Another foot washes ashore in British Columbia

MADDOW: I offer absolutely no editorial content whatsoever. I will tell you what we know, and I will not venture any speculation whatsoever as to what explains what we know. As to what explains what I'm about to tell you, OK? About three years ago, August 20th , 2007 , a man and his daughter were walking on the beach of Jedediah Island which is just northwest of Vancouver . On the beach, the girl found a running shoe , she looked inside the running shoe and found, I'm sorry to say, the remains of a human foot. It was a size 12 men's shoe, it was a right foot. Here is a picture of the shoe in question. But I'm just going to put this shoe here on the desk to represent what happened there. You will understand why in just a second. Less than a week after this shoe, well, this representational shoe, was found on Jedediah Island , same thing happened again. Now, feet tend to come in pairs, so you're thinking, hey, Maddow , it's not that weird that the second foot was found a few days after the first one was found. But here's the problem. The second foot was also a right foot. It was found on Gabriola Island , not far from foot one, six days after the first foot was found. It was also a right foot, also wearing a sneaker, also a size 12, but this time it was wearing a Reebok . This is not a Rebook , but this is the representation. So what we've got now in the space of a week is two right feet, foot one and foot two. Five and a half months later, in February of 2008 , foot three is found, just south of foot two, on Valdez Island . This one is wearing a size 11 man's Nike sneaker. And, yes, this one is also a right foot. So now we're talking three feet, all found in a six-month period, all very near each other, and they're all right feet. Three and a half months after foot three was found, hello, foot four, this one was found on Kirkland Island at the mouth of the Frazier River South of Vancouver in late 2008 . This one, foot four, yes, also a right foot. But this one, for the first time , was wearing a woman's shoe, a woman's size seven New Balance . Now, less than a month later, we got our first left foot, it's wearing a male size 11 Nike , it's also found at the mouth of a Frazier River but on a different island called Westham Island . So, at this point, we've got four right feet, one, two, three, four, and one left foot. Feet one through four are right foot, foot five is left. Now, here's where it gets weird. Weirder. Just two days after foot five was found, there is another finding, also in that part of British Columbia , they think that it is foot number six. OK? Right foot, male size 10, Adidas sneaker fits the profile. Only, it turns out it is a hoax. Someone put an animal paw and a bunch of seaweed into a shoe and laced it up, it is not a human foot. So, that was just fake foot number six. Real foot number six turns up a month and a half later, in early August 2008 . It is the first one found on the Washington State side of the border, just west of Port Angeles . It is another right foot wearing a Levi 's tube sock and a size 11 Everest brand hiking shoe. We're now up to sixth feet and rising. Now, the month after foot six in the hiking shoe, someone put a fake plastic foot into a shoe. A fake plastic foot into a shoe, and left it on a beach in East Vancouver but it was a fake plastic foot. So that one does not count as foot number seven. Real foot number seven turned up back on the Canadian side of the boarder in Richmond, British Columbia , around election time 2008 , November 2008 , another left foot in a women's running shoe . Foot eight, that's foot eight, right? Foot eight turned up last October in the same area, Richmond , B.C. , this one was another right foot wearing a size 8 1/2 Nike . So minus the hoaxes, we're now up to eight feet, all wearing shoes, six right feet, and two left feet. This weekend, we learned about foot number nine. This one found on Whidbey Island in Washington State . So, allow us to compete our understanding here of the found feet, nine of them. See detail about foot number nine? No shoe. It's a right foot. No shoe, though. So, there's this -- there are two other things I need to tell you about this, so you can do your own figuring because, as I said I refuse to speculate about what any of this means. First thing, I need to tell you about is this, foot one was matched to a man who is dead. A man who went missing in 2007 . It has been matched to a known but dead man. Foot three and foot five, they match, see, they match. They belong to one man, a man who wore size 11 Nikes but who otherwise remains a mystery, but they've been accounted for. Foot four and foot seven, also match. They belong to one woman who is dead, and whose identity is known. So if you take those out of the mix, there remain foot two, foot six, the one in the hiking shoe, foot eight, and the new one, foot nine, the shoeless one, which I feel gross about, but there you have it. These are the ones that are unaccounted for and that match no other found feet. That's one thing I needed to explain. About the matching. So there's sort of out of contention. Here's the other thing you need to know. For all of these nine feet, found without bodies, there is also one body that has been found that has no feet. This Toronto Star article gets -- there we go, there's the map of where they all are, Toronto Star article on this subject, it's right to the point on the footless body. The headline from the Toronto Star on this is, now there's a body with no feet. A body found right in the same area of all of these -- of all of these feet being found, it's found on Orcas Island in Washington State , and it was found there five months before the first foot turned up. At this point, nobody seems to be able to tell me if the man with no feet is thought to match any of the feet with no man. I can tell you that heads, hands and feet are the things that are most expected to fall off when a body is in a water for a long time. I can tell you that many running shoes float. I can tell you that some of the feet are said to have been naturally disarticulated from the body and some are not described that way, but I cannot tell you anything about the story because, yes, wow, I can't believe we're talking nine feet. Nine! Discuss amongst yourself. That does

