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The International Cycling Union provisionally suspends Spanish cyclist Alberto Contador, the current Tour de France champion, after he was found to have tested positive for a small amount of clenbuterol, a banned substance, on July 21. He blames food contamination for the positive sample. , | Tour de France champion Alberto Contador has tested positive to a banned substance in news that will send shockwaves through the cycling world.
Cycling authorities have confirmed Contador did fail a test but say his reading for the banned stimulant is very small.
Alberto Contador of team Astana celebrates with his traditional pistol pose after winning this year's Tour de France.Credit:Getty Images
‘‘The concentration found by the laboratory was estimated at 50 picograms (or 0,000 000 000 05 grams per ml) which is 400 times less than what the antidoping laboratories accredited by WADA must be able to detect," said a statement from the Union Cyclist International (UCI).
‘‘In view of this very small concentration and in consultation with WADA, the UCI immediately had the proper results management proceedings conducted including the analysis of B sample that confirmed the first result.
‘‘The rider, who had already put an end to his cycling season before the result was known, was nevertheless formally and provisionally suspended as is prescribed by the World Anti-Doping Code.’’
Contador - who has won three Tour de France championships – tested positive on July 21 this year with the analysis revealing traces of clenbuterol.
Contador has blamed food contamination for his positive test result.
In a statement released by Contador's publicist, the cyclist will hold a press conference to address the allegations in Pinto, Spain, at midday local time (8pm AEST).
"Alberto Contador is affected by a doping control at the last Tour de France on July 21, where it was found the substance clenbuterol," the statement said.
"From the time of the first communication from the UCI, August 24, Alberto Contador alleged food contamination as the only possible explanation of what happened and has been turned over to the cyclist authorities since then in the confidence that this very serius [sic] problem could be clarified, which now is plubic [sic].
"The experts consulted so far have agreed also that this is a food contamination case, especially considering the number of tests passed by Alberto Contador during the Tour de France, making it possible to define precisely both the time the emergence of the substance as the tiny amount detected, ruling out any other source or intentionality."
If Contador is found guilty of a doping offence, he will be stripped of this year's Tour de France title and could be banned for a period to be determined. Andy Schleck lost to Contador by just 39 seconds.
Australia's Cadel Evans finished second to Contador in the 2007 Tour de France.
Under doping control guidelines, Contador is allowed to request testing of a second sample.
Contador was part of the Astana-Würth team that was forced to withdraw from the 2006 Tour de France following doping allegations.
Contador was among five riders named in a doping investigation by Spanish authorities but he maintained his innocence during the scandal.
He never failed a drug test nor was he ever punished by cycling authorities.
British hurdler Callum Priestley was banned from competition in September for two years after testing positive to clenbuterol. He also blamed food contamination.
American Floyd Landis won the 2006 Tour de France but was later found guilty of doping and was stripped of his title.
The World Anti-Doping Code categorises clenbuterol as a class S1 Anabolic Agent. Athletes in possession, using or attempting to use it face serious penalties, including a lifetime ban for second offences.
In cases of athlete abuse, clenbuterol is commonly used to strip fat and enhance muscle size. It also has short-term stimulating effects such as increases in aerobic capacity, blood pressure and alertness.
Clenbuterol is often prescribed to treat chronic breathing disorders such as asthma or bronchitis and aids breathing.
Team RadioShack rider Fuyu Li was banned for two years in August for testing positive to the drug.
Clenbuterol is also used by farmers to keep meat on animals lean.
Cases of food poisoning caused by clenbuterol have been widely reported. More than 70 Chinese workers were reportedly poisoned by a pork dish containing the drug in 2008. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Investigate | September 2010 | ['(Sydney Morning Herald)', '(AAP via The Australian)', '(New York Times)', '(Reuters)'] |
The United States will send thousands of troops to West Africa to build Ebola virus clinics and train health workers. | The United States will send thousands of troops to respond to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa by building clinics and training hundreds of healthcare workers, US President Barack Obama announced on Tuesday.
Mr. Obama called the outbreak a national security threat and planned to travel to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta to meet with experts working to combat the disease. US military engineers will coordinate with local governments to build 17 clinics with 100 beds each to care for Ebola patients amid a shortage of facilities in the hardesthit nations of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, senior administration officials told reporters ahead of Obamas trip.
The US will also train up to 500 healthcare workers a week for at least six months in how to respond to the epidemic and will distribute thousands of home healthcare kits to educate the public about Ebola and provide disinfectant, sanitizer and medication, the officials said on condition of anonymity. The Department of Defences Africa Command will establish a joint command in Monrovia, Liberia to oversee US and international efforts and is to devote some 3,000 troops to the aid effort, officials said.
The additional US commitment comes on top of 175 million dollars Washington has already devoted to aid such as health supplies and 100 CDC experts assisting in Africa. Mr. Obama is to seek additional funds from Congress, and the Department of Defence plans to reallocate some 500 million dollars from elsewhere in its budget to fund much of the Ebola fighting operations.
The US effort would focus on controlling the epidemic in Africa; mitigating broader public health, political, social and economic impacts; coordinating US efforts as part of the international effort and fortifying the global health security infrastructure, an official said. The World Health Organization said more international medical workers are needed to fight the outbreak of the haemorrhagic fever that has killed more than 2,400 people. | Disease Outbreaks | September 2014 | ['(The Hindu)'] |
Suspected Boko Haram militants have killed at least 50 people on an island on Lake Chad, bordering Cameroon and Chad. | Suspected Boko Haram militants have killed at least 50 people on an island on Lake Chad, bordering Cameroon and Chad, a local official told the BBC.
The militants, disguised as traders, attacked fishermen, local mayor Ali Ramat said, quoting a survivor.
The attack happened on 22 December, but news from the remote area is only just beginning to come out.
Boko Haram, formed in Nigeria in 2009, has since spread its activities to neighbouring Chad, Cameroon and Niger. Mr Ramat, the mayor of Darak in Cameroon's Far North Region, told the BBC that among those killed were at least 20 Cameroonians. An unknown number of people are still unaccounted for, he said.
The dead are believed to be a mixture of nationalities, some of whom had been fishing on the lake. In late December, local community members sent a search party to the area of the attack and found dead bodies floating in the water, the BBC's Killian Chimtom in Cameroon reports.
Regional Governor Midjiyawa Bakary confirmed that the attack had happened.
Mayor Ramat said the area had become a hotspot for Boko Haram attacks since Chadian soldiers stopped patrolling it.
He told the BBC that the Multi-National Joint Task Force - a five-nation regional military force from the countries of the Lake Chad Basin - was ill equipped to patrol the area.
| Armed Conflict | December 2019 | ['(BBC)'] |
Bushfires consume 13,400 hectares (33,000 acres) of land and destroy at least 37 homes near Toodyay, northeast of Perth, Western Australia. | The wildfires blaze around the township of Toodyay
Nearly 40 homes have been razed in wildfires tearing through farming areas north of the Western Australian capital, Perth.
State Premier Colin Barnett declared a natural disaster, freeing up emergency funds for those in need. The blazes have consumed about 13,400 hectares (33,000 acres) of land. Wildfires are common during the summer, and experts had warned that this year's fires could be particularly bad after one of the warmest winters on record. Some parts of the country have also been suffering from years of drought, making them more susceptible to fire damage. Two major blazes broke out on Tuesday afternoon local time in a wheat- and sheep-farming district, forcing the evacuation of Toodyay, a township, and threatening a second town, Badgingarra, further north. Dead livestock'
The state Fire and Emergency Services Authority (Fesa) said at least 37 houses had been destroyed. Fesa spokesman Allen Gale said: "The people directly affected by the fire, obviously, want to get back to their properties, but the area is very unsafe." Many homes were destroyed in Toodyay, about 80 km (50 miles) north-east of Perth, where hundreds of firefighters were at work. Two firefighters were treated for smoke inhalation and a third was treated for a heat-related illness. Farmers also reported livestock dying. "It's a devastating fire with great destruction," the state premier told media. Cooler conditions and water-bombing helicopters were expected to control the fires on Wednesday. Investigators believe falling power lines sparked the Toodyay blaze, reported the West Australian newspaper. Australia is still recovering from "Black Saturday" in February, when 173 people died and more than 2,000 homes were lost in the state of Victoria in the country's worst natural disaster of modern times. In the aftermath of "Black Saturday", officials issued a new level of "catastrophic" fire warning. Parts of Western Australia were given this "catastrophic" rating earlier on Wednesday. | Fire | December 2009 | ['(BBC News)'] |
Rescuers continue a search for survivors of the earthquake in Afghanistan and Pakistan including in areas controlled by the Taliban. The death toll from the earthquake is 339 with many thousands injured. | Rescuers are picking their way through rugged terrain and pockets of Taliban insurgency in the search for survivors after a massive quake hit Pakistan and Afghanistan, killing at least 306 people.
The toll was expected to rise as search teams reach remote areas that were cut off by the powerful magnitude 7.5 quake, which triggered landslides and stampedes as it toppled buildings and severed communication lines.
Pakistan's military has been mobilised and India — whose relationship with Islamabad is often prickly — said it stood ready to help.
In the most horrifying episode to emerge so far from the quake, 12 young Afghan girls were crushed to death in a stampede as they tried to flee their shaking school building.
The bulk of the casualties were reported from Pakistan, where 214 people were killed and more than 1,800 injured, disaster management authorities said.
"Many houses and buildings have collapsed in the city," said Arbab Muhammad Asim, district mayor for the north-western city of Peshawar.
Many people were trapped under piles of rubble, with officials warning that the toll was set to rise.
The death toll could climb in coming days because communications were down in much of the rugged Hindu Kush mountain range where the quake was centred.
"The building was swinging like a pendulum, it felt as if the heavens would fall," Peshawar shop owner Tufail Ahmed said.
Earthquakes, and quite often the subsequent landslides and tsunamis, have the ability to cause widespread death and enormous damage to cities.
Funerals have begun to be held for the dead, in line with Muslim custom.
Afghan officials said at least 63 people were confirmed dead and hundreds more injured, with casualties reported from around half a dozen of the country's 34 provinces.
The government has implored aid agencies for assistance. But large swathes of Badakhshan, the remote province where the epicentre is located, and other areas are effectively controlled by the Taliban, posing a huge challenge to any official aid efforts. The Taliban has promised to allow aid organisations access, saying militants in quake-affected areas have been ordered to provide "complete help".
"The Islamic Emirate [The Taliban] calls on charitable organisations to not hold back in providing shelter, food and medical supplies to the victims of this earthquake," the group said on its website.
"It similarly orders its Mujahedeen in the affected areas to lend their complete help to the victims and facilitate those giving charity to the needy."
Afghanistan's chief executive Abdullah Abdullah said an initial assessment shows around 4,000 houses have been damaged by the quake.
He said it was the strongest earthquake felt in recent decades. "Initial reports show a big loss of life and huge financial losses in Badakhshan, Takhar, Nangarhar, Kunar and other regions," he said.
"Exact numbers are not known because phone lines are down and communication has been cut off in many areas."
AFP: Hasham Ahmed
In remote northern Takhar, a dozen Afghan schoolgirls, all under 16, were trampled to death as they rushed to escape their classrooms when the quake struck.
AFP
Bystanders rushed the dazed and terrified survivors to hospital, many lying limp in the arms of their rescuers, as doctors tried reviving some of them by pumping their chests.
"When the relatives of the dead students came to collect their bodies, they were so distressed that they could not even talk to authorities to record their names," Hafizullah Safai, head of the Takhar health department, said.
The quake was centred near Jurm in north-east Afghanistan, 250 kilometres from the capital Kabul and at a depth of 213.5 kilometres, the US Geological Survey said.
The quake, which lasted at least one minute, shook buildings in Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, sending thousands of frightened people rushing into the streets.
It was also felt in Tajikstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.
Live footage from an Afghan news broadcast filmed in Kabul showed the anchor abandoning his desk as the quake shook the cameras.
Restaurants and office buildings emptied in Islamabad, with cracks appearing in some buildings but no major damage reported.
Hundreds of people in northern India poured onto the streets from office blocks, hospitals and homes.
In Delhi — more than 1,000 kilometres from the epicentre — the metro ground to a halt during the tremor.
Pakistan mobilised troops and all military hospitals were put on high alert, army spokesman Lieutenant General Asim Bajwa said, with the air force also offering support.
Reuters: Khuram Parvez
Afghanistan is frequently hit by earthquakes, especially in the Hindu Kush mountain range, which lies near the junction of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates.
Dr John Ebel, chairman of the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences in the United States, said the depth of the earthquake had limited its severity and meant damage was likely to be spread broadly rather than focused in one disaster zone.
The epicentre of Monday's quake was just a few hundred kilometres from the site of a 7.6 magnitude quake that struck in October 2005, killing more than 75,000 people and displacing some 3.5 million more, although that quake was much shallower. In Nepal, twin quakes in May killed more than 8,900 people, triggered landslides and destroyed half a million homes.
AFP
| Earthquakes | October 2015 | ['(AFP via ABC News)', '(Himalayan Times)'] |
Hurricane Alex becomes the first hurricane to form in the Atlantic Ocean in January since 1938 with warnings issued for the Azores. | .
A rare January Atlantic hurricane, Alex, made landfall in The Azores early Friday as a tropical storm, according to the National Hurricane Center, and has now made the transition to a non-tropical low-pressure system in the northeast Atlantic Ocean.
The center of Alex made landfall on the island of Terceira in the central Azores around 9:15 a.m. AST Friday with maximum estimated sustained winds of 70 mph, according to the NHC. The Azores are a group of Portuguese islands located 800 to 900 miles west of Portugal's mainland.
Tropical storm-force winds were observed in parts of The Azores Friday. Santa Maria has gusted over 50 mph and Ponta Delgada has seen gusts approach 50 mph as of early Friday.
Alex first became a hurricane in the eastern Atlantic Ocean Thursday, making it just the second hurricane on record to form in that basin during the month of January. The last hurricane that formed in the Atlantic during January was in 1938, according to NOAA's historical hurricane tracker database. Alex is also the first hurricane to occur in the Atlantic in January since Alice in 1955. Alice initially formed into a hurricane on Dec. 31, 1954, but then remained a hurricane into early January 1955.
Alex became the strongest January hurricane on record Thursday when its winds reached an estimated 85 mph. This surpassed the 80-mph peak of both Alice and the 1938 hurricane.
Alex was also only the second hurricane to form in any month in a zone of the eastern Atlantic Ocean east of 30 degrees west longitude and north of 30 degrees north latitude. Hurricane Vince in 2005 was the only other in the historical record.
All previous other hurricanes tracking within 200 nautical miles of The Azores in the historical record occurred in either August or September.
Alex first formed as a subtropical storm Wednesday afternoon. A subtropical storm displays features of both tropical and non-tropical systems, including a broad wind field, no cold or warm fronts, and generally low-topped thunderstorms displaced from the center of the system. Sometimes subtropical storms can become fully tropical over the course of time as Alex's transition into a hurricane demonstrates.
The Atlantic hurricane season officially runs from June 1 through Nov. 30, but storms have, on an occasional basis, formed before and after that date.
According to the National Hurricane Center, Alex's formation on Wednesday made it the first tropical or subtropical storm to form in January since 1978. It's also only the fourth known storm to form in January since records began in 1851. As mentioned earlier, Alex is also only the second known hurricane to form in the Atlantic during the month of January.
Based on the long-term average, about once every 10 years, a tropical storm forms before June, most often in the month of May. This includes Tropical Storm Ana, which began as a subtropical storm in early May of 2015, eventually transitioning into a tropical system.
Likewise, roughly once every 10 years, a tropical storm has formed in the month of December. Post-season and pre-season tropical systems are usually relatively weak, in part due to cooler sea-surface temperatures in the winter and spring months, limiting the ability for such storms to intensify.
The non-tropical low pressure system that formed into Alex was located off the Southeast coast Jan. 7. On Jan. 8, the low then passed near Bermuda, where wind gusts topped out at 59 mph, causing sporadic power outages and disrupting air travel, the Royal Gazette reported.
In the days thereafter, the low moved east and southeast through the Atlantic as a hazard to marine interests with a large area of strong winds and high surf. Since Tuesday, the low took on more characteristics of a subtropical storm, and that's why the National Hurricane Center classified it as the first named storm of the 2016 hurricane season on Wednesday. On Thursday morning, Alex had made a complete transition into a hurricane.
This animation shows the non-tropical low that formed into Alex move east across the Atlantic Jan. 7 into Jan. 13
| Hurricanes_Tornado_Storm_Blizzard | January 2016 | ['(Weather Channel)'] |
John Banville wins the 2011 Franz Kafka Prize. | Languishing in the Nobel prize for literature odds last year at 66/1, Irish author John Banville may be in with a better shot this time round after landing the Franz Kafka prize, a literary award with an uncanny ability of predicting future Nobel laureates.
The prize is given by the Kafka Society to an international author whose work is "exceptional for its artistic quality", and "addresses readers regardless of their origin, nationality or culture, just like the work of Franz Kafka". It has been won in the past by Elfriede Jelinek and Harold Pinter, both of whom went on to take the Nobel later that year. Banville pronounced himself "proud and pleased and honoured" to be chosen by the prize's jury.
The author, who won the Man Booker for his novel The Sea, said there was "a certain childish pleasure in being singled out to get a prize". "It's foolish to deny it – we try to look down on the Booker but everyone's dying to win it – it's the biggest toy in the shop."
The Kafka prize is also, he said, "one of the ones one really wants to get. It's an old style prize and as an old codger it's perfect for me ... I've been wrestling with Kafka since I was an adolescent. I think he's a great aphorist, a great letter writer, a great diarist, a great short story writer, and a great novelist – I'd put novelist last."
Banville wins $10,000 (£6,000) and a bronze statuette of the Kafka monument in Prague. "It will glare at me from the mantelpiece," he said. "Roddy Doyle congratulated me on winning, and I said I wonder what kind of award Kafka would have given. Roddy said that it wouldn't have stayed still on the mantelpiece."
But animate or inanimate, Banville wasn't so sure the prize would improve his Nobel chances. "The majority of people who've won it didn't win the Nobel," he said, pointing to previous winners who include perennial Nobel contenders Philip Roth and Haruki Murakami. "But hold on, the other phone's ringing, it must be Stockholm." | Awards ceremony | May 2011 | ['(The Guardian)', '(Irish Independent)', '(CBS News)'] |
First time qualifier Iceland holds off a late charge from two-time champion Argentina and comes away with a 1–1 draw in the opening World Cup matches for both countries. | Lionel Messi had a penalty saved as Argentina were held to a 1-1 draw by Iceland in their World Cup opener.
Messi's chance came and went after 63 minutes when keeper Hannes Halldorsson guessed right to parry the spot-kick and earn a hard-fought point.
The Barcelona star had created the game's first moment of danger when, with six minutes gone, his free kick bounced off a defender and span wide.
A couple of minutes later, Argentina came closer when Nicolas Tagliafico sent in a flicked header that curled just past the far post.
But the best chance of the opening minutes fell to Iceland when a shot from outside the area after nine minutes took a deflection and fell to Birkir Bjarnason, who scuffed wide with just keeper Willy Caballero to beat.
Messi, struggling to find space as Iceland closed him down relentlessly, created a bit of room after 17 minutes but his whipped shot from outside the area was beaten away by Halldorsson.
Argentina, though, broke through within two minutes of that as Sergio Aguero scored his first-ever World Cup goal, getting away from a defender as the ball broke to him and lashing a shot high into the net.
Messi tried his luck from outside the area soon afterwards, his curling strike held by Halldorsson -- but, out of the blue, Iceland were level after 23 minutes, Alfreo Finnbogason stabbing home amid defensive chaos. Gylfi Sigurdsson produced the initial cross, which deflected and eluded Caballero before falling to Finnbogason, who struck from close range.
Nicolas Otamendi looped a header straight at the keeper as Argentina tried to respond, with Lucas Biglia then shooting over from long range.
Sigurdsson had a low shot saved by Caballero as an entertaining first half came towards a conclusion, and the same player blasted a half-volley well wide.
Argentina's Angel Di Maria created the first threat of the second half, winning a corner after a run down the left, but Otamendi steered his header well over.
Back came Iceland, Bjarnason's cross from the left just evading Finnbogason, and Argentina made an early switch when Biglia was replaced by Ever Banega.
Aguero was crowded out as he tried to get a strike in from the right of the area, and the Manchester City striker saw another attempt cannon to safety soon afterwards.
Messi found Banega on the edge of the area as the hour approached, but his shot was blocked by Ragnar Sigurdsson and Messi's follow-up cross was hammered clear.
Argentina then had their penalty when Aguero was barged to the ground by Hordur Magnusson -- but Halldorsson guessed right to save Messi's strike.
Rurik Gislason came on for the injured Johann Berg Gudmundsson in an enforced Iceland change, and Messi curled a free kick over as he tried to make amends for his failure to score from the spot.
Aguero shot straight at Magnusson before, with 15 minutes to go, Argentina brought off Di Maria and replaced him with Cristian Pavon and Iceland switched Gunnarsson for Ari Freyr Skulason.
Almost immediately, Pavon appeared to be clipped inside the area -- but the referee waved play on, and no VAR review was forthcoming.
Nine minutes from the end, Messi curled a superb strike narrowly wide from the edge of the D, and Argentina threw Gonzalo Higuain into the fray as they pressed for a late winner.
Halldorsson made another good stop to claw away Pavon's dangerous cross and Iceland replaced goal scorer Finnbogason with Bjorn Sigurdarson and they held on despite Messi firing narrowly over in stoppage time.
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Japan intervenes in the foreign exchange market for the first time in six years to reduce the exchange rate for the yen in order to stimulate the Japanese economy. | TOKYO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Japan’s bold strike to weaken its currency on Wednesday sent the yen tumbling more than 3.0 percent against the U.S. dollar, but unsettled allies who feared the unilateral move may complicate efforts to restore balanced global economic growth.
Nikkei up on Japan yen intervention
01:35
Japan unleashed waves of yen selling, estimated at more than $20 billion, which spread from Tokyo through New York trading. The sales, conducted alone without help from its Group of Seven partners, are expected to continue in the days ahead, Japanese news agency Nikkei reported.
Japan’s first intervention in global currency markets in six years was not a complete surprise given that officials had tried to talk down the currency in recent weeks after it hit a 15-year high against the dollar.
But the timing and go-it-alone approach drew criticism. A top European official said coordinated action was a more effective means of adjusting exchange rates. And as the U.S. Congress began hearings on China’s currency policy, a U.S. lawmaker called Japan’s move “deeply disturbing.”
Doubts remained though about how effective Japan’s unilateral yen selling spree might be. A 15-month solo effort by Switzerland which ended earlier this year did little to tame the Swiss franc.
Like Japan, most advanced economies are grappling with slow growth at home, making exports an economic imperative. Japan’s move heightened concerns that countries would launch a round of competitive devaluations to give their own exporters an edge.
U.S. lawmaker Sander Levin, who chairs the congressional committee examining China’s currency policy, blamed Beijing for Japan’s “deeply disturbing” intervention. Levin and many other U.S. lawmakers say China keeps the yuan artificially low, boosting its exports at the expense of U.S. companies.
“What’s happening is that China’s actions have affected Japan, and now Japan’s actions affect us,” he said.
Andrew Busch, global currency strategist at BMO Capital Markets in Chicago, said Japan’s move would make it more difficult for Congress to get its message through to China.
“How can the Japanese get a pass to intervene when the Chinese are being criticized for essentially the same activity?” he said.
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Some emerging markets were also wary of losing out in a beggar-thy-neighbor round of devaluations. Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega said he would not sit on the sidelines “watching the game” while other countries weakened their currencies at the expense of Brazil.
“We’re going to take appropriate measures to stop the real from appreciating,” Mantega said in Rio de Janeiro.
The EU offered some sympathy for Tokyo’s plight, saying too rapid yen appreciation could threaten economic recovery, but a top official said coordinated action would have been better.
“Unilateral actions are not the appropriate way to deal with global imbalances,” Jean-Claude Juncker, chairman of the Eurogroup of euro-zone finance ministers, said when asked about Japan’s intervention.
U.S. officials at the Federal Reserve, White House and Treasury declined to comment.
After this week’s victory in a party leadership contest, Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan appeared to be stepping up efforts to wrench the country out of deflation by targeting the yen’s strength which has weighed on stock prices and corporate profits.
The Japanese Prime Minister told reporters that Wednesday’s intervention had some effect but the government was watching foreign exchange moves with a sense of urgency.
Aside from apparently acting alone, Japan faces the stiff task of trying to weaken the yen while other major central banks such as the U.S. Federal Reserve mull more steps to ease monetary policy, which could weigh on their currencies.
The dollar rose to 85.72 yen from its 15-year low beneath 83 yen, its biggest daily gain in nearly two years. It was last up 3.1 percent at 85.60 yen.
A foreign exchange broker watches a television (bottom) showing the Japanese yen's exchange rate against the U.S. dollar before the Finance Ministry intervened in the currency market while the current rate flashes above him in Tokyo September 15, 2010. Japan intervened in the currency market on Wednesday for the first time in six years, selling yen to stem a rise in the currency that is threatening a fragile economic recovery. REUTERS/Yuriko Nakao
The Japanese currency’s rise had brought it closer to its record peak of 79.75 per dollar set in 1995, squeezing exporters’ profits, but Wednesday’s yen drop helped push Tokyo stock market’s Nikkei average up 2.3 percent.
It also pleased Japanese exporters, many of whom had expected the yen to average 90 per dollar this fiscal year.
“We applaud the move by the government and the Bank of Japan to correct the yen’s strength,” Japan’s No. 2 automaker Honda Motor Co said in a statement.
Honda has penciled in 87 yen per dollar in its estimates for the fiscal year to March 2011.
Billionaire financier George Soros said Japan was right to act to bring down the value of the yen.
“Certainly, they are hurting because the currency is too strong so I think they are right to intervene,” Soros said at a Reuters Newsmaker event.
Japanese Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda, who will reportedly keep his post after a cabinet reshuffle, indicated Tokyo acted alone. Noda said he was in contact with authorities overseas, and analysts expected Japan to be spared international criticism.
Unlike previous forays, the Bank of Japan will not drain the money flowing into the economy as a result of the yen selling, sources familiar with the matter said.
That indicated the central bank plans to use the sold yen as a monetary tool to boost liquidity and support the economy.
Authorities that sell their own currencies to weaken them often issue bills to “sterilize” the funds and keep the excess money from becoming inflationary. In Japan’s case, it wants to promote inflation since the economy has been dogged by deflation for much of the past decade.
Reporting by Tokyo newsroom; Additional reporting by Tara Joseph Hui in Hong Kong, Doug Palmer and Paul Eckert in Washington; Writing by Kevin Plumberg and Emily Kaiser; Editing by Mike Peacock and Neil Stempleman
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 | Financial Crisis | September 2010 | ['(Reuters)'] |
Côte d'Ivoire Prime Minister Charles Konan Banny dissolves his Cabinet after toxic waste was dumped in the city of Abidjan, making over 1,500 people ill and killing three. | Three people have died and more than 1,500 have been treated after inhaling fumes from waste apparently dumped at sites in the city two weeks ago. Mr Banny, who will remain in office, was asked by Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo to form a new cabinet at a meeting scheduled for Thursday.
It is unclear who dumped the waste but local papers are alleging corruption.
The BBC's James Copnall in Abidjan says the government's resignation is unprecedented and follows mounting anger at its failure to act more decisively.
Special fund
The government is a power-sharing administration, including rebels who control the north of the country.
Our correspondent says some feel that the decision to resign could be intended to deflect from the failure of Tuesday's summit of political leaders to break a deadlock in the peace process.
I'm feeling very bad in the throat and I have headaches and I cannot breathe properly
Abidjan resident
Waste adds to Ivorian woes
The out-going administration's last act was to set up a special fund to pay for the medical treatment for the victims of the toxic waste.
Foreign experts have been asked to help clear up the waste from seven locations around Ivory Coast's biggest city.
Hundreds of youths have set up roadblocks around the city to draw attention to the problem.
Ivorian television on Wednesday interrupted its regular programmes to urge hundreds of protesters to give doctors access to sites where toxic waste was dumped.
It said people faced serious health threats because of the toxic material.
The waste was dumped by a ship several weeks ago in unclear circumstances. Trafigura Beheer BV, the company that chartered the ship Probo Koala, said it was very concerned by reports that "residue from the petrol cargo" had been disposed of inappropriately.
Those affected are being treated for stomach problems, nosebleeds and respiratory illnesses.
A senior aide to the prime minister told the BBC that Mr Konan Banny felt that people at the highest level should face the consequences. Breathing problems
"I'm feeling very bad in the throat and I have headaches and I cannot breathe properly," Eric, a patient seeking treatment at Abidjan's university teaching hospital city, told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme.
The hospital has set up a specialist unit to deal with those suffering from similar symptoms.
"We don't know what we're treating. When they have stinging eyes or noses we give them drops. We want to know what it is so we know how to treat it," the manager of a local hospital told Reuters news agency.
He added the hospital was running low on some medicines and X-ray film.
In a statement, Trafigura Beheer BV said it told Ivorian authorities of the nature of the waste including "a written request that it should be safely disposed of, according to country laws".
"Trafigura can confirm that the residue (slops) were a mixture of gasoline, water and caustic washings," the statement continued. | Organization Closed | September 2006 | ['(BBC)'] |
Asa'ib Ahl al–Haq, the Iranian–backed Shiite militia that carried out deadly attacks on U.S. troops agrees to lay down its arms and join the political process in Iraq. | A decision by a Shiite militia to transform itself from an armed, anti-American movement into a viable political force could complicate Iraq's political crisis and strengthen Iran's clout in this country as U.S. influence wanes.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government has welcomed the recent decision by Asaib Ahl al-Haq to lay down its arms and join the political process. But bringing the former militants into the fold may alienate the Sunni minority and increase tensions between competing Shiite groups.
Al-Maliki, who is widely believed to have played an active role in encouraging the militia to transform, may now gain an important ally that could also lessen his dependence on radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's political bloc. Al-Sadr considers Asaib Ahl al-Haq a disloyal faction that broke away from his own anti-American militia several years ago.
Asaib Ahl al-Haq, or Band of the Righteous, believes it played an important role in resisting the American presence in Iraq and that it now deserves some political payback. The group is thought to have fewer than 1,000 armed militiamen, backed by tens of thousands of supporters. An Iraqi close to the extremist group said last year that it relies on Iran for roughly $5 million in cash and weapons each month.
It is unclear how committed the group is to disarming entirely. Despite agreeing to renounce violence in late December, its members have not handed over their weapons, according to the Iraqi official in charge of reconciling with the country's armed groups.
"The government will not buy up the group's weapons, but we are ready to take them if they want us to," said the government official, Amer al-Khuzaie.
A senior member of Asaib Ahl al-Haq said in an interview this week that the group wants to ally itself with other Shiite groups to run in provincial and parliamentary elections. But he stopped short of saying the group would disarm completely, saying its members would "do its best to secure Shiite areas."
Qais al-Khazali, the group's leader, was also circumspect when reached by The Associated Press late Friday.
"The issue of handing over our weapons will be discussed with the Iraqi government sometime in the future, away from the media," he said.
In a brief phone interview, al-Khazali also said the group is willing to turn over the body of kidnapped British bodyguard Alan McMenemy, though he wouldn't say when that might happen.
Asaib Ahl al-Haq and the Hezbollah Brigades were among a group of Shiite militias backed by Iran that carried out lethal attacks against U.S. bases in June, the deadliest month in two years for American forces in Iraq.
U.S. troops completed their pullout last month after America's nearly nine-year war.
There is little sign that the Hezbollah Brigades intends to follow Asaib Ahl al-Haq's path. The Hezbollah group, which is believed to be funded and trained by Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard and its Quds Force special operations wing, issued a statement Dec. 30 denying it was joining any national reconciliation process. It said it would not challenge the Iraqi government directly but made no mention of plans to give up arms.
A Shiite lawmaker in Baghdad said bringing Shiite militants into the political process will only strengthen Iran's influence in Iraq. | Sign Agreement | January 2012 | ['(ABC News)'] |
Greek Civil Protection Minister Nikos Toskas resigns after a wildfire that killed 88 people and led to wide criticism of the government for its handling of the disaster. | ATHENS (Reuters) - Greek Civil Protection Minister Nikos Toskas resigned on Friday in the wake of a wildfire last month that killed 88 people and led to widespread criticism of the government for its handling of the disaster.
Toskas had previously offered to quit after the July 23 blaze in the small seaside town of Mati east of Athens, but Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras refused to accept his resignation.
The minister reiterated his desire to step aside again on Friday during a meeting with Tsipras, in a move that the main political opposition said came too late to appease the public.
“This natural disaster, and the loss of so many people in Mati, overwhelms my desire to continue. This is something I had stated publicly from the first moment,” Toskas, a retired army general, said in a statement.
Pressure has been growing on the government, which is trailing the conservative opposition in opinion polls, at a time when it had hoped to extricate Greece from years of bailouts prompted by its debt crisis and reap the political benefits.
There have been recriminations over what went wrong and led to the deaths of dozens in Mati, where hundreds of people were trapped by towering walls of flames when they tried to flee.
Many jumped into the sea to survive but others died, either in their cars or when they were cornered on the edge of steep cliffs by the rapidly advancing inferno.
Last Friday Tsipras said he took political responsibility for the deadly wildfire amid accusations that his government had failed to protect lives and to apologize for the disaster.
Seeking to deflect public anger, he told his ministers he was conflicted over whether the authorities had done everything right in response to the disaster.
“Responsibilities have a name: Alexis Tsipras. He and his government do not have the courage to assume them 11 days after the tragedy,” the conservative New Democracy party said after the minister’s resignation.
Tsipras’s office quickly responded, accusing the conservative party of trying to score political gains from a national tragedy.
