Iran president begins historic Iraq trip

BAGHDAD: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad began on Sunday a historic visit to Iraq -- the first ever by an Iranian president -- hoping to boost ties with Baghdad with which Tehran fought a bitter eight-year war. When asked if Ahmadinejad had arrived in Baghdad, Iraq's Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said: "Yes. "I am here to receive him at the airport." Ahmadinejad arrived in Baghdad airport at around 9:05 am (0605 GMT) and is heading a large delegation including Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki. Ahead of the two-day trip Ahmadinejad said the trip is expected to be a "major step in deepening brotherly relations" between the two Muslim neighbours. Speaking to reporters in Tehran on Saturday, he reiterated Iran's belief that the "insecurity, disagreement and tension" in war-ravaged Iraq were a result of a "plot" by the United States, the arch-enemy of Iran. "It is the American practice to present others as guilty wherever they are defeated," he said, dismissing US allegations of Iranian meddling in Iraq. "Is it not funny that those with 160,000 forces in Iraq accuse us of interference?" US President George W. Bush, in a scathing response, told his counterpart during a press conference in Texas with visiting Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen that Iran must be told to "quit sending in sophisticated equipment that's killing our citizens." The US military in Iraq says that Iran is supplying weapons and training for anti-US insurgents. Iran denies the charges. Ahmadinejad's visit to Shiite-majority Iraq is set to underline Western concerns about Iranian influence in the region that Washington alleges extends to aiding militants in Iraq and also destabilising Lebanon. The trip is a strong show of support by Tehran for the Shiite-dominated government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. Ahmadinejad's visit also aims "to tell the US it is us and not you who have influence in Iraq. Do not think that you can do whatever you like over there," said Mohammad Sadegh al-Hosseini, an Iran-based expert on Iranian-Arab affairs. " Iran is also going there to brush aside any ambiguities that it is responsible for instability in Iraq," he added.

Plane crashes into couple’s garden!

LONDON: An elderly couple had a lucky escape after a plane crashed into their garden as they sat watching TV.

Eileen Watling, 71, and her husband Alfie, 83, were settling down on to watch a movie on television when the aircraft landed in Eileen's conifers.

"It was so sudden. We'd just started watching a film when there was an almighty crash. We thought the whole house had collapsed,” Scotsman quoted Eileen, as saying.

"I looked out of the window and saw the conifers had come down and there were no electricity lines. Then I saw the plane," she added.

The two people in the plane, the pilot and a passenger, had minor injuries as their two-seater Cessna 172 came down in the Watlings' garden in Folkestone, shortly after taking off from nearby Rochester airport.

The plane had narrowly missed a neighbour's house opposite, before hitting power cables and crashing into trees next to the couple's garage, yards from their bungalow.

"When the pilot came out, he was covered in blood – then the passenger came down out of the trees. I managed to get them into the conservatory and got a towel to stop the bleeding from the pilot's head,” Eileen said.

"He said: 'I'm so sorry to do this to you'. And I said: 'Not to worry; your health's more important'," she added.

Following that, the pilot and his passenger were taken to William Harvey Hospital in Ashford for treatment.

It is believed that the plane might have been travelling too low due to the foggy conditions.

"They were flying at 500ft. We're at 600ft here, but because of the fog blanket they didn't see what the problem was," Eileen said.

"We realise just how lucky we've been. The plane was 10ft from our neighbour's house. If it had hit them first, it could have exploded. Somebody was looking out for us," she added.