Parklands police boss shot in night robbery

A senior policeman was shot and seriously injured in Parklands, Nairobi Friday.

Gunmen riding on motorcycles shot Parklands Police Station commander Job Njiru and a businessman on Friday night.

The businessman was also robbed of USD26,000 (Sh2.2m) and three laptops.

Gigiri OCPD Vitalis Otieno said that about 12 men riding on four motorbikes raided Rich Court in Parklands at around 8pm and held the watchman hostage and lay in wait for the owner of the residence to arrive.

The man, an Asian, was robbed before being shot on the leg.

Chief Inspector Njiru was on night patrol with another officer using an unmarked vehicle on Ojijo Road, about 200 metres from the station.

They met one group of the attackers, three of them on a motorcycle, riding towards the city centre.

The officers challenged them to stop but one of them shot at the officers.

The OCS was shot on the left arm and on the hip. The gunman also fired other shots shattering the front and rear windscreens of the officers' car.

A major manhunt has been launched in the city and its environs for the attackers.

Police say gunmen prefer motorbikes since they can escape easily from scenes of crime.

Nail Bomb' Near Mosque Probed By Terror Cops

 
 Nail Bomb' Near Mosque

Counter-terrorism officers are investigating a suspected nail bomb attack outside a mosque in the West Midlands, Sky sources say.

Police were called to Binfield Street in Tipton around 1pm after residents reported hearing a loud bang and seeing smoke.
Officers said the explosion is being treated as a terrorist incident and police found nails and other debris over a fairly wide area.
No-one was injured but a cordon was set up in part of the town, people were evacuated and several streets were sealed off.
The blast was believed to have happened on a disused railway line behind the Kanz Ul Iman Masjid mosque in Binfield Street.
Army and bomb disposal teams including members of the counter-terrorism unit have been at the scene, and police said there was minor damage to the window of one house.
Police spokesman Gareth Cann said whoever was behind the blast "looked to cause serious harm".
He said the army "has been clearing the area to make sure it is safe".
Tipton Green councillor Ian Jones said residents in the area had described hearing a "loud thud", while councillor Syeda Amina Khatun said she was not aware of any previous attacks on the mosque.
"The explosion has gone off on the disused railway line behind the mosque," she said.
"The whole estate has been blocked off. People are surprised that something like this has happened."
In a joint statement, the board of trustees and management committee of the mosque said: "We express our deep shock and utter dismay regarding the incident that has occurred this afternoon.
"We jointly on behalf of the local community condemn this senseless and mindless act. It's a blessing from God that thankfully no-one was injured in the blast.
"We call for calm and strongly urge the community not to let this incident divide us and cause disharmony."
Among the road closures are parts of Sedgley Road East, Dudley Port, Jays Avenue, Tudor Court, Park Lane East, Crompton Road and Victoria Road.
Anyone who saw anything suspicious in the area is urged to call police on 101 or the independent charity Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.
The blast came on the day murdered soldier Lee Rigby was remembered at a private funeral service in Bury, Greater Manchester.
Meanwhile, West Midlands Police are still investigating an explosion which occurred near a mosque in the Caldmore area of Walsall on June 21.
The remains of a home-made explosive device were found on June 22 in an alleyway adjoining the Aisha Mosque and Islamic Centre in Rutter Street, Caldmore.
The earlier incident, in which no-one was injured, forced the overnight evacuation of around 150 people from their homes in the surrounding area.

Dreamliner Plane Catches Fire

 

A fire on a parked Ethiopian Airlines Dreamliner plane has forced both runways at Heathrow Airport to close.

