The terrorists appeared as if from nowhere. A military truck stopped near the school and men leapt from the cargo bed, firing rifles and shouting, "Allahu akhbar!" They moved with speed and certitude, as if every step had been rehearsed. The first few sprinted between the formation and the schoolyard gate, blocking escape. There was almost no resistance. Ruslan Frayev, a local man who had come with several members of his family, drew a pistol and began to fire. He was killed.
The terrorists seemed to be everywhere. Zalina saw a man in a mask sprinting with a rifle. Then another. And a third. Many students in the formation had their backs to the advancing gunmen, but one side did not, and as Zalina sat confused, those students broke and ran. The formation disintegrated. Scores of balloons floated skyward as children released them. A cultivated sense of order became bedlam.
Dzera Kudzayeva, seven, had been selected for a role in which she would be carried on the shoulders of a senior and strike a bell to start the new school year. Her father, Aslan Kudzayev, had hired Karen Mdinaradze, a video cameraman for a nearby soccer team, to record the big day. Dzera wore a blue dress with a white apron and had two white bows in her hair, and was on the senior's shoulders when the terrorists arrived. They were quickly caught.
For many other hostages, recognition came slowly. Aida Archegova thought she was in a counterterrorism drill. Beslan is roughly 950 miles south of Moscow, in a zone destabilized by the Chechen wars. Police actions were part of life. "Is it exercises?" she asked a terrorist as he bounded past.
He stopped. "What are you, a fool?" he said.
The terrorists herded the panicked crowd into a rear courtyard, a place with no outlet. An attached building housed the boiler room, and Zalina ran there with others to hide. The room had no rear exit. They were trapped. The door opened. A man in a tracksuit stood at the entrance. "Get out or I will start shooting," he said.
Zalina did not move. She thought she would beg for mercy. Her granddaughter was with her, and a baby must mean a pass. She froze until only she and Amina remained. The terrorist glared. "You need a special invitation?" he said. "I will shoot you right here."
Speechless with fear, she stepped out, joining a mass of people as obedient as if they had been tamed. The terrorists had forced the crowd against the school's brick wall and were driving it through a door. The people could not file in quickly enough, and the men broke windows and handed children in. Already there seemed to be dozens of the terrorists. They lined the hall, redirecting the people into the gym.
The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) asked visitors to Chelsea Flower Show to donate clean unwanted bras, boxer shorts and jockey pants for its summer Grow Your Own campaign.
Dozens handed in old underwear which will now be used, alongside stock contributed by Marks and Spencer, in a 'good life' display at Hampton Court Palace Flower Show , from 7 – 12 July 2009.
Georgie Webb of the RHS, said old undies could be used like hanging baskets where people have little space.
"Due to their conical shape, bras are ideal containers for turning into hanging baskets, and if you sew two together, you have what is best described as a 'hanging bra-sket'. Once filled with compost you can grow salad leaves, herbs, alpine strawberries and even tumbling cherry tomatoes in them; the bigger the bra the more you can grow. But the serious message behind the 'bra-skets' is that you do not need a lot of space or even a lot of money to start growing your own food – just a bit of imagination."
Hundreds of landowners in North Texas may have had their property stolen without their knowledge.
Investigators believe a massive fraud has taken place involving forged sales documents and fake buyers.
Daniel Ayala Sr. and Pedro Hererra signed over their properties for the sum of $10 on February 19, according to documents. Ayala's sons were understandably stunned to hear about it.
Daniel Ayala Sr. and Pedro Hererra have both been dead since 2003.
. . .
By the time victims find out, their land has already been sold and valuable mineral rights stripped out.
"They've sold it. They've sold the mineral rights already. That's it," said real estate agent, Hidie Maldonado after viewing official documents.
It all happened within hours to land owned by Hector Macias. "All you need is a notary and a fake signature and they can take your property," he said.
Macias has been told it could take several months and thousands of dollars to get the lawful title to his properties back.
[Boy the elephant's] beauty treatment at Kiev Zoo, in the Ukraine, was a truly jumbo task involving a saw, power grinders and quite a few pairs of hands.
The pedicure was done for Boy's benefit, as his nails had grown too long for comfort. It didn't look particularly pleasant, however, as the German vet and his assistants hacked away at his tippytoes, clippings flying off into the air.
Thankfully the 12,000lb Asian elephant, who is 39, had been heavily sedated for the procedure.
A Falmouth man was treated at Falmouth Hospital Wednesday after trying to catch a BB gun pellet with his bare hand, police said.
The 22-year-old man, who police did not identify, was treated for minor injuries after telling his friend to pump a BB gun one time and fire at him from across the room while the man attempted to catch the pellet.
The BB became lodged in his hand and had to be removed, police said.
I rapidly discover that there are two problems with a four-stallion chariot - and acceleration is not one of them.
The first challenge is simply preventing the horses from going flat out. The second is turning without flipping the cart, the horses and the driver.
Now, I am trying to do this in a huge, empty field miles from anywhere, where the only threat is myself.
Four months from now, though, five chariots, five insane charioteers and 20 horses will be attempting to replicate the mayhem of the great Ben Hur race on the tightest circuit in history.
They will be racing round a track slightly smaller than a football pitch. And the world premiere of all this will be in front of 14,000 people in London.
It sounds barmy, but then everything about the upcoming Ben Hur Live show seems a tad ambitious.
For a start, there is a cast of 400 and a production crew of 200.
The music has been written by a pop star (Stewart Copeland of The Police) and the script includes a sea battle with galleys on wheels and a flying menagerie featuring (real) eagles, falcons and vultures.
The actors will even speak Latin, much to the delight of London's Latin-speaking Mayor, Boris Johnson, who has been offered a walk-on part.
The word 'extravaganza' does not really do it justice.
