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Mahmoud Mekki resigns as Vice President of Egypt as the country completes its referendum on a new constitution. | Egypt's vice-president has announced his resignation, on the day the country completed its voting in a controversial referendum on a draft constitution.
Mahmoud Mekki, a former judge who was appointed vice-president in August, said the "nature of politics" did not suit his professional background.
Polls have now closed in the second leg of the referendum, which is widely expected to approve the draft.
However, opponents say this will not end the country's unrest.
They say the constitution favours Islamists and betrays the revolution that overthrew Hosni Mubarak last year.
President Mohammed Morsi and his supporters say the document will secure democracy.
Late on Saturday, state television announced that the central bank governor, Farouq al-Uqdah, had also resigned from his post. However, a cabinet official later denied the report.
Mr Mekki announced his resignation just hours before the end of voting in the second round of the referendum.
He said, in a statement read on television: "I realised a while ago that the nature of politics does not suit my professional background as a judge."
Mr Mekki, 58, said he had tried to resign on 7 November but that circumstances had forced him to remain.
The Israeli conflict in Gaza and President Morsi's controversial decree on 22 November granting himself sweeping new powers delayed his decision.
Mr Mekki's resignation statement indicated he had no prior knowledge of the decree, which stripped the judiciary of powers to question the president's decisions.
The BBC's Shaimaa Khalil in Cairo says Mr Mekki appeared to be giving the impression that he was unhappy with not being consulted on key decisions.
If, as expected, the draft constitution is passed, there may have been no role for Mr Mekki, our correspondent says, as the document does not require the president to appoint a vice-president.
Seven of Mr Morsi's leading advisers have resigned over the past month, many indicating they had not been consulted over the president's moves.
After an outcry, the president revoked much of the 22 November decree, but he refused to back down on the draft constitution.
The text was rushed through by a constituent assembly dominated by Islamists and boycotted by liberal and left-wing members, and facing a threat of dissolution by the country's top court.
Egypt has seen mass demonstrations on both sides ever since.
However, voting in the second stage of the referendum appears to have gone relatively smoothly.
Some 250,000 security personnel were deployed nationwide to keep order.
Polling stations had been scheduled to close at 19:00 (17:00 GMT) but remained open until 23:00. Voting was also extended in the first leg.
Ballots were cast in the 17 provinces that did not vote in the first round on 15 December.
Unofficial results are expected to come in over the next few hours.
Turnout was reported to be just above 30% in the first round, with unofficial counts suggesting some 56% of those who cast ballots voted in favour of the draft.
Official results are not expected until Monday, after appeals are heard. If the constitution passes, parliamentary elections must take place within three months. Analysts suggest the document will be passed.
Egyptians casting votes in favour of the charter said they were voting for stability.
In the town of Fayoum, "yes" voter Hanaa Zaki told the Associated Press news agency: "I have a son who hasn't got paid for the past six months. We have been in this crisis for so long and we are fed up."
Opponents of the draft say it fails to protect the freedoms and human rights they sought in the uprising that toppled Mr Mubarak. Some have also complained about the role given to Islamic clerics and what they say is a lack of a clear commitment to equality between men and women.
"I'm voting 'no' because Egypt can't be ruled by one faction," Karim Nahas, a 35-year-old stock market broker voting early on Saturday in Giza, told Reuters news agency.
Opposition activists say there will be more unrest whatever the outcome.
One voter in Ikhsas village, Marianna Abdel-Messieh, agreed. "Whether this constitution passes or not, there will be trouble," she told AP. "God have mercy on us."
| Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | December 2012 | ['(BBC)'] |
Fire destroys a high–rise apartment building in Shanghai, China, killing at least 42 people, injuring more than 90 and forcing some residents to jump from windows to escape. | At least 42 people are believed dead and scores more injured after fire ripped through a block of flats in Shanghai this afternoon, state media reported.
Residents clambered along scaffolding to escape as flames engulfed the 28-storey building. Some made their way down to the street, while others waited on the rooftop in the hope of being rescued by helicopter.
The Shanghai Daily website reported that fire crews finally extinguished the blaze at around 7pm, five hours after it began. Firefighters could be seen carrying bodies from the building. The government said that more than 100 fire trucks were called to fight the blaze.
