Heavy rainfall in Greek capital floods basements, disrupts public transport networks

Torrential rainfall caused extensive flooding in Greece's capital Friday, inundating basements and forcing authorities to close major roads and a central subway station in Athens.

A young woman who had been trapped in her car on a flooded suburban road died shortly after being extracted by other motorists and taken to a hospital, police said.



The cause of her death wasn't immediately clear.

The fire department said it received more than 900 calls to pump out water in the greater Athens region. Up to 60 millimeters (2.3 inches) of rain fell in a few hours, more than the monthly average of 50 millimeters (1.9 inches).

An abandoned house collapsed in the city center, but no injuries were reported.

Police closed underpasses and highways in low-lying parts of the city after they were submerged, while parked cars were swept away by racing waters.

The capital's tram system was shut down for more than an hour, while urban rail schedules were disrupted after a tree fell on the tracks. The rain also caused power cuts in parts of the city.

In Parliament, a worker clearing water from the roof of the main assembly hall during a session tripped and went through a glass skylight, but was pulled to safety by a policeman.

The accident occurred as Cabinet members were preparing to answer questions.

"The worker could have landed on our heads," Sports Minister Yiannis Ioannidis said.

Why was Oscar Pistorius granted bail? Here are the judge's reasons ...

Judge Desmond Nair has granted Oscar Pistorius bail ahead of his trial for the alleged murder of Reeva Steenkamp. Bail has been set at 1m rand (£73,000), and Pistorius has been ordered not to return to Silver Woods estate, where the shooting took place, and to report to a police station on Mondays and Fridays.

These were the judge's main reasons:

• He did not think Pistorius was a flight risk.

• He did not think the prosecution had shown that Pistorius had a propensity for violence.

• He did not think the prosecution had shown there would be public outrage if he were released on bail.

• He did not think the prosecution's case was so strong that Pistorius's only reasonable reaction were he released would be to flee.

But the judge also pointed out holes in Pistorius's story that may prove important when the case comes to trial:

• Why did he not ascertain Steenkamp's whereabouts?

• Why did he not verify who was in the toilet?

• Why did Steenkamp not scream back from the toilet?

• Why did the deceased and the accused not escape through the bedroom door rather than venture into the toilet?

• Why would the accused venture into danger knowing the intruder was in the toilet, leaving himself open to attack? He returned to the dangerous area. What if the intruder was waiting for him?

And he said he had difficulty with the defence's version of why the accused slept on the other side of the bed from usual that night.

“Monsters are real, and ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win.” ― Stephen King

"God take me away, I've killed my baba": Oscar Pistorius's best friend reveals shock 4am phone call

The best friend of Oscar Pistorius told yesterday how the Paralympic hero called him moments after his girl was shot and later sobbed: “My baba, I’ve killed my baba. God take me away.”

Reeva pictured with Pistorius's friends Justin (C) and Francois Hougaard

Businessman Justin Divaris, who introduced model Reeva Steenkamp to the London 2012 double gold winner, said Pistorius phoned him first instead of emergency services.

Justin, 27, said: “It’s all very sad. Oscar called me at 3.55 am saying that Reeva had been shot.

“I said to him, ‘What are you talking about? I don’t understand you?’ He then repeated himself – ‘There has been a terrible accident, I shot Reeva’.

“Next thing his neighbour picked up the phone and told me it was true and told me to get to Oscar’s home.

“I was in total shock. I asked the neighbour, ‘Is she OK?’ Did the gun go off by accident?’ She replied, ‘No. She’s not OK. You need to get here’.”

Justin and his girlfriend Sam dashed to 26-year-old Pistorius’s luxury home on the security-patrolled Silver Woods estate in Pretoria, South Africa, in the early hours of Valentine’s Day.

The police had already arrived and were holding the double amputee superstar – nicknamed Blade Runner because of his state-of-the-art artificial limbs – in his garage.

Justin, chief executive of luxury car sales firm Daytona Group, said: “It was very traumatic. By the time we got there it was already a crime scene and we weren’t allowed in the house.

Nike suspends contract with Oscar Pistorius

Nike froze its contract with “Blade Runner” Oscar Pistorius on Thursday after he was charged with murdering his girlfriend, the latest in a series of scandals to hit athletes sponsored by the sportswear giant.
Criticised in the past for being slow to respond when its sporting heroes got into trouble, Nike distanced itself from Pistorius, the Paralympics champion accused of shooting dead model Reeva Steenkamp on Feb. 14, Valentine’s Day.

Man accused of buying human hair escapes lynching

What exactly will make a man go from a salon to salon collecting people’s hair in exchange for money?

This is a question that only a 60-year-old man, Adewale Okunade, a landlord of a house on Segun Olatunji Street, Ijoko, Ota, Ogun State, has its answer.

Okunade, who hails from Oyo State, narrowly escaped being lynched on Thursday when some people in the neighbourhood pounced on him.

They alleged that the hair was being taken to an herbalist in Cotonou, Republic of Benin, who uses it to prepare charms for him.

