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Alberta Premier Rachel Notley says the wildfire has destroyed about 1,600 structures in Fort McMurray, which is in Canada's oil sands region. No major oil sands facilities are in the fire's path, though two Royal Dutch Shell mines are closing, and a Suncor Energy facility is reducing crude production. The fire is threatening the Alberta Highway 63 bridge across the Athabasca River, the sole route south. The Canadian Red Cross is encouraging people to donate funds rather than clothing. (Métro) | The 88,000 residents who fled a wildfire that has ravaged the Canadian oil town of Fort McMurray in Alberta will not be able to return home anytime soon, officials warned on Thursday, even as the inferno edged slowly south.
The out-of-control blaze has consumed entire neighborhoods of Fort McMurray in Canada's energy heartland and officials warn its spread now threatens two oil sands sites south of the city.
The wildfire has already forced precautionary production cuts or shutdowns at about a dozen major facilities, eating into a global crude surplus and supporting oil prices this week.
"The damage to the community of Fort McMurray is extensive and the city is not safe for residents," said Alberta Premier Rachel Notley in a press briefing late Thursday, as those stranded in camps and on the roadside to the north of the city clamored for answers.
"It is simply not possible, nor is it responsible to speculate on a time when citizens will be able to return. We do know that it will not be a matter of days," she said.
Three days after the residents were ordered to leave Fort McMurray, firefighters were still battling to protect homes, businesses and other structures from the flames. More than 1,600 structures, including hundreds of homes, had been destroyed by Wednesday morning. Officials declined on Thursday to estimate how many more had been lost.
The communities of Anzac and Gregoire Lake Estates about 50 kilometers (31 miles) south of Fort McMurray were "under extreme threat," late Thursday, as the flames spread to the southeast.
CNOOC Nexen's Long Lake oil sands facility and Athabasca Oil's Hangingstone project are also in danger as winds blow southward, according to emergency officials.
There have been no known casualties from the blaze itself, but fatalities were reported in a car crash along the evacuation route.
Although the cause of the fire was unknown, officials said tinder-dry brush, low humidity, and hot, gusting winds left crews unable to stop the massive conflagration.
The blaze, which erupted on Sunday, grew more than tenfold from 18,500 acres (7,500 hectares) on Wednesday to some 210,000 acres (85,000 hectares) on Thursday, an area roughly 10 times the size of Manhattan.
The dry weather conditions prompted the province to issue a fire ban for parks and protected areas on Thursday.
"GIVE US ANSWERS"
For those stranded north of Fort McMurray, there was a hint of good news. With the fire moving to the southeast, officials are hoping to begin a ground evacuation from the north on Friday morning and briefly re-open the main highway through the city to let people drive south.
On Thursday, frustration for thousands stranded to the north was growing, with some venting online and demanding answers.
One twitter user posted a message saying, "NO ONE IS TELLING US ANYTHING!! We're just sitting in a camp praying to get out!! Give us answers!!! Please."
The premier said that a government airlift of those cut off to the north was going smoothly and that about 4,000 people had already been evacuated to the cities of Edmonton and Calgary as of late Thursday.
Closer to the scene, hundreds filled a community center on Thursday in Lac La Biche, a community 290 km (180 miles) south of Fort McMurray. Many were second-round evacuees ordered to relocate from temporary refuges closer to Fort McMurray on Wednesday night as the flames spread.
Kirby Abo, who came from Fort McMurray with his wife and three children, said he worried that his job in a recycling depot may no longer exist when he returns home.
"I think it's going to be a ghost town for quite a while," he said.
Fort McMurray's mayor in a television interview acknowledged the city faces a long road to recovery, saying that "what comes next is absolutely daunting, but not insurmountable."
The winds gave the city a reprieve on Thursday by driving the fire to the southeast, away from areas with the most dwellings. But officials warned the unpredictable weather could quickly shift and that gusting winds have been very challenging for firefighters. Properties near green areas in Fort McMurray remain at risk, they said. | Fire | May 2016 | ['(Reuters)', '(USA Today)'] |
Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh makes the first official visit to Myanmar by an Indian PM since 1987. | Manmohan Singh has held talks with Burmese President Thein Sein as he makes the first official visit to Burma by an Indian prime minister since 1987.
The two sides signed 12 agreements to strengthen trade and diplomatic ties. During his three-day trip, Mr Singh will meet opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, whose mother once served as Burma's ambassador to India. The two nations share a 1,600km (1,000 mile) border, but relations have often been uneasy.
On Monday, they signed agreements on border area development, air services, cultural exchanges, a $500m credit line between India's Export-Import Bank and Myanmar [Burma] Foreign Trade bank, and establishment of a joint trade and investment forum, the BBC's Sanjoy Majumder reports from the Burmese capital, Nay Pyi Taw.
Delhi cold-shouldered Burma's military rulers during the 1990s, infuriating the generals by openly supporting Ms Suu Kyi.
But Mr Singh, who arrived in the Burmese capital on Sunday, has overseen a dramatic turnaround in Delhi's policy, and hosted former ruler Than Shwe on a state visit in 2010.
Earlier, on his arrival in Burma, Mr Singh said: "I am coming here after 25 years when the last prime minister of India visited here. We have centuries-old ties of religion, culture and civilisation with the people of Myanmar.''
He had earlier said he wanted "stronger trade and investment links, development of border areas, improving connectivity between our two countries and building capacity and human resources".
Mr Singh is the latest in a series of leaders to visit Burma as it embarks on a process of reform under the new government. India is particularly keen on gaining access to Burma's rich gas fields, many of them still unexploited. But it will have to stave off competition from China as well as other countries in Asia and the West which are also pouring in money, our correspondent says.
India has already signed a number of deals for the exploitation of Burma's vast reserves of natural gas, and Indian firms are building ports and other infrastructure projects in Burma.
A high-powered business delegation forms part of Mr Singh's entourage, including telecoms tycoon Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman of mobile giant Bharti Airtel.
Last week, India made a symbolic announcement that transport links would be improved, including the first official bus route across the border.
India is now Burma's third biggest export market, behind China and Thailand.
But China still dominates oil and gas exploration in Burma and is involved in the construction of roads, pipelines and port facilities.
Analysts say India is desperate to counteract the influence of China in the region, and Mr Singh will be keen to stress the close cultural and historical ties between the two countries.
Both sides will also focus on issues of security, particularly along their border which is home to armed insurgent groups as well as drug traffickers, says our correspondent. UN calls for end of arms sales to Myanmar
In a rare move, the UN condemns the overthrowing of Aung San Suu Kyi and calls for an arms embargo. | Diplomatic Visit | May 2012 | ['(BBC)', '(The Times of India)'] |
The former Prime Minister of Thailand Thaksin Shinawatra returns to Thailand to face corruption charges. | Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is flying home from Hong Kong after 17 months away.
He said he would defend himself against unfair accusations and said he had faith in the Thai justice system.
Mr Thaksin faces allegations of corruption in Thailand, brought by the leaders of the September 2006 coup which removed him from office.
Large crowds of his supporters are waiting at Bangkok airport to welcome him back to the country.
He still has strong popular support in Thailand and analysts fear his return could prompt further political unrest.
"Nobody can push him out. He is a good guy. Thai people love him," said one supporter, quoted by the AFP news agency.
Mr Thaksin told reporters that he was confident of his innocence and was ready to prove he had done nothing wrong.
He said he would report to the authorities on his arrival.
Current Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej said he welcomed his former ally's return.
"It's normal that he must defend himself in the court and my government will not interfere," Mr Samak said.
'Normal citizen'
Mr Thaksin's party, Thai Rak Thai, was outlawed following the coup and he was personally banned from politics for five years. Thaksin Shinawatra was ousted in September 2006
But many of his followers went on the form the People Power Party (PPP), which won elections in December last year.
Mr Thaksin has insisted that he does not plan to get involved in politics on his return, but the BBC's Jonathan Head in Bangkok says that as the PPP's main financier, Mr Thaksin has great authority.
Mr Thaksin said: "I just want to be going back as a normal citizen and would like to live my life peacefully with my family.
"Democracy returned to Thailand. So, it is time for those who are democratic advocates to go back."
Our correspondent says Mr Thaksin's millions of supporters will see his return as final proof that the coup leaders failed to destroy his political career.
There is expected to be heavy security surrounding Mr Thaksin's arrival.
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | February 2008 | ['(BBC News)'] |
Police in Japan arrest Katsuya Takahashi of the Aum Shinrikyo cult, the last fugitive wanted over the March 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway that killed 13 people. | Police in Japan have arrested the last fugitive of the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult, ending a 17-year manhunt.
Katsuya Takahashi is suspected of involvement in the 1995 sarin nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway system that killed 13 people.
The police have verified his identity after detaining him near a cafe in Tokyo.
A manhunt involving thousands of officers began last week after the suspect fled his home.
Mr Takahashi has been on the run since the attacks, which also injured 6,000.
On Friday, police took him into custody near a comic book cafe in Tokyo, local media reported.
The 54-year-old is suspected of driving a fellow cult-member to a station to release the gas during the morning rush hour.
Another suspect, Naoko Kikuchi, was reportedly arrested two weeks ago.
Information from her led the police to a construction firm in Kawasaki where Mr Takahashi had worked under an assumed name, says the BBC's Roland Buerk in Tokyo. He had already fled his room in the company's dormitory, but the police found a recent photograph of him. It was released, along with CCTV footage of Takahashi withdrawing money from his bank account. A massive manhunt was deployed across Tokyo last week. The man suspected of being Mr Takahashi was detained after a tip-off from a member of the public.
On New Year's Eve another former member of Aum Shinrikyo, Makoto Hirata, turned himself in to police after nearly 17 years on the run.
Nearly 200 Aum Shinrikyo members have been convicted in connection with the sarin attack and other crimes. Thirteen are awaiting execution.
Aum Shinrikyo began as a spiritual group mixing Hindu and Buddhist beliefs in the 1980s, but developed into a paranoid cult obsessed with Armageddon.
Cult leader Shoko Asahara is among those on death row.
Aum Shinrikyo reinvented itself as the Aleph group, which continues to operate as a spiritual group. Death for Japan cult chemist | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Arrest | June 2012 | ['(BBC)'] |
Iran is invited to attend the next round of talks over Syria's future, along with the representatives from the United States, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Britain, France, Germany, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Nations mediator for Syria, Staffan de Mistura. The next round of the "Vienna II" meeting is expected to start tomorrow and continue Friday in Vienna, Austria. | WASHINGTON — Iran has been invited to join talks in Vienna this week with Russia, the United States and European nations on whether a political resolution is possible in the Syrian civil war. If Iran accepts, it will be the first time Secretary of State John Kerry will enter formal negotiations with Tehran on issues beyond the nuclear accord reached in July.
Russia has been pressing to include Iran, the only other major power giving military support to President Bashar al-Assad in his effort to remain in power. Senior American officials have begun to acknowledge in recent weeks that no serious discussion of a possible political succession plan in Syria can happen without Tehran’s involvement. What started as a popular uprising against the Syrian government four years ago has become a proto-world war with nearly a dozen countries embroiled in two overlapping conflicts. | Diplomatic Talks _ Diplomatic_Negotiation_ Summit Meeting | October 2015 | ['(Irish Examiner)', '(Reuters)', '(Sputnik News)', '(New York Times)'] |
A photographer is shot during violence in east Belfast in Northern Ireland. | Police have said they believe dissident republicans were responsible after a photographer was shot during violence in east Belfast on Tuesday.
It happened during a second night of trouble at a sectarian flashpoint on the Lower Newtownards Road.
Police said the trouble was orchestrated by the loyalist paramilitary group, the UVF. NI First Minister Peter Robinson has offered to try and resolve the situation.
Police have told the BBC that detectives believed dissidents were responsible after a Press Association photographer suffered a gun shot wound to his leg.
He underwent surgery on Wednesday. Talks have been taking place throughout the day between community and political leaders in an attempt to defuse tensions. Mr Robinson told the BBC that if people felt they need to have issues addressed "I will meet them".
He said people were horrified at what had happened and recognised the "reputational damage" it was doing to the economy.
The trouble erupted again at 2045 BST on Tuesday.
A barrage of petrol bombs, missiles and fireworks were thrown at police lines for a second night, in what is being reported as the worst trouble in the area for a decade.
Two other men were injured. They are believed to have suffered burn injuries.
Police fired 66 plastic bullets during the disturbances.
A 20-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of possessing an offensive weapon and assaulting police.
Assistant Chief Constable Alistair Finlay said they believed the east Belfast Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) were involved. "Whether they have lost the influence to stop it, I don't know, but there certainly seems to be nothing to suggest that our position has changed, that the bulk of this violence is coming from the loyalist community and the UVF in east Belfast does have a role to play in that," he said.
Just before midnight, a number of shots were fired and the photographer was injured. Another photographer was standing with other media, near police landrovers on the Lower Newtownards Road when the shooting happened. "I looked back and there was somebody peering over the wall and he shot about five or six rounds," he said. "We were all just running. "The next thing I know a colleague of mine, he yells, 'I've been shot, I've been shot', and I looked back and his leg on the bottom part, I don't know if he was grazed, or if the bullet went in or what, but I looked at his trousers and his trousers were all stained. "It was wet, it was obviously blood." The photographer said he had been in contact with his injured colleague.
"He's doing fine," he said.
"I just got a text from him. He's going into surgery this morning. The bullet went in and came out, so it is not life-threatening."
It was initially reported that 700 people were involved in the riots on Tuesday night but police have now said it was between 350 to 400.
The MP for the area, Naomi Long, told the BBC a man who was struck with a brick on Tuesday night had suffered a fractured skull. She described the trouble as a "very serious situation" and said appeals from political representatives for calm had fallen on "deaf ears".
"People need to step back from this situation," she said.
"We have had another round of gunfire on Tuesday night, we have had someone else injured with a bullet wound.
"When you have guns back on streets, it is very clear that the intent here is to take life. "There is no other reason why people would bring a gun onto the street, and I think that people need to take a step back and really think about what they are doing."
There was a large police presence, following Monday's sectarian clashes, and two water cannon vehicles were deployed. | Riot | June 2011 | ['(BBC)'] |
5 police officials in Chiniot, Punjab, are detained after footage of them whipping people in their custody are broadcast across national television channels. | Footage of the whipping was broadcast on national TV channels. Footage from Express TV
Five police officials in the Pakistani province of Punjab have been arrested for publicly whipping robbery suspects in their custody.
The officials were arrested after footage of them whipping the suspects was broadcast on national TV channels. The four men had been arrested on suspicion of stealing rice. The incident highlights a common practice by Pakistani police, who have a long-standing reputation for brutality and torture. Human rights activists have condemned the incident. 'Unacceptable'
"Such behaviour is unacceptable by any official of the force," said the head of the Punjab police, Inspector General Tariq Saleem Dogar. He was speaking after ordering the arrest of the policemen involved in the incident. Mr Dogar said he had also suspended the local chief of police and ordered an inquiry into the incident. The beating took place on 1 March in the central Punjab town of Chiniot. Locals journalists say the four accused had been arrested a few days earlier on suspicion of being involved in robbing a rice truck. On Monday, the men were taken into the courtyard of the police station where they were being held. 'Barbaric'
Two were then whipped with a thick leather strap with a flat end. The other two men were taken outside the premises of the station and whipped next to a road. The incident was a spectacle for locals, one of whom filmed it. The footage shows one policeman holding the legs of a victim, while another stands on his hands. A third uses the strap to maximum effect. During this time the other victim is made to watch and then is treated in a similar manner. Human rights activists in Pakistan have condemned the incident. Asma Jahangir, head of the influential Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, called it "barbaric" and demanded strong punishments for those involved. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Arrest | March 2010 | ['(BBC)', '(The News International)'] |
Chris Huhne, the United Kingdom's Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, resigns after the Crown Prosecution Service announces it will bring charges against him and his wife over claims she accepted penalty points on her driving licence for speeding on his behalf. | Chris Huhne has quit as energy secretary after learning he will be charged with perverting the course of justice over a 2003 speeding case.
His ex-wife Vicky Pryce will face the same charge in relation to claims she accepted his penalty points.
Mr Huhne, Lib Dem MP for Eastleigh, said he was innocent but would stand down to "avoid distraction".
Business Minister Ed Davey will replace him, but Nick Clegg said he hoped Mr Huhne could return to government.
Essex Police have been investigating the speeding points claims for eight months.
Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer said the Crown Prosecution Service had concluded there was "sufficient evidence to bring criminal charges against both Mr Huhne and Ms Pryce for perverting the course of justice". "The essence of the charges is that between March and May 2003, Mr Huhne, having allegedly committed a speeding offence, falsely informed the investigating authorities that Ms Pryce had been the driver of the vehicle in question, and she falsely accepted that she was the driver," he said. Both are now due to appear in court on 16 February. In a short statement outside his London flat Mr Huhne said the CPS decision was "deeply regrettable". "I am innocent of these charges and I intend to fight this in the courts and I am confident that a jury will agree. "To avoid distraction to either my official duties or my trial defence I am standing down and resigning as energy and climate change secretary. I will of course continue to serve my constituents in Eastleigh."
Lib Dem leader and Deputy Prime Minister Mr Clegg said Mr Huhne was "a good friend and close colleague" who had done "an outstanding job" as energy secretary. "I totally understand and respect why Chris Huhne has stood down from his position in government to clear his name," he said.
"If he clears his name as he wishes to I have made it clear to him that I would like to see him back in government in a key position."
Mr Clegg's chief aide Norman Lamb will replace new Energy Secretary Mr Davey as a business minister, while Lib Dem MP Jenny Willott will become an assistant government whip. Jo Swinson has been appointed as Mr Clegg's parliamentary private secretary, to replace Mr Lamb.
In a letter to David Cameron tendering his resignation, Mr Huhne said it had been "an honour to negotiate and then serve in the first coalition government of modern times".
In reply, the prime minister wrote: "Like the deputy prime minister, I am sorry to see you leave the government under these circumstances and wish you well for the future."
Mr Cameron said Mr Huhne had "made the right decision given the circumstances".
"I want to thank him for the very good work that he has done in government, both in helping to bring the coalition government together and as secretary of state for energy and climate change.
"Obviously the government must continue so I have asked Ed Davey to step up to the cabinet as energy and climate change secretary, and I'm sure he'll do a very good job."
Business Secretary Vince Cable paid tribute to his Lib Dem colleague. He told the BBC: "I'm very sad. He's a very, very good, effective, colleague in government.
"I'm sure he will clear his name and we would certainly like to see him back."
Duncan Hames, Mr Huhne's Parliamentary Private Secretary, said: "I think in the circumstances he has done the right thing and he intends to fight to clear his name...
"Working with Chris over the last year he has been 100% focused on his job and he wouldn't want to go about important responsibilities as a member of the coalition government in any other way."
Mr Huhne and Ms Pryce divorced in January.
In a statement, Ms Pryce, an economist, said: "As the CPS have decided to prosecute it would not be appropriate to comment further at this stage. Obviously I hope for a quick resolution of the case."
Mr Huhne was one of five Lib Dem ministers in the coalition cabinet, in charge of issues such as energy market regulation and nuclear policy, and has also twice stood for the Lib Dem leadership. Mr Huhne is the third cabinet minister to resign since the coalition was formed in May 2010.
Lib Dem David Laws quit as chief secretary to the Treasury after only 17 days over his expenses, while Conservative Liam Fox stood down as defence secretary in October 2011 after questions were raised about his working relationship with friend and self-styled adviser Adam Werritty.
Mr Huhne is entitled to a ministerial severance payment of £17,207. Asked whether he would be taking it, the prime minister's spokesman said: "That's a matter for him."
| Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | February 2012 | ['(BBC)'] |
Prominent Uzbek photographer Umida Akhmedova is found guilty on charges of "slandering the nation" in her work, but is immediately pardoned under an amnesty. | A prominent photographer and film-maker in Uzbekistan has been found guilty of slandering the nation through her work.
Umida Akhmedova had been facing up to three years in prison for a series of photos and a film portraying people in Uzbekistan as backward and poor. But after announcing the guilty verdict, the judge said the photographer would automatically be pardoned under an amnesty. Ms Akhmedova said she would still appeal against the conviction. Her work, funded by the Swiss embassy in Tashkent, focused on women's rights. Last month the Uzbek government decided to prosecute the photographer for an album of work, published in 2007, depicting rural life scenes in Uzbekistan, and for a documentary film. The film, The Burden of Virginity, focused on the experiences of young women immediately before and after marriage. But a panel of experts appointed by the government ruled that her work would damage Uzbekistan's spiritual values. 'Aesthetic demands'
An exhausted-looking Ms Akhmedova, 54, had pleaded not guilty to all charges. "I feel bad. I am a creative person, and sitting in this courtroom like a criminal is very unpleasant," she told AFP. "I feel like I am the one being slandered," she added. Ms Akhmedova put the blame for the trial not on the government, but on the expert panel it had convened to analyse her work. The panel concluded in its report that the "photo album does not conform to aesthetic demands", a throwback to Soviet jargon, and that it would damage the country's "spiritual values". Activists say the government uses its courts to silence critical voices. 'Chilling precedent'
The government denies the accusations and defends its tough policing policies as necessary to combat Islamist groups. The trial sets a chilling precedent for artists, said Surat Ikramov, head of the Initiative Group of Independent Human Rights Defenders of Uzbekistan. Analysts said Uzbekistan believes it can afford to ignore criticism of its handling of domestic issues given its strategic location on the northern border of Afghanistan. It had been trying to repair ties with the United States and the European Union damaged by its brutal handling of an uprising in the city of Andizhan in 2005. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | February 2010 | ['(BBC)', '(The Moscow Times)'] |
The United States Food and Drug Administration has received 167 reported incidents of Salmonellosis from eating tainted tomatoes in 17 states with New Mexico and Texas the worst affected areas. | LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - U.S. health officials said on Wednesday they are still receiving reports of people falling ill from eating Salmonella-tainted tomatoes and that they now have 167 reported cases from 17 states.
Representatives from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said they are continuing to search for the source of the Salmonella outbreak, which has hit New Mexico and Texas the hardest.
Officials said the earliest reported onset of illness was on April 16 and that the latest was May 27. Of the 167 cases reported, 23 have resulted in hospitalization.
Health officials in Texas investigated the death of a man who had been infected with Salmonella Saintpaul but ruled that the cause of death was cancer, according to the Houston Department of Health and Human Services.
Ian Williams, chief of the CDCs OutbreakNet Team, said one of the interesting features about the scare was that it has not been associated with any specific restaurants or grocery stores.
The outbreak -- linked to raw plum, Roma and round tomatoes -- has hit the $1.28 billion U.S. tomato market hard.
Restaurants and grocery stores have yanked raw tomatoes from menus and store shelves and consumers have sworn off the fruit until the problem is pinpointed.
The FDA said on Tuesday that Northern Florida, which did not yet have tomatoes widely available for consumption at the time people fell ill, had been added to its list of states and countries whose tomatoes were not linked to the outbreak.
States already on that list include Texas and California, the second-largest U.S. tomato producer. (The full FDA list of "safe" producers is available here: here)
Related Coverage
Florida is the largest U.S. tomato grower, producing an annual crop valued at between $500 million to $700 million.
Tomatoes from the central region of Florida remain under investigation, David Acheson, FDAs associate commissioner for food protection, said on a conference call with journalists.
FDA also has not cleared Mexico, which produces 84 percent of the tomatoes imported by the United States.
Salmonella bacteria are frequently responsible for food-borne illnesses. Symptoms of infection include fever, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain and generally appear within 12 to 72 hours of eating tainted food.
Infants, the elderly and those with weakened immune systems are more likely than others to develop severe illness. The current outbreak is caused by an uncommon type of bacteria known as Salmonella Saintpaul.
Salmonella infections commonly result from eating food that has been contaminated by animal feces. Human food handlers can contaminate food by failing to wash their hands after going to the bathroom.
Since 1990, there have been at least 13 multi-state Salmonella outbreaks linked to different types of tomatoes, according to the CDCs Williams.
Consumers have complained that there seem to be more problems with U.S. food safety than in the past -- something U.S. health officials dispute.
A notice informing customers about not serving tomatoes is on display at a McDonald's restaurant in Los Angeles, June 10, 2008. U.S. health officials on Wednesday said they are still receiving reports of people falling ill from eating Salmonella-tainted tomatoes and that they now have 167 reported cases from 17 states. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni
It is not getting worse, said Acheson, who said health officials were, over the years, able to identify outbreaks sooner and communicate them more efficiently to the public.
David Henkes, a vice president at food industry research and consulting company Technomic, said food safety is a perennial issue in the United States.
It does seem that these things crop every so often. Its never good news for the industry, said Henkes, who added that regulators are working with limited resources.
Government agencies are underfunded. Its very difficult for them to monitor every single shipment in every single crop. Henkes said.
| Disease Outbreaks | June 2008 | ['(Reuters)'] |
Labour Party MP Jo Cox dies at Leeds General Infirmary after being shot and stabbed as she prepared to hold a meeting with constituents in Birstall, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom. A woman suffered serious injuries; a man was slightly wounded. West Yorkshire police have arrested a 52–year–old male suspect. | The Labour MP Jo Cox has died after being shot and stabbed multiple times following a constituency meeting. Armed officers responded to the attack near a library in Birstall, West Yorkshire, on Thursday afternoon. A 52-year-old man was arrested in the area, police confirmed. The suspect was named locally as Tommy Mair.
Police added that Cox, 41, the MP for Batley and Spen, had suffered serious injuries and was pronounced dead at 1.48pm on Thursday by a doctor with paramedics at the scene.
Police confirmed that a man in his late 40s to early 50s nearby suffered slight injuries in the incident. They are also investigating reports that the suspect shouted “Britain first”, a possible reference to the far-right political party of that name, as he launched the attack. Police are understood to be talking to at least one witness who claimed to have heard the attacker shout the words, and the motivation for the incident will form part of their inquiry. Cox’s husband, Brendan, said after her death was announced: “Today is the beginning of a new chapter in our lives. More difficult, more painful, less joyful, less full of love. I and Jo’s friends and family are going to work every moment of our lives to love and nurture our kids and to fight against the hate that killed Jo.
“Jo believed in a better world and she fought for it every day of her life with an energy and a zest for life that would exhaust most people. She would have wanted two things above all else to happen now – one, that our precious children are bathed in love and two, that we all unite to fight against the hatred that killed her. Hate doesn’t have a creed, race or religion, it is poisonous.
“Jo would have no regrets about her life, she lived every day of it to the full.”
The temporary chief constable of West Yorkshire police, Dee Collins, said there was a large, ongoing investigation, with heightened visibility patrols in the area. She added that weapons had been retrieved from the scene, including a firearm. At the press conference announcing Cox’s death, Collins said: “Jo was attacked by a man who inflicted serious and sadly, ultimately fatal injuries. Subsequently there was a further attack on a 77-year-old man nearby who has sustained injuries that are non-life threatening.
“Shortly afterwards, a man was arrested nearby by uniform police officers. Weapons including a firearm have also been recovered.
“At 1.48pm, Jo Cox was pronounced deceased by a doctor working with a paramedic crew that was attending to her serious injuries.
“This is a very significant investigation with a large number of witnesses that are being spoken to by the police at this time. There is a large and significant crime scene and there is a large police presence in the area. A full investigation is under way to establish the motive for this murder.” There was police activity following the attack at a semi-detached house on the Fieldhead estate in Birstall. Thomas Mair, 52, is the registered occupier of the address, according to the electoral roll. Police have not officially confirmed the suspect’s identity.
A cordon surrounded the house as a helicopter circled overheard and forensic officers in boiler suits appeared to be searching the neat front garden, as well as around garages at the back of the property.
Graeme Howard, 38, who lives in nearby Bond Street, told the Guardian he heard the man shout “Britain first” before the shooting and during the arrest.
“I heard the shot and I ran outside and saw some ladies from the cafe running out with towels,” he said. “There was loads of screaming and shouting and the police officers showed up.
“He was shouting ‘Britain first’ when he was doing it and being arrested. He was pinned down by two police officers and she was taken away in an ambulance.”
Jayda Fransen, deputy leader of Britain First, said the party was “looking into the reports right now”. “We were extremely shocked to see these reports and we are keen to confirm them, because of course at the moment it is hearsay,” she said. “This has just been brought to our attention. This is absolutely not the kind of behaviour we would condone.”
Other witnesses said the attack was launched after the MP became involved in an altercation involving two men near where she held her weekly surgery. A Labour source confirmed Cox was shot and stabbed after she had concluded the drop-in session for constituents at about 1pm.
The shopkeeper in a greengrocer opposite Birstall library, Golden D’Licious, told the Guardian that he believed the attacker had been waiting for the MP outside the library.
“I was inside the shop and all I heard was a scream and then the gunshot,” he said, without giving his name. “I went out and everyone was dispersing. I couldn’t see because it happened behind a car.”
Terry Flynn-Edwards, who runs the Divine hair studio opposite the scene of the attack, said a man from the dry cleaners had tried to stop the assault. She said: “She walked out of the library with her PA and he was waiting for her. He stabbed her first and this guy tried to stop him and then he shot her.”
But one witness, Hithem Ben Abdallah, 56, who was in the cafe next door to the library shortly after 1pm, said the MP was involved in an altercation between two arguing men.
He told the Press Association a man in a baseball cap “suddenly pulled a gun from his bag” and after a brief scuffle with another man the MP became involved. He added: “He was fighting with her and wrestling with her and then the gun went off twice and then she fell between two cars and I came and saw her bleeding on the floor.”
Clarke Rothwell, another witness, told BBC News there was a direct altercation between Cox and a man carrying a gun, who “purposefully” targeted her.
“He shot this lady and then shot her again,” he said. “He leant down. Someone was wrestling with him and he was wielding a knife and lunging at her. Three times she was shot. People were trying to help her.
“Then he ran off down a one-way street. Me and my mate drove round to try and find him.”
A West Yorkshire police spokesman said: “At 12.53 today, police were called to a report of an incident on Market Street, Birstall, where a woman in her 40s had suffered serious injuries.”
The Priestley residential care home next door to the library on Market Street was thought to be in lockdown. The firm’s head office said all the residents were safe and accounted for following the shooting.
Neighbours on the Fieldhead council estate said the suspect had lived here 40 years with a female relative, who died a number of years ago, leaving him alone.
Kathleen Cooke, 62, said she and her daughter, Emma John, 30, had seen Mair half an hour before the attack.
“I looked out of the window at about 12.30pm and he walked past carrying his bag, wearing a cap. He looked perfectly calm and normal,” said John. “He was a quiet person, kept himself to himself. We knew him around here from when he used to do our gardens,” said Cooke.
One woman, who gave her name just as Karen, said Mair had tended her mother’s garden regularly until a few years ago. He did not seem to have a job, she said.
Local teenagers said he was a quiet man unless they congregated on the wall behind his house, which he did not like. “He’d shout at us,” said a 17-year-old. “All this we are hearing now is totally at odds with the man we thought we knew,” said one neighbour. “We knew him as someone who helped out, who did volunteering.”
Senior politicians expressed their shock at the killing and sent their condolences.
David Cameron said: “The death of Jo Cox is a tragedy. She was a committed and caring MP. My thoughts are with her husband Brendan and her two young children.”
The Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, said the country would be “in shock at the horrific murder” of the MP, who was a “much-loved colleague”.
Cox was elected to parliament in 2015, having previously worked internationally as a head of policy and humanitarian campaigning for Oxfam.
She chaired the all-party parliamentary group for Friends of Syria, and was vocal in making the case for military action in the country last autumn, on humanitarian grounds. Her husband is a former Labour adviser who stepped down as a senior executive of the charity Save the Children last year.
Cox’s fellow Labour MP John Mann described her as “one of the real stars of the new intake”, and said her colleagues were “absolutely stunned” by the attack. | Famous Person - Death | June 2016 | ['(NBC News)', '(ABC News)', '(BBC)', '(Reuters)', '(The Guardian)'] |
Giorgio Napolitano is re–elected President of Italy with 738 votes in the sixth ballot amid widespread protests by MPs eager to elect Stefano Rodotà. | Italian President Giorgio Napolitano has been re-elected following a cross-party appeal to run for office again to resolve a growing political crisis.