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'Drunk' man reportedly threatened British Airways crew with glass shard

By Rebecca Ruiz, Senior editor, msnbc.com

It seems some airplane passengers don't know their limits when it comes to alcohol and flying.

A little over a week ago it was reported that an intoxicated 18-year-old urinated on the cabin floor of a red-eye flight from Portland, Ore., to New York. Now a 32-year-old man has been accused of threatening a British Airways flight crew after they refused to serve him another alcoholic beverage.

According to the Telegraph, witnesses said the passenger, Tim Bradley, had been served several glasses of beer and wine before his outburst on the Aug. 20 flight from Phoenix to London.

"He was shouting at customers and crew, swearing, stumbling about the cabin,” Lesley Lewis, 31, of Southampton told The Sun, another UK paper.

"His swearing got louder and he was swearing at the manager of the crew. He pushed him in the galley and wanted to know why he was refused more wine."

Lewis reportedly saw Bradley return to his seat with a piece of broken glass and say, "I'll stab the pilots if they want."

British Airways confirmed the incident on Flight 288 in a statement to msnbc.com: "Although the cabin crew tried to pacify the passenger, his behaviour continued to be unacceptable and the flight was met by the police. We do not tolerate abusive behaviour towards our staff or customers."

Bradley was arrested when the 10-hour flight landed in London and will appear for sentencing at Isleworth Crown Court in west London on Sept. 23, according to the Telegraph.

Related stories:

Rebecca Ruiz is a senior editor at msnbc.com. Follow her on Twitter.

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6 dead in British island knife attack (AP)

LONDON – A Polish man is suspected of killing his wife, their two children, his father-in-law and two family friends in a frenzied stabbing spree, the deadliest crime in memory on the Channel Island of Jersey, police and local residents said Monday.

Detective Supt. Stewart Gull of Jersey Police said a man, two women and three young children stabbed to death Sunday came from two families, one of them Polish.

He said the other family was from Jersey. Polish officials said they believed all the victims were of Polish origin.

A 30-year-old man — a member of the Polish family — has been arrested on suspicion of murder. He was in a hospital Monday after undergoing surgery for knife injuries that witnesses said were self inflicted. Police were waiting to question him.

Gull said four victims were found inside the Polish family's apartment on a secluded residential street in the island's capital, St. Helier. Two were found outside the building.

He said it was too early to speculate about a motive for the killings.

Britain's Press Association news agency identified the victims as the Polish man's wife, their two children and his wife's father, as well as a family friend and her child.

Neighbors reported hearing screams before police and ambulances arrived Sunday.

Bryan Ogesa, who lives in the same apartment building, said he heard screaming and ran outside to see a man with a knife chasing a woman, and another woman lying on the ground.

"She was responsive, but just mumbling," he said. "That's when the guy started coming towards us. He was mumbling as well."

Ogesa said he fought the man off with a traffic cone before the attacker turned the knife on himself.

Another witness, Andre Thorpe, said he later saw police running from the building carrying a small child.

