduction in size of the committee from 9 to 7 as a convenient way of keeping Yu out of it.

:: Wang Yang

Reformer

Training: Scientist

The senior party figure in Guangdong, one of China's most prosperous regions, Mr Wang, 57, is seen as a reformer keen on more democracy within the party and more media freedom. His political career took off when, as mayor of Tongling, he was publicly praised by then Chinese leader and revolutionary veteran Deng Xiaoping. He is said to be a close ally of outgoing President Hu.

:: Zhang Gaoli

Financial Reformer

Training: Economist

Party chief of Tianjin province, Mr Zhang, 66, is an economist and statistician believed to lean towards pro-market policies. He was a champion of then-president Jiang Zemin's 'three represents' policy in 2000, which encouraged the private sector to play a greater role in China's economic development. He tends to be fairly low profile, his political career is seen as being fairly unremarkable and the public in Tianjin are said to consider him to be mundane.

:: Liu Yunshan

Conservative

Training: Academic

A former teacher, Mr Liu has served as director of the propaganda bureau since 2002. The 65-year-old spent his early career in Mongolia as a student, then working in for the state news agency as well as in Party propaganda. Since 2007 he has headed the Communist Party's propaganda department which is considered to be the Party's most influential bureaucracy. In that role he has taken significant criticism for his tight controls of the media in China. It's not clear whether he will continue in this role on the Standing Committee; there are suggestions that the Party may reduce the role of propaganda within the Standing Committee. If he does continue in the role, one of his challenges will be dealing with the internet, especially the increasing use of blogs and social media to express opposition to government policies.

:: Liu Yandong

Uncertain Position On Reform

Training: Engineer

If appointed, and it looks unlikely, Lui, 67, would be the first woman ever to sit on the Standing Committee. She has been the only woman on the 25-member Politburo and has been a loyal supporter of both outgoing president Hu Jintao and his predecessor Jiang Zemin. The daughter of a high-ranking politician, Ms Liu has worked in engineering and chemicals. She is seen as being liberal-minded.

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Solar Eclipse Watched By Thousands In Oz

By Jonathan Samuels, Australia Correspondent

Thousands of tourists, star gazers, scientists and amateur astronomers gathered in Australia to watch one of nature's biggest spectacles - a total solar eclipse.

Weather forecasters had predicted cloud, but right on cue the skies cleared as the eclipse began and there was a clear view of the sun, moon and Earth aligned.

As the last glimpse of the sun's rays disappeared, there were cheers from people who had gathered on beaches in the state of Queensland.

The tropical region was then plunged into darkness for two minutes. 

Star gazers on the beach set up their telescopes

"Immediately before, I was thinking, 'Are we gonna see this?' And we just had a fantastic display - it was just beautiful," said Terry Cuttle of the Astronomical Association of Queensland, who has seen a dozen total solar eclipses over the years.

"And right after it finished, the clouds came back again. It really adds to the drama of it."

"Wow, insects and birds gone quiet," one tourist, Geoff Scott, tweeted. Another, Stuart Clark, said: "This is it. Totality now. Utterly beautiful."

The beaches darken as the eclipse casts its shadow

Totality was at 6.38am local time (8.38pm GMT on Tuesday), with eclipse watchers donning special glasses to protect their eyes. One local man improvised, bringing a welder's helmet.

"Day into night, unbelievable, goosebumps, speechless, amazing," said Palm Cove eclipse watcher Simon Crerar.

The eclipse cast its 95-mile (150km) shadow in Australia's Northern Territory, crossed the northeast tip of the country and was swooping east across the South Pacific, where no islands are in its direct path.

A cruise ship off Port Douglas as passengers watch

A partial eclipse was visible from east Indonesia, the eastern half of Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and southern parts of Chile and Argentina.

Hank Harper, 61, and his two children Harrison, 10, and Reilly, 12, flew from Los Angeles just to see the phenomenon.

The family hopped on board a hot air balloon with other eager tourists and staff from Hot Air Balloon Cairns, crossed their fingers, and were rewarded with a perfect view.

"We gambled everything - drove through the rain and didn't even know if the balloon was going to go up," he said.

The skies cleared in time to give a clear view of the eclipse

Speaking by phone from the hot air balloon as they watched the sun's rays re-emerge from behind the moon while kangaroos hopped on the ground below, he added: "It was everything I could have hoped for."

On a dive boat drifting along the blue waters of the Great Barrier Reef, a cheer of relief erupted as the clouds moved away at the moment of total eclipse, followed by a hush as darkness fell across the water.

One scuba diver floated on his back in the sea, watching it unfold as he bobbed in the waves.

Onlookers protected their eyes with special glasses

Scientists were studying how animals respond to the eclipse, with underwater cameras capturing the effects of sudden darkness on the creatures of the Reef.

Some Queensland hotels have been booked up for more than three years and more than 50,000 people flooded into the region to watch the spectacle, according to local tourism authorities.

The next total eclipse will not be until March 2015, and even then will only be visible from a few remote locations in the North Atlantic.

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Ohio Family Found Dead After Custody Row

A grandmother is believed to have killed herself and her three grandchildren with her son's help after a family row about their care.

Firefighters found bodies of the grandmother, her 32-year-old son and the three children slumped in a car in Toledo, Ohio.

They had to use a sledgehammer to force open a barricaded door to the garage before making the grim discovery.

