A US plane that failed to respond to messages led F-16 fighter jets in a supersonic chase across Washington before crashing into the mountains of south-west Virginia on Sunday.
No survivors were found at the crash site, state officials said.
The aircraft's owner told The New York Times that four people, including his daughter and granddaughter, were aboard, along with a nanny and pilot.
The Defence Department authorised the use of high-speed fighter jets to intercept the wayward Cessna 560 Citation V, which had infringed on airspace around the nation's capital. The fighter jets caused a sonic boom as they chased down the aircraft.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the crash of the Cessna occurred about the same time as the sonic boom was reported in the capital.
A US official said the jet fighters' pursuit did not lead to the aircraft's crash.
The aircraft appeared to be operating on autopilot and failed to respond to authorities' attempts at communication, Reuters reported.
The Cessna departed from Elizabethton Municipal Airport in Tennessee and was bound for MacArthur Airport in New York, the Federal Aviation Administration said.
The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash.
The North American Aerospace Defence Command (Norad), which oversees the airspace in the US and Canada, said the fighter jets also used flares to attract the pilot's attention.
“The Norad aircraft were authorised to travel at supersonic speeds and a sonic boom may have been heard by residents of the region,” it said.
The private aircraft was intercepted at about 3.20pm EST and crashed near the George Washington National Forest in Virginia.
While such incidents are unusual, they are not unheard of.
One tragedy occurred in 1999 when golfing star Payne Stewart and four others died after their aircraft travelled thousands of kilometres with all onboard unresponsive.
The plane eventually crashed in South Dakota, leaving no survivors.
The sonic boom caused concern among residents in the capital region, many of whom took to Twitter to report a ground-shaking noise.
Witnesses as far away as northern Virginia and Maryland reported hearing the startling noise.
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Lightweight: Nart Abida (JOR) beat Moussa Salih (MAR). Round 1 by rear naked choke
Catchweight 79kg: Laid Zerhouni (ALG) beat Ahmed Saeb (IRQ). Round 1 TKO (punches)
Catchweight 58kg: Omar Al Hussaini (UAE) beat Mohamed Sahabdeen (SLA) Round 1 rear naked choke
Flyweight: Lina Fayyad (JOR) beat Sophia Haddouche (ALG) Round 2 TKO (ground and pound)
Catchweight 80kg: Badreddine Diani (MAR) beat Sofiane Aïssaoui (ALG) Round 2 TKO
Flyweight: Sabriye Sengul (TUR) beat Mona Ftouhi (TUN). Unanimous decision
Middleweight: Kher Khalifa Eshoushan (LIB) beat Essa Basem (JOR). Round 1 rear naked choke
Heavyweight: Mohamed Jumaa (SUD) beat Hassen Rahat (MAR). Round 1 TKO (ground and pound)
Lightweight: Abdullah Mohammad Ali Musalim (UAE beat Omar Emad (EGY). Round 1 triangle choke
Catchweight 62kg: Ali Taleb (IRQ) beat Mohamed El Mesbahi (MAR). Round 2 KO
Catchweight 88kg: Mohamad Osseili (LEB) beat Samir Zaidi (COM). Unanimous decision
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Five famous companies founded by teens
There are numerous success stories of teen businesses that were created in college dorm rooms and other modest circumstances. Below are some of the most recognisable names in the industry:
- Facebook: Mark Zuckerberg and his friends started Facebook when he was a 19-year-old Harvard undergraduate.
- Dell: When Michael Dell was an undergraduate student at Texas University in 1984, he started upgrading computers for profit. He starting working full-time on his business when he was 19. Eventually, his company became the Dell Computer Corporation and then Dell Inc.
- Subway: Fred DeLuca opened the first Subway restaurant when he was 17. In 1965, Mr DeLuca needed extra money for college, so he decided to open his own business. Peter Buck, a family friend, lent him $1,000 and together, they opened Pete’s Super Submarines. A few years later, the company was rebranded and called Subway.
- Mashable: In 2005, Pete Cashmore created Mashable in Scotland when he was a teenager. The site was then a technology blog. Over the next few decades, Mr Cashmore has turned Mashable into a global media company.
- Oculus VR: Palmer Luckey founded Oculus VR in June 2012, when he was 19. In August that year, Oculus launched its Kickstarter campaign and raised more than $1 million in three days. Facebook bought Oculus for $2 billion two years later.
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Dubai Hurricanes 31 Dubai Sports City Eagles 22
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The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
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It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
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Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
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Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
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