The building was under renovation and a witness quoted by the state news agency, Xinhua, said the fire had broken out among construction materials. It then spread rapidly along the scaffolding, with flames soon tearing through the block.
A number of residents rushed to the roof and a photograph posted online showed at least one person being winched off by a helicopter. But Xinhua said thick smoke had hampered rescue efforts and it is not known if the others were saved.
According to Shanghai Daily, there were more than 150 households in the block. Several flats belonged to retired teachers. The city government said 100 people had been rescued, but it is not clear if that included the injured. A doctor at the city's Jing'an hospital said it had admitted more than 20 seriously injured people.
At Jing'an hospital, the father of Wang Yinxing, a 30-year-old woman who lived on the 22nd floor of the building, searched a list of survivors at the hospital but could not find his daughter's name.
"She called her husband and said: 'It's on fire! I have escaped from the 22nd floor to the 24th floor,' but then the phone got cut off," the father, Wang Zhiliang, 65, told AP. "That was the last we heard from her."
Residents in nearby buildings said their windows had become too hot to touch and that several blocks had been evacuated. | Fire | November 2010 | ['(Guardian)', '(MSNBC)', '(Los Angeles Times)', '(Shanghai Daily)'] |
Voters in Argentina go to the polls for a presidential runoff between Daniel Scioli of the ruling Justicialist Party and Mauricio Macri of the opposition PRO. Mauricio Macri, the mayor of Buenos Aires, was elected with 53% of the vote. . | Conservative Mauricio Macri has been confirmed as the winner in Argentina's presidential elections after his ruling party opponent conceded.
With almost all votes counted, Mr Macri led Daniel Scioli by 51.5% to 48.5%.
He danced on stage at a victory rally at his Buenos Aires headquarters and thanked his staff for their support.
Mr Macri's victory is the first in more than a decade for Argentina's centre-right opposition and ends the 12-year rule of the Peronist Party.
"Today is a historic day," said Mr Macri, addressing thousands of cheering supporters. "It's the changing of an era."
Sunday's victory completes a turnaround for Mr Macri, who is currently mayor of Buenos Aires, after he lost in the first round of voting to Mr Scioli.
But Mr Scioli, who is the governor of Buenos Aires province, did not command enough of a lead to win the vote outright, forcing a run-off - the first in the country's history.
Mr Macri went into Sunday's vote with a comfortable lead in opinion polls, and campaigned on pledges to bring new investment into the ailing economy, tackle crime and fight corruption.
Macri's vision for Argentina
As he danced around on the stage, like an embarrassing grandfather at a wedding, Mauricio Macri couldn't care less - he'd produced an election result against a party that has dominated Argentine politics for more than a decade - a result that few would have predicted just a few months ago.
In the end it was close, about a 3% margin over the deflated Daniel Scioli. He'd been handpicked by the outgoing president but could never match Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner's charisma or her bond with the Peronist Party's working class base.
Economic reform will be Mr Macri's number one priority but he gave little away in his victory speech. It will not, though, be easy. Argentina is divided. While most of the white, middle class supporters at the victory rally will hope for a more liberal, open economic climate - the working class, banner waving youth at the ruling party "wake" will hope that warnings about welfare reform and government cuts do not materialise.
The son of one of Argentina's richest men, Mr Macri had a long career in business before entering politics.
In 1991, he was kidnapped and kept captive for 12 days by a gang of corrupt policemen demanding millions in ransom.
Four years later, he became president of Boca Juniors Football Club and used his success at the club as a springboard for his political career.
Mr Scioli, a close ally of outgoing President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, had been expected to win by a greater margin in October.
He tried to regain momentum before Sunday's runoff by attacking Mr Macri's market-driven economic policies as a throwback, but failed to regain a lead in the polls.
| Government Job change - Election | November 2015 | ['(AP via the Washington Post)', '(BBC)', '(BBC)'] |
The Governor of Massachusetts Deval Patrick declares a state of emergency following the impact of the tornadoes. | (CNN) -- At least two confirmed tornadoes descended upon towns in western Massachusetts on Wednesday, leaving at least four dead and smashing homes and buildings across a 40-mile stretch, state officials and witnesses reported.
One person was killed in Springfield, two in nearby Westfield and one in Brimfield, about 20 miles east, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick told reporters Wednesday night.