Police said the grandmother snapped when the children's mother decided to have them back at her home after three years.

It is thought the family may have died of carbon monoxide poisoning.

A truck was running with hoses leading from the exhaust into the car when the bodies were found.

A family disagreement over where the children should live apparently erupted within the last week.

Police and children services workers had been asked to intervene.

Officers said letters found at the home indicated the murder-suicide was orchestrated by the grandmother and uncle.

Authorities are awaiting post mortem results.

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Anti-Austerity Strikes: Protests Grip Europe

A wave of anti-austerity anger is sweeping across Europe with general strikes in Spain and Portugal and walkouts in Greece and Italy - grounding flights, closing schools and shutting down transport.

Millions of workers are taking part in the dozens of co-ordinated protests in a so-called European Day of Action and Solidarity against spending cuts and tax hikes.

Italian media reported that six police officers were injured, including one seriously, as clashes broke out with protesters at demonstrations in Milan and Turin.

Around 20 activists allegedly beat an officer with a stick and baseball bats in Turin, while five officers were hurt during running street battles in central Milan.

In Spain - the fourth-biggest eurozone economy - activists and unions will be staging an evening rally outside the parliament in the Madrid.

Protests got underway early in Madrid and Barcelona, with protesters clashing with police as they attempted to blockade buses and cause disruption at food markets.

Spanish police used night-sticks to quell unrest on picket lines

Riot police fired rubber bullets at hundreds of protesters in Madrid's Cibeles Square and used night-sticks to quell picket line disturbances as more than 80 people were arrested.

:: Live: Follow the protests across Europe as they happen

Airlines operating in the country including Iberia, Iberia Express, Air Nostrum, Vueling, Air Europa and easyJet cut more than 600 flights including some 250 international routes.

Hospitals in Spain will fully staff emergency and surgery rooms but non-essential care will be scaled back.

Spain, where one in four workers is unemployed, is now teetering on the brink of calling for a European bailout, with Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy trying to put off a rescue that could require even more EU-mandated budget cuts.

Italy's biggest trade union CGIL called strikes in dozens of cities - and thousands of workers took to the streets calling for more safeguards for jobs and pensions and protesting against Prime Minister Mario Monti's government.

Parts of Rome were at a standstill as protesters clashed with police

Student Mario Nobile, 23, said: "Europe is waking up today - from Rome to Madrid to Athens."

Protests are also being called in 40 towns and cities across bailed-out Portugal, including Lisbon and Porto.

Portuguese airline TAP said it was grounding more than 160 flights, most of them international.

Greece, struggling to satisfy international lenders that it has cut spending sufficiently to qualify for bailout funds and to avoid default, has called a three-hour walkout and a rally in Athens.

The European Trade Union Confederation said it was the first time that it had appealed for a day of action that includes simultaneous strike action in four countries.

"By sowing austerity, we are reaping recession, rising poverty and social anxiety," its general secretary Bernadette Segol said in an online statement.

"In some countries, people's exasperation is reaching a peak. We need urgent solutions to get the economy back on track, not stifle it with austerity. Europe's leaders are wrong not to listen to the anger of the people who are taking to the streets."

Union-led rallies are also being called across France and in Poland, while high-speed Thalys rail services between Belgium and Germany have been cancelled for the day.

Just 20% of Spain's long-distance trains and a third of its commuter trains are expected to run, while Lisbon's Metro will be shut completely with only 10% of rail services in action.

Tensions have been rising in Spain since last Friday when a woman jumped from her apartment to her death as bailiffs tried to evict her from her home in the country's second apparent suicide linked to evictions.

On Monday, the country's largest banks agreed to halt repossessions for the most vulnerable for two years.

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Hamas' Jaabari Killed In Israeli Airstrikes

Israeli airstrikes have hit a series of targets across Gaza City, after one killed the commander of Hamas' military wing.

The group said the assassination of Ahmed al Jaabari had "opened the gates of hell".

Two of its training facilities were among the targets of the bombings in Gaza City, Khan Younis and Rafah.

Palestinian officials say the attacks have killed a total of nine people so far, including a seven-year-old girl.

Israel says the airstrikes are the beginning of a broader operation, launched in response to days of heavy rocket fire from Gaza.

Israeli military spokesman Brigadier-General Yoav Mordechai told Channel 2 TV: "The days we face in the south will, in my estimation, prove protracted. The homefront must brace itself resiliently."

Mr Jaabari's car was travelling through Gaza City when it was hit

Hamas said Mr Jaabari, who ran the organisation's armed wing, the Izz el Deen al Qassam, died along with a passenger after their car was hit by an Israeli missile in Gaza City.

Israel's Shin Bet domestic intelligence service confirmed it had carried out the attack, saying it had killed Jaabri because of his "decade-long terrorist activity". He has long topped Israel's most-wanted list.

It marks a dramatic resumption of Israel's policy of assassinating Palestinian militant leaders.

Mr Jaabari becomes the most senior Hamas official to be killed since an Israeli invasion of Gaza four years ago.

Crowds of people and security personnel rushed to the scene of the strike, trying to put out the fire that had engulfed the car and left it a charred shell.

Hamas police cordoned off the area around a hospital where at least one body from the strike was taken. It was draped in a white sheet, with a burned leg poking out.

Israeli officials had said in recent days that they were considering assassinating top Hamas officials following a wave of heavy rocket fire from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, triggering Israeli airstrikes.

More follows...

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