The death toll rose to 88 on Friday when a 35-year-old woman died from her injuries. Her six-month old baby, the youngest victim, had died in her arms from smoke inhalation as they tried to escape the flames.
Greek authorities say they suspect the fire was set deliberately. Arson is thought to be a frequent cause of forest fires in Greece, a crude method to clear the way for potential development.
Toskas’s duties have been assigned to Panos Skourletis, the country’s interior minister.
Reporting by Michele Kambas and Lefteris Papadimas; Additional reporting by George Georgiopoulos; Editing by Mark Heinrich and Hugh Lawson
| Fire | August 2018 | ['(Reuters)'] |
Iran sentences two officials to death and nine others to fines and floggings for the deaths in custody of three protesters during the 2009-2010 Iranian election protests. | An Iranian court has sentenced to death two people charged with killing three anti-government protesters in prison.The court announced the verdicts Wednesday for the unnamed suspects. Nine other people were sentenced to flogging or prison terms. A tenth person was acquitted. The case stems from protests by political opposition groups, who said prisoners were abused, tortured and killed in the Kahrizak prison during the post-election unrest that followed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election last year. Many of those arrested during the protests were held at the facility. In December, Iranian authorities acknowledged for the first time that Kahrizak prison officials beat to death at least three detainees arrested during post-election unrest. The acknowledgment followed months of denials.The detainees killed included Mohsen Rouhalamini, the son of a prominent politician.Kahrizak prison has been closed since last August on the order of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who said the facility was not up to required standards. Opposition and human rights groups say Iran arrested hundreds of protesters in the aftermath of the election. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | June 2010 | ['(AP)', '(BBC)', '(Tehran Times)', '(Ynetnews)', '(Voice of America)'] |
Somalian troops open fire killing at least two people during food riots in Mogadishu. | Troops opened fire and killed at least two people as tens of thousands of people rioted over high food prices in Somalia's capital Monday.
Several people also were injured in the protest in Mogadishu in this Horn of Africa nation.
Prices of rice and other food staples have been rising rapidly around the world, boosted by poor weather in some nations and rising demand. In Africa, prices of some staple foods have increased more than 50 percent in a matter of weeks.
The Somali protesters include women and children, who marched to protest the refusal of traders to accept old 1,000-shilling notes, blaming that for the skyrocketing food prices.
Soon after, tens of thousands of people took to the streets, hurling stones that smashed the windshields of several cars and buses. Rocks also were thrown at shops and chaos erupted at the capital's main Bakara market.
Hundreds of shops and restaurants in southern Mogadishu closed their doors for fear of looting.
Dr. Dahir Dhere said a man wounded in the protests died on the way to an operating room at the capital's main Medina Hospital.
Protester Abdinur Farah says he was marching with his uncle in southern Mogadishu when government troops opened fire and wounded his relative. He said his uncle died before they could take him to the hospital.
In Mogadishu, the price of 2.2 pounds of corn meal has gone from 12 cents in January to 25 cents. Another staple, rice, has gone up in that time from $26 to $47.50 for a 110-pound sack.
Protests also have been held in three other African countries, including Senegal, whose president on Sunday called for the United Nations to dismantle its Food and Agriculture Organization, calling it an ineffective money-eater that failed to help avert the global food crisis.
Senegal's leader, President Abdoulaye Wade, said he had long called for the Rome-based organization to be transferred to Africa, "near the 'sick ones' it pretends to care for."
But, "This time, I'm going further: It must be eliminated," he said in a statement. Wade suggested its assets be transferred to the U.N. International Fund for Agricultural Development, which he said was more efficient, and that that agency set up headquarters in Africa "at the heart of the problem."
FAO officials could not immediately be reached for comment.
Wade's government responded to protest marches by securing a deal with India that ensures Senegal's needs of 600,000 tons of rice a year are met for the next six years. In Burkina Faso, the government eliminated duties and taxes on rice, salt, milk and all products used to prepare food for children. | Riot | May 2008 | ['(AP via Google News)'] |
Supporters of the Jordanian government clash with anti-government protesters in Amman, resulting in 1 death and over 100 injuries. | Reports say supporters of the king threw stones at the hundreds of protesters camped in Gamal Abdel Nasser Square, injuring a number of them.
The protesters were demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Marouf al-Bakhit, reforms to parliament and for corrupt officials to stand trial.
King Abdullah appointed Mr Bakhit last month after large street protests.
Thursday's demonstration - which was organised through the social networking website Facebook by a group calling itself Youth of March 24 - saw student protesters joined by leftists and members of the Islamist opposition.
Some witnesses said the police stood by as a group of government supporters moved in to the square and began throwing stones. As many as 35 people were reported injured, most with head wounds.
Jordan's opposition has demanded electoral reforms that would see the prime minister directly elected and more powers granted to the parliament.
In a letter published in Jordanian newspapers on Wednesday, King Abdullah urged Prime Minister Bakhit to push through parliament reforms the monarch proposed in February, after the last prime minister was sacked.
At that time, Jordanians had taken to the streets in largely peaceful protests to demand on political reforms, high unemployment and rising prices.
Mr Bakhit is a retired army major-general who served as Jordan's prime minister from 2005 until his resignation in 2007.
Jordan is just one of the countries in the region where protests have been held to demand political changes after the presidents of Tunisia and Egypt were toppled in January and February.
New Jordan PM unlikely to appease protesters
| Protest_Online Condemnation | March 2011 | ['(BBC)', '(Al Jazeera)'] |
Part of the South Devon Railway sea wall carrying the railway line linking London with the west of England is washed away by a powerful storm that has hit the UK overnight. Thousands of homes are also left without electricity. | Parts of Britain have been hit by a storm which destroyed a stretch of railway, forced people from their homes and left thousands without power. A section of the sea wall in Dawlish, Devon, collapsed and left the railway to Cornwall suspended in mid-air. Residents of homes on the Somerset Levels were evacuated amid fears flood defences could be overwhelmed.
David Cameron chaired his first Cobra meeting this year and announced an extra £100m for flood works.
At Prime Minister's Questions he pledged £75m for repairs over the next year, £10m for urgent work in Somerset - where several rivers have flooded - and £15m for maintenance. Mr Cameron said he would "ensure that everything that can be done to get stricken communities moving is being done: there are no restrictions on help". The BBC's political editor Nick Robinson said Mr Cameron had given the "clearest possible sign" that he needed to "be seen to be getting a grip" on the response to the floods. Environment Secretary Owen Paterson's handling of the crisis has been widely criticised. He will not be chairing the Cobra emergency committee or giving a statement to the House of Commons on Thursday after being diagnosed with a detached retina. Instead, Mr Paterson will undergo emergency surgery.
Western Power Distribution said about 44,000 customers had been affected by power cuts since Tuesday afternoon. By 22:00 GMT on Wednesday, thousands of homes had been reconnected but 953 customers remained without power across the South West. In Cornwall, 490 were still cut off. On the Somerset Levels, police used a helicopter to advise the occupants of more than 150 properties in Fordgate and Northmoor to leave their homes. Forecasters say there will be an "improving picture" on Wednesday evening. But there will be rain moving up from the south coast on Thursday morning which will spread to south-west England in late morning. About 20-30mm of rain is expected throughout the day. More heavy rain and gales are forecast for Friday night into Saturday. Dawlish resident Robert Parker said the storm was "like the end of the world". He said: "It was like an earthquake. I've never experienced anything like it. I've been in some terrible storms in the North Sea, but last night was just a force of nature." First Great Western said all lines between Exeter St Davids and Plymouth were closed because of the collapsed track at Dawlish and the bad weather. Limited services are running between Plymouth and Penzance, with rail replacement services due to be provided from Thursday. Network Rail has estimated the damage at Dawlish could take at least six weeks to fix. First Great Western said the repairs could not begin until the weather improved. Speaking after the Cobra meeting, the prime minister said he was "determined to ensure a proper alternative service" was provided while the railway line at Dawlish remained out of use, with a solution found to fix it as soon as possible.
The Environment Agency has two severe flood warnings in place in south-west England - meaning there is a danger to life - down from a high of nine earlier on Wednesday. It has also issued about 60 flood warnings and more than 200 flood alerts.
The Scottish Environment Protection Agency has issued five flood warnings and several flood alerts.
The Met Office has issued an amber severe weather warning for rain - meaning "be prepared"- from 15:00 GMT on Thursday until 23:00 GMT on Saturday across southern England. In other developments:
Firefighters have also been called out to deal with dangerous structures. There have been two incidents in the Tenby area of Pembrokeshire with roofing being blown off buildings. BBC Weather | Hurricanes_Tornado_Storm_Blizzard | February 2014 | ['(BBC)'] |
A shooting takes place at a pub in Tel Aviv, Israel, leaving two dead and eight injured. The gunman managed to escape and possibly killed his accomplice, an Arab taxi driver, whose body was found nearby. The police identified the shooter as 30 year old muslim Nisa'at Melkham from Ar'ara and searched his home. | Massive manhunt underway for suspect, identified as an Israeli Arab; two seriously wounded in shooting on corner of Gordon and Dizengoff; growing consensus among security officials that shooting was a terrorist attack.
Two people were killed and seven were wounded in an apparent shooting attack in a central Tel Aviv pub on Friday afternoon. A massive manhunt is underway for the assailant.
The police have identified an Israeli Arab resident of a village in the northern area of Wadi Ara as the suspect. The suspect, 29, stole the gun from his father, who works in security. The father recognized the suspect from media reports, and after learning his weapon was gone, contacted the authorities.
Two of the casualties are in serious condition, while the rest sustained light injuries.
There is a growing consensus among security officials that the shooting was a terrorist attack. After holding a situation assessment, security officials warned civilians on Friday afternoon to remain alert as police special forces and the Shin Bet security service search for the assailant.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was briefed by the police and the Shin Bet about the ongoing investigation, his office said.
The attack occurred at the Simta pub on Dizengoff 122, near the corner of Gordon St. One of people killed was identified as Alon Bakal, a manager at the pub. Bakal had moved to Tel Aviv three months ago after completing law and business studies in Netanya. The other was identified as Shimon Ruimi, 30, a resident of Ofakim.
Several of the casualties in the shooting were attending a birthday party at the pub.
Security footage from an adjacent grocery store shows the gunman taking out a gun from a backpack, exiting the store and opening fire. Another video shows bargoers ducking under tables as the gunman shoots.
A Koran was found in a bag left at the store. The police is looking into the possibility that this was part of a diversion.
Roads near the scene were closed to the public for several hours before being re-opened. Police are searching for the assailant over a wide portion of the city, from the corner of Dizengoff and Gordon to Rabin Square in the east and Ben Yehuda Street in the west. Police detained a suspect on Reines St., near the site of the shooting, after the gunman fled the scene of the attack, but are continuing a massive manhunt, going house to house in search of the gunman.
Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai said that at this stage the municipality had "no special instructions" and asked the public to enable the security services to do their work. "We're still at the beginning of the incident and I hope those responsible get caught," he said.
Dudi Malka, one of the owners of the bar where the shooting took place, described the gunman as "fairly small, light-skinned man holding an M16." The gunman opened fire toward several businesses in the area.
"We ran into the alleys, he continued to shoot at us," he said. "Passersby had guns in the area refused to shoot him."
Gali Morag, who lives on Gordon Street opposite the scene of the shooting, says she heard shots and, looking out the window, saw a young man dressed all in black and with a woolen cap running down the street. He turned a corner and disappeared from sight. Other people were running after him.
Shani Mizrachi, a paramedic for Magen David Adom, said that "there was a huge crowd when I got to the scene. Some of the wounded were inside the pub and others lying in the street. I immediately began to assist a man of about 35 who had bullet wounds in his upper body. He was in fully conscious. I gave him first aid and he was evacuated in a serious condition to the hospital."
Israel's Channel 10 reported that about 30 shots were fired from an assault rifle during the attack.
Five of the casualties were evacuated to Ichilov Hospital Tel Aviv. Two died at the hospital and two others are in serious condition and in the operating room. One victim in light condition was brought to Beilinson Hospital, Rabin Medical Center, Petah Tikva. Another victim was also evacuated to Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer.
Ichilov opened an emergency hotline, which can be reached at 1255133.
About 20 minutes after the attack, a man was killed in a shooting on Yunitsman Street in northern Tel Aviv. The victim, a taxi driver, was critically wounded and died shortly thereafter. He was identified as Amin Shaban of Ramle. It is as yet unclear whether the incidents are connected.
This is the first attack in Tel Aviv since November 2, when two were killed in a stabbing attack in south Tel Aviv. | Riot | January 2016 | ['(Haaretz)'] |
Celtic shock Barcelona in the 2012–13 UEFA Champions League group stage. | writer: AFP Neil Lennon said Celtic are in a great position to qualify for the last 16 of the Champions League after his injury-ravaged side produced a shock 2-1 defeat of Group G favourites Barcelona at Parkhead on Wednesday.
Celtic manager Neil Lennon celebrates at the final whistle during their UEFA Champions League Group G match against Barcelona, at Celtic Park in Glasgow. Celtic sent shockwaves around Europe as they produced a stunning 2-1 win to end the Catalan giants' 100 per cent record in this season's competition.
However, the 41-year-old Northern Irishman - who is in charge of his first Champions League campaign with the club - added the biggest problem they faced was to cope with the fans expectations that they would reach the Last 16.
"It (the victory) gives us a great chance; maybe a greater chance than we expected before the game but we still have two very difficult games," he said.
"The problem myself and the players will have to deal with now is the expectation level will increase. There is still a lot of hard work to be done but we’ve given ourselves a fantastic platform."
Celtic could now qualify from the group stages for only the third time in their history if they get a score draw or better against Benfica in two weeks time.
Barcelona still top the group on nine points with Celtic two points behind while Benfica are third on four points having beaten Russian opponents Spartak Moscow 2-0 on Wednesday.
"We have to go to Benfica now and try and raise our game again but we will cross that bridge when we come to it," said Lennon, who earlier in the campaign saw Celtic end a woeful record when they recorded their first ever away win in 21 Champions League games with a 3-2 win over Spartak Moscow.
"I want them to enjoy their evening and enjoy their moment and get back to domestic duties on Sunday.
"These are special nights here. When I came back I said I wanted to bring the thunder back here and I have never heard the atmosphere as good as that."
Lennon said he couldn't be prouder of the team's performance, especially as they were missing several first team regulars.
Goals from the outstanding Victor Wanyama and 18-year-old Tony Watt gave them a 2-0 lead and Lionel Messi's stoppage time goal was not enough to stop the Spanish giants going down to their first defeat in the Champions League group stage in three years.
Lennon, who played in the Celtic side that defeated Barcelona in the Last 16 of the UEFA Cup in the 2003/2004 season, said the result was his greatest in management, coming on the day after the club celebrated its 125th birthday.
"I think it’s one of the greatest nights in the club’s recent history.
"It was very poignant on the club’s 125th anniversary that we got to play Barcelona in such a prestigious game and then to win the game under huge difficulties was amazing.
"The players are heroes. I can’t speak highly enough of their performances and they will go down in the history books of the club as the team that beat probably the best team in the world.
"They have been given two of the stiffest examinations (the 2-1 defeat by Barcelona a fortnight ago and Wednesday's match) they will ever get in their careers and they have come through it with flying colours.
"It’s one of the proudest nights of my career, it was a monumental achievement from the players.
"As a manager I don’t know if I’ll top that but I hope I do and progress.
"We’ve waited a long time to get back into this competition. The club has been in the doldrums a little bit.
"I’m not saying this is the pinnacle because I still think there is more to come from this team but the progression has been great."
LOS ANGELES: Nearly three dozen women have filed a lawsuit in California against adult video website Pornhub, accusing it and its parent company of knowingly profiting from footage depicting rape and sexual exploitation, including of minors.
LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan: They name themselves after a Turkish soap opera, count former Taliban insurgents among their ranks and dress like their enemies, but the shadowy "Sangorians" militiamen are among the fiercest forces on the Afghan battlefield.
Only Bangkok and three adjoining provinces of Nonthaburi, Pathum Thani and Samut Prakan remain dark red zones, and some controls have been relaxed, under the latest Covid-19 zoning announcement.
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Readers are urged not to submit comments that may cause legal dispute including slanderous, vulgar or violent language, incorrectly spelt names, discuss moderation action, quotes with no source or anything deemed critical of the monarchy. More information in our terms of use. | Sports Competition | November 2012 | ['(The Guardian)', '(CBC News)', '(Irish Independent)', '(Bangkok Post)'] |
A fire breaks out at an orphanage in San José Pinula, Guatemala after students protesting conditions including alleged sexual and physical abuse set fire to their bedding, killing at least 19 children. | Nineteen teenage girls have died in a blaze at a children's care home in Guatemala, officials say.
About 25 other people were injured in the fire at the Virgen de Asuncion shelter in San Jose Pinula, about 25km (15 miles) south-east of the capital, Guatemala City.
Police said the blaze may have been started by some of the residents.
On Tuesday, police officers intervened after a riot broke out at the home. About 60 children escaped.
Some alleged they had been mistreated or sexually abused.
Oscar Franco, a spokesman for the volunteer firefighters, told local media: "At least 25 people were injured and transferred to hospitals and we have confirmed 19 bodies."
All those who died were aged between 14 and 17.
The fire ripped through the facility in minutes.
Nery Ramos, the head of Guatemala's national police, said the fire was started by a group of young people at the shelter.
Firefighters battled to contain the flames as desperate family members arrived at the scene to try to find their loved ones.
After the blaze, images showed burned bodies covered by blankets lying in one of the blackened rooms.
The children who fled on the eve of the fire said it was due to poor conditions and mistreatment following the riot, which left the facility damaged.
The UN children's fund in Guatemala said on Twitter it "condemns the tragedy", adding: "These children and adolescents must be protected".
Local reports say the capacity of the home is 400, but that many more children were living there at the time.
The shelter takes in children up to the age of 18 who have suffered abuse or trafficking, or have been abandoned.
But local media say the shelter was also functioning as a juvenile detention centre, to which judges were sending adolescents involved in criminal cases. | Fire | March 2017 | ['(BBC)'] |
The Indian Space Research Organization successfully launches Chandrayaan–2 to survey lunar water from Satish Dhawan Space Center, India's second lunar exploration mission. If successful, Chandrayaan–2 will become the first spacecraft to land on the lunar south pole. | With the spectacularly successful launch of ISRO's Chandrayaan 2 mission on 22 July, the three-part spacecraft carrying a lunar orbiter, lander, and rover destined for the moon's surface was launched into the Earth's Parking Orbit, a temporary orbit used during the launch of a satellite or spacecraft.
Surely there was a lot going on between the launch and the planned landing on 7 September. How was the journey for the Chandrayaan spacecraft?
Update: After successfully performing its second de-orbiting manoeuvre, Chandrayaan 2 is now heading for a powered descent on the lunar surface.
The Chandrayaan 2 composite spacecraft spent the next three weeks making larger and larger elliptical orbits of the moon. From a 170 x 40,400 km (its nearest x farthest distance from the Earth) elliptical orbit, the spacecraft performed five "orbit-raising" shifts to higher orbits — bringing it closer to the moon with each subsequent one. These five manoeuvres required "Earth burns" of the spacecraft's onboard engines, with each thrust moving it closer to the moon's gravity.
Chandrayaan 2 was successfully launched at 2.43pm on 22 July.
The spacecraft used Earth's gravity to amp-up its own velocity using a technique popularly referred to as 'gravity assist', to conserve fuel. The final orbit raising took Chandrayaan 2 to a distance of 1,43,585 km from the Earth — halfway between our planet and the moon. This is when the next critical manoeuvre of the mission was performed: translunar injection, where the spacecraft's trajectory was adjusted so it reaches the moon.
Here's a timeline for how each of these manoeuvers was performed:
24 July 2019, 2 - 3.30 pm: First orbit-raising manoeuver to a final orbit of 230 x 45,162 km (closest x farthest distance of its elliptical orbit around the Earth)
26 July 2019, 1 - 2 am: Second orbit-raising manoeuver to a final orbit of 250 x 54,689 km
29 July 2019, 2.30 - 3.30 pm: Third orbit-raising manoeuver to a final orbit of 268 x 71,558 km
2 August 2019, 2 - 3 pm: Fourth orbit-raising manoeuver to a final orbit of 248 x 90,229 km
6 August 2019, 2.30 - 3.30 pm: Fifth and final orbit-raising manoeuver to a final orbit of 221 x 1,43,585 km
For the spacecraft to enter the lunar orbit, it needed to be put on a trajectory to arrive at a constantly-moving moon. The translunar injection, or TLI, is a manoeuvre of the thrusts used to set a spacecraft on this moon-bound path. The Chandrayaan 2 composite took less than a week to arrive in the proximity of the moon. This manoeuver placed the spacecraft on a 266 x 4,13,623 orbit that ended in the next stage of the mission: lunar transfer. The spacecraft's Liquid Apogee Motor (a.k.a. thruster engines) are retrofitted to make this lunar orbit insertion possible.
Gradually, the spacecraft was closer to the moon with five 'Lunar burns'. This part of the mission is where the bulk of the adjustments were made to make the planned landing date of 7 September despite the one-week delay in the mission's launch.
Illustration of the Chandrayaan 2 orbiter. Image: ISRO
The Chandrayaan 2 composite was then put on a 'lunar transfer trajectory'. During this week-long phase, the spacecraft left Earth's orbit and began its 3,84,000 kilometre journey to the moon. The last of Chandrayaan 2's Earth-bound orbits brought it halfway to the moon. It used its thrusters to come under the moon's 'orbit of influence'.
The Chandrayaan 2 composite then had to slow itself down just enough by using its thrusters to fall into the moon's reach — gravitationally speaking. This was the main goal of the lunar transfer phase of the mission.
The intended trajectory of #Chandrayaan2theMoon @isro pic.twitter.com/iFKwbz5OGW
— Tech2 (@tech2eets) July 22, 2019
The location of the moon relative to the Earth is constantly changing. Thus, the intersection of Chandrayaan 2's path with the moon's was predicted and planned well ahead of time. When the moon approached the apogee of Chandrayaan 2 — its farthest point from the Earth — the on-board thrusters fired up precisely and slowed itself down for the 'lunar capture'.
This controlled transfer — breaking free from the Earth's orbit of influence and into the moon's — took place over days. This required the liquid apogee motors to be fired in the opposite direction to the spacecraft's movement, therefore slowing it down in a manoeuvre called "retrofiring". This allowed the spacecraft to come under the influence of the moon's orbit.
The lunar orbital insertion was successfully completed on 20 August 2019 at 9.02 am to a final orbit of 114 x 18,072 km.
The lunar-bound phase, which was 28 days-long in the earlier launch schedule was shrunk to just 13 days. This is an important part of the orbiter's mission: surveilling its year-long home for the first time, ensuring that no damage was caused to its instruments on the journey thus far, and a thorough examination of the Vikram lander's landing site on the moon's South Polar region.
The lunar orbital insertion ended with the Chandrayaan 2 orbiter-lander composite entering a circular 100 km-altitude-orbit around the moon.
Illustration of Vikram lander and Pragyan rover on the lunar surface. Image: ISRO
Here's a quick timeline of how the lunar bound manoeuvers were performed after the lunar orbital insertion:
21 August 2019, 12.30 - 1.30 pm: First lunar bound orbit manoeuver to a final orbit of 118 x 4,412 km
28 August 2019, 5.30 - 6.30 am: Second orbit manoeuver to a final orbit of 179 x 1,412 km
30 August 2019, 6 - 7 pm: Third orbit manoeuver to a final orbit of 124 x 164 km
1 September 2019, 12.30 - 1.30 pm: Fourth and final lunar bound orbit manoeuver to a final orbit of 119 x 127 km
Till the 100 km orbit was attained, the spacecraft's three components were travelling together. After a few circular orbits at 104 x 128 km, the lunar lander separated from the orbiter on 2 September at 1.15 pm. The lander Vikram then used its propulsion system to lower its orbit to 35 x 101 km by deboosting. The lander continued moving in this new orbit for three days, during which it carried out checks on its systems and the landing system.
Deboosting is another challenging and critical milestone in the mission. The process of deboosting was necessary to slow the velocity of the spacecraft enough to drop/deliver it into the moon's gravitational field. This way, it achieved a "nominal" orbit around the moon.
On the day of landing, that is expected tonight between 1 - 2 am, the propulsion system of the lander will perform an important task. It will break the velocity of the lander in a controlled way, where the engines are shut off well before the spacecraft touches the moon's surface. In the final seconds before landing, the Vikram lander will be assisted only by the moon's gravity and not the spacecraft's thrusters. This move is to prevent a mini-plume of lunar dust from covering the lander — and its solar panels.
From the 35 km orbit that the lander will use until the landing is going to be a 15-minute window of "terror". These 15 minutes, during which the lander will undergo an automated, pre-programmed landing sequence, "will be the most terrifying moment" for ISRO, the agency's Chairman said. This 15-minute flight is something ISRO has never undertaken – it is the most complex mission it has ever undertaken.
For the landing site, ISRO has picked a high plain between two craters Manzinus C and Simpelius N near the moon's South Pole. The spacecraft's onboard Navigation, Guidance and Control (NGC) system as well as the propulsion system of the module will need to work in perfect unison for the autonomous landing to be a success.
| New achievements in aerospace | July 2019 | ['(FP)'] |
Michel Martelly is sworn in as the democratically-elected President of Haiti. | Port-Au-Prince, Haiti (CNN) -- With expectations of change running high, former bad-boy pop star Michel Martelly was sworn in Saturday as the president of impoverished Haiti, still reeling from last year's devastating earthquake.
In a sign of the nation's troubles, the electricity went out moments before the inauguration, prompting formally dressed dignitaries and guests -- including former U.S. President Bill Clinton and French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe -- to fan themselves to stave off rising May heat.
Immediately, Twitter lit up with posts calling the blackout a "bad sign." Despite the outage, the ceremony proceeded before parliament and Martelly took his oath of office amid the lights of media cameras.
Martelly, savvy in social media, tweeted his own inauguration as Haiti's 56th president minutes after it happened along with a flurry of messages expressing hope that change would now come to Haiti.
Outside, thousands of Haitians rejoiced at what they see as a new start for their country, where many people remain displaced from their homes and post-quake reconstruction has been slow, one of the reasons popular discontent with the former administration had grown.
The collective joy surfaced in a nation that has been subjected to months of misery compounded by a cholera epidemic that erupted last October. Port-au-Prince was under strict security all day Saturday, with United Nations peacekeepers out in force on street corners.
"Today is a big day for us," said Jolina Desroches, 40. "Before, (Martelly) was just the president of Kompa (a Haitian musical genre). Today, he is the president of the Haitian people."
Dressed in a dark suit and red tie, Martelly stepped outside after the ceremony draped in the presidential sash. Supporters hoping for a glimpse of the new president climbed up flag polls over the United Nations plaza where the ceremony took place and pressed against barriers, as vendors took advantage of the crowd to sell plantain chips and bananas.
After attending a lengthy Roman Catholic Mass in his honor, Martelly made his first speech as president on Saturday afternoon from a temporary stage in front of the collapsed National Palace, an iconic symbol of Haiti's struggles. He promised change, emphasizing the need to improve public safety to facilitate investment -- saying that, "with insecurity, the country cannot work. ... Money cannot (stay in the system), which means there isn't work and the misery is worse." The new president also reaffirmed his campaign promise to offer free education to young Haitians.
The entire address was in Creole, except for one part seemingly aimed at encouraging the international community to come to and invest in the Caribbean nation: "A new Haiti (is) open for business now!"
Thousands who had gathered outside the palace gates -- where a massive tent city still fills the capital's central plaza, as it has since the epic earthquake -- cheered the president's remarks.
Martelly has acknowledged his task as herculean in nature. He has pledged to fight corruption and institute measures of transparency.
He told CNN last month that one of his first actions as president would be to nominate high court judges. Creating an independent judiciary will send an important signal, he said.
"We have to establish a rule of law," he said. "We want justice for everyone."
Martelly also vowed to end government corruption that has plagued Haiti for years.
"I am excited to take command and make the right decisions for my country," he said during a visit to Washington in April.
In a message posted on Twitter after the inauguration, the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince said it was looking forward to working with the new government to achieve a better future for Haitian people.
Martelly's candidacy was unexpected -- he was better known as Sweet Micky, the kompa singer with flamboyant stage presence, but appealed to voters who had grown weary with the status quo. | Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration | May 2011 | ['(CNN)'] |
The Screen Actors Guild Awards are held with Matthew McConaughey winning Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role for his role in Dallas Buyers Club and Cate Blanchett winning Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role for her role in Blue Jasmine. | The awards season now turns on a delicate dance between “American Hustle” and “12 Years a Slave.”
The 20th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards gave David O. Russell’s con-man comedy “American Hustle” the top prize Saturday night, making it the front-runner for Oscar gold. But if it has any competition at the Academy Awards, it seems to be from Steve McQueen’s harrowing look at slavery in America.
The guild’s award show, considered a leading indicator of Oscar gold, did little to clarify a season that has seen both Academy Award nominees take home several top honors, including coveted trophies at the Golden Globes just last Sunday. The only honor “12 Years a Slave” won Saturday night at the Shrine Exposition Center in Los Angeles was for Lupita Nyong’o, for her supporting turn in her feature debut.
PHOTOS: SAG 2014 red carpet arrivals
Also solidifying their front-runner status Saturday night: Oscar nominees Cate Blanchett, Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto.
All three have won the lion’s share of trophies this awards season.
Blanchett won the trophy for lead female actor in a film for “Blue Jasmine,” playing a mentally troubled widow. McConaughey and Leto won for their performances in “Dallas Buyers Club.” McConaughey picked up the honor for lead actor for his role in the drama as a homophobic engineer who discovers he has AIDS, and Leto won for supporting male actor as a transgender woman dying of the disease.
The SAG honors TV as well as film, with AMC’s “Breaking Bad” and ABC’s “Modern Family” both winning two awards apiece, including top ensemble honors in drama and comedy, respectively.
“What a way to go out in style,” Bryan Cranston said as he accepted the honor on behalf of the cast of the TV drama series about a ruthless meth kingpin. The series ended its run last fall, but is still reaping the rewards. Cranston also topped off his Emmy and Golden Globe wins with the SAG prize for male actor in a drama series for playing Walter White.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus won the SAG award for female actor in a TV comedy series for HBO’s “Veep” and had the audience laughing with an acceptance speech that riffed off her role as the ambitious vice president. And Ty Burrell was even funnier. Winning for male actor in a TV comedy for “Modern Family,” he accepted the honor with a speech that included his five simple rules for failing his way to success.
But the winner who earned the loudest applause was barrier-breaking 82-year-old Rita Moreno.
The veteran actress, who is one of Hollywood’s rarest birds -- an EGOT, a winner of an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony award -- relished her moment in the spotlight as she received the prestigious Life Achievement Award.
“I’m so [bleeping] thrilled,” Moreno said after doing a victory dance around the stage in accepting the honor from her “Electric Company” co-star, Morgan Freeman. (At least that’s what it sounded like, because, well, it was bleeped.) She sang, she flirted with Brad Pitt and Jeremy Renner, and earned herself a standing ovation.
Another acting veteran -- Michael Douglas -- celebrated a win for the role of a lifetime, playing Liberace.
Douglas will always be remembered for his Oscar-winning role as Gordon Gekko, of course, in 1987’s “Wall Street.” But his daring turn as the flamboyant gay showman in HBO’s “Behind the Candelabra” has been a revelation. It earned him an Emmy and a Golden Globe. And at the SAG Awards, he won the trophy for male actor in a television movie or miniseries.
And as has been the routine this awards season, he has had nothing but praise for his co-star, Matt Damon, who played the pianist’s much younger lover. “The truth is, I am not here without Matt Damon,” Douglas said. “This is yours, too.”
SAG Awards 2014: Full coverage | Red carpet | Winners | Complete list
In other awards handed out Saturday evening, Helen Mirren won the trophy for female actor in a television movie or miniseries for HBO’s “Phil Spector,” and Maggie Smith won the statuette for female actor in a TV drama series for PBS’ “Downton Abbey.”
| Awards ceremony | January 2014 | ['(Los Angeles Times)'] |
The Nigerian Army announces a cyber warfare operation as protests against police brutality in the country continue. | The Nigerian Army has announced the commencement of a nationwide “cyberwarfare” operation, as protests against police brutality continue in the country.
The army said the operation will be under the banner of Exercise Crocodile Smile, which it said is an annual exercise and traditionally holds in the last quarter of the year.
It made the announcement on Saturday at a press briefing held at a military camp in Ngamdu village of Borno State.
The army was represented at the press briefing by its Chief of Training and Operations, Nuhu Angbazo, a major general.
Journalists who travelled about 100km from Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, to Ngamdu, were not allowed to ask questions or get clarification at the end of the briefing, a PREMIUM TIMES reporter said.
The statement was later communicated by the army’s spokesperson, Sagir Musa.
The army said the operation is “deliberately intended” to be all-encompassing, to include cyberwarfare exercises designed to “identify, track and counter negative propaganda in the social media and across the cyberspace”.
“This is the first-ever cyber warfare to be conducted in the history of the African armed forces; that will also improve Nigeria army’s capacity and resilience against hostile cyber acts in defence of our national security and critical national infrastructure,” it said.
Although the statement did not expressly list the ongoing protests as a possible target, the move is bound to raise concerns as another attempt by the government to clamp down on peaceful demonstrations across the country.
The protests, which have lasted over a week, have been galvanised by young social media activists using the hashtag, #EndSARS.
The army had earlier, in a response to the protests, pledged its loyalty to President Muhammadu Buhari and vowed to protect the nation’s democracy “at all cost”.
That position was criticised by many Nigerians who urged the military to stay off the protests.