The storms struck shortly after 4 p.m. in Springfield, about 90 miles west of Boston. Dylan McDonald told CNN he watched the tornado knock down trees and scatter debris across town as he was driving with a co-worker.
"As the light turned green, a tree fell and everything took off," McDonald said. "We saw a roof fly off an apartment building. The car was tilting, but didn't turn over."
As many as 19 communities reported tornado damage Wednesday evening, Patrick said. The governor declared a state of emergency as the storm system that spawned those twisters moved east, with watches posted all the way to the Atlantic coast until late Wednesday.
"It's been particularly devastating in downtown Springfield," Patrick said. And he said a local official told him, "You have to see Monson to believe it."
Monson resident Dolly Opper said state police were setting up roadblocks around the town, and a neighbor described the town's center as "war zone."
"I haven't been home," she said. "The steeple's off the church across the street. It's lying right in the front yard."
At J.T.'s Sports Pub, on Springfield's Main Street, owner Keith Makarowski said he and the 10 or so patrons intially went outside to watch the darkening skies -- then retreated as the storm blew into downtown.
"There was a ton of debris flying around, lots of roof shingles and random siding," Makarowski said. Several century-old buildings were damaged -- "roofs torn off, facades ravaged, trees uprooted" -- and a woman across the street was blown up against a building after being caught outside.
"Luckily, two people from inside the building were able to pull her in, and she seemed like she was OK," Makarowski said.
Massachusetts State Police Sgt. Michael Popovics said Springfield, Monson, Westfield and seven other towns -- Agawam, Charlton, Oxford, Palmer, Sturbridge, West Springfield and Wilbraham -- reported severe damage. Sandra Ahearn, a spokeswoman for the Western Massachusetts Electric Co., said 12,000 customers were without power in the utility's service area and that hard-hit areas might not have electricity until the end of the week.
Patrick said he has mobilized 1,000 National Guard troops to assist with cleanup and search-and-rescue operations. The Massachusetts State Police said it had activated dog teams to look for people in damaged buildings and described many streets in Springfield as "impassable" due to fallen power lines and trees.
The damage came amid a wave of heavy thunderstorms that moved through the Northeast on Wednesday afternoon. Tornado watches were also issued for northern Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Maine until 11 p.m. Wednesday. Though not as tornado-prone as much of the Midwest or South, Massachusetts has averaged two to three twisters per year since 1950, according to figures from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In 1953, a massive tornado that struck Worcester and nearby towns killed 90 people, according to NOAA; the last tornado to hit the state was in 2008.
| Hurricanes_Tornado_Storm_Blizzard | June 2011 | ['(CNN)'] |
Scotland Yard launches a "formal criminal investigation" into Savile after 200 potential sexual abuse victims come forward. | Scotland Yard said it had identified 200 potential victims of the late BBC presenter and other people.
The Met said some "living people" were being investigated but gave no names.
Cdr Peter Spindler said a "staggering" number of victims had come forward. The NSPCC children's charity said Savile may have been "one of the most prolific sex offenders" it had come across.
Scotland Yard said the investigation - dubbed Operation Yewtree - moved from an assessment to a criminal investigation after detectives established there are lines of inquiry involving "living people that require formal investigation".
Of the 200 victims, the Met said the "vast majority" were victims of Savile and were abused as children, but that the figure also included victims of alleged abuse "by other individuals".
The force would not say how many living people were under investigation. Savile died on 29 October 2011, at the age of 84.
The police involvement was sparked after ITV broadcast an investigation in Savile's behaviour called Exposure, the Other Side of Jimmy Savile on 3 October, 2012. In it, several women alleged he sexually abused them when they were under age. Other alleged victims then came forward after the broadcast.
Cdr Spindler said the response from the public had been "astounding". He added: "We are dealing with alleged abuse on an unprecedented scale. The profile of this operation has empowered a staggering number of victims to come forward to report the sexual exploitation which occurred during their childhood.
"I am pleased that victims feel confident enough to speak out about the abuse they suffered and would like to reassure the public that we take all these cases very seriously and they will be investigated with the utmost sensitivity." Ten police officers and staff are working on the investigation, but it is thought it may take longer than originally anticipated for their report to be completed.
The Met added that the BBC could begin its internal review into Savile's time at the BBC, and it could run in parallel to the criminal investigation.