Mr Napolitano, aged 87, easily secured a majority in parliament.
Politicians had turned to the widely-respected president after five rounds of voting failed to produce a successor.
A caretaker government has been governing Italy following February's inconclusive general elections.
The political deadlock has compounded concern about the stability of Italy whose economy, the third-biggest in the eurozone, is mired in recession. On Saturday, Mr Napolitano became the first president in Italian history to secure a second seven-year term. He won 738 votes from the 1,007 electors. Mr Napolitano put forward his candidacy after the appeal by main party leaders - both on the left and right. "I consider it necessary to offer my availability," said Mr Napolitano, who had been due to step down on 15 May.
"I cannot shun my responsibility towards the nation," he added. And in a brief address shortly after the vote, Mr Napolitano acknowledged that the situation in the country remained "difficult".
"I strongly hope that in the next few weeks, starting in the next few days, all sides will fulfil their duties, with the aim of strengthening the institutions of the state," he added. Italian party leaders earlier urged parliament to "show unity" in re-electing widely-respected Mr Napolitano. Outside the parliament building in Rome, protesters held a rally against the push for Mr Napolitano's re-election.
Many demonstrators were supporters of Beppe Grillo, the leader of the 5-Star Movement. Mr Grillo denounced Mr Napolitano's re-appointment as a "coup d'etat".
Parliament began trying to elect a new president on Thursday, but MPs voted five times without producing a clear winner. In increasing desperation they turned to the man who was supposed to retire, the BBC's Alan Johnston in Rome reports. On Friday, the leader of Italy's centre-left alliance, Pier Luigi Bersani, promised to step down as soon as a new president was elected.
Mr Bersani announced the news to his Democratic Party (PD) after many centre-left MPs refused to back his preferred candidate for president. | Government Job change - Election | April 2013 | ['(BBC)'] |
One student is murdered and another injured in Mardan, Pakistan over alleged blasphemy. The student who died, Mashal Khan, was known on social media for his secular and liberal views. | A university student in Pakistan accused of blasphemy against Islam has been killed by a mob of fellow students on campus, police say.
Many students have been arrested after the brutal attack in the northern city of Mardan, and the campus has been closed.
Reports suggest that two young men were accused of posting offensive content on Facebook. One survived with injuries.
Blasphemy is a highly sensitive and incendiary issue in Pakistan.
Critics say blasphemy laws, which allow the death penalty in some cases, are often misused to oppress minorities.
There have been other cases where people accused of it have been killed by an angry crowd.
The murdered student has been identified as Mashal Khan, who studied journalism. Some reports say he was shot, while others say he was beaten to death with planks.
"He was badly tortured after being shot at a close range... He was beaten with sticks, bricks and hands," senior police official Niaz Saeed told the AFP news agency.
Hundreds of people were involved, the officer said. Graphic video footage of the incident has emerged online.
Police had not been investigating the two accused men, nor had any case been filed against them, and the mob appeared to have acted on rumours, the Dawn newspaper reports.
Last month Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif voiced his support for a wide-ranging crackdown on blasphemous content on social media.
In a statement on his party's official Twitter account, he described blasphemy as an "unpardonable offence".
An official at Abdul Wali Khan University who spoke on condition of anonymity said Mr Khan was disliked by other students for his liberal and secular views. At least 65 people have been murdered in Pakistan after being accused of blasphemy since 1990, a recent think tank report said. Pakistan tackles Facebook on blasphemy | Famous Person - Death | April 2017 | ['(BBC)'] |
Mixed martial artist Conor McGregor announces his retirement from the sport on Twitter. The New York Times reports that McGregor was arrested in January for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman in Ireland. According to the New York Times, he was released and is under investigation by authorities. | UFC star Conor McGregor is under investigation in his native Ireland for sexual assault, according to a report on Tuesday.
The Dublin-born pro brawler is accused of assaulting a woman in December and was arrested the following month, four people familiar with the probe told the New York Times. The news comes just hours after an early morning tweet in which the fighter announced his retirement.
He has not been charged with a crime — though under standard protocol in Ireland and much of Europe, a formal charge does not necessarily follow an arrest.
McGregor, who welcomed his second child in January with longtime girlfriend Dee Devlin, was released after questioning.
The alleged victim told investigators that the incident occurred at the Beacon Hotel on the edge of Dublin.
McGregor, who has made millions in the octagon as one of the MMA’s most recognizable faces and boxed Floyd Mayweather in August 2017, has been spotted at the Beacon before and usually books its only penthouse room, a source told the Times.
His last and most recent known visit there was in December — the night before police say the alleged incident took place.
Police have recovered evidence from the room McGregor stayed in as well as security camera footage.
The allegations had previously been reported by Irish media, but McGregor was not named because of strict laws banning reporters from identifying people charged with rape unless they are convicted.
News of the ongoing investigation comes just after the 30-year-old announced his retirement from mixed martial arts on Twitter — for the second time.
“Hey guys quick announcement, I’ve decided to retire from the sport formally known as ‘Mixed Martial Art’ today,” he tweeted.
“I wish all my old colleagues well going forward in competition. I now join my former partners on this venture, already in retirement.”
He added, referring to his whiskey brand Proper No. 12, “Proper Pina Coladas on me fellas!”
McGregor first posted about retiring “young” back in 2016 — leaving critics dubious about his most recent announcement.
But he also hinted that fighting may no longer be in the cards.
“I am set for life, my family is set for life … we are good. But I am eager to fight, we will see what happens, I’m just staying ready,” he said.
McGregor is worth an estimated $99 million, according to Forbes, despite not appearing in a UFC fight since 2016.
He recently wrapped up community service at two churches in Brooklyn for chucking a hand truck at a bus full of rival fighters at the Barclays Center nearly a year ago.
But his legal woes in the US are far from over. He’s facing a civil suit in Florida for allegedly smashing a tourist’s phone when he caught him trying to snap a picture.
“This story has been circulating for some time and it is unclear why it is being reported now. The assumption that the Conor retirement announcement today is related to this rumor is absolutely false,” said McGregor’s spokeswoman Karen J. Kessler.
“Should Conor fight in the future it must be in an environment where fighters are respected for their value, their skill, their hard work and their dedication to the sport.”
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Release | March 2019 | ['(MMA Fighting)', '(New York Post)'] |
The Rwandan supreme court hears appeals for Pasteur Bizimungu, first president of Rwanda after the genocide, who was arrested last June. (Link dead as of 04:02, 16 January 2007 ), , | Pasteur Bizimungu was sent to prison for 15 years on charges of inciting civil disobedience, associating with criminals and embezzling public funds. He was arrested in 2002 after trying to form a political party. His lawyers argue that the jail term should be reduced, while prosecutors want it to be changed to life sentence.
Supporters of Pasteur Bizimungu say the charges against him were politically motivated, but the government in Kigali accused him of stirring up divisions between Tutsis and the majority Hutus. Vocal critic
The former president was tried along with seven other people after he founded a new political party (PDR-Ubuyanja), which was immediately declared illegal by the government. Mr Bizimungu was one of only a handful of Hutus to join the Rwandan Patriotic Front - the RPF - the rebel movement formed among Tutsi exiles in Uganda. The RPF took control of Rwanda in July 1994, putting an end to the genocide organised by extremist Hutu leaders that left about 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus dead. But after his resignation in 2000, Mr Bizimungu became a vocal critic of the RPF-led government. While the RPF says it has introduced stability and multi-party democracy, its critics claim it has centralised power within a Tutsi elite and crushed potential opponents - by accusing them of promoting ethnic divisions. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | April 2005 | ['(Rwanda Information Exchange)', '(UTC)', '(IOL)', '(BBC)'] |
38 people are killed in collapsed school buildings and road accidents caused by heavy snowfall in China, the heaviest in 60 years. | BEIJING: Heavy snow has left 21 people dead in north and central China since Monday, the Ministry of Civil Affairs announced (MCA) Friday.
The ministry did not detail the causes of the deaths, but four children had been reported dead when two school canteens collapsed after heavy snow in Hebei and Henan provinces since Wednesday.
As of 5 pm Friday, more than 9,000 buildings collapsed and about 190,400 hectares of crops were affected, causing direct economic losses of around 4.5 billion yuan (US$659 million), the ministry said.
Over 7.5 million people were affected by the snow, and close to 159,000 people had been evacuated from their homes and their stranded vehicles jammed on the roads, it said.
In addition, the MCA and the Ministry of Finance have allocated 20 million yuan (US$2.9 million) from the central budget to Shanxi and Hebei provinces to help reallocate those affected by the snow and help them build new homes.
In a circular issued on Thursday, the State Council, or Cabinet, noted that China was in a critical phase to deal with the global financial crisis and the A/H1N1 influenza, and called for stepped-up efforts to mitigate damages brought by the snow.
Local authorities should take measures to ensure supply of food, water, power, heating and gas to the public, and should check primary and middle schools, health centers, old folks' homes, and tourist sites for hidden dangers, said the circular.
Timely help must be provided to people having difficulties in their lives, it said.
Meanwhile, public security and traffic department should increase patrol on accident-prone parts of the roads, and should make all-out efforts to make sure expressways and highways stay in function, the circular said.
Authorities must also conduct thorough safety checks on power, telecommunications, and heating, water and gas supplying facilities, it said, urging weather forecast departments to publicize alerts for blizzards and temperature drops in time.
Heavy snow began to fall Monday on northern and central Chinese provinces, including Hebei, Shanxi, Henan, Shandong, Hubei and Shaanxi, and Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.
Beijing also experienced heavy snow, but no deaths had been reported so far.
In Shaanxi, major highways had reported traffic jams as some vehicles failed to work in low temperature. On the highway linking Xi'an and Shangluo cities, vehicles had been seen queuing dozens of kilometers in chilly winds.
Shenyang Taoxian International Airport in the northeastern Liaoning Province resumed operation at 1:20 pm after being closed at 7 am as snow stopped.
By 6 pm Friday, major highways that were closed earlier in China's Hebei, Shanxi, Liaoning, Jilin, Shandong, Henan and Shaanxi provinces and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region have reopened, according to the Ministry of Public Security.
But a new snowstorm hit the northeastern Jilin Province Friday, with an expected temperature drop of eight to ten degrees Celsius in the coming week. Jilin Provincial Meteorological Bureau has issued an alert, urging local residents to prepare for heavier snow in the coming two days.
Two major airports in Changchun and Yanji cities were closed in the morning and vehicles were moving like snails in the city proper amid falling snowflakes. | Hurricanes_Tornado_Storm_Blizzard | November 2009 | ['(BBC)', '(China Daily)', '(Times of India)'] |
US President Donald Trump announces that his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will take place on June 12 in Singapore. | US President Donald Trump will meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore on 12 June, he has said.
"We will both try to make it a very special moment for World Peace!" the US leader tweeted.
In March, Mr Trump stunned the world by accepting an invitation to meet Mr Kim for an unprecedented sit-down.
The pair had previously exchanged insults and threats. The breakthrough came after landmark talks between North and South Korea.
Mr Trump's announcement came hours after he welcomed home three US detainees released by North Korea.
Their release came during a visit to Pyongyang by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to arrange details of the meeting between Mr Trump and Mr Kim.
No sitting US president has ever met a North Korean leader. The White House said the American trio were freed as a gesture of goodwill ahead of the summit, which Mr Trump earlier said he thought would be a "big success".
"I really think we have a very good chance of doing something very meaningful," he said.
The key issue expected to be discussed is North Korea's nuclear weapons programme - over which Mr Trump and Mr Kim furiously sparred in 2017.
The communist North has carried out six nuclear tests since 2006, despite international condemnation and sanctions, saying it needs the weapons for its own security.
The US wants Pyongyang to give up its weapons programme completely and irreversibly.
Ahead of the meeting, Mr Kim has pledged to stop nuclear tests and intercontinental ballistic missile launches, and also to shut down a nuclear test site.
But analysts caution that Mr Kim is unlikely to easily abandon nuclear weapons that he has pushed so hard to obtain, and that "denuclearisation" means something quite different to both sides.
There has been no word from Pyongyang on what it might specifically offer at the summit, but key issues for the North will be the presence of 30,000 US military personnel in South Korea, and the lifting of sanctions that are choking the economy.
At a summit in April, Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in vowed to work to rid the peninsula of nuclear weapons, although the means of achieving this were not detailed and previous such pledges have been abandoned.
Still, the dramatic meeting - which saw a North Korean leader setting foot on South Korean soil for the first time since the end of the 1953 Korean War - marked a historic breakthrough between the two countries.
Singapore, a small and highly prosperous island nation, has been used before for high-profile diplomatic occasions.
In 2015, the leaders of China and Taiwan held historic talks in the South East Asian city-state, their first in more than 60 years.
It had been seen by top US officials as a good, neutral choice for the Trump-Kim talks.
The US and Singapore have a close relationship. Singapore has diplomatic ties with North Korea but suspended all trade with the country in November last year as international sanctions were tightened.
Other locations which had been considered for the Trump-Kim summit included Mongolia and the Korean border's demilitarised zone (DMZ). | Diplomatic Talks _ Diplomatic_Negotiation_ Summit Meeting | May 2018 | ['(BBC)'] |
Missiles and airstrikes strike a crowded facility in Qah and Idlib, killing approximately over 20 including women and children. Activists claim that Syrian Armed Forces were behind the attack. | A UN official has said he is appalled by an attack on a camp for displaced people in north-western Syria that left 12 people dead.
Missiles struck the crowded facility in Qah, in opposition-held Idlib province, destroying tents and sparking fires, rescue workers and medics said. Most of the victims were children and women.
A maternity hospital was also damaged, and four aid workers were hurt.
Activists alleged that the missiles were fired by pro-government forces.
Idlib, which is dominated by jihadist groups, is the last stronghold of the opposition to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The UN estimates that region is home to 3 million people, including a million children. More than 40% of them come from other previously opposition-held areas.
Qah, which is close to the border with Turkey, is one of the most densely populated camps in Syria.
"I find it sickening that missiles hit vulnerable civilians, including elderly people, women and children sheltering in tents and makeshift shelters in a camp for internally displaced people," said Mark Cutts, the UN's deputy regional humanitarian co-ordinator for the Syria crisis.
"This horrific incident needs to be fully investigated," he added.
Mr Cutts noted that international humanitarian law required all parties to strictly distinguish between civilians and combatants, and to take constant care to spare civilians in the conduct of military operations. Intentionally directing an attack against civilians would constitute a war crime.
Also in Idlib on Wednesday, six civilians were killed in an air strike on the town of Maarat al-Numan, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group.
Since late April, the UN Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has verified more than 1,000 civilian casualties, hundreds of them children, in north-western Syria as a result of hostilities between pro-government and opposition forces.
Dozens of attacks against medical facilities and staff have also been verified. A ceasefire negotiated by Russia, whose military campaign in support of Mr Assad has turned the tide of the civil war in his favour, and Turkey, which backs the opposition, halted a government assault on Idlib in August. But sporadic fighting has continued.
| Armed Conflict | November 2019 | ['(BBC)'] |
Zimbabwe replaces a treason charge against Deputy Agriculture Ministerdesignate Roy Bennett with "conspiring to acquire arms with a view to disrupting essential services." | Charges of treason against Zimbabwean politician Roy Bennett have been dropped, and replaced with other allegations, his party says.
The new charge is conspiring to acquire arms with a view to disrupting essential services, the MDC said.
Mr Bennett, a deputy ministerial nominee, was arrested on Friday shortly before President Robert Mugabe swore in new ministers of the unity government.
His lawyer, Trust Maanda, said the treason case did not "hold water".
"The police must have realised that they had no leg to stand on," Mr Maanda told the AFP news agency.
But Mr Bennett remains in custody.
MDC supporters spent another night outside the police station in the eastern city of Mutare, where he is being held
"Bennett is currently being interviewed by the police. He is now appearing in court on Monday facing fresh charges," Mr Maanda said.
There was no confirmation from the police or justice officials that the charges had been changed.
Mr Bennett is treasurer of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
He had been picked by the party to be deputy agriculture minister in the new unity government.
Under a power-sharing deal agreed after months of talks following disputed elections, President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF is to have 15 posts and the two factions of the MDC 16 posts in the government.
The MDC has described Mr Bennett's detention as "scandalous" and "politically motivated", and called for him to be released unconditionally and unharmed.
A white farmer who lost his property under Mr Mugabe's land reform programme, Mr Bennett was imprisoned from October 2004 to June 2005.
The sentence was imposed by other MPs after he pushed a minister during an argument in parliament over land reform.
He recently returned to Zimbabwe after more than two years in South Africa, where he fled after police sought his arrest in connection with an alleged plot to kill Mr Mugabe.
The latest charges would appear to be linked to this alleged plot, reports the BBC's southern Africa correspondent, Peter Biles.
On Saturday Mr Tsvangirai said Mr Bennett's arrest was undermining the spirit of the power-sharing agreement. Mr Bennett is one of more than 30 MDC supporters and other activists who have been detained over the past couple of months. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | February 2009 | ['(BBC)'] |
Tens of thousands of people protest in Tirana against last years election, demanding a recount. | Tens of thousands of people have protested in Albania's capital, Tirana, about last year's election, which they claim was rigged.
They came out in support of Socialist Party activists who have been on hunger strike for two weeks outside the office of Prime Minister Sali Berisha. Mr Berisha's Democrats won a narrow victory last June, but the protesters want the ballot boxes reopened. So far the government has rejected the opposition's demands. EU concern
This is the second huge demonstration in Tirana in the space of two weeks. The last protest drew tens of thousands and this one appears to be of a similar scale. Socialist-led opposition activists marched through the streets of the capital with banners and slogans calling for the government to reopen the ballot boxes from last June's general election, which they believe was fraudulently won by the Democratic Party. But the government says tampering with the ballot boxes would be unconstitutional and are standing firm. Following the protest a fortnight ago, around 200 Socialist Party members began a hunger strike directly beneath the office of Mr Berisha. It is a very visible and serious escalation of the stand-off, with several strikers having now been hospitalised. This crisis, which involved a several-months long boycott of parliament by the Socialists, has paralysed Albanian politics and is damaging the country's bid for European Union membership. Brussels is openly voicing its concern and several bodies, including the Council of Europe, are attempting to mediate between the Democrats and Socialists. But with both sides refusing to budge, it is difficult to see how the deadlock can be broken. Since the fall of communism in 1991, Albania has never held an election that has met all international standards. Last year's vote was deemed the best yet, but was still criticised by the observer mission. Albania is already one of Europe's poorest countries and is struggling to prove it has made the transition to fully-functioning democracy - a crucial goal if it is to fulfil its hopes of EU integration. | Protest_Online Condemnation | May 2010 | ['(BBC)'] |
India and Pakistan begin talks to resolve a military stand–off on the Siachen glacier. | ISLAMABAD, May 25: India and Pakistan dialogue on the Siachen issue begins here on Thursday amid guarded optimism of some forward movement on the two-decade old conflict over the world’s highest battlefield. This will be the ninth bilateral meeting on the Siachen issue and third under the composite dialogue framework agreed between the foreign secretaries of the two countries in 1997.
Siachen is one of the eight issues on the composite dialogue agenda.
The last round of talks on Siachen were held in Delhi in August 2004 but remained inconclusive.
The two-day talks, to be led by the defence secretaries of the two countries, will take place at the Defence Ministry in Rawalpindi.
An eight-member Indian delegation headed by Defense Secretary Ajay Vikram Singh arrived here on Wednesday night on a special aircraft from Delhi.
The Pakistani delegation, headed by Defence Secretary Lt-Gen (Retd) Tariq Wasim Ghazi, includes Director-General Military Operations Major Gen Mohammad Yusaf, director-general South Asia at Foreign Ministry Jalil Abbas Jilani and other senior officials from relevant departments.
When Dawn asked Foreign Office spokesman Mr Jilani on Wednesday if the government was optimistic about making some headway on the Siachen issue during the talks, he refused to prejudge the outcome but said: “We hope that our discussions result in resolution of Siachen issue in accordance to the 1989 bilateral agreement.” The agreement is already in place, it just needs to be implemented, he underlined.
India on the other hand insists that Pakistan authenticate the positions held by the two armies on the Sicahen heights. Pakistan, however, rejects this demand, saying such a move would mean authenticating aggression by the Indian side.
Given that both sides remain sharply divided on the basic issue a major breakthrough seems unlikely. However, there are indications of a forward movement with a likely agreement on “some incremental measures” aimed at minimizing stress and losses on both sides.
According to an informed Indian source the delegation from Delhi will be carrying some specific proposals essentially pertaining to such “incremental” measures. Significantly, the Indian Cabinet Committee on Security met on Monday to discuss what kind of progress was possible on the Siachen issue.
Ruling out the possibility of redeployment or withdrawal of troops by India from Siachen at this point, the source said: “The shadow of Kargil continues to raise a big question mark on this issue even among the moderates in Delhi.”
Siachen heights had been under Pakistan’s control since 1947 but these were occupied by India in 1984 in a move that was seen as an aggression by Pakistan as well as the international community.
In 1989 an understanding had been reached between the two governments for disengagement of troops to the time of 1972 when the Simla Agreement was signed.
The defence secretaries of Pakistan and India met in June 1989 and agreed that both sides would work towards the comprehensive settlement based redeployment of forces to reduce the chances of conflict, avoidance of the use of force and the determination of future positions on the ground so as to conform with the Simla Agreement. It was decided that the army authorities would determine these positions.—Q.A. | Diplomatic Talks _ Diplomatic_Negotiation_ Summit Meeting | May 2005 | ['(Hindu.com)', '(Pakistan Dawn)', '(Reuters)'] |
Tens of thousands of Japanese people demonstrate for the closure of Futenma airbase in crowded Ginowan, Okinawa. They also protest the deployment of twelve MV–22 Osprey aircraft. They consider the plane as the "most dangerous" in the world. | TOKYO >> Tens of thousands of people rallied Sunday against U.S. plans to deploy Osprey hybrid aircraft on a southern Japanese island amid renewed safety concerns.
The protesters — as many as 100,000, according to organizers — gathered at a seaside park on Okinawa to demand that the plan to deploy 12 MV-22 Osprey aircraft on the island be scrapped, saying they are unsafe. The U.S. plans to deploy the Osprey, which takes off like a helicopter and flies like an airplane, to replace older CH-46 helicopters that are already there.
Safety concerns boiled over after Osprey crashes in Morocco and Florida earlier this year. An incident in North Carolina last week that officials called a “precautionary landing” further aggravated the sentiment.
“We refuse to accept a deployment of Osprey that has already proven so dangerous,” said Atsushi Sakima, mayor of Okinawa’s Ginowan City, home to the base where the Ospreys will be deployed. “Who is going to take responsibility if they crash onto a populated neighborhood?”
Participants cheered in support, waving red banners and placards with a message saying “Osprey No!”
The tilt-rotor planes have been used extensively in Iraq and Afghanistan. The United States says they have a solid record and can fly faster and carry bigger loads than the CH-46, which it is replacing worldwide.
Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima has asked Japan’s central government to seek a full U.S. investigation into the Osprey crashes and suspend their deployment until the aircraft’s safety is verified.
The Osprey deployment plan has also reignited longstanding anger over the heavy presence of American troops on Okinawa and has become a headache for officials in Tokyo and Washington hoping to calm anti-base sentiment. More than half of the roughly 50,000 U.S. troops stationed throughout Japan are based on Okinawa.
Okinawans are particularly angry because the Ospreys will be deployed to Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, which the two countries decided to close more than a decade ago. The base has remained in operation because a replacement site hasn’t been readied.
let them drain their own treasuries to defend their countries.
if each of the 25,000 u.s. military personnel stationed at okinawa spent an average of $300 a month at local businesses, that's $90,000,000 a year going into okinawa's economy. | Protest_Online Condemnation | September 2012 | ['(MCAS)', '(Star Advertiser)', '(AFP via Google News)'] |
It is reported today that right-wing British activist Tommy Robinson was sentenced to 13 months in prison for contempt of court within five hours after being arrested outside Leeds Crown Court on 25 May. A ban on reporting his sentence is lifted today following a legal challenge by journalists. | Tommy Robinson, the founder of the far-right English Defence League, has been jailed for 13 months for contempt of court.
The 35-year-old’s sentence can be revealed after a judge lifted reporting restrictions on the case on Tuesday. The case had been widely discussed on social media, where rightwing activists claimed that the restrictions amounted to state censorship.
Robinson was arrested on Friday after broadcasting an hour-long video over Facebook from outside Leeds crown court. In the video he made comments that risked causing a trial to collapse.
Robinson pleaded guilty to contempt of court. He was arrested, charged and sentenced within five hours.
A court order is in place to prevent any reporting of the details of the trial in question. Another court order preventing reporting of Robinson’s arrest and the subsequent court proceedings was lifted on Tuesday after a challenge by Leeds Live and the Independent.
The restriction was put in place temporarily to prevent reporting on the Robinson case prejudicing the outcome of the first trial. It was lifted after a judge heard submissions that the order was already being widely violated by members of the public online.
Robinson attempted to film defendants entering the court and spoke about the case. The video was viewed more than 250,000 times.
Robinson’s arrest provoked protests in Whitehall on Saturday. Supporters were seen carrying placards reading “#FreeTommy” and shouting “shame on you”. A change.org petition calling for his release had received nearly 500,000 signatures by Tuesday afternoon.
Last year Robinson was given a suspended sentence for committing contempt during a rape trial in Canterbury, after he attempted to film the defendants. He had been told that he would go to prison if he broke the law again.
Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Christopher Yaxley-Lennon, was sentenced to 10 months for contempt of court and a further three months for breaching the terms of the previous suspended sentence.
Robinson’s supporters had posted online that his arrest was an infringement of his freedom of speech. On Sunday Donald Trump Jr, the US president’s son, retweeted one of Robinson’s supporters, adding: “Don’t let America follow in those footsteps.”
The Dutch far-right opposition leader Geert Wilders posted a video on Twitter, filmed from outside the British embassy in The Hague, describing Robinson’s prison sentence as “an absolute disgrace”.
He accused the judge of issuing a gagging order and said that freedom of speech was being violated all over Europe. “The lights of freedom are going out,” he said. “The authorities are trying to silence us.” | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | May 2018 | ['(The Mirror)', '(The Guardian)'] |
Hamas's Al-Aqsa TV reports that a cease-fire is reached to end the latest round of fighting with Israel. | Follow NBC News JERUSALEM — The border between the Gaza Strip and Israel was quiet on Friday after a reported Egyptian-brokered truce calmed a deadly, two-day outburst of violence.
Al-Aqsa TV reported late Thursday local time that a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas — the Palestinian militant group the runs the strip — had been mediated by Egypt and other regional players, it said.
Israeli officials, who did not comment on the reports, say the latest round of strikes hit 150 military targets and came in response to 180 rocket launches from Gaza. Thirty rockets were intercepted by that country’s “Iron Dome” defense system.
Four Palestinians, including an unborn child, were killed over two days, according to Health Ministry officials. Ali Algandor, 30, died Wednesday. And overnight Wednesday to Thursday, a 22-year-old pregnant woman was killed along with her 1-year-old daughter, officials said. The woman’s husband was also injured.
Eleven people were wounded in the Israeli city of Sderot near northern Gaza after six rockets were fired from the strip. Israeli officials said that one woman was seriously wounded in a rocket attack, and 20 other people have also been hurt. Some of those people were admitted for shock.
Israel has fought three wars in Gaza in the last decade — the latest in 2014 — and fears are growing that a new conflict is on the way. Any cease-fire will face a test later on Friday, as Palestinians in the narrow strip of land blockaded by Israel and Egypt planned on resuming weekly border protests.
After a quiet night, Israel's military told residents in the south of the country who had spent much of the past two days in rocket shelters that they could return to their daily routines. The area has suffered weeks of intensifying rocket attacks and fires set by incendiary kites and explosive balloons.
Talk of a cease-fire began around July 20 after officials said gunmen killed an Israeli soldier near the border, which prompted Israeli strikes by warplanes, tanks and artillery that were said to have left at least four Palestinians dead.
The U.N. Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process called for calm in a statement on Thursday.
"For months I have been warning that the humanitarian, security and political crisis in Gaza risks a devastating conflict that nobody wants. The U.N. has engaged with Egypt and all concerned parties in an unprecedented effort to avoid such a development," Nickolay Mladenov said.
"Our collective efforts have prevented the situation from exploding until now. If the current escalation however is not contained immediately, the situation can rapidly deteriorate with devastating consequences for all people," Mladenov said.
Gazans have held weekly protests since March 30, some of which have become violent, to demand the right of return for Palestinian refugees. Some 70 percent of Gaza residents are descended from or themselves refugees driven from their homes after the creation of the State of Israel.
More than 150 Palestinians have been killed during the recent protests, and a Gaza sniper killed an Israeli soldier.
Egypt and the United Nations have been trying to mediate a cease-fire, stop the violence from escalating and ease profound hardship in Gaza, which is home to two million Palestinians. A political impasse between Hamas and Fatah, the faction that dominates the Israel-occupied West Bank, also has made it impossible for Palestinians to present a strong or united front.
Israel lays the blame for the violence on Hamas.
"We will continue to defend our citizens against terror rockets as any other state would," said Israel's Permanent Representative to the U.N., Danny Danon, on Twitter.
Thursday's fighting brought back memories of the most recent war, in 2014. Air raid sirens wailed in southern Israel overnight and throughout the day, sending families scrambling into bomb shelters, canceling outdoor summer cultural events and forcing summer camps indoors. The Israeli air force, meanwhile, pounded targets across Gaza.
A Palestinian rocket struck the southern city of Beersheba late in the afternoon, landing in an open area. It was the first time a rocket had hit the city since the 2014 war.
| Sign Agreement | August 2018 | ['(NBC News)'] |
Iranian–born Israeli politician Shaul Mofaz is elected as leader of the Kadima party and Israel's leader of opposition. | Shaul Mofaz wins 61.7 percent of the vote, and Tzipi Livni 37.23 percent; Livni: These are elections, and these are the results, now I'm going to sleep; Mofaz: Tzipi, your place is with Kadima.
Shaul Mofaz won the Kadima party leadership primaries on Tuesday, after a tight race against former party chairwoman Tzipi Lvini.
With 100% of the votes counted, Mofaz won 61.7 percent of the vote - a total of 23,987 votes - and Livni took 37.23 percent - a total of 14,516 votes.
In a speech in response, Mofaz told those gathered at the Kadima party headquarters, "This evening, Kadima has been chosen," adding "Kadima has won." | Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration | March 2012 | ['(Haaretz)'] |
Charles Djou is sworn into the United States House of Representatives, representing Hawaii's 1st congressional district. | Charles Djou (R-HI) took the oath of office on the House floor Tuesday, becoming the most junior member of the House of Representatives.
Djou defeated Democrats Ed Case and Colleen Hanabusa in a three way race on May 22. They were all vying to take the seat vacated by Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawaii, who left to run for governor.
Republicans referred to this seat as “President Obama’s home district,” a label Democrats rejected. It marked the first Republican victory in eight House special election contests during the 111th Congress.
Djou will serve the remainder of current session and will have to run for reelection in November for a full 2 year stint.
It will now take 217 votes to get a majority in the House of Representatives.