In its latest statement, the army said the exercise will include “positive identification component aimed at identifying Boko Haram terrorists fleeing from the North East and other parts of the country as a result of the ongoing operations in the various theatres of operations especially in the Northeast, North Central and North Western parts of Nigeria.”
It reassured “well-meaning” Nigerians of its commitment to the sustenance of peace and security in Nigeria and urged the support and understanding of members of the public. | Protest_Online Condemnation | October 2020 | ['(Premium Times)'] |
Four people including members of the Bin Laden family are killed in a business jet crash close to Blackbushe Airport in the United Kingdom. , | Four people have died in a plane crash at a car auction site in Hampshire. The Saudi-registered private jet - which was arriving from Italy - crashed during an attempt to land at Blackbushe Airport in Yateley. Its pilot and all three passengers were killed but no-one on the ground was injured, Hampshire Constabulary said.
An eyewitness said the Phenom 300 jet exploded on impact at the British Car Auctions site, which is based at the airfield.
In a statement, Blackbushe Airport said the jet crashed near the end of the runway while attempting to make a landing. The Saudi General Authority of Civil Aviation tweeted it was a Saudi-registered private aircraft and that it would support the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) in its investigation. A spokeswoman for Milan Malpensa Airport confirmed the plane had left at 13:30 BST on its way to Hampshire. Andrew Thomas, who was paying for a car at the time, saw the plane catch fire on impact.
"I saw it when it had just happened, and could see the plane and cars in flames," he said.
"The plane nosedived into the cars and exploded on impact."
British Car Auctions, based in Farnham, Surrey, operates an auction site and warehouse at the Hampshire airfield.
Barry Wright was at the warehouse when the crash happened. He said the plane "went up in a ball of flames in about 60 seconds".
He added: "It sounded like a missile coming in - very loud, followed by several explosions." He said everyone was evacuated from the area and people were shouting "get out". Robert Belcher said he saw a "a big column of smoke" as he was passing the airport on his way home
He said: "I could see the plume of smoke waving from about five miles away and was hoping it was just a car fire rather than an aircraft accident.
"Apparently the aircraft was landing and just didn't stop.
"At the end of the runway there is a car park, because the airport is used for car auctions, and it has gone into there."
Hampshire police said officers were called to the scene at 15:09 BST.
The A30 was closed both ways between A327 Cricket Hill Lane and Blackbushes Road, but has since reopened.
However, the airport access road is closed from the A30 junction. Police have warned people to avoid the area. Acting Ch Insp Olga Venner said Hampshire police were carrying out a joint investigation with the AAIB.
She urged people with pictures and videos to get in touch on 101. Air Accidents Investigation Branch
Saudi General Authority Of Civil Aviation
| Air crash | July 2015 | ['(BBC)', '(BBC)'] |
In football, the final of the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations played at Libreville, Gabon, between Zambia and Ivory Coast, with Zambia winning 8–7 on penalties in a shock result. | Zambia clinched their first African Nations Cup crown with a poignant penalty shoot-out win over Ivory Coast.
Nineteen years after a plane crash which killed 18 members of their squad in Libreville, the Chipolopolo returned to the Gabon capital to record the most famous victory in the country’s history.
A dramatic shoot-out at the end of 120 minutes of largely underwhelming football went the way of Zambia when Gervinho shot wide and Stophira Sunzu stepped up to slot home.
The final proved a tale of penalty woe for Ivory Coast, chasing their first continental crown for 20 years, with Didier Drogba also failing from the spot during the 90 minutes.
But the win was ultimately no more than Zambia deserved for a plucky display against the odds.
The underdogs started brightly and almost claimed a second-minute lead, Nathan Sinkala’s low drive superbly saved by Ivory Coast goalkeeper Boubacar Barry low to his right.
Zambia boss Herve Renard was forced into a reshuffle after 11 minutes when defender Joseph Musonda was forced from the field in tears after catching his knee in the turf when making a challenge.
Nyambe Mulenga came on but the change did not disrupt the Zambians’ flow, with Chisamba Lungu looping a header narrowly over two minutes later.
It took Ivory Coast’s star-studded line-up 30 minutes to create a noteworthy chance, a clever backheel from Drogba picking out Yaya Toure but the Manchester City midfielder failing to find the target from eight yards.
The match degenerated into a scrappy affair after half-time with neither side able to put together a period of sustained pressure.
But in a rare moment of quality, Gervinho provided Drogba with the chance to redeem himself for his penalty shoot-out miss in the 2006 final defeat to Egypt.
The Arsenal forward burst into the area and was felled by a combination of Isaac Chansa and Mulenga, but Drogba sidefooted his spot-kick horribly over the bar.
The Elephants had another chance to win it in normal time but substitute Max Gradel, having turned his man inside the area, shot inches wide of the far post.
Zambia also had a late chance with a wonderful tackle from Kolo Toure preventing Emmanuel Mayuka from getting a shot on goal when he was well placed.
Zambia had the only chance in the first period of extra-time and it almost resulted in the opening goal.
Felix Katongo beat his marker down the right and crossed for brother Christopher, whose close-range shot would have sneaked in at the near post but for a vital touch from Barry’s boot.
Ivory Coast had two chances to win it after the break but Didier Ya Konan curled an effort just wide while, after 117 minutes, Gradel took an airshot when well placed.
The shoot-out was locked at 7-7 after 14 nerveless penalties before Kolo Toure saw his effort saved by Kennedy Mweene.
Rainford Kalaba fluffed his big moment by shooting over the bar but there was no second reprieve when Gervinho missed and Sunzu slotted in.
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| Sports Competition | February 2012 | ['(Bleacher Report)', '(Irish Examiner)'] |
South Korea's economy enters recession after exports plunge to their lowest levels since 1963. | SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea plunged into recession in the second quarter in its worst economic decline in more than two decades as the coronavirus pandemic battered exports and social distancing curbs paralysed factories.
Asia’s fourth-largest economy shrank by a seasonally adjusted 3.3% in the June quarter from three months earlier, the Bank of Korea said on Thursday. That is the sharpest contraction since the first quarter of 1998 and steeper than a 2.3% fall seen in a Reuters poll.
South Korea joins Japan, Thailand and Singapore in technical recession, defined as two straight quarters of decline, as the pandemic slams Asia’s trade-reliant economies.
However, analysts and policymakers are looking at the prospect of a recovery that would be faster than those of its regional peers.
“It’s possible for us to see China-style rebound in the third quarter as the pandemic slows and activity in overseas production, schools and hospitals resume,” South Korean finance minister finance minister Hong Nam-ki said after the data was released, referring to China’s return to growth in the second-quarter after a deep slump earlier in the year.
South Korea’s gross domestic product fell 2.9% in year-on-year terms, the biggest fall since the fourth quarter of 1998 and worse than a 2.0% decline seen in the poll.
Exports, which account for nearly 40% of the economy, were the biggest drag on growth, dropping by 16.6% on-quarter to mark the worst reading since 1963.
South Korea's POSCO 005490.KS, the world's fifth-biggest steelmaker, reported an 84.3% drop in operating profit in the second quarter as global demand for steel plummeted.
On Thursday, the world's No. 2 memory chip maker SK Hynix 000660.KS warned of uncertainty in the second half, even as its second-quarter operating profit tripled.
“While consumer spending should gradually recover, the threat from the virus is unlikely to fade entirely and some social distancing will probably have to remain in place,” Capital Economics Asia Economist Alex Holmes said.
“Meanwhile, global demand is only likely to recover slowly which will weigh on the export recovery.”
South Korea has reported almost 14,000 infections and around 300 deaths since the start of the outbreak, relatively low numbers by global standards although the economic disruptions have been significant.
Construction investment fell 1.3% quarter-on-quarter, while capital investment declined 2.9%.
Output from manufacturing and the service sector fell by 9.0%, and 1.1%, respectively.
One saving grace has been a 1.4% gain in private consumption from three months earlier, thanks to government cash handouts that boosted spending on restaurants, clothes and leisure activities.
The government has rolled out about 277 trillion won ($231 billion) worth of stimulus to fight the economic fallout from the pandemic so far. However, policymakers have little control over the global demand for the country’s exports, which includes everything from memory chips to cars to petrochemical products.
“The worst seems to be over. The base effect and fiscal injection from supplementary budget will improve investment,” said Park Sang-hyun, an analyst at HI Investment & Securities.
For the whole of 2020, analysts see the economy declining by a median 0.4%, which would be the first full-year contraction since 1998. But the International Monetary Fund estimates an even bigger 2.1% contraction.
Last week, the BOK’s governor said a downward revision from its previous projection of a 0.2% decline for 2020 was inevitable.
Reporting by Joori Roh; Editing by Sam Holmes
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
| Financial Crisis | July 2020 | ['(Reuters)'] |
Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani is convicted on one count of conspiracy in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York for his role in the 1998 United States embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya. | The first former Guantánamo detainee to be tried in a civilian court was acquitted on Wednesday of all but one of more than 280 charges of conspiracy and murder in the 1998 terrorist bombings of the United States Embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
The case has been seen as a test of President Obama’s goal of trying detainees in federal court whenever feasible, and the result seems certain to fuel debate over whether civilian courts are appropriate for trying terrorists. The defendant, Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, 36, was convicted of one count of conspiracy to destroy government buildings and property. He was acquitted of four counts of conspiracy, including conspiring to kill Americans and to use weapons of mass destruction.
Because of the unusual circumstances of Mr. Ghailani’s case after he was captured in Pakistan in 2004, he was held for nearly five years in a so-called black site run by the Central Intelligence Agency and at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba the prosecution faced significant legal hurdles even getting his case to trial.
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On the eve of Mr. Ghailani’s trial last month, the government lost a key ruling that may have seriously damaged its chances of winning convictions.
In the ruling, the judge, Lewis A. Kaplan of Federal District Court in Manhattan, barred prosecutors from using an important witness against Mr. Ghailani because the government had learned about the man through Mr. Ghailani’s interrogation while he was in C.I.A. custody, where his lawyers say he was tortured.
The witness, Hussein Abebe, would have testified that he had sold Mr. Ghailani the TNT used to blow up the embassy in Dar es Salaam, prosecutors told the judge, calling him “a giant witness for the government.” The judge himself recognized the significance of excluding the witness when he said in his ruling that Mr. Ghailani’s status of “enemy combatant” probably would permit his detention as something akin “to a prisoner of war until hostilities between the United States and Al Qaeda and the Taliban end, even if he were found not guilty.”
Mr. Ghailani, who remains in custody, faces 20 years to life in prison when he is sentenced on Jan. 25.
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The unexpected verdict by the anonymous six-man, six-woman jury came on the fifth day of deliberations. On Monday, the prospect of a deadlock was raised when a juror asked to be removed because she was alone in her view of the case and felt she was being attacked by other jurors. After the verdict on Wednesday, the jurors were to be taken from the courthouse by federal marshals and were unavailable for comment. Mr. Ghailani’s lawyers, including Peter E. Quijano, Steve Zissou, Michael K. Bachrach and Anna N. Sideris, had argued that their client was innocent and had been duped into assisting in the terrorist conspiracy.
“This verdict is a reaffirmation that this nation’s judicial system is the greatest ever devised,” Mr. Quijano said outside the courthouse. “It is truly a system of laws and not men, where, in the shadow of the World Trade Center, this jury acquitted Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani of 284 out of 285 counts.” Throughout the case, Mr. Ghailani seemed at ease with his lawyers, smiling frequently. After the verdict was read, he hugged them warmly. The verdict came after a four-week trial in which prosecutors built a circumstantial case to try to establish that Mr. Ghailani had played a key logistical role preparing for the Tanzania attack. They said the evidence showed that he helped to buy the Nissan Atlas truck that was used to carry the bomb, and gas tanks that were placed inside the truck to intensify the blast. He also stored an explosive detonator in an armoire he used, and his cellphone became the “operational phone” for the plotters before the attacks, prosecutors contended.
The attacks, orchestrated by Al Qaeda, killed 224 people, including 12 Americans, and injured thousands of others. Advertisement
The Ghailani trial was the second stemming from the 1998 embassy attacks. In 2001, four Qaeda operatives were convicted of participating in the same conspiracy; in that trial, prosecutors were able to use three of the defendants’ statements, made to the F.B.I., in which they incriminated themselves in the plot. In Mr. Ghailani’s trial, prosecutors chose not to introduce any of the statements Mr. Ghailani made when he was interrogated while in C.I.A. custody and at Guantánamo, although prosecutors told the judge the statements amounted “to a confession” of his role in the embassy plot. Defense lawyers argued that the statements had been coerced and were inadmissible.
Preet Bharara, the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, said that his office would seek a life sentence for Mr. Ghailani.
Mr. Bharara expressed his “deep appreciation for the unflagging commitment, dedication and talent of the agents who so thoroughly investigated this case and the prosecutors who so ably tried it.”
As the proceeding ended, the prosecutors, including Michael Farbiarz, Harry Chernoff, Nicholas Lewin and Sean S. Buckley, approached Mr. Ghailani’s lawyers, shaking hands and exchanging quiet words.
Although the government’s loss on significant counts will undoubtedly test the Obama administration’s resolve on using civilian courts, Judge Kaplan issued two major pretrial rulings that allowed Mr. Ghailani’s prosecution to go forward and could ease the way for future detainees, like Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the professed 9/11 mastermind, to be tried in federal court. In May, the judge rejected a motion by Mr. Ghailani’s lawyers seeking dismissal of charges on grounds that his torture while in C.I.A. custody was outrageous government misconduct. And in the summer, the judge ruled that Mr. Ghailani’s years of detention before being brought into the civilian system had not violated his constitutional right to a speedy trial.
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Mr. Mohammed has been detained since 2003, and accusations of torture, including waterboarding, would most certainly be raised in his case.
The verdict drew strong reaction from family members who had attended the trial. Susan F. Hirsch, whose husband, Abdurahman Abdalla, was killed in the Tanzania attack, said she was grateful for the jury’s efforts, but added, “I can’t help but feel that the evidence in the case would have been stronger had Ghailani been brought to trial when he was captured in 2004.”
Sue Bartley, who lost two family members in the Nairobi embassy attack her husband, Julian L. Bartley Sr., the consul general; and her son, Julian L. Bartley Jr., a college student who was an intern said she was “disappointed in the jury.”
“I think our prosecuting attorneys had the evidence,” she said. “I’m not sure that this jury understood what was in front of them.”
Judge Kaplan told the jurors they had demonstrated that “American justice can be rendered calmly, deliberately and fairly by ordinary people, people who are not beholden to any government, not even ours.”
“It can be rendered with fidelity to the Constitution,” he added. “You have a right to be proud of your service in this case.”
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | November 2010 | ['(New York Times)'] |
Leaders of the Burmese junta, including Senior General Than Shwe, resign from their posts ahead of general elections in November. | Leaders of Burma's junta are reported to have resigned from their military posts, days before the deadline to register candidates in the country's first general election in two decades.
Some reports said junta leader Gen Than Shwe was among those to have stepped down, but other reports denied this.
Observers believe he may want to become civilian president after the election on 7 November.
Critics say the election is a sham designed to entrench military power.
But the junta has said the election is a crucial step in transferring power in Burma from the military to civilians.
Burmese officials told journalists on Friday that there had been a major reshuffle in the military hierarchy.
News organisations run by Burmese exiles, including the Irrawaddy and Mizzima, reported that Than Shwe had relinquished his military role, but would remain as head of the government until the election.
The Norway-based Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) quoted sources at the country's Foreign Ministry as saying Than Shwe and his deputy Gen Maung Aye were preparing to step down, but had not yet announced their retirement.
The DVB said the two men would become president and vice-president of the pro-junta Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP).
A junta official also told AFP news agency that Than Shwe and Maung Aye were not among the senior military figures who had stepped aside. The junta's reshuffle comes after 27 senior officials retired from the military leadership in April. Those officials are widely expected to stand for election in November.
State media reported that the deadline to register candidates was 30 August.
Than Shwe, 77, has ruled Burma since 1992.
The last election, in 1990, was won by Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD), but the military junta never let the party take power. The NLD, which had refused to take part in the forthcoming election, was recently disbanded. Under a recently adopted constitution, Burma's president is due to be chosen through a vote taken in the newly elected parliament, in which a quarter of the seats will be reserved for the military.
The BBC's South East Asia correspondent Rachel Harvey says the latest moves appear to reinforce the view held by many democracy activists and Western governments - that even if the election shifts political rule from military to civilian, real power will lie in the same hands that it does now. Burma PM 'applies to form party' | Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | August 2010 | ['(BBC)', '(Sify India)', '(Bangkok Post)', '[permanent dead link]'] |
The centre–right parties win a majority in the Norwegian parliamentary elections, with the Conservative Party's Erna Solberg defeating incumbent Jens Stoltenberg for the position of Prime Minister. | Norwegian centre-right leader Erna Solberg is set to form a new government after Labour Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg admitted election defeat.
Ms Solberg described her win as "a historic election victory for the right-wing parties".
Her Conservative Party is widely expected to form a government with the anti-immigration Progress Party.
It is oil-rich Norway's first general election since attacks by a far-right extremist left 77 people dead in 2011.
With three-quarters of the votes counted, the bloc of four right-wing parties had won 96 of 169 seats in parliament.
Ms Solberg, 52, will become Norway's second female prime minister after Gro Harlem Brundtland, and its first Conservative prime minister since 1990. She is nicknamed "Iron Erna" for her robust views when she served in the cabinet between 2001 and 2005.
Much attention is now focused on the Progress Party, poised to enter government for the first time.
Ms Solberg also needs a third coalition partner to ensure a majority - but it is not yet clear whether the smaller Christian Democrats or Liberals are prepared to work with the Progress Party. They may instead opt to stay out, but give parliamentary support to a minority government comprising the Conservatives and Progress. Correspondents say the Progress Party has toned down its anti-immigration rhetoric since Anders Behring Breivik's atrocity in 2011. The vote was Norway's first general election since the far-right extremist killed 77 people in an Oslo bombing and a gun attack at a Labour Party youth camp. Breivik had previously been a member of the Progress Party.
A sharply critical report last year on police blunders in their response to the attack is reckoned to have undermined support for Mr Stoltenberg.
Welfare issues dominated the election campaign, as well as Ms Solberg's pledge to lower taxes and diversify the economy away from its heavy reliance on oil revenue. That oil wealth cushioned Norway from Europe's financial crisis and the country's unemployment is so low - less than 3% - that foreign workers are still needed to fill many jobs. The conservative leader also wants more privatisation to boost Norway's international competitiveness, but there is a broad consensus on free public healthcare and education.
The Progress Party is among those pushing for more spending from Norway's vast sovereign wealth fund, worth about $750bn (£479bn) - a potential point of dispute with the Conservatives.
Labour still emerged the biggest party in terms of votes, but would be unable to form a majority again with its leftist allies.
Mr Stoltenberg said he would step down after presenting the budget next month.
"In accordance with Norwegian parliamentary tradition, I will seek the resignation of my government after the presentation of the national budget on October 14, when it's clear that there is a parliamentary basis for a new government," he said.
The Labour leader, prime minister since 2005, congratulated Ms Solberg.
He said his party tried "to do what almost no-one has done, to win three elections in a row, but it turned out to be tough".
Ms Solberg told supporters in Oslo: "Today the voters have produced a historic election victory for the right-wing parties. We will give this country a new government."
Correspondents say at least the top two cabinet posts - and possibly the top three - are likely to be filled by women.
| Government Job change - Election | September 2013 | ['(Labour)', '(BBC)', '(AAP via SBS)'] |
A fire at the Perseus shopping centre in western Moscow kills at least one person and injures at least six others. | At least one person has died following a fire at the Perseus shopping centre in the west of Moscow. Video on social media showed thick black smoke rising from the blue mall building. According to multiple reports, the blaze began in a toys stockroom on the third floor, before spreading to the roof of the building. Three hundred people were evacuated. Russian investigators said they had opened a criminal case into the fire, which fire crews succeeded in putting out on Wednesday afternoon. The investigating committee said it would look into whether the fire had been caused by negligence.
It comes less than two weeks after a major fire at a shopping centre in Kemerovo, Siberia, killed 64 people, most of them children. On Sunday, the Kremlin said the governor of the Siberian region where that fire took place had resigned. The statement said Aman Tuleyev had offered his resignation and that it was accepted by the president, Vladimir Putin. Mr Tuleyev had headed the Kemerovo region for more than 20 years. | Fire | April 2018 | ['(The Independent)'] |
The Connecticut Supreme Court rules that gay and lesbian couples have the right to marry in Connecticut. | HARTFORD, Connecticut (CNN) -- The Connecticut Supreme Court ruled Friday that gay and lesbian couples have the right to get married.
The ruling makes Connecticut the third state, after Massachusetts and California, to decide its constitution mandates treating citizens equally when applying for marriage licenses, regardless of their sexual orientation.
"Interpreting our state constitutional provisions in accordance with firmly established equal protection principles leads inevitably to the conclusion that gay persons are entitled to marry the otherwise qualified same sex partner of their choice," the ruling said.
"To decide otherwise would require us to apply one set of constitutional principles to gay persons and another to all others. The guarantee of equal protection under the law, and our obligation to uphold that command, forbids us from doing so. In accordance with these state constitutional requirements, same sex couples cannot be denied the freedom to marry."
The decision would only allow gay couples the state benefits of marriage. The Defense of Marriage Act, passed in 1996, denies gay couples federal recognition of state marriages, which provides for federal benefits with regard to Social Security, taxation, immigration and others.
Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire and New Jersey have civil unions. View a map of where states stand on same-sex unions »
In 2005, Connecticut began to allow civil unions, intended to be marriage in all but name, without being forced by its courts. Two years later, Connecticut's Legislature tabled a bill allowing marriage.
Eight same-sex couple sued the state, saying that civil unions were not equal to marriage and that Connecticut's Constitution guaranteed them equal treatment.
In the dissent, one justice said he disagreed with the majority's opinion that "sexual orientation is a quasi-suspect class under our state constitutional provisions guaranteeing equal protection of the laws" because that point of view "unduly minimizes the unique and extraordinary political power of gay persons in this state."
A representative of Connecticut's commissioner of public health said he does not know when the state might start issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. | Government Policy Changes | October 2008 | ['(CNN)'] |
Nine Extinction Rebellion protesters are arrested for storming U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office. | The hunger strike inside House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office to protest inaction on climate change wasn’t going well Thursday.
It was day four without food for nine young strikers who vowed to stay until the bitter end, and Pelosi (D-Calif.) had not come close to meeting their demand to talk with them for an hour on camera about her leadership on the issue. They were allowed to squat at the entrance to her office on the plush blue carpet and quietly draw signs with Sharpies, but aside from that, it was almost as if Pelosi didn’t know they were there.
And so, weak and dizzy for lack of food, they gathered in a circle in the hallway and came up with a plan.
With the little energy they had left, they would storm past two aides, barge into the wider room where the congresswoman’s chief of staff and others sat, get arrested by police and make a statement that they were there to protest the “lip service” House Democrats paid to an issue that would impact their future.
That’s how nine members of a global organization called Extinction Rebellion ended their protest, marched out of the second-floor office in the Longworth building with their hands bound by zip ties as the impeachment inquiry spectacle played out in a hearing room one floor below.
Eva Malecki, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Capitol Police, said the nine protesters were charged with unlawful entry. Pelosi’s office claimed that a protester also shoved an aide, who declined to press charges.
Before he was led away, Nick Brana, 30, said members of Extinction Rebellion sent Pelosi two letters, one last week on Tuesday and another Sunday, a day before they arrived at her door, listing their demands.
“We said we would go on hunger strike unless she met with us in her office,” Brana said. “We knew she would not want to meet with us. On Monday we told her what the start time would be. We would take over your office until you meet with us. We have yet to see her. She has yet to make any acknowledgment of us, let alone set up a meeting in the office.”
Extinction Rebellion believes climate change is “an unprecedented global emergency.” The group, comprised mostly of young people, stages demonstrations in cities across the world to call attention to its cause to make it a political priority.
On Monday, 25 of them gathered at Folger Park and vowed not to eat. Giovanni Tamacas, who was also arrested, opened the door to Pelosi’s office and in they walked.
Extreme climate change has reached the United States
The group protested peacefully until Thursday, when they realized that Congress would adjourn for the Thanksgiving holiday, and that Pelosi would fly to San Francisco that evening without agreeing to a video recorded meeting.
“It’s unfortunate that the Extinction Rebellion protestors resorted to non-peaceful measures today after they were kindly accommodated in the Speaker’s office for four days,” Taylor Griffin, a spokeswoman for Pelosi, said in a statement.
The speaker respected their right to free speech and demonstration, Griffin said. Another staff member said they were willing to allow staff members to meet with the protesters. They were provided with water with lemon that strikers took instead of food. They endured how members of the group unplugged their television monitor and hung signs when they were asked not to.
Pelosi was focused on the impeachment inquiry against President Trump, an issue that’s consuming Washington. The staff confirmed the speaker, who conducts up to 20 meetings per day, received Extinction Rebellion’s demands less than a week before the protest.
The staff member disagreed with Brana’s assertion that the House under Pelosi has only paid lip service to climate change. Pelosi has been a vocal proponent of curbing greenhouse gas emissions linked to climate change for years. She helped orchestrate the passage of legislation in 2009 that would have set the first-ever national cap on greenhouse gas emissions, only to see the bill die in the Senate.
Brana said local members of Extinction Rebellion believe that Pelosi has helped block the ambitious climate package crafted by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), which would direct billions of dollars to addressing the issue. Pelosi has questioned the political viability of enacting the Green New Deal into law, remarking earlier this year, “I can’t say we’re going to take that and pass it.”
There have been 110 hearings related to climate change in less than a year under Pelosi, far more than when Republicans controlled the House, Pelosi’s office said. Pelosi has established select committees on climate change twice after getting hold of the speaker’s gavel, in 2009 and again a decade later.
But a committee that can’t make policy or pass laws is exactly what angers Extinction Rebellion about Pelosi’s leadership, meetings that don’t lead to action.
“We’re looking at an existential threat to human society,” Stephen Leas said before he too was led away from Pelosi’s office, hands behind his back. “We won’t be able to stop the impacts in the next 10 years.” Leas, 28, spoke of a downward climate spiral of melting ice, rising seas, monster wildfires and land that can no longer support crops. In other words, a future of hunger, the way he felt Thursday, having not eaten since Sunday.
Leas’s mother made a pie that night, one of the last things he gobbled down. On Thursday morning, he awoke feeling lethargic, not wanting to get out of bed. Brana felt pain gnawing at his empty stomach three days after eating his last meal, pasta. Tamacas, 20, sat in a corner in the hallway outside Pelosi’s office, saying he felt dizzy each time he stood and pointed at his right rib cage to where he felt pain.
“I’ll be fine,” he said. “It’s nothing compared to people who will starve in the future. They won’t have a choice.”
Leas said young people are laying down a gauntlet to leaders like Pelosi. “We as a generation can determine whether humans will continue to exist.”
But Brana, Leas and Tamacas felt they had too much to lose and everything to gain.
Since Monday, Brana had lost nine pounds and so had Leas. Tamacas had lost four.
“I feel weak throughout my whole body. Every physical exertion feels taxing at this point,” Brana said. “The world needs action now and that’s not what we’re getting from [Pelosi].”
Juliet Eilperin and Clarence Williams contributed to this report.
The most important news stories of the day, curated by Post editors and delivered every morning. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Arrest | November 2019 | ['(Washington Post)'] |
An Australian Transport Safety Bureau investigation into the collision between container ship MV Beijing Bridge and trawler FV Saxon Onward concludes both vessels saw each other in the lead-up to the collision but neither took appropriate avoiding action in time, with evasive manoeuvres by the cargo ship increasing the collision risk. | The Maritime Executive The Australian Transport Safety Bureau has released the final investigation report into the collision between the container ship Beijing Bridge and fishing vessel Saxon Onward noting that the container ship's evasive action actually increased the risk of collision.
The incident occurred in the Tasman Sea, about three nautical miles south-east of Gabo Island, Victoria, on January 23, 2018. The collision occurred at about 0015 when Beijing Bridge was en route to Melbourne. There were no injuries or pollution reported by either vessel. The fishing vessel suffered substantial damage to its hull but was able to make its way unassisted to the nearby port of Eden, New South Wales. The container ship resumed its passage and berthed in Melbourne later the same day.
Both vessels had been aware of each other’s presence for at least half an hour before the collision took place. Both vessels also took action in an attempt to avoid collision but these actions were either insufficient or too late. Beijing Bridge’s course alteration was not substantial, not made in good time, and actually increased the risk of a collision. Saxon Onward made a substantial course alteration but it was made too late and resulted in the collision.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau continues to see collisions between small vessels and trading ships on the Australian coast, with at least 65 such collisions reported and 39 investigated since 1990. Safety investigations into several of these collisions have shown that taking early and effective avoiding action, and the keeping of a proper lookout, could have prevented most of these collisions.
The Minutes Before the Collision
At about 0005, with Beijing Bridge about four nautical miles away, Saxon Onward’s watchkeeper left the wheelhouse and walked the short distance to the trawler’s bow to better assess the situation. He sighted Beijing Bridge fine on the starboard bow with the ship’s two masthead lights (nearly in a line), green sidelight and deck lights visible. He then returned to the wheelhouse and continued to monitor the approaching ship visually and by radar while maintaining Saxon Onward’s course and speed.
By about 0008, Beijing Bridge was steady on a new course with a heading of 241º and was about 0.75 nautical miles to starboard of the ship’s planned track with Saxon Onward fine on the ship’s port bow. About a minute later, the officer of the watch (OOW) altered the ship’s heading to port with the intention of passing between two trawlers, the Saxon Onward and the Rubicon, and increasing the distance at which Saxon Onward’s closest point of approach would occur. The ship eventually settled on a heading of 228º at about 0012 with Saxon Onward, now on the ship’s starboard bow.
Shortly after, Saxon Onward’s watchkeeper commenced a rapid turn to starboard at a distance of about one nautical mile from Beijing Bridge.
In response, Beijing Bridge’s OOW altered the ship’s heading to port from 228º to 225º and flashed the ship’s Aldis lamp at Saxon Onward followed by a long blast on the ship’s whistle. Woken by the whistle, the ship’s master called the OOW on the bridge telephone to find out what was happening and was told that he was needed on the bridge. The OOW then continued to sound long blasts on the ship’s whistle. At about 0014, the OOW changed the steering over from autopilot to hand steering and placed the wheel hard to port.
A few seconds later, the master arrived on the ship’s bridge and saw the lights of the trawler, on the starboard side, rapidly closing on the ship. He also immediately ordered “hand steering” and “hard to port” and confirmed that the ship was beginning to turn to port. The master ordered the OOW to continue blowing the whistle and then went out on to the starboard bridge wing.
Meanwhile, on Saxon Onward, the watchkeeper realized that the trawler was in danger and shouted to alert the skipper and crew. At about 0015, as the skipper arrived in the wheelhouse, Saxon Onward collided with Beijing Bridge. The trawler’s port bow impacted the ship’s starboard side in the region of cargo hold number 3, about 94 meters aft of the ship’s bow. As the trawler then scraped down the ship’s side, the skipper stopped the engine and the crew mustered in the wheelhouse. The trawler heeled over sharply to starboard and took on some water before it righted itself, passed the ship’s stern and drifted away to the north-east.
Australian Transport Safety Bureau Analysis
While Beijing Bridge was on its planned track, the traffic situation was relatively benign with neither Saxon Onward nor Rubicon posing a risk of collision. Beijing Bridge’s OOW then commenced a course alteration to starboard more than three nautical miles in advance of the planned waypoint in the vicinity of Gabo Island, Victoria. The OOW, believing it was safe to do so, commenced the course alteration early to effect a short-cut and indicated that it was common practice for him to do so. While it is not unusual for ships to make minor departures from the passage plan, in this instance, the decision to alter course in advance of the planned waypoint resulted in a close quarters situation with risk of collision developing with Saxon Onward.
Beijing Bridge's company procedures and master's standing orders required early and effective action be taken to avoid collision in accordance with the COLREGs. They also specified that course alterations were to leave no doubt as to the ship's intentions. Shortly before the collision, at a range of about three nautical miles from Saxon Onward, Beijing Bridge’s OOW carried out a 13° course alteration to port in an attempt to increase the distance at which Saxon Onward’s closest point of approach would occur. This action was based on the OOW’s assumption that Saxon Onward would cross the ship’s bow from port to starboard and pass clear down the ship’s starboard side.
However, this action failed to resolve the close quarters situation. The action also increased the risk of a collision in the event Saxon Onward decided to take action in accordance with the COLREGs, as subsequently occurred. Further action, taken in response to Saxon Onward’s course alteration to starboard, including the final turn to port, was not effective in avoiding the collision either.
Furthermore, the master was not called during the developing situation and was only alerted to the impending collision by the ship’s whistle. Consequently, he arrived on the bridge too late to affect the outcome of the situation.
Saxon Onward’s 2400-0200 watchkeeper had acquired Beijing Bridge on radar and then continued to monitor the situation, including Beijing Bridge’s succession of course alterations, both visually and by radar. The watchkeeper then assessed the trawler and the ship to be in a head on situation with risk of collision. In response, and in accordance with the COLREGs, the watchkeeper then initiated a bold alteration of course to starboard. However, this action, taken at the relatively close range of about one nautical mile, was too late to have a positive effect on the situation and resulted in the collision.
On board Beijing Bridge, the re-assignment of the bridge lookout to day work duties left the OOW as the sole lookout on the bridge during the hours of darkness of the 2000-2400 watch on the night of the collision and for several weeks preceding. This was in contravention of the company’s procedures and international regulations. While in this case, the absence of the bridge lookout did not affect the OOW’s ability to detect Saxon Onward, it increased the risk of vessels going undetected over a period of several weeks prior to the collision.
| Shipwreck | July 2018 | ['(The Maritime Executive)'] |
Following a meeting with pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi in Rangoon, Cameron calls for economic sanctions against Burma to be suspended in recognition of the changes taking place there. | David Cameron has said economic sanctions against Burma should be suspended in recognition of the changes taking place in the country.
