Air France voice recorder found

3 May 2011 Last updated at 08:21 GMT The discovery of the Air France cockpit voice recorder marks the end of a long search The cockpit voice recorder from an Air France plane that crashed into the Atlantic two years ago has been found, French investigators have said.

The discovery comes two days after the airliner's flight data recorder was also retrieved from the ocean.

Both recorders are said to be in good physical condition.

The Airbus A330 was flying from Rio de Janeiro in Brazil to Paris when it went down on 1 June 2009, killing all 228 people on board.

"We can now hope to find out what truly happened within the next three weeks," French Transport Minister Thierry Mariani told French radio.

France's Bureau of Investigation and Analysis (BEA) said the so-called black box would be shipped back to France, probably by the end of next week.

"The outside appears to be in relatively good shape," a spokeswoman said, adding it would be possible to see if the recorder was usable only once it was opened in France.

Long search

Last week, the French search team found the outer casing and then the memory unit of of the flight data recorder. The crucial unit was located on Sunday and delivered to a search vessel.

The wreckage was discovered last month after a long search of 10,000 sq km (3,860 sq miles) of sea floor.

Air France flight 447 went down after running into an intense high-altitude thunderstorm, four hours following take-off from Rio de Janeiro.

Those on board came from more than 30 countries, though most were French, Brazilian or German.

Experts say the data in the two flight recorders is the only hope of finding out why the plane crashed into the sea.

The cockpit voice recorder - one of the so-called "black boxes" - contains vital information about the pilots' reactions.

The flight data recorder collects in-flight data from the plane's instruments, such as altitude, speed and rudder position.

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India helicopter crash site found

4 May 2011 Last updated at 06:54 GMT Mr Khandu was travelling with four others The wreckage of a helicopter carrying the chief minister of India's Arunachal Pradesh state has been spotted by search teams, officials say.

The helicopter carrying Dorjee Khandu and four others went missing on Saturday en route to Tawang from the state capital, Itanagar.

Three bodies have been seen in the wreckage near the Lugudhang area located at 4,900m.

Army rescue teams are tying to reach the site.

India's Home Minister P Chidambaram told reporters that the wreckage had been spotted in an area between Kyela and Lugudhang in Arunachal Pradesh, a location that "could have been" on the flight path of the helicopter.

A team of soldiers are on their way by foot to the crash site, he said.

India launched one of its biggest search operations, involving thousands of security forces, for the missing helicopter.

Reports said more than 10,000 people, including 3,000 security forces from India and neighbouring Bhutan, fighter jets and army helicopters were engaged in the five-day search in a mountainous, snow-clad region.

Mr Khandu's son, Tashi Tsering Khandu, had also joined the search operations by foot along with a team of 100 men.

The other passengers on the helicopter were Mr Khandu's security officer Yeshi Choddak and a relative of a state lawmaker, Yeshi Lamu, and two crew members JS Babbar and KS Malick.

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Air France flight recorder found

1 May 2011 Last updated at 20:57 GMT The recorder was found partially embedded in sand on the sea bed One of two flight recorders from an Air France plane that crashed in 2009 off the coast of Brazil has been recovered, officials say.

France's Bureau of Investigation said in a statement that the device was "in good physical condition".

French search teams last week found the outer casing of the so-called black box recorder, but not its memory.

The Air France Airbus plane went down in the Atlantic on 1 June 2009, killing all 228 people on board.

Cockpit conversations

The wreckage was discovered last month after a long search of 10,000 sq km (3,860 sq miles) of sea floor.

The remains of the plane were found only on a fourth attempt, using robots capable of operating 4,000m (13,120ft) below the ocean's surface.

The Paris-bound Air France jet went down after running into an intense high-altitude thunderstorm, four hours following take-off from Rio de Janeiro.

Those on board came from more than 30 countries, though most were French, Brazilian or German.

Experts say the data in the flight recorders - which records cockpit conversations - is the only hope of finding out why the plane crashed into the sea.

But one expert told the Associated Press that the data recorder's information may yet prove unusable, as it was subjected to underwater pressure for nearly two years.

"We can't say in advance that we're going to be able to read it until it's been opened," a spokeswoman told the news agency.

The data recorders are expected to be sent back to Paris for testing.