"When the paramedic came back her shirt was covered in blood," he said.

Police on the island — a tax haven and holiday destination 14 miles (22 kilometers) off France's Normandy coast — say the crime is the deadliest in living memory.

Jersey, a 45-square-mile (118-square-kilometer) British Crown dependency with a population of 90,000, had not had a murder since 2004, when a 19-year-old man originally from Northern Ireland tried to rape, then kicked to death, a 35-year-old nurse outside her home. It was the first murder in Jersey since the 1970s.

Between 3,000 and 5,000 Polish nationals live on Jersey.

Chief Minister Terry Le Sueur said the crime had "greatly shocked the island's community." He said anyone who needed counseling would receive it.

"Jersey is a very safe place and events of this terrible nature are very rare," he said.

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British cities clear up after looting

LONDON — British cities began on Wednesday to clean up shopping streets littered with debris from a night of looting by gangs of hooded youths copying the tactics of young Londoners who had rampaged through districts of the capital for three nights.

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London itself was largely quiet on Tuesday night, with some 16,000 police -- 10,000 more than on Monday -- sent onto the streets in a show of force in districts where gangs had looted shops and burned cars and buildings virtually unchecked on the previous three nights.

But unrest spread across central and northern England on a fourth night of violence driven by poor, diverse and brazen crowds of young people.

Scenes of ransacked stores, torched cars and blackened buildings frightened and outraged Britons just a year before their country is to host the summer Olympic Games, bringing demands for a tougher response from law enforcement. Police across the country have made more than 1,100 arrests since the violence broke out over the weekend.

London's Metropolitan Police department said a large presence would remain in the city through the next 24 hours at least.

Though London saw no new unrest late Tuesday, the chaos spread to other cities. A police station in the central England city of Nottingham was firebombed by a 40-strong mob, and hundreds of youths battled police in the northwestern city of Manchester.

Get the latest updates on this story from breakingnews.com

British Prime Minister David Cameron said on Tuesday police will crack down hard to quell the violence, as a watchdog group investigated the violence which first ignited the riots.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) is investigating the fatal shooting of a man by police, which sparked three days of rioting and looting across London and other British cities. The IPCC said on Tuesday there was no evidence a handgun retrieved at the scene had been fired.

Citizen cameras capture more London looters than cops

Reports initially suggested 29-year-old Mark Duggan had shot at police. His death sparked a riot in a north London borough on Saturday night when a peaceful demonstration over the shooting turned violent. This violence then spread throughout the U.K., prompting Cameron to speak out.

Citing "sickening scenes," Cameron announced that 16,000 police officers would be deployed on London's streets on Tuesday — up from 6,000 on Monday night.

Cameron, who cut short his summer vacation in Italy and recalled Parliament from its summer recess to deal with the crisis, also promised "even more robust police action."

"This is criminality pure and simple and it needs to be confronted," he added. "Justice will be done and these people will see the consequences of their actions. If you are old enough to commit these crimes, you are old enough to face the punishment."

As calls mounted for stronger measures, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Stephen Kavanagh said police would consider using baton rounds — rubber or plastic bullets.  These have been used in Northern Ireland and while they are seen as a non-lethal alternative, they have caused deaths in the past.

With a show of force and prayer, London fights back

The wave of violence and looting raged across London spread to three other major British cities on Tuesday, as authorities struggled to contain the country's worst unrest since race riots set the capital ablaze in the 1980s.

In London, groups of young people set buildings, vehicles and garbage dumps alight, looted stores and pelted police officers with bottles and fireworks. The spreading disorder was an unwelcome warning of the possibility of violence for leaders organizing the 2012 Summer Olympics in less than a year.

Sad truth behind the London riot

The International Olympic Committee insisted it had confidence in British authorities. "Security at the Olympic Games is a top priority for the IOC," spokesman Mark Adams said.

The Football Association, meanwhile, called off England's friendly against Netherlands at Wembley on Wednesday because of the widespread rioting and looting in the capital.

England's players also issued a statement on Tuesday, saying: "We have all seen the terrible pictures on television and the most important thing at this time is the safety of the fans and the general public.