The prime minister spoke after a meeting with pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi in Rangoon.
Ms Suu Kyi welcomed his call and said the suspension of sanctions would "strengthen the hand of the reformers".
Mr Cameron is the first Western leader to visit Burma since her success in a series of parliamentary by-elections.
He is also the first UK prime minister to visit the country since it gained independence in 1948.
Earlier, Mr Cameron met President Thein Sein and said the government had to demonstrate that moves to democracy were "irreversible".
Burma was ruled for almost half a century by a military junta that stifled almost all dissent and wielded absolute power. The EU, US and other nations imposed sanctions.
The first general election in 20 years was held in 2010. The installation of a military-backed, nominally civilian government in March 2011 and a series of reforms since - including the release of hundreds of political prisoners - has led to speculation that decades of international isolation could be coming to an end.
Speaking at a joint press conference with Ms Suu Kyi at the lakeside villa where she spent 15 years under house arrest, Mr Cameron said the arms embargo in place against Burma should remain in place, but it was right to suspend - not lift - the remaining sanctions.
They include an assets freeze imposed on nearly 500 people and restrictions on key industries such as mining and timber.
"[Burma] shouldn't be as poor as it is. It shouldn't have suffered under dictatorship for as long as it has, and things don't have to be that way," the prime minister said. "I do think it is important to send a signal that we want to help see the changes that can bring the growth of freedom of human rights and democracy in your country."
Mr Cameron said it was right to respond to signs of change "with care", adding: "All courses of action are full of risk, but I think this is the right step forward."
He also praised Ms Suu Kyi, calling her "an inspiration for people across the world".
She in turn welcomed his call for the suspension of sanctions, saying: "We still have a long way to go but we believe we can get there.
"This suspension will have taken place because of the steps taken by the president and other reformers.
"It would also make it quite clear to those who are against reform that should they try to obstruct the way of the reformers, then sanctions could come back." EU foreign ministers are to discuss policy towards Burma on 23 April, and sanctions are due to expire on 30 April unless leaders choose to renew them.
The BBC's deputy political editor, James Landale, who is travelling with the PM, says the change in position by the UK makes it very likely that Europe will agree to lift the sanctions.
Sanctions safeguards
But he says Mr Cameron's move is a gamble - and some would call it too much too soon - because if there is any regression by the regime it will be difficult to get European nations to agree to reimpose sanctions once again.
Labour shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander said "the sequenced lifting of sanctions along with careful monitoring of developments" was "a sensible way forward".
But former Labour minister Baroness Kinnock, the chairwoman of the all-parliamentary group on Burma, sounded a note of caution, saying there must be "clear measures in place to ensure that sanctions will be reimposed if there's no further progress".
"So we need to see interim measures, we need to see deadlines, we need to see benchmarks," she told BBC Radio 4's World at One.
Wai Hnin, from the Burma Campaign UK, told the BBC the recent changes in the country were proof that sanctions were working, but there was still "no democratic system in Burma yet".
"To remove all the sanctions would be a little bit silly - I'm afraid that these changes will stop," she said.
Mr Cameron also revealed he had invited Miss Suu Kyi to visit Britain in June.
She said that two years ago she would have declined, knowing she would have been prevented from returning to Burma.
"Now I am able to say perhaps. That is great progress," she added. Burma is the final leg of the prime minister's tour of South East Asia promoting UK interests. Prior to arriving in Nay Pyi Taw, he stopped briefly in Singapore to meet its leader, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
Ten members of the business delegation, which includes defence firms, accompanying Mr Cameron on his tour are also in Burma.
However, Downing Street has insisted the visit is purely political and the businessmen will merely be carrying out "cultural" activities.
Mr Cameron is not the first major Western figure to visit the country - US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made a landmark trip to Burma in December 2011.
He is, however, the first sitting UK prime minister to do so - Anthony Eden, who later became PM, travelled there while foreign secretary, and Edward Heath visited after leaving No 10.
Cameron praises Burma's 'courage to reform'
PM unveils Indonesia Airbus deal | Diplomatic Visit | April 2012 | ['(BBC)'] |
SpaceX successfully launches CRS–16 on its way to the International Space Station. The first stage crashes into the ocean near Cape Canaveral and is later recovered. | It’s been a busy time for Elon Musk and SpaceX, lately. Earlier this week, the company launched 64 satellites (and a art project known as the Orbital Reflector) in what was the largest rideshare mission in history. The mission was also historic because it involved a booster making its third successful landing. And this was after Musk released more details about his proposed BFR, henceforth known as the “Starship”
And earlier today (Wednesday Dec. 5th), SpaceX launched its sixteenth Commercial Resupply Services mission (CRS-16) to the International Space Station (ISS). While the deployment of the Dragon spacecraft was successful, the first stage booster did not make it back to the landing pad. After suffering from an apparent malfunction in one of its grid fins, the booster fell into the sea – but remained intact and will be retrieved.
The mission lifted off at 10:16 am PST (01:16 p.m. EST), from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The Dragon spacecraft, which had previously been used for the CRS-10 mission in February of 2017, carried more than 2,540 kg (5,600 lbs) of supplies and payloads. Among these were materials that are critical to supporting the ongoing research and investigations aboard the ISS.
As with previous launches, the company began live-streaming the launch via webcast. About seven minutes after liftoff, the second stage and Dragon spacecraft separated from the Falcon 9’s first stage and proceeded to Low Earth Orbit (LEO). At 10:26 am PST (01:26 pm EST), SpaceX announced “Second stage engine burn complete. Dragon confirmed in good orbit,” followed shortly thereafter by confirmation that its solar arrays had deployed.
The first stage then began descending towards Landing Zone 1 (LZ-1) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. This was to be the twenty-seventh time that SpaceX had managed to successfully retrieve a first stage booster. However, 7 minutes and 25 seconds after the launch, the first stage began tumbling uncontrollably towards the surface. This was apparently due to the failure of one of the grid fins, which stabilize the first stage during its descent.
Luckily, the mission controllers were able to stabilize the rocket in time with some bursts from the engine, bringing the first stage in for a soft landing on water off the coast of Florida. At 10:34 am PST (0:34 EST), Musk tweeted the apparent cause of the failed landing and addressed possible changes to avoid similar problems in the future.
“Grid fin hydraulic pump stalled, so Falcon landed just out to sea. Appears to be undamaged & is transmitting data. Recovery ship dispatched.” he said, adding later, “Pump is single string. Some landing systems are not redundant, as landing is considered ground safety critical, but not mission critical. Given this event, we will likely add a backup pump & lines.”
Musk also posted the video of the first stage’s descent, which showed it spinning as it fell to Earth, how its spin rate was slowly arrested with correctional thrusts, and how it touched down on the ocean and fell sideways into the water. Musk also indicated that ships were en route to retrieve the booster. When asked if the booster would be reused, Musk replied, “We may use it for an internal SpaceX mission.”
While the first stage booster did not land as intended, the fact that it survived the descent is no small feat. In addition, this should not distract from the fact that the launch itself went by the numbers. Currently, the Dragon spacecraft is on schedule to arrive at the ISS by Saturday, Dec. 8th. Once there, the crew will use the station’s 17.6 m (57.7 ft) robotic arm (aka. Canadarm2) to capture the Dragon spacecraft and attach it to the orbiting laboratory.
The arrival of the Dragon spacecraft will also be the subject of a live webcast. Coverage will begin at about 02:00 a.m. PST (0:500 a.m. EST) with the capture expected to happen about 1 hour later.
In the meantime, you catch the replay of the launch here:
Further Reading: SpaceX, Twitter, ArsTechnica
Was this a Block 5 booster?
Yes. All boosters starting a few months ago are block 5. Block 4 is retired. also it was a new Block 5 booster. SpaceX has only ever used new boosters for Space Station missions (however the Dragon capsule has been reused)..
| New achievements in aerospace | December 2018 | ['(Universe Today)'] |
Judge Ghassan Ouiedat, a Lebanese prosecutor, imposes a travel ban on former Chairman of Nissan Carlos Ghosn after he was summoned over an Interpol warrant issued by Japan seeking his arrest on financial misconduct charges. | BEIRUT/TOKYO (Reuters) - Carlos Ghosn’s lawyer said he was “very comfortable” with legal proceedings in Lebanon on Thursday, after the fugitive ex-Nissan boss was questioned over an extradition request from Japan where he faces financial misappropriation charges.
Ghosn fled Japan to Lebanon, his childhood home, last month as he awaited trial on charges of under-reporting earnings, breach of trust and misappropriation of company funds, all of which he denies.
His dramatic escape has raised tension between Tokyo and Beirut at a time when Lebanon is seeking an international bailout to help it tackle a deep financial crisis.
Ghosn slammed the Japanese justice system at a two-hour news conference on Wednesday, prompting Japan’s Justice Minister to launch a rare and forceful public response.
After questioning in Beirut about Japan’s Interpol warrant, two judicial sources said the prosecutor had imposed a travel ban, a step Carlos Abou Jaoude, a Beirut-based lawyer for Ghosn, described as procedural to broadcaster Al Jadeed.
Lebanon has no extradition agreement with Japan.
“He (Ghosn) is very comfortable with the path,” Jaoude told another broadcaster, MTV, adding that Ghosn was also comfortable in himself “especially after what he went through”.
Related Coverage
One of the judicial sources said authorities had asked Japan for its file on Ghosn, including the charges against him, and would not question him again until the information is received. Ghosn would surrender his French passport on Thursday, he said.
Ghosn said later he was more comfortable with the Lebanese judiciary than that of Japan. “I will fully cooperate,” he told broadcaster LBCI.
Japan’s Justice Minister Masako Mori said Ghosn’s allegations that he had had “zero chance” of a fair trial in Japan were unfounded.
“Defendant Ghosn was looking to justify his unlawful exit from Japan by propagating a false recognition of our justice system,” she said at the second of two news conferences, the first of which was held shortly after midnight.
“I felt that we needed to respond immediately to broadcast a correct understanding to people around the world.”
Ghosn told LBCI her comments were “ridiculous”.
“Today my concern is clearing my name and reputation because all the accusations against me are fabricated,” he told Al Jadeed.
Ghosn’s arrest after his private jet touched down in Tokyo in November 2018 shook the global auto industry and jeopardized the Renault-Nissan alliance of which he was the mastermind.
The Brazilian-born executive said on Wednesday he was prepared to stand trial anywhere he could get a fair hearing but also that he was ready to stay for a long time in Lebanon.
A source close to the 65-year-old has said his legal team is pushing for him to be tried in the country.
Ghosn said, however, that he did not want to put pressure on Japan-Lebanon bilateral ties, two days after Japan’s ambassador to Lebanon requested greater cooperation from President Michel Aoun in dealing with the case.
The decision by Lebanon’s prosecutor, Judge Ghassan Ouiedat, after Ghosn’s questioning at Beirut’s Justice Palace requires Ghosn to keep the authorities informed of his place of residence, the judicial sources said.
Ghosn was given the same instruction after accompanying questioning over a formal legal complaint filed by a group of Lebanese lawyers who accuse him of “normalisation” with Israel over a visit he made there in 2008.
Ghosn said on Wednesday he had made the trip as a French citizen and an executive of Renault to sign a contract with a state-backed Israeli firm to sell electric vehicles, and had been obliged to go because the board had requested it.
He said he had apologized for the trip and had not meant to hurt the people of Lebanon, which deems Israel an enemy state.
During the visit, Ghosn met Ehud Olmert, who was Israel’s prime minister at the time of the 2006 war between Israel and the Iranian-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah.
Nearly 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, died in the 2006 war and 158 people died in Israel, mostly soldiers.
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Arrest | January 2020 | ['(Reuters)'] |
Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori arrives in Lima a day after Chile's Supreme Court ruled his extradition back to his home country due to charges of human rights abuses and corruption. | Hundreds of supporters were waiting at a police base in Lima but his plane landed at a nearby military air base.
The ex-leader denies the allegations, which date back to the early 1990s, and has fought extradition since 2005. But after the Chilean decision, he said the extradition would give him an opportunity to clear his name.
After landing, Mr Fujimori was taken to a police detention centre some 30km (19 miles) outside the capital. FUJIMORI CHARGES
2 human rights charges:Sanctioned death squad killings - 1991 Barrios Altos 15 killed - 1992 La Cantuta 10 killed
5 corruption charges: including- embezzling $15m - payoffs to congress members - illegal wiretapping
It had been expected that the plane carrying Mr Fujimori from Chile would land at a police base near the capital's main airport, but it went to the military air base instead, flying over the heads of hundreds of supporters who had been waiting to greet him. The BBC's Dan Collyns in Lima says Mr Fujimori is a very controversial figure in Peru, arousing strong passions, both for and against. He is popular with many working-class Peruvians, who say current President Alan Garcia ruined the economy in his first term of office, before Mr Fujimori's election in 1990.
The legal process Mr Fujimori now faces is unlikely to be swift, our correspondent says. 'Crass errors'
Mr Fujimori said in a radio interview before his departure from Chile: "I am certain and secure in addressing the actions of my government in this trial and will emerge with honour."
Mr Fujimori's daughter Keiko, who leads his political movement in Peru's Congress, called for his supporters to rally round and give him the reception a former head of state deserved.
Chilean Supreme Court judge Alberto Chaigneau said the court's extradition decision had been based on two charges of human rights violations and five of corruption.
Peruvian Prime Minister Jorge del Castillo said his government would not politicise the case and pledged that Mr Fujimori would be given a fair trial and treated with dignity. Enthusiastic supporters had gathered at a Lima police base
The human rights charges against the former Peruvian leader date back to the early 1990s, when his government was allegedly responsible for killing civilians in the fight against Shining Path Maoist guerrillas.
One of the alleged massacres was at a poor neighbourhood in Lima in 1991 in which 15 people died.
The second at a dormitory at La Cantuta University in 1992 in which one teacher and nine students were abducted and killed. In his first interview after the ruling, Mr Fujimori told Peruvian radio that he had always tried to do what was best for the country.
"I governed Peru for 10 years, through one of its worst periods, and solved most of the problems the country faced such as terrorism and hyperinflation."
However he acknowledged that "some crass errors" had been made by his administration.
Mr Fujimori - the son of Japanese immigrants - led Peru from 1990 to 2000, and fled the country as his term in office drew to a close amid a corruption scandal.
He initially flew to Japan, where he holds dual nationality and is immune from extradition.
Five years later he travelled to Chile in a failed attempt to return to Peru to run in last year's presidential elections. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | September 2007 | ['(BBC)'] |
Twin bombs injure eight people outside M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore ahead of an IPL3 league game between the Royal Challengers Bangalore and the Mumbai Indians. A third device is located outside. | A bomb has exploded outside a cricket stadium in the southern Indian city of Bangalore, police say.
At least eight people were injured in the explosion. The blast happened shortly before the start of an Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket match. Police say the device was hidden in the perimeter wall. The match went ahead with about 40,000 people in Chinnaswamy Stadium. The Mumbai Indians beat the Royal Challengers Bangalore. Bangalore captain Anil Kumble brushed aside suggestions that some of his overseas players had refused to take the field following the explosion. "Coming from Bangalore, my home city, I had a chat with the players just to reassure them," Kumble said. "I did not have much of a problem convincing them to play." The team's captains were walking out on to the pitch to toss the coin to decide who would bat first when the explosion happened. Police commissioner Shankar Bidari told a news conference that the bomb was a "low-intensity" explosive. "It appears some sort of explosive material was hidden in the wall, some distance away from the stands. Mr Bidari said that a section of the perimeter wall had been damaged and that forensic experts had been called in to investigate. The game started after security staff carried out an inspection of the grounds. | Armed Conflict | April 2010 | ['(Indian Express)', '(BBC)', '(The Daily Telegraph)'] |
The United States House of Representatives votes 216–208 to pass a bill that would make Washington, D.C. the 51st state, with general support from Democrats and opposition from Republicans. | WASHINGTON (AP) — A decades-long movement to reshape the American political map took a further step Thursday as the House of Representatives approved a bill to make the nation’s capital the 51st state.
Approval came by a 216-208 vote along strict party lines. Republicans oppose the idea given that the new state would be overwhelmingly Democratic — and the proposal faces a far tougher road in the Senate, where even full Democratic support isn’t guaranteed. The legislation proposes creating a 51st state with one representative and two senators, while a tiny sliver of land including the White House, the U.S. Capitol and the National Mall would remain as a federal district. Instead of the District of Columbia, the new state would be known as Washington, Douglass Commonwealth — named after famed abolitionist Frederick Douglass, who lived in Washington from 1877 until his death in 1895. An identical statehood bill passed the House in 2020, but died in the then-Republican-controlled Senate. Now, with the 2020 elections leaving Democrats controlling both chambers of Congress and the White House, Republican senators may resort to a filibuster to stymie the statehood bill. The Senate is split 50/50 with Vice President Kamala Harris as the tie-breaker. But it takes 60 senators to break a concerted filibuster attempt. Senate Democrats could vote to tweak the filibuster rules and slip the statehood issue through a loophole — but that would require total unity and some moderate Democrats have expressed opposition to that strategy. Perennial swing vote and Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia had already publicly stated that he will not vote to eliminate or weaken the filibuster. Manchin is also one of a handful of Democratic Senators who has not openly supported the D.C. statehood initiative. For now, though, Democrats and statehood advocates are celebrating their House victory. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser tied the statehood issue to America’s ongoing reckoning over police brutality and longstanding issues of racial injustice. “This vote comes at a critical time when Americans nationwide are eager to deliver on the promise of liberty and justice for all,” Bowser said in a statement. “For centuries, an incremental approach to equality in America has delayed this promise for too many. Now is the time for bold action.”
Kentucky Republican Rep. James Comer called the measure “flatly unconstitutional.” “It won’t withstand judicial scrutiny, but it will cause massive confusion for years as it’s reviewed by the courts,” Comer said in a statement. “Democrats are pushing D.C. statehood to pack the U.S. Senate with two progressive senators so they can end the filibuster, pack the Supreme Court, enact the Green New Deal, and create the socialist utopia the Squad dreams about.”
The bill received strong support from the White House, which has called Washington’s current status “an affront to the democratic values on which our Nation was founded.”
During Thursday floor debate, a succession of Republican representatives decried it as a cynical and unconstitutional power-grab. The country’s founding fathers, “never wanted D.C. to be a state and then specifically framed the constitution to say so,” said Georgia Republican Rep. Jody Hice. But Virginia Democratic Rep. Gerald Connolly pointed out that Kentucky was once a part of Virginia, and was carved out as a state by Congress. Connolly argued that the federal district was a theoretical concept when first conceived, not a community with a higher population than two U.S. states. “When the constitution was written, this place didn’t exist,” he said. “When people say this is not about race and partisanship, you can be sure it’s about race and partisanship.”
During a March hearing by the House oversight committee, GOP representatives claimed D.C. was unfit for statehood and proposed a variety of alternatives that included absolving Washingtonians from federal taxes and “retroceding” most of D.C. back into Maryland. Opponents also contend that Congress lacks the authority to change D.C.’s status, despite every state other than the original 13 being admitted to the union via congressional vote. Zack Smith, a legal fellow at the Heritage Institute, a conservative think tank, said the measure becoming law would unleash a wave of lawsuits. “You’re basically looking at a lot of litigation,” Smith told The Associated Press. “Every legislative act of this new state would be called into question. ... Things would be in a state of flux for years.” D.C. has long chafed under its relationship with Congress, which has the power to essentially veto or alter any local laws. Its population is larger than that of Wyoming or Vermont and its estimated 712,000 residents pay federal taxes, vote for president and serve in the armed forces, but they have no voting representation in Congress. The limitations of D.C.’s reality were put in stark relief last summer during a series of protests over the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis and against general police brutality. After a night of widespread vandalism, President Donald Trump usurped D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s authority and called in a massive multiagency federal force to downtown. The law enforcement forces cleared peaceful protesters from a public street so Trump could pose for a photo outside a church. Ravi Perry, head of Howard University’s political science department, said the events of last summer were a crucial turning point for the perception of the D.C. statehood push, intertwining the issue with the country’s ascendant racial justice movement. As recently as 2018, nationwide polls had shown the majority of Americans to be lukewarm at best on the topic, but those poll numbers changed dramatically in the past two years, he said. “People have started to see D.C. statehood as the racial justice issue that it is,” said Perry, who is also on the board of the pro-statehood group D.C. Vote. “There’s been a major sea change, and a lot of that has been motivated by Trumpism.” | Government Policy Changes | April 2021 | ['(AP)'] |
An air ambulance on its way to University of Utah Medical Center in Salt Lake City crashes in Elko, Nevada. 4 people, including 3 crew and one patient are killed, and vehicles on the ground are damaged during the crash. | Follow NBC News ELKO, Nev. — An air-ambulance plane taking a heart-disease patient to a Utah hospital crashed in a parking lot in northern Nevada, killing all four people aboard and sending up explosions and flames.
Three crew members and a patient were killed in the Friday night crash in Elko, American Medflight said Saturday in a statement.
The victims were pilot Yuji Irie; medical staff members Jake Sheppard of Utah and Tiffany Urresti, 29, of Elko; and patient Edward Clohesey of Spring Creek, Nevada, Elko Police Chief Brian Reed said. Reed did not have ages or hometown information for Irie and Sheppard. He did not have an age for Clohesey.
Urresti was a volunteer firefighter in Elko, the chief said. Her death "hit pretty close to home," he said.
Clohesey was being taken by American Medflight from Elko to the University of Utah Medical Center in Salt Lake City, Reed said.
Elko police Lt. Rich Genseal said the twin-engine plane apparently "experienced mechanical problems" as it was climbing after taking off on a flight for Salt Lake City, then lost altitude and crashed, the Elko Daily Free Press reported.
The twin-engine plane crashed in a mining company's parking lot near a casino and other businesses near Elko Regional Airport and Interstate 80.
American Medflight, which is based in Reno, Nevada, did not immediately respond to email and telephone requests for comment. But President John Burruel said in a statement that the company was cooperating with the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration as they investigated the crash.
"As an air medical family, we are mourning the loss of our crewmembers and patient. Their families have been notified, and they are in our thoughts and prayers," Burruel said.
Tiffany Urresti's parents said she was a former hospital ER nurse who dreamed for years of working as a flight nurse.
Urresti achieved her dream, starting work for American Medflight two months ago, and she was engaged to be married in May, Debibi Urresti said. "She found the love of her life."
Local authorities did not immediately respond to email and phone requests for comment, but Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Allen Kenitzer said nobody on the ground was hurt.
"There was not a lot left of the aircraft," Elko Fire Chief Matt Griego said after the flames were extinguished.
A photograph published by the Elko Daily Free Press showed mostly burned wreckage on pavement in front of a line of vehicles, including at least one charred pickup. The plane's tail was one of the few recognizable parts.
Hillary Walker, a manager at a grocery store about 200 yards from the crash, told the Las Vegas Review Journal that the crash caused parked vehicles to catch fire and then dozens of rounds of ammunition to go off.
Walker noted that said a number of vehicles in the parking lot for mine workers likely had ammunition in them. "It's hunting season out here," she said.
Dr. Rodney Badger of Northeastern Nevada Cardiology told the Daily Free Press that the plane had just taken off from the nearby airport to transport a patient to the University of Utah Medical Center.
Badger said his patient suffered from coronary artery disease and was experiencing chest pains and rapid heartbeat around 5:30 p.m., after which the decision was made to transport him to Utah. | Air crash | November 2016 | ['(NBC News)'] |
Terrorists fire an antitank missile at the Embassy of the United States in Athens. No one is injured or killed. | The rocket, fired from street level into the front of the embassy, caused minor damage to the building but no-one was injured. The US envoy condemned the "very serious attack", as fire engines and police cordoned off the area. Greece's Public Order Minister Vyron Polydoras said it was "very likely" a domestic group was behind the attack.
He said police were investigating claims that a left-wing radical group, Revolutionary Struggle, was responsible.
'Windows shattered'
The blast was reported in the early morning at the embassy, which is on one of the main boulevards in Athens.
Greek anti-Americanism
Police said a rocket was fired at the US eagle emblem at the front of the building.
"A self-propelled explosive was fired at 0558 (0358 GMT) from the surrounding area, causing minor damage to the front windows and the roof," a statement from the Greek public order ministry said. The rocket landed in a toilet on the third floor of the building, which also houses Ambassador Charles Ries's office. "I am treating this as a very serious attack," Mr Ries said. "The embassy was attacked in a senseless act of violence."
Mr Ries said the reliability of any claims of responsibility would have to be assessed. Television pictures showed a mass of emergency vehicles and stationary traffic outside the embassy as the area was sealed off.
Left-wing groups
The US embassy is one of the most fortified and tightly guarded buildings in the region and is frequently the target of protests in a country brimming with potent anti-Americanism, says the BBC's Malcolm Brabant in Athens.
In February 1996, it suffered minor damage when unknown attackers - thought to be leftist radicals - fired a rocket at it.
In the past, the far-left November 17 group - now disbanded and whose leaders were jailed in 2003 - attacked Greek, US and other foreign targets, killing more than 20 people. Revolutionary Struggle - a group which emerged after November 17 disintegrated - is regarded by security experts as Greece's most active terrorist group, our correspondent says. It has broadly the same left-wing, anarchic anti-capitalist agenda as November 17 and vigorously opposes America's intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the economic and social policies of the current conservative Greek government. It has carried out a number of bombings and attacks in recent years. | Armed Conflict | January 2007 | ['(BBC)', '(CNN)'] |
The Ukrainian military urges residents of Donetsk to evacuate amid reports of "increased rebel attacks" on civilians and to clear the way for government troops to advance on one of the insurgency’s biggest stronghold. | KIEV, Ukraine The Ukrainian military on Monday appeared to be readying a long-awaited major assault on the rebel stronghold of Donetsk, warning civilians to leave as troops tightened their ring around the city amid heavy fighting.
Extra evacuation corridors were set up for cars bearing white flags, said Andriy Lysenko, a military spokesman. The Donetsk city government posted the corridor routes on its Web page and noted: “As practice shows, such messages are distributed before the start of active combat operations.”
Lysenko also announced that Ukrainian troops had taken the town of Yasynuvata, home to a key railway control center between Donetsk and Luhansk.
The military has almost encircled the two large cities, where rebels have declared “people’s republics.” Intense fighting was reported Monday in the Donetsk suburb of Marinka. Members of a volunteer militia called the Azov battalion posted photos on Facebook purporting to show them advancing on Donetsk with the Shakhtarsk battalion, but mapping technology suggests that the photos were taken in Marinka.
Residents intent on remaining in Donetsk crowded grocery stores to stock up, but the streets were otherwise empty. Two performing dolphins at an entertainment complex were transferred to a facility in the city of Kharkiv.
In a sign of Russia’s intense focus on the developments, its Foreign Ministry on Monday accused Ukraine of moving Tochka-U ballistic missile systems and Smerch and Uragan rocket launchers toward Donetsk, implying that they may soon be used against the densely populated regional capital. U.S. officials, in turn, have said that Russia is shipping similar heavy-rocket systems to rebels over the border, which Moscow denies. Ukraine has denied possessing ballistic missiles, saying they were destroyed in the 1990s.
In recent days, there have been increasing calls in Moscow for the Kremlin to step up support for the rebels in Ukraine as they continue to lose territory to a slow-moving but relentless military advance.
Ukraine and the West have expressed alarm over an apparent Russian buildup along the border. On Monday, the Russian air force announced military exercises involving more than 100 aircraft, among them bombers, fighter jets and helicopters. The Interfax news agency reported that the exercises will include missile-firing practice.
There also were indications that not everything was going Ukraine’s way on the battlefield.
Russian officials said hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers had crossed into Russia overnight Sunday, though 180 were said to have returned Monday.
The ITAR-TASS news agency said many were from the 72nd Mechanized Brigade, which is positioned at the border and has experienced intense artillery and mortar fire. It quoted the brigade commander as saying that the troops were exhausted after going two weeks without supplies.
Ukrainian military officials confirmed that some soldiers had crossed into Russia. But they did not shed light on the possible motivations or say whether the troops are expected to return to Ukraine. Meanwhile, shooting near the site of the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 crash caused a Dutch-led team of experts to delay its work Monday. After waiting more than four hours, the 100-member team headed to one of two sites in its search for human remains and possessions. The delay caused the experts to forgo a visit to the second site. They found only personal items, no body parts, during their search.
| Armed Conflict | August 2014 | ['(Washington Post)'] |
The entire board of France's César Awards resigns following controversy over the Academy giving Roman Polanski's An Officer and a Spy 12 award nominations, the most out of any film this year. | The entire board of the César Academy, which distributes France's equivalent of the Oscars, has resigned amid a wave of criticism of its nomination for 12 awards for a film by Roman Polanski.
The decision to honour Polanski's An Officer and a Spy has angered feminist groups and led to calls for a boycott.
The Polish-French director has been wanted in the US for the statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl since the 1970s.
Hundreds of actors, producers and directors have also called for reform.
In an open letter this week, they denounced "dysfunction" at the César Academy and opacity in its management. The César Academy's decision to step down en masse came as a shock ahead of the glittering 45th awards ceremony in Paris, which is to be held on 28 February.
In a statement on Thursday night, the academy said the board had "unanimously decided to resign" to "honour those men and women who made cinema happen in 2019, to find calm and ensure that the festival of film remains just that, a festival".
"This collective decision will allow complete renewal of the board," it added.
A general meeting is set to be held after this month's ceremony to elect a new board, which will look at implementing reforms and modernising the institution. Culture Minister Franck Riester said the César Academy must operate democratically, in the spirit of "openness, transparency, parity and diversity".
The César Academy has faced controversy in recent months.
Many called for a boycott when Polanski's film An Officer and a Spy, or J'accuse in French, received 12 award nominations. The Polish-French director fled the US after pleading guilty to unlawful sex with a minor in the 1970s, and has since faced other accusations of sexual assault.
"We're in shock that Roman Polanski, who's accused by several women of paedophile rape crimes, is yet again hailed by French cinema," said Céline Piques, spokeswoman for French feminist organisation Osez le Féminisme (Dare to be Feminist).
France's equality minister, Marlène Schiappa, also condemned the decision to nominate Polanski's film.
While praising the academy's efforts to recognise France's MeToo movement, Ms Schiappa said she found it "impossible that a hall gets up and applauds the film of a man accused of rape several times".
But the Césars defended the nominations, arguing that the body "should not take moral positions" in giving awards.
Polanski himself told Paris Match in December that he had tried to distance himself from the calls for a boycott of his film. "For years people have tried to make me out as a monster. I'm used to the slander and I've grown a thick skin, which is as hard as a shell," he said.
The academy, which numbers 4,680 cinema professionals, has also been criticised for being out of touch and dominated by older men. Only 35% of the members are women and to be part of it you have to have had two sponsors and taken part in three films in five years.
All members who have paid their subscriptions (4,313 this year) hold a secret online vote to decide which films should be nominated and then ultimately which should win the awards. They are divided into categories including actors, directors and technicians.
Alain Terzian, the academy's president since 2003, was fêted for his films in the 1980s and 90s but he has come in for criticism in recent months.
In an open letter this week, hundreds of film professionals, including actors and directors, called for "profound reform" at the academy.
The signatories, who included major figures in French cinema such as Bertrand Tavernier, Bérénice Bejo, Leïla Bekhti and Michel Hazanavicius, complained of a lack of democracy in the institution and said the founding statutes of the Césars had not changed "for a very long time".
In response, the academy's board said it would ask for a mediator to be appointed by a culture ministry agency to oversee reforms of its statutes and governance. It is not the first time the Césars have faced controversy. In 2017, Polanski was picked to head the award's jury, but stepped down after the move sparked outrage.
Despite the controversy surrounding the film, J'accuse was a box office hit in France at the end of 2019 and has done well in several other European countries.
Polanski has French and Polish citizenship, and has evaded various extradition attempts by US authorities.
France - where he lives - does not extradite its own citizens. A Polish court also rejected a US request when he was filming in Krakow in 2015.
| Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | February 2020 | ['(BBC)'] |
Drought fleers located at camps in Mogadishu are struck down by days of killer rain. | People who have fled the drought in Somalia to camps near the capital Mogadishu have now been hit by days of heavy rain.
Aid workers say five people, including three children, had died of exposure. A doctor told the BBC that people could not find shelter from the cold rain. The victims have been displaced by a drought that has devastated large parts of the Horn of Africa.
Some 10 million people are said to be affected across the region.
Osman Duflay, a Mogadishu doctor, told the BBC's World Update programme that camp residents were facing "disaster".
"Especially the under-fives and the pregnant women, they're suffering from malnutrition and communicable disease like the measles, diarrhoea and pneumonia," he said.
Earlier this week Mark Bowden, the UN humanitarian affairs co-ordinator for Somalia, told the BBC that the country was close to famine. "The next few months are critical," he said.
Last week Somalia's al-Shabab Islamist militia - which has been fighting the Mogadishu government - said it was lifting its ban on foreign aid agencies provided they did not show a "hidden agenda". The drought is said to be the worst affecting by the Horn of Africa's in 60 years.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is reporting a dramatic rise in malnutrition rates even in the part of Somalia normally considered to be the breadbasket of the country. Somalia, wracked by 20 years of conflict, is worst affected.
Some 3,000 people flee each day for neighbouring countries such as Ethiopia and Kenya which are struggling to cope.
United Nations refugee agency
Disasters Emergency Committee
| Hurricanes_Tornado_Storm_Blizzard | July 2011 | ['(BBC)'] |
UK Foreign Minister Dominic Raab announces that the United Kingdom will "immediately and indefinitely" suspend its extradition treaty with Hong Kong over the controversial national security law. | Announcing the move, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said the UK "wants a positive relationship" with China.