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Husband and wife found murdered

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VIDEO: Ancient war grave found in Derbyshire

18 April 2011 Last updated at 06:14 GMT Help

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More mass graves found in Mexico

13 April 2011 Last updated at 22:56 GMT More bodies were found in Tamaulipas at the same time as graves were discovered in Sinaloa Forensic experts in Mexico have found 13 bodies buried in shallow graves in northwestern Sinaloa state.

Investigators said the victims had been shot in the head, execution-style.

The find comes at the same time as officials unearthed another 10 bodies in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas, bringing the total to 126.

Mexican Interior Secretary Francisco Blake Mora said the government would not tolerate such atrocities and promised to send more troops.

He said the military would not leave the area until those responsible for the crime had been caught.

Sinaloa graves

Authorities were alerted to the mass graves in Sinaloa by a local farmer who noticed a strong smell coming from the field where the bodies were buried.

When a mass grave is found, relatives of the missing come to hear if family members are among the victims

The bodies were found in seven shallow pits. Forensic experts said the victims were killed some five or six months ago.

Two of the victims were female and were wearing clothes which match those of two students who went missing in October.

Officials said they were still awaiting DNA and dental tests to confirm if they were indeed the two students.

One of the male bodies is believed to be that of Edgar Binuela Gutierrez, a doctor who was kidnapped in August in a nearby town.

Investigators said they could identify him because he was wearing a bracelet bearing his name when he was killed.

Tamaulipas killings

The discovery of the Sinaloa graves came as investigators continued to unearth bodies from mass graves in Tamaulipas state, where a total of 126 have now been uncovered over the past week.

The Mexican government blamed the Zetas drug cartel for those killings. The authorities have arrested 17 people in connection with the discovery of the bodies.

The federal government has deployed a special investigative team to try and track down the leaders of the cartel.

Founded by former members of the Mexican special forces, the Zetas cartel is widely believed to be one of the most ruthless groups operating in the country.

Well-trained and well-armed they first acted as hitmen for the Gulf cartel, before setting up their own criminal organisation, police say.

They are also believed to be behind the killing last August of 72 migrants from South and Central America, who were killed in the same town for refusing to join their ranks.

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More mass graves found in Mexico

11 April 2011 Last updated at 22:24 GMT An employee at a morgue in Tamaulipas prepares to unload more bodies found in mass graves The number of bodies found in mass graves in north-eastern Mexico over the past week has risen to 88, after 16 more corpses were discovered.

Investigators found four new graves in San Fernando, not far from the United States border.

They were tipped-off by a suspect who was detained on Saturday.

Police said he had confessed to the kidnapping and subsequent killing of dozens of victims, who were travelling through the area on buses.

On Thursday, police found 59 bodies in eight mass graves in San Fernando, in Tamaulipas state. Thirteen more bodies were discovered the following day in two other graves.

Officials say 16 people have been arrested in connection with the discovery of the mass graves, but the motive for the killings remains unclear.

The gruesome find resembles the discovery last August of the bodies of 72 Central and South American migrants, who were killed in the same town for refusing to join the ranks of the cartel which had abducted them.

Tamaulipas state, where the mass graves where found, is at the centre of a bloody battle between rival drug gangs for control of the lucrative drug-smuggling routes to the US.

Around 35,000 people have been killed in drug-related violence in Mexico since President Felipe Calderon declared war on the country's drug cartels.

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Bones found near New York beach

11 April 2011 Last updated at 23:10 GMT Police found two more sets of remains near Jones Beach in New York on Monday Police have found what they suspect may be human remains in two separate locations near a New York beach, in the same area where eight corpses have already been discovered.

A skull was found in brush about 90ft (27m) from a highway on Long Island on Monday, Lt Kevin Smith said.

Another set of remains was unearthed earlier in the day.

Since December, eight corpses have been found in the region. Police suspect a serial killer could be at large.

The latest discovery was made as police expanded their search from Long Island's Suffolk County to Jones Beach in Nassau County, just east of the New York City border.

Police also made several discoveries of bones on Monday that were quickly determined to be animals.

Of the skull, Lt Smith said: "Whether it is human or not, is unknown at this point."

Craigslist escorts

The latest search was sparked by the discovery of four sets of remains in the past two weeks along Ocean Parkway, which leads to the popular Jones Beach State Park.

Police sent the two sets of remains, which were found several miles apart, to the medical examiner's office to confirm whether they were human.

The bodies of four women who worked as escorts were found in the region in December.

