A round-up of today's other world new in brief ..
A plumber managed to find a woman’s $70,000 (€53,000) diamond ring after she accidentally flushed it down a restaurant toilet in Phoenix, Arizona. Mike Roberts used a fibre-optic camera to find the ring lodged 300ft down a sewer pipe and dug it out using drills. The woman and her husband paid the $5,000 bill for the plumbing and excavating. – (AP)
River landing pilot returns home a hero
Hundreds of people cheered wildly to honour the pilot who safely landed a jet in New York's Hudson River. Capt Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger was given a hero's welcome in the San Francisco suburb of Danville, California, where he lives.
Mr Sullenberger said he was grateful for the outpouring of support since the January 15th emergency landing, but he and his crew were only doing their jobs.
“Circumstance determined that it was this experienced crew that was scheduled to fly that particular flight on that particular day,” he told the crowd. All 155 people on board Flight 1549 survived the emergency. – (AP)
Forty drown in ferry tragedy
HANOI – At least 40 people drowned when a ferry sank in central Vietnam yesterday, police said.
Most of the dead were women and children on their way to a market at the start of the week-long Lunar New Year festival. – (Reuters)
Avalanche kills 10 climbers
ISTANBUL – An avalanche that swept down a mountain killed 10 climbers in northeast Turkey yesterday, but seven of their companions survived the crush, a government minister said. Rescue teams retrieved survivors and bodies from the 17-person group in Gumushane province, near Turkeys Black Sea coast. – (Reuters)
Troops poised to take Tamil town
COLOMBO – Sri Lankan soldiers battled their way into the last major town held by Tamil Tiger separatists amid heavy fighting yesterday and would soon take control of it, the military said.
Mullaittivu port is one of the final targets of a military onslaught to end a 25-year war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. – (Reuters)
Inquiry into cash for peers claim
LONDON – Labour’s leader in the House of Lords said yesterday she would investigate allegations that four peers offered to help undercover reporters posing as lobbyists obtain amendments to legislation in return for cash.
The Sunday Times named four Labour peers who it claimed offered to help its reporters for a fee. – (PA)
Bolivians vote on new constitution
LA PAZ – Bolivians voted on a new constitution yesterday that would give the indigenous majority more political leverage and allow socialist President Evo Morales to seek re-election. Morales is taking a cue from leftists Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Rafael Correa of Ecuador. – (Reuters)
Berlusconi rape remark criticised
ROME – Italian leader Silvio Berlusconi promised to mobilise 30,000 soldiers to combat crime after a spate of rapes in Rome but was criticised by opposition politicians for saying rapes will still occur unless there are “as many soldiers as pretty girls”. – (Reuters)