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UK police are hunting a gang of thieves who are thought to have tapped into an underground oil pipeline, stealing thousands of liters of fuel, a newspaper reported on Monday.
More than 30,000 liters of diesel may have been taken from the pipeline running from Esso’s Fawley Refinery, the Daily Echo reported. That would be worth about 41,000 pounds ($70,000) at pump prices.
Oil theft from pipelines is relatively rare in Britain but a major problem in some parts of the world, such as Nigeria where it is estimated to cost the government up to $1 billion per month.
Police were guarding the spot in West Wellow, Hampshire, southern England, where the thieves are thought to have tapped into the 14-inch pipeline, the paper reported. The fuel is being stored safely and engineers from the refinery are working to retrieve it, it said, citing police.
The pipeline, known as the Midline Pipeline and owned by Esso, is one of the UK’s main underground pipelines that supply fuel including gas, diesel, gasoline and jet fuel.
A similar incident took place recently in Gloucestershire, the newspaper reported.
Esso, a UK unit of Exxon Mobil, did not comment on the Hampshire theft and referred enquiries to the police, the newspaper reported. (Reuters)
Ohio couple married for 70 years dies hours apart
An Ohio couple who met as teenagers and were married for 70 years, almost never sleeping apart, died from natural causes within a span of 15 hours, according to their daughter.
Helen Felumlee, 92, died on April 12 at their home in Nashport, Ohio, about 55 miles east of Columbus, and her husband Kenneth Felumlee, 91, passed away the next day, according to their joint obituary.
“We knew when one went, the other was going to go,” daughter Linda Cody told the Zanesville Times Recorder. “We wanted them to go together, and they did.”
The couple met as teenagers and married in 1944, raising eight children together, according to the obituary.
Helen was a homemaker and Kenneth was a railroad worker and later a mail carrier, and both were active in the Methodist church, where they taught Sunday school.
They spent their retirement traveling to all 50 states by bus and even after 70 years of marriage, they still ate breakfast every morning holding hands, Cody said.
The couple never slept apart until about three years ago, when Kenneth had part of his leg amputated due to circulation issues, she said. Helen became his main caretaker and also started spending some nights on the couch.
Kenneth Felumlee passed away with his family by his bedside after saying “Mom’s dead,” Cody said.
The couple also had 23 grandchildren and 43 great grandchildren, according to the obituary. (Reuters)
Teenager survives flight over Pacific in jet wheel well: FBI
A teenage boy who ran away from home survived a five-hour flight in the freezing wheel well of a jetliner that reached 38,000 feet as it traveled from California to Hawaii, the FBI said.
The 16-year-old, from Santa Clara, California, quickly lost consciousness as temperatures in the compartment sank as low as minus 80 degrees Fahrenheit (62 degrees Celsius below zero), said FBI special agent Tom Simon.
About an hour after the plane landed on Sunday morning, the boy regained consciousness and emerged onto the tarmac at the airport in Maui, where he was spotted by ground crew.
The stowaway told FBI officials that he had run away from home, climbed a fence at the airport in San Jose, California, crossed the tarmac and crawled into the wheel well of Hawaiian Airlines flight 45.
“His story checked out,” and no federal charges were filed, said Simon, of the FBI’s Honolulu office.
The boy was turned over to local child protection officials, and a medical examination showed he appeared to have been unharmed by the ordeal.
The flying time from San Jose to Hawaii was more than five hours.
Watch out for muggers while wearing Google Glass
The early birds who bought $1,500 wearable eyewear Google Glass that was sold for one day in the US last week are facing street violence from muggers and privacy campaigners.
According to a spokesperson for the San Francisco Police Department, street robbers are targeting Google Glass because it could be resold quickly.
Also, people protesting against the wearable device saying it affects their privacy, have ripped the glasses from the faces of those wearing them in public, a report in The Sunday Times said.
According to the report, a local journalist Kyle Russell lost his Google Glass when protesters during an anti-Google demonstration in San Francisco snatched Google eyewear and smashed it to the ground.
Another Glass lover Sarah Slocum was quoted as saying that her device was snatched off from her face in a bar by two women “who said techies like me are destroying the city (San Francisco)”.
Google, however, has requested its users to employ common sense when wearing Glass as the device is yet to have a tracking device if stolen.
Police have also warned the Glass wearers to watch out for muggers. (IANS)
Meet the first date ‘from hell’
A man, who stole a dog and a flat-screen TV from a woman on their first date, has now returned the loot back.
The woman, who met the man online, brought him home on Thursday and then got engaged in some work in another room. When she returned she found that the man, her Yorkshire Terrier named Violet worth 4,000 dollars and TV valued at 3,000 dollars had all disappeared. The looted goods were returned early Saturday morning, the New York Daily News reported.
According to the woman, she knew her date only as Joel and believed that he resides in Elizabeth.
Later, police said that they know the man’s identity and may press charges against him. (ANI)
Top doc declares booze helps drinkers to live longer
Top doctor Dr Kari Poikolainen has dismissed the widely accepted notion that men should have no more than four units of alcohol a day and instead said 13 units – equivalent of six pints of strong ale – a day was ok.
Dr Poikolainen’s studies, based on decades of research into the effects of booze, suggest drinkers live longer than people who don’t drink, Daily Star reported.
The former WHO volunteer, said evidence showed that moderate drinking is better than abstaining and heavy drinking is worse than abstaining. (ANI)