Those remains, which were identified using DNA and dental records, were found while authorities were following up on the disappearance of a woman from New Jersey seen working as a escort in the Long Island area.

Investigators continue to search for the remains of Shannan Gilbert, a New Jersey woman who was last seen in May at nearby Oak Beach, where she had arranged to meet a client she had met through Craigslist.

Police have not officially linked the discoveries in the past several weeks with those found in December.

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More bodies found in Ivory Coast

8 April 2011 Last updated at 11:56 GMT Pro-Ouattara forces round up prisoners in the main city of Abidjan More than 100 bodies have been found in Ivory Coast, the United Nations has said, amid the continuing conflict between rivals for the presidency.

The UN said the bodies had been found in the west of the country, in apparent ethnic killings.

Internationally recognised President Alassane Ouattara has been battling incumbent Laurent Gbagbo, who is blockaded in a bunker in Abidjan.

Meanwhile, the EU says it may ease sanctions after a plea by Mr Ouattara.

The UN has certified Mr Ouattara as the winner of November's run-off vote for president but Mr Gbagbo has refused to cede power.

Mr Ouattara's forces have swept down from the north over the past two weeks but much of the main city of Abidjan is dominated by Gbagbo supporters and days of fighting has plunged it into crisis.

'Liberian mercenaries'

Rupert Colville, spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said its team had found more than 100 bodies in the past 24 hours across three locations in the west.

"All the incidents appear to be ethnically motivated," he said.

Mr Ouattara tells Ivorians Mr Gbagbo's refusal to step down had caused a great crisis

The findings on 7 April were:

Duekoue: 15 new bodies, bringing the total number of known dead in a 28-29 March incident to 244. Victims mostly or all of Guerre ethnicity, traditional Gbagbo supporters. Some seem to have been burnt alive and some corpses were thrown down a wellBlolequin: 40 bodies. Perpetrators said to have been Liberian militias, who spared the Guerre after separating them out from other groupsGuiglo: 60 bodies, including a number of West Africans

The reports of mass killings began last week, after Duekoue was captured by pro-Ouattara forces.

Each side has blamed the other for the killings.

Mr Colville told the BBC there were fears more bodies would be found.

He added: "If Mr Gbagbo gives up, it would allow the new administration to try to restore law and order but it is very hard for everyone, including the UN, while this impasse continues."

Mr Colville said of the latest killings that "one has to be a little bit cautious of assigning responsibilities".

The Ouattara camp has previously accused Laurent Gbagbo of recruiting Liberian mercenaries, a claim Mr Gbagbo denies.

But there are reports of both sides using local ethnic militias, which have had a long-standing influence in the west of the country. They were not disarmed after the previous civil war and their overall loyalty is questionable.

'Question of principle'

On Friday, UN relief agencies called for humanitarian corridors which will allow safe passage for thousands of people fleeing the fighting.

Continue reading the main story 28 Nov 2010: Incumbent Laurent Gbagbo and challenger Alassane Ouattara in election run-off2 Dec: Electoral commission announces that Ouattara won 54% of vote3 Dec: Constitutional Council declaring Gbagbo the winner; UN says Ouattara was victor30 Mar 2011: Pro-Ouattara forces enter the capital, Yamoussoukro4 Apr: UN launches air strikes on Gbagbo in main city, Abidjan5 Apr: Three generals negotiate Gbagbo's surrender6 Apr: Gbagbo denies he is ready to leaveMeanwhile, the European Union says it hopes to begin easing some of its sanctions on Ivory Coast soon, following a request from Mr Ouattara.

A spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton told the BBC: "We've received a request from President Ouattara to remove certain entities from the sanctions list. We are working on this in close consultation with President Ouattara and hope to be able to begin easing the sanctions soon."

There are EU sanctions across many sectors, including on two key ports, banks and on cocoa exports, as well as individual sanctions on Mr Gbagbo and dozens of his supporters.

In Abidjan, pro-Ouattara forces continue to besiege Mr Gbagbo in his residence.

Mr Ouattara said a blockade had been set up around the perimeter to make the district safe for residents. He said his forces would wait for Mr Gbagbo to run out of food and water.

Advisers to Mr Gbagbo say he is determined not to surrender.

"President Gbagbo will not surrender," said his Paris-based adviser Toussaint Alain.

"It's a question of principle. He is a president elected by his people."

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