But he said the "imposition" of the new security law in Hong Kong by Beijing was a "serious violation" of the country's international obligations. Labour said it would support changes to the law, calling it a "step in the right direction".
The extradition treaty means that, if someone in Hong Kong is suspected of a crime in the UK, then the British authorities can ask Hong Kong to hand them over to face justice - and vice versa.
The UK fears the arrangement - which has been in place for more than 30 years - could see anyone it extradites to Hong Kong being sent on to China.
Mr Raab also confirmed the government would extend its arms embargo - which has been in place with China since 1989 - to Hong Kong, stopping the UK exporting equipment, such as firearms, smoke grenades and shackles, to the region. But China has accused the UK government of "brutal meddling", insisting it is committed to upholding international law.
The country also promised a "resolute response" if the UK withdrew from extradition arrangements. Beijing introduced the security law at the end of June, creating new offences which could see Hong Kong residents sent to mainland China for trial.
Critics said it could see pro-democracy protesters in the region being served with life sentences. They have also said the law breaches an agreement made with the UK before Hong Kong - a former British colony - was handed over to China in 1997.
Under the 50-year agreement, China enshrined civil liberties - including the right to protest, freedom of speech and the independence of the judiciary - in Hong Kong's Basic Law, an approach which came to be known as "one country, two systems".
Mr Raab told MPs: "There remains considerable uncertainty about the way in which the new national security law will be enforced. "I would just say this: the UK is watching and the whole world is watching."
The foreign secretary also confirmed plans for a path to UK citizenship for around three million Hong Kong people would be in place by early 2021, in response to the law.
However, Border Force officials have been given the ability to grant leave to any applicants before then. Political and economic relations between the UK and China have become strained in recent months.
Mr Raab referenced a number of tensions during his speech, including the decision by the UK government to ban Chinese firm Huawei from the country's 5G network.
He told MPs: "We will always protect our vital interests including sensitive infrastructure and we won't accept any investment that compromises our domestic or national security"
The foreign secretary also raised his "grave concerns" about the "gross human rights abuses" taking place in China's Xinjiang region against Uighur Muslims, after reports of forced sterilisation and wider persecution of the group.
He said they had raised the issue with his Chinese counterparts and with the United Nations. Mr Raab added: "We want a positive relationship with China. There's a huge amount to be gained for both countries, there are many areas, where we can work productively, constructively to mutual benefit together. "For our part, the UK will work hard and in good faith towards that goal. But we will protect our vital interests, we will stand up for our values, and we will hold China to its international obligations."
The change in the treaty was praised by MPs from other parties. Shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy said Labour "strongly welcomed" the measures, adding they should lead to a "new era" in the two countries' relationship.
"This must mark the start of a more strategic approach to China based on an ethical approach to foreign policy and an end to the naivety of the 'golden-era years'," she told MPs.
"Our quarrel is not with the people of China, but the erosion of freedoms in Hong Kong, the actions of the Chinese government in the South China Sea and the appalling treatment of the Uighur people is reason now to act.
"We will not be able to say in future years that we did not know."
But other MPs called for the government to go further. Liberal Democrat MP Alistair Carmichael wanted action on imports from China - especially surveillance equipment - while the SNP's Margaret Ferrier called for sanctions against individuals responsible for human rights violations. Conservative MPs also called for further action.
Tory MP and former defence minister Tobias Ellwood said: "For decades we have turned a blind eye to China's democratic deficit and human rights violations in the hope that it would mature into a global, responsible citizen [but] that clearly hasn't happened.
"Can I ask the secretary of state, is this now the turning point that we drop the pretence the China shares our values, given its actions... [and] can we have a strategic overhaul of our foreign policy in relation to China?"
Mr Raab said the government was carrying out an integrated review about its strategy. Setback for EU in legal fight with AstraZeneca
But the drug-maker faces hefty fines if it fails to supply doses of Covid-19 vaccine over the summer. | Government Policy Changes | July 2020 | ['(BBC)'] |
Conservative leader David Cameron launches his party's election manifesto, which he says is a "plan to change Britain for the better". He said the "optimistic" plan would bring a "new kind of government" with less state and more "people power". | David Cameron: ''The Labour way assumes that only big government can solve our problems''
Conservative leader David Cameron has launched his party's election manifesto, which he says is a "plan to change Britain for the better".
He said the "optimistic" plan would bring a "new kind of government" with less state and more "people power". Pledges include allowing people to set up their own schools and veto high council tax rises. Labour said it meant people would be left "on their own". The Lib Dems said it was "style over substance". In other election developments on Tuesday: In a speech launching the manifesto at Battersea Power Station in south London, Mr Cameron said it was the "the biggest call to arms this country has seen in a generation". He said no government could solve all problems on its own and he wanted "everyone to get involved", adding government should be the "partner of the big society, not its boss". BBC political editor Nick Robinson said there was a "difference in philosophy" between the Conservatives and Labour, with the Tories saying "government needs to be pushed along" by the general public, while Labour was pledging that "government can be on your side". Mr Cameron said he had taken the Tories back to the "centre ground" of politics, away from the "narrow focus" it had in the past: "We stand for society, that's the right idea for a better future." The Tories' plan to block the bulk of Labour's planned 1% rise in National Insurance is in the manifesto. Mr Cameron said it would save more than 50,000 jobs and would make "seven out of 10 working people better off than under Labour". Labour say Tory plans to cut "wasteful" government spending by £12bn this year to fund the policy are based on "fantasy" calculations and are reckless. Mr Cameron said: "Labour say the economy will collapse unless they keep on wasting your money." He accused the government of trying to "frighten" people while he presented an "optimistic" programme and would "trust" people. Local referendums
The Conservatives could "make things better without spending more money", he said, and had radical plans to "help the poorest, protect the NHS, help people find work and support families". "This is a manifesto for a new kind of politics," he said. "People power, not state power." Among pledges in the manifesto are a community "right to buy scheme" - to allow people to protect post offices and pubs threatened with closure. People would be able to get local referendums on any issue if 5% of residents backed it - and would be able to use them to veto high council tax rises. The number of MPs would be cut by 10%, and ministers' pay would be cut by 5%, followed by a five-year freeze. Parents and charities would be allowed to set up state-funded schools - based on a model used in Sweden - and "unaccountable" police authorities would be replaced with a directly-elected official to set policing priorities, budgets and strategies. Mr Cameron dismissed suggestions that there was no demand for people to set up their own schools as "cynical". He said a network already set up to help them do just that had been "inundated" with offers and there was a "huge appetite" for people to get involved. Other pledges include raising the stamp duty threshold for first-time house buyers to £250,000, to raise the inheritance tax threshold to £1m, to freeze council tax for two years and a voluntary "national citizen's service" for 16-year-olds. Stamp duty
As well as pledges to reform out-of-work benefits, scrap ID cards and increase health spending, there is also a pledge for an annual cap on non-European Union migrants who are allowed to live and work in the UK. And there would be a referendum on any future European treaty "that transferred areas of power or competences" from Britain to the EU. BBC chief political correspondent Laura Kuenssberg said there were no new details of how the Conservatives would reduce the budget deficit - something the party have pledged to do "faster" than Labour, who say they will halve it in four years. None of the main parties has definitively ruled out raising VAT and the Conservatives also do not make a pledge on income tax, which Labour have said they will not raise. But shadow foreign secretary William Hague told the BBC: "The plans we have don't involve raising VAT. We are not looking for tax rises. People feel over-taxed." Ken Clarke, shadow business secretary, later told the BBC that politicians should be "ignored" if they make firm promises on tax, unless it is part of a Budget. "So any politician who starts telling you firmly what he's doing in tax should be ignored unless he's Chancellor of a very good budget," he said. The UK Independence Party has launched its own manifesto, called "empowering the people", and has pledged not to field candidates against any "committed Eurosceptic" from other parties - including six Conservatives. Labour launched their manifesto on Monday, pledging a "fair future". Gordon Brown said there was a "complete hole" at the centre of the Conservative manifesto and it showed the party "hasn't changed". "There is nothing in it to help the recovery. Indeed their measures would put the recovery at risk," he said. "They are saying you are on your own. They are leaving people on their own to face the recession." Lord Mandelson - who is heading up Labour's election strategy - said a "do-it-yourself" agenda for public services would not work "unless the frontline is properly protected and properly funded", and said Tories would "cut spending very sharply" to fund all their pledges. Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg, who will launch his party's manifesto on Wednesday, said: "It's a manifesto of style over substance, you can't trust the Conservatives when they want to give tax breaks to double millionaires, not tax breaks to everybody else." | Government Job change - Election | April 2010 | ['(BBC News)'] |
United States President Barack Obama vows to keep United States borders open to refugees, "as long as I'm president," as he visited a Malaysian humanitarian center and met migrant children, many of whom escaped violence in homelands that include Myanmar, Pakistan, and Syria. | KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- President Obama vowed Saturday to keep United States borders open to refugees "as long as I'm president" as he visited a Malaysian humanitarian center and met migrant children, many of whom escaped violence in homelands that include Myanmar, Pakistan and Syria.
Obama, in Malaysia for the 3rd ASEAN-U.S. Summit, chatted with young children at the Dignity for Children Foundation in Kuala Lumpur, asking them what they want to be when they grow up and observing their drawings. At the same time, lawmakers in Washington, D.C., on both sides of the aisle continue to feud with the administration over refugee screenings.
"They were indistinguishable from any child in America," Obama said after meeting the children. "And the notion that somehow we would be fearful of them, that our politics would somehow leave us to turn our sights away from their plight, is not representative of the best of who we are."
Thursday, the House passed legislation to impose rigorous screening on Syrian and Iraqi refugees entering the United States. The bill would subject each of the some 10,000 refugees to vetting from various government agencies including the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security. The administration said it is a virtually impossible task. Obama, who returns to the United States on Monday, promised to veto the legislation.
In the president's weekly radio address, taped by Vice President Joe Biden and released Saturday, Biden said refugees, "face the most rigorous screening of anyone who comes to the United States." That includes finger printing and a host of background checks that take up to 24 months.
"Let's also remember who the vast majority of these refugees are: women, children, orphans, survivors of torture, people desperately in need of medical help. To turn them away and say there is no way you can ever get here would play right into the terrorists' hands. We know what ISIL -- we know what they hope to accomplish. They flat-out told us," said Biden, referring to the extremist group that also goes by the names Islamic State, ISIS and Daesh. | Famous Person - Give a speech | November 2015 | ['(UPI)'] |
Amy Coney Barrett is confirmed by a vote of 52–48 in the United States Senate and is sworn in as an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court by Associate Justice Clarence Thomas. She is expected to take the second of two necessary oaths and fully become a Justice on October 27. | President Trump watches as Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas administers the constitutional oath to Amy Coney Barrett during a ceremony at the White House Monday evening.
Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images
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President Trump watches as Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas administers the constitutional oath to Amy Coney Barrett during a ceremony at the White House Monday evening.
The Senate has voted 52-48 to confirm Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, just about a week before Election Day and 30 days after she was nominated by President Trump to fill the seat of the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
In a White House ceremony following the vote Monday evening, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas administered the constitutional oath to Coney Barrett. President Trump spoke at the event, thanking Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and calling today a "momentous day" for America, the constitution and the rule of law. He also praised Barrett's intellect and poise during the confirmation process. Several Republican senators were also in attendance. Barrett must still take the judicial oath.
While Senate Democrats tried to slow down the confirmation process of Trump's third Supreme Court nominee with various procedural maneuvers, the fact that Republicans control the Senate has always meant a Barrett confirmation was all but promised.
"The Senate is doing the right thing. We're moving this nomination forward, and, colleagues, by tomorrow night we'll have a new member of the United States Supreme Court," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said on Sunday.
Democrats railed against the advancement of Barrett's nomination so close to Election Day, after the Republican-led Senate in 2016 refused to hold hearings for then-President Barack Obama's nominee, Merrick Garland, nearly eight months before that year's election.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., labeled the nomination process a "cynical power grab."
"Nearly every Republican in this chamber led by the majority leader four years ago refused to even consider the Supreme Court nomination of a Democratic president on the grounds ... that we should wait until after the presidential election because the American people deserved a voice in the selection of their next justice," he said on Sunday.
"My colleagues, there is no escaping this glaring hypocrisy. As I said before, no tit-for-tat convoluted, distorted version of history will wipe away the stain that will exist forever with this Republican majority and with this Republican leader."
Barrett's nomination cleared a procedural hurdle Sunday afternoon when the Senate voted to end debate on the nomination, days after Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee boycotted a vote to advance Barrett's nomination.
The only Republicans who voted against the cloture motion on Sunday were Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.
On Saturday, Murkowski previewed her intentions, saying she planned to vote against moving the nomination forward procedurally but would vote to confirm Barrett on Monday.
"While I oppose the process that led us to this point, I do not hold it against her, as an individual who has navigated the gauntlet with grace, skill and humility," she said.
Collins faces a tough reelection battle and said after Ginsburg's death in September that whoever wins the presidential election should fill the Supreme Court vacancy.
The 48-year-old judge's confirmation solidifies the court's conservative majority, potentially shaping the future of abortion rights and health care law for generations.
During a campaign event in Tallahassee, Fla., on Saturday, Vice President Pence said he wanted to return to Capitol Hill in time for Monday's vote.
"As vice president, I'm president of the Senate," Pence said. "And I'm gonna be in the chair because I wouldn't miss that vote for the world."
He ultimately did not attend the vote in person. His presence would have been purely symbolic anyway, as it was not expected that Pence would have needed to cast a tie-breaking vote.
Democrats had pushed back against Pence's plan in light of recent positive coronavirus tests of two top staffers in Pence's orbit, and they had similar concerns about Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., two of whose staffers have tested positive for the coronavirus. | Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration | October 2020 | ['(NPR)'] |
U.S. Department of Justice immigration Judge Jose A. Sanchez in Boston, Massachusetts, approves an extradition request from the government of Guatemala for Juan Alicio Samayoa Cabrera, who is wanted for trial for war crimes. | Accused Guatemalan war criminal Juan Alecio Samayoa Cabrera has been denied bail by an immigration judge in Boston.
Department of Homeland Security attorney Jennifer Mulcahy argued Judge Jose Sanchez did not have the jurisdiction to release Samayoa, citing a law that strips judges of the power to grant bond if the detainee is accused of committing certain war crimes, like torture.
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The accusations against the 67-year-old stem from the Guatemalan Civil War, which ran from 1960 to 1996.
“The documentary evidence," Mulcahy said, "shows [Samayoa] did in fact participate himself, order others, and incited extrajudicial killings, as well as acts that would satisfy the definition of torture.”
Authorities in Guatemala say Samayoa is wanted in connection with scores of murders, rapes and kidnappings in 1982 and 1983.
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By his own admission, Samayoa led a paramilitary squad of 500 men, siding with the government in a war against guerrilla revolutionaries. He fled Guatemala a decade after taking up arms, entered the U.S. illegally and was denied asylum during the early 2000s.
Samayoa has lived in Providence since the early 1990s, and he was arrested for immigration violations in October. He has refused to comment on the case to WBUR.
On Thursday morning in immigration court, Samayoa’s attorney, Hans Bremer, painted his client as a reasonable actor during a horrible war.
The paramilitary unit "was basically a self-defense group that the neighborhood formed to avoid being slaughtered during the civil war,” Bremer said. “And they protected one another. It was a horrible time, we all know it was a horrible time, your honor."
Bremer claimed it's hard to imagine someone who has led a "wonderful life" absent of violent crime in the U.S., could be capable of the allegations Samayoa faces.
Though Samayoa has been in and out of immigration court since the 1990s, Bremer said this is the first mention of war crimes.
"At no point ... until very recently, did the government ever even insinuate that he had been involved in anything that they're now insinuating," he said.
Judge Sanchez, however, agreed with the prosecution, ruling on Thursday that, due to the nature of the alleged crimes, he lacked the authority to grant Samayoa bond.
Sanchez will later decide whether Samayoa stays in the U.S., or if he leaves to face justice in Guatemala, where authorities say they await his arrival with an arrest warrant.
The next hearing in Samayoa's deportation proceedings is set for Jan. 9.
Simón Rios Twitter ReporterSimón Ríos is an award-winning bilingual reporter in WBUR's newsroom.
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Gunmen kill two polio vaccinators in northwest Pakistan. | Gunmen have killed two anti-polio health workers in north-west Pakistan, police said on Sunday, in the latest violence directed at efforts to eradicate the endemic disease from the country.
Two attackers shot the Pakistani health workers, who were on a vaccination drive in Kandar village, said Swabi district police chief, Mohammad Saeed. The gunmen arrived on foot and later disappeared, he added.
No one claimed responsibility for the attack. But some militant groups oppose the vaccinations and accuse the workers of spying for the US. They point out the case of the CIA using a Pakistani doctor to collect blood samples from the family of Osama bin Laden in order to track him down and kill him in Pakistan in 2011.
Militants also try to block inoculation campaigns by portraying them as a conspiracy to sterilise and reduce the world's Muslim population. Over the past year, nearly 20 health workers from the anti-polio campaign have been murdered.
Pakistan is one of three countries, along with Afghanistan and Nigeria, that is still affected by polio, with 58 cases reported in 2012, down from 198 in 2011. The World Health Organisation said in March that some 240,000 children have missed polio vaccinations because of security concerns in Pakistan's tribal regions bordering Afghanistan.
It said the health workers have not been able to immunise children in the Taliban strongholds of North and South Waziristan since July 2012.The shootings came a day after the Pakistani al-Qaida-linked militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi killed 24 people in the southwestern city of Quetta.
In the first of Saturday's attacks in Quetta, a blast ripped through a bus carrying female students, killing 14. When the victims were taken to the nearby hospital, a suicide bomber struck there. Other attackers captured parts of the complex, triggering a siege by security forces in which four paramilitaries also died. | Riot | June 2013 | ['(The Guardian)'] |
Israeli soldiers catch a 15 year old Palestinian carrying two pipe bombs at a West Bank checkpoint. | Israel Defense Forces soldiers on Tuesday arrested a 15-year-old Palestinian boy at a West Bank checkpoint, who was found to be carrying two pipe bombs intended for attacks against Israelis.It was the second such arrest of a teenager at the Hawara checkpoint, on the outskirts of Nablus, in the past two days.On Sunday, troops at the checkpoint arrested a 14-year-old with two pipe bombs strapped to his body, apparently planning to carry out a suicide attack at the crossing.
In the more than four years of violence, IDF soldiers have stopped youths carrying explosives at checkpoints, and teenagers have carried out several of the more than 100 suicide bombings. | Armed Conflict | May 2005 | ['(Haaretz)'] |
Pratibha Patil wins the 13th presidential election in India to become the first female President of India. | NEW DELHI, July 21 -- Lawmakers elected India's first female president, officials announced Saturday, in a vote seen as a step forward for hundreds of millions of Indian women and girls who face bitter discrimination in everyday life.
The position is largely ceremonial. But observers said the selection of Pratibha Patil, 72, in a vote by the national Parliament and state politicians, will widen the role of women in the country's often male-dominated political scene.
"This is a victory of the principles of which the Indian people uphold," said Patil, wearing her signature oversize glasses and a red and gold celebratory sari. As she waved a V-for-victory sign on television, marigolds and colored powders used in Hindu celebrations were tossed at her feet.
Patil had been expected to win because of support from the governing Congress party and her deep political ties and friendship with Sonia Gandhi, leader of the party and the powerful Gandhi dynasty. Patil is a steadfast loyalist of the Gandhi family, which has long maintained a strong hold over Indian politics.
Patil took in nearly two-thirds of the votes, defeating Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, the candidate of the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, a Hindu nationalist party.
Over four decades, Patil has held various political offices. A lawyer by training, she most recently served as the first female governor of the northern state of Rajasthan.
The usually sedate election process was tainted by angry accusations and a ferocious debate over Patil's qualifications for the job. Critics have accused Patil of trying to shield her brother in a murder inquiry, and they have accused some of her relatives of stealing loans meant for poor mothers from a bank she opened to empower women. They also accused her of saying, as health minister of Maharashtra state in 1975, that people with hereditary diseases should be sterilized.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his party defended her, saying she had little to do with running the bank. Singh said Saturday that her election was "a vote against the politics of divisiveness and in favor of unity."
The office of the presidency has long been used to give underrepresented groups a voice; there have been three Muslim presidents and one Sikh.
"But this is a special moment for women across the country," Sonia Gandhi said during a celebration at Patil's home in the city of Jalgaon, as firecrackers exploded. "It shows India is committed to women."
Several Indian women have served in high-ranking positions. In 1966, Indira Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi's mother-in-law, became one of the first female prime ministers in the world. But while women gain more political clout, widespread discrimination endures.
So many female babies are abandoned at birth that the government has set up cradles across the country for families to safely deposit the unwanted infants. Girls are viewed as an economic burden because, traditionally, a bride's father is required to pay a groom's family an often large dowry. The use of sonograms for sex selection is illegal but still practiced, and human rights groups estimate that about 10 million female fetuses have been aborted over the past two decades.
As many as 40 percent of Indian women are unable to read or write, the result of boys being given priority in education. And sexual harassment in the workplace remains a serious concern, even in urban centers.
Analysts said the president's role as commander in chief of the world's fourth-largest army is bound to have an impact on both women and men.
"Symbolically, this election matters a lot. It will impact the common woman's mind-set when she sees the three chiefs of army, navy and air force greeting a woman as their leader," said Ranjana Kumari, director of the Center for Social Research in New Delhi. "It will instill confidence. However, we are still a long way off from the true representation of women in all forms." | Government Job change - Election | July 2007 | ['(Washington Post)'] |
Ajmal Kasab, the only surviving member of a group responsible for the 2008 Mumbai attacks, is sentenced to death. | The only gunman captured alive after the 2008 Mumbai attacks has been sentenced to death by an Indian court.
Mohammed Ajmal Amir Qasab, a Pakistani citizen aged 22, was found guilty on Monday of many charges, including murder and waging war on India. Sentencing Qasab, the judge said he could not be rehabilitated. Qasab has the right to appeal. The attacks left 174 people dead, nine of them gunmen. Relations between India and Pakistan have still to recover. India blamed Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba for the attack. After initial denials, Pakistan acknowledged the attacks had been partially planned on its territory and that Qasab was one of its citizens. 'Cruelty incarnate'
Judge ML Tahaliyani said "he should be hanged by the neck until he is dead", adding he had lost his right to "humanitarian treatment". He was studiously deadpan when the verdict was handed down on Monday. But today Qasab was emotional. A police constable later said: "He asked for water. He was upset and crying." Security to get into the court was extremely tight. Afterwards, lawyers and policemen expressed relief that they would no longer have to attend this specially-built courtroom in a jail. Outside the court, there were crowds of people celebrating the sentence. Demonstrators held up placards saying, "hang him", and people set off firecrackers in jubilation. The BBC's Prachi Pinglay, in the courtroom in Mumbai (Bombay), said Qasab shook his head when asked if he wanted to make a statement. He was later seen wiping his face and talking to a policeman. Prosecuter Ujjwal Nikam appeared in front of the court smiling and giving the victory sign. "I'm very happy with the judgement. I have been successful in my attempt to put a balm on the wounds of the victims," he said. During the trial Qasab had been branded a "killing machine" and "cruelty incarnate" by the prosecution. "Today's sentencing sends the message that keeping Qasab alive would be a crime in itself," Mr Nikam added as crowds outside the court chanted "victory to Hindustan". Qasab's lawyer had called for leniency, saying his client had been brainwashed by a terrorist organisation and could be rehabilitated. Media amass to hear sentencing
He said no decision had been made yet on whether to appeal against the sentence, the Associated Press news agency reported. In India the death penalty is carried out by hanging, but it is rarely used and most death sentences are commuted to life imprisonment. Only one person has been executed since 1995. A security guard was hanged in 2004 for the rape and murder of a schoolgirl. The BBC's Soutik Biswas in Delhi said if Qasab decided to appeal, the legal process could take years. Our correspondent said Qasab could, as a last resort, appeal to the president for clemency, which would take even more time. 'Mastermind' in custody
Qasab was the only attacker caught alive in the three-day assault by 10 gunmen on hotels, a railway station, a restaurant and a Jewish centre in Mumbai. Late last year, Pakistan charged seven people in connection with the attacks, including the suspected mastermind Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, who is alleged to head the Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba. But progress with those charges has been slow partly because of legal technicalities in Pakistan, correspondents say. In the US, an American man of Pakistani origin has pleaded guilty to scouting targets in Mumbai for the attacks. David Coleman Headley is alleged to have made five extended trips to Mumbai between 2006 and 2008. India has said it will ask for access to Mr Headley in connection with the attacks. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | May 2010 | ['(The Times of India)', '(BBC)'] |
Australia sends an official to the Indonesian province of Maluku to investigate claims that Detachment 88, part of the Indonesian National Police, tortured a group of separatists. | Australia has sent an official to the Indonesian province of Maluku to investigate claims that Indonesia's elite counter-terrorism unit, Detachment 88, which receives millions of dollars from Australia each year, brutalised a group of separatists last month, repeatedly beating them in detention.
Fairfax newspapers say it's emerged that in May 2008 the United States secretly banned some members of Detachment 88 in Maluku from receiving its assistance.
Fairfax says it's learnt that the Australian government is "aware and concerned" about the activities of the Detachment 88 officers, dispatching an official two weeks ago to Ambon, Maluku's capital, to investigate the claims.
An investigation by Fairfax has revealed that about 12 activists were arrested in August and taken to a Detachment 88 office in Ambon, where they say they were subject to brutal mistreatment.
The arrests occurred after police and intelligence officers foiled a plan to fly dozens of banned flags and other political material attached to helium-filled balloons over Ambon when President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and foreign guests were in the city.
Seven of the prisoners smuggled out recorded statements, while another was interviewed by Fairfax while recuperating from a fractured hip, handcuffed to his bed in an Ambon hospital.
All said they were blindfolded and then hit around the head and body by the police officers during interrogation, sometimes with wooden sticks and bars or while forced to hold painful stress positions.
Police allegedly jumped on the prisoners, burnt them with cigarettes, pierced them with nails and brought them to the point of suffocation when plastic bags were placed over their heads.
"The Australian government is aware of, and concerned by, the allegations of brutality towards political prisoners," a Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman said. "We will continue to monitor the situation and make representations as necessary." | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Investigate | September 2010 | ['(AAP via Sydney Morning Herald)'] |
Dave Zabriskie becomes the third American to ever wear the yellow leader's jersey in the Tour de France, beating fellow American Lance Armstrong by two seconds in the prologue stage. le Tour de France official website | If you believed that the American influence on the Tour de France is going to wane because of the retirement of one particular rider at the end of this year’s race, think again. The young time trial protégé Dave Zabriskie has landed on Planet Tour in spectacular fashion. He won the stage, relegating six-time champion Lance Armstrong by two seconds, and has earned his CSC team its first yellow jersey.
Zabriskie had to be quick to beat a determined Armstrong on the flat, straight course to the island of Noirmoutier. That’s exactly what he was.
The 26-year-old was so fast in fact that he stole the record speed for a time trial in the Tour de France from another celebrated American.
Zabriskie burst out of the start house, slipped into his aero tuck and covered the 19km stage at an average of 54.676km/h – it was fast enough to eclipse the efforts of Greg Lemond’s famous victory on the Champs Elysees at the end of the 1989 Tour.
It was a long wait before the rider from Salt Lake City realized that his effort would relegate Armstrong. Zabriskie was the 19th rider to begin the stage. In less than 22 minutes his job was done but he had to wait over three hours to see if he’d done enough.
“It was stressful to watch on TV,” said the softly spoken Zabriskie after the stage. “I’m glad it worked out in my favor.”
Although he’s said to be quite a comedian in a relaxed environment, there wasn’t a great deal of humor in the post-stage press conference. Perhaps the surprise of beating Armstrong hindered his natural ways. “I never thought this would happen. Never ever.
“I’ve had some bad luck in the past. I got hit by a car in 2003… perhaps that’s why a lot of you haven’t seen many results from me in the past.”
It’s obvious that a lot more results will come in the future but Zabriskie doesn’t believe there is any expectation on him. Even though his arrival as a star of the Tour comes at the end of the Armstrong Era, he insists that nothing will change. "I’m just Dave Zabriskie. I’m happy with that." And why not?
Zabriskie is now a part of Tour history and although he is coy about how he’ll cope defending his two second advantage over Armstrong, there’s no doubt we’ll see more of him in the future.
In the past 10 months he’s won a stage of the Vuelta A Espana while part of the US Postal team, then a time trial at the Giro d’Italia with CSC. Now he’s in charge at the Tour de France.
The time trial is what Zabriskie excels in. This is also the discipline in which Jan Ullrich has extracted time from Armstrong during the tight competition in 2003, but the German failed today. After just 19km, he is over a minute behind his main rival.
It’s possible for weakness to be hidden in a short prologue but Armstrong gained a major psychological advantage on Ullrich today by catching him with just under four kilometers to race. The German has the excuse of an accident on the eve of the opening round of the 2005 Tour. He crashed through the rear window of his team’s car while doing a reconnaissance ride of the course in the Vendee. But he insisted that his injuries were minimal. If that’s the case, then it’s now clear that he needs to find some form in the coming week if he’s to challenge Armstrong for the title – 12th place isn’t exactly what was expected from Ullrich.
The more likely scenario for the latter stages is that the main challenge will come from Armstrong’s compatriots. The time trial was a good gauge of form. No one could afford to hide their strength, but some big pre-race favorites simply didn’t have any answer to the speed of Zabriskie and Lance.
Alexandre Vinokourov was third at 53 seconds, George Hincapie fourth, Laszlo Bodrogi fifth and Floyd Landis sixth. Dave concedes that he doesn’t expect to hold onto the yellow jersey for long. Lance has every intention of wearing it again. ‘Vino’ never ceases to surprise and he must be eyeing the prize. George is faithful to his captain. Laszlo is a ‘chrono man’ who won’t get over the mountains. And Floyd is determined to prove that there’s even more depth in American cycling.
There’s a lot more yet to come but we’ve now got a taste of who the heroes will be this July. And it looks like there’s going to be a strong American flavor in the 2005 Tour.
The first stage of the 92nd Tour de France has been dominated by American riders, with four finishing in the top six. The top 10 is:
1. Dave Zabriskie (USA - CSC) 19km in 20’51"
2. Lance Armstrong (USA - DSC) at 2"
3. Alexandre Vinokourov (KAZ - TMO) at 53"
4. George Hincapie (USA - DSC) at 56"
5. Laszlo Bodrogi (HUN - C.A) at 59"
6. Floyd Landis (USA - PHO) at 1’02"
7. Fabian Cancellara (SUI - FAS) at 1’02"
8. Jens Voigt (GER - CSC) at 1’04"
9. Vladimir Karpets (RUS - IBA) at 1’05"
10. Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano (ESP - LWT) at 1’06"
When Dave Zabriskie finished the 19km time trial, the average speed was said to be 54.68km/h. If this is accurate, today’s victory will be the fastest non-prologue time trial in the history of the Tour de France. The previous highest average speed was 54.545km/h - set by Greg Lemond in the final stage back in 1989.
In his Tour de France debut Dave Zabriskie has won a stage and will wear the yellow jersey for tomorrow’s first stage. He has beaten the six-time champion by two seconds. Alexandre Vinokourov is third; George Hincapie fourth and Laszlo Bodrogi fifth.
Lance Armstrong has finished the stage in second place. He has been beaten by just two seconds his compatriot, Dave Zabriskie! | Sports Competition | July 2005 | [] |
A suicide bombing in eastern Afghanistan kills at least 20 people, including 10 children. | Kabul: A suicide bomber targeting an American patrol outside a busy market in eastern Afghanistan killed 20 people Monday,including 10 schoolchildren and two international service members,officials said. | Armed Conflict | June 2013 | ['(India Express)'] |
Verizon Communications agrees to buy the core business at Yahoo Inc. for $4.48 billion. Completion of this July 2016 deal had been delayed because of two data breaches Yahoo disclosed last year. | (Reuters) - Verizon Communications Inc VZ.N said on Tuesday it would buy Yahoo Inc's YHOO.O core business for $4.48 billion, lowering its original offer by $350 million in the wake of two massive cyber attacks at the internet company.
The closing of the deal, which was first announced in July, had been delayed as the companies assessed the fallout from two data breaches that Yahoo disclosed last year. The No. 1 U.S. wireless carrier had been trying to persuade Yahoo to amend the terms of the agreement following the attacks.
Verizon and Yahoo signed the deal on Sunday evening after weeks of talks that included calls with Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer and a meeting between Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam and Yahoo director Tom McInerney in New York earlier this month to agree on the amount of the price reduction, a person involved in the talks said.
The two sides had an agreement in principle about a week earlier that included a liability sharing agreement, something that Verizon decided early on that it needed to reach a deal.
Verizon conducted brand studies and found that Yahoo’s reputation was holding up after the hacks, the person said. The company decided to proceed in part because it continued to believe that the deal made strategic sense and that users were loyal and engaged.
The companies said on Tuesday they expect the deal to close in the second quarter. The data breach may delay some integration of Yahoo with Verizon after the closing, the person said.
The deal brings to Verizon Yahoo’s more than 1 billion users and a wealth of data it can use to offer more targeted advertising. Verizon will combine Yahoo’s advertising technology tools as well as its search, email and messenger assets with its AOL unit, purchased for $4.4 billion in 2015.
Verizon’s shares rose 0.3 percent to $49.33 in afternoon trading, while Yahoo’s shares were up 0.8 percent at $45.48.
Under the amended terms, Yahoo and Verizon will split cash liabilities related to some government investigations and third-party litigation related to the breaches.
Yahoo, however, will continue to be responsible for liabilities from shareholder lawsuits and SEC investigations.
