World briefs

George Hickman, one of America’s first black military pilots, known as the Tuskegee airmen, has died at the age of 88.

Captain Hickman was one of the country’s first black pilots and ground crew members who fought in World War II.

In 2007, he and other Tuskegee airmen travelled to Washington DC, to receive the Congressional Gold Medal, the nation’s highest civilian honour. In 2009, he attended President Barack Obama’s inauguration as a special guest.

Capt. Hickman was a fixture at Seattle sporting events and a long-time steward at University of Washington and Seattle Seahawks games. He personalised the often anonymous job of ushering fans to their seats and most regulars to UW basketball and gridiron games knew him by his first name.

Amelia Earhart plane debris sighted

Researchers trying to unravel the mystery surrounding the 1937 disappearance of US aviator Amelia Earhart in the Pacific have said they spotted debris under water that may have come from her plane.

High-definition video taken by a Project Earhart team and analysed in a laboratory show “man-made objects” scattered west of Kiribati’s Nikumaroro Island, said The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (Tighar).

The expedition – the 10th in 23 years – in July filmed the seabed near the island, where they think Ms Earhart may have made an emergency landing and lived for a short time during a bid to circumnavigate the globe along the equator.

Honda to launch robot lawnmower

Honda is to launch a robot lawn mower which will automatically cut household grass.

Miimo goes on sale next year, only in Europe, targeting 4,000 sales a year.

The machine continuously shaves about three millimetres off the grass, manoeuvring itself on slopes. It avoids potted plants, goes to charge itself on its own and will not wander off.

Honda robots, like its Asimo walking talking robot, have sometimes been criticised as impractical toys. Honda said Miimo is a real product, selling for around €2,151.

Scott autopsy result may take weeks

The results from an autopsy on Top Gun film-maker Tony Scott may not be known for six weeks, according to the Los Angeles Department of Coroner.

A spokesman said “further tests” were being carried out after the 68-year-old, originally from North Shields, jumped to his death from a bridge in Los Angeles.

Stars including Tom Cruise, who worked with Scott on Top Gun and Days of Thunder, praised the man behind a string of action-packed Hollywood blockbusters.

Mr Scott, younger brother of film-maker Ridley Scott, leapt from the Vincent Thomas Bridge in LA and his death is being treated as suicide.

Woman kills neighbour with bra

A woman has strangled her elderly neighbour with her bra, Russian investigators said yesterday.

The 26-year-old woman, from the town of Zakamensk, in eastern Siberia, just kilometres from the border with Mongolia, has been charged with murder.

Investigators said the woman was drunk when she and her boyfriend asked their 65-year-old neighbour for money to buy drinks one evening in July.

When he refused to lend them any cash, the woman punched him in the face and tried to strangle him with her hands, before taking off her bra and strangling him with it, they said.