Surviving the fall – BASE jumper’s luck

Rescue workers came to the aid of the injured but miraculously alive 24-year-old.

PHOTO: TROND TANDBERG

A BASE jumper was injured but survived a fall of around 150 meters on Wednesday after his parachute failed to open as expected.

 

PHOTO: TROND TANDBERG 

 The 24-year-old man out BASE-jumping as a week of “extreme sports” activities took place in nearby Voss ended up a lucky, if injured, risk-taker after his jump went wrong.

When he threw himself off a mountain cliff at Skjervet in Voss Sunday afternoon, his parachute didn’t unfold as it should have. He hurtled straight down towards the valley below.

The base jumper threw himself off the edge of this cliff in the Norwegian mountains, and landed just off the road below.

He fortunately landed in a tree. That braced his fall and allowed him to emerge from the accident with only a broken foot. He was smiling as ambulance personnel drove him off to a hospital in Voss.

Frode Solbakk, head of security at the annual “Ekstremsportveko” in Voss, stressed that the 24-year-old’s BASE jump wasn’t part of the extreme sporting event’s official program. He confirmed the accident, though, and called it a “classic” BASE-jumping accident.

“We don’t know who the jumper is, and we don’t organize BASE jumps from Skjervet any longer, because it’s not a good place to jump from,” Solbakk said. “This jump must have occurred at his own initiative.”

Another BASE jumper said such accidents occur most often because the parachute was folded poorly, or if it’s windy. BASE is an acronym that stands for jumps from buildings, antennae, spans (bridges) or earth.

By Josefin Engstrøm and Engesvik

Lifted by Korir and published by African Press in Norway(APN)/ African Press International(API) source.aftenposteneng

Flights delayed due to baggage confussion

Flights from Oslo’s main airport at Gardermoen were delayed Thursday morning after a new round of trouble with the airport’s baggage-handling system. The baggage conveyor belts at the airport’s check-in counters stopped running, because of a “technical error,” just before 8am.

The problem affected both domestic and international flights, delaying departures just as the summer travel season had kicked into high gear.

Baggage belts in the arrivals hall kept running, but the system that tells passengers on which belt their baggage would arrive failed.

Workers scrambled to correct the technical error, and it was fixed within about 45 minutes, but the baggage belts continued to operate at reduced speed.

Lifted and published by African Press in Norway(APN) African Press International(API) source.aftenposteneng

Mutilation of females – seeking help

More than 250 girls and women have sought help from Oslo’s largest hospital in recent years, because of physical problems resulting from female circumcision, also known as Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).

Midwife Sarah Kahsay has found herself confronting problems related to female circumcision. PHOTO: TOR G STENERSEN

The mutilation, which many of the female patients were subjected to as young girls in several Muslim African countries and Northern Iraq, has left the women with severe urinary dysfunction, infections and problems after their vaginal openings were sewn shut.

Sarah Kahsay, a midwife at Ullevål University Hospital in Oslo, told newspaper Aftenposten that she and her colleagues have tried to help around 260 girls and women during the past three years.

Kahsay, of the National Competence Center for Minorities’ Health at Ullevål, said that 90 percent of the girls and women are ethnic Somalians. Female genital mutilation has also been found, she said, among female patients from Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, Gambia and Senegal.

The mutilation also seems to have spread to the Kurdish community, with Kahsay mentioning that Norwegian Church Aid has claimed it’s a problem for females from Northern Iraq. “Reports we’ve had from our health stations (in the Oslo area) involve Kurdish girls as young as 11 and 12, who’ve been circumcised,” Kahsay said.

The girls and women have almost always said the circumcision, which is illegal in Norway, occurred before they emigrated. Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) reported over the weekend, however, that an alarming number of young girls born or living in Norway have been taken back to Somalia during school holiday periods and subjected to circumcision.

The agonized screams of one young girl being forcibly held down while her genitals were being cut shook Norwegian viewers and has led to a political outcry on the issue. There have been calls for increased enforcement of the law prohibiting female circumciscion, a fatwa against the practice, and regular medical checks of young girls believed to be at risk.

By Arild M. Jonassen and Nina Berglund

Lifted and published by African Press in Norway(APN)/ African Press International(API) source.aftenposteneng

Berserking Mom during girl’s soccer

A furious mother charged onto the field during a girl’s soccer game in northern Norway last weekend. A 13-year-old girl from Bardufoss was physically attacked by the enraged woman during a football tournament.

Not content with shouting insults at the opposing team from Bardufoss, the woman stormed onto the pitch.