Total Number of the house: 432 Democrats - 255
Republicans - 177
Vacancies - 3
1. Deal, Nathan (R-GA) resigned to run for governor 3/21/10.
2. Massa, Eric (D-NY)resignation effective 5PM 3/08/10 following ethics investigation.
3. Souder, Mark resigned (R-IN) effective 5/21/01 after admitting to an affair w/staffer.
d
| Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration | May 2010 | ['(Fox News)'] |
Other French court in Bonneville finds 13 people and companies guilty of manslaughter for the March 24 1999 Mont Blanc tunnel fire. Gerard Roncoli, the French head of security, received six months in jail and 24 months of suspended sentence | Prison for a security chief, suspended sentences and fines for others as a French court determines the responsibilities in the fire disaster that killed 39 people in the Mont Blanc tunnel six years ago. The court at Bonneville, near Chamonix in south-eastern France, ordered a 30-month prison term with 24 months suspended for French security chief Gerard Roncoli, the only one of the accused to be jailed. The mayor of Chamonix Michel Charlet received a suspended six-month prison term and a 1,500 euro fine. And the Belgian driver of the truck that caught fire and set off the conflagration, Gilbert Degrave, was given a suspended four-month prison term that was immediately amnestied. The court, which earlier this year held three months of hearings, absolved the Swedish carmaker Volvo of responsibility. The French state prosecutor asked for the charges to be dropped, saying there was no proof of a fault causing the truck, loaded with flour and margarine, to burst into flames. Four companies and a dozen individuals were on trial for involuntary manslaughter over the fire that trapped the truck and around 30 other vehicles. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | July 2005 | ['(Euronews)', '(BBC News)', '(IHT)'] |
Voters in Togo head to the polls to elect the country's president. Incumbent president Faure Gnassingbé, accused of an authoritarian rule, seeks to run for a fourth term which was made possible by a constitutional amendment in 2019. | Togolese have cast their votes in an election that follows protests against President Faure Gnassingbe's rule. Last year, Gnassingbe reformed the West African nation's constitution to allow him to lead until 2030.
Vote counting in Togo beganon Saturday in the country's presidential election, which followedprotests against the dynastic rule of one family that has lasted half a century.
Incumbent President Faure Gnassingbe is looking to secure a fourth term in office. He has led the country of eight million since 2005, when his father Gnassingbe Eyadema died after 38 years in the role.
"For 50 years it’s been the same family. I want change, stability, end ofpoverty," 28-year-oldvoter Octave told DW.
In 2017 and 2018,protests shook the country as people rallied against five decades of rule by one family, in a country where a large proportion of thepopulation continues to live in poverty.
Soldiers close-off opposition candidate
Afters after the polls closed, security forces surrounded the home of Agbeyome Kodjo, a key opposition candidate.
The Togolese government said that the measure was for Kodjo's "own safety" after authorities wereinformed that the contender might face a risk of an attack, AFP reported.
People line up to vote in the presidential elections in Lome, Togo 'I don't feel like a dictator'
Gnassingbe has pushed through constitutional changes thatallow him to remain in power for another term,and potentiallyuntil as late as 2030.
"I don't feel like a dictator," Gnassingbe said in an interview with AFP. The incumbent hasbeen accused of ruling the country with an iron fist. He is widely expected to win the election.
But six challengers haveaimed to persuade the 3.6 million registered voters to remove Gnassingbe and potentially usher in change. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | February 2020 | ['(DW)'] |
Slovenian airline Adria Airways cancels all flights and files for bankruptcy. | LJUBLJANA (Reuters) - Slovenian airline Adria Airways has filed for bankruptcy and canceled all flights, it said in a statement on Monday, after financial problems forced it to ground most of its planes over the last week.
“Bankruptcy proceedings were initiated by the management of the company because of the company’s insolvency,” Adria, which is owned by German investment firm 4K Invest, said.
Adria is the latest in a long line of small European airlines to run into financial trouble amid industry overcapacity, cut-throat competition and high fuel prices.
Since last Tuesday Adria has canceled more than 400 flights affecting more than 15,000 passengers.
Slovenia’s Economy Minister Zdravko Pocivalsek said earlier on Monday the government was considering establishing a new airline company to improve the country’s international connections. Adria’s collapse was very damaging to Slovenia’s economy and tourism industry, the minister said.
Officials were talking to Germany's Lufthansa LHAG.DE and Fraport FRAG.DE, which owns Ljubljana airport, about transferring half of Adria's flights, Pocivalsek said.
A Lufthansa spokesman said it was too early to say how Adria’s flights would be replaced in the long-term. Lufthansa is currently organizing flights to cover connections Adria was flying for the German group, either exclusively or via code share, he added.
Slovenia’s Civil Aviation Agency last week gave Adria until Oct. 2 to present a financial plan in order to keep its operating license.
Slovenia sold Adria to 4K Invest in 2016. The company has since sold all of its planes and has been flying to several European destinations on leased aircraft. According to TV Slovenia and other media, Adria has debt of around 90 million euros ($98.30 million).
Government officials have said European Union rules on state aid prevented the government helping Adria, adding it would also not help the company under its current ownership, which they called “irresponsible”.
| Organization Closed | September 2019 | ['(Reuters)'] |
In Kyrgyzstan, riot police break up a protest in the capital Bishkek. President Askar Akayev sacks his interior minister and prosecutor general for "poor work" in dealing with the growing protests against his government. US and UN appeal for calm and negotiations. | Up to 200 people gathered in Bishkek's main square, but police broke up the rally before it could get going.
Police reportedly hit some of the crowd with sticks and arrested 10 organisers.
It is not clear how closly the event was linked to protests in the south, where the cities of Osh and Jalal-Abad are under effective opposition control.
The new Kyrgyz Interior Minister, Keneshbek Dushebayev, warned protesters in the south that the authorities could use force to restore order.
"The law gives us every right to take action, including by using physical force, special means and firearms," he was quoted as saying.
The wave of unrest was sparked by disputed parliamentary election results earlier this year, and protesters want President Askar Akayev to step down.
A BBC Central Asia correspondent, Monica Whitlock, says protesters in the southern city of Osh, where demonstrations have been staged for days, are now trying to organise a bus convoy to travel to Bishkek for a larger rally later in the week.
OPPOSITION ANGER
Protesters say parliamentary poll was rigged and want president to resign
Opposition includes local leaders who lost seats
Protests fuelled by dissatisfaction at the economy and official corruption
Presidential election due in October but Mr Akayev barred from running
Profile: Askar Akayev
Frontrunners for top job
The authorities will be especially sensitive about opposition actions in the government's seat of power, and our correspondent says this may be the reason why Wednesday's protest was broken up so quickly.
Earlier on Wednesday, President Akayev sacked those responsible for security - his interior minister and prosecutor general.
A presidential spokesman said Bakirdin Subanbekov and Myktybek Abdyldayev were dismissed due to their "poor work".
The ministers' departure comes as a result of mounting protests sparked by elections in February, and a second round on 13 March, which saw the opposition reduced to just a handful of seats in the 75-member parliament.
Towns occupied
Osh and Jalal-Abad were both quiet on Wednesday morning.
A small group of protestors gathered in the main square in Osh, reiterating an opposition demand that Mr Akayev should stand down.
Protesters are still occupying official buildings, the television station and the airport, and security forces have all but disappeared from the city centre. But the tension of the last few days in Osh has evaporated, according to our correspondent. Many people in the town are not especially bothered by the local administration collapsing, she added. Some support the opposition, while others do not see that it makes much difference. On Tuesday evening, President Akayev appeared on television and invited the opposition to open what he called a civilised dialogue. Appearing calm and assured, he said he was ready and waiting for an opposition leader to come forward to begin discussions.
This speech has put the protesters on the spot, our correspondent says. The opposition is splintered along regional lines and so far no central figure has emerged. Mr Akayev's Prime Minister, Nikolai Tanayev, was due to fly to Osh on Thursday in an effort to start a dialogue, according to the president's spokesman. | Protest_Online Condemnation | March 2005 | ['(Reuters Alertnet)', '(BBC)', '(Interfax)', '(Reuters)', '(RIA Novosti)', '(BBC)', '(Bloomberg)', '(Bloomberg)'] |
At least six people are dead and many missing after a ferry sinks off Verde Island near Batangas, Philippines, the second such disaster in as many days. | MANILA: At least four bodies were recovered on Sunday from the sea following the sinking of a ferry off San Agapito, Verde Island in Batangas province of the Philippines on Saturday night.
Norma Mauhay (L) cries with her daughter Leslie (R) as they wait for news about her son, passenger of a ferry that sunk in central Philippines, at Batangas port, south of Manila December 27, 2009. [Agencies]
The fatalities were an eight-month old female, a 15 to 18-year-old female, another female aged 18 to 24, and a male aged 30 to 40, said Senator Richard Gordon, chairman of the Philippine Red Cross.
The ferry with 88 passengers and crew sank off Batangas province at around 11:30 p.m. local time.
It is reported that many passengers on the ferry had no time to put on life vests when the ship sink.
The ferry, Baleno 9, left the Port of Calapan in Oriental Mindoro before at 11:00 p.m. local time and was bound for Batangas City when tragedy struck about 40 minutes later.
It was the second sea accident in the Philippines during the Christmas holiday. A wooden-hull motor ferry sank after ramming into a fishing ship at the mouth of Manila bay on Thursday, leaving 3 dead and 24 others missing.
Sea accident is common in the Philippine archipelago where low- income families largely rely on boats to transport from one island to another.
But bad weather, poor maintenance, lack of safety measures resulted in a series of deadly accidents. In 2008, a giant passenger ship capsized at the height of a typhoon in central Philippines, killing nearly 800 people.
| Shipwreck | December 2009 | ['(GMA News.tv)', '(China Daily)'] |
A court in Wiesbaden, Hesse, Germany, sentences a 52–year–old man to nine years and 10 months in prison for removing several screws from high–speed rail tracks in a failed attempt to cause trains to derail. His motive was not established. | A 52-year-old man was found guilty of removing several screws from high-speed rail tracks in a bid to cause a train to derail. Hundreds of trains passed over the treacherous location before it was noticed.
A high-speed ICE train pulls away from the main train station in Cologne
A court in the city of Wiesbaden sentenced a man to several years in prison on Monday over a failed bid to cause a train derailment along a route frequently used by Germany's high-speed ICE trains.
The 52-year-old was found guilty of attempted murder and sentenced to nine years and 10 months.
Prosecutors called for 13 years in prison, while the defense team pushed for an acquittal in the case.
Reports on the sentencing did not mention the man's motive.
In March last year, the man removed several screws from high-speed rail tracks on a bridge near the town of Niedernhausen.
The tracks comprise part of the busy high-speed train route between Frankfurt and Cologne.
Some 400 trains passed over the dangerous spot for several days before two train drivers noticed the situation, likely averting tragedy.
No trains ended up coming off the tracks and no one was injured. Germany's national rail service, Deutsche Bahn, at the time described the discovery of the missing screws as "sabotage."
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | March 2021 | ['(DW)'] |
Burmese authorities arrest 50 people including journalists, students and political activists, in a security crackdown, according to a Thailand based human rights group. | YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar authorities have arrested up to 50 people including journalists, political activists and students in a security crackdown this month in its biggest city, a Thailand-based human rights group said on Friday.
The arrests include 10 journalists along with a number of opponents to Myanmar’s ruling military junta, said Bo Kyi, co-founder of the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a group of former detainees who track those behind bars.
“It’s not clear why they were arrested. Their families were not given an explanation,” said Bo Kyi.
Witnesses said the arrests coincide with a tightening of security across Yangon in recent days with a larger police presence on streets, more security check-points, police car-searches and tougher security at Buddhist monasteries.
Two years ago, the junta suspected monks of coordinating the biggest pro-democracy protests in 20 years, leading to a crackdown in which at least 31 people were killed.
At least seven people including two journalists were arrested by police and military intelligence officials at their homes around midnight on Tuesday, family and friends told Reuters.
They included Thant Zin Soe, an editor of local private weekly magazine, and Paing Soe Oo, a freelance reporter. The other five are university students in Yangon.
The seven are members of “Linlat Kyei,” a group which helps survivors of last year’s Cyclone Nargis, which killed nearly 140,000 people.
“We just don’t know why they were arrested and their present whereabouts,” said one source in Yangon, who asked not to be identified in fear of reprisals.
New York-based press watchdog the Committee to Protect Journalists condemned Paing Soe Oo’s arrest and called for his immediate release, saying his arrest undermined the former Burma’s claims of moving toward democracy.
“Burma’s military government claims to be moving toward democracy, yet it continues to routinely arrest and detain journalists,” Shawn Crispin, the group’s senior Southeast Asia representative, said in a statement.
The crackdown comes ahead of a U.S. fact-finding delegation expected soon in Myanmar as part of an exploratory dialogue with the junta following the Obama administration’s announcement in September it would pursue deeper engagement with Myanmar’s military rulers to try to spur democratic reform.
New elections are scheduled for next year under the final stages of a seven-step “roadmap to democracy” drawn up by the junta. A new constitution guaranteeing the army control of the country was passed in a heavily criticized referendum last year.
Writing by Jason Szep; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani
| Armed Conflict | October 2009 | ['(Reuters)'] |
Hawaii Governor David Ige signs an emergency proclamation in anticipation of the arrival of Hurricane Ignacio on Monday. Ignacio is expected to strengthen to Category 2 this weekend. The state is still recovering from precipitation from Tropical Storm Kilo which skirted the islands earlier this week. In addition, Hurricane Jimena, which is expected to intensify to near category 5 strength on Saturday, is trailing Ignacio and also heading toward Hawaii. , , , | LAST UPDATED: 9:18 a.m. HST, Aug 25, 2015
Another tropical depression, the 12th of the Eastern Pacific hurricane season, is expected to become a hurricane before weakening on a path toward Hawaii.
At 5 a.m., Tropical Depression 12E was packing sustained winds of 35 mph and moving slowly west at 6 mph. It was 1,565 miles east-southeast of Hilo.
It is forecast to become a tropical storm on Tuesday and a hurricane on Thursday, before weakening back to tropical storm strength as it approaches Hawaii island.
The storm could bring heavy rain to the islands early next week.
Forecasters cautioned that it is still to early to know the exact path of the storm. However, "the moisture surge surrounding the cyclone may produce significant effects ... as the events of the last couple of days demonstrated," forecasters said.
Behind it, another area of rains and thunderstorms about 575 miles south-southwest of Manzanillo, Mexico has an 90 percent chance of intensifying over the next 5 days.
Two storms swirling in the Central Pacific are moving through the Northwest Hawaiian Islands, but are not likely to directly impact the main Hawaiian Islands.
Tropical Depression Kilo will not bring strong winds to the main islands, but moisture associated with the storm created the muggy conditions this and last week, and the heavy rain and thunderstorms Sunday and Monday.
The storm's projected path should take it west, away from the islands.
At 8 a.m. Tuesday, Kilo was about 650 miles west-southwest of Honolulu and about 185 miles northeast of Johnston Island. The storm, with maximum sustained winds of 30 mph, was moving north at 3 mph. It remained unorganized Tuesday morning, but is still expected to strengthen into a tropical storm.
Loke became a hurricane overnight with sustained winds of 75 mph.
At 8 a.m., Hurricane Loke was 335 miles east-northeast of Midway Island, moving north-northeast at 17 mph.
Loke is expected to move into cooler waters, weaken and be absorbed into what’s left of former-Typhoon Atasani in the North Pacific.
Central Pacific Hurricane Center
| Hurricanes_Tornado_Storm_Blizzard | August 2015 | ['(Hawaii News Now)', '(AP via The Washington Post)', '(Maui Now)', '(The Honolulu Star-Advertiser)'] |
60 people are believed to have died following an Equatair Antonov plane crash in Equatorial Guinea. | It was originally reported that about 55 people had been on the Equatair flight, which came down near the island capital of Malabo.
Information Minister Alfonso Nsue Mokuy told Reuters a rescue team had found no-one alive in the wreckage.
The Soviet-designed Antonov plane was flying from Malabo on the island of Bioko to the mainland city of Bata.
Rescue teams found the plane completely destroyed, with charred bodies scattered over the crash site. Dozens of people have gathered at hospitals to receive news of their missing relatives. 'Flames'
Mr Nsue Mokuy dismissed local media reports that the plane had been carrying up to 80 people when it crashed.
The plane took off at about 1000 (0900 GMT) on Saturday, and disappeared shortly after it became airborne.
| Air crash | July 2005 | ['(BBC)', '(MSN)'] |
At least 23 people are dead and 300 missing after attacks on three Fulani villages in central Mali. | BAMAKO (Reuters) - At least 23 people are dead and 300 missing after an attack on Sunday on a village of Fulani herders in central Mali where communal violence has surged in recent months, a local mayor said.
Two other Fulani communities were targeted on Sunday evening, amid a string of deadly assaults between herders and ethnic Dogon farmers who have long fought over land and resources but whose rivalry has been stoked this year by the growing presence of armed Islamist groups.
After raiding the village of Saran, the attackers went on to another village called Bidi, but people had already fled, said Harouna Sankare, mayor of nearby Ouenkoro, who blamed the attack on Dogon hunters.
“Since they didn’t find anybody (in Bidi), they burned the village and the houses and attacked the cattle,” he said.
Other local officials confirmed the attack but did not share the number of casualties. Neither the central authorities nor the army were reachable for comment.
President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita’s government has vowed to disarm the militias but has struggled to do so.
Tit-for-tat violence between the rival communities has escalated this year. In March, suspected Dogon militiamen killed more than 150 Fulani in central Mali, one of the worst acts of bloodshed in the country’s recent history. Raids on Dogon villages in June killed over 40 people.
Instability is fueled further by the presence of jihadist militants, who use northern and central Mali as launchpads to stage attacks across the Sahel.
Elsewhere in central Mali, 12 civilians including a baby were killed on Sunday when the vehicle they were traveling in hit a landmine. Local mayor Issiaka Ganame said none of the passengers survived. It was not clear who laid the mine, but jihadist groups are known to deploy this kind of ordnance in the region.
| Armed Conflict | June 2019 | ['(Reuters)'] |
Medical teams from the World Health Organisation and Doctors Without Borders arrive in Sierra Leone to deal with an outbreak of Ebola virus. | International medical aid teams are to arrive in eastern Sierra Leone to try to deal with an outbreak of the deadly and highly contagious Ebola virus.
The experts are from the World Health Organization and the Doctors Without Borders charity.
This comes after six suspected Ebola patients were taken out of hospitals by their families, defying doctors. One of the patients later died amid fears that the virus could spread, a local health official said.
Nearly 200 people have died of Ebola in West Africa since an outbreak was first reported in Guinea in March. There is no cure or vaccine for Ebola - one of the world's deadliest viruses.
Why Ebola is so dangerous
But people have a better chance of surviving if it is identified early and they receive medical attention.
Ebola can kill up to 90% of those infected and is passed on through contact with the fluids of infected people or animals, such as urine, sweat and blood.
The medical teams are expected to arrive in a remote part of Sierra Leone later on Thursday.
Just touching the body of an infected person can cause deadly transmission, so the experts will be covered from head to foot in protective clothing, the BBC's Mark Doyle reports.
But they are facing another obstacle even before they start work, following the removal from a clinic of the six suspected patients.
Dr Amara Jambai, the director of disease prevention and control at Sierra Leone's health ministry, told the BBC that staff at the clinic in Koindu town in eastern Sierra Leone had tried to stop the patients from being removed.
However, the families had been "aggressive" as they took their relatives away, he said. The families apparently feared their loved ones would die a lonely death. But they also appear not to have understood the grave danger they have put themselves and their communities in by trying to take care of the patients themselves.
The relatives' love for their sick relatives may end up killing them all, our correspondent adds.
Dr Jambai said two people had so far died of Ebola in Sierra Leone, and not four as previously reported. Guinea has been worst-affected, with 258 suspected and confirmed cases of Ebola, including 174 deaths - 146 of which have been laboratory-confirmed positive.
In Liberia, there have been 12 suspected cases, with nine deaths.
| Disease Outbreaks | May 2014 | ['(BBC)'] |
Malians head to the polls in a second round of voting to elect a new National Assembly. The election has been mired in controversy over fears of the coronavirus spreading at polling stations, threats of Islamist violence, and the kidnapping of opposition politician Soumaïla Cissé. | Parliamentary elections went on as planned in Mali Sunday, despite threats of Jihadist violence and fears of spreading the novel coronavirus.
Low voter turnout was expected Sunday for the run-off legislative elections. The first round of elections, held on March 29th after repeated delays, was marred by intimidation and jihadist attacks — including the kidnapping of opposition leader Soumaila Cisse.
Voter turnout in the first round of elections was just over 12% in the capital city of Bamako, according to government officials. Many are expected to stay inside, heeding guidelines to avoid large gatherings and keep distance between people.
Mali has reported over 200 cases of COVID-19 and 13 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.
These are the first elections to fill Mali’s 147-seat parliament since 2013. Elections were initially scheduled to take place in late 2018 but were delayed due to security concerns, which has left many Malians questioning why Sunday’s vote was not delayed as well.
President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, who was elected in 2013, addressed the nation last week wearing a face mask, saying that the decision to continue with the vote as scheduled was not made by his government, but instead determined by an independent commission in the country.
Thousands of Malians have died as the country suffered sporadic attacks by jihadists as well as cases of inter-ethnic violence since unrest began in 2012. | Government Job change - Election | April 2020 | ['(Voice of America)'] |
The replacement plan for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is withdrawn after Republican leaders fail to gain enough support. The failure of the Trump administration to repeal the act means it will remain law in the United States. | US President Donald Trump has withdrawn his healthcare bill after it failed to gain enough support to pass in Congress.
House Speaker Paul Ryan said he and Mr Trump agreed to pull the vote, after it became apparent it would not get the minimum of 215 Republican votes needed.
The last minute move was seen as a huge blow to Mr Trump. Repealing and replacing the programme known as Obamacare was one of his major election pledges.
Earlier on Friday, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said that the vote would go ahead at 15:30 (19:30 GMT).
Mr Trump had reportedly warned Republicans that if they did not vote for his bill then they would be stuck with Barack Obama's healthcare programme for good.
However, multiple reports suggested that between 28 and 35 Republicans were opposed to his draft American Health Care Act.
The vote was withdrawn shortly after 15:30, and the House is now in recess.
Republicans currently have a majority in both the House and the Senate.
However, some Republicans were unhappy that the bill cut health coverage too severely, while others felt the changes did not go far enough.
The bill also appeared unpopular with the public - in one recent poll, just 17% approved of it.
Speaking after the withdrawal, Mr Trump blamed the Democrats for not supporting the bill and predicted that Obamacare would "explode". He said the Republicans would probably focus on tax reform for now. "We have to let Obamacare go its own way for a little while," he said, adding that if the Democrats were "civilised and came together" the two parties could work out a "great healthcare bill".
How bad was Friday's defeat of the American Health Care Act in the House of Representatives? Bad. Very bad.
The American Health Care Act was the first major piece of legislation pushed by the White House and the Republican-controlled Congress, a key political test early in the president's term, when he should be at the height of his power and party cohesion at its strongest.
In spite of all of this, Mr Trump, House Speaker Paul Ryan and the Republicans running Washington could not get the job done.
For Republicans Friday wasn't just bad. It was a disaster. Earlier, Mr Ryan told reporters: "We are going to be living with Obamacare for the foreseeable future.
"I will not sugar coat this. This is a disappointing day for us. Doing big things is hard."
"We were a 10-year opposition party where being against things was easy to do," he said, adding that it was difficult to get "people to agree with each other in how we do things".
Meanwhile, Democrat and House minority leader Nancy Pelosi described it as "a victory for the American people".
And House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer said it was a "good day" for Americans, adding "we worked over years to assure that the American public would have access to affordable, quality healthcare". | Government Policy Changes | March 2017 | ['(aka Obamacare)', '(BBC)'] |
Abraham Lauhenaspessy ("Captain Bram"), a suspected kingpin people smuggler, is detained in Indonesia. | A PEOPLE-smuggling kingpin has been detained in Indonesia in a breakthrough in efforts to disrupt the latest wave of asylum seekers coming to Australia.
Australian authorities last night intercepted another boatload of suspected asylum seekers off Ashmore Island, the 33rd for the year. The 39 passengers and three crew will be transferred to Christmas Island. An Australian naval ship took part in rescue efforts earlier yesterday after two boats carrying suspected asylum seekers sent out distress messages from Indonesian and Malaysian territorial waters. The Minister for Climate Change, Penny Wong, said HMAS Armidale had contacted one of the vessels and established that those on board were safe.
.
The Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, will leave today for Jakarta, where he will seek a solution to the influx of asylum seekers into Australian waters.
Abraham Lauhenaspessy, known as Captain Bram, was discovered among 254 Tamils refusing to leave a boat at the Indonesian port of Merak in West Java. He duped the Tamils, who paid $US4 million ($4.3 million) to be taken to Christmas Island, apparently because he wanted to avoid arrest in Australian territory where he would face 20 years' jail.
Mr Lauhenaspessy has brought more than 1500 asylum seekers to Australia since he emerged as a pivotal organiser of Indonesia's people smuggling in 1999. The spokesman for the Tamils, known only as Alex, told the Herald Mr Lauhenaspessy turned the boat around five hours' sailing time from Christmas Island because he missed a rendezvous with a smaller boat that was to pick him up.
''There was a mix in the location for him to get off. If Bram had not turned the boat around we would have been at Christmas Island in five hours,'' he said by telephone from the boat. ''We are very upset this happened.''
The wooden boat was intercepted on October 11 by an Indonesian navy vessel heading away from Christmas Island.
Mr Lauhenapessy, who is about 60, has portrayed himself as one of the six Indonesian crew.
The asylum seekers say Mr Lauhenapessy was a key organiser on the boat who liaised with people smugglers in Malaysia, which they left on October 1. The Herald has confirmed Mr Lauhenapessy is in navy custody.
Mr Lauhenapessy, an Ambonese with strong links to a criminal network at Jakarta's main port, was a priority target for Australian Federal Police for more than five years. ''He was too slippery. We couldn't catch him,'' a federal police agent said yesterday. After eluding several elaborate sting operations by Australian and Indonesian police Mr Lauhenapessy was arrested in Jakarta in June 2007 after a joint operation between the federal and Indonesian police.
How he resumed his activities two years later highlights the different penalties for this crime between Australia and Indonesia.
In December 2007 an Indonesian court sentenced him to two years' jail and fined him the equivalent of $3110 on charges of hiding, protecting, harbouring or providing livelihood to people known to have entered Indonesia illegally.
The charges related to the arrival of 83 Sri Lankan asylum seekers in international waters off Australia in early 2007.
Alex said he would be prepared to reveal all the details about the man he knows as ''Bram'' when the week-long standoff at the boat was resolved.
As conditions deteriorated on board over the weekend, the Sri Lankans ended a 52-hour hunger strike and said they would be prepared to go ashore if they had assurances about their future from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
The Deputy Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, said the Government's policies aimed to treat refugees humanely while deterring people from entering the country illegally.
''We believe we've got the balance right through protecting our borders and deterring people from making risky and dangerous journeys, while treating people humanely,'' she said.
But the Opposition spokeswoman on immigration, Sharman Stone, said the flow of boat arrivals was ''back on full stream'' since the Government had softened its policy on asylum seekers last year.
Meanwhile, a ship suspected of carrying 76 illegal migrants from Sri Lanka has been intercepted in the Pacific off Canada's west coast, police say. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Arrest | October 2009 | ['(The Sydney Morning Herald)', '(The Australian)'] |
South Africa's President Jacob Zuma says that thirteen of the country's soldiers were killed in the Central African Republic as rebels seized the capital, Bangui. | Thirteen South African soldiers were killed in the Central African Republic as rebels seized the capital over the weekend, President Jacob Zuma has said. Mr Zuma said the South Africans had died in a nine-hour "high-tempo battle" against the "bandits" in Bangui.
South Africa had about 200 troops stationed in the city to block Seleka rebels from seizing power. Ousted CAR leader Francois Bozize has fled to neighbouring Cameroon, officials there have announced.
Following the rebel takeover, the African Union has suspended CAR and imposed sanctions on Seleka's leaders. "The council asks all member states to take the measures necessary to completely isolate the authors of this anti-constitutional change of power," said AU peace and security council chief Ramtane Lamamra, adding that this includes travel restrictions and an asset freeze on Seleka's leaders. Rebel leader Michel Djotodia said he was now in charge but would uphold a peace accord that promised elections in three years. He also said the existing power-sharing government - headed by Prime Minister Nicolas Tiangaye, an opposition figure - would remain in place.
"We are not here to carry out a witch-hunt," Mr Djotodia told Radio France Internationale (RFI).
However, another rebel leader, Nelson N'Djadder, told Associated Press news agency that he did not recognise Mr Djotodia as the new leader of CAR. "We had agreed that we would push to Bangui in order to arrest Bozize and that we would then announce an 18-month transition, a transition that would be as fast as possible and not one that would last three years," Mr N'Djadder told AP from Paris. "I have enough soldiers loyal to me to attack Djotodia. I am planning to take the Wednesday flight to Bangui.''
Looters and armed gangs roamed the streets of Bangui after Mr Djotodia's forces captured the presidential palace on Sunday.
Tens of thousands of people have fled CAR into neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo and Cameroon in recent days, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) says.
Mr Zuma said just over 200 South African troops had battled more than 1,000 rebel fighters.
"They fought a high-tempo battle for nine hours defending the South African military base, until the bandits raised a white flag and asked for a ceasefire," he said.
"Our soldiers inflicted heavy casualties among the attacking bandit forces."
Thirteen South African troops were killed, 27 wounded and one was unaccounted for, Mr Zuma said.
It was the highest death toll South Africa's army had faced in a single battle since white minority rule ended in 1994, correspondents say. The BBC's Milton Nkosi in Johannesburg says Mr Zuma's government must be worried that one of the most powerful armies in Africa had suffered heavy casualties at the hands of a rebel group. It was bewildering that South Africa had sent troops to CAR as part of a bilateral agreement with Mr Bozize's government, rather than through the AU, he says. The South African National Defence Force Union (Sandu), which represents soldiers, said Mr Zuma should recall troops immediately, "even if it entails launching a military offensive to relieve our troops in distress", its national secretary Pikkie Greeff said. But Mr Zuma said South Africa planned to reinforce its troops in CAR, as there was "no reason" to leave. South Africa sent 200 troops in January out of a planned deployment of 400, Mr Zuma said. Last week, Seleka denounced the South African forces as "mercenaries" and demanded their withdrawal. Mr Djotodia told RFI that free and fair elections would be held within three years, as outlined in the peace agreement signed with Mr Bozize in January.
The deal collapsed last week when Seleka withdrew its members from the government. The group accused Mr Bozize of running a parallel administration and failing to honour key aspects of the deal, including the release of political prisoners. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the rebel seizure of power and called for "the swift restoration of constitutional order".
On Monday French troops guarding Bangui's international airport accidentally killed two Indian citizens and wounded a number of Cameroonians, the French defence ministry said.
The French soldiers shot at three vehicles approaching the airport after firing warning shots and themselves coming under fire, a statement said. France doubled its military detachment at the airport to around 600 troops on Saturday in order to protect French citizens as rebels approached Bangui. CAR, which has a population of about 4.5 million, has been hit by a series of rebellions since independence from France in 1960. | Armed Conflict | March 2013 | ['(BBC)'] |
Joseph Kabila is sworn in as President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, despite the presidency being contested by opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi. | The president of sub-Saharan Africa's largest nation was sworn in Tuesday for another term, pledging to unify the country after an election that was criticized by international observers.
The country's top opposition candidate, meanwhile, planned his own inauguration in a move that could spark political chaos.
Congo's supreme court last week upheld the victory of President Joseph Kabila, who has been in power for more than a decade. However, the second-place finisher Etienne Tshisekedi insisted Sunday he was country's democratically elected leader and would take his own oath of office later in the week.
The army deployed tanks in the streets of the capital, Kinshasa, ahead of Tuesday's ceremony amid fears of unrest if Tshisekedi orders his supporters to protest.
Kabila delivered a message of national unity, describing himself as the president of all Congolese and vowing to create more jobs in his next five-year term. While Congo is mineral-rich, it has suffered through decades of dictatorship and civil war.
"I want to reassure here all those whom I did not persuade to vote for me. I invite them to believe in my determination to truly be the guarantor of the Congolese nation in all its diversity," he said.
Voting officials extended the November election by several days after voting materials arrived late in this vast nation with few paved roads. International observers also said voter turnout and Kabila's margin of victory and voter turnout were impossibly high in some districts.
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland has said that the elections were "seriously flawed, lacked transparency and did not measure up to the democratic gains" seen in recent African elections.
