This Week In Pictures *NYC Plane Crash Edition*

[taku]

Chances are you've heard about the Airliner crash in NYC yesterday. If not, you'll be surprised to learn that everyone of the 155 people lived after the US Airways Airplane crashed into the Hudson River shortly after take off! It's speculated the plane flew into a flock of geese and basically that caused both the jet engines to blow up. The Pilot had a split second to decide if he should emergency return to the airport or land in the river. He made the right decision. Based on his trajectory(learned after the fact), he never would have made it back to the airport and would have crashed in the city killing hundreds if not thousands of people. The pilot is being called a Hero.


As luck would have it, the plane was full of fuel.... fuel is lighter than water, thus the plane never sank... it stayed afloat.






A US Airways jet with 155 people on board has ditched in the frigid Hudson River off Manhattan, in this picture you can see all the victims waiting to be rescued. The worst injury was one passenger who broke both legs in the accident.



Officials said everyone was rescued, including the 150 passengers and five crew aboard the Airbus A320, headed for Charlotte, North Carolina.



Most of the passengers huddled on the wings of the plane in freezing weather, waiting to be rescued by police boats and passing ferries.



Moments before ditching in the Hudson River, the plane was caught on camera flying low above the city.




While none of the 155 people on board was seriously injured, many were panicked and frightened by the ordeal.




A few passengers were plucked from the icy waters. Rescuers said they would not have survived for more than five or ten minutes in the 5C (41F) water.




The Federal Aviation Administration said it was investigating reports the plane hit a flock of birds after taking off from New York's LaGuardia airport.




The Department of Homeland Security told the BBC there was no indication the incident was security related.




After the rescue operation was complete, the plane was eventually towed to shore




The pilot has been praised for his skill in making the crash-landing, which some described as near-miraculous.
Retired Ex military fighter pilot FTMFW!!!!!!!




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The rest of this week in pictures:


In China's Guangdong province, residents watch helplessly as a 26-storey half-built skyscraper burns. The cause of the blaze, which lasted for four hours, is unknown.




Leading by example, Germany's agriculture minister seems determined to make the most of Berlin's International Green Week trade fair.




After being depicted as a toilet in a sculpture commissioned by the European Union, it is hardly surprising that Bulgarian anti-government protesters want to vent their anger at Brussels.




An art gallery worker in London gets lost in an installation by Laos artist Vong Phaophanit. It features 2,000 bamboo poles suspended from the ceiling.




Dressing up warm is the order of the day for ski fans at the FIS World Cup in Switzerland.




It is the first day of the Cow Parade in the Spain, where bovine-inspired floats and sculptures are displayed on the streets of Madrid.




With the Israeli campaign in Gaza in its 19th day, the Palestinian death toll was reported to pass 1,000.




Gaza's Health Ministry says 1,010 Palestinians have been killed in the fighting, including some 400 women and children.




Hamas fired more rockets into southern Israel, causing no casualties. But Israel says 10 soldiers and three civilians have been killed by Hamas rockets in the past few weeks.




The Israeli military says its aircraft bombed 35 arms-smuggling tunnels under the Gaza Strip's border with Egypt. The tunnels also provide a lifeline for Palestinians in the blockaded Gaza Strip.




In the besieged city of Gaza, the Israeli military also says it struck Hamas police headquarters, weapons storage facilities, a cemetery, and eight squads of gunmen.




In Cairo, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon renewed his call for "an immediate and durable ceasefire" between Israel and Hamas.




Meanwhile, rockets were fired from Lebanon into northern Israel for a second time in less than a week, but no one was hurt. Israel responded with artillery shelling.




With Israeli troops edging closer into Gaza City, aid agencies expressed growing concern about the plight of children trapped there with dwindling food, water and power supplies.




These are hard times in Mongolia. It is winter, and ordinary people continue to suffer from rising inflation, which is pushing the price of food and fuel ever upwards.






Many homeless people in the capital Ulan Bator move underground where it is warmer, especially during the winter, when temperatures drop as low as -40C (-40F).





The number of children living on the street peaked in the 1990s, amid economic crisis triggered by the collapse of the Soviet Union. But there are still about 250 living on the streets today.






Battsetseg, 36, is a former nurse who was forced out of her home when she ran out of money in the 1990s. She now lives underground with her family.





Battur, 55, searches for bottles which he takes to local recycling centres where he can exchange them for cash. A morning’s collection of 100 bottles can yield 1,000 Mongolia tugrik, barely $1 (£0.67).





Mongolia is spread across 1.5 million sq km of the Central Asian plateau, but a third of the population lives in the capital.





With no heating in their garage home, the family must huddle together as much as possible in order to keep warm.

[taku]

A couple more pictures... to add some color to things:






"Colour found in nature can be found in everything from a rusty pier...





...to a slab of granite."



And some colorful New Year's Eve Pictures from around the world:



The new year was welcomed down under with fireworks over Sydney Harbour Bridge.



firework show in downtown Naples, Italy.




Thousands celebrated Hogmanay in the streets in Edinburgh.




Beautiful views and more pink fireworks were witnessed in Taipei.