ABRACADABRA

Five die over a goat 

Islamabad - Five people, including four members of a family, were gunned down in a feud over a stolen goat in Pakistan's northwest, police said.

The exchange of firing took place between two groups in Dogdara area, reported Online news agency.

Members of Sherbaz group proceeded to Haya Gul Gujar's residence to inquire into the theft of their goat. But they were fired upon following which a shootout took place. During the firing, Gujar and three members of his family were killed on the spot while Badar Munir from Sherbaz group was shot dead.

Two people, Umar Muhammad and Jumma, have been arrested. 

No more ‘mother’ and ‘father' in France

London: France is set to ban the words 'mother' and 'father' from all official documents under its controversial plans to legalize gay marriage.

The move, that has outraged certain sections, means only the word 'parents' would be used in identical marriage ceremonies for all heterosexual and same-sex couples.

 The draft law states that "marriage is a union of two people, of different or the same gender", the 'Daily Mail' reported.

All references, according to the draft, to 'mothers and fathers' in the civil code - which enshrines French law - will be swapped for simply 'parents'.

The law would also give equal adoption rights to homosexual and heterosexual couples.

“Who is to say that a heterosexual couple will bring a child up better than a homosexual couple, that they will guarantee the best conditions for the child’s development?” Justice Minister Christiane Taubira told France’s Catholic newspaper La Croix.

Two pilots fell asleep during flights they operated

London: Two pilots working for an airline in the United Kingdom (UK) were found to have fallen asleep while operating a flight mid-air.

Both men were alone in the cockpit when their co-pilots left the flight deck, the Civil Aviation Authority revealed.

The authorities refused to name the airlines, claiming it would breach confidentiality. But the British Airlines Pilots Association say the problem is common.

It revealed that 43 per cent of members polled admitted sleeping in the cockpit.

In one of the incidents uncovered after a Freedom of Information request, the captain had left the cockpit to use the toilet but had to use a code to get back in the cockpit because he found the pilot "slumped over the controls", The Sun reported.

Another pilot also found himself unable to get back in the cockpit and used the entry code. His first officer had to be shaken awake.

A third pilot also fell asleep, while his plane was on the ground.

German pen pal’s postcard reaches destination 49 yrs later

London : A postcard by a German pen pal to her friend in the UK was finally delivered  almost half a century after it was first posted! Jason and Anna Crabtree were astonished when the letter – originally sent from Germany – fell on their doorstep in Maidenhead, Berkshire. The postcard was sent from Bad Godesberg near Bonn and was posted on March 13, 1963, the Daily Mail reported. Now, the couple have tracked down the rightful recipient, Derek Lewis, 71, a retired grandfather who used to live in their house. “We were surprised that the original stamp was intact and it was in such good condition.

 We thought it was pretty funny that the Royal Mail decided to deliver it and that there wasn’t even a note on it,” Crabtree, 37, said. “We are also wondering where it could have been all these years. It would be quite interesting if we could track its very long journey,” Crabtree added. A delighted Lewis said the card had come from an old pen pal, Gudrun Rentrope, who he’d been writing to since he was 17.  Gudrun had sent the postcard as a thank you after Lewis had looked after her father during a visit to England.

However, the card never turned up and Lewis, a retired finance worker, said it was then that the pair lost touch. Lewis, who also lives in Maidenhead, said he was “totally surprised” when it finally reached him 49 years after it was posted. “The postcard thanked me for looking after her dad and passing on gifts. She was a very dear friend. It was quite a pleasant time in my life,” Lewis said. “In those days people didn’t have postcodes and I think this could have been one of the reasons it went missing.I can’t imagine how it got back into the system again,” Lewis added. The card was stamped by Royal Mail in Swindon on Monday, October 29, 2012. The Royal Mail has dismissed the possibility that it had gone missing in their system and suggested it must have been put in a postbox recently. “It is extremely unlikely that this item of mail was in our system all this time,” spokesman Candice MacDonald said. "It is difficult to speculate what may have happened, but almost certainly it was put back in a postbox very recently, as we regularly check all our sorting offices and machines are cleared,” MacDonald said.