New York: A baby was found in the rubble of a house that was destroyed by a suspected gas explosion in which four people died and seven were injured.
The blast occurred around Wednesday noon and obliterated the two-storey house in Salem. It scattered remnants of wood, cinder blocks, insulation, clothes and furniture and other rubble as far as 100 yards away, the New York Daily News reported.
Eleven people were in the house when the explosion took place, neighbours stated.
Authorities said a woman who lived at the house, a young man whose uncle lived there and an 18-year-old woman from Hudson Falls, New York, were killed at the scene.
Another person died at the hospital later.
State police said they were still investigating the cause of the explosion, but they suspected a leaking propane tank was involved.
Residents of the rural community, 40 miles northeast of capital Albany, said the blast could be heard for miles.
A neighbour, Joseph Brandmeyer, told WNYT television that he ran to the scene after hearing the blast and began pulling survivors from the rubble, including a baby.
“I pulled the baby out and got her there on the grass and she started to breathe,” Brandmeyer told the station. (IANS)
Britain loses revenue due to poor online spellings
London: Poor spellings in shopping websites is costing Britain millions of pounds in lost revenue, experts have said.
Charles Duncombe, director of the Just Say Please group that runs travel, mobile phone and clothing websites, said an analysis of website figures shows a single spelling mistake can cut online sales in half.
Duncombe said he was “shocked” when recruiting staff at the poor quality of written English, according to BBC.
Sales figures suggest wrong spellings put off consumers who could have concerns about a website’s credibility, he said.
“I know that industry bemoaning the education system is nothing new but it is becoming more and more of a problem with more companies going online,” he said.
“This is because when you sell or communicate on the internet 99 percent of the time it is done by the written word.”
Duncombe said it was possible to identify the impact of a spelling mistake on sales.
He measured the revenue per visitor to the tightsplease.co.uk website and found that the revenue was twice as high after an error was corrected.
“If you project this across the whole of internet retail then millions of pounds worth of business is probably being lost each week due to simple spelling mistakes,” he said. (IANS)
Now, Brits want Pippa on back of a £10 note
London: Pippa Middleton is one of the celebrities that Britons would like to see replace Charles Darwin on the back of the 10-pound note, according to a new survey.
A quarter of people voted for Pippa, who topped Lord Alan Sugar and Keira Knightly to the coveted spot.
Those surveyed felt that it was time for a change, as a whopping 70 percent of Brits didn”t know who was on the back of the note.
“Even though we use them daily, it would appear most of us pay little attention to the symbols and faces on our currency,” The Sun quoted Patrick Coxen, spokesperson for T-Mobile PAYG – who commissioned the survey – as saying.
“However it seems there”s definitely an appetite to get for more from a tenner, with the UK identifying Lord Sugar and Pippa Middleton as the faces they”d like to see on the reverse of a 10 pounds note – over more traditional historical figures of old,” he added. (ANI)
Woman who hacked off mouse’s head escapes jail
Melbourne: An Australian woman who filmed herself hacking off a mouse’s head and posting the footage on Facebook has escaped jail term after she pleaded guilty to animal cruelty.
23-year-old Naomai Anderson filmed herself hacking off a mouse’s head and posting the footage on Facebook, ‘Brisbane Times’ reported.
A court in Brisbane ordered Anderson to perform 180 hours of community service for using a steak knife to cut off the mouse’s head earlier this month. The mouse took 40 seconds to die.
Anderson who uploaded the film of the episode on Facebook using an alias, could have received a maximum punishment of two years in jail under Queensland state’s animal cruelty laws. (PTI)
China province lets police sing, dance at office
Beijing: The police in China’s Jiangsu province have set up a ballroom at their office for officers who like to sing and dance.
A senior police officer, announcing this July 13, said that there were three regulations in force for the police officers.
These were: The police would not allowed to go to public entertainment venues for karaoke, have massages in private rooms at bathhouses, and play card games in the workplace.
However, now that the police bureau has opened a ballroom in its office building, officers can go there for karaoke and dancing, China Daily cited the Yangzi Evening News as reporting Friday. (IANS)
Man struggling to raise granddaughter wins $2m jackpot!
Sydney: An Australian grandfather, who was struggling to raise his granddaughter after her mother died due to cancer, has won an Australian $1.92 million (US $2 million) jackpot.
The 57-year-old, a resident of Mount Annan, a suburb in Sydney, broke down and cried tears of joy after learning about the news Friday morning.
Life has changed forever for the overjoyed granddad, who lost his only daughter to ovarian cancer after the birth of his now four-and-half years old granddaughter, whom he was raising with his wife while struggling to keep his business afloat, the Daily Telegraph reported.
“I’m still crying. I can’t believe it: it’s unbelievable. You have no idea how happy we are.
It’s been a life-changing experience for me. I am overawed: absolutely, totally and utterly surprised that I won such a lot of money,” said the man.
“We’ve had a really tough last five years. Our daughter passed away and my business has been going bad,” he added. (IANS)