“A female parent from the visiting team came running onto the pitch and attacked a 13-year-old. She pushed the 13-year-old onto the ground, so the girl was lying on her back,” Tor Eriksen of the Bardufoss regional sports association (BOIF) told NRK (Norwegian Broadcasting).

The BOIF girls were called a range of nasty names, and were also told to “get their ugly asses off the field”, NRK reports.

The excitable mother from Tromsø was not content with insults and flinging a girl to the ground, she then took a stranglehold on the referee and had to be restrained by BOIF leaders.

“The referee was completely “shaky”, and the players were crying,” Eriksen said.

The Tromsø team leader would not comment on the matter, which has been reported to regional football authorities. 

Lifted and published by African Press in Norway(APN)/ African Press International(API) Source.Aftenposteneng

Faulty tunnel to reopen soon

Norway’s transport minister confirmed Thursday that the Hanekleiv Tunnel, part of a key motorway between Oslo and the south coast, will finally reopen July 6.

Tunnels on the E-18 highway through Vestfold are due to reopen July 6. PHOTO: JON-ARE BERG-JACOBSEN

The tunnel has been closed since last Christmas, when part of it collapsed. Other tunnels along the E-18 highway were also closed after inspectors deemed them in need of reinforcement as well.

Work to reinforce the tunnels and get them reopened has been going on ever since, in an effort to ease traffic congestion on a route that’s one of the most heavily used in Norway during the summer months. That’s when tens of thousands travel to summer homes along the coast known as Sørlandet.

Only one of the two parallel tunnels will reopen, meaning traffic from the four-and six-lane stretches of the motorway will need to funnel into two lanes. That’s bound to cause congestion, but it’s better than forcing all the summer traffic back onto the old two-lane highway that runs through the towns of Sande and Holmestrand.

A meeting Thursday between the state highway department and construction firm Veidekke set July 6 as the reopening date, and ruled out further delays.

The tunnels were built in 2003 and their troubles have been a major embarrassment to Norwegian officials who pride themselves on tunnel construction.

Lifted and published by African Press in Norway(APN)/ African Press International(API) Source.aftenpostenEng

Bail for Pakistan – same sex pair

Doctors say Raj is still a woman, despite sex change operations Pakistan’s Supreme Court has ordered that a couple jailed for perjury in a row over the husband’s sex should be released on bail, their lawyers say.The ruling came after a judge agreed to hear appeals against the convictions. The couple say they are man and wife, but the Lahore high court ruled last month that the husband was, in fact, a woman, despite sex-change surgery. The case is thought the first of its kind in Pakistan where homosexuality and trans-sexuality are largely taboo. ‘Lied’ Shumail Raj, 31, had sex-change surgery to become a man and then married Shahzina Tariq, 24, a cousin. The judgement of the high court has been suspended and the Supreme Court has ordered their release Lawyer Babar Awan She was aware of his condition but says she needed his help to avoid being forced into wedlock with someone else. The couple originally sought the protection of the courts but were arrested last month after the bride’s family questioned whether Raj was a man. Judges in Lahore jailed the couple for three years and fined them 10,000 Pakistani rupees ($165). They found that the couple had lied about Raj’s sexual status and said their marriage was un-Islamic because it was same-sex. But on Thursday, the couple’s lawyers said the judgement of the high court had been suspended “The Supreme Court has ordered their release,” said lawyer Babar Awan, Reuters news agency reports. Bail is reported to have been set at 50,000 rupees ($825) each. No date has been given for the appeal hearing to begin. ‘Against Islam’ Raj is reported to have undergone surgery twice in Pakistan over the past 16 years to become a man. Shumail Raj (left) and Shahzina Tariq appealed to the president But tests carried out by doctors on behalf of the Lahore high court ruled that Raj, who has a beard and moustache, was still a woman. Raj himself says that he needs to go abroad for more treatment even though his breasts and uterus have been removed. Ms Tariq’s family wants to annul the wedding on the grounds that it is against Islam for two women to marry. But the couple argue that they married to protect the bride from being sold into marriage to pay off her uncle’s gambling debts. Ms Tariq says they are not homosexuals and they married because they are in love.

Lifted and published by African Press in Norway(APN)/ African Press International(API) Source: BBC

South Africa’s main trade unions have ended their four-week strike, which has closed most of the country’s schools and hospitals.

South Africa’s main trade unions have ended their four-week strike, which has closed most of the country’s schools and hospitals. The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has decided to accept the government’s offer of a 7.5% pay rise – they had demanded 9%.

The government had originally offered 6%, while the unions had wanted 12%.