No injuries were reported and nobody was on board the aircraft, which was stationed at a remote parking stand.
Ethiopian Airlines said it had been there for more than eight hours before smoke was detected, adding that "the cause of the incident is under investigation by all concerned."
A spokesperson for Heathrow said the plane suffered an internal fire and that the airport's emergency services attended the scene.
All arrivals and departures were temporarily suspended due to the fire which was reported shortly after 4.30pm, but the airport has now fully re-opened.
Passengers at Gatwick Airport experienced minor delays on departing flights as it assisted with diversions.
Separately, another Dreamliner operated by the holiday company Thomson has been forced to turn back mid-flight after technical problems.
A statement from the company said: "Thomson Airways can confirm that flight TOM126 travelling from Manchester to Sanford, Florida experienced a technical issue and the aircraft returned to Manchester Airport, as a precautionary measure.
"Passengers have disembarked and our dedicated team of engineers are now inspecting the aircraft.  Our customers will be moved to an alternative aircraft to ensure they get away on their holiday as soon as possible."
Footage from the Skycopter over Heathrow showed fire retardant foam on the runway around the plane with at least nine fire engines in attendance.
The pictures also appeared to show damage to the top of the Dreamliner's fuselage at the rear of the plane.
A Boeing spokesman said: "We're aware of the event. We have Boeing personnel on the ground at Heathrow and are working to fully understand and address this."
Boeing temporarily withdrew the Dreamliner from service earlier this year for modifications after concerns that batteries on board could cause fires.
Various production problems delayed the aircraft from entering passenger service for three years, operating its first commercial flight in October 2011 for Japanese carrier All Nippon Airways.
Speaking from Heathrow, Sky's Stephen Douglas said: "There's nothing at the moment to say that the battery was behind this fire.
But as far as Boeing are concerned, it's not very good for the brand of the Dreamliner and not very good for other companies like Virgin Atlantic who are about to take delivery of these Dreamliners because if it is the battery then they could be grounded again."
The European Aviation Safety Agency said it was too early to say whether that would happen, adding that "Boeing staff will investigate and we will follow closely to see what to decide."
The company's shares fell dramatically on the New York Stock Exchange following the news from Heathrow.
The US National Transportation Safety Board has said it is sending a representative to London to assist in the investigation.

Man swims 5 hours to save his family Deborah Gates,

Man swims for five hours through jellyfish-infested waters after his boat capsizes leaving four family members - including his 70-year-old father, and three-year-old nephew - stranded

• Fishing party consisted of Ms Riggs and four other family members
• The boat took on too much water during a storm and toppled over
• Firefighters and the U.S. Coast Guard helped rescue stranded boatersJohn Franklin Riggs left family members clinging to a capsized boat in a sea of stinging jellyfish.
  After swimming for five hours and climbed over rocks at the shoreline in the pitch black to reach help for his family who was still out at sea.
  Off the coast, his sister tried to keep her family alive as they clung to their boat that had capsized.
  Contessa Riggs, 43, of Washington D.C. was fishing off the coast of Deal Island, Maryland when her brother, John Franklin Riggs, her 70-year old father, 9-year-old niece and 3-year-old son, were caught up in a thunder storm.
  Their boat was only 16 feet long and Riggs and her brother immediately knew they were in trouble.
  
  

  Hero: 46-year-old John Riggs, of Salisbury, swam five hours against strong waves in the middle of a storm for help
  
  'It was sundown. The water suddenly became very choppy and a wave crashed into the boat, filling the boat with water,' Ms Riggs told ABC News.
  'John started to bucket the water out and I grabbed life jackets and made sure everybody had one, but then there was another wave. In a second our boat was upside down in the water,' Ms. Riggs said.
  
   

  More...

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  When their boat capsized, Riggs' brother and father swam under to get lifejackets.
  'My father wears a pacemaker, and we had very young children with us, so we made sure everybody stayed near the boat,' said Ms. Riggs.
  
  

  Rescued: Emily Horn, 9, was among those saved from a capsized boat
  
  'I had my son between me and the siding. John did the same thing for my niece,' Riggs continued. 'The children took turns sitting on the boat.'
  The family clung to the boat for an hour and a half in cold water infested by jellyfish and sea nettles.
  Contessa Riggs said the boat capsized about two miles from shore, and drifted about five miles in a parallel direction when the tide turned.
  John Riggs' father, whose name also is John Riggs, is a 70-year-old retired commercial waterman from Salisbury, Maryland, who organized the fishing trip.
  Also aboard the vessel were the waterman's daughter, Contessa Riggs, and her 3-year-old son, Conrad Drake, both of Washington; and his granddaughter, 9-year-old Emily Horn, a fourth-grader visiting from San Francisco.
  
  

  Man on a mission: John Riggs swam for five and a half hours to shore to raise the alarm and get help
  
  'There was only a little bit of light left, and the storm was still in the distance. We could see the lightening hit the water and we knew there would not be another boat that late in the evening,' Riggs explained.
  'It was so cold. My son was shivering and shivering and shivering against me. He kept repeating 'I don't like this,' 'I don't like this,' 'This is no fun',' she remembered.
  Riggs knew that nobody was going to start looking for them until the next day, so she and John decided they had to act.
  'Our family wasn't expecting us back until tomorrow, and we didn't think we'd be able to make it that long,' Riggs said.
  'John and I looked at each other and he said, 'Should I try it?' I knew he was talking about swimming to shore. So I told him to try it. But we had no idea if he would make it to shore,' she added.
  The sun had set by the time Rigg's brother left his father, niece, nephew, and sister on the capsized boat. He swam for almost five hours, reaching shore around 1 a.m.
  