In a statement issued Tuesday, organizations including the International Crisis Group, Enough and the Open Society Foundations had urged the government to delay the inauguration, citing a vote that was "marred by widespread irregularities."
Presidential election results showed Kabila with 49 percent and Tshisekedi with 32 percent of the nearly 19 million votes cast. Previously Kabila would have needed 50 percent to have avoided a runoff, but he pushed electoral reforms through parliament that included only one round of voting instead of two.
The November election was only the second democratic vote in Congo's 51-year history, and the first to be organized by the Congolese government rather than by the international community. The country's east is still wracked by violence from a myriad of militias and rebel groups.
Kabila became president after his father's 2001 assassination and later won a landmark 2006 vote that was largely run by the United Nations, which still has some 19,000 peacekeepers here nearly a decade after civil war ended. | Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration | December 2011 | ['(ABC)'] |
Former U.S. President Ronald Reagan dies at the age of 93 from complications of Alzheimer's disease. | Sunday, June 6, 2004; Page A01 Ronald Wilson Reagan, 40th president of the United States, who transformed the Republican Party and substantially defined the terms of contemporary political debate during two momentous terms in office, died yesterday afternoon. He was 93.
Ten years after Reagan announced his Alzheimer's disease in an open letter to the American people, he reached the end of his long twilight at his home in Bel Air, Calif., in the company of his wife and their children.
"My family and I would like the world to know that President Ronald Reagan has passed away," former first lady Nancy Reagan said in a written statement. "We appreciate everyone's prayers."
President Bush received the news shortly after 4 p.m. Eastern time; he was in Paris and had just left a dinner with French President Jacques Chirac. In Washington and California, plans were quickly implemented for the capital's first presidential funeral in more than 30 years.
Plans call for Reagan's body to lie at his presidential library in Simi Valley, Calif., early this week and then travel by Air Force One to Washington on Wednesday, where he will lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda. Late in the week, probably Friday, there will be a funeral procession with horse-drawn caisson from the Capitol to a spot near the White House. From there, a hearse will carry the casket to Washington National Cathedral for a funeral officiated by the newly nominated ambassador to the United Nations, John C. Danforth, an Episcopalian minister and a former Republican senator from Missouri.
The body will then be flown back to California to be buried at the Ronald W. Reagan Presidential Library and Museum. Official plans will be announced this morning, a library spokesman said.
"This is a sad hour in the life of America," Bush said after speaking with Nancy Reagan by telephone. "A great American life has come to an end. Ronald Reagan won America's respect with his greatness and won its love with his goodness. He had the confidence that comes with conviction, the strength that comes with character, the grace that comes with humility and the humor that comes with wisdom."
Blinking back tears, Bush added: "He always told us that for America, the best was yet to come. We comfort ourselves in the knowledge that this is true for him, too. His work is done. And now a shining city awaits him."
It was an almost unbelievable life, a melodrama, a rags-to-riches tale, a multi-part saga written by someone with boundless imagination and an infinite sense of the possible. Born in tiny Tampico, Ill., educated at Eureka College in nearby Dixon, Reagan was a radio sportscaster, a Hollywood B-movie star, host of a TV variety show, a soap salesman, a motivational speaker, governor of California and -- starting at age 53 -- arguably the most important American political figure since Franklin D. Roosevelt.
So it was no wonder that he believed all things were possible, from the collapse of the Soviet Union, which he predicted even when the clash of superpowers seemed near its most menacing point, to the complete disarmament of all nuclear arsenals, which Reagan proposed in a stunning arms-control summit near the end of his administration. What seemed to some as naivete struck others as good old gumption.
Reagan was a champion salesman of the American dream, mayor-for-life of the land he called "a shining city on a hill."
Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kerry said, "Ronald Reagan's love of country was infectious," and he praised the late president for his "goodwill in the heat of partisan battle."
"Even when he was breaking Democrats' hearts, he did so with a smile and in the spirit of honest and open debate. Despite the disagreements, he lived by that noble ideal that at 5 p.m., we weren't Democrats or Republicans, we were Americans and friends," said the senator from Massachusetts. | Famous Person - Death | June 2004 | ['(SF Chronicle)', '(BBC)', '(Reuters)', '(Washington Post)'] |
At least 11 people are killed and dozens are injured in the blast at Oktyabrskaya metro station in Minsk. | Belarusian police have made a photofit of two suspects involved in the terrorist attack in the Minsk Metro. The images will be released later.A total of 149 people have been admitted to Minsk hospitals, 22 of them in serious condition and 30 moderately injured. Twenty injured victims were taken to the city’s No. 2 clinical hospital, local television channel STV reported. Other wounded were received by the No. 6 hospital.The survivors mostly have wounds to their arms and legs as well as to the lower torso, according to Vitaly Gurko, chief physician of city hospital No. 6, as quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency.All local medics have been summoned to work to be available to conduct surgical operations, a public health service official was quoted as saying by the RIA Novosti news agency.According to RIA Novosti news agency, the explosion went off at 17:56 local time.The bomb was stuffed with pieces of metal, and the nature of injuries confirms suspicions that it was a terrorist attack, the Interfax news agency quoted a source in Minsk law enforcement authorities as saying. The explosion was equivalent to five to seven kilograms of TNT, officials said.Belarus’ prosecutor’s office has opened a case for the terrorist attack.The police have beefed up security measures at large venues, railway stations and airports. All transport crossing Belarus’ border is being inspected.Belarusian medical officials went on local television to ask Minsk residents to donate blood for the victims. A special hotline has been set up in Minsk to announce information about the victims.Minsk city hall declared Wednesday a day of mourning for the victims of the blast.The list of those taken to Minsk hospitals is available here. “Aleksandr Lukashenko has ordered to render all necessary assistance to the injured and the victims’ relatives, ” said presidential aide Vladimir Makey.Belarusian leader Aleksandr Lukashenko paid a visit to the site of the attack on the Minsk metro.He arrived, walked down a connecting passage, stayed onsite for some time and then left. At 9 pm Minsk time, Lukashenko convened an emergency meeting, which commenced with a minute of silence to commemorate those who fell victim to Monday's explosion. During the meeting, Lukashenko stated that this challenge "which has been thrown out to his country is very serious" and that Belarus has to find an adequate response. Lukashenko said that although there is a possibility that the explosion could have been organized abroad, all local ammunition storage facilities should be double checked. "You have to check all military storage facilities if all ammunition and explosives are in fact present and properly guarded," Lukashenko told the country’s Minister of Defense, Yury Zhadobin.Russian President Dmitry Medvedev expressed his condolences to his Belarusian counterpart, Aleksandr Lukashenko, in a phone conversation the two leaders held today. Medvedev offered Russia's help in investigating the terrorist act and searching for the organizers and perpetrators of the blast in the Minsk metro, according to Medvedev's press secretary, Natalya Timakova.Meanwhile, the Russian Ministry of Health has assembled a team of highly professional neurosurgeons and emergency physicians with substantial experience in aiding blast victims, and is planning on sending them to Minsk, the Interfax news agency reported.
Witnesses' accounts
The blast produced a huge crater, witnesses claim. People were wounded by the blast and also the debris of the crumbled structures. “The metro station is cordoned off. Ambulances are heading towards city hospitals. The traffic has stopped in that part of the city,” said Vitaly Garbuzov, an eyewitness. “The explosion took place at a busy metro intersection in the underpass. Witnesses say they saw thick smoke rising and black debris scattered. People were carried out of the station into ambulances. That's all I know at this moment,” he added.
Although explosions, bombings and other types of terrorist activity are very uncommon in Belarus, the country has had to deal with such unfortunate events in the recent past. In the summer of 2008, an explosion rocked the capital during celebrations for Independence Day on July 3. An explosive device was set off near an obelisk in the center of the city, wounding 55 people.And in 2005, two blasts rocked the center of the city of Vitebsk. The first explosion hit on September 14, injuring two. The device was stashed in a flower bed. The second explosion happened at a disco club, where mostly young people were in attendance. A makeshift bomb was hidden in an empty beer bottle and stuffed with elements aimed at causing maximum damage. Approximately 50 people were wounded in the attack. No one claimed responsibility for either attack, and the perpetrators have never been identified.
Police search Moscow metro after Minsk blast
Moscow police are searching the Moscow metro for any objects which may look suspicious after an explosion in Minsk’s underground.The capital’s police were summoned for instructions shortly after news broke of the blast in Minsk. Law enforcement officials were told to pay special attention to any people and objects on the platforms which look in any way suspicious. | Armed Conflict | April 2011 | ['(RT)', '(Reuters via Yahoo News)'] |
Investigators hypothesise that the plane may be further to the north than the current search area. | The crashed remains from the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 could be as much as 500km further north than the current search area, say scientists in Italy.
Their assessment is based on the location of confirmed debris items and computer modelling that incorporates ocean and weather data.
They say this has allowed them to determine where the plane most likely hit the water and where future aircraft fragments might wash up.
The MH370 search will soon be halted.
The Malaysia Airlines flight disappeared in March 2014, en route from Malaysia's capital Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in China, with 239 passengers and crew on board.
Authorities have agreed that "in the absence of new credible evidence" the effort to find the plane on the ocean floor west of Australia will be suspended once a zone covering 120,000 square km has been fully surveyed.
That could happen in the next few weeks.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau, which is co-ordinating the search, has previously said it is confident it is looking in the most plausible place. A team led by Eric Jansen, from the Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change in Italy, is the latest to try its hand at using modelling to identify the impact site.
The approach relies on two years of high-resolution data that describe the currents and wind conditions across the Indian and Southern oceans.
Multiple simulations were used to predict where objects might drift given different starting points. These forecasts were then analysed and the greatest weight given to those tracks that best matched the locations of known MH370 debris items.
These are the parts of the Boeing 777, such as an engine cowling and wing flap, that have since washed up on the beaches of Africa and Indian-ocean islands.
The conclusion is that the main wreckage of the plane is likely to be in the wide search area between 28 degrees South and 35 degrees South that was designated by crash investigators.
However, only the southern end of this zone - a priority segment between 32 degrees South and 35 degrees South - is currently being surveyed by underwater cameras and detectors.
This still leaves a swathe of ocean floor to the north where Dr Jansen and colleagues say MH370 could possibly be resting today undiscovered.
One of the advantages of the type of model produced by the team is that its solutions can be updated as more debris is found.
"We use the location where debris is found to create a ranking of the different simulations. So, the simulations that cause debris in all of the locations where this material was found - we rank those higher; and the ones that are not as good at predicting the locations of the debris - we rank them lower.
"And then we combine the result. This has the benefit that if new debris is found we only have to repeat the ranking, which is very fast, while the simulations of drift over two years take several hours."
This means also that should more debris come to light, the model will refine its solution for where in the ocean the missing jet is most likely to be found.
And given that the underwater search is about to be suspended, Dr Jansen says perhaps greater effort should now be directed towards finding more washed-up debris. It is an endeavour that would be low-cost, he argues, but would very much aid the type of research he does, while at the same time possibly yielding additional information on the state of the aircraft in its final moments. Such inferences can be gleaned by examining materials for tell-tale damage. Dr Jansen and colleagues have published their research in the journal Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences.
| Air crash | July 2016 | ['(BBC)'] |
Inspire Brands announces its purchase of fast food chain Sonic Drive–In for US$2.3 billion. | Inspire Brands, which took over Buffalo Wild Wings last year, will acquire Sonic for $2.3 billion including debt, the company said in a statement.
The purchase adds to Inspire's collection of restaurants that includes, alongside Arby's and Buffalo Wild Wings, Mexican food chain Rusty Taco.
The Sonic purchase plays into Inspire's overall strategy of acquiring distinct, dissimilar brands, the company said. Known for burgers, hot dogs and specialty drinks, Sonic brings focuses not present at Arby's or Rusty Taco while operating outside of the fast-casual realm where Buffalo Wild Wings exists.
Sonic's stock rose more than 18 percent Tuesday, CNBC reported, hitting its all-time high at $44.87 per share.
Sonic's $4.4 billion in sales last year topped well-known brands including Dairy Queen, Five Guys and Hardee's, according to Fortune, citing statistics Nation's Restaurant News, an industry journal.
“Sonic is a highly differentiated brand and is an ideal fit for the Inspire family,” Paul Brown, Inspire's CEO, said in a statement, calling Sonic "one of the industry’s most distinctive restaurant brands.”
Sonic will continue to operate independently after the sale from its Oklahoma City headquarters, according to Business Insider.
Sonic shareholders will receive $43.50 per share in cash, Inspire said in its statement, a premium of roughly 19 percent to the chain's closing stock price on Monday. | Organization Merge | September 2018 | ['(USA Today)'] |
At least thirty people have died following a car bomb outside a hospital in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad. | The bomb was detonated as two Iraqi police cars drew up near the general hospital in Mahmudiya, about 20km (12 miles) outside Baghdad.
A US military convoy passing by was also hit by the blast.
On Thursday evening a car bomb exploded in a busy market in Hilla, killing at least two people and injuring more.
At least 13 were injured in the blast, which occurred when a parked car exploded at about 1800 (1500 GMT) in the mainly Shia town, police said.
Civilian deaths
Mahmudiya is a mixed Sunni-Shia town in a region where insurgents have launched many attacks on US-led forces.
"At this time it appears that four of our soldiers were wounded but they are not life-threatening injuries," Sergeant David Abrams said of the US troops hurt in the attack.
Several Iraqi policemen were killed in the blast.
Women and children were also among the many civilian casualties, including at least one medic at the hospital's emergency centre. "I was leaving the hospital with my one-and-a-half-year-old son in my arms when the explosion happened," Huda Ali told the AFP news agency.
"I was knocked down by the force of the blast and when I came to, my son was no longer in my arms. I found him among the dead."
The BBC's correspondent in Baghdad, Jim Muir, says that unlike many of the horrendous bomb attacks over the past week, the attack in Mahmudiya does not seem to have been aimed at the civilian population as such but at the Iraqi police. Nonetheless, it is the civilians who have paid the bulk of the price, our correspondent says. 'Insurgents' last stand'
Laith Kubba, spokesman for Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari, told reporters that insurgent attacks are likely to increase in the run-up to December's parliamentary elections. He predicted that Muslim extremists and militants loyal to Saddam Hussein would make their last stand.
"Muslim extremists will be surrounded then wiped out," Mr Kubba said, although he conceded that it would not happen quickly.
In other developments, three US soldiers from Task Force Baghdad were killed in two separate attacks on military patrols in Baghdad on Wednesday, the US military said in a statement. One soldier was killed in central Baghdad, while two others were killed in the south-west of the city.
An Iraqi soldier was also killed on Wednesday when a roadside bomb exploded in Khalidiya, near Falluja, police said. | Armed Conflict | November 2005 | ['(BBC)'] |
Typhoon Kalmaegi strikes Taiwan, resulting in at least one fatality, eight people missing and four people injured. | TAIPEI (AFP) — Thousands of workers continued search and rescue operations on Saturday after Tropical Storm Kalmaegi wreaked havoc across Taiwan, leaving 13 dead and eight missing, officials said.
The casualties from floods or mudslides were reported in worst-hit central and southern Taiwan, where up to 950 millimetres (37 inches) of rain fell in less than two days, said the National Fire Agency.
Nearly 60,000 government and civilian rescuers have been mobilised to combat floods and on rescue missions, with 87 people evacuated to safety, the agency said.
But eight people, believed to have been washed away by floods or buried alive, remained missing while eight others were injured, it said.
Meanwhile, the Central Weather Bureau has come under criticism for underestimating the impact of Kalmaegi, downgrading it from a typhoon to a tropical storm late Thursday.
"In a weather forecast the margin of error is inevitable," the bureau's weather forecast centre director Wu Teh-rung told reporters.
The bureau urged residents in central and southern Taiwan to guard against further downpours although the storm was moving towards the southeastern Chinese province of Fujian.
Kalmaegi also ravaged fields and farms, causing an estimated 316 million Taiwan dollars (10 million US) in damage, the government said.
Television footage showed swollen rivers and flooded streets in various parts of the island as the storm disrupted traffic, electricity and water services. | Hurricanes_Tornado_Storm_Blizzard | July 2008 | ['(Helen)', '(AFP via Google News)'] |
Craig Reedie is elected for a second term as President of the World Anti–Doping Agency. | Last updated on 17 November 201617 November 2016.From the section Olympics
World Anti-Doping Agency president Sir Craig Reedie has insisted sport can recover from a "dreadful" period.
Wada was heavily criticised by Olympic officials for its handling of the Russian doping scandal in the build-up to this summer's Rio Games.
Reedie's future at the agency has been called into question just days before he stands for re-election. But the 75-year-old Briton told BBC Sport he would fight on as "the integrity of sport is at stake".
Tensions over Wada's attempt to get Russia banned from the Rio Olympics were laid bare at this week's general assembly of the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC). "There was irritation from a number of national Olympic committees," said Reedie, who is also a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
"Just before Rio they would rather sport had not been involved in accusations of the breaching of rules by the Russian authorities, and I understand that, so I had to deal with it and I did deal with it."
IOC president Thomas Bach told BBC Sport this week he has "no regrets" about letting Russia compete at Rio 2016.
But ANOC president Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah - an influential powerbroker in the Olympic movement - has called for a "neutral" leader to take charge of Wada.
Reedie is due to stand unopposed for a second three-year term at a Wada board meeting this weekend. He had been told he had the IOC's support.
"I've spent 15 years of my life working with Wada," he said. "I don't think it's a particularly good idea if I walk away from it simply because it's getting difficult.
"We've been faced with a difficult situation. I think we're going to come through it, and we have to. The integrity of sport is at stake." The Olympic movement is bracing itself for the release next month of a second independent Wada report by professor Richard McLaren into Russian doping.
His first report was damning, revealing a systematic cheating programme in the country across many sports. "If, about three and a half years ago, when I was invited to apply [to be Wada president], somebody had told me this would have happened, it maybe isn't the kind of job that you would volunteer for," said Reedie. "That having been said, there are serious issues involved here. "The past has been pretty dreadful. I'm really hopeful that once we get the second part of the McLaren report out of the way, we can draw a line under the past and move forward. "We have to get the Russian anti-doping agency properly compliant again and we need to look at what Wada is currently doing, and see if we can do it better."
Wada's board meeting in Glasgow this weekend could be pivotal in the debate about how to better protect clean sport following the recent Russian scandal. Many within the anti-doping community want Wada to be strengthened, with greater independence and sanctioning power.
However, the sports movement appears reluctant to hand Wada more authority, with Bach suggesting he wants a new Wada-run body to take on responsibility for testing as well as regulation.
Subscribe to the BBC Sport newsletter to get our pick of news, features and video sent to your inbox. | Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration | November 2016 | ['(BBC)'] |
Hurricane Dean intensifies into a Category 4 hurricane after hitting the Lesser Antilles. | KINGSTON (Reuters) - Jamaicans snapped up emergency supplies as Hurricane Dean bore down on their Caribbean island, threatening to become a rare Category 5 storm when it later nears Mexico’s Yucatan and the oil rigs of the Gulf of Mexico.
The first hurricane of what is expected to be an above-average 2007 Atlantic storm season has already pounded the eastern Caribbean, where it killed at least three people.
It was blamed for three more deaths on Saturday as millions went on alert in some of the most populous areas of the Caribbean including Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Cuba and all of mountainous Jamaica.
With sustained winds of 150 mph (240 km per hour), Dean was a Category 4 storm, the second-highest level on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale. It was expected to smash into Jamaica on Sunday.
It could become a Category 5 storm within two days, with sustained winds of more than 155 mph (250 kph).
Just before 5 p.m. EDT, Dean was located 455 miles east-southeast of Kingston and about 165 miles
south of Santo Domingo. It was moving west-northwest at 18 mph (30 kph), the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.
Jamaica’s government urged people to flee low-lying and landslide-prone areas, buses were marshaled to transport evacuees and police and troops were put on alert.
Lines formed at gas stations and supermarket aisles were crammed as shoppers bought batteries, flashlights, canned tuna, rice and bottled water.
“I am prepared, but I still want the storm to change direction,” said a man in one store who did not give his name.
Campaigning for August 27 national elections was halted.
“The country is on high alert,” said Kerry-Ann Morris, a spokeswoman for Jamaica’s disaster preparedness office.
Three people died in the Dominican Republic, where the hurricane sent 18-foot (5.5-meter) waves crashing onto southern beaches.
One of the dead was a 16-year-old Haitian swept out to sea. The others were crushed when their tin-and-wood hut collapsed under the wind and rain, officials said.
Dean’s progress was being watched closely by energy markets, skittish since powerful storms in 2004 and 2005 swept through the Gulf of Mexico where roughly a third of U.S. domestic crude is produced. At least one production platform and two oil rigs were evacuated.
The latest computer models showed Dean hitting the northern Yucatan Peninsula on Tuesday before emerging in the Gulf, where it could go through the Cantarell Complex of Mexican oil fields, one of the world’s most productive.
Most models had the storm hitting north Mexico after that, but one took it ashore in south Texas.
Mexican authorities began evacuations on the Caribbean coast, moving 2,500 people from the island of Holbox. U.S. President George W. Bush issued an emergency declaration for Texas to free up federal help and funds.
Dean’s destructive core was expected to spare Haiti’s south coast. But tropical cyclones frequently trigger flash floods and mudslides in the deforested, poverty-stricken country of 8 million people. A brush with Tropical Storm Jeanne in 2004 killed nearly 3,000.
Dean trampled Martinique, St. Lucia and Dominica on Friday, triggering landslides, lifting roofs off houses and knocking out power.
The Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency reported three people were killed in Dominica and St. Lucia.
French authorities said two elderly people died during the storm on Martinique, one of a heart attack.
Dean destroyed all of Martinique’s banana crop and 70 percent of its sugar cane. Around 80 percent of the banana plantations in nearby Guadeloupe were also destroyed, causing $161 million in losses there.
Category 5 hurricanes are rare. Until the record-breaking 2005 Atlantic hurricane season, records showed only two years -- 1960 and 1961 -- with more than one Category 5 storm.
But in 2005, four hurricanes reached that strength -- Emily, Katrina, Rita and Wilma -- triggering debate about the impact of global warming on tropical cyclones.
| Hurricanes_Tornado_Storm_Blizzard | August 2007 | ['(Reuters)'] |
The government of Djibouti has said that the country will have to go to war with Eritrea unless the United Nations acts to resolve growing tension over a border dispute. | Djibouti's president has said his country will have to go to war with Eritrea unless the UN acts to resolve growing tension over a border dispute.
Djibouti has accused Eritrea of invading its territory and its ambassador to the UN told the BBC that Eritrea had been avoiding mediation.
But his Eritrean counterpart said Eritrea had no territorial ambitions.
Both France and the US have troops in Djibouti. Its border with Eritrea is at a key strategic point on the Red Sea.
Djibouti's President Omah Guelleh appealed on Thursday to the UN Security Council to help resolve the dispute.
"Continued inaction in whatever form not only will encourage but will benefit Eritrea's attitude," he said.
"This would only give my country one option, the option of war."
But Eritrean ambassador Araya Desta said his country wanted "the cultivation of good neighbourly relations with Djibouti".
"Contrary to the claims made, Eritrea has not taken any land that belongs to Djibouti and it does not have any territorial ambitions," he said.
Mr Desta instead accused Ethiopia of moving troops to high ground on the border of the three countries.
"Ethiopia has built from the Djiboutian side a network of winding roads up the mount and deployed offensive long-range artillery and heavy equipment directed at Eritrea," he said.
Since Eritrea gained independence in 1993, the Horn of Africa country has been involved in two serious conflicts over territory with its neighbours.
'Missions rebuffed'
Clashes between Eritrea and Djibouti earlier this year left nine Djiboutian troops dead and 60 injured.
In June, the UN Security Council called on Eritrea and Djibouti to agree to a ceasefire, stressing that Eritrea should pull its forces back, the BBC's Laura Trevelyan reports from the United Nations.
France, the former colonial power in Djibouti, is working on presenting a plan to the Security Council reiterating demands for Eritrea to withdraw its forces, she says.
France also wants the two sides to talk to each other about their disputed border.
Djibouti's ambassador to the UN, Roble Olhaye, said Eritrea had "refused or rebuffed all international mediation".
"For the last four months all international organisations have been trying to talk to them," he told the BBC's Network Africa programme.
"All regional organisations have been trying to send missions to [Eritrea's capital] Asmara and they did not even issue them visas."
He also dismissed the claim about Ethiopia amassing its forces. "Whatever the Eritrean ambassador has said is hogwash," he said.
But Mr Desta said Eritrea refused to be drawn into what he called a "fabricated conflict". | Armed Conflict | October 2008 | ['(BBC News)'] |
Shahram Amiri, the Iranian nuclear scientist who says he was abducted by the United States Central Intelligence Agency, returns to Tehran. | An Iranian scientist who claims he was kidnapped by the CIA in Saudi Arabia a year ago and taken to the United States has arrived back in Iran.
After greeting members of his family at Tehran airport, Shahram Amiri told reporters he had been subjected to "the harshest mental and physical torture".
He also denied that he had been heavily involved in Iran's nuclear programme.
On Monday, Mr Amiri went to the Iranian interests section of Pakistan's embassy in the US and asked to be repatriated.
The US state department insisted he was in the country "of his own free will" and raised no objections about his return to Iran.
Wearing a beige suit, a smiling Mr Amiri was greeted at Tehran's international airport early on Thursday by his tearful son and wife, along with other family members and Deputy Foreign Minister, Hassan Qashqavi.
Speaking at a news conference afterwards, he repeated his earlier claims that he had been abducted by US agents while undertaking the Hajj pilgrimage in the Saudi Arabian city of Medina.
Mr Amiri said he was placed under intense pressure by his interrogators to co-operate in the first months following his alleged kidnapping.
"I was under the harshest mental and physical torture," he said, adding that Israeli agents had been present during the interrogations and that the CIA had offered him $50m to remain in the US. "The Americans wanted me to say that I defected to America of my own will to use me for revealing some false information about Iran's nuclear work."
Mr Amiri offered no evidence, but said he would eventually.
"I have some documents proving that I've not been free in the United States and have always been under the control of armed agents of US intelligence services."
He also denied he had been heavily involved in Iran's nuclear programme, saying he was a "simple researcher who was working at a university".
"I'm not involved in any confidential jobs. I had no classified information."
Some unconfirmed reports said he worked for Iran's atomic energy organisation.
Mr Qashqavi thanked the scientist for his "resistance to pressure".
He rejected suggestions that Mr Amiri's release was linked to a possible deal to release three US hikers who have been detained in Iran since 2009.
In the US, unnamed officials and security sources are claiming that Mr Amiri defected and was put into a programme similar to a witness-protection scheme.
Later, he apparently became concerned for family members he had left behind, had a breakdown and decided to return to Iran, US reports claim.
A US official told the BBC: "He provided useful information to the United States. The Iranians now have him. In terms of win-loss, it's not even a close call." In its online edition, The Washington Post newspaper quoted unnamed officials saying Mr Amiri had been working for the CIA for more than a year and was paid $5m. In June, the Iranian government announced that it had handed evidence to the US that the scientist had been abducted.
It came shortly after Mr Amiri appeared in two videos posted on the internet giving conflicting stories about how he had arrived in the US.
He said in the first that he had been kidnapped by CIA and Saudi agents while on a pilgrimage. In the second message, he said he had gone to the US to improve his education and was living freely in Arizona.
In a third message posted on the internet later that month, Mr Amiri said he had escaped from US custody and was on the run in Virginia.
In an interview with Iranian state Press TV before he left the US, Mr Amiri said he was in Medina when three men in a van posing as fellow pilgrims offered him a ride. "As I sat down, the man in back held a gun toward me and told me to keep quiet," he said. "They took me to a secret place and injected me, and when I woke up I saw myself in a huge airplane" and was taken to the US.
The US state department repeatedly denied it had kidnapped him, but never said that he was not in the country. However on Tuesday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton acknowledged publicly for the first time that the scientist was indeed in the US. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Release | July 2010 | ['(BBC)', '(Aljazeera)', '(Sky News)'] |
Citizens of Kiribati cast their votes in the first round of the country's latest parliamentary election. | Despite Covid-19 public health warnings, it's business as usual for the Kiribati election as thousands head to the polls.
Earlybird voter Linda Uan said there was handshaking and smiles as voters left the booth in her area.
Voters check in before heading to the booths to their right at the Tangintebu Theological College Maneaba
She was part of a small lineup of less than a dozen voters as the booth she joined opened at 7am this morning.
Ms Uan said despite health warnings all weekend, including recommendations of social distancing and good hygiene, there was nothing different from previous elections.
She said people seemed to be more excited about exercising their right to vote rather than feeling nervous or fearful of the threat of Covid-19.
"At elections this morning there was nothing like that," Ms Uan said.
"There were announcements on public radio yesterday and last night about taking extra care, et cetera, et cetera, about Covid transmission, distancing and all those things.
"[But] there was nothing at all like that, it was just very peaceful."
There are currently no confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Kiribati.
First round voting results for the 44 elected seats in the Kiribati 46-seat parliament were expected to be in by tomorrow afternoon. | Government Job change - Election | April 2020 | ['(Radio New Zealand)'] |
The Japanese Diet votes to extend its session until August 31 so that it can consider key legislation. |
Diet session to be extended through August 31
Japan's Diet has voted to extend its current session through August 31st to deliberate on key bills, including one to issue debt-covering government bonds.
The main governing Democratic Party on Wednesday asked the opposition to extend the session.
But the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party and others were against the move, saying the government and ruling bloc must make clear when Prime Minister Naoto Kan will step down.
Kan survived a no-confidence motion earlier this month after expressing his intention to resign. But he has yet to say when he plans to leave office.
In the Lower House plenary session later on Wednesday, a Democratic lawmaker urged nonpartisan cooperation in rebuilding Japan after the March earthquake and tsunami.
However, a lawmaker from the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party criticized Kan for upsetting interparty trust to hold on to his post. He said Kan should resign as soon as possible because no reconstruction or revitalization can be accomplished under his poor leadership.
Because the ruling bloc controls the Lower House, the decision to extend the session was passed by a majority of votes. | Government Job change - Election | June 2011 | ['(NHK World)'] |
A Cambodian opposition senator is sentenced to 7 years in prison for a post on Facebook. | A Cambodian court on Monday sentenced an opposition senator to seven years in prison for material he posted to Facebook. Critics say the case is an example of the Cambodian government's efforts to suppress opposition.
Hong Sok Hour, a member of the Cambodia National Rescue Party, was arrested in 2015 after he posted a purported copy of the 1979 border treaty between Cambodia and Vietnam. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said the document was forged and accused Sok Hour of treason.
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court found Sok Hour guilty of falsifying public documents, using fake documents and inciting chaos.
"This verdict once again shows the weakness of this court system in Cambodia. The court, which represent the justice for all Cambodians, does not give justice to Mr Hong Sok Hour, not only him but in many other politically-motivated cases," said Son Chhay, a member of parliament who also belongs to the Cambodia National Rescue Party.
Last month another opposition lawmaker, Um Sam Ann, was sentenced to two and a half years in prison for his online postings about the border with Vietnam. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | November 2016 | ['(Voice of America)'] |
The Islamic State releases a video purportedly showing the beheading of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians who had been previously kidnapped in Sirte. | A video has emerged apparently showing the beheadings of 21 Egyptian Christians who had been kidnapped by Islamic State (IS) militants in Libya. The footage shows a group wearing orange overalls being forced to the ground and then decapitated. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has said Egypt reserves the right to respond in any way it sees fit.
IS militants claim to have carried out several attacks in Libya, which is in effect without a government.
However, with many armed groups operating in Libya, it is not clear how much power IS actually wields. The kidnapped Egyptian workers, all Coptic Christians, were seized in December and January from the coastal town of Sirte in eastern Libya, now under the control of Islamist groups.
The video of the beheadings was posted online by Libyan jihadists who pledge loyalty to IS. A caption made it clear the men were targeted because of their faith.
