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French mother confesses to eight baby murders
07/29 | 11:49 GMT
©AFP/Facebook
A picture taken from the Facebook page allegedly shows Dominique Cottrez, who was charged with the "deliberate homicides of minors under the age of 15". Her husband was charged with "failure to report a crime and harbouring corpses".
©AFP/Facebook
Dominique Cottrez has admitted suffocating the infants
DOUAI, France (AFP) - A French mother admitted killing eight newborn babies Thursday, investigators said, as a shocked nation struggled to digest the latest grisly tragedy of village life.
Dominique Cottrez, a nursing assistant in her forties, was charged with the murder of the babies and her husband Pierre-Marie Cottrez with failure to report a crime and illegally hiding corpses.
The mother admitted suffocating the infants and insisted her husband knew nothing about the pregnancies nor the killings, according to an official close to the investigations. She faces life imprisonment.
Her husband denied any knowledge of the deaths, the official said.
Stunned residents of the pair's quiet village of Villers-au-Tertre in northern France put flowers and candles outside the two houses where police had found the skeletal remains over the previous few days.
Prosecutors described it as the worst case of infanticide in recent French history, following a string of similar cases in which isolated and troubled mothers disposed of their newborns.
©afp.com
VIDEO: French police arrest couple after eight dead babies found
The suspects were brought before a magistrate in the nearby town of Douai to hear the charges. They were remanded in custody and prosecutors promised to hold a news conference to explain the charges.
Pierre-Marie Cottrez worked as a carpenter and was a respected member of the council in Villers-au-Tertre, a 620-strong community.
"He's on his third term in office. He used to volunteer in the community. He's a respectable man," local mayor Patrick Mercier told reporters.
Mercier said the councillor's wife was a more withdrawn person who rarely took part in village life. He said she had a weight problem which might be the reason why any pregnancies had passed unnoticed.
"No-one was aware of anything at all," said the shocked mayor.
©AFP/Graphics / null
Prosecutors described it as the worst case of infanticide in recent French history
The pair were arrested on Tuesday and questioned all day Wednesday while police used sniffer dogs to search two addresses after the new owners of a home found the bones of two infants while digging in their garden.
The house previously belonged to the parents of the arrested woman.
Search teams then headed on to the couple's current home in another part of the village, where six more sets of remains were found, a local councillor told reporters.
Gendarmes were deployed outside one of the houses where the babies' bodies were found, and sealed off the entrance to the macabre scene with plastic sheeting.
"I'm thinking of all the children in the world. I'm thinking of all the children who didn't ask to be born and were thrown out a few hours later," said local priest Father Robert Meignotte.
"I'm very upset. I baptise five children every Sunday in the 17 villages of the parish. You don't just throw children out like that in a big bag. It's incomprehensible," he said.
©AFP / Denis Charlet
Dominique Cottrez said her husband knew nothing about the pregnancies nor the killings
"I'm still in shock," said a former mayor of Villers-au-Tertre, Daniel Collignon, describing the village as a very calm and rural place.
Neighbours reacted with astonishment. "They are normal people, who even have a role in the community," said one. "It's incredible."
Another neighbour, a man in his 50s, added: "These are attractive, helpful, polite and courteous people, who did nothing to make you think them capable of anything abnormal.
The couple had lived in the village for 15 years and had two grown-up daughters who have children themselves, local residents said.
The incident is the latest in a string of similar cases in France.
Earlier this year a mother was convicted of killing six of her newborn children and hiding them in the cellar of her house in northwestern France.
Another notorious recent case was Veronique Courjault, who in June 2009 was jailed for eight years by a court in Tours, central France.
©AFP / Denis Charlet
The woman was charged with the "deliberate homicides of minors" -- which carries a life sentence
She admitted to having smothered two baby boys born in secret at her expatriate home in South Korea in 2002 and 2003, and a third child born in France in 1999, and hidden them in a freezer.
She was freed in May 2010, having served four years in jail after the time she spent in remand since her arrest.
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Morgan sparks England revival in cricket Test
07/29 | 14:58 GMT
©AFP / Ian Kington
Mohammad Aamer of Pakistan (left) reacts after dismissing England captain Andrew Strauss at Trent Bridge in Nottingham. Eoin Morgan led England to 190 for four at tea after Pakistan took two wickets in quick succession on the first day of the first Test at Trent Bridge.
©AFP / Ian Kington
Aamer took two wickets for 19 runs in eight overs
NOTTINGHAM, England (AFP) - Eoin Morgan led England to 190 for four at tea after Pakistan took two wickets in quick succession on the first day of the first Test at Trent Bridge here on Thursday.
England, who won the toss, were in trouble at 118 for four shortly after lunch, with Kevin Pietersen out for nine in his first match since injuring his thigh in a one-day international against Australia at Lord's on July 3.
But former Ireland left-hander Morgan hit back with 44 not out featuring nine boundaries and together with Paul Collingwood (27 not out) had so far shared an unbroken stand of 72.
In a series where the Decision Review System (DRS) was being used in England for the first time, Pakistan wasted both their two permitted unsuccessful challenges on appeals by Mohammad Asif for lbw and caught behind against Pietersen on one and five.
But Asif then bowled Pietersen, leaving a gap between bat and pad, off the inside edge.
England's other South Africa-born batsman, Jonathan Trott, had added just three to his lunchtime 35 when he padded up to an inswinger from Aamer.
Trott, succcessful with a previous referral, asked for New Zealand umpire Tony Hill's lbw verdict to be reviewed.
But replays suggested the ball was clipping the top of the stumps and Trott was out, with England 118 for four.