  

  Near tragedy: The boat overturned two miles from short. After calling 911, John Riggs went on a rescue boat with volunteer firefighters to find his family in the pitch black
  
  'John made it to the beach but he was so tired, he could not walk. So he crawled to the nearest house he saw. Luckily they had dogs, which woke the family up. And even luckier for us, that family had the personal number for the fire chief,' Riggs said.
  Meanwhile, Ms. Riggs and her family had been clinging to their rocking boat for almost eight hours.
  'It was absolutely horrible,' Riggs recalled. 'Our legs were getting stung over and over again by the jellyfish. We had cuts and bruises. My son was crying. Waves kept crashing over our heads.'
  Riggs started to worry about her father.
  'He had been in the water the longest. And I realized that if anything happened to him, I'd have to choose between helping him and leaving the kids and staying with the kids. It was such a hard choice to make peace with.'
  But Ms. Riggs found ways to keep everybody's spirits up.
  'I kept saying, 'They're coming for us, we're going to get rescued, don't worry,'' she said. 'We talked about stupid things like eating ice cream and watching movies.'
  
  

  Back on dry land: On the boat were Riggs¿ 70-year-old father, a 9-year-old niece, Riggs¿ sister, Contessa Riggs, and her 3-year-old son
  
  It was as they were talking that she noticed lights in the horizon.
  'Suddenly we could see the boats and a helicopter and we just started screaming and waving.'
  'There were a few storms in the area, and the boat turned upside down,' said Sgt. Brian Albert at the Maryland Natural Resources Police. 'Mr. Riggs swam to shore. These people are very lucky. No one was injured.'
  A Maryland State Police helicopter hovered above the 16-foot Carolina Skiff as firefighters from Deal Island, Mount Vernon and Fairmount in Somerset County and Westside in Wicomico County pulled alongside. The U.S. Coast Guard also was on the scene, Mr Albert said.
  Volunteer firefighters pulled Riggs and her family onto a boat but it was only until they were taken to a second boat that she was reunited with her brother.
  'It was the most amazing feeling. I ran up to John and said you are my hero.'
  The family is safely back on shore, with no significant injuries.
  Perhaps someone would have located the fishing party, eventually, even if Riggs had not swam for help.
  What is certain is that wearing life jackets saved their lives, Mr Albert said.
  'It is lucky they put life jackets on,' he said. 'The life jackets are what saved their lives.'
  Ms. Riggs' 9-year-old niece, Emily, called her uncle a 'real hero.'
  'Everybody is fine. But really, there were some very beautiful moments in the water. We were terrified, but the sky had never been clearer and we could see all the stars in the Milky Way. There was no light pollution,' Ms Riggs said.
  'The water was glowing blue with the fluorescent jelly fish.'
  'I'm so grateful to the first responders that came and helped us out. I was so happy to see them and I love all of them. And I am so proud of my family, especially my brother. We survived together.'
  Friends and family are taking care of the survivors.
  'Everybody has just been great,' Ms Riggs said.
  'My friends have been cooking for us,' she said, 'They said I shouldn't have to worry about dinner after all of this. And I think they're right.'
  
•  

Nairobi Court Acquits Tycoon Ezra In False Pretence Case

gandan tycoon Micheal Ezra Muloowa has been cleared by a Nairobi court in a case where he was accused of obtaining goods falsely and issuing a bouncing cheque for KSh1.6 million.