The force said it would "develop a protocol", ensuring that "any future potential criminal action is not jeopardised" by the BBC's own inquiries.
The inquiry is one of three BBC probes. It will be lead by former Court of Appeal judge Dame Janet Smith and will investigate the "culture and practices of the BBC" during the years that Savile worked for the corporation.
Dame Janet was appointed on Tuesday by Dame Fiona Reynolds, chairman of the BBC Executive Board, and agreed by the BBC Trust.
In a statement, the BBC said it welcomed the move and would ask Dame Janet "to start her review immediately". The NSPCC's John Cameron said Savile was "a well-organised, prolific sex offender, who's used his power, his authority, his influence to procure children and offend against them".
"The NSPCC has been offering a helpline, and we've received over 136 calls directly relating to allegations against Savile. We've passed those onto the police."
Mr Cameron added he was not surprised at the time it has taken for the abuse allegations to surface.
"It's very difficult for children... when they're being victims of sexual abuse from people that they know, to speak out. So you can imagine what it must be like for young children who are being abused by people in significant power, like celebrities.
"It's not surprising to us that now that one person has started to speak out, there are a number of other potential victims that are coming forward," he said. As well as police and BBC investigations, inquiries are taking place into Savile's involvement with Stoke Mandeville Hospital, Broadmoor and Leeds General Infirmary.
Meanwhile, the BBC is to air a special edition of Panorama, looking into the issues surrounding Savile's years of alleged abuse, on BBC One at 20:30 BST on Monday.
Other programmes could be moved if the show runs longer than the half-hour slot currently scheduled.
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | October 2012 | ['(BBC)'] |
Severe storms, from the weather system that hit Southern California Friday, reach southwest Texas injuring several people and damaging at least 100 homes with one confirmed tornado in San Antonio. Heavy rains continue today with flash floods likely as the storm moves to eastern Texas and southern Louisiana. |
Severe storms rolled through Texas Sunday night into Monday morning, where four confirmed tornadoes left widespread damage in northern San Antonio and four more were confirmed near Austin.
More than 100 structures were damaged when a severe storm hit just south of San Antonio International Airport, ABC News reported. Most of the damaged buildings were homes, but an elementary school was also damaged, the report added.
KTRK-TV said there were five minor injuries reported following the storms.
"The same weather system that struck Southern California last Friday caused severe storms to develop in Texas and southern Oklahoma late Sunday," said weather.com meteorologist Chris Dolce.
Near Olmos, Lucy Duncan took shelter under a mattress with her husband and three children as the storm closed in on their home. She told KENS-TV that the roof of their home was torn off, but the family escaped unharmed.
"I couldn’t even describe it because I’ve never experienced it before," Duncan told KENS. "I knew immediately something was wrong."
At the height of the outages, CPS Energy reported nearly 40,000 customers without power due to the storms.
The National Weather Service gave the San Antonio tornado damage near Ridgeview and Alamo Heights an EF2 rating with maximum winds of 120 mph. It was on the ground for about four and a half miles, according to the initial damage survey results. A separate EF0 tornado was confirmed east of Interstate 35 in the San Antonio area between Windcrest and Converse. A third tornado was confirmed on Putting Green Road and was rated EF1. A fourth tornado packing 85 mph winds in the Garden Ridge area was rated an EF0.
Storms also caused problems in southeastern Austin Monday morning, where thousands lost power and at least 20 homes were damaged, according to KEYE-TV.
"We were sitting on the couch and watching the tornado warning on the TV," Sammye Mason, who was in a friend's home when it got damaged, told KEYE. "The next thing we know, the lights go out and then, 'whoosh,' the door came flying open and we were knocked off the couch."
Two confirmed tornadoes hit Williamson County near Thrall. Both received preliminary ratings of EF2. In Hays County, an EF1 was confirmed, as well as an EF0 that tracked into Travis County.
An EF0 tornado overturned several RVs and damaged some sheds and outbuildings in southern Guadalupe County south of the town of Seguin.
| Hurricanes_Tornado_Storm_Blizzard | February 2017 | ['(USA Today)', '(Weather Channel)'] |
A suicide bomber kills 5 in a targeted attack on a British embassy vehicle in Kabul, Afghanistan. | A suicide bomber has hit a UK embassy vehicle in the Afghan capital Kabul, with a British worker and an Afghan member of staff among those killed.