Yahoo said in December that data from more than 1 billion user accounts was compromised in August 2013, making it the largest breach in history.
This followed the company’s disclosure in September that at least 500 million accounts were affected in another breach in 2014.
| Organization Merge | February 2017 | ['(Reuters)'] |
Two Palestinians, both aged 15, are arrested in a checkpoint near Jenin after 11 explosive charges were found on them. One teenager told interrogators that he was recruited to act as a couriers by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the second by the alAqsa Martyrs' Brigades. , | .
While working her job at Starbucks, the daughter of Miami Gardens’ police chief was allegedly threatened with a gun over an order mix-up the gunman was given his bagel without cream cheese, police say.
| Armed Conflict | April 2005 | ['(Haaretz)', '(AP photo)'] |
China, Chile and Egypt lift their bans on importing meat from Brazil. | China has lifted a total ban on imports of Brazilian meat imposed over allegations that companies have been selling unsafe produce for years.
Brazil's Agriculture Minister Blairo Maggi says the move follows a "giant effort" by officials to explain the investigation into tainted food.
Chile and Egypt have also lifted their bans, the Brazilian government says.
Brazil is the world's biggest red meat and poultry exporter, selling more than $12bn (£9.7bn) a year.
The scandal was triggered by a huge federal police operation last week that found evidence that meat-packers had been selling rotten and substandard produce for several years.
China and Chile will keep their import bans for the 21 Brazilian units under investigation by the operation, the government said.
"Lifting this suspension was the result of a giant effort by Brazil to explain that the investigation targeted the conduct of individuals and not the quality of the meat," Mr Maggi told Reuters news agency. In a statement, Brazil's President Michel Temer said the moves "reaffirm the trust of the international community in our sanitary control, robust and recognized around the world".
Brazil meat exports amount to nearly $14bn (£11bn) each year. They have fallen sharply since the scandal broke out. The European Union, which is the main importer of Brazilian meat after China and Hong Kong, announced on Friday that it would reject produce from the plants being investigated.
Health and Food Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis will visit Brazil this week to hold emergency meetings with officials and industry leaders before the EU decides on what measures it will adopt.
Brazilian investigators allege that some managers bribed health inspectors and politicians to get government certificates for their products.
The scandal caused a 22% drop in weekly average exports of pork and poultry, Reuters reports. There was no data related to beef exports. | Government Policy Changes | March 2017 | ['(BBC)'] |
The top U.S. diplomat in Belarus Scott Rauland and Belarusian Foreign Minister Uladzimer Makey said that their countries are ready to discuss the possible return of their ambassadors. Makey told reporters in Minsk that "there is readiness from both sides for a full normalization of our relations." Belarus recalled its ambassador from Washington in 2008 after the United States imposed sanctions against Belarusian oil giant Belneftekhim following tensions between Minsk and the West. | The top U.S. diplomat in Belarus, Scott Rauland, and Belarusian Foreign Minister Uladzimer Makey said on April 25 that their countries are ready to discuss the possible return of their ambassadors.
Makey told reporters in Minsk that "there is readiness from both sides for a full normalization of our relations."
He said the United States and Belarus "must not look at each other through guns' crosshairs, but must talk, have an open dialogue."
Rauland expressed hope that the return of the ambassadors would be a theme for discussions with the Belarusian Foreign Ministry later in 2016.
Belarus recalled its ambassador from Washington in 2008 and insisted that the U.S. ambassador must leave Minsk.
That move came after the U.S. imposed sanctions against Belarusian oil giant Belneftekhim following tensions between Minsk and the West. | Diplomatic Talks _ Diplomatic_Negotiation_ Summit Meeting | April 2016 | ['(Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)'] |
The European Commission blocks the third attempt of the London Stock Exchange and Deutsche Börse at a merger, citing the danger of a "de facto monopoly in the crucial area of fixed income instruments". | The £21bn merger between the London Stock Exchange and its German rival Deutsche Börse has fallen apart after it was blocked by the European commission on the day that Britain served notice on its EU membership.
Margrethe Vestager, the EU competition regulator, said the deal between the London and Frankfurt exchanges would create a “de facto monopoly in the crucial area of fixed income instruments”.
The commission’s opposition ends a deal that had been in the making for 13 months. LSE Group and Deutsche Börse had pledged to press ahead with the deal even after Britain voted to leave the EU last June, but this is the third failed attempt at a merger between the two companies after previous setbacks in 2000 and 2005.
The proposed tie-up had been criticised across Europe, including in France, Belgium, Portugal and the Netherlands, which were concerned about the future of their own exchanges. Critics in Frankfurt also questioned why the enlarged company was going to be based in London given Deutsche Börse would have held 54.4% of the shares in the group and Britain is leaving the EU.
Shares in LSE Group rose as much as 3% after the announcement as investors in the company breathed a sigh of relief at the end of the saga.
The merger has been in doubt since LSE announced last month that the commission was unlikely to provide clearance for the merger unless it sold its Italian trading arm, MTS, to ease competition concerns.
Vestager confirmed on Wednesday that LSE and Deustche Börse had refused to meet her requests to offset concerns about competition.
She said: “The European economy depends on well-functioning financial markets. That is not just important for banks and other financial institutions. The whole economy benefits when businesses can raise money on competitive financial markets.”
Referring to the exchanges’ key role in the bond market, she added: “The merger between Deutsche Börse and the London Stock Exchange would have significantly reduced competition by creating a de facto monopoly in the crucial area of clearing of fixed income instruments. As the parties failed to offer the remedies required to address our competition concerns, the commission has decided to prohibit the merger.”
Vestager said her decision was not affected by the prospect of Brexit, and that any future deals involving the LSE and Europe would still be reviewed.
“We deal with any company who has a footprint in the European market, because we want competition in the European market, no matter your flag and no matter your ownership. That goes for everyone,” she said.
In a statement, LSE Group expressed its disappointment at the decision and confirmed the agreement between the companies had been terminated. It had agreed to offload its French clearing business, LCH, to the European exchange Euronext for €510m (£443m) to help smooth the passage of the merger.
LSE Group said: “LSEG believes the proposed merger with Deutsche Börse in combination with the LCH SA remedy [the sale of LCH] would have preserved credible and robust competition in all markets. “This was an opportunity to create a world-leading market infrastructure group anchored in Europe, which would have supported Europe’s 23m SMEs and the development of a deeper capital markets union.”
However, LSE Group said it was “confident in its prospects as a standalone business and its strategy for growth continues to deliver strong results”. It said it would press ahead with the return of cash to shareholders that it had promised as part of the Deutsche Börse deal.
“Accordingly, LSEG now plans to initiate an on-market share buyback of £200m, an amount broadly equivalent to the return it would have made had the merger with Deutsche Börse proceeded as planned,” LSE Group said. | Organization Merge | March 2017 | ['(The Guardian)'] |
Also in the Philippines, resigned ministers, other politicians and businessmen call president Gloria Arroyo to resign as well and hand the reins of the country over to vice president Noli de Castro. | The Liberal Party, which belongs to the pro-administration coalition, and the Makati Business Club on Friday joined calls for President Arroyo to resign, as the most serious political crisis to hit the Philippines since January 2001 appeared to be reaching a climax.
Senate President Franklin Drilon, who is also president of the Liberal Party, of which Mrs. Arroyo is an honorary member, said LP members arrived at the decision to ask for Mrs. Arroyo's resignation for the sake of the nation.
"We are convinced that the resignation of the President is the best step towards the resolution of the current crisis as it will eliminate further uncertainties, ease current and further conflicts and allow our country to move ahead with the critical reforms that our people need at this point," Drilon said.
In joining the call for Mrs. Arroyo's resignation, MBC president Ricardo Romulo said: " It is with a heavy heart that we ask the President to relinquish her position as President of the Republic of the Philippines for the sake of the common will, for the sake of national unity, for the sake of moving forward."
Throughout much the current political crisis, the MBC was seen to be sympathetic to Mrs. Arroyo, whose rise to the presidency it supported during the so-called EDSA 2 People Power uprising on Jan. 16-20, 2001, which ousted Joseph Estrada from the presidency.
Romulo said: "After much reflection and analysis and based on the actions of the last several weeks, we come to the conclusion that the President's ability to effectively manage the affairs of the state has been seriously impaired."
Drilon said should the President refuse to heed their call, his party will support legal moves for Mrs. Arroyo's ouster through impeachment. "We will support constitutional means to remove the President. We will support the impeachment proceedings in Congress," he said. Quezon Rep. Lorenzo Tañada earlier said a series of consultations were done by LP congressmen since last week before they arrived at the decision Friday. He said 20 party members voted for Mrs. Arroyo's resignation, 11 for impeachment, one for leave of absence and one for status quo. "We perceive that if the issue is not resolved quickly, it would drag us lower financially and economically. We believe she will have a difficult time to govern," he said.
Among the leading political figures affiliated with the LP are Senators Francis Pangilinan and Rodolfo Biazon and Environment Secretary Michael Defensor. At the MBC press conference, Romulo said "we are dismayed that this sad turn of events happened."
He proposed that a transition must be effected through the constitutional processes of succession. "We reiterate our views that all moves must take place within the context of the Constitution," Romulo said.
"This crisis has literally consumed the attention of the President and the government. The resignation of key Cabinet members, representing the core of the President's social and economic team, is a key loss to the government," Romulo said.
Earlier Friday, Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima asked for Mrs. Arroyo to step down from office. He made the announcement at a press conference accompanied by Education Secretary Florencio Abad, Budget Secretary Emilia Boncodin, presidential adviser on the peace process Teresita Deles, Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman, Trade Secretary Juan Santos, Agrarian Reform Secretary Rene Villa, Customs Commissioner Alberto Lina, internal revenue bureau chief Guillermo Parayno, and National Anti-Poverty Commission chief Imelda Nicolas. "The longer the President stays in office under a cloud of doubt and mistrust... the greater the damage on the economy and the more vulnerable the fragile political situation becomes," Purisima said in a prepared statement during the press conference at Hyatt Hotel. He said the resignation call was not a prejudgment on the wiretapping and jueteng issues affecting the Arroyo administration. He pointed out that the "core of these concerns are issues of leadership and credibility, the ability of our president to continue to lead and govern our country with the trust and confidence of our people."
"The President can be part of the solution to this crisis by making the supreme sacrifice for God and country to voluntarily relinquish her office and allow her constitutional successor, the vice-president to assume the presidency," he said. He added: "Resignation is a legitimate constitutional option for effecting leadership change. Given the crisis in the presidency, this is the least destructive and least painful option that can simply restore normalcy and eventually bring us prosperity."
| Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | July 2005 | ['(Channel News Asia)', '(ABS–CBN)', '(Reuters)'] |
Five deaths occurred in Haiti as Tropical Storm Erika dumped heavy rains there, on the Dominican Republic, and on Puerto Rico. The storm weakened to a Tropical Depression before it hit Cuba (max winds 56 kph , heading to the southeastern Gulf of Mexico. , , , | Tropical storm Erika has broken up over eastern Cuba, bringing heavy rain to the drought-stricken region. Earlier, it killed at least 20 people in Dominica and caused widespread devastation.
Tropical storm Erika "dissipated" as it crossed Cuba on Saturday, with its maximum winds dropping to 56 kph (35 mph), the Miami-based US National Hurricane Center (NHC) has said.
It said the storm still posed a threat of wind gusts and flooding in Cuba and then Florida, possibly regenerating into a tropical storm before reaching the northwest Florida Panhandle, the NHC said.
But Erika also brought welcome rains to Cuba, with the region suffering its worst drought since 1901.
"The rains, at times intense, are received with pleasure, given the intense drought that has affected this region since the end of last year, " the official Cuban news agency Prensa Latina said.
Dominica 'set back 20 years'
Before making landfall in Cuba, Erika pounded the Caribbean island of Dominica on Friday, killing at least 20 people and unleashing floods and mudslides.
"The visual damage I saw today, I fear, may have set our development process back by 20 years," Dominica Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit said on Friday after inspecting the damage wrought by the storm, which wrecked highways and washed away bridges. He said that several people were confirmed missing in addition to those killed.
Erika then went on to lash impoverished Haiti, where at least one man was killed in a landslide in the town of Carries, and dumped heavy rain on the Dominican Republic, which takes up the other half of the island of Hispaniola where Haiti is located.
Authorities in the Dominican Republic closed schools, ports and beaches during the storm, but no casualties have so far been reported.
After leaving up to 20 people dead on the island of Dominica, the storm is set to make landfall in Florida by Monday. Other Caribbean islands have battened down the hatches, as strong winds and rain wreak havoc. (28.08.2015) | Hurricanes_Tornado_Storm_Blizzard | August 2015 | ['(35 mph)', '(WTSP)', '(Relief Web)', '(Deutsche Welle)', '(NHC)'] |
An attack on a village near the town of Sangha in central Mali kills 95 Dogon villagers. The mayor of nearby Bankass blames local Fulani. | Nearly 100 people have been killed in an attack in a village in central Mali inhabited by the Dogon ethnic group, officials say.
The attack happened in Sobame Da, near Sanga town in the Mopti region.
The search for bodies is ongoing, but officials say 95 people have been found dead, with many of the bodies burned.
There have been numerous attacks in Mali in recent months, some ethnically driven, some carried out by jihadist groups.
Clashes between Dogon hunters and semi-nomadic Fulani herders are frequent.
Mali's government said "suspected terrorists" had attacked the village at around 03:00 local time. At least 19 people were still missing, it said.
But the mayor of nearby Bankass, Moulaye Guindo, told Reuters news agency that Fulanis from that district had attacked Sobane Da after nightfall.
"About 50 heavily armed men arrived on motorbikes and pickups," a survivor who called himself Amadou Togo told the AFP agency. "They first surrounded the village and then attacked anyone who tried to escape was killed."
"No-one was spared women, children, elderly people," he added.
No group has officially said it was responsible for the attack.
"Right now we have 95 dead civilians. The bodies are burned, we are continuing to look for others," a local official told AFP.
The Dogon people have lived in central Mali for centuries, and live a largely traditional way of life as settled farmers. Many Fulani, on the other hand, are semi-nomadic herders who move across large distances in West Africa.
Friction between farmers and the roaming herders over resources is long-standing but clashes between them have increased since a militant Islamist uprising in northern Mali in 2012.
Both sides accuse the other of carrying out attacks amid the unrest.
The Fulani, a largely Muslim ethnic group, have been accused of having links with the Islamist uprising. But for their part, the Fulani accuse a Dogon self-defence association, Dan Na Ambassagou, of attacks on them.
By Louise Dewast, West Africa correspondent
There is a growing view in Mali that the (mostly military) response to this multi-faceted crisis is ineffective and even counter-productive. Despite having a large UN peacekeeping mission and French forces deployed since 2013, insecurity has worsened in some parts of the country.
According to the International Crisis Group, there were four times more attacks in May 2019 compared to May 2016. In their latest report on the country, the group urges the government to engage in dialogue with militants to negotiate local ceasefires and facilitate humanitarian access to civilians in need.
After another massacre of Fulanis in March, senior officials were sacked, people took to the streets and the entire government resigned in April. The attack on Sobame Da has killed about a third of its inhabitants. In the same region in March, more than 130 Fulani villagers were killed by armed men wearing traditional Dogon hunters' clothing.
After the attack, the Dogon Dan Na Ambassagou was banned by Mali's government.
But the organisation, which insists it is a self-defence group and had nothing to do with the killings, refused calls to lay down its arms.
The United Nations mission in Mali, in a report dated 31 May, said the security situation in central Mali "continued to deteriorate".
It said that clashes between the Dogon and Fulani had been "exacerbated by the presence of extremist groups", and that the central region had recorded the highest number of attacks against civilians.
Hundreds of people have been killed so far this year.
There are several Islamist groups based in northern Mali. In 2013, they seized half of the country and were advancing on the capital, Bamako.
France, the former colonial power in Mali, and some neighbouring African countries, intervened and pushed the Islamist groups back towards their strongholds in the Sahara desert.
Before the unrest, disagreements between the Fulani and Dogon were often settled through negotiation.
But the uprising - which had spread to the centre of Mali by 2015 - decreased government control and increased the availability of weapons. | Armed Conflict | June 2019 | ['(BBC)'] |
The Prime Minister of Australia Julia Gillard announces a Cabinet reshuffle with Bob Carr, a former Premier of New South Wales, appointed as Minister for Foreign Affairs to replace Kevin Rudd. | In a shock announcement, former NSW premier Bob Carr will join the Senate and take the role of Foreign Affairs Minister.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard revealed her new cabinet today after a week of speculation. As late as this morning it was believed that Defence Minister Stephen Smith would be reappointed to his former role after internal resistance to bringing Mr Carr into the position.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard watches on after announcing former NSW premier Bob Carr will become the new Foreign Affairs Minister.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
Mr Carr was approached for the job earlier this week but the offer was then reported to have been withdrawn amid protests from Labor ministers such as Simon Crean and Mr Smith, who were considered contenders for the job.
Mr Smith will continue as Defence Minister and Ms Gillard said that he had a lot of work in front of him in that portfolio. "There are major decisions that need to be made in coming months," she said.
Defence minister Stephen Smith, who gave up the foreign affairs portfolio for Kevin Rudd, remains in the defence role.Credit:Andrew Meares
She would not be drawn on his specific reaction to the news that Mr Carr had taken the foreign affairs role.
Former attorney-general and Rudd supporter Robert McClelland was dumped from the ministry altogether and Ms Gillard thanked him "for his many years of service in the ministry'' and said that he was a ''great Labor man''.
There were concerns within Labor that Mr McClelland would quit politics after the announcement, and force a by-election. However, this afternoon he said he would continue as an MP - but not before blaming his dumping on his decision to back Kevin Rudd in Monday's leadership ballot.
Earlier today Ms Gillard said she made the offer to Mr Carr because she thought he should be a member of the "strongest possible team".
It is Ms Gillard's second reshuffle since December. Former Labor senator Gareth Evans was the last politician to preside over the portfolio from the upper house. Mr Carr joins a distinguished list of federal politicans to assume the role, including former prime ministers Gough Whitlam, Billy McMahon and Robert Menzies.
Ms Gillard said she was delighted that he had accepted, but she declined to go through the "many conversations" she had with people this week regarding the reshuffle.
She said that she had spoken to Mr Carr late yesterday morning and had made him the offer.
Mr Carr said that Ms Gillard had made him an offer he could not refuse.
''You don't choose the moment; very often the moment chooses you,'' he told reporters in Canberra today.
Mr Carr admitted that he had been "churned up" by "warring emotions" over the decision.
He noted that he had been out of public life for six years - but said that Ms Gillard's voice had "roused him" from his slumber.
Mr Carr said that he had been through "a few" reshuffles before - and added that they had been "pretty grim", as they always featured argument, conjecture and people "thinking out loud".
In the end, Mr Carr added: "It is the leader who cuts through."
Mr Carr said that there would be inevitable differences between himself and Kevin Rudd in the portfolio but he wanted to honour his predecessor's achievements, including the UN Security Council seat bid, increased overseas aid and Burma.
The former premier talked up Australia's chances for a UN Security Council seat. He said there was a "cautious optimism" around the bid.
"Australia's credentials in this areas are impeccable; we have a contribution to make."
He echoed Mr Rudd's previous sentiments in saying that it was about Australia's commitment to multilateralism.
Mr Carr said that he could "mobilise" the things he had learnt in his career in his new role. He said the opportunity to speak about and represent Australia was a "great honour".
Mr Carr talked optimistically about Labor's chances at the next election.
He said that the gap between Labor and Coalition was not as great as the gap had been on several previous occasions.
He said that, when voters focused on policy-making over "sloganeering", they would turn to Labor.
He said he intended to run again for the Senate when his term expired.
"I am a natural senator," Mr Carr said with a laugh.
Mr Carr said that he felt fit, energetic and full of ideas before going to Canberra.
Ms Gillard said she would be talking to NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell today to "expedite" Mr Carr's appointment to the NSW Senate and thus to the foreign ministry.
This afternoon Mr Smith congratulated Mr Carr on his appointment and said he would be a terrific foreign minister and addition to cabinet.
''I've known Bob for very many years,'' he said. ''I'm very much looking forward to working with him, as you know defence ministers and foreign ministers work very closely.''
Mr Smith said he had no right to be disappointed about Ms Gillard's decision to give foreign affairs to Mr Carr.
''There are no entitlements in public life,'' he told reporters in Canberra.
In other movements, Craig Emerson will continue as acting Foreign Affairs Minister until Mr Carr takes up the Senate vacancy. Mr Emerson has had his portfolio expanded to include the role of Minister for Trade and Competitiveness, paying particular attention to increasing Australia's international economic competitiveness, with a focus on the Australia in the Asian Century White Paper.
Brendan O'Connor has been promoted into cabinet as the Minister for Small Business and as Minister for Housing and Homelessness.
Attorney-General Nicola Roxon picks up Emergency Management. Environment Minister Tony Burke will take on the additional role of vice-president of the Executive Council.
Senator Kate Lundy was promoted to Minister for Sport and Minister for Multicultural Affairs, as well as Minister Assisting for Industry and Innovation.
Member for Lindsay David Bradbury was appointed as Assistant Treasurer, and in the newly-created position of Minister Assisting for Deregulation.
Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare will take on the additional portfolio of Minister for Defence Materiel.
Kim Carr loses Manufacturing to Climate Change and Industry Minister Greg Combet but picks up Human Services.
Jan McLucas will become Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister.
Queensland MP Bernie Ripoll is the new Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer, while Sharon Bird becomes Parliamentary Secretary for Higher Education and Skills.
Jacinta Collins will become Manager of Government Business in the Senate following Mark Arbib's retirement.
The Governor-General, Quentin Bryce, will swear in the new ministry at Government House in Canberra on Monday.
Labor MP Ed Husic used Twitter to congratulate the former premier on his decision. "Bob Carr's appointment can dramatically change the political dynamics in Canberra," he said.
"Can't wait to see him in action in the Senate."
Mr Carr's appointment has not been publicly welcomed by everyone.
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said that Mr Carr "presided over one of the worst state governments in Australian history."
The Greens leader, Bob Brown, welcomed Mr Carr's appointment but criticised him for his comments that Australia's troops should be kept in Afghanistan.
"As a new broom, Mr Carr ought to begin by extracting our troops, to bringing them home from the mire in Afghanistan this year," Senator Brown said.
"I look forward to having a foreign minister in the Senate and congratulate the other new appointees of Prime Minister Gillard." | Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration | March 2012 | ['(Sydney Morning Herald)'] |
Three men possessing homemade bullets at an illegal arms workshop are arrested in connection with the March 19, 2004, assassination attempt in Taiwan. | The men were arrested following the discovery of homemade bullets similar to those used in the attack last March.
A spokesman for the task force investigating the shooting said the men had been charged with weapons offences.
But police could not yet prove they were involved in the attack itself, the spokesman said.
Investigators believe that Taiwan's president and vice-president were shot on the eve of the presidential election with homemade bullets fired from a replica pistol, which had been altered to fire live ammunition. At a press conference on Friday, police said they had arrested a man two months ago who was found to be in possession of such a weapon. Police then detained two of this man's friends, whom they believe supplied him with the pistol and the ammunition. Tests have shown the structure of the bullet casings found with these three men matched those used in the attack on President Chen.
They have now been charged with weapons offences, because otherwise they would have had to be released after spending eight weeks in detention. However, there is no additional proof yet to link them to the shooting, a senior police officer said. The task force set up to investigate the incident is under pressure to provide results. Until now it has been unable to produce any firm leads, and next week Taiwan's parliament will attempt to force the president to set up a new independent investigation into the attack. The opposition claims the shooting swung the vote in Mr Chen's favour, and has suggested it was staged to win him sympathy votes. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Arrest | September 2004 | ['(BBC)', '(Channel News Asia)'] |
In Rabat, Morocco, some 30.000 protesters march to call for release of prisoners of war held by Polisario in Algeria. | The March was organized by Collectif Watanouna - set up on January 20 - calling on international organizations to “intervene to put an end to the sufferings of families and children, who are separated from their mothers, and to release all Moroccans held in Tindouf.” These Moroccans were imprisoned for more than 25 years, following the artificial struggle over the Moroccanity of Southern Moroccan provinces. This struggle opposes Morocco to the Algerian-backed Polisario Front, which has tried to separate the provinces, known as Moroccan Sahara.Moroccan associations from all over the country, leaders of some Moroccan political parties and Moroccan artists participated in this March. They chanted slogans accusing Algeria of maiming and killing Moroccan soldiers and civilians, violating the international law and Geneva Agreement for the treatment of prisoners of war.Leaders of political parties, including Mohamed El Yazghi, Secretary General of the socialist party 'USFP'; Abbas El Fassi, head of the party of Istiqlal (Independence); Ismail Al Alaoui, Secretary General of Progess and Socialist Party 'PPS'; and Saâd Eddine Al-Othmani, Secretary General of party of Justice and Development (PJD), were in the front lines of the march to show their support and Solidarity with the Moroccan POWs. "I think that this march has come in the right time to express the Moroccan solidarity with their brothers and sisters detained in the Tindouf camps. It is high time that the Algerian regime stopped its irrational policies in the region. The Maghreb countries need to remedy the mistakes committed in the past and seek to respond to the ambitions of their peoples," said Ismail Al Alaoui, Secretary General of Progess and Socialist Party. | Protest_Online Condemnation | March 2005 | ['(Morocco Times)', '(Reuters SA)'] |
Three men possessing homemade bullets at an illegal arms workshop are arrested in connection with the March 19, 2004, assassination attempt in Taiwan. | The men were arrested following the discovery of homemade bullets similar to those used in the attack last March.
A spokesman for the task force investigating the shooting said the men had been charged with weapons offences.
But police could not yet prove they were involved in the attack itself, the spokesman said.
Investigators believe that Taiwan's president and vice-president were shot on the eve of the presidential election with homemade bullets fired from a replica pistol, which had been altered to fire live ammunition. At a press conference on Friday, police said they had arrested a man two months ago who was found to be in possession of such a weapon. Police then detained two of this man's friends, whom they believe supplied him with the pistol and the ammunition. Tests have shown the structure of the bullet casings found with these three men matched those used in the attack on President Chen.
They have now been charged with weapons offences, because otherwise they would have had to be released after spending eight weeks in detention. However, there is no additional proof yet to link them to the shooting, a senior police officer said. The task force set up to investigate the incident is under pressure to provide results. Until now it has been unable to produce any firm leads, and next week Taiwan's parliament will attempt to force the president to set up a new independent investigation into the attack. The opposition claims the shooting swung the vote in Mr Chen's favour, and has suggested it was staged to win him sympathy votes. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | September 2004 | ['(BBC)', '(Channel News Asia)'] |
German police detain two suspects with over 150kg of pyrotechnic explosives and an IED inscribed with a swastika and SS runes, stating the two may have a connection to a neoNazi terrorist group. | The explosives were found in a private flat in Lauterecken in western Germany on December 29. A local prosecutor’s office said the suspects may belong to a neo-Nazi group called the ‘Oldschool Society,’ DPA reports.
In addition to the explosives, investigators found an improvised explosive device bearing a swastika and SS runes, according tothe report.
The detention of the two men and seizure of the pyrotechnic explosives was reported earlierin January by the prosecutor’s office itself. One suspect was caught with 110 kilograms of the material, and the other with 45, according to their statement, which stressed that the priority of the investigation was to find out if they had connections to far-right extremists.
The statement added that investigators were also tasked with finding out if the suspects had planned to set off an explosion during the New Year’s celebrations in the center of the nearby town of Kaiserslautern a charge they denied.
The suspects, aged 18 and 24, both denied all charges, describing themselves as “amateur pyrotechnicians” and claiming the explosives were meant to be used during New Year Eve’s celebrations.
The ‘Oldschool Society’ came into the spotlight in 2015 when German police arrested four members of the neo-Nazi group during an anti-terrorist raid. In January of 2016, it was revealed that the four, identified in the local media as Andreas H., 57, Markus W., 40, Denise Vanessa G., 23, and Olaf O., 47, had been planning to bomb refugee centers and assassinate Islamist clerics.
The ‘Oldschool Society’ had allegedly sent Markus W. and Denise Vanessa G. to the Czech Republic, where they attempted to buy a large quantity of explosive materials, while Andreas H. had been working on how to increase the power of their nail bombs.
The four extremists began meeting in November of 2014, well before the massive influx of refugees reached current record levels, and launched a Facebook group to disseminate their ideas and recruit followers.
According to a Spiegel report, their Facebook cover at the time was an infamous photo of the entrance to the Auschwitz concentration camp that read “Arbeit macht frei” (“Work sets you free”). | Armed Conflict | January 2017 | ['(RT)'] |
The United States Marine Corps, Navy, and Coast Guard halt a massive search and rescue operation for seven Marines and Navy sailors who went missing on Thursday off the coast of San Clemente Island in California. All the missing are now presumed dead. | A massive search and rescue operation for seven Marines and a Navy sailor who went missing after a training accident off the California coast has been halted and all are presumed dead, authorities said Sunday.
Fifteen Marines and the sailor were participating in a routine training exercise off the coast of San Clemente Island on Thursday when their amphibious assault vehicle began taking on water and sank. Eight Marines were pulled from the water – one died and two others remained hospitalized in critical condition Sunday, the Marines said in a statement.
Marine Corps, Navy and Coast Guard helicopters and ships searched more than I,000 square nautical miles for 40 hours. Search team commanders ultimately determined there was little probability of a successful rescue given the circumstances of the incident, the statement said.
"It is with a heavy heart, that I decided to conclude the search and rescue effort," said Col. Christopher Bronzi. "The steadfast dedication of the Marines, sailors. and Coast Guardsmen to the persistent rescue effort was tremendous."
The vehicle sank in several hundred feet of water off San Clemente Island, about 60 miles off the coast of Camp Pendleton in San Diego County. Efforts will now turn to finding and recovering the bodies, including equipment designed to survey the sea floor, which is too deep for divers to reach.
Marines tragedy: Sea tank sinks off California coast
"Our thoughts and prayers have been, and will continue to be with our Marines' and sailor's families," said Bronzi. "As we turn to recovery operations we will continue our exhaustive search for our missing Marines and Sailor."
The circumstances surrounding the incident are being investigated. The tragedy marks the third time in less than a decade that Camp Pendleton Marines have been injured or died in amphibious assault vehicles during training exercises.
Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David Berger ordered an immediate suspension of amphibious assault vehicles from training at sea. | Shipwreck | August 2020 | ['(USA Today)'] |
The United States Supreme Court rules six–to–three that "illegal combatants" such as those held in Guantánamo can challenge the basis of their detentions, yet can also be held without charges or trial. | The six-to-three ruling is seen as a major blow to the Bush administration and could herald hundreds of appeals in US courts on behalf of the inmates.
Lower US courts had previously ruled that Guantanamo prisoners were beyond US legal jurisdiction.
The ruling did not pass judgement on the guilt or innocence of any detainee.
Of the 600-odd terror suspects held at Guantanamo Bay most were rounded up in Afghanistan and Pakistan during the US-led operation against al-Qaeda and the Taleban.
No blank cheque
The Supreme Court did not address the issues of human rights surrounding the men's capture and detention without trial.
Human rights groups have challenged the legal basis for their continued incarceration.
The detainees comprise nationals from more than 40 countries.
Many were captured in 2001, during the early months of the US operation in Afghanistan.
About 150 have been transferred from Guantanamo - many of them to be detained by their own governments. Two Britons who were freed from Guantanamo Bay in March and released without charge in the UK, Shasiq Rasul and Asif Iqbal, urged the US government to inform all detainees of their right to take their case to US courts and to provide them with lawyers "to make that access a reality".
In a separate but related ruling, the Supreme Court decided that US citizens designated as "enemy combatants" could be detained without trial - but that those held also had the right to challenge their detention in US courts.
In that case - which centres on US-born detainee Yaser Esam Hamdi - Justice Sandra Day O'Connor said that a state of war was "not a blank cheque for the president when it comes to the rights of the nation's
citizens".
US President George W Bush has announced controversial plans to try the Guantanamo detainees in military tribunals, rather than civilian courts. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Arrest | June 2004 | ['(BBC)', '(NYT)'] |
A disgruntled bus driver goes on a rampage in Dublin, Ireland, smashing through stopped and on–coming vehicles as he drives through streets, across tram lines and up the wrong side of a dual–carriageway. One woman is killed and 13 people more injured, including five Gardaí . Armed Gardaí open fire on three occasions to try to stop the bus. (RTÉ News) | A 61-year-old woman has been killed and 13 other people were injured, including five gardaí, after being hit by a stolen bus in Dublin. The driver of the bus, a 36-year-old man, from Tallaght, has been arrested. He was treated earlier at Tallaght hospital and is now being questioned at Kevin Street Garda Station.
The incident began early this morning when the man took the 53-seater coach from a private bus depot in Rathcoole where he worked. The woman, also from Tallaght, died after her car was struck at Bluebell on the Naas Road. As the bus continued travelling along the Naas Road, there were a number of other collisions. At three locations - Davitt Road, the Red Cow and in Rathcoole - gardaí fired shots trying to hit the bus tyres, and they also used spikes to try to stop the bus.
By the time the bus crashed in Rathcoole in south county Dublin, there were a number of accident scenes along the Naas Road, which are now crime scenes.
It was at this bus depot in Rathcoole that the man crashed the bus and was arrested by gardaí
Gardaí are appealing for witnesses to come forward, especially people who may have taken photographs or video footage. Witnesses are asked to call the incident room at Kilmainham Garda Station on 01 666 9700.
Traffic restrictions will remain in place on the Naas Road for several hours following the incident. Inbound traffic on the N7 is being diverted onto the Longmile Road towards the city. Outbound traffic on the Naas Road is down to one lane from the Long Mile Road junction.