Micheal Ezra

Micheal Ezra was acquitted on a charge of allegedly obtaining 650 grammes of Chinese herbal medicine valued at Sh1.6 million.
This was the second time Mr Ezra was being acquitted on charges of issuing bouncing cheques.
Makadara Senior Principal Magistrate Timothy Okelo, on Thursday said that the prosecution had failed to prove through three witnesses it presented that the businessman had committed the two offences.
“The prosecution case is full of gaps and I therefore find that the prosecution has failed to prove a case beyond reasonable doubt,” the magistrate said.
He subsequently acquitted Ezra on the two counts of charges.
The magistrate said that the complainant in the case, Dr Pan Liaxue, Chinese dealing in herbal Chinese medicine had told the court that she could not remember the date she gave the 650 grammes of medicine to the businessman in Westlands Nairobi.
The complainant had also not produced any evidence of importation of the herbal medicine.
“This court is left asking whether there was any transaction at all involving the herbal medicine or whether there was any treatment offered to the accused,” said the magistrate.
He added that there was no evidence showing that there were any services being paid for by the businessman.
Furthermore, the complainant did not mention the amount of Sh1.6 million stated in the charge sheet while testifying.
On the allegation of the businessman issuing a bouncing cheque to the Chinese Doctor, the magistrate said the document examiner had failed to conduct conclusive investigations to confirm that the signature and the handwriting in the document were Ezra’s.
He questioned why the document examiner did not take a specimen of Ezra’s handwriting and compare it to the writings on the cheque.
The businessman has so far won two cases out of the three which had been instituted against him all based on issuance of bouncing cheques.
Two months ago, the prosecution substituted charges in the case which is still pending and applied to have the businessman remanded in custody but the magistrate declined and ordered that Mr Mulyoowa be released on the initial bail terms of KSh3million.
Mr Ezra was first arraigned in court in February 2011 accused of issuing bad cheques.
Agencies

Egypt Army To Imprison Muslim Brotherhood Members

The Egyptian Army Chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi plans to imprison thousands of Muslim Brotherhood members in detention centers that are already under construction.

Ex-Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi was ousted last week

According to an article published by Debka, Middle East sources believe that al-Sisi knows overthrowing Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi was the first step in a process that includes rewriting of the constitution, setting up an interim administration and holding presidential and parliamentarian elections over the next six months.
Egypt plunged into a fresh wave of unrest after al-Sisi ousted Morsi and dissolved the country’s constitution on July 3.
One day later, the chief justice of Egypt’s Supreme Constitutional Court, Adly Mansour, was sworn in as interim president of the country. The Egyptian military also said Morsi was being held “preventively.”
The article says al-Sisi has planned two moves in order to prevent chaos from engulfing the country.
The first measure includes mass arrest of thousands of the local members of Muslim Brotherhood across the country and incarcerating them in prisons that are already in preparation.
According to the article, al-Sisi is well aware that such a move, similar to the actions of Gamal Abdel Nasser in the fifties and Anwar Sadat in the seventies would face the US opposition, but he would enjoy the support of Persian Gulf states led by Saudi Arabia.
The second measure, the article noted, is general crackdown on an estimated 10,000 armed Salafists, some of them working for al-Qaeda, who dwell Sinai Peninsula.
Citing military sources, the article stated that as the former military intelligence chief, al-Sisi is familiar with the peninsula.

Ugandan Woman Fights Molesters In India

A 30-year-old Ugandan woman was allegedly molested by four men in a moving vehicle in Vasant Kunj, (an affluent residential colony located in South West Delhi district of Delhi, India) in the early hours of Saturday.

However, the yet to be identified woman put up stiff resistance and held on to one of the culprits even after being dumped from the vehicle. She handed him over to the police, leading to the arrest of the other three accused as well.

According to the police, the victim had gone to a nightclub in Gurgaon, where she met the four accused.

“They offered to drop her home while she was looking for a cab. She accepted the offer,” said a police officer.

Along the way, two men sitting with the victim started molesting her, said the officer. When she resisted, she was beaten up.

The victim continued to resist them and even tried to raise an alarm. Deterred by her attempts, the driver stopped the car near Mahipalpur and the men tried to dump her.

“But the victim managed to catch hold of one of the accused even as the remaining three sped away. She then called up the Police Control Room. When the police arrived, she handed over the man she had caught to the police.

She was then taken to a nearby hospital for treatment as she had sustained bruises during the attack,” said the officer.

Based on the information of the arrested accused, the three others, all in their early 20s, were arrested. All accused have been booked under Section 354 (molestation) of the Indian Penal Code.

In another incident on Thursday night, a woman was molested while her husband’s throat was slit, allegedly by three men, near Talkatora Stadium in the Chanakyapuri Police Station area.

The accused had passed some remarks against the woman and when her husband intervened, he was brutally assaulted by the trio.

In a bid to save her husband from the attack, she stepped in. However, she was assaulted and molested by them.

In the melee, one of the attackers slit the man’s throat. Some passersby noticed the couple being attacked and nabbed one of the accused. They also rushed the couple to the nearby Ram Manohar Lohia hospital.

A case has been booked under Sections 307 (attempt to murder) 341 (wrongful restraint) and 509 (outraging modesty of a woman) of the IPC. Two of the three accused have been arrested, said the police.