Tag Archives: oceania

Man in custody after shooting in WA

A man has been taken into custody after a shooting near Perth, which forced residents to stay inside and lock their doors.

Inspector Vic Hussey said police found a man with a gunshot wound to his head in Wooroloo on Saturday morning.

Hussey said police received reports several other people who were in the area at the time ran into nearby bushland.

READ MORE: Car smashes into cafe in Sydney's west injuring four diners

Inspector Vic Hussey, State Command Inspector.WA Police

Paramedics treated the man at the scene before he was flown to Royal Perth Hospital.

Residents had been warned to stay inside and keep their doors locked.

Police later said they had taken a man into custody but did not elaborate on any charges.

They said whilst they continued to investigate whether other people had been involved, the whereabouts of the missing people no longer posed any immediate threat to public safety.

"We are strongly of the opinion that there is no threat to the community from those individuals," Hussey said.

He appealed for the public to call police if they have information about the whereabouts or identity of the others. Anyone with information can contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

Pablo Escobar's 'cocaine hippos' face Colombian government cull

Pablo Escobar's notorious "cocaine hippos" are facing a cull, according to a statement from Colombia's Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development on Thursday.

The herd, which the Colombian government said currently stands at 169 animals, has rapidly reproduced from the original population of one male and three females which the drug kingpin owned as part of his private collection of exotic creatures.

After Escobar's death in 1993, authorities relocated most of the other animals in the collection, but not the hippos – because they were too difficult to transport.

READ MORE: Car smashes into cafe in Sydney's west injuring four diners

The descendants of drug kingpin Pablo Escobar's hippos present an environmental threat.

Free from any natural predator, the rising population poses an environmental challenge.

If "strong measures" are not taken to control them, the population could boom to "1000 individuals by 2035," the statement said.

This new phase to control the hippo population involves three strategies: sterilisation, relocation and "ethical euthanasia," it added.

"All three strategies have to work together," Environment Minister Susana Muhamad said in the statement.

"Here we are in a race against time in terms of the permanent environmental and ecosystem impacts that are being generated and that is why we cannot say that only one strategy is effective for our objective, which is to control the population."

In 2021, scientists recommended culling the hippos to prevent long-term negative effects, but other scientists are calling instead for a castration program, citing concerns over animal welfare.

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Colombian Environment and Sustainable Development Minister Susana Muhamad looks on during a press conference in Bogota on November 2, to announce a plan to sterilise, relocate or euthanize hippos descended from ones owned by Pablo Escobar.

Between 2011 and 2019, four males were castrated and two females were sterilised, but this did little to slow the hippos' progress. Putting the hippos on birth control was similarly ineffective.

There have also been plans to relocate some of the population to India, the Philippines and Mexico, with the logistics of sending 60 to India currently being analysed, the statement said.

"We are looking to implement this plan in the shortest possible time, precisely so that the impacts cease," Muhamad explained.

According to the ministry statement, sterilisation will cost the country an average of 40 million pesos ($15,399) per animal, and will begin from next week, with an aim to sterilise 40 per week.

The minister concluded by emphasising that hippos have been declared an "invasive exotic" with "aggressive characteristics," and that "their presence represents a threat to ecosystems and risks for the communities that surround them."

Research has shown negative effects of hippo waste on oxygen levels in bodies of water, which can affect fish and ultimately humans.

Hippos also pose a threat to agriculture and to the security of people in affected areas, according to a 2021 study.

In April, a hippo descended from Escobar's collection died after being hit by a car.

Car smashes into cafe in Sydney's west injuring four diners

CCTV footage has shown the moment a car has smashed into a busy cafe in Sydney's west, injuring several people and sending tables and chairs flying.

Emergency services were called to Bankstown's Coffee Emporium on North Terrace at 11.30am Saturday after a red Honda Accord with red P-plates crashed into the outdoor area of the coffee shop.

A 53-year-old woman was comforted by customers before she was treated by paramedics and taken to hospital along with a 56-year-old man and two other women in their 20s.

READ MORE: Trump gag order extended in New York, frozen in Washington

CCTV footage has shown the moment a car has smashed into a busy cafe in Sydney's west, injuring several people and sending tables and chairs flying. Emergency services were called to Bankstown's Coffee Emporium on North Terrace at 11.30am Saturday after a red Honda Accord with red P-plates crashed into the outdoor area of the coffee shop.

The driver, a 45-year-old woman, was not injured.

Staff have spent the afternoon cleaning up the mess and the popular cafe was able to continue trading inside.

Police are investigating the circumstances surrounding the crash.

Passengers sue Alaska Airlines after off-duty pilot allegedly shut off engines mid-flight

Passengers on the Alaska Airlines flight where an off-duty pilot attempted to cut off the engines felt the plane dramatically pitch forward, as if it were in a nosedive, according to a newly-filed lawsuit.

The lawsuit, filed by three passengers against Alaska Airlines and Horizon Airlines, the operator of flight 2059, claims the airlines did not properly evaluate off-duty pilot Joseph Emerson before he was seated in an extra cockpit seat – the jump seat – on the October 22 flight.

"Had they done so, he more likely than not would have been denied admission and could not have been in position to nearly kill everyone aboard," the lawsuit claims.

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Alaska Airlines has said its ground and air crews had observed no "signs of impairment that would have led them to prevent Emerson from flying."

It said Friday it is reviewing the lawsuit, and applauded the crew's actions.

"The pilots and flight attendants operating Flight 2059 responded without hesitation to ensure the safety of all onboard," Alaska Airlines said in a statement. 

"We are incredibly proud and grateful for their skilled actions."

Emerson is accused of attempting to kill everyone on board when he tried to activate a fire extinguisher system that shuts down the fuel lines to the engines. 

After the incident, Emerson told police he experienced a nervous breakdown, had been depressed and recently used magic mushrooms.

He is being held without bail at the Multnomah County Jail in Portland, Oregon.

He has been charged in federal court with interfering with a flight crew, the US Attorney's Office for the District of Oregon has announced.

Emerson also faces dozens of state charges in Oregon, including 83 felony counts of attempted murder, 83 counts of reckless endangerment and one count of endangering an aircraft, booking records show.

He has pleaded not guilty to all state charges.

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Before the lawsuit was filed, Emerson's attorney, Noah Horst, told CNN Emerson "would never intentionally hurt another person" and was not "under the influence of any intoxicants" on the flight.

The lawsuit reveals new details about what passengers experienced onboard the plane.

"Passengers on the plane had been experiencing a normal flight for 45 minutes to 1 hour, when the plane suddenly experienced what felt like a nosedive," the suit says. 

"A flight attendant on the intercom announced to the passengers of the plane needed to land immediately. The surprised Plaintiffs were left in the dark about what was happening"

"Thoughts of a complete plane malfunction or terrorist activity naturally entered their minds," the lawsuit says.

Passengers then observed Emerson exit the cockpit, walk to the back of the plane and attempt to open a plane door, the lawsuit says.

Some passengers, the lawsuit says, learned about what was happening through friends on the ground who looked at aviation tracking websites.

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Despite a long list of incidents where pilots have successfully commandeered aircraft – a list enumerated in the court filing – the lawsuit claims Alaska Airlines did not properly evaluate Emerson's fitness to ride in the cockpit jump seat.

The lawsuit says the passengers' damages include emotional distress and asks the court to consider the matter a class-action lawsuit. 

It does not list a dollar amount for the alleged damages but does ask the court to order Alaska Airlines and Horizon to better screen crew members prior to flights.