In a statement issued this evening on behalf of Dualway coaches, the company whose bus was involved in today's tragic incident, the owners expressed their sympathy with the dead woman's family. A spokesman said they had no indication that anything like this might happen and there was no ongoing row, dispute or disagreement between the company and the bus driver. | Road Crash | May 2006 | ['(Irish Police)'] |
Russian prosecutors launch a terrorism investigation after an improvised bomb derailed an overnight express train near the village of Malaya Vishera in the Novgorod region. | MALAYA VISHERA, Russia (Reuters) -- Russia launched a terrorism investigation on Tuesday after a bomb derailed an express train traveling from Moscow to St Petersburg, overturning carriages and injuring dozens of passengers.
Rescuers work at the site of train derailment near the Malaya Vishera village caused by an apparent explosion.
"The train accident was caused by a homemade explosive device," Sergei Bednichenko, chief prosecutor for Russia's North West district, told Channel One television.
"A criminal case has been opened under article 205, clause 3, that is terrorism."
The head of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), Nikolai Patrushev, linked the bombing to an insurgency in the south of the country around Chechnya, where Moscow has been fighting a long rebellion against its rule.
Officials briefed Russian President Vladimir Putin on the investigation into the train bombing and he asked to be informed of any developments, a Kremlin spokeswoman said.
The derailed train was an overnight service travelling on one of the country's busiest rail routes. It is heavily used by businesspeople and foreign tourists.
Sixty passengers and train crew were injured in the derailment, and 38 of them were admitted to hospital, a spokeswoman for rail operator Russian Railways said. About 250 people were on board in all.
The incident happened late on Monday near the village of Malaya Vishera in the Novgorod region, about 500 km (300 miles) north of Moscow and 170 km from St Petersburg.
The bomb was planted on a bridge over a road and left a crater about 2 meters (6 ft) across, eyewitnesses said. The train came off the tracks just after crossing the bridge, a Reuters photographer at the scene said.
Russia's Interfax news agency quoted an FSB official as saying the bomb contained 2 kg (4.4 lb) of explosive material.
Patrushev said the train bomb was part of a pattern of violence that also included a spate of attacks on security forces and officials in the North Caucasus region around Chechnya.
"We have been able to significantly reduce the ... number of terrorist attacks," Interfax news agency quoted Patrushev as saying. "Nevertheless, the threat of extremism and terrorism has not been removed once and for all."
The Reuters photographer at the crash scene said nearly all the carriages and the locomotive had left the tracks, and at least three carriages were tipped onto their side.
"We heard two explosions, then the train put on the brakes suddenly," one conductor on board the train, who did not want to be identified, told Reuters.
"The train shook. A panic started," he said. "We smashed out the glass and helped the passengers out ... The worst damage was in the restaurant car. That is where most of the casualties were."
Rebel fighters linked to Chechnya have used bombs to target passenger trains in the past.
In 2003, an explosion tore through a morning commuter train outside Yessentuki, north-west of Chechnya, killing 46 people.
In 2005, a passenger train heading from Chechnya to Moscow was derailed about 150 km from the Russian capital. Eight people were treated in hospital.
Chechnya's separatist rebels have been weakened by the killing of many of their field commanders. They have not carried out any major attacks outside the North Caucasus for at least a year. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Investigate | August 2007 | ['(CNN)'] |
Protesters storm the Iranian consulate in Basra, in protest of corruption and misrule by Iraq's political elite, damaging the consulate's offices and shouting anti-Iranian slogans while others briefly take workers hostage at a nearby oilfield. | BASRA, Iraq (Reuters) - Protesters stormed the Iranian consulate in Iraq’s southern oil hub Basra on Friday, local security sources said.
The consulate is in the upscale neighborhood of al-Barda’iya, southeast of the city center.
Demonstrators have targeted local government buildings and political party offices since protests intensified on Monday.
| Riot | September 2018 | ['(Reuters)', '(Ynet News)'] |
The Indian tourism industry reports that, as a result of protests, December visits to the Taj Mahal and the state of Assam declined by 60% and 90% respectively compared to the same period last year. These declines are also occurring in the midst of general economic slowdown in the country. | MUMBAI (Reuters) - India’s tourism industry has been hit by a wave of violent anti-government protests against a new citizenship law that have rocked several cities this month, with at least seven countries issuing travel warnings.
At least 25 people have been killed in clashes between police and protesters, and demonstrations against the law continue.
Officials estimate about 200,000 domestic and international tourists canceled or postponed their trip to the Taj Mahal in the past two weeks, one of the world’s most popular tourist attractions.
“There has been a 60% decline in visitor footfalls in December this year,” said Dinesh Kumar, a police inspector overseeing a special tourist police station near the Taj Mahal who has access to visitor data. He said the decline was compared to December last year.
“Indian and foreign tourists have been calling our control rooms to check security. We assure them protection, but many still decide to stay away,” said Kumar.
The 17th century marble monument is in Uttar Pradesh, the northern state that has witnessed the highest number of deaths and intense bursts of violence in two weeks of unrest.
A group of European tourists traveling in a group across India said they now planned to cut short their 20 day trip.
“We are all retired folks, for us travel has to be slow and relaxing. The newspaper headlines have led to a sense of concern and we will leave sooner than we had planned,” said Dave Millikin, a retired banker living on the outskirts of London, who spoke to Reuters from the capital New Delhi.
The Taj Mahal, situated in the town of Agra, attracts over 6.5 million tourists every year, generating nearly $14 million annually from entrance fees. A foreign tourist pays 1,100 rupees (about $15) to enter the grounds, although nationals from neighboring countries get a discount.
Managers in luxury hotels and guest houses around the Taj Mahal said last minute cancellations during the festive season have further dampened business sentiment at a time when the country’s economic growth has slowed to 4.5%, its slowest pace in more than six years.
In a bid to clamp down on violence and unrest, authorities have suspended mobile internet services in Agra.
“Blocking the internet has affected travel and tourism in Agra by about 50-60%,” said Sandeep Arora, president of the Agra Tourism Development Foundation that groups over 250 tour operators, hotels and guides.
The United States, Britain, Russia, Israel, Singapore, Canada and Taiwan have issued travel advisories asking their citizens to either refrain from visiting or to exercise caution when visiting regions embroiled in India’s protests.
Jayanta Malla Baruah, the head of the Assam Tourism Development Corp., said the state, home to the world’s largest concentration of one-horned rhinoceroses, is visited on average by 500,000 tourists during December.
“But this time, due to the ongoing protests and travel advisories by various countries, the number is down by 90% if not more.”
| Protest_Online Condemnation | December 2019 | ['(Reuters)'] |
FC Shakhtar Donetsk defeat SV Werder Bremen to win the final UEFA Cup. | Rodrigues Jadson's extra-time winner sank Werder Bremen and ensured Shakhtar Donetsk won the last Uefa Cup final.
Luiz Adriano's delicate finish put Shakhtar in front after 25 minutes. Werder equalised before the interval when Shakhtar keeper Andriy Pyatov could only divert Ronaldo Naldo's long-range free-kick into the net. And it was another goalkeeping error that gave Shakhtar victory in extra-time, when Tim Wiese allowed Jadson's 97th-minute strike to squirm in. Shakhtar deserved the victory in Istanbul, but Werder will reflect on the absence of inspirational forward Diego because of suspension.
Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. Shakhtar aim for Champions League
The Ukrainians opened with real intent and Adriano should have given them the lead after five minutes, only to shoot wide from Jadson's superb through ball. The Brazilian made no mistake with his next opportunity, lifting a superb finish over Wiese after Werder's defence failed to deal with a routine through ball. But the Germans were gifted an equaliser 10 minutes before the break, courtesy of a catastrophic error from Shakhtar keeper Pyatov. Naldo's free-kick was struck with great power, but Pyatov appeared to be caught in two minds and could only divert it into the net. Mariusz Lewandowski almost restored Shakhtar's lead with a thunderous 25-yard drive that was brilliantly turned aside by Wiese.
The enterprise of the first half was not matched after the break, although Pyatov made amends for his earlier error with a fine save from Pizarro. It meant the final went into extra-time, and within seven minutes of the restart, Jadson put Shakhtar back in front - and this time it was Werder keeper Wiese who was the cuplrit. Jadson did not get a full contact on Darijo Srna's cross, but it squirmed through the hands of Wiese, who had been outstanding up to that point. Pizarro almost responded instantly after a breakdown in communication in the Shaktar defence, but Pyatov recovered to save with his legs. There was almost one final twist when Sebatian Proedl's header beat Pyatov, but referee Luis Medina Cantalejo ruled out the goal for a foul by Pizarro. Shakhtar Donetsk coach Mircea Lucesu: "It is bigger because it is the last and maybe we can keep the trophy. We don't have to make a copy of it. "We have bigger aims. We now want to do things in the Champions League: Reach the quarterfinals, maybe the semi-finals. "It was important not to allow Werder to play to their style, we contolled the game and we created most of the chances." Werder Bremen coach Thomas Schaaf: "We were just not fast enough and not just effective enough. "We weren't able to play our usual football, we didn't put enough pressure on our opponents. "We gave them too much space and lost too many balls. I congratulate Shakhtar, they were the best team on the night." Shakhtar Donetsk: Pyatov, Srna, Kucher, Chigrinsky, Rat, Lewandowski, Fernandinho, Ilsinho (Gai 99), Jadson (Duljaj 112), Willian , Luiz Adriano (Gladkyy 89). Subs Not Used: Khudzamov, Ischenko, Chyzhov, Moreno. Booked: Srna, Lewandowski, Ilsinho. Goals: Luiz Adriano 25, Jadson 97. Werder Bremen: Wiese, Fritz (Pasanen 94), Prodl, Naldo, Boenisch, Niemeyer (Tziolis 103), Frings, Baumann, Ozil, Pizarro, Rosenberg (Hunt 78). Subs Not Used: Vander, Tosic, Vranjes, Harnik. Booked: Frings, Fritz, Tziolis, Boenisch. Goals: Naldo 35. Att: 53,100. Ref: Luis Medina Cantalejo (Spain). | Sports Competition | May 2009 | ['(BBC)', '(UEFA)'] |
Lee Man-hee, a Shincheonji Church of Jesus pastor, is arrested for allegedly hiding contact information from virus trackers and embezzling 5.6 billion won. | Lee Man-hee’s Shincheonji Church of Jesus was at the centre of an outbreak but police say he hid details on members and their movements
California sees record number of deaths on four separate days South Korean authorities have arrested the founder of a secretive Christian sect at the centre of the country’s largest outbreak of Covid-19 infections for allegedly hiding crucial information from contact-tracers and other offences.
Lee Man-hee is the powerful head of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus which is linked to more than 5,200 coronavirus infections, or 36% of South Korea’s total cases.
Prosecutors allege the 89-year-old conspired with other sect leaders to withhold information from authorities during the peak of the outbreak among his more than 200,000 followers.
Lee, who has described the novel coronavirus as the “devil’s deed” to stop the sect’s growth, allegedly hid details on members and their meeting places as authorities tried to trace infection routes in February, Yonhap news agency reported.
Lee is also suspected of embezzling about 5.6bn won ($4.7mn) in church funds, including about 5bn won which he allegedly used to build a retreat, Yonhap said.
The sect said in a statement that Lee was concerned about government demands for members’ personal information but never tried to hide anything.
Lee was arrested immediately after a court in Suwon district, south of Seoul, approved the warrant. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Arrest | August 2020 | ['(The Guardian)'] |
Sixteen people are killed and many more injured by a car bomb and a second, delayed explosion near a hospital in Syria's mainly Alawite, government-controlled neighborhood of al-Zahra, east of Homs' old city, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports. The attack comes just five days after the government and rebels agreed on a local ceasefire in the western al-Waer suburb. | Twin explosions in a government-controlled neighborhood of Syria’s Homs city killed at least 16 people and wounded scores more on Saturday, a group monitoring the war and state media said, in an attack claimed by the hardline Islamic State group.
The blasts come days after the government extended its control of the western city with the implementation of a truce deal in Waer, the last insurgent-held area of Homs. Some fighters and civilians have left Waer, and aid has been allowed in.
Waer is located on the western side of the city’s outskirts.
A vehicle bomb detonated close to a hospital in the mainly Alawite neighborhood of al-Zahra in the east of Homs city, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said.
In a statement posted online, Islamic State described it as a suicide car bomb attack in the center of Zahra district.
The second large blast, originally suspected to have been a bomb, appeared to have come from an exploding gas canister and hit people who had come to tend to victims of the first explosion in the densely-populated neighborhood, state media said.
State television had earlier described the attack as “two large terrorist explosions”. News agency SANA said the vehicle bomb had been packed with 150 kg of explosives. It published a photo of two men carrying a woman away from burning wreckage.
Footage on state television showed a chaotic scene, with black smoke rising above twisted metal debris. People stumbled over the rubble as they tried to ferry people away from the site.
| Sign Agreement | December 2015 | ['(Reuters)', '(EuroNews)'] |
Italian military police general Giampaolo Ganzer is sentenced to 14 years imprisonment and fined €65,000 for drug smuggling between 1991 and 1997. | An Italian military police general, Giampaolo Ganzer, has been jailed for 14 years for drug smuggling and organising fake anti-drug operations. Gen Ganzer was found guilty of using his work to import and sell drugs between 1991 and 1997, the newspaper Corriere della Serra reported. Under the leadership of the General, officers had formed their own drug trafficking ring, the prosecutors said. Gen Ganzer was among 14 people convicted in the case.
Italian media quoted prosecutors as saying that the General, who headed the Carabinieri's investigative division in Milan, had set up the smuggling ring to enrich himself and obtain "visibility and success". Gen Ganzer was also ordered to pay a fine of 65,000 euro ($82,000; £55,000). | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | July 2010 | ['(BBC)'] |
In Namibia, president Sam Nujoma retires and is succeeded by Hifikepunye Pohamba. | Windhoek - President-elect Hifikepunye Pohamba was sworn in on Monday as Namibia's second president since independence, succeeding veteran leader Sam Nujoma who held power in the southern African country for 15 years. Pohamba, 69, a fellow veteran of Namibia's struggle against apartheid South African rule, took the oath to uphold the constitution before 20 000 people assembled at a stadium in Windhoek. "We have a new president," Chief Justice Peter Shivute proclaimed after Pohamba was sworn in at a ceremony attended by several African heads of state including South African President Thabo Mbeki. 76% majority
Pohamba, who served as lands minister under Nujoma, won 76.4% of the vote as presidential candidate for the ruling Swapo party in the November 15 and 16 ballot on a campaign that called for continuity. In the weeks leading up to the Swapo presidential nomination convention, Nujoma had thrown his weight behind Pohamba as the candidate of choice for the ruling party. For Namibians, the historic handover of power marked the end of an era with the departure of Nujoma from the top post although the 75-year-old leader will continue to influence politics as Swapo party president. A German colony until World War I, Namibia, then known as South West Africa, was ruled by apartheid South Africa as a de-facto province, which it used as a springboard to stage military operations against SWAPO and Marxist Angola from the mid-1970s onward. Following a major battle in the southern Angolan town of Cuito Cuanavale which ended in April 1988, South Africa began pulling its troops out of Angola and Namibia, setting the wheels in motion for Namibian independence in 1990. Discussion Forums | | Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration | March 2005 | ['(AllAfrica)', '(Reuters SA)', '(News24)', '(Reuters)', '(Bloomberg)', '(BBC)'] |
Two earthquakes strike Gansu province, China, killing at least 89 people and injuring over 500. | (CNN) -- Rescue teams are scrambling to reach the site of Monday morning's strong and shallow earthquake in northwestern China that has killed at least 89 people, according to state media.
Another 593 people were injured and five were believed missing after the quake tore through Gansu Province, China Daily reported.
The quake hit along the border of two counties -- Min and Zhang -- at around 7:45 a.m. local time, according to state news agency Xinhua.
Emergency services are converging on the area, including the Red Cross Society of China, which is sending 200 tents and other supplies to shelter and sustain those left without homes.
According to state broadcaster CCTV, Chinese President Xi Jinping has urged crews to prioritize the rescue of survivors and minimize casualties.
The original quake and powerful aftershocks caused roofs to collapse, cut telecommunications lines and damaged a major highway linking the provincial capital of Lanzhou to the south, according to the China Daily newspaper.
More than 300 armed police troops and 64 heavy machines have been dispatched to repair National Highway No. 212, the paper reported. Train services in the area have also been suspended.
Rescue efforts are expected to be hampered by heavy rain that's soaked the region in recent weeks. More rain is forecast and experts have warned about potential landslides.
According to the Gansu Provincial Seismological Bureau, the quake registered a magnitude of 6.6, however the U.S. Geological Survey said it was a 5.9-magnitude tremor, which struck at the relatively shallow depth of about half a mile (1 kilometer).
The epicenter was eight miles (13 kilometers) east of Chabu and 110 miles (177 kilometers) south-southeast of Lanzhou, the USGS said.
Tremors were still being felt from the quake, Xinhua said, quoting sources within the Min County government. Locals said buildings and trees shook for about a minute.
Residents within the earthquake zone took to Weibo -- China's version of Twitter -- soon after to describe how the earth shook.
"This morning at 7:40 I was brushing my teeth, all of a sudden everything shook for a few moments, I thought I didn't get enough sleep last night and was feeling dizzy," @wyyy wrote. "Turns out it was an earthquake, sigh, seems that with the huge rain downpour outside, we really don't know how much longer this planet is going to let us live here."
Another, @dengdjianjyany, said: "Gansu earthquake. So many natural disasters in so short a time, another flood, another landslide, another earthquake, another something. And it's not finished, my God ~ is there any safe place left? Wish everybody a life of peace" | Earthquakes | July 2013 | ['(CNN)', '(Reuters)', '(NBC News)', '(BBC)'] |
In baseball, game 3 of the World Series, in which the Boston Red Sox lose to the Los Angeles Dodgers by a score of 3–2, extends to 18 innings and lasts 7 hours and 20 minutes, becoming by far the longest game in World Series history. | World Series Game 3 between the Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers reached epic proportions.
The Dodgers, thanks to a walk off homer by Max Muncy, outlasted the Red Sox with a 3-2 victory in 18 innings, shattering the World Series record for longest game in history - in time and frames.
The two franchises have been down this path before. The last time they met in a World Series, in 1916, the Brooklyn Robins and Red Sox went 14 innings and Babe Ruth pitched a complete game for a 2-1 victory.
The longest game in World Series history, in terms of innings, before Friday's marathon? Fourteen innings. It had been done three times.
The longest game in World Series history, by time?
Friday night's game at Dodger Stadium lasted 7 hours, 20 minutes -- longer than the game time of the entire 1939 World Series, according to StatsByStats. That year, the New York Yankees swept the Cincinnati Reds in four games that took a combined 7 hours, 5 minutes.
Game 3 also became the longest game in postseason history. Game 2 of the 2014 National League Championship Series between the San Francisco Giants and Washington Nationals went 6 hours, 23 minutes. | Sports Competition | October 2018 | ['(USA Today)'] |
The death toll from a tourist boat accident off the coast of Thailand's Phuket Island climbs to 41, with 15 people still missing. | PHUKET/BANGKOK (Reuters) - The death toll from a tourist boat accident off the coast of Thailand’s Phuket island climbed to 41 on Saturday with 15 people still missing, officials said.
Rescuers have resumed a search for those still missing from the sunken vessel, the Phoenix, which capsized in rough waters on Thursday carrying 93 Chinese tourists and 12 Thai crew and tour guides in one of Thailand’s worst recent accidents.
Earlier in the day authorities said a hospital morgue in Phuket was running out of space and called on donors to help provide freezers for the bodies.
Forty-one of those on board have been confirmed dead and 49 rescued, officials said.
“Deceased: 41. Missing: 15,” the Thai government said in a statement.
The Phoenix sank after being hit by five-meter (16-ft) -high waves in a storm off Phuket, whose beaches and night life draw tourists.
Some Thais and tour operators have questioned why the boat was at sea during bad weather. The Chinese government has also pressed for a quick investigation into the cause of the accident, the Thai government’s media office in Phuket said.
Thai junta number two Prawit Wongsuwan has ordered an investigation into why the Phoenix appeared to have ignored a weather warning.
Ambulances unloaded bodies at the hospital on Phuket’s east coast that received most of the casualties, as staff escorted visibly distressed family members to a waiting room.
The hospital was storing some bodies in a makeshift morgue built from two refrigerated containers, a Reuters reporter at the site said.
“Urgent! The Chinese embassy is calling for 40 freezers,” the Thai government said in an appeal, urging potential donors to contact the hospital.
About 20 freezers have been donated, said Jessada Chokdamrongsook, a Health Ministry official.
Rear Admiral Charoenpol Kumrasri, a deputy commander of the Thai navy, who is helping to lead the rescue effort, said he was confident divers would complete their search of the sunken vessel by Saturday.
“After this evening, if we do not find any more missing in the wreckage, the missing will float to the surface and we will be able to find them,” he told reporters.
Tourism is a key driver of growth in Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy, making up 12 percent of gross domestic product, and the most foreign visitors come from China.
China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism on Saturday called on Thai tourism authorities to make the risks of travel, including weather conditions, clearer to tourists.
Thailand is in the middle of its rainy season, which usually runs from May to mid-October and often generates high winds and flash storms in coastal areas.
Accidents like the Phoenix disaster are bad for Thailand, said tourist police official Surachate Hakparn, adding: “We have to be more stringent.”
| Shipwreck | July 2018 | ['(Reuters)'] |
Myanmar's security forces open fire on a funeral being held for a person killed in Yangon, with no casualties reported. The Kachin Independence Army also attacks a police station, prompting the military to conduct airstrikes. | (Reuters) -Myanmar security forces opened fire at a funeral on Sunday, witnesses said, as people across the country gathered to mourn 114 people killed the previous day in the worst crackdown on protests since last month’s military coup.
Mourners fled the shooting at a service for 20-year-old student Thae Maung Maung in Bago near the commercial capital Yangon and there were no immediate reports of casualties, three people in the town told Reuters.
“While we are singing the revolution song for him, security forces just arrived and shot at us,” a woman called Aye who was at the service said. “People, including us, run away as they opened fire.”
Another 12 people were recorded dead in incidents elsewhere in Myanmar by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners advocacy group on Sunday, taking its total toll of civilians killed since the Feb. 1 coup to 459.
Thousands of villagers in a border area fled to Thailand after military air strikes on one of several ethnic militias that have stepped up attacks since the coup, witnesses and local media said.
There were no reports of large-scale protests in Yangon or Mandalay, which bore the brunt of the casualties on Saturday, Myanmar’s Armed Forces Day. But people in Mandalay surrounded a police station late in the evening, accusing the security forces of arson after five houses burned down, residents said.
Reuters could not reach police there for comment.
At least six children between the ages of 10 and 16 were among those killed on Saturday, according to news reports and witnesses. Protesters call the victims “Fallen Stars”.
Related Coverage
The bloodshed drew renewed Western condemnation. The U.N. Special Rapporteur for Myanmar said the army was carrying out “mass murder” and called on the world to isolate the junta and halt its access to weapons.
Foreign criticism and sanctions imposed by some Western nations have failed so far to sway the military leaders, as have almost daily protests around the country since the junta took power and detained elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
“We salute our heroes who sacrificed lives during this revolution and We Must Win This REVOLUTION,” one of the main protest groups, the General Strike Committee of Nationalities (GSCN), posted on Facebook.
Heavy fighting also erupted between the army and some of the two dozen ethnic armed groups that control swathes of the country.
About 3,000 people fled to neighbouring Thailand after military jets bombed areas controlled by the Karen National Union (KNU) militia near the border, an activist group and local media said.
In an air attack by the military on Saturday, at least three civilians were killed in a village controlled by the KNU, a civil society group said. The militia earlier said it had overrun an army post near the border, killing 10 people.
Fighting also erupted on Sunday between another armed group, the Kachin Independence Army, and the military in the jade-mining area of Hpakant in the north. The Kachin forces attacked a police station and the military responded with an aerial assault, Kachinwaves media reported.
There were no reports of casualties.
A junta spokesman did not answer calls seeking comment on the killings or the fighting.
Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, the junta leader, said during a parade to mark Armed Forces Day that the military would protect the people and strive for democracy.
‘RINGING HOLLOW’
Countries including the United States, Britain, Germany and the European Union again condemned the violence.
“It’s terrible, it’s absolutely outrageous,” U.S. President Joe Biden told reporters in Delaware. “Based on the reporting I’ve gotten an awful lot of people have been killed totally unnecessarily.”
The EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, called on Myanmar’s generals to stand down from what he called a “senseless path” of violence against their own people.
“We will continue to use the EU’s mechanisms, including sanctions, to target the perpetrators of this violence, and those responsible for turning back the clock on Myanmar’s path of democracy and peace,” Borrell said in a statement.
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on Twitter: “We will not tolerate the military’s brutal course of action against the people of Myanmar”.
U.N. Special Rapporteur Tom Andrews said the junta should be cut off from funding, such as oil and gas revenues, and from access to weapons.
“Words of condemnation or concern are frankly ringing hollow to the people of Myanmar while the military junta commits mass murder against them,” he said in a statement.
The top military officer from the United States and nearly a dozen of his counterparts said a professional military must follow international standards for conduct “and is responsible for protecting - not harming - the people it serves”.
Myanmar’s military took power saying that November elections won by Suu Kyi’s party were fraudulent, an assertion dismissed by the country’s election commission. Suu Kyi remains in detention at an undisclosed location and many other figures in her party are also in custody.
| Armed Conflict | March 2021 | ['(Reuters)'] |
Eleven cars from a 96-car Union Pacific oil train derail, and at least one catches fire, in the Columbia River Gorge near Mosier, Oregon, within about 20 feet of the city's sewage plant. Coincidentally, a Wasco County Planning Department public hearing is scheduled for Tuesday concerning a Union Pacific proposal to expand an existing railroad siding on either side of Mosier. | A light oil sheen was spotted on the Columbia River, while Mosier residents face continued disruption.
The fire is out and I-84 re-opened overnight.
An oil train derailment Friday in the Columbia River Gorge near Mosier sent up a massive plume of black smoke and stoked long-standing fears about the risks of hauling crude oil through one of the Pacific Northwest's most renowned landscapes.
Eleven cars from a 96-car Union Pacific train jumped the tracks west of the small city about 12:20 p.m., next to Rock Creek that feeds the Columbia River. Several rail cars caught on fire and at least one released oil, but it's not known how much, railroad officials said.
No oil reached the river or its tributaries, authorities said late Friday. Railroad crews placed booms across the creek to prevent contamination. Workers plan to cool off the derailed cars and then will use foam on the burning cars, but cautioned that the risk of fire and possible explosion remains.
The train originated in New Town, North Dakota, and was moving crude extracted from the Bakken formation to the U.S. Oil & Refining Co. refinery in Tacoma, said company spokeswoman Marcia Nielsen.
The accident closed a 23-mile stretch of Interstate 84 in both directions as a precaution and caused the evacuation of a community school and people in a quarter-mile radius.
The interstate reopened from Hood River to The Dalles about 11 hours later, though the ramps at Mosier will stay closed.
It's not clear what caused the derailment.
The cars derailed within about 20 feet from the city's sewage plant, said Arlene Burns, mayor of the city of 440 people, east of Hood River. Residents have been asked not to use bathrooms and other drains into the city's sewage lines.
"We've been saying for a long time that it's not fair for trains with toxic loads to come into our towns near our Gorge," Burns said. "We don't have the capacity to fight these fires."
The town, with the motto "Small Enough to Make a Difference," is known for its orchards and vineyards. It has no gas station and one store. The cars derailed under an overpass about 100 yards away from a mobile home park with about 50 units.
Detour information
The Oregon Department of Transportation says:
Motorists traveling eastbound
should depart I-84 at Hood River, via OR35 to US26 (Mt. Hood) to OR216 eastbound to US197 northbound to return to eastbound I-84.
Westbound motorists
should depart I-84 at US197 southbound to OR 216, westbound to US26 (Mt. Hood) to Portland.
This is to relieve traffic on Washington State Route 14.
"We need the ability to fight an oil fire which water does not fight nor does sewage," Burns said.
Thankfully, she said, "It's not a windy day and it's not August and the ground is not brittle and dry."
The fire burned at least a quarter of an acre of nearby land, said state Forestry Department spokesman Ken Armstrong. He wasn't sure who owns the land.
The Oregon Department of Transportation shut down Interstate 84 westbound in The Dalles by milepost 87 and eastbound by milepost 64. Cars and trucks faced gridlock as they detoured around the area on routes that included a toll bridge over the river between Oregon and Washington state.
Residents reported seeing flames near the K-8 Mosier Community School. Its 160 students were quickly evacuated. Homes in the immediate area were evacuated within about a half-hour, authorities said. A shelter was opened at a grade school in The Dalles.
Union Pacific has hauled two types of oil through the gorge -- a thick, waxy crude from Utah and Bakken crude from North Dakota. In late 2015, the company began moving one mile-long train of Bakken oil each week on the Oregon side of the gorge to the Tacoma refinery.
Shelter opens
The American Red Cross Cascades Region has opened a shelter in The Dalles for people affected by the train derailment and evacuation. The shelter is Dry Hollow Elementary School, 1314 E. 19th St.
The oil came from the heart of a massive boom that's pushed an unprecedented amount of crude into the country's rail system, turning the Columbia River Gorge into one of the United States' most heavily traveled oil train routes.
Crude oil wasn't thought to be especially explosive before trains began derailing and erupting in sky-high fireballs in 2013. Those explosions have been driven by the unique characteristics of the crude from North Dakota's Bakken formation and the expansive volumes in which it has moved.
Though Bakken oil is laden with greater concentrations of flammable gases than comparable types of crude, the North Dakota Industrial Commission has begun requiring oil producers to condition the most volatile batches. Its limits have been criticized as far too loose.
Alison Ritter, a commission spokeswoman, said the oil in the derailment would have been subject to those conditioning rules. But its exact volatility isn't yet known, she said.
Federal regulators have moved to improve oil train safety by requiring upgrades to tank cars. But it will take years for the public to reap the benefits.
The cars on the train that derailed were all coiled, insulated CPC-1232 models, said Nielsen, the U.S. Oil spokeswoman. Those are a second-generation standard that are being phased out.
"The cars are safer, absolutely," said Michael Eyer, a retired state rail safety inspector. "But they're still not designed for an emergency situation such as this."
Oil spill response crews from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, state Department of Environmental Quality and National Response Corp., a contractor that works with Union Pacific, were all en route to the scene, said Jennifer Flynt, spokeswoman for the Oregon environmental agency.
Gov. Kate Brown said in a statement she is "closely monitoring the derailment and ready to make every state resource available as needed."
Local health officials put out an air quality advisory for people with asthma, respiratory infections, lung or heart disease and diabetes, recommending that they stay inside and limit physical activity.
#AIR12 overhead as derailed train car near Mosier explodes https://t.co/UyFc3hrTjp pic.twitter.com/6iUPs7Uo3c
Portland Airport Fire & Rescue was sending a specialized fire truck that carries about 1,300 gallons of fire-suppression foam and a five-person crew to assist in Mosier, said Steve Johnson, a Port of Portland spokesman.
Mosier volunteer fire department workers responded to the derailment, helped by Mid-Columbia Fire and Rescue, Hood River County's Westside Rural Fire Protection District and Wy'East Fire District and the Dallesport Fire Department across the river.
The Federal Railroad Administration said it is aware of the incident and is sending investigators.
An Oregon Department of Transportation rail safety inspector last examined the track in late April, finding 30 defects between Cascade Locks and The Dalles. He didn't recommend any penalties.
Deficiencies included loose bolts and braces and a tree brushing the side of rolling train cars. Eyer, the former rail inspector, reviewed the report at The Oregonian/OregonLive's request. He said the issues were routine and not serious.
"They could fix them today and come back next week and have the same thing, just because of the dynamics of having a zillion tons of product going over on a weekly basis," Eyer said.
Hours after the derailment, traffic still jammed surrounding highways as cars diverted from the interstate, said Judy Dutcher, general manager of Copper West Properties in nearby Hood River.
"It's all backed up as far as you can see," she said. "It's bumper to bumper."
Interstate traffic was routed across the Hood River Bridge.
Pat Joseph, who lives in Mosier and works at a mill in Washington, said he planned to take back roads to return home. "I'm going where there is no traffic," he said.
Lisa McNabb of Pocatello, Idaho, was driving west to Portland with her mother, grandmother and two children. She said the group stopped for lunch at a McDonald's in The Dalles, went to get back on the freeway and found it blocked. She estimated it took about two and a half hours to get to the Oregon side of the Hood River Bridge.
"It's been a little much," she said, but everyone seemed to be in good spirits.
Derek Hiser, a Mosier City Council member, lives about a quarter-mile from the derailment site and said he and his colleagues have recently seen increased concerns from residents about oil trains passing through the town.
"People were afraid of something like this happening," Hiser said. "I think this could lead to a lot of people who weren't necessarily listened to before being listened to now."
Hiser said he picked up his 11-year-old daughter from the community school soon after seeing the thick, dark smoke billowing into the air.
"It's a real tragedy," he said. "You live in the Gorge for the way of life and when something like this happens, it takes the joy out of it."
| Train collisions | June 2016 | ['(The Oregonian)', '(Wasco County Planning Commission)'] |
Three more dissidents released by Cuba on humanitarian grounds arrive in Spain. | Three more Cuban dissidents recently released by Havana have arrived in Spain, along with dozens of relatives.
They are part of a group of 52 dissidents jailed since 2003 that Cuba has began to release in the last two weeks.
Their arrival has brought to 15 the number of freed dissidents taken in by Spain.
Cuba has agreed to free the 52 prisoners under a deal with the Catholic Church and Spain.
Some 115 political prisoners would remain in Cuba once the 52 are freed, according to figures from dissidents.
Eleven freed Cuban dissidents have arrived in Spain over the last few days, and a further five are expected to join them in the coming days.
