Cops Probe Death of Boy Killed By Toy Cannon

Utah cops are trying to determine what triggered a  tiny replica cannon to fire something into the face of a 14-year-old boy, killing him. 

"We're waiting for the autopsy," said Joyce Hansen, administrative assistant to the chief of police in Tremonton, Utah. She said it might take weeks, depending on the workload of the state medical examiner's office in Salt Lake City.

Robby Ostberg died Monday when the replicate 18th century cannon he was holding fired accidentally, a police press release said.

According to the release, Ostberg had been playing video games with his 16-year-old brother when the cannon erupted.  He was dead when police arrived, the release said.

The release said the cannon was a .50-caliber weapon designed to be fired with black powder. Police did not know what type of propellant may have been in the cannon Monday or if there had been a projectile in it, police said.

Robby Ostberg often filled the cannon with black powder and fired tinfoil balls out of it, Cameron Kunsman, who called Robby his best friend, told the Deseret News.

Trever Steinlicht, a neighbor, said cannons like the Ostbergs' could send a projectile through a wall or kill "small game," ABC4 said. They are known to go off accidentally, he said.  "All it takes is for something to slip and the hammer to drop on it and it will go boom," Steinlicht said.

There is legal confusion over whether the miniature cannons are decorations, toys or firearms,  according to a blog post by legal scholar Jonathan Turley.

"Utah laws are silent on replica firearms and antique firearms," he notes. If the cannon that killed Ostberg was designed to fire a .50-caliber round, Turley asks, should it be treated as a firearm and should it come with warnings and a safety lock, he asks.

Ostberg's father, Allen Ostberg, was home at the time of the accident, the release said. A relative told ABC4 Salt Lake City that Ostberg was an Army veteran who had guns in the home, but he locked them and taught his sons gun safety.

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French journalist killed in Syria

11 January 2012 Last updated at 16:47 ET

Gilles Jacquier covered the conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kosovo

French TV reporter Gilles Jacquier has been killed in the Syrian city of Homs, the first Western journalist to die in the country's current unrest.

He was on a government-authorised trip to the city, the France 2 channel said.

Syrian TV said Jacquier was among eight killed. A colleague said that minutes earlier they had interviewed some people at a pro-government gathering.

Opposition groups say 24 people died around the country on Wednesday, including 10 in Homs.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe has called for full clarification of what happened.

"We vigorously condemn this odious act," he said in a statement.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said an investigation was needed.

"The Syrian authorities have a responsibility to guarantee the safety of journalists in their country," she said.

More than 5,000 people have been killed since the unrest began last March, the UN says. The government says 2,000 security personnel have died combating "armed gangs and terrorists".

A journalist on the same trip described hearing an explosion

It is impossible to verify the claims as access for foreign journalists has been severely restricted.

Observers arrived in Syria in December to monitor an Arab League peace plan, but the killing has continued.

The league said on Wednesday it was delaying sending more monitors after an attack on an observer team earlier in the week, Reuters news agency reported.

Eleven observers were slightly injured in the attack, in the port city of Latakia.

Meanwhile at a joint news conference US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani of Qatar, a key member of the Arab League, expressed doubts about the mission.

"I could not see up until now a successful mission, frankly speaking," Mr al-Thani said.

'Complete chaos'

Jacquier, 43, was part of a group of 15 foreign journalists being shown around a part of Homs and speaking to locals.

One of his colleagues said they were escorted by soldiers and police, and were in a part of the flashpoint city where street life was relatively normal with some shops open.

A grenade fell close to them minutes after they had spoken to some young people and they fled into a nearby building, he told the BBC. More grenades hit the building causing casualties.

"There was smoke everywhere, people started screaming and yelling. There was complete chaos," he said.

Jacquier was behind him when he went into the building, but he saw him lying dead a few minutes later, he added.

At least one other European journalist was wounded, reports say. Dutch officials and media said a Dutch journalist was hurt.

The area of the attack is inhabited by members of the Alawite sect and therefore considered to be mainly pro-government. No opposition supporters have given an account of the incident.

Jacquier is described as a veteran award-winning journalist who covered conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kosovo, and between Israel and the Palestinians.

His mission in Syria was to make a documentary film on the protests.

The UN Security Council has been told that an estimated 400 people had been killed in Syria since the Arab League monitors arrived in late December - an average of almost 40 deaths a day.

Opposition group the Local Co-ordination Committees said 24 people died in violence on Wednesday - 10 in Homs, nine in Hama, two each in Aleppo and Idlib and one in Latakia.

The security situation led the US state department to announce it had further reduced numbers of staff at its embassy in Damascus, after ordering family members to leave in October.

Meanwhile, President Bashar al-Assad made a surprise appearance at an open air rally by thousands of his supporters in Damascus.

Mr Assad said he wanted to show his love for the Syrian people.

His wife, Asmaa, and his children were also briefly shown in the live broadcast. There had been speculation that they might have have left Syria.

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Deputy shot and killed in Arizona

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Two Navy pilots among those killed in murder-suicide

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Two killed as high winds hit UK

3 January 2012 Last updated at 13:26 ET

Footage showed the extent of the damage caused by the high winds

Storms have caused damage across many parts of the UK, with gusts of up to 100mph in Scotland.

