Ice Road Truckers' Star Darrell Ward Dies In Plane Crash

One of the stars of reality TV show "Ice Road Truckers" has been killed in a plane crash in Montana.

Darrell Ward, 52, died after the four-seater plane he was travelling in crashed southeast of the city of Missoula.

Local sheriff Captain Bill Burt said it appeared the pilot had been trying to land at a small airstrip but "something went drastically wrong".

The plane went through some trees, witnesses said, hitting some of them as it did so. 

Captain Burt said the pilot had bought the Cessna 182 on Friday.

A statement on Darrell Ward's Facebook page said he had been attending The Great American Truck Show in Dallas before flying to Montana.

It said Ward had been due to begin filming "a pilot for his new documentary style show involving the recovery of plane wrecks".

"An investigation is ongoing and more information will be made available at a later time."

Paying tribute, the statement added: "The things Darrell loved most were his family, including his kids and grand-kids & trucking." 

Ice Road Truckers, which is made by the History Channel, features lorry drivers battling freezing conditions to deliver supplies to remote areas of Canada and Alaska. 

The show - which has attracted around 900,000 viewers per episode on Channel 5 in the UK - has run for 10 seasons.

Ward was told over the weekend that he had a part in season 11, which is due to begin filming next winter.

Lightning Strike Kills More Than 300 Wild Reindeer In Norway

A lightning strike has killed more than 300 wild reindeer in Norway, in what officials described as an unusually large natural disaster.

Aerial footage shows reindeer carcasses scattered across a small area on the Hardangervidda mountain plateau.

The footage was released by the Norwegian Environment Agency, which said 323 animals were killed, including 70 calves.

Agency spokesman Kjartan Knutsen said it is not uncommon for reindeer or other wildlife to be killed by lightning strikes, "but we have not heard about such numbers before."

Aerial footage shows the scale of the destruction

He said reindeer tend to stay very close to each other in bad weather, which could explain how so many were killed at once during Friday's storm.

Thousands of reindeer migrate across the barren Hardangervidda plateau as the seasons change.

It is the second time this month that a large group of animals has been killed by lightning.

On 25 August, 38 sheep died after they were hit by lightning in the Indian district of Kanchipuram.

Lightning Strike Kills More Than 300 Wild Reindeer In Norway

A lightning strike has killed more than 300 wild reindeer in Norway, in what officials described as an unusually large natural disaster.

Aerial footage shows reindeer carcasses scattered across a small area on the Hardangervidda mountain plateau.

The footage was released by the Norwegian Environment Agency, which said 323 animals were killed, including 70 calves.

Agency spokesman Kjartan Knutsen said it is not uncommon for reindeer or other wildlife to be killed by lightning strikes, "but we have not heard about such numbers before."

Aerial footage shows the scale of the destruction

He said reindeer tend to stay very close to each other in bad weather, which could explain how so many were killed at once during Friday's storm.

Thousands of reindeer migrate across the barren Hardangervidda plateau as the seasons change.

It is the second time this month that a large group of animals has been killed by lightning.

On 25 August, 38 sheep died after they were hit by lightning in the Indian district of Kanchipuram.

50Naira Help Initiative: Lunches Social Enterprise

50Naira Help Initiative is an NGO created with the sole intension of improving the lives of Africans, using education, health and sanitation related projects of which an example is the WATER UP AFRICA project.

The WATER UP AFRICA project was born out of deep concern that over 600,000 Africans die annually from water related diseases, of which over 160,000 are Nigerians. This project seeks to stop the increase of such statistics by providing access to clean water across various communities in Africa.

Using Nigeria as a pilot country, WATER UP AFRICA aims to create access to drinkable water for about 1.2 Million Nigerians over the next 18 months. In the past four weeks, WATER UP AFRICA has visited 7 communities across various states in Nigeria namely; Goningora, Kakuri, Rigasa in Kaduna State, Madalla and Suleja in Niger State, Akwanga and Chun-Jah in Nassarawa State. According to Mr Andrew Lamai the pioneer of the project, so far in some of these communities we have been able to sink new boreholes, repair damaged ones and also train the locals on how to maintain and repair these boreholes, while work is still ongoing in other communities.


To ensure the sustainability of Water Up Africa, a social enterprise was launched on the 26th of August, 2016: WATER UP AFRICA TABLE WATER. To be part of the solution to the water epidemic in Africa, Water Up Africa calls upon Africans and our partners to be part of this social enterprise. Mr Andrew Lamai in a press briefing said “The social enterprise gives Africans the privilege to help give 10 children access to clean water just by purchasing one of the table water as the proceeds will be used to finance the project.''

Test For Parkinson's Disease Moves Step Closer

Scientists say they have identified a molecule in the spinal fluid of Parkinson's disease patients which may open the door to an early-stage test.

They say that if the disease is spotted early enough, people with the molecule could take part in trials to test new medicines that could slow or even stop the disease.