"At this time the whole squad would like to appeal for calm and an end to this disorder."

West Ham, a football team in east London, confirmed it had canceled a match planned for Tuesday as a precaution.

Neighborhoods across the capital faced a massive clean-up of smashed glass, bricks, bottles and gutted buildings as police reinforcements reclaimed the streets from the youths.

Riots reveal London’s two disparate worlds

On Monday, police made a rare decision to deploy armored vehicles in some of the worst-hit districts. However, authorities still struggled to keep pace with the chaos unfolding at flashpoints across London, in the central city of Birmingham — where a police station was set ablaze — the western city of Bristol and the northwestern city of Liverpool.

Authorities acknowledged that major new bouts of violence had badly stretched their resources.

"The violence we have seen is simply inexcusable," police Commander Christine Jones said. "Ordinary people have had their lives turned upside down by this mindless thuggery."

'Come join the fun'
The riots appeared to have little unifying cause — though some involved claimed to oppose sharp government spending cuts, which will slash welfare payments and cut tens of thousands of public sector jobs through 2015.

Others appeared attracted simply by the opportunity for violence. "Come join the fun," shouted one youth, racing along a street in the east London suburb of Hackney, where shops were attacked and cars torched.

Rioters were left virtually unchallenged in several neighborhoods and able to plunder from stores at will or attempt to invade homes. Restaurants and stores fearful of looting closed early across London.

Story: MP calls for BlackBerry Messenger suspension over UK riots

Witnesses were told of numerous cases of car theft by groups of looters.

Disorder flared throughout the night, from gritty suburbs along the capital's fringes to central London's famously ritzy Notting Hill neighborhood. London's Ambulance Service said it had treated 16 patients, of whom 15 were hospitalized.

Police said 525 people had been arrested and more than 100 people charged with offenses. Sky News reported that London's jail cells were full so suspects were being taken to police stations outside of the capital.

At one point, the London fire brigade said it was running out of vehicles to tackle fires started by the rioters.

Three people were arrested on suspicion of the attempted murder of a police officer left hospitalized after he was struck by a car in north London early Tuesday.

A 26-year-old man who was shot in his car during disturbances overnight in Croydon, south of London, died in a hospital early Tuesday, becoming the first fatality of the riots sweeping Britain, the BBC reported.

After dawn, police said, the unrest appeared to calm, either quelled by police or after rioters drifted away.

The beginning of the violence
Violence first broke out late Saturday in the low-income, multiethnic district of Tottenham in north London, where outraged protesters demonstrated against the fatal police shooting of  Duggan, a father of four who was gunned down in disputed circumstances Thursday.

IPCC said in a statement that ballistic test results showed "at this stage there is no evidence that the handgun found at the scene was fired during the incident."

Duggan's death came after two shots were fired by a special firearms officer, the IPCC said.

The initial results also confirmed reports that a bullet found lodged in a police radio at the scene was police issue.

Forensic officers told the IPCC that it may not be possible to "say for certain" whether the handgun found close to Duggan had been fired.

Duggan's partner, Semone Wilson, insisted Monday that her fiance was not connected to gang violence and urged police to offer more information about his death. But she rejected suggestions that the escalating riots were linked to protests over his death. "It got out of hand. It's not connected to this anymore. This is out of control," she said.

Duggan's death stirred old animosities and racial tensions similar to those that prompted massive riots in the 1980s, despite efforts by London police to build better relations with the city's ethnic communities after high-profile cases of racism in recent decades.

But, as the unrest spread, some pointed to rising social tensions in Britain as the government slashes 80 billion pounds ($130 billion) from public spending by 2015 to reduce the huge deficit, swollen after the country spent billions bailing out its foundering banks.

Msnbc.com staff, Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Rioting spreads to third British city

LONDON — Riots spread to a third British city on Monday night, with Liverpool the latest place to report looting and violence following outbreaks across London and in central Birmingham.

Liverpool police said a small number of vehicles were set on fire and reported some criminal damage.