"Egypt and the whole world are in a fierce battle with extremist groups carrying extremist ideology and sharing the same goals," President Sisi said. The beheadings were described as "barbaric" by al-Azhar, the highly regarded theological institution which is based in Egypt. The Coptic church said it was "confident" Egypt would exact retribution. Egypt has declared seven days of national mourning.
Libya has been in turmoil since 2011 and the overthrow of its then-leader, Col Muammar Gaddafi.
Since then, numerous other militia groups have battled for control. The head of the US Defense Intelligence Agency warned last month that IS was assembling "a growing international footprint that includes ungoverned and under-governed areas", including Libya. The five-minute video shows hostages in orange jumpsuits being marched along a beach, each accompanied by a masked militant. The men are made to kneel before they are simultaneously beheaded.
Most were from a poor village in Upper Egypt where some relatives fainted on hearing the news. A caption accompanying the video made it clear the hostages were targeted because of their faith. It referred to the victims as "people of the cross, followers of the hostile Egyptian church". There's speculation here that Egypt may now consider airstrikes across the border. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has said in the past that militants in Libya are a danger not just to Egypt, but also to the Middle East.
Libya has two rival governments, one based in Tripoli, the other in Tobruk. Meanwhile, the eastern city of Benghazi, headquarters of the 2011 revolution, is largely in the hands of Islamist fighters, some with links to al-Qaeda.
On Sunday, Italy closed its embassy in Tripoli. Italy, the former colonial power, lies less than 500 miles (750km) from Libya at the shortest sea crossing point. Italian Premier Matteo Renzi has been calling for the UN to intervene in Libya. Thousands of migrants use the Libyan coast as a starting point to flee the violence and attempt to reach the EU.
UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond condemned the beheadings.
"Such barbaric acts strengthen our determination to work with our partners to counter the expanding terrorist threat to Libya and the region," he said. On Sunday, President Sisi banned all travel to Libya by Egyptian citizens. Despite the turmoil in Libya, thousands of Egyptians go to the country looking for work. There had been demonstrations in Egypt calling on the government to do more to secure the release of those held. How strong is Islamic State in Libya? | Armed Conflict | February 2015 | ['(BBC)', '(Press TV)'] |
The Global Anglican Future Conference, a forum for conservative bishops and leaders of the Anglican Communion, opens in Jerusalem as an alternative to the Fourteenth Lambeth Conference. | But the meeting in Jerusalem of Bishop Robinson's fiercest critics seems to promise a dramatic step up in the crisis. Three hundred traditionalist bishops and archbishops - who believe that the Bible outlaws active homosexuality - are staging what is in effect a rival meeting to the Lambeth Conference, the 10-yearly gathering of Anglican bishops from all over the world, that plays a vital part in knitting together this disparate and unwieldy Communion. Many of the traditionalists at the Global Anglican Future Conference (Gafcon) in Jerusalem - including English bishops - plan to boycott Lambeth. They are also drawing up what amounts to a blueprint for an alternative Anglican Communion. Contemporary morals
The meeting's location in Jerusalem is highly symbolic. The traditionalists here are demanding that the Communion as a whole - including the Americans - go back to the stricter reading of the Bible they say would have applied in the early history of the Church, born here 2,000 years ago. The Archbishop of Uganda, Henry Orombi, - who is boycotting the Lambeth Conference - said his wish was to emulate the first Christians. "I want that we go back to the first love that the early Church had in Jerusalem, that inspired them to mission, that allowed them to make sacrifices, that we go back to believing the word of God to be the word of God, as it is in the Bible." Gafcon traditionalists, such as Archbishop Orombi, believe liberals are reinterpreting the Bible to suit contemporary morals. A booklet issued by the conference's organisers puts it this way: "We want unity, but not at the cost of re-writing the Bible to accommodate the latest cultural trend." On Monday all 303 bishops and archbishops will put on their colourful robes and walk up the Mount of Olives. The message to the rest of the Anglican world will be that a new, more conservative Communion would be ready to give up its links with Canterbury if that is what it takes to return to what it sees as the original teaching of the Church. More discipline
Any new Communion would be likely to have profound implications for Anglican churches all over the world, because it would provide a choice; a potential home for traditionalists disillusioned with liberal policies towards homosexuality in their own churches. The Archbishop of Sydney, Peter Jensen said: "The Archbishop of Canterbury occupies a role of great esteem and honour amongst us. I don't think it will change. There will be others as well who are active within the Communion who will also exercise leadership. "So this is not an attack on Lambeth, but a recognition of the reality of the way in which this family has ceased to be a nuclear family but has become an extended family." The traditionalists in this extended family may decide that their influence is best used to press for a clearer statement of agreed beliefs about sexuality, and for more discipline to enforce them. Sentimental attachment
Many of those who are angry about liberal policies on sexuality would refuse to join action as radical as splitting to form a new Communion. The presiding Bishop of Jerusalem and the Middle East, Mouneer Anis, is an example. He declined to attend Gafcon, and has urged organisers "not to make binding decisions which may result in dividing Anglicans in the global south and elsewhere". Another doubt may haunt this week's meeting in Jerusalem: that a formal split now would simply expose the divisions that undoubtedly exist even within the Gafcon organisation. One commentator in Jerusalem, editor of the Church Times Paul Handley, says a united front over homosexuality could easily break down in the face of other differences, such as the ordination of women bishops. "The easiest way of uniting people is to have an enemy, and if you then split away from that enemy, then you've got no reason to be together until you start looking at each other, and then you start looking for another enemy within your ranks¿ and that's the history of Church schism." However, the traditionalist lobby at work in Jerusalem cannot be ignored. The centre of gravity in the Communion has shifted steadily south as Anglican churches in developing countries have grown, and those in the developed world have shrunk. Even if they retain a sentimental attachment to the Communion, African and Asian church leaders are not inclined to adopt what they see as changes in theology imposed by the former colonial churches that first brought them the Bible. | Diplomatic Talks _ Diplomatic_Negotiation_ Summit Meeting | June 2008 | ['(BBC News)'] |
A Jordanian civilian is killed and three others are wounded as a Grad rocket launched from the Sinai hits the city of Aqaba. Four other rockets land in open areas in the Gulf of Aqaba. Jordan, Israel, Egypt and the United States condemn the attack. | PM's comments to Egypt's Mubarak, Jordan's Abdullah come after rockets land in Eilat, Aqaba, killing one Jordanian citizen.
Rockets fired at both Israel and Jordan on Monday and which killed one Jordanian citizen were fired by terror groups aiming to thwart attempts at reaching peace in the Middle East, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday.
Jordanian and Israeli police said that rockets from Egypt's Sinai, where Islamist militants have operated in the past, hit Israel's and Jordan's Red Sea port resorts, killing a Jordanian civilian and injuring three others.
| Armed Conflict | August 2010 | ['(YnetNews)', '(Haaretz)'] |
Airline pilots in Europe stage demonstrations in several cities against working hours. | Martin Chalk, of the European Cockpit Association, said the rules needed to be modernised
Airline pilots are demonstrating across Europe because they say long flying hours are "putting lives at risk".
European air crew unions argue current rules that govern how long they can fly for are unsafe, with fatigue a factor in 15% of accidents. The European Aviation Safety Agency says it is still considering a scientific report on the issue. In Brussels the protesters handed out fake boarding passes to the public, carrying health warnings. Industrial action by pilots is outlawed in the UK, and British airports were unaffected by Monday's action. In a demonstration outside the European Commission building in Brussels, TV pictures showed dozens of uniformed pilots and air crew holding placards and handing out flyers calling for a change in working conditions. About 60 pilots demonstrated at Amsterdam-Schiphol airport in the Netherlands, the AFP news agency reports. Cost-cutting impact
The rules are already in force in some EU countries, but are due to come into force in the UK in 2012.
Pilots and air crew have complained that their working conditions have deteriorated as the airline industry looks to cut costs. The British Airline Pilots Association (Balpa) said many leaflets would be handed out across Europe by the protesters. The general secretary of Balpa, Jim McAuslan, said he feared that attempts by the EU to standardise working conditions by 2012 would put more pressure on pilots. He said: "Only fatigue experts understand the impact on a body of flying through so many time zones, having consecutive early starts and late duties and all the other factors that make up a pilot's life". Mr McAuslan told the BBC that while EU law meant a pilot could work up to 14 hours a day, scientists believe they should not exceed 13 hours. "Anything over that increases the risk of an accident by five and a half times," he said. "When that's brought home to the public, I hope the public will put pressure on the regulator to say 'you mustn't do this - you must listen to what science has been saying'." Safety is 'top priority'
The President of the European Cockpit Association, Capt Martin Chalk, warned that "unless the EU acts now on information it already has, that it commissioned and that was delivered to it a year ago - unless it acts on that, unfortunately the safety levels we currently enjoy would be damaged". He was speaking to BBC Radio Five Live on Monday. A UK Department for Transport spokesman insisted that safety would not be compromised by the new rules. He said: "The European Aviation Safety Agency is in the process of considering the responses to its consultation on a first draft of rules establishing flight and duty time limits. "While these are unlikely to be finalised until some time in 2011, we are confident they will maintain the same high level of safety as the current rules. "The safety of passengers and crew is our top priority and we will not allow this to be compromised." | Protest_Online Condemnation | October 2009 | ['(BBC)', '(The Times of India)', '(CNN)'] |
A night–time fire breaks out in the Duchess Anna Amalia Library in Weimar, Thuringia, Germany. Damage is estimated in the millions of dollars and 40,000 to 50,000 books were destroyed. An authentic Lutheran Bible from 1534 was saved. The library contains more than 1,000,000 volumes, including the Duchess' 13,000–volume music collection, the world's largest collection of materials relating to Goethe's masterpiece Faust, and an important collection of Shakespeariana. | The blaze in the 16th Century palace housing the Duchess Anna Amalia library raged for two hours on Thursday night.
Workers forming a human chain managed to retrieve some 6,000 valuable works - including a 1534 Bible owned by Reformation-era monk Martin Luther.
Officials are worried about water and smoke damage to many remaining books.
The area worst affected by the blaze housed some 12,000 to 13,000 volumes, the library's director, Michael Knoche said.
The cause of the fire is not yet known.
'Not insured'
Germany's culture minister visited the site of the fire on Friday morning and said, "A piece of the world's cultural heritage has been lost forever."
The library was established in 1691 and holds several rare works spanning the 16th to the 18th centuries - a period when Weimar was home to German literary legends Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Friedrich Schiller.
Its total collection - scattered around several sites in Weimar - numbers some one million volumes, the majority of which were in the building affected by the fire.
Many of the books were impossible to replace and therefore had not been insured, Mr Knoche said. | Fire | September 2004 | ['(a UNESCO World Heritage Site)', '(BBC)', '(Jerusalem Post)', '[permanent dead link]'] |
In Zimbabwe, two British journalists, Sunday Telegraph correspondent Toby Harnden and photographer Julian Simmonds, are acquitted. They were accused of covering the last month's parliamentary elections without permission. They were charged with overstaying their visas and denied bail. | Sunday Telegraph correspondent Toby Harnden, 37, and photographer Julian Simmonds, 46, were arrested in March. The magistrate said there was no proof they were working in the country illegally, but they should still face charges of overstaying their visas.
They had pleaded not guilty to covering the elections without accreditation.
Their lawyer maintained the pair were ordinary tourists who "kept a travel diary and took pictures".
Media laws
On Thursday, magistrate Never Diza said: "All in all, the state failed to provide sufficient evidence to show the accused persons have a case to answer."
The men have also denied outstaying their visas. They said they believed they had been given the normal 14-day visa instead of the seven-day one that prosecutor Albert Masama said they had been given. If found guilty on those charges, they could be fined.
They were detained in Norton prison, near Harare, after being denied bail earlier this month.
Prosecutors had argued the men were still a flight risk and produced a government order demanding they be kept in detention, blocking a magistrate's order they be released.
President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF won a two-thirds majority in the parliamentary polls, which some observers have described as flawed.
According to government officials, more than 200 journalists were accredited to cover the elections but others had their applications rejected.
Zimbabwe has arrested or deported dozens of journalists and denied others entry under media laws adopted by President Mugabe's government three years ago in the face of severe international criticism.
Foreign journalists are banned from working permanently in Zimbabwe and must seek temporary licences for brief assignments. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Release | April 2005 | ['(BBC)', '(AllAfrica)', '(Reuters)'] |
A federal jury convicts former Governor of Illinois Rod Blagojevich on one count of lying to the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation. The jury is deadlocked on the other 23 charges. , | As governor, Rod Blagojevich was a personal and political riddle, and the muddled end Tuesday to his summer-long federal corruption trial did little to clear up the mystery.
After 14 days of deliberations, the six-man, six-woman jury convicted Blagojevich on just one of the 24 felony counts he faced -- a charge that he had lied to FBI agents about his intense involvement in campaign fundraising.
Prosecutors made it clear they intend to quickly retry Blagojevich on the 23 counts on which the jury deadlocked.
Jury foreman James Matsumoto, of Chicago, said the panel was close to convicting the former governor on other counts -- hung up 11-1 in some instances. But some jurors said the panel was not close to acquitting him on any counts. They actually had agreed to convict him of a second count last week -- a count of attempted extortion -- but one juror backed away from that choice at the last moment, the foreman said.
The counts on which the jury could not agree framed the heart of the government claims that Blagojevich schemed to profit from his post from his earliest days in office and in the 2008 attempted to auction off the U.S. Senate seat vacated by President Barack Obama. A lone holdout, a female retiree from the suburbs, blocked conviction of Blagojevich on the Senate seat allegation, another juror said.
U.S. District Judge James Zagel declared a mistrial on the 23 disputed counts, including sweeping racketeering and conspiracy counts that accused him of running the state as a criminal enterprise.
Still, the lone conviction makes Democrat Blagojevich the second former Illinois governor in four years to be convicted in federal court of wrongdoing and the fourth since 1973.
The jury also was unable to come to any unanimous decision on four counts faced by Blagojevich's brother, Robert, who ran the governor's campaign fund for four months in 2008.
Rod Blagojevich immediately portrayed himself as a victim as he lashed out at prosecutors, U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald in particular.
"I didn't break any laws, I didn't do anything wrong," Blagojevich said. "This particular prosecutor did everything he could to target me and prosecute me, persecute me, put pressure on my family, try to take our home, take me from my kids, arrest me."
Without hesitation, prosecutors declared their intention to retry him. Assistant U.S. Attorney Reid Schar told Zagel they could "be here tomorrow" to set a date.
Rather than lie low in the face of having to try the case again, Blagojevich's lawyers heaped scorn on Fitzgerald as well.
"This guy Fitzgerald is a master at indicting people for noncriminal behavior," Sam Adam Sr. roared as he left the courthouse. "This guy is nuts."
As the verdict was about to be announced, Zagel asked the jury foreman, Matsumoto, if it was correct that the panel was able to agree unanimously on only one count. After Matsumoto said that was the case, the judge's deputy read that Blagojevich had been convicted of only the last count in the indictment.
Still, Blagojevich pursed his lips and shook his head slightly, stealing a glance at his wife, Patti, who stared straight ahead, breathing heavily. The single count carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison, though Blagojevich likely doesn't face sentencing until after a retrial.
After learning of the conviction, Patti Blagojevich briefly doubled over, resting her head on the chair in front of her and shaking her head "no" several times.After the jury left, she collapsed back into her seat. Judge Zagel stood up to the call of "All Rise!" but Patti Blagojevich did not leave her chair.
In an interview at his Northwest Side home Tuesday night, Matsumoto said he suspected early in the deliberations that the panel would have difficulty coming to an agreement, though they eventually did take a number of votes that were 11-1.
The foreman said the jury became exhausted listening to the undercover recordings of Blagojevich with holdouts unable to find "a smoking gun" that would satisfy them that he should be convicted. Matsumoto wasn't bothered by that problem, saying "logical inference" led him to conclude that Blagojevich was guilty of trying to peddle the Senate seat.
He pointed to government wiretaps that captured Blagojevich talking to advisers about how to parlay an appointment of Obama friend Valerie Jarrett into a Cabinet appointment or ambassadorship for himself, among other possibilities.
"If (Blagojevich) says, 'If they give me secretary of HHS, I'll make Valerie Jarrett a senator in a heartbeat,' you don't need anything else," Matsumoto said.
Matsumoto said he wasn't bothered by the fact that Blagojevich didn't take the stand, the differing styles of the lawyers in the case or all the swearing on recordings of Blagojevich and other players in the case. The profanity was no problem for the four jurors who were military veterans, said Matsumoto, himself a Marine who served in Vietnam.
Lawyers in the case are to be back in court Aug. 26, possibly to pick a retrial date. Prosecutors are expected to push for the case to be back before a jury this fall, while the defense is likely to drag its heels and promised to appeal the single count the former governor was convicted on.
While gaining a conviction of the former governor on one count, the result of the trial was a far cry from the sweeping convictions in public corruption cases that Fitzgerald and his prosecutors have grown accustomed to. In his nine years at the helm of the prosecutor's office here, Fitzgerald has secured guilty verdicts for an array of public officials, ranging from aldermen to the patronage chief for Mayor Richard Daley to Blagojevich's predecessor as governor, Republican George Ryan.
The government case against Blagojevich was a vivid example of how slowly the wheels of justice can grind in public corruption cases. Blagojevich was arrested just weeks after he allegedly began plotting to sell Obama's Senate seat, but federal agents had been probing wrongdoing in the governor's administration since at least 2004 -- his second year in office -- and questioned Blagojevich for the first time in 2005 during his first term.
False statements made during that interview led to the single count of which Blagojevich was convicted Tuesday.
His trial at times took on an almost surreal atmosphere. The former governor endured a daily pounding from witnesses over his honesty and judgment, and his own lawyers ridiculed him as naive, silly, intensely insecure and "not the sharpest knife in the drawer." Wiretaps revealed a governor contemptuous of many and intensely jealous of more successful politicians, especially Obama .
Even so, Blagojevich paraded outside court with an air of "what me worry" confidence, pumping the hands of well-wishers, slapping backs, signing autographs, cracking jokes -- even proudly showing off his wardrobe after prosecutors revealed that he had spent lavishly on exquisitely tailored suits while complaining of chronic money problems.
His upbeat campaign-style demeanor didn't change even after the verdict as Blagojevich slapped backs and gave high-fives to well-wishers on the way out of the courthouse.
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | August 2010 | ['(Chicago Tribune)', '(Chicago Tribune)'] |
A week after the election, which was initially too close to call, Democratic Party candidate Kyrsten Sinema is elected to the United States Senate, defeating GOP candidate Martha McSally. Sinema is the first woman elected to represent Arizona in the Senate and first Democrat to win a Senate election in the state since 1988. | The US state of Arizona has elected its first female senator, after Democrat Kyrsten Sinema beat Republican Martha McSally in a tight race.
Ms Sinema is the south-western state's first Democratic senator since 1994. The win narrows the Republican majority to four seats (51-47), with two more Senate races remaining unresolved.
In Florida, a recount has been ordered by law after unofficial results fell within a 0.5% margin. Mississippi will hold a run-off vote later this month.
With almost all the votes counted, Ms Sinema had a lead of 1.7% over her rival. She takes the seat vacated by Jeff Flake, a frequent critic of Mr Trump.
Ms Sinema, 42, later addressed her cheering supporters in Scottsdale, near Phoenix, speaking of the urgent need to heal the bitter political rancour dividing Americans. She paid tribute to the memory of the late John McCain, who also represented Arizona in the Senate until his death earlier this year, saying he had set a shining example of how to put national interests above party political ones.
"Senator McCain is irreplaceable," she said, "but his example will guide our next steps forward. He taught us to always assume the best in others, to seek compromise instead of sowing division, and to always put country ahead of party."
Republican Ms McSally, a 52-year-old former combat fighter pilot, conceded defeat.
In a video message posted on Twitter, she said: "I just called Kyrsten Sinema and congratulated her on becoming Arizona's first female senator after a hard-fought battle."
More women than ever before won seats in Congress in the 2018 mid-terms.
What does it mean for Congress - and America?
Votes are being recounted in the Florida senate race, which pits incumbent Democrat Bill Nelson against the state's Republican Governor Rick Scott.
Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner has ordered that all 67 of the state's counties complete machine recounts for the Senate by 15:00 local time (20:00 GMT) on Thursday.
In Georgia's gubernatorial election, Democrat Stacey Abrams is refusing to concede in her race against Republican Brian Kemp.
Mr Kemp declared victory on Wednesday with a narrow lead but campaign officials for Ms Abrams have started a legal challenge to ensure all votes are counted.
Her supporters have claimed that issues such as ballot machines supplied without power cables and four-hour queues unfairly helped Mr Kemp.
An ongoing tally has whittled Mr Kemp's lead slightly to under 60,000 votes, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported on Sunday. But Ms Abrams still needs another 22,000 votes to trigger a run-off election next month, and it is unclear how many ballots remain outstanding. Meanwhile, in Mississippi, Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith faces Democrat Mike Espy in a run-off vote after neither managed to reach 50% in the first round, winning 41.5% and 40.6% respectively.
The vote will take place on 27 November.
Last Wednesday Donald Trump boasted that Republicans could end up with one of the party's largest Senate majorities in the last 100 years. A week and two Democratic victories later, and those hopes have been dashed.
Pending the outcome of the Florida recount and a Mississippi run-off, Republicans are up only one seat in the Senate. Given that Democrats were defending 10 incumbents in states Mr Trump won in 2016, the results for Republicans reveal an enormous missed opportunity. The raw numbers don't tell the whole story. Last week there were Senate contests in eight key presidential battleground states - Arizona, Nevada, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida and Virginia. Democrats have won every one except Florida. And the significance of the Arizona victory is also notable. Of the five seats that have changed hands, Arizona is the only one that flipped away from the party that carried it in 2016.
Time will tell whether the 2018 results indicate a new baseline for Democrats or a high-water mark. By limiting the damage in what could have been a devastating election for its Senate contingent, however, the party is much better positioned to challenge for control of the chamber in the coming years.
| Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration | November 2018 | ['(BBC)'] |
New Zealand says it plans to hold a referendum regarding the change of its national flag. | Prime minister John Key, who favours a silver fern design, promises voters the chance to ‘acknowledge our independence’
Last modified on Sun 7 May 2017 21.35 BST
New Zealanders are to be given the chance to jettison the most visible remaining symbol of their colonial past in a referendum on changing the national flag. In a speech in Wellington on Tuesday, the prime minister, John Key, promised a vote in the next parliamentary term on whether to keep the existing design, which features the union jack and four stars representing the southern cross, or replace it with an alternative, such as the silver fern on a black background or a version of the Maori koru.
Key, who personally favours the silver-fern-on-black option made famous by the All Black rugby side, said the time was ripe for “one more step in the evolution of modern New Zealand”. A change to the design of the flag, currently identical to the Australian banner apart from the number and style of stars, would show the country “acknowledging our independence”.
“It’s my belief, and I think one increasingly shared by many New Zealanders, that the design of the New Zealand flag symbolises a colonial and post-colonial era whose time has passed,” he said.
Key cited Canada’s shift in 1965, from a union jack adorned flag to a maple leaf symbol, as an example. “That old flag represented Canada as it was once, rather than as it is now. Similarly, I think our flag represents us as we were once, rather than as we are now.”
He pledged to work with all political parties to establish a working group that would in turn map out a process, which would very likely involve two separate plebiscites – to determine if a change was wanted and the preferred replacement.
Early indications from the main opposition leaders, who have criticised the prime minister’s past flirtations with a change in the flag as an attempt to distract attention from issues such as inequality, are that they will support the process outlined.
While republican groups welcome the change as part of a trend towards severing ties with the “mother country”, Key emphasised that he did not see it this way.
“We retain a strong and important constitutional link to the monarchy and I get no sense of any groundswell of support to let that go. Nor could we or would we dispose of the cultural legacy which gave us a proud democracy, a strong legal system and a rich artistic heritage,” he said.
“Our status as a constitutional monarchy continues to serve us well. It’s an arrangement that provides stability, continuity and keeps our head of state above party politics.”
Sean Palmer, chair of the lobby group Monarchy New Zealand, welcomed Key’s commitment to the Commonwealth, saying it was a mistake to “try to conflate the question of the flag and constitutional status”. The majority of Commonwealth countries did not sport the union jack on their flags, he said, and there was no reason for Prince William and Catherine, who visit New Zealand next month, to regard the announcement as a snub.
A redesign is anything but inevitable, however. A Colmar Brunton poll for TVNZ last month found that just 28% of those who expressed an opinion wanted a fresh flag, with 72% preferring the status quo. In a similar poll in 2004, 42% wanted a change.
Key had previously hinted a referendum might be held in conjunction with the general election later this year, but instead has used the promise of a vote in the next term as his first gambit since the announcement of the election date earlier this week.
The election, in which Key’s National party hopes to win a third consecutive term, will be held on September 20, two months earlier than is usual, to provide sufficient time for any coalition talks ahead of the Brisbane G20 meetings and surrounding events in November, Key said. | Government Policy Changes | March 2014 | ['(The Guardian)'] |
Widespread unrest erupts in southern Iraq as protesters, frustrated by shortages of electricity, water and jobs vent their anger, setting fire to political offices, attacking government infrastructure and deepening uncertainty about the country’s shaky political future. | BAGHDAD — Widespread unrest is engulfing southern Iraq as Iraqis frustrated by shortages of electricity, water and jobs vent their anger, setting fire to political offices, attacking government infrastructure and deepening uncertainty about the country’s shaky political future.
The government on Saturday cut off Internet access across much of Iraq in an apparent bid to contain further violence. The Defense Ministry ordered security forces on high alert after demonstrations that erupted six days earlier in the southern port city of Basra spread overnight to many other parts of the overwhelmingly Shiite south, where a heat wave has aggravated poor living conditions.
But the protests resumed Saturday night, according to reports from residents, with demonstrators attacking the provincial government building in the city of Karbala and people out on the streets in Basra and Najaf, despite the imposition of a curfew by the local authorities.
Some of the worst violence took place Friday night in the city of Najaf, a destination for Shiite pilgrims from around the world. Protesters stormed the airport and marched on the headquarters of the main Shiite political parties, including the local headquarters of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s Dawa Party, which was set on fire.
Thousands of people also attacked government infrastructure and the offices of Shiite parties in the cities of Nasseriyah, Kut, Karbala, Babil and Amara. In Basra, they marched on the hotel where Abadi had stayed during a brief visit aimed at calming the situation. There was one small protest reported in Baghdad early Saturday, with demonstrators setting fire to tires and briefly closing access to the main highway leading to Jordan.
The upheaval comes at a critical time for the Iraqi government, which has been paralyzed since inconclusive and tainted elections in May. The ballots are now being recounted after allegations of fraud, and though the overall results aren’t expected to change much, the recount has delayed the seating of a new parliament and the formation of a new government.
This is not the first time that demonstrations, triggered at least initially by the lack of electricity during the hot summer months, have destabilized southern Iraq. Persistent power shortages since the U.S.-led invasion leave people sweltering without fans or air conditioners. This year conditions have been worsened by a severe drought, which has reduced the availability of water, and a decision by Iran to cut off the electricity it exports to Iraq because of a dispute over payments, further reducing the supply.
But these demonstrations seem more widespread and by Friday had taken on a decidedly political and anti-Iranian flavor. The protesters are turning much of their wrath against the Shiite parties that have dominated Iraqi politics since the toppling of Saddam Hussein in 2003, as well as against Iran, which is closely allied to the Shiite political establishment.
Iraqis say they blame the government, including Abadi and many other Shiite politicians, for the failure to provide jobs, infrastructure and improve the economy. Allegations of corruption at all levels of government are widespread, and the close relationship of many of the Shiite elites with Iran has deepened the resentment.
“We’ve had enough of these parties who put Iranian interests ahead of us and treat the people like wood to burn when they need money,” said Abdulrahman Mohammed, 36, who has been participating in the protests in Basra.
“What’s happening now is an explosion after years of pressure. We want our rights and we have nothing to lose because they took everything.”
In a video showing the attack on the Dawa Party headquarters in Najaf, a protester is heard referring scornfully to the party that has dominated Iraqi politics since 2006 as “the Iranian Dawa Party.” In another video, demonstrators can be heard chanting “burn the Iranian parties.”
“We want to end these corrupt political parties just like we ended Saddam,” said Haidar al-Taie, 24, a medical student in Najaf who was one of those who burned the Dawa office. “This party has been sucking our blood since 2003, and look at them now: They are the richest people.”
The protests began last Sunday in Basra, the oil-rich province that is also home to some of the worst poverty in the country. During the week, two people were shot dead by security forces attempting to contain the unrest as protesters targeted oil facilities and sought to shut down the port of Umm Qasr.
Friday’s upheaval appeared to have been fueled at least in part by comments from Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the spiritual leader for the vast majority of Iraqi Shiites, indicating that he sympathized with the protesters grievances.
“It is not fair and it is never acceptable that this generous province is one of the most miserable areas in Iraq,” said a statement issued on his behalf, referring to Basra.
According to preliminary election results, the party loyal to the populist cleric Muqtada al-Sadr won the most seats in the May election, and he has been in discussion with the other major Shiite parties to form a coalition government. All of those parties appeared to have had their offices targeted in the protests, apart from Sadr’s, which has taken a stance against Iranian influence in Iraq.
Sadr indicated in a tweet on Friday that he also shared the protesters’ concerns, calling their demonstrations “a revolution of the starving.”
Although some politicians have alleged that he is fomenting the unrest, protesters reached by telephone deny that their actions are being driven by any political party.
“This is a revolution of the people,” said Taie, the protester in Najaf. “We will not allow any political parties to get involved because we are protesting against them.”
. | Riot | July 2018 | ['(Washington Post)'] |
Vietnam holds a live fire drill in the South China Sea amid a dispute with China. | Vietnam put on a show of military strength in the tense South China Sea on Monday, risking the ire of Beijing in the face of a deepening maritime rift with its powerful neighbour.Relations between the communist nations have sunk to their lowest point in years following recent sea confrontations which reignited a long-standing dispute over sovereignty of two potentially oil-rich archipelagos.A successful first barrage of naval artillery, lasting about four hours, took place about 40 kilometres (25 miles) off Quang Nam province in central Vietnam, said a naval officer in Danang city who asked not to be named.He declined to reveal how many ships had been mobilised but said no missiles were fired. A similar night drill started at 7:00 pm (1200 GMT) and lasted about five hours, the officer added.AFP's request to witness the exercise was not granted.Although Vietnam's foreign ministry described it as routine annual training, analysts say the drill has raised temperatures in the South China Sea, where Asian nations have conflicting claims over possibly energy-rich waters.The exercise "is designed to send China a message that Vietnam refuses to be pushed around", said Ian Storey, a regional security analyst with the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore."I think the Chinese will react very badly to this," he added.The drills are inside the area Vietnam claims as its 200-nautical-mile economic zone.Hanoi last month accused Chinese surveillance vessels of cutting the exploration cables of an oil survey ship inside the area.On Thursday Vietnam alleged a similar incident in the zone, saying a Chinese fishing boat rammed the cables of another oil survey ship in a "premeditated" attack.Beijing countered by warning Vietnam to halt all activities that it says violate China's sovereignty in the disputed area."No one wants a war but the possibility of some shots being fired in anger or of some ships running into other ships has increased," said Ralph Cossa, president of the Hawaii-based Pacific Forum CSIS, a research institute.The United States says it is "troubled" by the tensions triggered by the maritime dispute.But US senator Jim Webb, who heads the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee on East Asia, urged Congress to do more and condemn China over the growing number of maritime rifts."I think we in our government have taken too weak of a position on this," said Webb, a member of President Barack Obama's Democratic Party.The naval drill was about 250 kilometres from the Paracel Islands and almost 1,000 kilometres from the Spratlys, the archipelagos which are claimed by both nations and which straddle strategic shipping lanes.Vietnam has said it wants to see a peaceful resolution and adherence to international law.Beijing, too, says it is committed to peace in the South China Sea, but its more assertive maritime posture has caused concern regionally and beyond.Tensions have also risen this year between China and the Philippines, another claimant to the Spratlys, which on Monday said it would from now on refer to the South China Sea as the "West Philippine Sea".Taiwan on the weekend reiterated its claim to the Spratlys, and said missile boats and tanks could be deployed to disputed territory.Brunei and Malaysia have also staked claims in the area.Vietnamese bitterly recall 1,000 years of Chinese occupation and, more recently, a 1979 border war. More than 70 Vietnamese sailors were killed in 1988 when the two sides battled off the Spratlys.About 300 people in Ho Chi Minh City and in Hanoi held anti-China rallies on Sunday to proclaim Vietnam's maritime sovereignty for the second weekend in a row. Demonstrations are rarely allowed in Vietnam.In interviews, protesters voiced support for the naval drill. "It shows to China and to the world that we will do everything to protect our land and our sea," said Tran Bao, 36.AFP
| Military Exercise | June 2011 | ['(Jakarta Post)'] |
U.S. President Donald Trump nominates Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court. | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump nominated Brett Kavanaugh for the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday as he aimed to entrench its conservative control for years to come, but the federal appeals court judge faces a tough confirmation fight in the bitterly divided Senate.