There is currently no definitive test that allows doctors to determine if someone has Parkinson's, especially at the early stage.

GPs and consultants tend to rely on medical history, the symptoms that someone is exhibiting and a neurological and physical examination.

The newly discovered molecule is a protein which forms sticky clumps known as Lewy bodies within the brain cells of people with Parkinson's and some types of dementia.

Studies found spotting the difference between healthy and harmful forms of the protein - called alpha-synuclein - led them to accurately identify 19 out of 20 samples from Parkinson's patients, as well as three samples from people thought to be at risk of the condition.

People with Parkinson's suffer movement problems, which can lead to uncontrollable tremors, rigid muscles and poor balance.

They may also suffer depression and anxiety, a loss of the sense of smell, and problems with sleeping and memory.

An estimated 127,000 people in the UK have the disease, with the majority of them aged over 50.

Dr Alison Green, from the National CJD Research and Surveillance Unit at the University of Edinburgh, said: "We have already used this technique to develop an accurate test for Creutzfeldt Jacob Disease (CJD), another neurodegenerative condition.

"We hope that with further refinement, our approach will help to improve diagnosis for Parkinson's patients.

"We are also interested in whether it could be used to identify people with Parkinson's and Lewy body dementia in the early stages of their illness. These people could then be given the opportunity to take part in trials of new medicines that may slow, or stop, the progression of disease."

Dr Beckie Port, from the charity Parkinson's UK, said: "Although early days, the fact that researchers have developed a new test that is able to detect abnormal alpha-synuclein in the spinal fluid of people with Parkinson's with remarkable specificity and sensitivity, is hugely promising. Further research is needed."

Beyonce dominates the MTV Video Music Awards 2016

Beyonce was the big winner at last night's MTV VMAs in New York.

The singer scooped seven awards in total including the prestigious prize for video of the year for the track Formation.

"First of all I'd like to thank my beautiful daughter and my incredible husband for all of their support," she said during one acceptance speech.

Held annually, the VMAs, rewards musicians for their visual efforts.

This year's ceremony was held at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Beyonce, who was nominated for eight awards, also went home with the prize for Best Female Video, Best Direction and Best Cinematography.

She was presented with one of her awards by four members of the U.S. Olympic gymnastics team.

The 34-year-old rounded off an impressive night with a 16 minute medley of songs taken from her latest album, Lemonade.

Other winners included Calvin Harris, Fifth Harmony and Drake.

David Bowie meanwhile was posthumously rewarded, the late singer's album Blackstar won the Best Art Direction accolade.

Rihanna was honoured on the night with the, Michael Jackson Vanguard Award, which recognizes an artist's entire catalogue of work.

Canadian rapper Drake presented Rihanna with her trophy.

The singer smiled nervously when he declared; "She's someone I've been in love with since I was 22 years old. She's one of my best friends in the world.

"All of my adult life I've looked up to her even though she's younger than me."

The pair have collaborated on numerous occasions and there have been suggestions that their relationship hasn't always been purely business-related.

Drake was so proud of Rihanna that he decided it was worthy of a billboard advert.

Completing a star-studded night of music were performances from Ariana Grande, Nicki Minaj and Britney Spears.

Organisers of this year's event will be thankful it was largely uneventful.

The VMAs have a history of throwing up some controversial moments.

It was the scene of Kanye West's now infamous rant where he interrupted Taylor Swift's acceptance speech in 2009.

In 2010, Lady Gaga wore a dress made entirely of raw beef.

She later explained; "If we don't stand up for what we believe in and if we don't fight for our rights, pretty soon we're going to have as much rights as the meat on our bones."

HMS Daring To Help In Fight Against Islamic State

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon has announced that HMS Daring will soon be supporting the military campaign against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria.

HMS Daring, which has a crew of 190, will sail from Portsmouth to the Gulf on Friday.

The warship will help protect US aircraft carriers engaged in bombing raids against IS targets and provide information to the headquarters controlling air operations.

As part of the deployment, the Type 45 destroyer will be patrolling some of the world's busiest shipping lanes.

Mr Fallon said: "All three armed services are making a vital contribution to defeating Daesh.

"RAF aircraft are hitting the terrorists daily on the ground; the Army is providing counter-explosives training to Iraq troops; the Royal Navy helps protect coalition carriers in the Gulf as they launch strikes.

"With the biggest defence budget in Europe and the second biggest in Nato, our Armed Forces are making a real difference around the world."

HMS Daring will be performing a similar role to that carried out by HMS Defender earlier in the year.

Her deployment follows a series of engine problems which have hit the Type 45 fleet.

The £1bn destroyers have suffered problems in the Persian Gulf because they were not designed for temperatures in the region.

Gas turbine engines driving the six Type 45s "degraded catastrophically" in very warm seas, First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Philip Jones told the Commons' Defence Committee in July.

Despite a multimillion pound refit, he said the Royal Navy had accepted it would not be able to operate the ships "all the time in every place on every day of the year".