LONDON: A drunk Canadian student was crushed to death in a rubbish truck after apparently falling asleep in a bin just hours after arriving in Britain, an inquest heard yesterday.
Garrett Joseph Franklin Elsey, 22, had become separated from his friend while out celebrating his first night in Bristol, southwest England, on September 26 last year.
The graduate from Alberta had drunk more than seven pints of beer and had four shots of Jagermeister, became lost and developed early signs of hypothermia, the inquest heard.
“People suffering with hypothermia can often become very confused and make strange decisions... they may seek refuge in confined spaces,” said pathologist Dr Amanda Jeffrey.
An inquest is a judicial process presided over by a coroner which establishes cause of death.
Acting coroner Terence Moore said there was no evidence that Elsey had been assaulted or hit by a vehicle, and ruled the student died by accidental death.
Dutch kills daughter, self after armed hostage drama
THE HAGUE: A Dutch man killed his three-year-old daughter before turning the gun on himself during an hours-long hostage drama at a home in the Netherlands yesterday, police and officials said.
“The suspected shooter and his three-year-old daughter died in the incident,” Petra Dassen, mayor of the small southern city of Reuven told a televised press conference. Heavily-armed police burst through door and found the bodies of a 44-year-old man and his daughter on the first floor, police chief Gery Veldhuis said. “Both suffered suspected bullet wounds,” he added.
The drama started earlier in the day in the small town on the German border, about 200km south of Amsterdam, when the man shot his ex-wife in the leg after an argument. He then grabbed the toddler and ran into the home, where the little girl lived with her mother and parents.
Police surrounded the house and the man told negotiators he would surrender at 12.30pm, after “having a cuddle with his daughter”.
72 countries to mark WWI in France
PARIS: France will issue an unprecedented invitation to all 72 countries involved in World War I to take part in its annual Bastille Day military parade in July next year, President Francois Hollande announced yesterday.
Bastille Day, on July 14, will fall just before the 100th anniversary of the start of the 1914-18 Great War.
Hollande also revealed that Germany’s President, Joachim Gauck, will come to France for a ceremony on August 3, 2014, which will be exactly a century after the two countries declared war on each other.
“I asked the president of the Federal Republic (Germany) Mr Gauck to come to France on the occasion of the commemoration of this tragic act, he has accepted and I thank him for that,” Hollande said in a speech launching the centenary.
“On July 14, all 72 countries that we can call belligerents of the Great War will be invited to take part in the parade on the Champs-Elysees.
Mozambique ex-spies in protest
MAPUTO: Over 300 Mozambican former police intelligence officers yesterday staged a protest outside President Armando Guebuza’s office demanding their pensions be paid.
“Now that his mandate is coming to an end, we don’t want the president to finish his mandate without resolving our problem,” said spokesman Adolf Beira.
Mozambique will next year hold presidential elections, expected to choose Guebuza’s successor.
The officers, said to number over 2,000, are demanding over three years of retroactive pension pay-outs.
They claim they were unfairly dismissed by the state and replaced with younger officers. The march took place under the watchful eye of heavily armed soldiers, stationed outside the presidency building.
The ex-servicemen dispersed peacefully after their representative met officials from Guebuza’s office. Agencies