Trump's SCOTUS pick kicks off charm campaign
01:42
While some Democrats promised a stern effort to block the 53-year-old Kavanaugh - who has served 12 years on the most influential U.S. appeals court - Trump’s fellow Republicans control the Senate by a narrow margin and can ensure confirmation if they avoid defections from their ranks.
If confirmed, Kavanaugh would replace long-serving conservative Justice Anthony Kennedy, who announced his retirement on June 27 at age 81. Kavanaugh became Trump’s second lifetime appointment to the nation’s highest judicial body in his 18 months in office.
Kavanaugh is a well-known figure in Washington and has been involved in some of the biggest controversies of the past two decades. He helped investigate Democratic former President Bill Clinton in the 1990s working for independent counsel Kenneth Starr. He was on Republican George W. Bush’s team in the contentious Florida recount fight in the 2000 presidential election, then served as a senior official in Bush’s White House.
“Throughout legal circles he’s considered a judge’s judge, a true thought leader among his peers,” Trump, who named conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch to the court last year, told an applauding audience in the White House East Room.
“He’s a brilliant jurist with a clear and effective writing style, universally regarded as one of the finest and sharpest legal minds of our time. And just like Justice Gorsuch, he excelled as a legal clerk for Justice Kennedy,” Trump added, saying Kavanaugh “deserves a swift confirmation and robust bipartisan support.”
The appointment will not change the ideological breakdown of a court that already has a 5-4 conservative majority, but nevertheless could move the court to the right. Kennedy sometimes joined the liberal justices on key rulings on divisive social issues like abortion and gay rights, a practice his replacement may not duplicate.
Kavanaugh has amassed a solidly conservative judicial record since 2006 on the influential U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, the same court where three current justices including Chief Justice John Roberts previously served. Some conservative activists have questioned whether he would rule sufficiently aggressively as a justice.
Like the 50-year-old Gorsuch, Kavanaugh potentially could serve on the high court for decades. Trump’s other leading candidates for the post were fellow federal appellate judges Thomas Hardiman, Raymond Kethledge and Amy Coney Barrett.
Related Coverage
“My judicial philosophy is straightforward: a judge must be independent and must interpret the law, not make the law. A judge must interpret statutes as written. And a judge must interpret the Constitution as written, informed by history, and tradition and precedent,” Kavanaugh said during the ceremony in which he emphasized his family and his Roman Catholic faith.
Kavanaugh survived a protracted confirmation fight after Bush picked nominated him to the appeals court in 2003. Some Democrats accused him of excessive partisanship, and it took three years before the Senate eventually voted to confirm him.
Republicans hold a slim 51-49 Senate majority, and with ailing Senator John McCain battling cancer in his home state of Arizona they currently can muster only 50 votes. Senate rules still leave Democrats with scant options to block confirmation by themselves, though Trump must prevent Republican defections.
Moderate Republican Senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski said they could carefully vet Kavanaugh before deciding how to vote. Democratic senators serving in Republican-leaning states including Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Joe Donnelly of Indiana and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota made similar remarks, though top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer blasted Trump’s pick.
‘RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS’
“In selecting Judge Brett Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court, President Trump has put reproductive rights and freedoms and healthcare protections for millions of Americans on the judicial chopping block,” Schumer said.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who earlier in the day accused the “far left” of “scare tactics” to try to thwart the nomination, called Kavanaugh “a superb choice.”
A White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Kavanaugh was informed on Sunday night he would be the nominee, adding that “what really tipped the scales was the consistency” the judge had shown on the appeals court. The official said the White House reached out to every member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will hold confirmation hearings, and that only Democrat Kamala Harris “refused to engage.”
Trump last year appointed Gorsuch, who has already become one of the most conservative justices, after Senate Republicans in 2016 refused to consider Democratic former President Barack Obama’s nominee Merrick Garland to fill a vacancy left by the death of conservative Justice Antonin Scalia. As a result, Democrats have accused Republicans of stealing a Supreme Court seat. Gorsuch restored the court’s conservative majority.
Kavanaugh worked for Starr, whose investigation of Clinton helped spur an effort by congressional Republicans in 1998 and 1999 to impeach the Democratic president and remove him from office. Kavanaugh in 2009 changed his tune on the Starr probe, arguing that presidents should be free from civil lawsuits, criminal prosecutions and investigations while in office.
Trump defeated Clinton’s wife, Hillary Clinton, in the 2016 presidential election and has disparaged both Clintons.
Democrats in the past also have pointed to Kavanaugh’s work for Bush during the 2000 recount fight, a controversy that was resolved only after the conservative-majority Supreme Court sided with Bush over Democratic candidate Al Gore, settling the election outcome.
The new justice can be expected to cast crucial votes on other matters of national importance including gay rights, gun control, the death penalty and voting rights. The court could also be called upon to render judgment on issues of personal significance to Trump and his administration including matters arising from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s ongoing Russia-related investigation and several civil lawsuits pending against Trump.
Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Additional reporting by Eric Walsh, Eric Beech, Steve Holland, Andrew Chung, Amanda Becker and Jeff Mason; Editing by Will Dunham
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
All quotes delayed a minimum of 15 minutes. See here for a complete list of exchanges and delays.
Exclusive: Fed’s Neel Kashkari opposes rate hikes at least through 2023 as the central bank becomes more hawkish | Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration | July 2018 | ['(Reuters)'] |
In baseball, the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters defeat the Hiroshima Toyo Carp to win the Japan Series. , | OSHIMA – A pitcher getting it done on the mound and at the plate helped the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters bring home a championship, just like everyone expected.
Not many had reliever Anthony Bass as said pitcher. What third baseman Brandon Laird did, that was pretty much business as usual.
The Fighters broke open a tense contest in the eighth inning, with a bases-loaded walk drawn by Sho Nakata, an RBI single by Bass and a grand slam courtesy of slugger Laird, and returned to the NPB summit with a 10-4 win over the Hiroshima Carp in Game 6 of the Japan Series on Saturday night at Mazda Stadium.
“We were on a mission this year” said Laird, who was named Japan Series MVP. “We had a long season, went through our ups and downs, but we overcame them. Look at us now, we’re Nippon champions, it feels great.”
The Fighters won their first Japan Series title since 2006, rebounding to win four straight games after dropping the first two in Hiroshima.
“We never got down even after losing the first two games of the series,” said manager Hideki Kuriyama. “We were able to win all three games at home and the momentum was with us when we came back to Hiroshima.”
Bass threw two scoreless innings to earn the win in relief. He struck out three and walked a batter. Bass finished the series with a 3-0 record, 0.00 ERA and eight strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings.
“I feel like I did my job, so I was happy with that,” Bass said. “More important is winning the championship. That’s why I signed here in Japan. I wanted to be part of a championship.”
The Fighters are champions for the third time in franchise history, also winning in 1962 and 2006. Their win continues the dominance of the Pacific League in the Japanese Fall Classic. Since 2003, PL teams have won 11 of the past 14 Japan Series titles. Nippon Ham accounted for the only losses in 2007, 2009 and 2012.
The Fighters got it right this time. Wrapping things up in Hiroshima was the cherry on top, as Nippon Ham entered the game just 2-11 on the road in the Japan Series since 2006.
“Definitely feel like we’re on top of the world right now,” Bass said. “Everyone put a lot of hard work in all season long, leading up to this. We faced a good team in the Carp. It wasn’t an easy series by any means. But we found a way to win, and it feels great.”
They won without calling on Shohei Otani again. Otani, who many thought would make another appearance in the series, either at the plate or on the mound, didn’t play Saturday. He was on deck in the eighth, but was called back to the dugout after Nakata drew his bases-loaded walk.
The Fighters would’ve likely started Otani in Game 7 had they lost. The team would’ve faced an emotional scene Sunday against retiring Carp hero Hiroki Kuroda. The veteran pitcher had mostly held Nippon Ham in check before leaving Game 3 with an injury.
“We faced Kuroda after we took the consecutive losses (in Games 1 and 2), but I was thinking that our players would’ve gone in the game on pure spirit,” said Kuriyama. “In a way, we took advantage of Kuroda’s energy. I really respect him. Maybe he wanted to pitch one more game, but if we were to play one more game, I’m not sure we could’ve won, so forgive me for that.
“I really don’t feel like we’ve actually done it. I need to sit back and reflect on it. But more than the Japan Series title, one of our goals was for the fans to have fun with each game.”
Laird’s grand slam was his third home run of the series. The Nippon Ham infielder, who had a tiebreaking two-run homer in the eighth inning that helped win Game 4, drove in seven runs during the Japan Series.
“I was just looking to have a good at-bat, just try to get a pitch I could hit,” Laird said of Saturday’s grand slam. “To get a big hit like that was unbelievable.”
He dedicated his performance to his grandfather.
“I’m just trying to do my best each and every day,” he said. “I’m playing for my grandfather right now, and I know he’s looking down proud. So thank you, grandpa.”
Laird gave his trademark sushi pose after the game and was joined during the award ceremony by Bass, Nakata and Haruki Nishikawa, who earned outstanding player honors. The Carp’s Brad Eldred was given the Fighting Spirit Award as the best player from the losing team.
Nippon Ham did all its damage in the eighth with two outs. Nishikawa, Takuya Nakashima and Hiromi Oka each singled to load the bases against Carp reliever Jay Jackson with the score knotted at 4-4.
Jackson walked Nakata to force in the tiebreaking run. Bass then hit for himself and delivered a single to center that tacked on another run.
“He walked the previous guy, so I was taking a strike and then looking for the fastball,” Bass said. “I haven’t swung in a long time, so I was just trying to start as early as I could. He left a fastball over the plate, and I just hit it.”
Bass pumped his fist wildly in celebration when he reached first base.
“I don’t know what came over me there in the eighth inning,” Bass said. “But it’s been fun. It’s a long season, and that’s why we work.”
Otani, who was 6-for-16 with four doubles during the series, was on deck during Nakata’s at-bat with Bass’ spot due up. But Bass said the plan was for him to hit for himself.
“The plan was, I was hitting 100 percent,” Bass said. “It was kind of like a fake out, I think.”
Laird then connected on a 135-kph slider to put the game away. His home run in Game 4 was also off Jackson, who was charged with the loss on Saturday.
The Carp, who won the Central League pennant for the first time since 1991, were trying to win their first Japan Series title since 1984.
Staff writer Kaz Nagatsuka contributed to this report.
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Our showcase of organizations and communities' efforts toward a new way of thinking about the future. | Sports Competition | October 2016 | ['(Kyodo News)', '(The Japan Times)'] |
Rena Lalgie is sworn in as Governor of Bermuda, making it the first time that the British territory has a black woman as governor. | SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- Rena Lalgie has been sworn in as Bermuda’s governor, marking the first time that the British territory in the Atlantic has a Black woman as its leader.
The event occurred on Monday, a day after Lalgie arrived in Bermuda, a wealthy financial haven and popular tourist destination.
The appointment was announced in June by Queen Elizabeth II.
Lalgie previously served as director of the United Kingdom’s Office of Financial Sanction Implementation.
Lalgie, who is also the first female to serve as Bermuda's governor, remains under quarantine as a result of her recent trip during the pandemic. | Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration | December 2020 | ['(ABC News)'] |
Car bomb blasts kill at least 32 people across Iraq. | At least 32 people have been killed in Iraq as car bomb attacks targeted security forces and Shia pilgrims around the country, police say. In Taji, a mainly Sunni town north of the capital, Baghdad, four car bombs went off within minutes of each other, killing at least eight people.
In the southern town of Madain, a bomb exploded near a Shia shrine and Iranian pilgrims were among the injured.
There were also attacks in Kut and other Iraqi cities.
Civilians were among those killed and injured in the attacks around the capital, but the aim of the attackers seems to have been to kill as many security personnel as possible, wherever they could reach them, says the BBC's Rami Ruhayem in Baghdad.
Although violence has decreased in Iraq since its peak in 2006 and 2007, attacks escalated again after the withdrawal of US troops from the country at the end of last year.
More than 100 people were injured in Sunday's attacks.
Some reports say the car-bomb blasts in Taji were near Shia Muslim homes in the town, 20km (12 miles) north of Baghdad. Others say the blasts targeted police checkpoints.
The first bomb went off in Taji at 07:15 (04:15 GMT), police were quoted as saying by the Associated Press news agency.
In Madain, a car bomb exploded at around 10:30, next to a bus carrying Iranian pilgrims.
Three Iraqis were killed and seven Iranians are among the injured, officials told AP.
Police and Shia civilians were killed or injured in other attacks in the Baghdad area on Sunday.
A car bomb targeting a police patrol in Kut killed six people and injured 10, police told BBC News. Bombs also went off in the cities of Mosul and Baquba.
A resident of the Ammil district in Baghdad accused fugitive Vice-President Tariq al-Hashemi and pro-Sunni media organisations of inflaming passions against Iraq's Shia majority.
"They are the terrorists," he told Reuters news agency. "They want to terminate the Shia. They want to see all the Shia gone." Hashemi was recently sentenced to death in absentia after an Iraqi court found him guilty of running death squads. | Armed Conflict | September 2012 | ['(Reuters)', '(BBC)'] |
Hurricane Matthew, responsible for killing 13 people and knocking out power to 2.2 million households and businesses in the Southeastern United States, is now a Category 1 hurricane (75 mph;120 km/h winds) approaching the North Carolina coast. , , | CHARLESTON, S.C./SAVANNAH, Ga. (Reuters) - Hurricane Matthew slammed into South Carolina on Saturday, packing a diminished yet still potent punch after killing almost 900 people in Haiti and causing major flooding and widespread power outages as it skirted Florida and Georgia.
Now weakened, the most powerful Atlantic storm since 2007 unleashed torrential rains and damaging winds in Florida before churning slowly north to soak coastal Georgia and the Carolinas. Wind speeds at midday had subsided by nearly half from their peak about a week ago to 75 miles per hour (120 kph), reducing the storm to a Category 1 hurricane, the weakest on the Saffir-Simpson scale of 1 to 5.
Matthew, which topped out as a ferocious Category 5 storm days before, made U.S. landfall near McClellanville, South Carolina, a village 30 miles (48 km) north of Charleston that was devastated by a Category 4 hurricane in 1989.
The National Hurricane Center in Miami said Matthew passed over Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, on Saturday afternoon, and warned of potentially life-threatening flooding in Georgia and North Carolina even as the storm slowed as it plowed inland.
As of 11 p.m. EST (0300 GMT), the storm was about 35 miles (55 km) south of Cape Lookout, North Carolina, the center said in an advisory.
The center of the storm will move near or south of the North Carolina coast early on Sunday and east of the state later in the day as it weakens.
The storm was blamed for at least 11 deaths in the United States - five in Florida, three in North Carolina and three in Georgia, including two people killed by falling trees in Bulloch County, the county coroner said.
Power was reported knocked out to more than 2 million households and businesses in the U.S. Southeast, the bulk of those in Florida and South Carolina.
North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory urged residents on Saturday evening to stay off roads and sidewalks to avoid “deadly conditions” caused by severe flooding and debris.
Conditions in eastern and central North Carolina were expected to worsen as the storm edged along the coast and toward the Outer Banks barrier islands, the governor said.
Forecasters warned that widespread flooding was possible from heavy rain - 15 inches (40 cm) was expected to fall in some areas - along with massive storm surges and high tides.
The storm-stricken stretch of the Atlantic Coast from Miami to Charleston, a nearly 600-mile drive, encompasses some of the most well-known beaches, resorts and historical towns in the southeastern United States. Parts of Interstate 95, the main north-south thoroughfare on the East Coast, were closed due to flooding and fallen trees, state officials said.
Roads in Jackson Beach, Florida, were littered with debris, including chunks from an historic pier dislodged by the storm, with some intersections clogged by up to a foot of standing water. Beachfront businesses suffered moderate damage.
“We rode out the storm. It wasn’t this bad at our house, but here there’s a lot of damage,” said Zowi Cuartas, 18, as he watched bystanders pick up shattered signs near the beach.
Florida Governor Rick Scott said more than 6,000 people stayed in shelters overnight, but he appeared relieved that the state had been spared from greater harm.
“We’re all blessed that Matthew stayed off our coast,” he said. He predicted electricity would be restored to most homes by Sunday evening.
Streets in downtown Charleston, known for its historic waterfront architecture, were flooded to the tops of tires on some parked cars, and a few residents could be seen wading near the city’s sea wall as high tide approached.
Tony Williams, 54, who said he is homeless, rode his bicycle against huge wind gusts after spending the night in a public garage. “I just got tired of laying where I was laying,” he said.
On Daufuskie Island near the Georgia border, writer Roger Pinckney, 70, said it “blew like hell” as he hunkered down at home despite evacuation warnings during the height of the storm’s fury, but he emerged unscathed.
Some 8 inches (20 cm) of rain fell in the Savannah, Georgia area, downing trees and causing flooding.
The National Weather Service said record-high tides were recorded along the Savannah River at the South Carolina-Georgia border, peaking at 12.6 feet, surpassing those from Hurricane David in 1979.
Though gradually weakening, Matthew was forecast to remain a hurricane until at least Sunday, when it was expected to creep away from shore, the NHC said.
Storm damage was far greater in Haiti, where at least 877 people died earlier when the storm plowed directly into the impoverished Caribbean island nation.
Matthew howled through Haiti’s western peninsula on Tuesday with 145 mph (233 kph) winds and torrential rain. Some 61,500 people were in shelters, officials said, after the storm lashed coastal villages in high surf.
The U.S. military began sending aid to Haiti by air and sea, including a Navy amphibious transport ship carrying heavy-lift helicopters, bulldozers, fresh-water delivery vehicles and two mobile surgical units.
The Haitian government warned that a deadly outbreak of cholera could worsen, confirming dozens of new cases of the water-borne disease since the storm hit, 13 of them fatal.
Officials in Florida, grappling with an outbreak of Zika, said they hoped the flooding would not worsen the spread of the mosquito-borne virus, which can cause fever and birth deformities.
“We have got to get rid of standing water as quickly as we can,” Governor Scott told reporters.
| Hurricanes_Tornado_Storm_Blizzard | October 2016 | ['(Reuters)', '(The National Hurricane Center)', '(ABC News)'] |
Economists Peter A. Diamond, Dale T. Mortensen and Christopher A. Pissarides win the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for their work in labor market analysis. , | The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel for 2010 to
Peter A. Diamond
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA,
Dale T. Mortensen
Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA
and
Christopher A. Pissarides
London School of Economics and Political Science, UK
“for their analysis of markets with search frictions”
Why are so many people unemployed at the same time that there are a large number of job openings? How can economic policy affect unemployment? This year’s Laureates have developed a theory which can be used to answer these questions. This theory is also applicable to markets other than the labor market.
On many markets, buyers and sellers do not always make contact with one another immediately. This concerns, for example, employers who are looking for employees and workers who are trying to find jobs. Since the search process requires time and resources, it creates frictions in the market. On such search markets, the demands of some buyers will not be met, while some sellers cannot sell as much as they would wish. Simultaneously, there are both job vacancies and unemployment on the labor market.
This year’s three Laureates have formulated a theoretical framework for search markets. Peter Diamond has analyzed the foundations of search markets. Dale Mortensen and Christopher Pissarides have expanded the theory and have applied it to the labor market. The Laureates’ models help us understand the ways in which unemployment, job vacancies, and wages are affected by regulation and economic policy. This may refer to benefit levels in unemployment insurance or rules in regard to hiring and firing. One conclusion is that more generous unemployment benefits give rise to higher unemployment and longer search times.
Search theory has been applied to many other areas in addition to the labor market. This includes, in particular, the housing market. The number of homes for sale varies over time, as does the time it takes for a house to find a buyer and the parties to agree on the price. Search theory has also been used to study questions related to monetary theory, public economics, financial economics, regional economics, and family economics.
Peter A. Diamond, US citizen. Born 1940 in New York City, NY, USA. Ph.D. 1963, Institute Professor and Professor of Economics, all at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA, USA.
http://econ-www.mit.edu/faculty/pdiamond
Dale T. Mortensen, US citizen. Born 1939 in Enterprise, OR, USA. Ph.D. 1967 from Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA. Ida C. Cook Professor of Economics at Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA and Niels Bohr Visiting Professor in Economics at Aarhus University, Denmark.
http://faculty.wcas.northwestern.edu/~dtmort
Christopher A. Pissarides, British and Cypriot citizen. Born 1948 in Nicosia, Cyprus. Ph.D. 1973, Professor of Economics and Norman Sosnow Chair in Economics, all at London School of Economics and Political Science, UK.
http://personal.lse.ac.uk/pissarid The Prize amount: SEK 10 million, to be shared equally between the Laureates.
| Awards ceremony | October 2010 | ['(Nobel Prize)', '(AP via Fox News)'] |
Fifth Harmony announces Camila Cabello's departure from the group. | © 2021 Billboard Media, LLC. All rights reserved. BILLBOARD is a registered trademark of Billboard IP Holdings, LLC
Fifth Harmony has announced that singer Camila Cabello has left the group.
In a message posted on social media and signed by "Ally, Normani, Dinah and Lauren," the group writes, "After four and a half years of being together, we have been informed via her representatives that Camila has decided to leave Fifth Harmony. We wish her well."
The remaining members, Ally Brooke, Normani Kordei, Dinah Jane Hansen and Lauren Jauregui, state that they will continue the group as a foursome.
As recently as December 9, when the iHeartRadio Jingle Ball tour hit New York City, the group had announced plans to release a new album. Kordei told radio personality Elvis Duran, "2017, it’s going to be popping" and Jane Hansen added, "The third album is definitely going to be so lit. We're really excited.”
After forming on the second season of the American version of The X Factor in 2012, Fifth Harmony released two albums beginning with Reflection in January 2015. That album included "Worth It," their first Top 20 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart last summer; the quintet would surpass that milestone with "Work From Home" feat. Ty Dolla $ign, the lead single to sophomore LP 7/27, which peaked at No. 4 on the Hot 100.
While the 7/27 tour brought 5H on their first international trek this year, Cabello had hinted at pursuing solo material through two successful collaborations. "I Know What You Did Last Summer," a duet with Shawn Mendes, became a Top 20 hit upon its release in late 2015. "Bad Things," a Machine Gun Kelly single featuring Cabello, has done even better, reaching No. 10 on the Hot 100 as of last week.
Although other members had expressed interest in solo careers -- Jauregui released a collaboration with pop duo Marian Hill earlier this month -- Fifth Harmony had long assured fans that a breakup or member departure was not imminent.
But insiders suggest that tensions between Cabello and the other group members had long been festering. In fact, December 18, the day the split was announced, marked the conclusion of Cabello's contractual obligations to the group and offered an exit, says a source. | Withdraw from an Organization | December 2016 | ['(Billboard)'] |
Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency reach agreement on resolving the disputes over the Iranian nuclear program. | VIENNA (Reuters) - The U.N. nuclear watchdog said on Friday Iran had agreed to allow inspectors to visit its Arak nuclear plant following talks on how to resolve outstanding questions about Tehran’s disputed nuclear program.
Senior officials from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Iran held talks this week in Tehran on an “action plan” to address remaining IAEA doubts about its nuclear work.
Tehran rejects charges that it is not cooperating fully with U.N. inspectors. Iran, which concealed sensitive facilities for nearly two decades, says it has no more atomic secrets and that its nuclear program is for purely peaceful ends.
The IAEA said in a statement it had also agreed with Tehran to finalize in early August a plan for monitoring the Natanz uranium enrichment plant and to clear up all its questions about the country’s past plutonium experiments.
Diplomats welcomed the announcement of the Arak inspection, which the IAEA said would take place before the end of July.
“It is definitely positive that the agency inspectors can visit the site,” one said. “This is good news.”
“It is only a very first step, but a first step is better than nothing, although we will have to see where all this is going to get us,” a second Western diplomat said.
Iran says its Arak research reactor, due for completion in 2009, will make isotopes for medical and other peaceful uses, replacing an older 1970s light-water reactor in Tehran.
But Western powers fear that Tehran wants to use plutonium, a byproduct of production at the Arak heavy-water reactor, for the core of nuclear warheads.
Iran’s envoy to the IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, confirmed inspections would take place at Arak while adding that Iran saw completion of the reactor as its undeniable right, Iran’s official IRNA news agency said. | Diplomatic Talks _ Diplomatic_Negotiation_ Summit Meeting | July 2007 | ['(Reuters)'] |
An IAI Westwind jet, chartered by the Philippine government for a medical evacuation flight to Haneda Airport in Japan, crashes upon takeoff at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila. All eight people onboard are killed. | .
The jet, which had the registration number RP-C5880, was scheduled to take off from Manilla’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport at around 8pm on Sunday. Before making it off the tarmac, the plane caught fire, overshooting the runway as flames billowed from its wrecked hull. Fire crews extinguished the blaze within an hour.
#developing RP-C5880, an aircraft chartered by Philippine Department of Health, crash-landed/overshot the runway at MNL (NAIA). Reports say its carrying medical supplies. #COVID19#SARS_COV_2pic.twitter.com/peqgwiBJFl
WATCH: An aircraft reportedly carrying medical supplies caught on fire while it was about to take off at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) around 8 p.m. According to BFP, fire was already out at 9:02 p.m. @inquirerdotnet (Sourced video) pic.twitter.com/8w38t1qVTi
According to local reporter Dexter Cabalza, the plane was carrying a crew of eight, including three medics and one patient. Airport authorities later confirmed that nobody on board survived.
No survivors | Plane carrying medical crew & patient crashes in #Manilapic.twitter.com/gu8brMWXtI
It is unknown whether the patient was infected with the Covid-19 coronavirus.
Lion Air Plane RPC 5880Caught fire and exploded at the NAIA Runway 24 while taking off. Itinerary: Tokyo, HanedaMsn: MedevacPassengers:1 flight med1 nurse1 doctor3 flight crew (2 pilots, 1 crew)1 patient1 patient asst.
Lion Air just crashed at NAIAAn aircraft, reportedly carrying medical supplies, caught on fire at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.The aircraft is a IAI1124A Westwind, registered RP-C5880. It was one of the aircraft chartered by the Department of Health (DOH)(CTTO) pic.twitter.com/dHtuHRDUAS
Prior to its tragic crash, the jet made a series of jaunts carrying medical supplies around the islands of the Philippines, and made trips further afield to Japan, Thailand and Taiwan. A photo published on the Department of Health’s facebook page earlier this week showed healthcare officials loading the plane with boxes of supplies.
Flightradar24 data regarding the accident involving RP-C5880 in Manila. https://t.co/IB8YPGx3Sipic.twitter.com/T6nsbsG8EP
The Philippines has recorded 1,418 cases of Covid-19 so far. The country’s health ministry said on Sunday that 343 new cases were confirmed overnight, marking the country’s largest daily increase in infections since the virus spread there in January. 71 people have died of the disease. | Air crash | March 2020 | ['(RT)'] |
2 Egyptian peacekeepers are killed and 3 are injured by gunmen near Edd alFursan, South Darfur. | Two Egyptian peacekeepers have been killed by gunmen in Sudan's Darfur region, the joint United Nations-African Union mission (Unamid) says.
It says three other Egyptian soldiers were injured in an ambush near Edd al-Fursan, South Darfur. They were later airlifted to a Unamid hospital. No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack. More than 20 peacekeepers have been killed since Unamid was deployed in Darfur in 2008. A civil war has pushed about three million people into refugee camps in Darfur and the region is prone to lawlessness and banditry. | Armed Conflict | May 2010 | ['(BBC)', '(IOL)', '[permanent dead link]', '(The Warpington Post)', '(UN)'] |
The Met Office confirms Sunday as the coldest Easter Day on record for the United Kingdom. The lowest temperature of –12.5°C is recorded in Braemar in the Scottish Highlands. | Easter Sunday has been confirmed as the coldest Easter day on record, with the lowest temperature recorded as -12.5C in Braemar, in the Scottish Highlands .
The previous coldest Easter day since modern records began in 1960 was Easter Monday in 1986, which dipped to -9.8C, the Met Office said.
Average temperatures for this time of year are between 10C and 13C.
The prolonged cold spell covering the UK could last until mid-April, forecasters say. Easter Monday is expected to remain very cold.
Easter itself is a moveable celebration which falls on the Sunday after the spring full moon, and can fall anywhere between 22 March and 25 April.
Only about 22% of Easters fall in March, a Met Office spokesman said.
The Easter record comes after the entire month of March was provisionally declared the coldest since 1962 in the UK.
The Met Office said that from 1 March to 26 March the UK mean temperature was 2.5C, which is three degrees below the long-term average. Looking at individual nations, March 2013 is likely to be the fourth coldest on record for England, joint third coldest for Wales, joint eighth coldest for Scotland and sixth coldest for Northern Ireland.
The unseasonably wintry weather has caused problems in parts of the UK, including with electricity, farming and agriculture, and the road network.
Why is Easter so early this year?
Canoeists forced to abandon endurance race
Met Office
Hardliner Raisi set to be new Iran president
Vote-counting shows Ebrahim Raisi - Iran's top judge - has so far received 62% of the vote.
UN calls for end of arms sales to Myanmar
Tokyo Olympics: No fans is 'least risky' option
Asia's Covid stars struggle with exit strategies
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The Gurkha veterans fighting for Covid care. VideoThe Gurkha veterans fighting for Covid care
Troubled US teens left traumatised by tough love camps
Why doesn't North Korea have enough food?
Le Pen set for regional power with eye on presidency
How the Delta variant took hold in the UK. VideoHow the Delta variant took hold in the UK | Break historical records | March 2013 | ['(BBC)'] |
A truck rams into a group of Israeli soldiers in a deliberate attack in East Jerusalem, killing four and wounding 21. The perpetrator was previously convicted of terrorism and was jailed for 10 years. | Palestinian driver ploughs into soldiers gathered at a promenade overlooking the Old City, killing four and injuring a dozen
First published on Sun 8 Jan 2017 11.47 GMT
Four Israeli soldiers, three of them cadets, were killed in Jerusalem on Sunday when a Palestinian attacker driving a truck ploughed into them deliberately, injuring more than a dozen more.
The attack, the deadliest in months, comes after a lull in recent violence between Palestinians and Israelis.
It comes at a time of warnings about growing tensions, not least over Donald Trump’s highly controversial plan to move the US embassy to Jerusalem, and calls from some rightwing Israeli ministers to annex parts of the occupied Palestinian territories. Police said the dead, three women and a man, were all in their 20s. Among the wounded, three were described as in a serious condition. The attack took place as a large group of Israeli soldiers visited a scenic outlook overlooking modern Jerusalem and the Old City, a few blocks from the current US consulate.
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said: “We in Jerusalem have just experienced an unprovoked terrorist attack, a murderous attack that claimed the lives of four young Israelis and wounded others. This is part of the same pattern inspired by Islamic State, by Isis, that we saw first in France, then in Germany and now in Jerusalem.”