. . .
For the moment, the charioteers are practising on a farm deep in the Brandenburg countryside where I find trainer Nicki Pfeifer in an ordinary carriage taking a quartet of frisky Andalusian greys through their paces.
These temperamental beasts are straight from a Spanish stud farm and have never pulled anything, let alone a Roman chariot.
'If the horses are educated, it will all be OK,' says Nicki, who seems to spend more time chatting to his horses than to humans.
He will be racing in the show himself. In fact, his is the best of five pretty awful roles, since it's his job to stand in for the actor playing Judah during the chariot race.
And Judah wins. Everyone else gets mangled.
Sitting alongside Nicki is Czech stuntman Peter Barik, 44, who has the joyous task of being thrown from his chariot every night and crashing into the scenery.
'It will be fine because I have a special catapult which throws me out,' he says cheerfully.
Oh, that's all right then. Is he worried? 'Not really. At least I am not on fire. The worst stunt job is when you are on fire.'
We set off for the training ground, which involves riding through the village of Neuendorf.
I nearly cause a pile-up as I reach a roundabout in the middle of the village.
A lorry driver slams on his brakes as he gives way to a chap in Roman armour in the back of a chariot pottering along at walking speed.
'Am I dreaming?' shouts a giggling lady driver.
A bakery which used a photo of Chuck Norris to scare off burglars has been congratulated on their plan by the legendarily tough action star.
The bakers in Split, Croatia, had been broken into almost every week until they put up the poster of the martial arts legend with a sign saying: 'This shop is under the protection of Chuck Norris.'
In more than a month since the picture was first displayed, the bakery hasn't had a single burglary.
Now, Norris has left the bakery a message on his official website saying he is proud to be able to help - even if not in person.
'I am glad to see I have been of assistance over in Croatia where they are using a picture of me to scare thieves,' Norris said on his website.
'Maybe I'll pay them a visit one day to make sure the message gets across - thieves are never welcome,' he said.
One interesting development in online education at college level, is the free access offering of selected Kaplan Higher Education courses as part of the Open Courseware Consortium. As the open courseware movement expands, options for free online learning will grow. And that should open the door for more independent certification organisations that can test and certify students for the benefit of potential employers and learning institutions.
College students can also use free online courses as preparation for challenging courses via test, or for taking knowledge assessment exams for college credit. Students could easily test out of a year or more of college using these free online courses.
A would-be gangster shot himself in the crutch when his gun went off half cocked in his pocket.
Lukas Neuhardt, 27, had forgotten to put the safety catch on when he stuffed the gun into his trouser pocket to impress pals in Saarbruecken, Germany.
He told paramedics that a masked mugger had blasted him in the crutch in a bungled robbery.
But police found a hole in his statement when they saw that the gunshot had miraculously left his trousers intact.
"Instead there was a charred hole in his pocket so either it was the shot of the century or he did it himself," said a police source.
Now - after surgeons stitched his manhood back together - he's facing up to three years in jail for breaching Germany's tough new anti gun laws.
Police in New Zealand are hunting a couple who disappeared after a bank accidentally paid ten million dollars into their account.
Huan Di Zhang and Hui Gao received $NZ 10 million (US $6.22 million) after asking Westpac Bank for a $NZ 10,000 (US $6,220) overdraft, reports local media.
The couple ran a service station, in Rotorua, which shut down earlier this month after owner, Heights Service Limited, went into receivership.
"The individuals associated with this account are believed to have left New Zealand and police are working through Interpol to locate those individuals," said Detective Senior Sergeant David Harvey.
"At this time I am not prepared to disclose the amount of money involved, name the individuals or business involved, or discuss which country the individuals may be in right now," he added.
Politicians like to talk about incentives -- for businesses to relocate, for example, or to get folks to buy local. After reviewing the new budget, I have identified the most compelling incentive of all: a major tax break immedi ately available to all New Yorkers. To be eligible, you need do only one thing: move out of New York state.
Last week I spent 90 minutes doing a couple of simple things -- registering to vote, changing my driver's license, filling out a domicile certificate and signing a homestead certificate -- in Florida. Combined with spending 184 days a year outside New York, these simple procedures will save me over $5 million in New York taxes annually.
By moving to Florida, I can spend that $5 million on worthy causes, like better hospitals, improving education or the Clinton Global Initiative. Or maybe I'll continue to invest it in fighting the status quo in Albany. One thing's certain: That money won't continue to fund Albany's bloated bureaucracy, corrupt politicians and regular special-interest handouts.
The U.S. Navy is coming to the rescue of unemployed autoworkers in Detroit. In a very interesting twist, Naval Sea Systems (NAVSEA) is recruiting mid-career automotive engineering professionals. Let's hope they design ships better than they design cars.
NAVSEA needs people - engineers, scientists and skilled tradesmen. According to NAVSEA, it has positions open at its headquarters and other affiliated program executive offices in Washington, naval warfare centers, shipyards and Navy-sponsored University Affiliated Research Centers (UARCs) across the U.S.
NAVSEA hopes to take advantage of the training automotive engineers already have - from lean initiatives to production line techniques and modern design.
. . .
The first career fair was held in Livonia, Mich. in April. More than 240 resumes were submitted by qualified applicants who were, according to a NAVSEA release, "interested in transitioning from designing cars to developing and maintaining U.S. Navy ships and systems."
Never mind the ick factor, a Utah boy is trying to get into the record books by covering his face with live snails. Eleven-year-old Fin Keheler, from Sandy, allowed 43 of the slimy mollusks to be put on his face Saturday. He wants the Guinness World Records to verify his effort.
Fin made three attempts on Saturday. Sitting back in a reclining chair, snails gathered from neighbors' gardens were carefully placed on his face. Those that remained for at least 10 seconds were counted.