Some people said they found Okunade’s behaviour bizarre, insisting that there was more to his action.

It was gathered that the man had been in the business for some years but nemesis caught up with him on the fateful day when his ‘business partner’, a bricklayer, gave him away.

An executive member of the Community Development Association said Okunade allegedly confessed that he had been buying human hair.

According to the CDA executive, the victim said he had been using the hair to cure himself of festering sores on his leg.

He said the suspect denied the hair was meant for rituals, saying he used to take the hair to an herbalist to prepare concoctions for his sores.

He said many traditional medicine practitioners who were there when Okunade was apprehended, said human hair could only be used for rituals not for curing sores.

He said, “The suspect’s partner had gone to a barber in their neighbourhood to buy some hair. The barber, however, refused. The suspect sent his partner to go to the barber’s apprentice.

“When they got to the apprentice, he agreed, but unknown to them that the barber was monitoring their movement. The barber decided to lay ambush for them.

“When he (barber) saw them with a cellophane bag, he raised the alarm and  many people in the neighborhood were drawn to the scene. By the time they checked the contents in the bag, they saw plenty of human hair.

“That was how the community pounced on his partner and started questioning him about the source of the hair. It was in the course of that the partner said it was Okunade who sent him.

“The people moved to Okunade’s house but he was not around. When he came back and people related the incident to him, he left the community the following day.

“By the time he came back, he thought the residents would have forgotten about the incident, but when they saw him, they mobbed him. It was then he explained that he had sores on his leg that refused to heal and that he had been curing them with concoction mixed with human hair.

“The community, not satisfied with his explanation, decided to hand him over to the police at Sango Police Station.”

Another resident, who craved anonymity, said, “We have yet to come to terms with his pedestrian explanation. As for us, he is not saying the whole truth.

“We learnt that he pays between N200,000 and N300,000 for each consignment of hair. You can see that his explanation lacks the essential elements of truth. I am also amazed that human hair has become a cure for sores.”

The spokesman for Ogun State Police Command, Mr. Muyiwa Adejobi, said the story was twisted by the community.

He said the suspect had only solicited for hair because of his festering sores.

Adejobi said, “The story was not like that. The man (Okunade) has a sore and he said he needed human hair to cure the sore. He had not gotten the hair; he only solicited. The community just raised the alarm which resulted in the man’s car being vandalised.

“He reported to the police that his car was being vandalised and that they wanted to kill him. That was how the police mediated to avoid the man being lynched.”

Opening of Eko Atlantic city

President Goodluck Jonathan will Thursday in Lagos commission the Eko Atlantic City and meet with notable business leaders and investors.

The Senior Special Adviser on Media to Lagos State governor, Hakeem Bello, confirmed this to newsmen Wednesday night, noting that the President’s visit is in connection with the Atlantic City project. Other dignitaries such as former U.S. President, Bill Clinton, governors and ministers are expected to be in Lagos, to attend the opening of Eko Atlantic City today, Thursday February 21st.

Eko Atlantic will be a new home to 250,000 people and the workplace of another 150,000. The ten square kilometer development will have waterfront areas, tree-lined streets, efficient transport systems and mixed-use plots that combine residential areas with leisure facilities, offices and shops.

Eko Atlantic will enhance the status of Lagos and create a new and stronger financial hub for the whole of West Africa.

"A city is not an accident but the result of coherent visions and aims.” ― Leon Krier

12-Year-Old Boy Executed By Sri Lankan Army Because His Father Was A Rebel Leader

The photographs of Balachandran Prabhakaran, son of Velupillai Prabhakaran, head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, were taken in May 2009 at the end of the government’s conflict with the rebels.

The first pictures appear to show the child in the custody of Sri Lankan forces and he is seen sitting on a bench wrapped in a blanket and eating some food.

But photographs taken hours later on the same camera show him lying on the ground, topless and his chest riddled with bullet holes. He has five holes to his chest and experts say he was shot at close range.

The pictures, which feature in documentary No Fire Zone, show the boy was alive when he was captured and was executed later, says the film’s director Callum Macrae.

He told The Independent: ‘They show he was held, and even given a snack, before being taken and executed in cold blood.’

A picture taken hours later shows the boy lying dead on the ground with up to five bullet wounds to his chest The Sri Lankan government have always claimed that Balachandran was killed in cross-fire but Mr Macrae said the photographs ‘rule out’ that possibility.

Mr Macrae said the fact that the boy’s dead body was photographed is also alarming. He said: ‘That these events were also photographed and kept as war trophies by the perpetrators is even more disturbing.

The body of Villupillai Prabhakaran was showed on state television in May 2009 as Sri Lanka’s government declared an end to its 26-year civil war. There were also suggestions he had been shot at close range as part of his skull was missing.

Sri Lankan army spokesman Brigadier PR Wanigasooriya told The Independent that there had been repeated ‘lies, half truths and rumours’ said about the country.

“The world is getting dangerously crowded with crazy people.”