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, and Palestinians with no known links to Isis have carried out ramming attacks in the past. Palestinian media identified the attacker as Fadi al-Qanbar, a married man in his 20s, who had reportedly previously served time in an Israeli prison.Israeli police said the driver was from Jabel Mukaber, an area of Israeli-occupied east Jerusalem not far from the scene of the attack. Some media reports suggested Israeli licence plates on the vehicle meant it had been stolen.
Arab #terrorist truck attack, #Jerusalem. 3 IDF dead, 1 IDF critical, 6 serious, 15 light. Soldiers from officers course from Gedud Erez. pic.twitter.com/VOqU2T7k2M
The driver was shot dead by other soldiers and a tour guide with the group that was hit as the driver reversed back towards the dead and injured.
Graphic security camera footage shot from a distance showed the truck racing towards a group of soldiers standing by their bus and then driving through the group, scattering bodies. After a gap of a few seconds the truck is seen reversing into them again.
“In a fraction of a second during which I was speaking with one of the officers, I saw the truck ploughing into us,” the guide, Eitan Rod, told Israel Army Radio.
“After a few rolls on the grass I saw the truck start to reverse and then I already understood that this was not an accident. I felt that my pistol was still on me, so I ran up to him and started emptying my clip. He went in reverse and again drove over the injured.”
As emergency workers removed the bodies from the scene, dozens of other young soldiers, some visibly shaken, were gathered on a park terrace where officers, paramedics and a military rabbi comforted them.
Leah Schreiber, a tour guide accompanying another group of soldiers, witnessed the attack. “I was with a group of about 10 soldiers training to be commanders when I heard shouting,” she said. “I was explaining about the view of Jerusalem.
“I heard shouting and then shooting. I looked behind and saw the truck had driven on to the sidewalk hitting the soldiers.
“It took a few seconds to understand what was happening. Some soldiers had been told to hide in case of a second attack, while others were shooting the chauffeur.”
A security guard identified only as A told Channel 10: “In a split second I looked to my left and saw what I can only describe as a speeding truck which sent me flying.
“It was a miracle that my pistol stayed on me. I shot at a tyre, but realised there was no point as he had many wheels, so I ran in front of the cabin and at an angle I shot at him and emptied my magazine. When I finished shooting, some of the officer cadets also took aim and also started firing.”
Landy Sharona, a paramedic who attended to the injured, told the Jerusalem Post: “About 10 people were lying on the ground near the street. Some of them were trapped under the truck.”
Other eyewitnesses who arrived quickly on the scene described coming across one body under the truck’s wheels and two others beside it while the driver was slumped dead behind a windscreen hit by a dozen bullets.
Israel’s chief of police, Roni Alsheich, described the incident as a terror attack. “You don’t need more than two to three seconds to find a terrorist target. The soldiers at the scene reacted immediately and killed the attacker,” he said.
The incident is the deadliest Palestinian attack in Jerusalem in months. It happened just after the cadets had disembarked from a coach that had brought them to the Armon Hanatziv promenade, a grass-lined stone walkway with a panoramic view of the walled Old City.
Alsheich told reporters he could not rule out the driver of the truck having been motivated by a similar attackon a Berlin Christmas market that killed 12 people last month.
“It is certainly possible to be influenced by watching TV, but it is difficult to get into the head of every individual to determine what prompted him, but there is no doubt that these things do have an effect,” he said.
Rescue workers said about 15 wounded people lay on the street as ambulances raced to the scene. The Israeli military regularly takes soldiers on educational tours of Jerusalem, including the Armon Hanatziv vantage point.
The US secretary of state, John Kerry, has warned of serious consequences if Trump follows through on his place to move the US embassy from from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
“You’d have an explosion, an absolute explosion in the region, not just in the West Bank and perhaps even in Israel itself, but throughout the region,” he said in a recent interview with CBS.
A wave of Palestinian street attacks, including vehicle rammings, has largely slowed but not stopped completely since October 2015. Assaults over the past 15 months have killed at least 37 Israelis and two visiting US citizens.
At least 231 Palestinians have been killed in violence in Israel, the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip during the same period. Israel says at least 157 of them were assailants in lone attacks often targeting security forces and using rudimentary weapons including kitchen knives. Others died during clashes and protests.
Israel says one of the main causes of the violence has been incitement by the Palestinian leadership, with young men encouraged to attack Israeli soldiers and civilians. | Armed Conflict | January 2017 | ['(CNN)', '(The Guardian)'] |
Men's basketball Gonzaga defeats South Carolina 77–73 to advance to the title game on April 3. | GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Their star guard was outstanding. Their big men dominated inside. Still, it came down to some last-second strategy for Gonzaga to move on to the NCAA Tournament championship game for the first time.
Nigel Williams-Goss scored 23 points, Gonzaga's big men combined for 27 and the Bulldogs kept South Carolina from taking a game-tying shot in a 77-73 victory Saturday night in a matchup of first-time teams at the Final Four.
"Just an awesome, awesome basketball game, with just how hard both teams competed," Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. "It took everything we had to hold them off and come back."
The Bulldogs' 7-footers, senior Przemek Karnowski and freshman Zach Collins, took care of things on both ends of the court, combining for 18 rebounds. Collins also had a career-high six blocks.
"That's my job is to go in and rim protect," said Collins, who had 14 points and 13 rebounds. "I had four fouls today. But I thought, you know, getting those blocked shots would help us."
Gonzaga (37-1), the top seed in the West Regional, will face North Carolina, the top seed in the South, for the title on Monday night.
"To be playing the last game of the year, that's crazy cool," Few said.
Williams-Goss missed a shot with 12.7 seconds left and South Carolina rebounded and called a timeout, trailing 75-72. South Carolina passed the ball around and Gonzaga fouled Sindarius Thornwell before he could shoot with 3.5 seconds left. Thornwell made the first free throw and missed the second on purpose in hopes of his teammates grabbing an offensive rebound. Killian Tillie rebounded for Gonzaga, was fouled and made two free throws to cement the game.
"We had been practicing it all year and we always want to foul under 6 (seconds)," Few said. "Josh Perkins did a job being really patient and not fouling on the shot. The second part is you've got to get the rebound, and that's what's been difficult for us at times. They executed great."
Thornwell said the idea was to get in position for one last quick shot.
"The plan was to miss it left and hopefully Chris (Silva) could tap it out to somebody," he said.
Williams-Goss, a second-team All-American, led the Bulldogs to a 14-point lead in the second half but it disappeared quickly as the Gamecocks (26-11) went on a 14-point run to grab a 67-65 lead with about 7 minutes to play.
"When things got tough we banded together and pulled through," said Williams-Goss, who had six assists and a brief injury scare after turning an ankle underneath the basket.
"There was no way I was going to come out of the game. This is the last two games of the season," Williams-Goss said. "Now we're 40 minutes from a championship."
Collins and Karnowksi then accounted for the next 7 points, including a 3-pointer by Collins and a thundering dunk by Karnowski.
South Carolina still wasn't done. The seventh-seeded Gamecocks scored 5 straight to get within 74-72 with just over 2 minutes left.
"Since the beginning of the season that's what we worked for, moments like this," Silva said. "And we try to do our best to respond the way we learn how to respond."
PJ Dozier led the Gamecocks with 17 points and Thornwell, the leading scorer in the NCAA Tournament at 25.8 points per game during the first four rounds, finished with 15 on 4-for-12 shooting after starting slow.
"They just crowd the paint," Thornwell said. "They forced me to pass it out on my drives. And just protecting the rim real well."
Karnowski went down on the court in the first half after being poked in the right eye as he took a shot underneath the basket. He left for the last 5 minutes of the half, but Collins picked him up, finishing with 8 points at halftime.
"I got blocked but he just put the finger in my eye," Karnowski said. "I had blurry vision, a little bit shadow. I couldn't really open it."
"Throughout the whole second half it was getting better and better," he said.
BIG PICTURE
South Carolina: The Gamecocks entered the tournament having last won a game in 1973. They had four wins to reach the Final Four, including victories over the Nos. 2, 3 and 4 seeds in the East region.
Gonzaga: The Bulldogs now have a chance to play for a title after already getting further than ever before in the NCAA Tournament. Gonzaga had made three Elite Eights without advancing to the Final Four.
BLOCK PARTY
The teams combined for 14 blocked shots, eight by Gonzaga. Collins had six and Silas Melson had two for the Bulldogs. Silva had three for the Gamecocks, while Thornwell had two and Dozier had one.
THREES ABOUND
Gonzaga, which had a school-record 12 3-pointers in the regional final win over Xavier, went 9 for 19 from beyond the arc Saturday. Jordan Mathews was 4 for 8 while Williams-Goss and Melson had two each and Collins had one.
NUMBERS
Silva had 13 rebounds for the Gamecocks. ... South Carolina shot 37.9 percent (25 of 66) for the game while the Bulldogs were 29 of 60 (48.3 percent). ... Gonzaga committed 12 turnovers and the Gamecocks had just five. | Sports Competition | April 2017 | ['(AP via ESPN)'] |
On December 31 and into the early hours of January 1, protesters and police clashed in a New Year's Eve protest which police declared a riot shortly before midnight, alleging the demonstrators' use of violence. Within 30 minutes, police advanced on the demonstration, protesters used fireworks while officers shot pepper balls, rubber bullets, and other "less-lethal munitions" In the wake of the protests, police order all people in the area to leave immediately. Authorities have not stated the number of protesters arrested. | Protesters and police clashed in Portland, Ore., on Thursday night during a New Year’s Eve demonstration that police declared a riot.
The Portland Police Bureau designated the protest as a riot shortly before midnight on the holiday, citing the demonstrators’ use of violence, with local CBS affiliate KOIN reporting the declaration came at about 10:50 p.m.
Within a half hour, Portland police advanced on the demonstration, prompting protesters to blast fireworks at them while officers used pepper balls, rubber bullets or some other type of less-lethal munition, according to KOIN.
Police said in a release that they did not use gas but utilized “inert smoke and some impact munitions” in their response.
The police tweeted shortly after 11:30 p.m that a riot was declared after protesters used at least two Molotov cocktail-style firebombs and launched commercial-grade fireworks at the Mark O. Hatfield Federal Courthouse building and the Justice Center.
In their tweets and over loudspeakers, officials warned that those who remained in the area were “subject to arrest, citation, and/or the use of force, including but not limited to impact weapons and tear gas.”
Police said they became aware of a small gathering of people at 7:45 p.m., which later grew to 80 to 100 people with some resorting to violence, according to a release. The Portland Police Bureau reported that some of the violence involved people using tools to attempt to break into the Justice Center.
KOIN reported that the demonstrations began near the police headquarters before protesters marched down streets and broke a window at a Starbucks. Soon, broken bottles surrounded the headquarters, and graffiti was spotted on that building and others.
Portland police reported having assistance from Department of Homeland Security authorities and the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office, which also faced projectiles from the crowd, including rocks, bricks, frozen water bottles and paint balloons that police said could have included a substance that burns the skin.
Police also said protesters set “multiple fires,” including in a garbage can, to a crosswalk signal and to various debris in the road. Officers made several arrests but did not release information about the arrests as of Friday morning.
It wasn’t clear what the protests were about, but a flier for the event said “In Solidarity with [Black Lives Matter]," KOIN reported, and posts for the protest were shared online.
Portland has been riddled with demonstrations since the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody in May. Demonstrators have called for racial justice for months, prompting President TrumpDonald TrumpChinese apps could face subpoenas, bans under Biden executive order: report Kim says North Korea needs to be 'prepared' for 'confrontation' with US Ex-Colorado GOP chair accused of stealing more than 0K from pro-Trump PAC MORE in July to deploy federal authorities to respond, which he later withdrew.
Trump repeatedly pointed to the Portland protests as he campaigned for reelection, saying he would bring “law and order” to the country more than his competitor, President-elect Joe BidenJoe BidenChinese apps could face subpoenas, bans under Biden executive order: report OVERNIGHT ENERGY: EPA announces new clean air advisors after firing Trump appointees | Senate confirms Biden pick for No. 2 role at Interior | Watchdog: Bureau of Land Management saw messaging failures, understaffing during pandemic Poll: Majority back blanket student loan forgiveness MORE.
| Protest_Online Condemnation | January 2021 | ['(The Hill)'] |
A Denver couple, Wayne Sperling, 66, and Lorinda Bailey, 35, are accused of felony child abuse in one of the most egregious cases of suspected abuse in state history. Four boys, ages 2 to 6, were living in a house filled with cat feces and urine, with flies everywhere. They were nonverbal, malnourished, filthy, and uneducated, communicating to caseworkers and police in grunts. The couple were accused of misdemeanor abuse of 3 other children in 2006. | Police say they found the 4 young children, aged between 2 and 6, living in a residence with an "unbearable" smell of a decomposing animal.
DENVER A Denver couple accused of keeping four malnourished young children in a filthy apartment pleaded guilty to neglecting three other children under strikingly similar conditions in 2006, court records show.
The parents, Wayne Sperling and Lorinda Bailey, appeared in court Tuesday on felony child-abuse charges. Authorities say their four boys, ages 2 to 6, lived in a rank-smelling apartment littered with cat feces, flies and urine. The boys could not speak and only grunted, authorities said.
Police found similar conditions at the couple's apartment in 2006, when they had three other children, records released Tuesday show.
All seven kids were placed with a child services agency. No other details were available on their current status or whereabouts.
Bailey, 35, is free on bond. She declined to comment after leaving court Tuesday.
Sperling, 66, is still in custody and appeared in court with his long white hair in a ponytail and wearing a long, flowing beard. His attorney made no public statement.
A man walks past the residence of Wayne Sperling, on Tuesday, Oct. 8 2013, the day of the first hearing in his felony child abuse case, in Denver.
Neighbors said they repeatedly complained to authorities about the boys' care but nothing happened.
The state Department of Human Services is reviewing the handling of the case because it meets "egregious" criteria, agency spokeswoman Liz McDonough said.
McDonough said she could not comment on specifics of the review but said it would include case notes and whether procedures were followed.
Police said the children found in 2006 were dirty, wore unwashed clothing and had not been fed for several hours. The oldest, age 4 at the time, spoke few words and mostly grunted and pointed to communicate, the records show.
Passers-by called police in the 2006 case to say a 2-year-old and a 4-year-old were playing in the street. Officers said they found rotten food, trash and insects in the apartment.
Shortly after the officers responded, Sperling and Bailey arrived at the home with their third child, then 3 months old, the records show.
The parents pleaded guilty to misdemeanor child-abuse charges in that case and were ordered to serve probation and take parenting classes.
The three children in that case had different dates of birth than the four boys in the current case, the records show. The records identify Sperling and Bailey as the parents of all seven.
The latest charges came after an investigation that began Sept. 29, when Bailey took her youngest son to St. Joseph's Children's Hospital for a cut on his forehead that she said happened after a fall.
An emergency room doctor informed authorities that the 2-year-old was unwashed and smelled like cigarette smoke, prompting a welfare check by a Denver Human Services caseworker. Bruising behind the child's right ear appeared consistent with pinching, the doctor said.
Denver police officer N. Rocco-McKeel accompanied the caseworker to the apartment in a brick building near downtown, where they found the other three boys.
The officer noted that flies covered every surface in one room and that he couldn't determine any age or developmental differences between the three children at home. He saw a single mattress and a bunk bed set, but none had any sheets or pillows. He said he couldn't find the source of the decaying smell but believed it came from a room at the back of the apartment.
The children were placed in protective custody. Hospital exams showed they were malnourished and not toilet-trained. They also determined the boys were "nonverbal."
The mother said she thought the apartment was safe, and she denied that the boys had any developmental delays. She said she had been living alone in a separate unit of the building for the past two months, but still saw the children every day except Saturday and Sunday, when she worked. Officials confirmed that she worked as a parking lot attendant at a nearby event hall.
Sperling told investigators he was unemployed and has been the boys' primary guardian. He said he mopped frequently but that it's hard to keep a house with four boys clean. He also said he intended to begin home-schooling the 6-year-old.
The affidavit said there was up to 2 inches of cat feces under the bunk bed where the boys slept, and the floor was soaked with cat urine. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | October 2013 | ['(jailed)', '(free)', '(MSN)'] |
The UN refugee agency reports at least 55 people have drowned after an overcrowded boat capsizes off the coast of Somalia on 18 December. | The UNHCR said the overcrowded boat which left the northern port of Bosasso in Somalia on Tuesday, had amounted to the worst such disaster in the area in almost two years.
Most of the victims were Somalis and Ethiopians.
Twenty-three bodies have been recovered and the rest are presumed to have drowned.
The agency said that the incident represents “the biggest loss of life” in the Gulf of Aden since February 2011 when 57 Somali refugees and migrants from the Horn of Africa drowned while attempting to reach Yemen.
Andy Needham of UNHCR told Al Jazeera that many of the men were headed to Oman and Yemen to work in the frankincense trade.
Overcrowded boat
“People come on the dangerous journey from different countries for different reasons,” Needham said of the “mixed migration”.
At least five people survived the accident. They said the boat was overcrowded and capsized just 15 minutes after leaving the port in Somalia’s northern semi-autonomous state of Puntland.
This year, some 100,000 people have crossed the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, despite warnings about the risks such trips involve, the agency said.
In addition to using unseaworthy and overcrowded boats, those fleeing the Horn of Africa often fall prey to unscrupulous smugglers, in whose hands they can face exploitation, extortion and even death, the agency warned.
It said over a hundred people had drowned or gone missing in the waters between Somalia and Yemen this year.
| Shipwreck | December 2012 | ['(Reuters)', '(BBC)', '(CNN)', '(Al Jazeera)'] |
A US–Poland agreement to deploy a missile defense shield prompts unnamed Russian officials to declare Poland "a legitimate military target" and the deputy of the Russian general staff states that Poland "opens itself to a nuclear strike". | WASHINGTON (AFP) — US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Sunday she would travel to Poland in coming days to ink a deal on installing US interceptor missiles on Polish territory.
"I'm going to Poland to sign a missile defense agreement in the next couple of days, after the NATO meeting," she told Fox News Sunday.
Relations between Russia and the former Soviet Republic of Poland reached a new low after Moscow voiced fury at Warsaw's sudden announcement Thursday that it had reached a deal on the long-touted missile shield with the US.
The timing of the announcement infuriated Russia which said the weapons were clearly pointed at Moscow and warned they made Poland a legitimate military target.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Rice would be traveling "to Brussels, Belgium and Warsaw, Poland, departing on August 18," Monday.
"In Warsaw, Secretary Rice will sign a formal agreement with Poland on behalf of the United States for the establishment and operation of a ballistic missile defense interceptor site in Poland," McCormack said in a statement.
"This agreement is an important step in our efforts to protect the United States and our European allies from the growing threat posed by the proliferation of ballistic missiles."
Foreign ministers of the 26 NATO members are due to meet in Brussels on Tuesday to discuss the crisis in Georgia, after a five-day war between Tbilisi and Moscow over the pro-Moscow region of South Ossetia.
McCormack said Rice had requested the North Atlantic Treaty Organization emergency session "under instructions from President (George W.) Bush."
"We are going to help rebuild Georgia into a strong Georgian state. The Russians will have failed in their effort to undermine Georgia. And we will be looking at what we can do with the states around that region as well," Rice said. | Sign Agreement | August 2008 | ['(AFP via Google News)', '(Asia Times)'] |
A riot at Cadereyta Jiménez prison located outside the city of Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico, kills at least 13 people. | MONTERREY, Mexico (Reuters) - At least 13 people were killed when a fight broke out in a prison in the northern Mexican state of Nuevo Leon and security troops were sent in to quell the violence, a state security official said on Tuesday.
The battle inside the Cadereyta prison outside the city of Monterrey began overnight, officials said. Anxious family members gathered outside the prison during the day waiting for news of their loved ones.
A protest by inmates overnight had spiraled out of control, one prisoner was killed and a number of guards were taken hostage, Nuevo Leon state security spokesman Aldo Fasci told reporters.
Police were sent in to calm the disturbance but the fight soon escalated to involve around 250 inmates, he said.
“Around five in the afternoon, the decision was made by security forces to use lethal force to prevent the murder of guards as well as stop the murder of inmates,” Fasci said.
“If we had not taken this decision, we would be talking about many more deaths,” he said.
It was not immediately clear how many people were killed in the fight and how many were killed by security forces, he said. Eight more people seriously wounded, he said.
Rival gangs that are involved in drug trafficking, human smuggling, fuel theft, kidnapping and extortion have fueled bloody battles in Mexico’s overcrowded prisons.
At least nine were killed in a prison fight in the state of Tamaulipas on the U.S. border with Texas and at least 28 inmates were killed in July in a battle in a prison in the Pacific resort of Acapulco. | Riot | October 2017 | ['(Reuters)'] |
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts members present the British Academy Film Awards at the Royal Opera House in London. | British hopefuls, including Eddie Redmayne and Rosamund Pike, have begun arriving at the Bafta Film Awards.
Stars on the red carpet at London's Royal Opera House also include homegrown nominees Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley alongside US stars Michael Keaton and Reese Witherspoon.
The London ceremony, hosted by Stephen Fry, is the biggest awards event in the British film calendar. Surreal comedy The Grand Budapest Hotel leads the pack with 11 nominations.
You can follow coverage of the award ceremony on our live page.
Showbiz satire Birdman and Stephen Hawking biopic The Theory of Everything are each nominated in 10 categories. Redmayne, who plays physicist Hawking is the bookies' favourite to take the best actor award - though he faces tough competition from Birdman lead Keaton, as well as his rival and friend Cumberbatch in The Imitation Game.
Speaking on the red carpet about his overnight success, Redmayne said he was "just trying to put one foot in front of the other... and enjoy it".
"The most difficult thing was the fear of upsetting Stephen [Hawking], or Jane, or the children. When we heard that they enjoyed [the film], it was the most wonderful thing," he said.
"Their story is extraordinary, and it deserved to be told properly."
Cumberbatch, who plays computer pioneer and codebreaker Alan Turing, has been widely nominated across the film season, but was piped to the post at the Golden Globes by both Keaton and Redmayne.
On the red carpet, he called for "more diversity" among award nominees, giving a particular nod to Selma star David Oyelowo, who was a surprise omission among this year's Bafta nominees.
Cumberbatch described British star Oyelowo's performance playing Dr Martin Luther King Jr as "flawless" and "absolute performance": "I just wish he was amongst our number," he said.
It follows a short-lived controversy last week which saw Cumberbatch criticised for using the term "coloured" in an interview on US television. Cumberbatch later apologised prompting Oyelowo to come to his defence, calling the attacks in the press "ridiculous".
The Imitation Game, about war-time efforts to crack the German Enigma codes, has nine nominations; while coming-of-age epic Boyhood and jazz drumming drama Whiplash are each nominated five times. Pike, who is nominated for her role in Gone Girl, is among the British hopefuls in the best actress category, alongside Felicity Jones and Knightley. On the red carpet, she described her role as "a wonderful cocktail of a woman to sink my teeth into".
Fellow nominee Jones, whom co-star Redmayne described as "formidable", told BBC News she was "so proud" of The Theory of Everything, "I could just keep talking about it forever."
However, US actress Julianne Moore is tipped to win the trophy for her performance as a linguistics professor with early-onset Alzheimer's. The Baftas take place exactly two weeks before the Academy Awards in Hollywood and can often be an indicator of who will go on to win an Oscar.
The last six winners of the Bafta for best film have gone on to win the best picture Oscar. Last year's winner, 12 Years a Slave, won two Baftas and three Oscars.
Amanda Berry, Bafta chief executive, said 69% of Bafta and Oscar winners over the last 10 years have been same: "I think that makes us enough of a predictor to be relevant, but not too much the same to be a carbon copy." Full list of nominees
Dan Higgins, editor of Pure Movies, predicts the best film race will be a battle between Richard Linklater's Boyhood - which was shot with the same cast over 12 years - and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's Birdman.
"Boyhood is a gimmick film, while Birdman's technical brilliance is unbelievable," said Higgins. "But I think Boyhood will get it." The best British film category sees marmalade-loving bear Paddington up against Under the Skin's beautiful alien vampire in the form of Scarlett Johansson. The betting suggests a win for The Imitation Game. "It would be a shock if Paddington won, and I'd love there to be a shock, but I don't think it'll be that one," added Higgins. Mike Leigh, whose critically-lauded Mr Turner was frozen out of the main categories, will receive the Bafta Fellowship for his "outstanding and exceptional contribution to film". BBC Films, in its 25th year, will receive the outstanding British contribution to cinema award. Rock band Kasabian will open proceedings at the Royal Opera House with a live performance.
The ceremony will be broadcast on BBC One and BBC One HD at 21.00 GMT on Sunday. A special red carpet show will be broadcast by BBC Three, hosted by Edith Bowman at 20.30 GMT. There will be live coverage of the awards on the BBC website from 18:30 GMT.
| Awards ceremony | February 2015 | ['(BBC)'] |
The Supreme Court of the United States upholds the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, including the requirement for citizens to acquire health care by 2014. | Opponents of the health care law said Congress' power to regulate commerce didn't extend to people who choose not to buy something; the court's conservatives disagreed. Chief Justice John Roberts did decide, however, that the law was a legitimate use of the congressional power to tax. NBC's Pete Williams reports.
Updated at 11:55 a.m. ET: In a dramatic victory for President Barack Obama, the Supreme Court upheld the 2010 health care law Thursday, preserving Obama’s landmark legislative achievement.
The majority opinion was written by Chief Justice John Roberts, who held that the law was a valid exercise of Congress’s power to tax.
Roberts re-framed the debate over health care as a debate over increasing taxes. Congress, he said, is “increasing taxes” on those who choose to go uninsured.
Poll: Do you agree with Supreme Court ruling on health care law?
Tom Goldstein of the SCOTUS blog breaks down the Supreme Court's ruling on health care. Also, when asked why Chief Justice John Roberts upheld the law, Goldstein said, "I think he believed it."
Click here for the text of the ruling
The 2010 law, the Affordable Care Act, requires non-exempted individuals to maintain a minimum level of health insurance or pay a tax penalty.
The essence of Roberts’s ruling was:
• “The Affordable Care Act is constitutional in part and unconstitutional in part,” Roberts wrote.
• “The individual mandate cannot be upheld as an exercise of Congress’s power under the Commerce Clause. That Clause authorizes Congress to regulate interstate commerce, not to order individuals to engage in it.”
• But “it is reasonable to construe what Congress has done as increasing taxes on those who have a certain amount of income, but (who) choose to go without health insurance. Such legislation is within Congress’s power to tax.”
Roberts made a point of noting that he and the other justices “possess neither the expertise nor the prerogative to make policy judgments. Those decisions are entrusted to our Nation’s elected leaders, who can be thrown out of office if the people disagree with them. It is not our job to protect the people from the consequences of their political choices.”
Click here for Twitter reactions to the ruling
In a landmark ruling, the Supreme Court upholds President Obama's national health-care insurance act. NBC's Pete Williams reports. TODAY's Matt Lauer discusses the ruling with NBC's Savannah Guthrie and David Gregory, host of "Meet the Press."
The law, Roberts wrote, “makes going without insurance just another thing the Government taxes, like buying gasoline or earning income. And if the mandate is in effect just a tax hike on certain taxpayers who do not have health insurance, it may be within Congress’s constitutional power to tax.”
Jason Reed / Reuters
A sharply divided Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the centerpiece of Obama's signature healthcare overhaul law that requires that most Americans get insurance by 2014 or pay a financial penalty. He said “The question is not whether that is the most natural interpretation of the mandate, but only whether it is a ‘fairly possible’ one.”
He said the Supreme Court precedent is that “every reasonable construction” of a law passed by Congress “must be resorted to, in order to save a statute from unconstitutionality.”
Dems cheer high court as galvanized GOP vows 'full repeal'
Veteran Supreme Court lawyer Tom Goldstein told NBC’s Pete Williams that “the Affordable Care Act was saved by Chief Justice John Roberts.”
Claire McAndrew of Washington, left, and Donny Kirsch of Washington celebrate outside the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., Thursday, after a the court's ruling on health care. Goldstein said the Obama administration “got the one vote they really needed in Chief Justice John Roberts.”
When he served in the Senate in 2005, Obama voted against confirming Roberts as chief justice, arguing that he lacked empathy for underdogs and “he has far more often used his formidable skills on behalf of the strong in opposition to the weak.”
(Twenty-one other Democratic senators, including Joe Biden, also voted against confirming Roberts. Twenty-two Democratic senators voted to confirm him.)
Obama hailed his victory: “The highest court in the land has now spoken. We will continue to implement this law and we'll work together to improve on it where we can.”
But he urged Americans to refrain from re-fighting "the political battles of two years ago" or trying to "go back to the way things were.”
The four justices joining Roberts in upholding the law were Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.
The dissenting justices were Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.
For individuals who choose to not comply with the individual insurance mandate, Congress deliberately chose to make the penalty fairly weak: only $95 for 2014; $325 for 2015; and $695 in 2016.
After 2016, that $695 amount is indexed to the consumer price index.
Congress specifically did not allow the use of liens and seizures of property as methods of enforcing the penalty.
Non-compliance with the mandate is also not subject to criminal or civil penalties under the Tax Code and interest does not accrue for failure to pay the penalty in a timely manner, according to the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation.
Chief Justice Roberts announces the Supreme Court's opinion in health care law
NBC's Pete Williams reported that Roberts reasoned that “there’s no real compulsion here” since those who do not pay the penalty for not having insurance can’t be sent to jail. “This is one of the scenarios that administration officials had considered that if the court did this they would consider it a big victory,” Williams said.
In his reaction to the court’s decision, Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney said, “What the court did today was say that Obamacare does not violate the Constitution. What they did not do was say that Obamacare is good law or that it's good policy.”
He said the ruling had made it clear “If we want to get rid of Obamacare, we're going to have replace President Obama.”
But in a major victory for the states who challenged the law, the court said that the Obama administration cannot coerce states to go along with the Medicaid insurance program for low-income people.
The financial pressure which the federal government puts on the states in the expansion of Medicaid “is a gun to the head,” Roberts wrote.
“A State that opts out of the Affordable Care Act’s expansion in health care coverage thus stands to lose not merely ‘a relatively small percentage’ of its existing Medicaid funding, but all of it,” Roberts said.
Congress cannot “penalize States that choose not to participate in that new program by taking away their existing Medicaid funding,” Roberts said.
The Medicaid provision is projected to add nearly 30 million more people to the insurance program for low-income Americans -- but the court’s decision left states free to opt out of the expansion if they choose. | Government Policy Changes | June 2012 | ['(Reuters)', '(MSNBC)', '(Al Jazeera)', '(New York Times)'] |
Luxembourg's Chamber of Deputies votes to equalize same–sex marriage and adoption rights from 1 January, 2015. | The nation is the seventeenth to approve same-sex marriage
Luxembourg has become the latest country to vote in favour of equalising same-sex marriage and adoption rights, in a landslide poll of its MPs on Wednesday.
The land-locked European country's Chamber of Deputies voted by an overwhelming majority of 56-4 for the law which will be put into force by early next year.
Green MP Viviane Loschetter told the website: “Gay people should have the same rights as heterosexuals.
“With this law, we do not throw overboard all the values of our society.
“All we have done is give equal rights to gay people. We formally recognize a form of relationship that has always existed.”
Boris Dittrich, advocacy director of Human Rights Watch’s LGBT rights programme, praised the decision.
“This is a happy day for Luxembourg and for those who favor equal rights for all, irrespective of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
“The law will enable gays and lesbians in Luxembourg to marry the person they love and will strengthen the fundamental rights of everyone in Luxembourg to equality and non-discrimination,” he said.
The four representatives who voted against the measure were Gaston Gibéryen, Fernand Kartheiser and Roy Reding, of the right-wing Alternative Democratic Reform Party, and Aly Kaes, who was reportedly rebelling against the Christian Social People’s Party, according to Pink News.
“The most important institution of our society, marriage, is ruined,” Reding said.
Prime Minister Xavier Bettel announced he would introduce the legislation in 2013, following the parliamentary elections.