A man in his 50s was killed in Kent when a tree collapsed on his van, and a crewman died after being injured on board a tanker in the English Channel.

A bus driver in Surrey suffered serious injuries when a tree fell on his bus.

Thousands of people are still without power in parts of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The Met Office has issued severe weather warnings which remain in place for many regions.

BBC weather forecasters said it would stay windy through the night. Strong winds and gales are also expected across the UK on Wednesday - particularly in the north of England and Scotland - but it will be less windy than Tuesday and gusts are not expected to reach more than 40-45mph.

Around the UK on Tuesday, trees fell on to railway tracks and power lines, lorries blew over on busy roads and flood warnings were issued after rivers swelled.

High seas and force 10 winds caused the Port of Dover to close, but it has now reopened, while gusts of wind damaged the roof of a stand at Epsom Downs racecourse in Surrey.

Louise Hubball found it difficult at times to stand in high winds in Cornwall

Police said the incident in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, happened at about 12:25 GMT in Sandhurst Road. They said the van was believed to have been stationary at the time of the impact, and a male passenger was believed to have been uninjured.

The crewman who died was one of three injured men who were rescued by Falmouth coastguards from the Annie PG in the Channel. The other two men were taken to the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro.

Figures published by the Met Office reported wind speeds of 106mph at Great Dun Fell in the Cumbrian north Pennines, and 102mph in Edinburgh.

Travel has also been disrupted, with no East Coast services currently operating within Scotland, and East Coast Main Line trains between London and Scotland going no further north than Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

Buses replaced trains on some services between London and Harrogate and Hull.

Also in Scotland, the Kingston Bridge in Glasgow was shut by two overturned lorries, Glasgow Airport warned that cancellations were expected because of high winds and Edinburgh Airport did not accepting incoming flights.

A number of roads were closed in Northern Ireland, including in Belfast and Londonderry, while the Foyle Bridge in Derry was closed. Some train, bus and ferry services have also been affected.

High winds in England forced the closure of the QEII Bridge on the M25 between Essex and Kent for much of the day, while the Tamar Bridge in the South West has been closed to high-sided vehicles.

In Wales, the A40 between Carmarthenshire and Powys and the A478 between Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion were among roads affected, while the Britannia Bridge at Anglesey and the Cleddau Bridge in Pembrokeshire have been closed to high-sided vehicles.

Power cuts

In Northern Ireland 10,000 properties were left without electricity after fallen trees and severe winds damaged power lines, causing hundreds of faults.

In Scotland, more than 70,000 homes were without power. About 8,500 properties in parts of Hampshire, Dorset and Wiltshire have also been without power.

In Wales six homes in Dolgellau, Gwynedd, were evacuated because of arcing power lines in high winds.

The Environment Agency issued 20 flood warnings across the country, including 13 in the South West, three each in the Midlands and the North East, and one in Wales. It also issued 66 less severe flood alerts.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) issued flood warnings for the Moy Bridge area in the Highlands and locations in Tayside.

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UK soldier killed in Afghanistan

31 December 2011 Last updated at 06:36 ET

The prime minister has indicated he is planning a phased withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan

A soldier from 1st Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment has been killed in Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence has announced.

He was killed by an explosion on 30 December in the Nahr-e Saraj district of Helmand Province while taking part in a foot patrol.

The soldier's next of kin have been informed of his death.

The number of UK personnel killed in Afghanistan since military operations there began in 2001 now stands at 394.

Serving as a part of Combined Force Nahr-e Saraj (North), the soldier was a member of an International Security Assistance Force foot patrol when he was caught in the blast from an improvised explosive device.

Task Force Helmand spokesman Lt Col Dan Bradbury said: "Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends at this very difficult time."

On Thursday, two servicemen who died following a blast in Afghanistan were named.

Royal Marine Captain Tom Jennings, 29, died when his vehicle was caught in the blast south of Kabul on 22 December.

RAF Squadron Leader Anthony 'Ant' Downing, 34, was flown back to the UK but died in hospital on 23 December from injuries sustained in the explosion.

Earlier this week, Prime Minister David Cameron indicated he was planning a phased withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.

Some 500 are due to be pulled out next year, with more expected to follow in 2013.

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Three U.S. citizens killed in Mexico attacks

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Three U.S. citizens were among those killed when gunmen attacked buses in the eastern Mexican state of Veracruz, said a U.S. State Department official said on Saturday.

The three were traveling for the holidays when they and several other passengers on the bus were killed by gunmen on Thursday, according to the U.S. official and local media.

The incident was one of several that day in which gunmen attacked busses in the eastern state, a major oil export hub that has lately become a flashpoint for drug gang violence.

On Friday, the tortured bodies of 10 people were found in northern Veracruz, local media reported, as attacks in the region intensify between the Zetas gang and Gulf drug cartels.

In September, 35 bodies were dumped along a downtown highway in the Veracruz city of Boca del Rio.

More than 45,000 people have been killed in cartel-related violence since President Felipe Calderon took office in December 2006.

(Reporting by Patrick Rucker)

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Mom of kids killed in Ariz. crash drawing support

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