And there was a fresh flashpoint when wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal appealed for a catch against Morgan, on five, off the bowling of left-arm fast bowler Mohammad Aamer.
But even before the third umpire ruled in Morgan's favour, crowd jeers were ringing round Trent Bridge as replays on the giant screen showed the ball had clearly bounced into Kamran Akmal's gloves.
It took Collingwood 30 balls to score his first four but then two came in as many Umar Gul deliveries, courtesy of a couple of square cuts.
©AFP / Ian Kington
Strauss (R) was caught behind for 45
Morgan then cover-drove and glanced off-spinner Shoaib Malik for fours.
Both batsmen cashed in against Pakistan's slow bowlers and Morgan made it six boundaries for England in 12 deliveries with a trademark reverse sweep off leg-spinner Danish Kaneria.
Before lunch Aamer, who took seven wickets in Pakistan's dramatic three-wicket second Test win over Australia at Headingley last week, had Alastair Cook caught at first slip and had England captain Andrew Strauss caught behind for 45.
Earlier, Strauss had a huge reprieve when, on 15, he edged an outswinger from the 18-year-old Aamer only for Kamran Akmal to drop the routine chance.
Cook struggled in overcast conditions similar to those in which Pakistan bowled Australia out for just 88 in the first innings at Headingley and on eight edged Aamer to first slip Imran Farhat.
Trott then became the first batsman to use DRS in England when, on 13, he given out, lbw to Kaneria, by de Silva. As replays showed Trott had got an inside edge, de Silva reversed his original verdict.
But Aamer did have Strauss, playing loosely outside off-stump, eventually caught behind by Kamran Akmal to end a second-wicket stand of 51.
Pakistan players wore black armbands in memory of the 152 people killed in after an airplane crashed near the capital city of Islamabad on Wednesday.
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Morgan sparks England revival in cricket ...Greenpeace makes fresh Indonesia allegations
07/29 | 15:41 GMT
©AFP
VIDEO: Greenpeace accuses Indonesian paper and palm oil giant Sinar Mas. Duration: 01:05
©AFP
Greenpeace made fresh allegations that units of Indonesian paper and palm oil giant Sinar Mas are clearing high conservation-value forests including habitats of endangered orangutans.
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Greenpeace makes fresh Indonesia ...Churchill's false teeth go on sale
07/29 | 14:46 GMT
©Churchill Archives Centre
A set of dentures made for Britain's war-time prime minister Winston Churchill went under the hammer on Thursday as auctioneers expected to fetch up to £5,000 for "the teeth that saved the world".
©Churchill Archives Centre
An archive of Churchill's personal papers is to be made available on the Internet for the first time
LONDON (AFP) - A set of dentures made for Britain's war-time prime minister Winston Churchill went under the hammer Thursday as auctioneers expected to fetch up to £5,000 for "the teeth that saved the world".
The false teeth were specially designed to preserve Churchill's natural lisp which can still be heard on the morale-boosting radio broadcasts he made to the nation during World War II.
Churchill also used them to vent his frustration when the 1939-45 conflict was not going well by dramatically flicking them out of his mouth, according to Nigel Cudlipp, whose father made the dentures and who is now selling them.
"My father recounted many stories of Churchill putting his thumb behind the front of the teeth and just flicking them," Cudlipp told BBC radio.
"My father used to say he could tell that he could tell how well the war effort was going by how far they went across the room and whether they hit the opposite wall.
"Churchill was not a man who was renowned for his patience."
It is thought that only four sets of the teeth were made. One is thought to have gone to the grave with him, another is in a London museum labelled "the teeth that saved the world" and a third was melted down.
The dentures are going on sale at auctioneers Keys in Aylsham, Norfolk, eastern England, who have issued a guide price of between £4,000 and 5,000 (6,000 euros, 7,800 dollars).
Meanwhile, it was announced Thursday that a huge archive of Churchill's personal papers is to be made available on the Internet for the first time within two years.
This includes around a million pages of material such as annotated drafts of his most famous speeches, school reports and even information about his cat, dogs and pet budgerigar Toby.
"Churchill was someone who lived by his pen so this is an incredibly rich written archive and it must be one of the largest personal archives of its kind in the country," Allen Packwood, director of the Churchill Archives Centre in Cambridge, told AFP.
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Churchill's false teeth go on ...At least 140 dead in DR.Congo river disaster
07/29 | 15:21 GMT
©AFP/Graphic
Map of the Democratic Republic of Congo showing where a boat capsized on the Kasai river in the west of the country killing at least 140 people, the provincial governor's office said Thursday.
©AFP/Graphic
Map of the Democratic Republic of Congo showing where a boat capsized on the Kasai river
KINSHASA (AFP) - A boat capsized on a river in Democratic Republic of Congo killing at least 140 people, the provincial governor's office said Thursday.
The boat overturned on the Kasai river, a tributary of the Congo river in the west of the country, on Wednesday.
"I can confirm the accident. We're currently in a crisis meeting," said a source in the Bandundu province governor's office who asked not to be named. The source said there were 140 dead.
The boat was carrying passengers and goods from Mushie, about 30 kilometres (20 miles) from Bandundu, the province's chief town.
River transport is widely used throughout DR Congo, where the numerous waterways include the 4,700 kilometres (2,915 miles) long Congo river.
Scores of people are killed each year though in river disasters involving overcrowded boats.
In November last year, at least 73 people died when two linked barges sank on Mai-Ndombe lake in Bandundu province. In September 2009, more than 250 people died in three boat accidents on Congolese waterways.