Cuba has been under pressure to free dissidents since one prisoner on hunger strike, Orlando Zapata Tamayo, died in February.
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Release | July 2010 | ['(BBC)'] |
Takuma Sato of Japan wins the 104th Indianapolis 500. It is Sato's second career Indy 500 victory. (US News & World Report) | Takuma Sato pulled away from Scott Dixon and Graham Rahal late in the race to capture his second career Indianapolis 500 victory, under caution. Spencer Pigot hit the wall with five laps to go, putting the race under a yellow flag as he careened into the barrier near pit road, forcing the finish under caution. Pigot was taken off the track in an ambulance, but was shown on the broadcast moving before he was taken to the infield care center. After the race, the NBC Sports broadcast reported that Pigot would be taken to a nearby hospital for further evaluation and that he was alert.
Dixon had the dominant car for much of the day, leading 111 laps. Its the third time Dixon has finished as the runner-up in the Indy 500, and all three of those second place finishes have come under caution. Sato, meanwhile drove to another win at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where he kissed the bricks for the first time back on Memorial Day weekend 2017. In addition to being his second Indy 500 win, its the second Indianapolis 500 win for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.
.@TakumaSatoRacer is a two-time #Indy500 winner, and he's loving that milk! pic.twitter.com/Cb7QI71kj5
After the race, Sato talked to NBC sports about holding off Dixon in the closing laps, before the caution. "We knew in terms of the fuel strategy, it was a little tight. I couldn't use max power, so I had to switch back and forth," Sato said. "And Scott was coming right through out of turn four...he was screaming coming and I just held on."
Sato, who is from Japan, is also the only Indianapolis 500 winner from Asia, and he also talked about the support he has in his home country. "It's great...worldwide, this is a mega-sport and I'm really proud to be part of the winners again. I hope this gives [Japan] a little boost of energy, and thank you for a lot of support"
The race saw its share of fireworks on the track, starting with a tire fire that forced James Davison out of the race after just six laps.
A bizarre end to James Davison's chances of an #Indy500 win.Watch on @NBC: https://t.co/THKlb49aWT pic.twitter.com/sdWWPBX1bO
And also a crash and fire that ended Marcus Ericcson's day after 25 laps.
Marcus Ericsson gets out of his car quickly as it's on fire.A strong month of August will not result in an #Indy500 win on @NBC. pic.twitter.com/Nko0Cn70Zw
The 2020 Indianapolis 500 took place three months after its originally scheduled date, and was held without spectators at the 235,000-seat track.
The moment @TakumaSatoRacer became a 2-time #Indy500 Winner.#INDYCAR | @GainbridgeLife pic.twitter.com/aVQyvHkr2V
The walk of a champion. #Indy500 | @TakumaSatoRacer pic.twitter.com/qjMhEBPiDd
The kiss of the ? tradition is complete.Unless you are David Letterman ? #Indy500 | @TakumaSatoRacer pic.twitter.com/cFfPLkrzAi
From the defending champ, to the new champ, great seeing the support from @simonpagenaud after @TakumaSatoRacer’s win today. #Indy500 | @GainbridgeLife pic.twitter.com/Vw9KUBGo2f
Full TEAM EFFORT for @RLLracing#Indy500 | @GainbridgeLife pic.twitter.com/P73V9h2moe
Take that ride into the history books as a two time #Indy500 winner @TakumaSatoRacer!#INDYCAR | @GainbridgeLife pic.twitter.com/Nsba8rnYWE
Congratulations to the @RLLracing and @TakumaSatoRacer!Team owners David Letternab and @BobRahal celebrate in victory lane!#Indy500 | @GainbridgeLife pic.twitter.com/NXUxt8IKaG
Congratulations to @TakumaSatoRacer and @RLLracing for winning the 104th Running of the #Indy500! #INDYCAR | @GainbridgeLife pic.twitter.com/p02Vkb94OO
.@TakumaSatoRacer does it, again! Congratulations to Takuma Sato on winning the 104th Running of the #Indy500 presented by @GainbridgeLife. #INDYCAR // @IMS pic.twitter.com/Tnn0X9ywWb
Less than 10 laps left in the #Indy500!GET TO @NBC NOW! pic.twitter.com/1GT5IiyFA9
10. To. Go.1. @TakumaSatoRacer 2. @scottdixon9 3. @GrahamRahal 4. @SantinoFerrucci 5. @josefnewgarden Watch live now on @NBC. #INDYCAR // @IMS
20 laps to go in the 104th Running of the #Indy500 presented by @GainbridgeLife. 1. @ZachVeach 2. @maxchilton 3. @TakumaSatoRacer 4. @scottdixon9 5. @GrahamRahal Who is it going to be? Watch live on @NBC. #INDYCAR
Fact Check: This Is true. ? https://t.co/Fe2TEJlpDU
A pit lane penalty led to a Turn 2 incident for @AlexanderRossi, who will finish outside the top-10 in the #Indy500 for the first time in his career.Rossi was checked and released from the infield medical center.#INDYCAR | @FollowAndretti pic.twitter.com/P5Zvj4SPud
2017 winner @TakumaSatoRacer has taken the lead with less than 50 laps to go!Watch LIVE on @nbc.#Indy500 | @GainbridgeLife pic.twitter.com/8UBl3hSNum
Watch as @alo_oficial tries to make his way through the #Indy500 field. Watch LIVE on @nbc.#INDYCAR | @TeamChevy pic.twitter.com/jt5L3KFecV
Ride along with @alo_oficial as he makes a pass on @zachveach. Watch the #Indy500 live now on @NBC. #INDYCAR // @IMS pic.twitter.com/kDulp79GtD
A pit lane penalty led to a Turn 2 incident for @AlexanderRossi, who will finish outside the top-10 in the #Indy500 for the first time in his career.Rossi was checked and released from the infield medical center.#INDYCAR | @FollowAndretti pic.twitter.com/P5Zvj4SPud
We are back to green after an on-track incident involving @AlexanderRossi. Here's the current top 5: 1. @scottdixon9 2. @TakumaSatoRacer 3. @GrahamRahal 4. @josefnewgarden 5. @SantinoFerrucci Watch live on @NBC. #INDYCAR // #Indy500
After trying to drive his way back to the front, @alexanderrossi's day is done early after an on-track incident. Watch live now on @NBC. #INDYCAR // #Indy500 pic.twitter.com/CAEK4ynKnt
The 2016 #Indy500 winner, @AlexanderRossi, will have to wait another year for his second #Indy500 win.Watch LIVE on @nbc.#INDYCAR | @GainbridgeLife pic.twitter.com/kg7Q3XQXNI
More bad luck for Alexander Rossi on Lap 145, as he goes into the wall, and his day is over. This coming after making some big moves, following a penalty on pit road. Rossi had run at the front for much of the race.
Alexander Rossi just went ultra instinct after that penalty. #Indy500 pic.twitter.com/629W6mdBIE
The strategy has changed for @AlexanderRossi, and he is now passing multiple cars at a time. Watch LIVE on @nbc.#Indy500 | @GainbridgeLife pic.twitter.com/VrU7XXCmdx
OH MY GOODNESS, @AlexanderRossi!JUST WATCH THIS. #Indy500 // @NBC // https://t.co/THKlb49aWT pic.twitter.com/BBrNW626je
“I think I went too low and just spun.”@AlexPalou’s strong rookie run in the #Indy500 ends after a spin in Turn 1. He was checked and released from the infield medical center.#INDYCAR | @DaleCoyneRacing pic.twitter.com/nohfptgPs9
PENALTY for an unsafe release for @AlexanderRossi!Last year's #Indy500 runner-up will try to charge through the field NOW on @NBC: https://t.co/THKlb49aWT pic.twitter.com/ha8dhLe1Bl
A very dedicated @IndyCar fan set up a little treehouse to watch the #Indy500 from high above Turn 3 at @IMS. ?Where are you watching from? TV: @NBC pic.twitter.com/tKk3cCEv6y | Sports Competition | August 2020 | ['(CBS Sports)'] |
Mexico retaliates with equivalent levies on pork legs, apples, grapes, cheeses and steel. The Secretariat of Economy says that the measures will be in place until the U.S. eliminates their new tariffs. | MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico hit back fast on U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum on Thursday, targeting products from congressional districts that President Donald Trump’s Republican party is fighting to retain in November elections.
Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said the tit-for-tat measures would complicate talks between the United States, Canada and Mexico to revamp the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that underpins trade between the neighbors.
The spat meant it would be “very difficult” to reach a deal to revamp NAFTA before Mexico’s July 1 presidential election, though he underlined the continent had not entered a trade war.
“A trade war is when there is an escalation of conflict. In this case, it is simply a response to a first action,” Guajardo told Mexican radio.
“We should stick to the clearly defined battlefield, where the response is appropriate and proportional.”
Mexico’s retaliatory tariffs target pork legs, apples, grapes and cheeses as well as steel - products from U.S. heartland states that supported Trump in the 2016 election.
The country reacted right after Washington said in the morning it was moving ahead with tariffs on aluminum and steel imports from Canada, Mexico and the European Union.
“It sends a clear message that this kind of thing does not benefit anybody,” Guajardo said of the Mexican retaliation.
“Because, in the end, the effect will fall on voters and citizens that live in districts where the people have a voice and vote in the (U.S.) Congress.”
Mexico said it was imposing “equivalent” tariffs, ratcheting up tensions during talks to renegotiate NAFTA ahead of the U.S. mid-term elections in November. The measures will be in place until the U.S. government drops its tariffs, Mexico’s government said.
Guajardo said retaliation was aimed at products chosen to hit districts with important lawmakers who had been warning Trump not to mess with Mexico. He estimated the U.S. tariffs would affect $4 billion in trade between the two countries.
“It is a sad day for international trade,” Guajardo said. “But hey, the decision was made, and we always said that we were going to be ready to react.”
In 2011, Mexico successfully used a similar list of mostly agricultural products to push Washington into letting Mexican truckers on U.S. highways.
Trump’s Republicans are fighting to retain control of Congress in mid-term elections. Their majority in the House of Representatives is seen as vulnerable.
Pork exporter Iowa, where incumbent Republican Rod Blum faces a Democratic challenge, is an example of a place Mexico’s reaction could hurt.
Mexico buys more steel and aluminum from the United States than it sells. It is the top buyer of U.S. aluminum and the second-biggest buyer of U.S. steel, Guajardo’s ministry said.
The countermeasures will hit U.S. hot and cold rolled steel, plated steel and tubes, the ministry said.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto spoke by phone after the U.S. announcement. Canada pledged to fight back with its own measures.
Trump threatened to rip up the NAFTA deal during his election campaign but agreed to renegotiate early in his term. Still, since talks began nine months ago, he has repeatedly said he could walk away from NAFTA if it is not redone to his liking.
“The difference between a year and four, five months ago is that it seems the world looked and said ‘poor Mexico,” Guajardo said. “Now, Mexico is facing these threats together with the world.”
| Government Policy Changes | May 2018 | ['(Reuters)'] |
Cyclone Favio hits central Mozambique. | Cyclone Favio made landfall in the central province of Inhambane, near the town of Vilanculos, and is heading north towards the city of Beira.
Winds reportedly hit 170mph (270km/h) and there are fears of flooding.
Mozambique is still struggling after floods left an estimated 120,000 people homeless earlier this month.
The category-four storm tore through the tourist town of Vilanculos, damaging homes, the town court and prison and uprooting trees.
Roads were also blocked by heavy rainfall.
"I can't do anything because all the roads have been blocked by falling trees and it's even impossible to try and rescue the people whose homes have been hit because there is no access," Sulemane Amugy, the town's mayor, told Reuters.
Travel warning
"It's dangerous for people. They have to close their windows, doors and they have to look for safer places and avoid being under trees," said Helder Sueia from the meteorological office.
"[Favio] is a category four cyclone... It's a very strong cyclone."
The cyclone is expected to lose much of its power over land, but the fear is that heavy rainfall may add to severe flooding in Mozambique, says the BBC's Adam Mynott.
There are fears Favio's heavy rainfall may add to severe floods
The Mozambican authorities are on high alert, and thousands of volunteers are on stand-by to help move people to the relative safety of communal buildings, such as schools and churches. The UK's Foreign Office has advised against all travel to the tourist islands around Bazaruto, as well as low-lying coastal areas. The cyclone passed through Bazaruto but there is no word yet of its effect there. There have also been storms as far south as Xai Xai.
The government in Mozambique has been praised for its response to the recent crisis, says the BBC's southern Africa correspondent Peter Biles.
It has been far better prepared than it was seven years ago when hundreds of people lost their lives during the worst floods in the country's history.
Experts tracking the expected path of Cyclone Favio over the past week think it is unlikely to badly affect the flooded areas around the Zambezi river, but they emphasise that cyclones are highly unpredictable. | Hurricanes_Tornado_Storm_Blizzard | February 2007 | ['(BBC)'] |
The death toll in the worst flooding in the Philippines for forty years reaches 140 as the capital Manila is "overwhelmed". | The death toll from devastating floods in the Philippine capital, Manila, and surrounding areas has climbed to 140, with 32 people still missing, the government said on Monday.
Officials fear that the death toll will continue to rise. More than 453,033 people have been displaced so far.
The government has appealed for international aid. Gilberto Teodoro, the defence secretary, said: "We are appealing for international humanitarian assistance... for the effects of tropical storm Ketsana."
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, already deeply unpopular in opinion polls, ordered an emergency centre be set up in the presidential palace on Monday, two days after the floods, highlighting for some the haphazard response to the disaster. Officials said the economic damage from the worst rains on record in the Manila area was about 1.4 billion pesos (£19m), including 500 million pesos in lost crops. Damaged roads and bridges accounted for most of the remaining costs. Typhoon Ketsana dumped about 410mm of rain in 24 hours, about the average amount of rainfall for an entire month. Arroyo called the typhoon "an extreme event that has strained our response capabilities to the limit. But it is not breaking us. It's a once-in-a-lifetime typhoon," she said in a statement. "We are continuing the rescue efforts until everyone in danger is accounted for." While waters had receded from most flooded areas in Manila, some parts of the city of 15 million remained cut off and in others, mud and garbage was left caked on streets. Schools were ordered closed, but financial markets were open on Monday and public transport was operating. Offices and businesses were open, but attendance was poor. "There was a massive failure in government and the direction of management response," said Mario Taguiwalo, president of the National Institute for Policy Studies think-tank. "The root cause is you have a government whose predominant preoccupation is with graft and corruption – how to steal more money from the people," Mr Taguiwalo said. "If your officials are not motivated to serve and just motivated to steal, then that's the kind of response you get." Mrs Arroyo has been accused of vote fraud and corruption in her nine years in power. She has consistently denied the charges. The government was using helicopters to drop food packets. Television reports said private citizens and volunteer groups were collecting relief goods – mostly clothes, drinking water and medicines – and distributing them to victims. | Floods | September 2009 | ['(The Guardian)', '(The Times)', '(The Daily Telegraph)'] |
Suspected ADF militants kill eight civilians during a shooting attack at a market in Mambelenga, Democratic Republic of the Congo. ADF attacks have increased, with more than 140 people killed by the group since the beginning of the year. | BENI, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) - Armed insurgents killed at least eight people during a raid on a weekly market in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a witness and a rights group said on Wednesday, blaming fighters from a Ugandan Islamist armed group.
The Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a Ugandan insurgent faction active in eastern Congo since the 1990s, has committed a spate of brutal reprisal attacks on civilians since the army began operations against it in late 2019.
The ADF has been blamed for the killing of over 140 people since the start of the year, in almost weekly attacks in Congo’s restive east. The group killed around 850 people last year, according to U.N. figures.
ADF fighters entered the village of Mambelenga in the territory of Irumu on Tuesday afternoon and started shooting, said Gili Gotabo from a local civil rights group. Two attackers died in the raid, he said.
A Congo army spokesman confirmed the attack in Mambelenga, halfway between the eastern cities of Bunia and Beni.
“In broad daylight, suddenly we saw armed men, badly dressed, with weapons and machetes. They started shooting directly at us,” said Mumbere Kokoma, a resident of the village.
“I took my daughter and fled into the bush.”
Islamic State has claimed responsibility for several suspected ADF attacks in the past, although U.N. experts have not found any direct link between the two groups.
| Armed Conflict | March 2021 | ['(Reuters)'] |
Hillary Clinton is forecast to win the Democratic Party primary in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Delaware while Bernie Sanders wins Rhode Island. With her victory, Clinton came close to securing the number of delegates she needs to win the nomination. , , , | Follow NBC News Donald Trump swept all five Republican primary contests held Tuesday, racking up significant wins in Delaware, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Maryland and Pennsylvania.
Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton also got close to a sweep in contests in the same states, winning in four of the five northeastern state primaries. Clinton prevailed in Delaware, Connecticut, Maryland and Pennsylvania, while NBC News projected a win for Sanders in Rhode Island.
The victories for Trump are sure to translate into bigger-than-expected delegate hauls that will move him closer to clinching his party’s nomination. Rivals Ted Cruz and John Kasich had hoped to rob Trump of as many delegates as possible by notching strong performances in favorable pockets of each state, but even those small victories largely failed to materialize.
In a press conference, Trump told reporters that he does consider himself "the presumptive nominee" at this point.
Clinton also turned her attention to the general election, calling for party unity in her remarks Tuesday night even as Sanders vowed to press on with his campaign despite all-but-impossible odds of catching his rival in the delegate race. | Government Job change - Election | April 2016 | ['(NBC News)', '(CNN)', '(The Hill)', '(AP)'] |
Flying in an orbit 100 kilometers above the moon, the CE–2 is tasked to collect data for a soft–landing designed for its successor, the Chang'e–3. China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation , said at the Global Lunar Conference held in Beijing. | Flying in an orbit 100 kilometers above the moon, the CE-2 is tasked to collect data for a soft-landing designed for its successor, the Chang'e-3. Photo:Xinhua
By Deng Jingyin and Song Shengxia The development of the country's second lunar probe is well on track and it is to be launched at the end of this year, a landmark event for China's space program, scientists said Monday.
"Now that the development of the carrier rocket and the satellite is complete, we have started to conduct tests on their performance," Wu Yansheng, deputy general manger of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), said at the Global Lunar Conference held in Beijing.
China said it achieved progress on key technologies on the orbiter Chang'e-2 (CE-2) - named after a legendary Chinese goddess - including lunar scrutiny, orbit control and research using a high-resolution camera.
Flying in an orbit 100 kilometers above the moon, the CE-2 is tasked to collect data for a soft-landing designed for its successor, the Chang'e-3.
Equipped with a high-resolution camera, the probe is capable of spotting lunar surface features as small as three feet across, a notable improvement compared with the 120-meter resolution of the Chang'e-1 satellite, scientists at the conference said.
Berndt Feuerbacher, president of the International Astronautical Federation, said Monday at the conference that "Lunar missions will lead us to a new understanding of the origin and the development of our Solar System."
"They will open new avenues toward utilization of lunar resources that could be used in both the exploration of outer space and here on Earth," Feuerbacher said.
Ye Peijian, the chief designer of Chang'e-1, the country's first moon probe, said in March that the CE-2 would significantly reduce the flight time.
Compared with the CE-1, the CE-2 will be equipped with a rocket with greater thrust, sending the probe directly into lunar orbit in 120 hours instead of orbiting the earth for seven days.
Ouyang Ziyuan, the chief scientist of China's Lunar Probe Project, said at the China National Science and Technology Meeting early this year that "Not only can China's spacecraft reach the moon, but it can also land on the moon, laying a solid foundation for future manned and sample return missions. The future work will be tougher."
The lunar probe is another landmark since the achievement of the manned space program and applicable satellites, he said.
"How can we use resources on the moon to solve the energy crisis on Earth? This is just one topic that we are studying," Ouyang said.
The Chang'e Project is named after an ancient Chinese legend of a beautiful young fairy who took a magic elixir, flew to the moon and lived there with a rabbit.
The legend has been depicted and adapted in many traditional Chinese stories, demonstrating a long-standing fascination with the moon in Chinese imaginations. | New achievements in aerospace | June 2010 | ['(CASC)', '(Global Times)'] |
The United Kingdom and France sign a deal to improve cooperation on nuclear energy. | The UK has signed a deal with France to strengthen co-operation in the development of civil nuclear energy.
The government said it reiterated the UK's commitment to nuclear energy "as part of a diversified energy mix".
The coalition said the agreement would create a number of commercial deals in the nuclear energy field, worth more than £500m and creating 1,500 UK jobs.
The deal was signed at a summit between PM David Cameron and President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris.
"This joint declaration will signal our shared commitment to the future of civil nuclear power, setting out a shared long term vision of safe, secure, sustainable and affordable energy, that supports growth and helps to deliver our emission reductions targets," a statement from Downing Street said.
The two governments will work together with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) "to strengthen international capability to react to nuclear emergencies and establish a joint framework for cooperation and exchanging good practice on civil nuclear security". The move comes 11 months after a tsunami in Japan wrecked the nearby Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, leaking radioactive material into the air and sea.
UK and French public and private sector bodies in the civil nuclear power industry will also work more closely in a number of areas.
These include education and training, research and development, and security. "As two great civil nuclear nations, we will combine our expertise to strengthen industrial partnership, improve nuclear safety and create jobs at home," said Mr Cameron.
Last June, ministers announced plans for the next generation of UK nuclear plants.
The government confirmed a list of eight sites it deems suitable for new power stations by 2025, all of which are adjacent to existing nuclear sites.
The sites are: Bradwell, Essex; Hartlepool; Heysham, Lancashire; Hinkley Point, Somerset; Oldbury, Gloucestershire; Sellafield, Cumbria; Sizewell, Suffolk; and Wylfa, Anglesey.
| Sign Agreement | February 2012 | ['(BBC)'] |
The corpse of 31–year–old former Great Britain rugby league hooker Terry Newton is located hanging dead at a house in England. | The game of rugby league was in a state of shock today after the news that Terry Newton, the former Leeds, Wigan, Bradford and Great Britain hooker, was found dead at his home in Wigan, aged 31.
Newton achieved sporting notoriety in February when he became the first sportsman in the world to be banned after testing positive for human growth hormone (HGH) in a blood sample taken during the close season. Newton was handed a two-year ban by the RFL and sacked by his club, Wakefield Trinity Wildcats. Newton, who grew up in one of the roughest housing estates in Wigan, published his autobiography “Coming Clean” in June, in which he revealed that he had paid £150 for one month’s supply of the drug. However, he never revealed the name of his supplier, said to be another current player. Newton’s body was found at his home in Wigan on Sunday morning, reportedly hanged, and a post-mortem examination and inquest will be held. Newton leaves two children. Newton began his career with Leeds in 1996 but is perhaps best remembered for his time with Wigan between 2000 and 2005 and Bradford between 2006 and 2009. He won 15 Great Britain caps, scoring three tries, and played five times for England. A rough, tough and uncompromising forward, Newton was banned for six months in 2005 for a tackle that broke the jaw of the St Helens scrum-half Sean Long. But he also had a more sensitive side and was haunted by the death of his younger sister, Leanne, after she became addicted to heroin. Famously, he also broke down in tears on the pitch at Old Trafford after suffering a fourth successive Super League Grand Final defeat with Wigan in 2003. | Famous Person - Death | September 2010 | ['(The Guardian)', '(BBC News)', '(The Independent)', '(The Daily Telegraph)'] |
Iceland’s incumbent, centre-right Independence Party surprised pollsters by winning 29 percent of the vote , thereby putting leader Bjarni Benediktsson in position to organize another coalition government. The Progressive Party, the current ruling partner, garnered 11.5% and eight positions, a loss of 11 seats. The new Pirate Party didn't perform as predicted with 14.5% of the ballots, though it did get 10 seats, an increase of seven more positions in the 63-seat parliament . | Iceland’s incumbent Independence party was in pole position to try to form a new government after voters chose continuity in Saturday’s elections and support for the anti-establishment Pirate party, while sharply up, fell below early expectations. The Pirates, founded four years ago by a group of activists, anarchists and former hackers, tripled their share of the vote to 14.5%, and together with an alliance of three left-of-centre parties won a total of 27 seats – five short of a majority in the country’s 63-seat parliament.
The centre-right Independence party, however, won almost 30% of the vote and a total of 29 seats with its coalition partner of the past three years, the Progressive party, which was badly hit by this year’s Panama papers scandal and lost more than half its MPs.
In a campaign whose early stages were dominated by public anger at Iceland’s traditional elites and a strong desire for political change, the Independence party promised to lower taxes and keep Iceland’s economic recovery on track.
“I cannot deny that … it would be natural that we are a leading party in the next government,” said the party’s leader, Bjarni Benediktsson, one of its 21 MPs. “We are gaining new seats in parliament, so we are very happy.”
The final shape of the government is far from clear, with multiple permutations possible, much horse-trading ahead and disagreement even on which party should be the first to attempt to form a new government. Benediktsson said he expected President Gudni Johannesson to hand his party the mandate to begin negotiations, since it was the largest. He added that he would prefer to form a three-party coalition, but declined to say with whom. But the Pirates, too, said they would be looking to build a five-party coalition, including the newly established, liberal and pro-European Viðreisn (Regeneration) party, whose seven MPs could well prove the kingmakers in Iceland’s new administration. “Epic success! There are a lot of coalition possibilities; lots of work ahead,” tweeted Smari McCarthy, one of the Pirates’ 10 MPs.
Of the Pirates’ allies, the Left-Green movement also picked up 10 seats, the Social Democrats three, and the centrist Bright Future four. The party has ruled out working with the two outgoing coalition members. With 30 female MPs, Iceland has now leapfrogged Finland and Sweden to become the parliament with the highest proportion of female parliamentarians – more than 47% – in Europe. The Pirates, riding a wave of public anger at what many voters saw as endemic political corruption laid bare by the 2008 financial crash and April’s Panama papers leaks, had been predicted to win up to 20% of the vote and even become Iceland’s largest party.
But the party’s co-founder, Birgitta Jónsdóttir, an activist, poet and former WikiLeaks collaborator, said it was more than satisfied. “Our internal predictions showed 10% to 15%, so this is at the top of the range,” she said. “We are a platform for young people, for progressive people who shape and reshape our society.”
Some of the party’s younger voters, though, were upset. “I’m really sad,” said Bylgja Gudjonsdottir, a 22-year-old student. “This is our next generation that is taking the country to the next level. But they keep voting for the criminals we have here.”
Opponents argued that the Pirates could scare investors and derail an economy still recovering from the 2008 meltdown, when Iceland’s three main banks collapsed owing 11 times the country’s GDP, and the value of the krona halved.
Helped by a tourism boom – 2.4 million visitors, nearly seven times the country’s population, are expected in 2017 – economic growth is forecast to reach 4.3% this year, and unemployment has fallen to just over 3%. The Pirates campaigned for direct democracy, government transparency, individual freedoms and the fight against corruption. The party also favours decriminalising drugs, offering asylum to whistleblowers such as Edward Snowden, and relaxing restrictions on the use of the virtual currency bitcoin.
The election was triggered by the resignation of the former Progressive party prime minister, Sigmundur Davið Gunnlaugsson, who became the first major casualty of the Panama papers in April after the leaked legal documents revealed he and his wife had millions stashed offshore.
The revelations sparked outrage and some of the largest protests in Iceland’s history, forcing the government to replace Gunnlaugsson with the then agriculture and fisheries minister, Sigurður Ingi Jóhannsson, and promise fresh elections before the end of the year. Jóhannsson resigned on Sunday, paving the way for the formation of a new government.
More than 600 Icelanders – including cabinet ministers, bankers and business leaders – were shown to have holdings hidden in offshore accounts. | Government Job change - Election | October 2016 | ['(21 seats)', '(Althing)', '(NBC News)', '(Bloomberg)', '(The Guardian)', '(Iceland Review)'] |
Ulster Unionist Party leader Tom Elliott accepts an invitation to meet with members of the Northern Ireland Gay Rights Association in a groundbreaking move. | Ulster Unionist leader Tom Elliott is set for a groundbreaking meeting with members of the gay community
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Ulster Unionist leader Tom Elliott is set for a groundbreaking meeting with members of the gay community
January 09 2011 02:08 PM
Ulster Unionist leader Tom Elliott is set for a groundbreaking meeting with members of the gay community.
The Fermanagh and South Tyrone MLA has accepted an invitation from the Northern Ireland Gay Rights Association (Nigra).
It comes in the wake of the controversy surrounding his claim he had no intention of attending a gay pride event. But the invitation from Nigra president P A Mag Lochlainn was prompted by an interview Mr Elliott gave over the Christmas period in which he claimed to have found support among contributors on a gay website.
In the piece Mr Elliott said: "I read on a gay website just shortly after it, saying 'At least this person's being upfront and honest with us and he's not trying to come here for a photo opportunity and take some sort of privilege that he doesn't deserve'."
Mr Mag Lochlainn said he was surprised by the remarks but would welcome the opportunity to discuss with the UUP leader issues of concern to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.
"I was intrigued by Tom's assertion that he had received support from gay voters, and delighted when he backed it up by referring to views he'd read on gay websites," he said.
"There are many matters of mutual concern that we are eager to discuss with him - violence, especially bullying in schools, the special problems of rural LGBT people, the CSI (Cohesion, Sharing and Integration strategy) and a Sexual Orientation Strategy for Northern Ireland - to name but a few. Nigra, like the whole local NI LGBT community, always welcomes dialogue and communication. We have a long history of extending the 'pink hand of friendship' in Ulster." | Diplomatic Talks _ Diplomatic_Negotiation_ Summit Meeting | January 2011 | ['(Irish Independent)', '(The Belfast Telegraph)'] |
Northern Ireland appoints its first justice minister in 38 years. | From BBC Democracy Live: Justice Minister appointment
Stormont assembly members are voting to appoint a new justice minister.
The successful candidate will be the first Northern Ireland politician to take responsibility for justice and policing in 38 years. The Ulster Unionists nominated Danny Kennedy but he failed to attract the necessary cross community support. The SDLP's Alban Maginness also failed to get the necessary support so the Alliance leader David Ford is certain to take the job. Mr Ford will be in charge of a department with more than 4,000 employees and a budget of almost £1.5bn. Collapse
He will be the first local justice minister since Westminster took policing powers away from the old Stormont government back in 1972. Disagreement on the timing of the devolution of the justice powers had threatened to collapse Northern Ireland's power-sharing administration. In February, Northern Ireland's two main parties, the DUP and Sinn Fein, in discussions at Hillsborough, County Down, reached an agreement which will see a justice minister elected. The Hillsborough Agreement allows for the first and deputy first ministers to identify a candidate who would command cross-community support in the assembly. Stormont Live will be covering this story on BBC Two Northern Ireland from 1415 BST | Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration | April 2010 | ['(BBC)'] |
Secretary General Tuiloma Neroni Slade is reappointed to a second, three–year term as head of the Pacific Islands Forum. | PACIFIC Islands Forum leaders have endorsed Tuiloma Neroni Slade of Samoa as their Secretary General for a second term.
The communiqueé said the decision was unanimous and was made during the leaders' retreat at Waiheke Island in Auckland, New Zealand yesterday.
Last week, the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) decided they would nominate Fijian Kaliopate Tavola to the post.
In a statement, Mr Slade thanked the leaders for having confidence in him to lead for a second term.
"I will of course work to the best of my abilities to serve the Forum membership in pursuit of aspirations in the Leaders' Vision for a region of peace, harmony, security and economic prosperity, so that all our people can lead free and worthwhile lives," Mr Slade said.
Mr Slade was elected to the position for three years on 20 August 2008.
From 1976-1982, Mr Slade served as the Attorney-General of Samoa, following his roles as Parliamentary Counsel to the Government of Samoa and Principal/Legal Counsel and Senior Prosecutor for the Attorney-General's Office of Samoa.
Mr Slade is a recipient of Order of Samoa ù Poloaiga Sili a Samoa (2005), Global Oceans Leadership Award (2003), Elisabeth Mann Borgese Medal for services to small island developing States and the oceans (2003) and Laureate, Elizabeth Haub Award for Environmental Diplomacy (2001).
He has also served as chairman of the Alliance of Small Island States (1997-2003).
The Secretary General of the Forum Secretariat is appointed by Forum Leaders every three years as head of the organisation. The Secretary General is directly responsible to Forum Leaders and to the Forum Officials' Committee (FOC).
The Secretary General is also permanent chair of the Council of Regional Organisations in the Pacific (CROP). | Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration | September 2011 | ['(Fiji Times)'] |
Kosovo's government is brought down. | The fall comes less than three years after Kosovo declared independence from Serbia to become Europe's newest state.
Snap elections will now take place in December.
The motion, which was brought by an opposition party, took place after the governing coalition collapsed when a junior partner withdrew. Sixty-six MPs voted in favour of it in the 120-seat parliament.
Prime Minister Hashim Thaci said it was Kosovo's "first political and institutional crisis".
However, he added: "This vote is an exit strategy for Kosovo institutions from this crisis." He added: "Your vote is a new beginning for the state of Kosovo."
His PDK party is expected to again emerge with the most votes.
Kosovo entered political deadlock in September when President Fatmir Sejdiu resigned after a court ruled he could not simultaneously be a party leader and the head of state.
His LDK party, which had governed in coalition since independence, quit the government, depriving the PDK of a parliamentary majority.
All of this comes at a crucial moment for Kosovo. Serbia, which rejects Kosovo's unilateral secession, had recently agreed to the first face-to-face talks with the Kosovo government.
But that dialogue, led by the European Union, is now unlikely to start until after the elections.
The BBC's Balkans correspondent, Mark Lowen, says the political crisis will also undoubtedly delay any further recognitions - which Kosovo badly needs. Just 71 countries have recognised its independence, preventing it from joining international bodies like the United Nations.
| Regime Change | November 2010 | ['(BBC)'] |