Correspondents say it has been the biggest strike since the end of apartheid in 1994.

Cosatu said the strike, which involved hundreds of thousands of people, had been a “historic turning point in the lives of public-sector workers”.

“This combination of unity and militancy means that never again will the employer dare to treat us with the callous indifference they have displayed in the past and during this dispute, until they were forced to compromise when confronted by the militancy and determination of their workforce,” it said.

Before the decision was announced, one union official told the Business Day newspaper that teachers wanted to end the strike, as school holidays had started.

In pictures: SA strike Strike voices Unions flex their muscles

But a Cosatu statement said that teaching unions were not prepared to sign the deal and would continue talks with the government.

On Monday, two independent unions pulled out of the strike, accusing Cosatu of being “greedy and opportunistic”, saying the 7.5% offer was “fantastic”.

The labour movement accuses the government of promoting big business at the expenses of poor South Africans.

BBC correspondent in Johannesburg Peter Biles says the strike has been hugely disruptive and many workers are beginning to feel the impact caused by the loss of wages.

Economists estimate that the cost to South Africa’s economy could be as much as 3bn rand ($418m).

Inflation fears and resulting interest rate hikes have prompted the central bank to warn against large wage increases.

Lifted and published by African Press in Norway(APN)/ African Press International(API) Source:BBC

Lockerbie bomber granted permission to appeal

Megrahi’s lawyers maintain he was a victim of a miscarriage of justice The man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing has been granted leave to make a second appeal.Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi was jailed for the 1988 atrocity in which 270 people died when Pan-Am flight 103 exploded over the Scottish town. The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission, which has been investigating Megrahi’s case since 2003, recommended the second appeal. In light of the review findings, the Libyan reiterated his innocence. The commission is responsible for looking into possible miscarriages of justice. It said the Lockerbie review, which cost £1.1m, was a “difficult” one to deal with. The chief executive of the group, Gerard Sinclair, said it was the “longest, the most expensive and singularly most complex case we have had to investigate and review”. There were four main areas for referring the case back to court. They included the “reasonableness” of the court’s verdict; additional evidence; new evidence and “other” evidence. Scotland’s Lord Advocate Elish Angiolini said it was inappropriate for her to comment on the basis of the commission’s decision. Year away However, she added that she had appointed Ronald Clancy QC and advocate Nick Gardiner as the Crown’s counsel in the event of an appeal going ahead. It is likely to be held in Scotland before a panel of three judges and is unlikely to be heard for about a year. The commission had the option to refer the case to the High Court for a second appeal or reject the submissions by Megrahi’s lawyers. The Glasgow-based body looked at the way Megrahi’s defence was carried out, as well as the way the panel of three judges handled the case. Announcing the decision, the chairman of the commission, the Very Reverend Dr Graham Forbes, said: “The commission has a very special role within the Scottish criminal justice system and has been given extensive statutory powers to enable it to carry out this role. “The function of the commission is not to decide upon the guilt or innocence of an applicant. “We are neither pro-Crown nor pro-defence. Our role is to examine the grounds of review identified, either by the applicant, a third party, or by our own investigations, and to decide whether any of the grounds meet our statutory test.” THE LOCKERBIE REVIEW   Megrahi said in a statement on Thursday that he was never in any doubt that he would be allowed a fresh appeal. He added: “I was not involved in the Lockerbie bombing whatsoever. “I am confident that when the full picture is put before the ultimate arbiters, the Lords Commissioners of Justiciary, I shall finally be recognised as an innocent man.” Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond said the ability to look into alleged miscarriages of justice was a vital part of the criminal justice system, adding that it was now time to allow the independent legal process to take its course. He told the Scottish Parliament: “Let us never forget that 270 men, women and children lost their lives in December 1988. Whatever the eventual outcome of this process, their loss can never be recovered.” VIEWS IN LOCKERBIE People in Lockerbie give their opinion on the appeal decision In detail Lawyers representing Megrahi have always maintained he was the victim of a miscarriage of justice. He has already had one appeal following his conviction in January 2001. That was heard at Kamp van Zeist, the former Dutch air base where he and his co-accused, Al-amin Khalifa Fhima, were tried. Mr Fhima was acquitted and flew home to Tripoli. Megrahi’s appeal was rejected in March 2002 and since then he has been held in Gateside Prison in Greenock. On 21 December 1988, the Boeing 747 was en route from London to New York when it exploded in mid-air. All 259 people on board were killed, along with 11 people on the ground.

Lifted and published by African Press in Norway(APN/ African Press International(API) Source.BBC