NYU student rescued after getting wedged between 2 buildings

      

NEW YORK (WABC) -- 

An NYU student is recovering Monday after he became trapped between two buildings in Lower Manhattan and needed to be rescued.

Rescue workers had to breach a concrete wall to gain access to 19-year-old Asher Vongtau, who is listed in serious but stable condition at Bellevue Hospital after he was found wedged in an area about six to 18 inches wide next to 80 Lafayette Street just after 5 p.m. Sunday.

The sophomore was wedged in the coffin-sized space for two days.

It's unclear how he got stuck between the two buildings, an 18-story NYU dorm and a parking garage, but he was talking to responders who spent over an hour and a half working to free him.

Vongtau's mother traveled overnight to New York City to be by her son's side. She told Eyewitness News that Asher doesn't remember the events that led up to him falling.

"He really can't remember up until when he fell in there, exactly what happened, maybe as he comes to," mom Habiba Vongtau said. "[He has] broken bones, arm, and contusions, and cracked, I think fractured pelvis."

Friends reported him missing following a fire alarm in the dorm Saturday morning. They called authorities to file a missing persons report, but were also told to check the roof of the building.

An NYU public safety officer found Vongtau's cell phone and heard his moans coming from the shaft below.

"We went door-to-door asking people what they knew about him, and one person told us the last that they'd seen, he was headed up the stairs," friend Michael Yablon said. "So we went to security and said, 'Hey guys, you need to go on the roof and check the roof.' And that's where they found his cell phone, and that's how they found him."

It appears Vongtau may have fallen out of a fifth floor window to get wedged between the buildings. NYU officials say that immediately after receiving the report, they began to look for him.

Kenya mall attack: Four accused of having role in bloody siege

Nairobi, Kenya (

 -- Four people were charged Monday, accused of involvement in the attack on the Westgate mall in Kenya, but each pleaded not guilty.

The Somali terror group Al-Shabaab, an affiliate of al Qaeda, claimed responsibility for the bloody four-day siege at the upscale mall in Nairobi, during which at least 67 people were killed. The attack began on September 21.

Questions remain about those who carried out the attack and the response by security forces.

Monday's court appearance by the four defendants only created new questions. Authorities said they weren't even sure of two of the defendants' names.

They were charged with committing a terrorist act. Some face related charges of aiding attackers before, during or after the attack.All four are believed to be from Somalia, but authorities said two of them had Kenyan identification cards and citizenship papers. The hearing was delayed two hours to find a translator when the defendants claimed to be unable to speak Swahili or English.

They were denied bail. Their trial is expected to begin next week.

Former spy: Attack 'could have been prevented'

Changing accounts

The exact number of people Kenyan authorities say were involved in or connected to the deadly assault has fluctuated.

As the attack unfolded, Kenyan officials said that as many as 15 gunmen were involved.

On the fourth day of the siege, as the security operation wound down, President Uhuru Kenyatta said five terrorists had been killed and 11 suspects were in custody.

Last month, the Kenyan military said four gunmen died when part of the mall collapsed. It's unclear how many civilians and terrorists may still be buried beneath the concrete chunks of the collapsed section of the mall.

Did 'White Widow' spy on mall?

Evidence of torture

The Norwegian security service, PST, has said it is investigating suspicions that a Norwegian citizen took part in the attack.

Kenyan authorities say they are investigating allegations that some Kenyan soldiers looted stores in the mall as they searched for the attackers.

Surveillance video from the mall showed gunmen casually shooting some civilians. They reportedly also tortured some hostages, according to military doctors who saw evidence of severed hands and noses. Some hostages had been hanged, according to the doctors.

Five more held in deadly attack

U.S. targets Al-Shabaab

In recent weeks, U.S. Navy SEALs sought but failed to capture Mohamed Abdikadir Mohamed, said to be one of the most dangerous Al-Shabaab commanders. He is also known as Ikrima.

But a U.S. military drone strike in southern Somalia late last month killed two suspected Al-Shabaab members, U.S. officials said.

One of those killed was described by one of the officials as Anta, considered a top technical and explosives expert for the group.

Kenya, Somali forces raid Al-Shabaab hideout.

Source - http://edition.cnn.com/2013/11/04/world/africa/kenya-mall-attack/index.html?hpt=hp_t3

BlackBerry abandons search for buyer

Shares of BlackBerry plunged more than 10% on Monday after the company abandoned plans to sell the company and fired its CEO.

BlackBerry's (BBRY) potential suitors had until Monday to produce plans to buy the struggling smartphone maker. Instead, BlackBerry's largest shareholder, Fairfax Financial, said it would invest $1 billion in the company.

Fairfax, which controls 10% Of BlackBerry's shares,announced in late September that it intended to buythe rest of the company for $4.7 billion. BlackBerry wasreported to have met with several other technology companies about a buyout of all or parts of the firm since then, including Google (GOOG, Fortune 500),Cisco (CSCO, Fortune 500), SAP (SAP), Intel(INTC, Fortune 500), Facebook (FB, Fortune 500), LG, Samsung and Lenovo.

                                                                  

BlackBerry co-founders Mike Lazaridis and Douglas Fregin also said they were interested in taking BlackBerry private a month ago in conjunction with mobile chip leader Qualcomm(QCOM, Fortune 500) and private equity firm Cerberus.

The company declined to say why it didn't accept any offers, but it's possible that potential suitors either couldn't come up with the funding or were no longer interested after taking a look at BlackBerry's books. BlackBerry is a deeply troubled company with sinking sales, mounting losses and a user base that is increasingly defecting to rival smartphone makers, such as Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) and hardware companies making phones that run on Google's Android.