British Prime Minister David Cameron cut short his holiday to fly home to tackle the violence, which politicians and police have blamed on criminal thugs and which come amid deep economic gloom in Britain.

In Hackney, a multi-ethnic area in east London close to the site of next year's Olympic Games, hooded youths set fire to rubbish bins and pushed them down a street toward police, while hurling bottles and bricks.

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Many laughed as they ran back when police charged them. Others shouted into their cellphones telling their friends to join in.

Get the latest updates on this story from breakingnews.com

The disturbances started late on Saturday in London's northern Tottenham district when a peaceful protest over the police's shooting of a suspect turned violent.

On Monday, the violence had spread to the south of the city, including the areas of Peckham, Croydon and Lewisham.

Story: London sees twin perils converging to fuel riot

Attackers also smashed shops and looted property in the central England city of Birmingham, police said, in the first sign of the riots spreading beyond the capital.

Police said around 100 people were arrested in Birmingham for various offenses including violent disorder and aggravated burglary.

In Hackney, with the street thick with smoke, looters smashed their way into a local shop, stealing whisky and beer. One had even grabbed a packet of cornflakes. Another man ran away laughing while carrying four bottles of whisky.

"I am from South Africa and it reminds me of the riots there, except the police here are not so rough," said one middle-aged local resident, who declined to give his name.

"But the kids don't have any respect for the police or for property. It's sad for the people who live round here."

In Peckam, flames leapt into the air from a torched building, while rubble was strewn across the street. People walked in and out of shops looting. Follow us on Twitter Get the latest updates on this story and others from @breakingnews.

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Cameron's office said he would cut short his holiday in Italy to chair an emergency crisis meeting, amid growing calls from the public for officials to take control of the crisis.

Police had arrested 215 people, according to Home Secretary Theresa May.

"The violence we've seen, the looting we've seen, the thuggery we've seen, this is sheer criminality ... these people will be brought to justice, they will be made to face the consequences of their actions," she said.

'Senseless'
But despite a heavy police presence, they appeared unable to contain the violence as looters coordinated through mobile phones and Twitter to try to keep one step ahead of them.

In Hackney, youths in brown hoods posed for pictures in front of a burning car on a street corner. Others swarmed around a skip full of bricks and gathered them up.

"I don't know why they are doing this," said a middle-aged woman who lived nearby. "It's senseless ... they are just cacking on their own doorstep."

The BBC said the Hackney clashes broke out after police stopped and searched a man.

British government officials branded rioters as opportunistic criminals and said the violence would not affect preparations for next summer's Olympic Games.

Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Steve Kavanagh said the force was putting more officers on the streets in Hackney and other areas on Monday night.

"Let me make it clear that people who are using current events as an excuse or cover to break the law, steal, attack police officers and cause fear to Londoners will not be tolerated by the vast majority of Londoners and us," he said.

'We have barricaded the doors..."
A small group of people said they had barricaded themselves inside the 110-year-old Hackney Empire theater to escape the violence.

"We are stuck inside," said one person, who did not give her name, in a telephone conversation with Reuters.

"We don't want to be near the windows. They seem to be targeting shops at the moment. It's very scary."

"We are in the back of the building, staying away from the front. We have barricaded the doors and put chains on the doors."

Youths appeared to have used a free message service on Blackberry mobile phones to coordinate attacks on shops and police.

Research In Motion, the Canadian manufacturer of Blackberry smartphones, said it would work with British authorities, but gave no details on what information, if any, it would give the police.

Sad truth behind the London riot

"We feel for those impacted by this weekend's riots in London. We have engaged with the authorities to assist in any way we can," RIM spokesman Patrick Spence said in a statement.

Some have branded the disturbances as a cry for help from impoverished areas reeling from the government's harsh austerity cuts to tackle a big budget deficit, with youth services and other facilities cut back sharply.

"Tottenham is a deprived area. Unemployment is very, very high ... they are frustrated," said Uzodinma Wigwe, 49, who was made redundant from his job as a cleaner recently.

Officials said there was no excuse.

"It was needless, opportunistic theft and violence, nothing more, nothing less. It is completely unacceptable," said Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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