BBC concert called off after man slashed backstage
London: The BBC Radio 1Xtra’s live event in Birmingham has been called off after a man suffered a slash wound during an incident backstage, it was reported on Sunday. The 1Xtra Live show at the Arena Birmingham was due to include performances from Aitch, French Montana, Ms Banks and headliner Wizkid.West Midlands Police said the injured man was helped on site after the incident on Saturday and did not go to hospital. The BBC apologised for calling off the event, but safety was a priority. In a statement, it said: “We are upset and saddened that something like this should happen to a guest at one of our events and we remain in close contact and continue to offer our full support.” 1Xtra Live was billed as an “unmissable night” with a “mix of emerging and established artists”. Tickets had sold out. (IANS)
Vets trying to save elephants rescued from Thai cliff
Bangkok: A team of veterinarians was on Sunday trying to save two elephants, rescued from a cliff near a Thai national park where six tuskers fell to their deaths after slipping off a waterfall. The Department of Natural Parks said in a Facebook post that the veterinarians were examining the condition of elephants that had “symptoms of fatigue” after hours of struggle on a cliff edge of the Haew Narok waterfall, reports Efe news. The animals were fed so that they gain strength to move and were kept under surveillance of animal rescuers and veterinarians who “continue monitor the situation”, the Department said. The two elephants were in a safe area although they were not yet out of danger, the government agency said. The elephants got trapped on Saturday, the same day six wild elephants were found dead at the bottom of the gushing waterfall, which has been temporarily closed for the public. Thailand is estimated to be home to around 3,000 of the total 48,000 Asian elephants in the world. Some 300 of them live in the national park, which is spread over 2,000 sq.km of forest and grassland. Around 100 years ago, over 300,000 elephants roamed Thailand’s forests, according to estimates by EleAid, a British non-profit working for the conservation and welfare of the Asian elephant. (IANS)
UK’s ‘Jihadi Jack’ spotted in Syrian jail
London, Oct 6 (IANS) A former British Islamic State (IS) recruit nicknamed “Jihadi Jack” was spotted gaunt and lying on the floor of a squalid, overcrowded jail in Syria, a media report said on Sunday. Jack Letts, the 23-year-old Muslim convert from Oxfordshire, who declared himself an “enemy of Britain” and fled to the Middle East to join IS, has been stripped of his UK citizenship, The Daily Mail said in the report. Letts was filmed among dozens of fellow IS prisoners, all in orange jumpsuits, who have been captured by Kurdish militia. On Saturday night, his mother Sally Lane pleaded for Letts to be allowed to return and face trial in the UK so that he can be rescued from the conditions in which he was being held, but the Home Office has dismissed her plea. Seeing the first images of Letts since he was taken prisoner two years ago, she told The Mail on Sunday: “It’s heart-rending to see your son like this and to feel so completely powerless. “We have been pressing the Red Cross for months to tell us what the jail is really like, but they always refuse, saying that to release this information would jeopardise their access.” Letts left Britain for the brutal ‘caliphate’ run by the IS terror group in 2014. (IANS)