Luxembourg now joins the sixteen other countries that have already passed a law allowed homosexual marriage, including: the Netherlands, Brazil, New Zealand, South Africa, the UK, and 19 US states.
| Government Policy Changes | June 2014 | ['(The Independent)'] |
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and his rival Abdullah Abdullah sign a power–sharing deal to end a months long political turmoil that hampered the peace process. | Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and his rival Abdullah Abdullah signed a power-sharing deal to end a months-long political stalemate, Ghani’s spokesman said on Sunday, a step that could smooth efforts to end the country’s long-running war.
Abdullah had disputed the results of an election in September and announced the formation of a parallel government earlier this year, undermining Ghani’s administration at a time when the United States was trying to advance a peace process with the Taliban to end the 19-year Afghan war.
“Today is a historic day for our dear Afghanistan. Afghans have proven that they are committed to their national interests with common thinking,” Ghani said during the signing ceremony.
“In the coming days, we hope that with unity and cooperation, we will be able to provide the ground for a ceasefire and lasting peace,” he added.
Discussions over the final sticking points including the allocation of some key posts had been underway throughout the day, three sources said.
Abdullah had wanted to control a major portfolio such as finance or foreign affairs, and while Ghani has not agreed to this, he could offer control of the interior ministry, sources said shortly before the deal was signed.
It was not immediately clear which ministries each camp controlled after the agreement was struck.
Related Coverage
Washington has been frustrated by the growing impasse between the two men, even after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo travelled to Kabul in March to mediate. It had announced a plan to cut $1 billion in aid because the men could not agree.
Pompeo welcomed the agreement but chided Ghani and Abdullah for taking so long. He said the United States looked forward to prompt intra-Afghan talks and a political settlement.
“Secretary Pompeo noted that he regretted the time lost during the political impasse,” State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said in a statement.
It was not clear whether Sunday’s agreement would result in the aid commitment being reinstated. Afghanistan is facing growing fiscal pressures, with tax revenues falling and foreign aid pledges due this year expected to shrink.
“Please reconsider your potential $1 billion aid cut. In fact, since we have the COVID-19 pandemic, add more to it. Thank you,” Shamroz Khan Masjidi, a spokesman for the ministry of finance said on Twitter, tagging the Secretary of State.
The State Department did not immediately comment on the aid cut.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg also welcomed the deal and called on the Taliban to reduce violence and for all sides to work towards peace.
Officials say a deal between Ghani and Abdullah is crucial to launching peace talks, as Abdullah’s camp represents much of the country’s north-west.
But the talks face a number of stark challenges, as violence in the country increases. An attack on a Kabul maternity ward this week prompted Ghani to switch the military to an “offensive” stance against insurgent groups.
The Taliban has denied involvement in the attack, but the government has remained sceptical and angry at ongoing Taliban attacks against the Afghan military, fraying the momentum for peace talks, which were due to start in March.
U.S. Special Envoy Zalmay Khalilzad said on Friday that a new date for intra-Afghan peace talks was under discussion, and that he would soon travel to the region and try to encourage a reduction in violence.
| Sign Agreement | May 2020 | ['(Reuters)'] |
A US citizen fighting alongside Kurdish People's Protection Units against ISIL is killed in action near Kobani. (Today's Zaman via AP) | An American fighting with Kurdish forces against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group in Syria has been killed in battle, authorities said Wednesday, making him likely the first US citizen to die fighting alongside them against the extremists.
Keith Broomfield, who was from Massachusetts, died June 3 in a battle in a Syrian village named Qentere, near the border town Kobani, said Nasser Haji, an official with a group of Kurdish fighters known as the YPG. Broomfield had joined the YPG on Feb. 24 under the nom de guerre Gelhat Raman, said Haji, who didn't elaborate on the circumstances of his death.
US Department of State spokesman Jeff Rathke confirmed Broomfield's death but declined to provide any details about the circumstances. He said the US was providing consular assistance to his family. A friend of Broomfield, Joel O'Toole, said Broomfield went to Syria a few months ago to fight after becoming inspired by something he saw on television.
"I think it's incredible," O'Toole told WHDH-TV. "It says a lot for someone to be motivated to get behind a cause like that and do something."
A man who answered the door at a home in Bolton, Massachusetts, listed as owned by Broomfield's family said the family would not be commenting. No one answered the door at a family-operated business, Broomfield Laboratories, in the town.
The fight against the ISIL group has attracted dozens of Westerners, including Iraq war veterans who have made their way back to the Middle East to join Kurdish fighters, who have been most successful against the extremist group.
Many are spurred on by Kurdish social media campaigners and a sense of duty rooted in the 2003 US-led military invasion of Iraq, where ISIL fighters recently have rolled back gains US troops had made. And while the US and its coalition allies bomb the extremists from the air, Kurds say they hope more Westerners will join them on the ground to fight.
Previously, a British citizen, an Australian and a German woman were killed fighting with the Kurds. Backed by US-led coalition airstrikes, Kurdish YPG fighters in Syria have successfully pushed back ISIL group militants from Kobani and scores of nearby villages. More recently, they have closed in on the ISIL-held town of Tal Abyad, near the Turkish border. The town is the ISIL group's main access point to Turkey from Raqqa, the group's de facto capital in Syria. | Armed Conflict | June 2015 | ['(YPG)'] |
The country's first reported suicide bomber blows himself up in Gao, injuring one Malian soldier. In the north, French and Chadian forces retake the city of Tessalit. | A suicide bomber has blown himself up in the northern Mali town of Gao - the first since French-led troops began their assault on Islamist militants.
The attacker approached a group of soldiers on a motorbike before detonating an explosive belt, injuring one of them, witnesses said.
An al-Qaeda offshoot has claimed responsibility for the attack in the north's most populous city.
Meanwhile, army infighting in the capital has left one person dead.
At least five people were injured when heavily-armed regular soldiers clashed with elite "Red Beret" paratroopers at their base in Bamako. The violence broke out on the day the first group of European Union military instructors arrived in Bamako to train up Mali's deeply-divided army.
In Paris, the UN's cultural agency Unesco said it planned to help rebuild 11 mausoleums and tombs that were destroyed by the militants when they fled the historic city of Timbuktu.
An initial cost of the damage to the city's rich cultural heritage has been put at $4-5m but Unesco warns that the figure could rise once its experts begin to assess the damage.
The suicide bomber detonated his explosives after approaching a checkpoint on the outskirts of Gao at about 06:30 GMT, witnesses said.
It is the first known suicide attack in Mali since France sent some 4,000 troops into the north on 11 January to help the Malian army oust the militants.
The Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (Mujao), an offshoot of al-Qaeda, claimed responsibility for the attack "against the Malian soldiers who chose the side of the miscreants, the enemies of Islam", and vowed to carry out further attacks.
The BBC's Mamadou Moussa Ba in Gao says there is an increased military presence in the city, with patrols and checkpoints run by troops from France, Mali and neighbouring Niger.
He says there are fears that mines could have been left in the town, with schools and the town hall in particular being checked carefully.
On Thursday, there were unconfirmed reports that four Malian soldiers had been killed by a landmine on a road near Gao, with one of the militant groups saying it had carried out the attack.
Witnesses said the Bamako base of the "Red Beret" paratroopers was stormed by soldiers allied to the leadership of the coup. Nearby residents fled in panic as sounds of heavy gunfire and smoke emanated from the barracks on the Niger river. At least one person died and five were wounded in the fighting, according to sources.
The Red Beret paratroopers protected President Amadou Toumani Toure before he was ousted in a military coup in March 2012, and have been largely sidelined since then.
They had reportedly mutinied over attempts to disperse them as a force before sending them to join the fight against the Islamists.
One local resident said the incident had made her ashamed to be Malian. "I don't understand how at a moment when French and African forces are here to fight our war in our place... Malian soldiers, instead of going to fight at the front, are fighting over a stupid quarrel," Assa told Reuters.
The fighting has coincided with the arrival of 70 EU trainers, who are the first of an eventual 500 military instructors deployed to build up the Malian army. Colonel Bruno Heluin, commander of the group, said the aim was to "enable the Malian army to hold all the nation's territory, and so that Mali can have a good army at its disposal, prepared to engage".
French troops have retaken control of the north's main towns, and are now, along with some 1,000 Chadian troops led by the president's son, moving into the mountains near the Algerian border where the militants are reported to have fled.
They said on Friday they had taken Tessalit, a strategic town in the mountains with its own airport. One Covid vaccine dose cuts hospital risk by 75%
But the number of Delta variant cases recorded in the UK has risen by 79% in a week, figures show. | Armed Conflict | February 2013 | ['(BBC)', '(AP via Yahoo News!)'] |
The Supreme Court of the United States issues a decision upholding an Indiana law requiring voters to provide photo identification. | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Supreme Court on Monday upheld a tough state law requiring voters to show photo identification, a decision critics say could keep some blacks, poor people and other traditional Democratic supporters from voting in the November election.
A woman leaves a voting booth for the Pennsylvania primaries at the Blue Mountain Fish & Game building in Danielsville, Pennsylvania, April 22, 2008. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
Resolving a partisan political battle, the country’s high court voted 6-3 to reject a legal challenge by Democrats that Indiana’s toughest-in-the-nation voter identification law would deter minorities, the elderly and others from casting ballots.
The main opinion agreed with Republican supporters that the law was necessary to prevent voter fraud and safeguard public confidence in the integrity of elections. The Bush administration supported the law.
The court handed down the ruling just eight days before the crucial Indiana presidential primary election featuring Democratic candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. If elected in November, Obama would be the first black U.S. president, while Clinton would be the first female U.S. president.
“The effect of the loss ... will begin to be felt next week when Indiana holds its presidential primary using the voter ID law the court has just upheld,” said Nathaniel Persily, an election law expert at Columbia University in New York.
The decision could have broad national significance because more than 20 states have adopted voter identification laws and other states are considering similar legislation.
The law requires a government-issued photo ID such as a driver’s license to vote in federal, state and local elections.
Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita, a Republican, said the timing of the ruling was good because it was the first time since 1968 that Indiana’s presidential primary had mattered and voter registrations had surged this year.
In seven elections since Indiana put the law into place, the requirement “hasn’t been an issue,” based on complaints to his office, Rokita said.
Reaction to the ruling split along political lines.
“This decision not only confirms the validity of photo ID laws but it completely vindicates the Bush Justice Department” when it approved a similar Georgia law, said former department official Hans von Spakovsky.
Democrats sharply criticized the ruling.
“Denying a fundamental right -- the right to vote -- because a person is indigent, lacks a birth certificate or has no access to a vehicle goes against America’s better values,” Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont said.
Angela Ciccolo of the NAACP civil rights group said the law would have its greatest impact on voters who are poor, elderly, belong to racial minorities or have disabilities.
The lead opinion, written by Justice John Paul Stevens and joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Anthony Kennedy, held the evidence in the record did not support an attack now on the law’s validity.
Three other court members -- conservative Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, concurred in the judgment and issued a separate opinion that the law should be upheld because its overall burden was minimal and justified.
Stevens wrote that states had a “valid interest in protecting the integrity and reliability of the electoral process.” He said voter fraud “could affect the outcome of a close election.”
He said the law may place a small burden on a limited number of people -- the elderly born out-of-state who may have difficulty in getting the required documents, the homeless or people with a religious objection to being photographed.
Stevens said politics may have been a factor in adopting the law but that alone did not make it unconstitutional. His opinion left open the possibility of future legal challenges by specific voters.
Justices David Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer dissented. Souter said the law threatened to impose major burdens on the voting rights of tens of thousands of Indiana residents, especially the poor and the elderly.
| Government Policy Changes | April 2008 | ['(Reuters)'] |
U.S. President Donald Trump, together with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, meets North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at the Joint Security Area, becoming the first sitting U.S. president to set foot in North Korea. Trump also invites Kim to the White House to resume talks about denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula. | Donald Trump has invited Kim Jong Un to the White House, after he became the first serving American President to step over the North Korean border and shake hands with a North Korean leader.
Trump crossed over from the demilitarized zone to shake hands with Kim Jong Un, after earlier offering the meeting on Twitter.
"When I put out the social media notification, if he didn't show up he would have made me look very bad," Trump told reporters.
Kim Jong Un responded that "I was very surprised to hear about your offer on the tweet and only late in the afternoon I was able to confirm your invitation."
The US president described his relationship with the North Korean leader as a "great friendship."
"This was a special moment, a historic moment," Trump told reporters.
"Stepping across that line was a great honour. A lot of progress has been made and a lot of friendships have been made and this in particular is a great friendship."
Following their handshake, the two men took part in a press conference during which the US president confirmed that he was extending an invite to Kim Jong Un to the White House.
Trump thanked Kim Jong Un for meeting him.
"I want to thank the chairman. You've got to hear that powerful voice."
He added: "We met and we liked each other from day one and that was very important," Trump said.
Jong Un also thanked Trump for meeting him.
"If you step over this line you will be the first US president to step on North Korean soil," he told Trump before the president stepped over the border.
He added: "It is good to meet you. I never expected to meet you at this place."
After Trump crossed the border, he added: "President Trump has just walked across the demarcation line. That has made him the first US President to visit our country.
He went on: "Actually just looking at this action, this is an expression of his willingness to eliminate all the unfortunate past and open a new future."
Speaking about their relationship, he said: "If it wasn't for that good relationship, we would not have been able to make this sudden meeting possible."
"So this excellent relationship in the future as well, I hope that it can be the foundation for better things in the future that people will be not expecting. And this will be a very mysterious force that allows us to overcome many difficulties that existed in the past." | Famous Person - Give a speech | June 2019 | ['(NBC News)', '(Business Insider)', '(CNN)'] |
Brazilians elect Jair Bolsonaro of the Social Liberal Party as president, with 55% of the vote, in the second round of the presidential election. | The former army captain won 55.2% of the vote against 44.8% for Fernando Haddad of the left-wing Workers' Party.
Mr Bolsonaro's pledge to fight crime and corruption following a string of scandals have won him mass support. However critics are worried by his praise of Brazil's former dictatorship, and by his comments on race, women and homosexuality.
In one infamous incident in 2015 he told a fellow lawmaker she was too ugly to rape.
Mr Bolsonaro's controversial comments, his pro-gun stance and his populist approach to politics have led to some media dubbing him "Trump of the Tropics".
President Trump himself took to Twitter on Monday to praise the Brazilian president-elect. Had a very good conversation with the newly elected President of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, who won his race by a substantial margin. We agreed that Brazil and the United States will work closely together on Trade, Military and everything else! Excellent call, wished him congrats!
For his supporters, Mr Bolsonaro is a politician who they say will bring much needed change to the country - a swing to the right after four elections won by the left.
For the past four years, Brazil has been consumed by a criminal investigation - known as Operation Car Wash - that has uncovered massive corruption.
Dozens of business and political leaders have been jailed. Among them was former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who was barred from standing in the election.
The 63-year-old leads the Social Liberal Party (PSL), an anti-establishment group that combines social conservatism and pro-market policies.
Mr Bolsonaro is a deeply polarising figure who has had a divisive effect on Brazilians with both supporters and opponents taking to the streets to make their voices heard.
He has in the past defended the killing of opponents to the country's former military regime and said he is "in favour of dictatorship".
But after the results came in, he told supporters he would be a "defender of democracy" and uphold the constitution.
One of his flagship policies is to restore security by relaxing gun laws and suggested that "every honest citizens" should be able to own a gun.
He has promised to reduce state intervention in the economy and indicated that Brazil could pull out of the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change.
He takes over on 1 January 2019.
Analysis by BBC's Katy Watson in Sao Paulo
Is there a chance Mr Bolsonaro could soften his stance, now he's won power? Few experts believe it. You only need to look to another firebrand in the continent for guidance.
"The things that Donald Trump outlined and the signals that he gave during the campaign he carried through with," says Kyle Pope of the Columbia Journalism Review, who has studied parallels between Brazil's new president and the leader of the US.
Many say a comparison with Mr Trump is inaccurate. Instead, they say Mr Bolsonaro is more akin to Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines.
Whatever the comparison, what is clear is that country's sharp swing to the right will resonate beyond Brazil as another populist takes power.
And the opposition will redouble efforts not to take away the gains that country's made since it returned to democracy 30 years ago.
The future looks messy for Brazil.
Yes and no.
On the one hand, his PSL party achieved a remarkable breakthrough in this month's legislative election, increasing its representation from one to 52 seats in the lower house.
However Mr Haddad's PT remains the largest party, with 56 seats.
But most ominously for Mr Bolsonaro, there will be a record 30 parties represented in the next Congress. This suggest that finding backing for legislation could be difficult for the new president.
A number of Latin American leaders congratulated Mr Bolsonaro:
Amnesty International said that taking into account his campaign pledges, Mr Bolsonaro's victory could pose a "huge risk" to Brazil's indigenous peoples, LGBT communities, black youth, women, activists and civil society organisations. | Government Job change - Election | October 2018 | ['(BBC)'] |
40 people are killed and over 100 injured by a car bombing and shooting in Kabul, Afghanistan. The Taliban claims responsibility and loses five gunmen. | KABUL, Afghanistan A complex Taliban attack including a car-bombing and militant assault killed at least 40 people in Kabul on Monday, badly damaging a private war museum, an adjoining television station and a primary school, hurting dozens of children, officials said.
The attack, apparently aimed at a government facility, came as American and Taliban negotiators met for a third day in Qatar amid hopes for a deal on an American troop withdrawal. But the pace of violence in the 18-year Afghan war has only picked up, with each side increasing attacks.
| Armed Conflict | July 2019 | ['(New York Times)'] |
A 15-year-old Israeli boy is killed and three Israelis wounded when their truck is hit by an unknown weapon in the Golan heights near the Quneitra border crossing; Israeli Defense Forces fire at Syrian government targets in response. | A 15-year-old boy has been killed in the occupied Golan Heights by firing from Syria, Israel says.
Officials say he was with his father in a truck which took a "direct hit". The father and another contract worker are reported to have been injured. They were was carrying out maintenance work on the border fence, It is unclear whether Syrian rebels or government forces were behind the incident, but Israel responded with tank shelling into Syria. The exchange took place in the Tel Hazeka area, near the Quneitra crossing, the Israeli defence ministry said. It is the first time an Israeli has been killed by firing from Syria in the Golan Heights since the Syrian conflict began in 2011. Israeli military spokesman, Lt Col Peter Lerner, told AP news agency the firing from Syria was "clearly intentional" but it was unclear whether it was the result of mortar fire, a roadside bomb or shelling. The Golan Heights, a rocky plateau in south-western Syria, was seized by Israel from Syria in the closing stages of the 1967 Middle East War. The two countries remain technically in a state of war, and UN observers are deployed to monitor a 70km-long (45-mile) demilitarised zone.
Firing linked to the Syrian conflict occasionally reaches the Israeli side of the border fence - some unintentional, some said to be deliberate. In March, Israel conducted air strikes against several Syrian military targets after a bombing that injured four of its soldiers in the Golan Heights.
Israel had accused the Syrian army of "aiding and abetting" the attack on a patrol near the ceasefire line. Syria said one of its soldiers was killed in the Israeli military response. Some of Israeli's recent air strikes are believed to have prevented the transfer of stockpiles of rockets from the Syrian government to Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shia Islamist movement that supports President Bashar al-Assad. | Armed Conflict | June 2014 | ['(BBC)'] |
Russia begins to withdraw troops from Georgia proper according to eyewitness accounts. | GORI, Georgia (Reuters) - Russian troops will pull back from Georgia’s heartland by the end of this week, the Kremlin said on Tuesday, but NATO said it was freezing contacts with Moscow until all Russian forces were out of the country.
Western powers, led by the United States, have called for an immediate withdrawal of Russian troops under a ceasefire plan that ended the two countries’ short war over the rebel Georgian province of South Ossetia.
NATO ministers, meeting in emergency session in Brussels, backed this demand by suspending regular contacts with Russia. But they did not announce moves to speed up Georgian accession to the Western military alliance, as Tbilisi had hoped.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a news conference NATO’s response to the conflict was biased and accused NATO of siding with a “criminal regime” in Tbilisi.
The Kremlin quoted Russian President Dmitry Medvedev as saying that Russian forces would by Aug. 22 pull back to the positions set out under the French-brokered ceasefire.
That would require most of them to withdraw to Russia or South Ossetia but parts of the force, under the terms of the deal, will remain in a buffer zone around the breakaway region.
“By 22 August... a part of the peacekeepers will be pulled back to the temporary security zone,” a Kremlin statement quoted Medvedev as telling French President Nicolas Sarkozy in a telephone conversation.
“The remaining contingent that was used to reinforce the peacekeepers will be pulled back to the territory of South Ossetia and to Russia,” the statement said.
Medvedev told Sarkozy he agreed to the presence of observers from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe in the buffer zone, Sarkozy’s office said in a separate statement.
U.S. officials said they had not seen any substantial withdrawal of Russian troops so far.
In Gori, a strategic town on Georgia’s main east-west highway, six Russian armoured personnel carriers, three tanks and two other vehicles started their engines and drove out through the sun-scorched countryside, kicking up clouds of dust.
“This is one of the first units to be pulled out,” said an official from Russia’s Foreign Ministry, which arranged for reporters to watch the column leave.
But close by, Russian troops could be seen digging trenches near artillery positions. Shirtless paratroopers sunbathed in the street on civilian sofas and couches.
Later on Tuesday a Reuters reporter, travelling on the main road used by Russian troops to enter Georgia, saw little traffic heading out of Georgia and no evidence of a large-scale pullout.
“The Russians time and again move their tanks to Tskhinvali (the South Ossetian capital) from Gori and then back again. I categorically deny this amounts to a withdrawal,” said Shota Utiashvili, an official at Georgia’s Interior Ministry.
Conflict erupted over separatist South Ossetia when Georgia sent in its army to try to take back the pro-Moscow province on August 7-8, provoking a huge counter-attack from Russia.
Both Russia and Western states have tried unsuccessfully to have resolutions on the conflict adopted in the United Nations Security Council.
A Western draft resolution obtained by Reuters demands an immediate Russian withdrawal to lines held before the conflict.
Stepping up Russian pressure on Tbilisi, Moscow closed its land border with Georgia to citizens who are not from the CIS, a grouping of former Soviet states that Georgia says it is quitting.
The head of Russia’s main domestic FSB spy service, Alexander Bortnikov, ordered extra security to foil what he said was a plan by Georgian security to carry out “terrorist acts” inside Russia. Georgia dismissed the accusation as “nonsense”.
Air, rail and sea links between Russia and its former Soviet vassal have already been cut. The virtual blockade has hurt Georgia’s economy, which depends heavily on Russia.
Western powers have condemned Russia’s response as disproportionate, while Moscow says it was necessary to protect Russian citizens and Russian peacekeepers in South Ossetia and prevent Georgia carrying out “genocide”.
The Russian military campaign has been popular at home but has worsened already bad relations with Washington.
Russia’s navy cancelled a September visit by a U.S. frigate in the latest sign of official displeasure. The move followed a decision last week by Washington to pull out of a four-nation naval exercise with Russia in the Pacific.
Saakashvili accuses Russia of trying to sabotage his leadership and Georgian democracy.
But Russia’s Lavrov said restrictions imposed by Saakashvili’s government on Russian news media and Internet sites cast doubt on Georgia’s right to call itself a democracy.
“You can probably judge objectively for yourselves the state of Georgian democracy and who is trying to wreck it,” Lavrov said. He added that Russia had no plans to occupy Georgia or annex parts of its territory.
But Russian checkpoints now block the main east-west highway, a vital trade route which links Tbilisi with Turkey and Georgia’s Black Sea ports. Russian soldiers have also moved into towns in western Georgia, controlling traffic and movement.
Russian forces said they had detained 20 “heavily armed” Georgians in the Black Sea port of Poti. A Reuters cameraman saw several men blindfolded and placed in Russian armoured personnel carriers.
| Armed Conflict | August 2008 | ['(Reuters)'] |
Former President of Brazil and current Senator Itamar Franco dies of complications from leukemia; seven days of mourning are declared by current president Dilma Rousseff. | (CNN) -- Former Brazilian President Itamar Franco died Saturday morning from complications from leukemia. He was 81.
Franco had been in the intensive care unit of the Albert Einstein Hospital in Sao Paulo after becoming ill with pneumonia after undergoing chemotherapy.
He had been in the hospital's care since May 21, the state-run Agencia Brasil news agency reported.
Franco, who was president from 1993-1994, had served as a senator for Brazil's Socialist People's Party until his death.
He reached the presidency after the resignation of his predecessor, Fernando Collor de Mello, amidst corruption allegations. In addition to being a senator, he also was vice president of his party and formerly the governor of Minas Gerais and mayor of Juiz de Fora, Agencia Brasil reported. | Famous Person - Death | July 2011 | ['(CNN)', '(BBC)'] |
Another attack occurs on Romanians in Belfast, on this occasion against a family in the east of the city. | Another Romanian family in Belfast, this time in Ballyhackamore in the east of the city, has been attacked.
The bathroom window of their home, on the Upper Newtownards Road, was smashed at about 2300 BST on Wednesday. Police said that no-one was injured and that the attack was being treated as a "hate crime". The Romanian Consul General is to meet Social Development Minister Margaret Ritchie over racist attacks in south Belfast which saw 20 families flee. More than 100 Romanians have been moved to temporary accommodation. Twenty families stayed in a church hall on Tuesday night after leaving their homes. On Wednesday they were moved to temporary accommodation, also in south Belfast. Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. Local people react to news of the attacks on Romanian families
There was also a police presence overnight at this site. Ms Ritchie said the families could stay in the temporary accommodation for at least a week. Police do not believe paramilitaries were involved in the attacks. There has been condemnation from all the political parties. Many of those attacked have now said they want to leave Northern Ireland. Maria Fechete said she and the other people caught up in the violence had "had enough". "I haven't slept in a week - we've just had enough," she said. Another Romanian woman, who did not want to be named, said she feared the attackers had come to kill her and her family, and she now wanted to go back to Romania. Margaret Ritchie said the Housing Executive would talk to those people who had been rehoused about "their choices and their options over the next week". Most of the Romanian families, who are members of the Roma ethnic group, spent Wednesday at the Ozone Leisure Centre in south Belfast, after being taken there from the church hall. They said they did not want to return to their Belfast homes. Police responded to claims that they should have acted more quickly. Superintendent Chris Noble said everyone could have done more. "There are people out there who know who was involved in the initial attacks," he said. The prime minister said he hoped the authorities would take all action necessary to protect the families. On Tuesday night, the group of 115 Romanian people had tried to take refuge in a single house, but was eventually taken to the church by police minibus. | Armed Conflict | June 2009 | ['(BBC)'] |
The first legs of the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League quarter–finals are held in Europe. Fernando Torres scores twice and helps Chelsea to a 3–1 defeat of Rubin Kazan. | Last updated on 4 April 20134 April 2013.From the section Footballcomments186
Fernando Torres scored twice to help Chelsea take a huge stride towards the Europa League's last four.
Torres stabbed home from close range following David Luiz's clever pass before Victor Moses doubled the lead with a terrific 16-yard finish.
Bibras Natcho's penalty gave Rubin hope after John Terry had handled.
But Torres's header from Juan Mata's cross in the quarter-final first leg at Stamford Bridge leaves Chelsea well placed to advance.
There is still work to do in the return leg in Moscow for Rafael Benitez's side next week, but this was as good as Chelsea's interim boss could have hoped for after a hectic week of action.
Rubin Kazan have overcome holders Atletico Madrid, Partizan Belgrade, Inter Milan and Levante in Europe's second-tier competition.
Yet this was job done as far as the Blues were concerned on a satisfactory night at Stamford Bridge.
They might have lost their last three Premier League away matches, but Chelsea have now won five in a row in all competitions at Stamford Bridge
This was Chelsea's third game inside a week yet Benitez's side looked far from jaded as they raced into a 2-0 lead.
Torres, one of six players recalled to the side after Monday's FA Cup victory over Manchester United, stabbed home from close range following Luiz's delightful 16th-minute long pass caused panic inside the Russians' penalty area.
Having eliminated Atletico earlier in the competition, Rubin were looking to become the first team to knock out both last season's reigning Champions League winners and Europa League champions.
Yet they fell further behind when Moses rifled the ball into the roof of the net from 16-yards in the 32nd minute - his second European goal since joining from Wigan Athletic for £9m last August - after more poor defending from Rubin.
Chelsea were in full command of their 56th game of the campaign, as the fourth best team in the Russian Premier League were forced into a damage limitation exercise.
Goalkeeper Petr Cech, who faced Southampton last Saturday and Manchester United on Monday, had yet to be seriously tested but that was all to change four minutes before half-time.
Terry, an absentee from the starting line-up against United, was harshly adjudged by Italian referee Gianluca Rocchi to have handled Cristian Ansaldi's shot inside his own area and Natcho's textbook penalty gave the tie a totally different complexion.
Suddenly, Chelsea had work to do to avoid a difficult night in Moscow.
Mata went close in the 48th minute with a left-foot shot which was saved before Rubin spurned a glorious chance to equalise when substitute Jose Rondon shot tamely at Cech in a great position.
But Torres capped one of his better performances of the season with a goal 20 minutes from time that gives Chelsea breathing space.
It was made in Spain, Mata providing the cross for his international team-mate to nod home his sixth European goal of the campaign after out-jumping the Russian defence. | Sports Competition | April 2013 | ['(BBC)'] |
Pakistan accuses eight Indian diplomats of espionage and terrorism amid rising tensions concerning Kashmir. India said it rejects these allegations. The six Pakistani diplomats withdrawn from India last week were reported to have been accused of spying. | ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan on Thursday named eight Indian diplomats it accuses of espionage and terrorism, as tension mounted between the nuclear-armed rivals following days of artillery duels and skirmishes on the border dividing the disputed Kashmir region.
The foreign ministry said six Indian embassy staff worked for New Delhi’s Research & Analysis Wing (RAW) intelligence agency, while two were operatives for the Intelligence Bureau agency. Their names were leaked to Pakistani media overnight.
In response, India said it “completely rejected the baseless and unsubstantiated allegations” leveled by Pakistan against officials at its high commission in Islamabad.
Rajesh Kumar Agnihotri, a commercial counselor, was named by the Pakistan foreign ministry as RAW’s station chief in Islamabad.
The foreign ministry statement gave an eight-point list of the diplomats’ espionage activities.
It accused them of fuelling instability in Pakistan’s Sindh and Baluchistan provinces, as well as sabotaging its most vital economic project, the $46-billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), involving transport and energy infrastructure projects to link China with Pakistan’s coast on the Arabian Sea.
They were also accused of liaising with factions of the Pakistani Taliban and of working to damage Pakistan’s relations with western neighbor Afghanistan.
It was not immediately clear if the diplomats would be expelled by Pakistan or withdrawn by India, which condemned the publication of their names and images and called on Pakistan to ensure their safety.
Last week, India and Pakistan both expelled one diplomat from each other’s embassies, accusing them of spying.
The foreign ministry also said Pakistan had withdrawn six diplomats from its mission in India after Indian media reported they had been involved in spying.
Vikas Swarup, spokesman of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, told a news briefing that Islamabad had withdrawn its diplomats after some were named by the Pakistani embassy worker that it had expelled last week.
The allegations against the Indian diplomats in Islamabad were “an afterthought and a crude attempt to target these officials for no fault of their own”, said Swarup, adding that Pakistan’s actions added to security risks in the region.
India summoned the Pakistani deputy high commissioner on Wednesday to express its “grave concern and strong protest” over the denouncement of its diplomats in Islamabad.
On the same day, the press wing of Pakistan’s military said India had violated a 2003 ceasefire in Kashmir 178 times this year, killing 19 civilians.
Artillery duels and skirmishing have recently intensified along the disputed frontier running through the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir.
In July, Indian-administered Kashmir erupted in protests that led to a crackdown by security forces after they killed a young separatist leader.
In September, gunmen killed 19 Indian soldiers at an army camp in an attack New Delhi blamed on Pakistan-based militants.
Later that month, India said it carried out “surgical strikes” on the Pakistani side of the border, but Islamabad called this a fabrication to distract attention from its continuing crackdown in Kashmir. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | November 2016 | ['(Reuters)'] |