It has also been hemorrhaging cash as steep writedowns and losses threatened the company's future. BlackBerry also announced plans to lay off 4,500 employees by the end of the year in September and said last month that those job cuts will cost $400 million -- four times as much as the company had previously expected.

Related: BlackBerry's hometown vows to survive

BlackBerry also announced Monday that CEO Thorsten Heins will be leaving the company and step down from the board. Heins is due $13.25 million in severance, according to BlackBerry's most recent proxy statement. In March, BlackBerry revised the CEO's pay package "in recognition of Mr. Heins' outstanding performance."

But since then, BlackBerry released two new smartphones that were designed to turn around the company -- and instead were gigantic flops. BlackBerry was forced to write down nearly $1 billion of inventory for the keyboardless Z10 smartphone.

John Chen, former CEO of Sybase, will serve as interim CEO and executive chairman of the board. Prem Watsa, CEO of Fairfax, will head up the committee to search for a permanent successor to Heins.

Chen's past experiences make clear why BlackBerry would want him to take the helm ... even if it is just on a temporary basis. Chen successfully turned once-struggling Sybase around before selling it to SAP in 2010.

In its announcement on Monday, BlackBerry said it will no longer be seeking "strategic alternatives." The company first announced in August that it was seeking a buyer, but BlackBerry now believes that the $1 billion Fairfax investment will solve its near-term problems.

Barbara Stymiest, chairwoman of BlackBerry's board, said in a prepared statement that the "financing provides an immediate cash injection on terms favorable to BlackBerry." Fairfax and other investors are buying debt securities that can convert into stock over the next seven years.

BlackBerry did not announce any strategic plans as part of its announcement, but a breakup could still be on the table. Many tech analysts believe that while the future does not look good for BlackBerry's smartphone business, the company's software business is still viable and could be valuable to other tech firms. The same may be true for BlackBerry's mobile technology patents. 

Source - http://money.cnn.com/2013/11/04/technology/blackberry-fairfax/?hpt=hp_t3

Tropical Storm Sonia hits Mexico; minor flooding

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Former Tropical Storm Sonia dissipated over the Mexican Pacific coast state of Sinaloa, but not before causing some minor flooding in cities such as Mazatlan and Culiacan, forcing the evacuation of around 1,000 people, authorities said Monday.

The evacuations were largely preventative and people are expected to start returning to their homes, said Sinaloa state civil defense official Gabriel Olivera.

There were no confirmed reports of injuries, but one fisherman was reported as missing at sea, Olivera said.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Monday that Sonia had been downgraded to a tropical depression and later dissipated after hitting land early Monday, but it said moisture from the storm system will continue on into Texas.

The government of Sinaloa state said classes were canceled for Monday in five municipalities affected by the storm.

Source - http://townhall.com/news/world/2013/11/04/tropical-storm-sonia-slows-as-it-hits-mexico-n1735857

Suicide bombing kills at least 6 in Syrian town

A suicide bomber blew up a truck laden with explosives in the town of Sabtiyeh in east of Homs province Monday, killing at least 6 and injuring 37 people, a Syrian official from Homs said.

The official also said that there is no information yet about the identity of the suicide bomber, but he confirmed that there were children among the dead as the blast happened near a school compound.

The official refrained from revealing his identity because he was not authorized to give information on the bombing to journalists.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that the death toll could rise because some of the wounded were in critical condition.

In another incident, a mortar round hit an area close to the ancient Damascus citadel, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

"A mortar landed near the Damascus citadel wounded several people, while another fell near the Dweila district (in the southeast), setting fire to a textile plant."

"The news of the blast was confirmed by state news agency SANA, who blamed terrorists for a shell that caused a textile factory to burn down completely," AFP reported.

The news agency often refers to those opposing President Bashar al-Assad as terrorists.

Syrian state TV reported that opposition fighters have escalated mortar attacks on Damascus as witnessed Sunday as several mortar shells fell over a number of areas in the Syrian capital, damaging many buildings and wounding at least 10 people.

It is worth mentioning that the Chinese embassy, the Iraqi consulate and the Russian embassy in Damascus, were hit by mortar shells last month.

In the northern city of Aleppo, two people were killed in a fresh mortar attack at the Sa'ad Allah al-Jabiri Square in the heart of the city, according to SANA.

Meanwhile, SANA news agency, said that regime forces are planning to begin a large-scale military offensive in the al-Qalamoun region — a region of strategic importance for the defense of Damascus — to recapture the areas of southern Damascus that have long been held by rebel groups in the now over two-and-a-half year old conflict.

Syrian newspapers are expecting the military campaign against the armed opposition in al-Qalamoun region to begin as soon as possible, before the Geneva II conference which is scheduled to be held in Nov. 23.

Last month, al-Watan Saudi daily reported that Lebanon's Hezbollah group was mobilizing up to 15,000 fighters to aid Syrian regime forces in their attempt to dislodge rebel forces in al-Qalamoun region.

The army has been keeping these suburbs under siege for nearly a year and according to activists, food and basic supplies are so scarce that many children are suffering from malnutrition, according to AFP.

The Observatory added that fighting between regime forces supported by Iran-backed Lebanese Shiite group, Hezbolla, was also taking place in Sbeineh in the south of Damascus and in the Al Hajar Al Aswad neighbourhood, while "regime forces bombarded parts of the town.”