Pensioner recovering after rocket
shoots into bedroom

-- A pensioner is recovering after a firework rocket shot through her bedroom window in Newcastle upon Tyne.   Fire quickly spread to the 10th floor flat's bathroom as neighbours went to save the 72 year old woman.    The fire brigade says she could have been killed by the prank which nearly had dreadful consequences.   Her son, described the people who aimed the firework at the block of flats as "moronic".   She was getting ready for bed when the firework smashed through the glass window of the adjoining room on Sunday evening.   "The bedroom where she would have been five minutes later was absolutely devastated and had she been in there she would have been killed.  I cannot comprehend what sort of moron could aim an industrial strength firework at a block of flats full of old people.   My mother is really too devastated to comment. She had such a shock and I don't think she really appreciates the extent of the damage."

 

Gang throw lit firework into Tube

Terrified passengers including a woman seven months pregnant cowered as a lit firework thrown by a gang of youths rocketed through their busy Tube carriage last Wednesday night, spewing out flame and smoke before exploding.    The youths threw the firework into the train at East Finchley station at about 6.30pm just as the doors were closing, trapping commuters inside as it detonated.    A woman, travelled with the gang from Leicester Square.  "As the doors closed at East Finchley all three of them leapt up and threw a rocket into the carriage," she said.   "Bang. The exposion was unreal like a bomb. The carriage filled up with smoke. Everyone was ducking as this thing zoomed around, flames coming out of it. It seemed to last forever.   There was a lady seven months pregnant, the sheer terror on her face was unreal. She was just about to have her first child. I took her to the end of the carriage and opened the window."   A woman told the driver what had happened. "People were coming up to me and asking what the explosion was. And those youths thought it was funny. They should know better after what happened in New York and in Bali," she said.

 

Brave driver keeps his cool
after firework explodes on bus

-- A bus driver prevented a serious road accident after a firework exploded on his vehicle while it was packed with women and children.  Hero bus driver managed to keep control of the steering wheel after being shocked by the deafening noise of the banger-type squib.  Yesterday, many of the 40 passengers who were on board the bus were full of praise for the driver for preventing the vehicle hitting oncoming or parked vehicles.    "This bus was packed at the time and the driver did extremely well to hold on to the steering wheel despite having been badly startled by the noise."   The single decker, packed with women and schoolchildren, was heading along Main Road, Elderslie, when a firework suddenly exploded in the front section of the bus.   One source said: "No one was expecting a firework to go off and it gave most people on board a real fright. The noise was deafening.  The driver immediately stopped the vehicle and radioed for the police. The bus remained at the scene of the incident until the police arrived."   Yesterday, a police spokesman said that two youngsters had been charged in connection with the incident and that a report has been sent to the Reporter to the Children’s Hearing.

FIREWORK CAUSED POST-BOX BLAZE

-- The fire brigade was called out to deal with a blaze in a post-box caused by a lit firework, Elgin Sheriff Court heard yesterday. The prompt action of the fire crew saved the contents of the public mailbox, although one envelope was scorched. Yesterday a teen, 17, had sentence deferred for six months for good behaviour after he admitted culpably and recklessly placing the firework in the box in Elgin's Newmill Road on October 22 last year. The teen was told by Sheriff: "This was stupid but fortunately there was no significant damage caused."

Shizuoka -- Japan
Explosion destroys condom vending machine

2002 -- A vending machine exploded on a Shizuoka street Thursday, apparently after explosives planted inside went off, police said

No one was injured in the 2:10 a.m. blast, which wrecked the vending machine that sold condoms and other goods.

Debris of the blown up vending machine littered the area, and some pieces were reportedly found some 40 meters away from the point where the machine originally stood.

Police forensic scientists are studying the debris to determine what caused the explosion. No one has claimed responsibility for the incident.

The scene of the blast, which is about two kilometers south of JR Shizuoka Station, is surrounded by rice paddies and is virtually deserted at night.