The Briton who died was a member of the embassy security team, as was another UK national who was wounded.
Three other Afghans were killed and more than 30 wounded in the attack, which the Taliban say they carried out. Hours later, Taliban fighters staged an attack in the wealthy Kabul neighbourhood of Wazir Akbar Khan.
Witnesses described hearing several explosions and a gun battle before the area was secured by police.
Bodyguards belonging to Vice-President Abdul Rashid Dostum reportedly fought with the attackers.
Several embassies, foreign compounds and international agencies are located in the district. It is not clear what the target of the second attack was.
The Taliban has been targeting foreigners in recent attacks.
UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond condemned the attack on the UK vehicle as "appalling".
The blast occurred on a busy road and was heard across eastern parts of the city.
The British embassy four-wheel-drive was thrown on to its side when the suicide car bomber struck. Many other vehicles were destroyed.
Earlier Afghan officials said the bomber had been riding a motorcycle.
Mr Hammond said: "I am deeply saddened to confirm that a British national civilian security team member and an Afghan national working for the embassy were killed in the incident. A second British member of the security team was injured. "I condemn this appalling attack on innocent civilians supporting our diplomatic activity."
The attack comes three days after two US soldiers were killed in a bomb attack on Nato forces, also in eastern Kabul.
President Ashraf Ghani, who came to power in September, has vowed to bring peace to the country after decades of conflict.
But the Taliban have stepped up attacks as most foreign combat troops prepare to leave Afghanistan next month.
About 12,000 Nato soldiers are expected to remain to train and advise Afghan security forces from 1 January.
A separate US-led force will assist Afghan troops in some operations against the Taliban. The security pacts with Nato and the US are yet to be ratified by the Afghan upper house.
| Riot | November 2014 | ['(BBC)'] |
Tehran Mayor Mohammad–Ali Najafi resigns from his post after eight months in the office. His last resignation was rejected by the City Council. | Tehran’s Mayor Mohammad Ali Najafi has once again resigned a few hours after Prosecutor-General Mohammad Jafar Montazeri threatened him to step down.
Montazeri on April 9 called the city council’s rejection of Najafi’s first resignation “political” and told the Mayor to resign again.
The mayor’s second resignation was announced only one day after the Tehran City Council rejected his first resignation on April 8.
Some of the council members said on Sunday that Najafi had resigned under political pressure, although he had mentioned “illness” as the reason.
Montazeri called the council’s rejection of Najafi’s resignation “an act of treason,” adding that the council should be held accountable if the ailing mayor fails to fulfill his responsibilities.
Montazeri’s statement “Resign and you won’t be prosecuted,” is one of the most blatant interventions by a judiciary official in this matter.
Referring to Montazeri’s remark, Council member Zahar Sadrazam Nouri said, “Now pressures are being exerted on the mayor openly.”
Another council member Mohammad Javad Haghshenas said in a tweet, “The prosecutor’s comment is beyond his legal status, and in violation of the Constitutional Law.”
Reformist MP Mahmoud Sadeqi reminded in a tweet “This is clearly within the city council’s jurisdiction to decide on the mayor’s resignation.”
Tehran City Council Chairman Mohsen Hashemi has confirmed that the mayor has resigned again, while IRGC-linked Fars news agency reported that the city council might name an acting mayor for the time being rather than appointing a new mayor.
Meanwhile, the Iranian Labor News Agency (ILNA) quoted Council Chairman Mohsen Hashemi as saying that Najafi has informed the council that he will not be able to fulfill his responsibilities as his doctor is making preparations for a surgical operation on him.
The council is going to decide on the mayor’s second resignation on Tuesday April 10, said Hashemi. This comes while Council member Hojat Nazari told Iranian Student News Agency (ISNA) that the council would not discuss the resignation before next week. Previously, several Iranian news websites reported “the IRGC Intelligence Organization exerted pressure on Najafi to resign.”
Najafi has repeatedly spoken about “widespread illegal actions at the Tehran Municipality” under former conservative Mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf. But when he said that he was planning to send some of these cases to Judiciary for investigation, Tehran’s hardline Prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi challenged Najafi to present his evidence to the Prosecutor’s Office “immediately.”
Meanwhile, the Tehran Prosecutor summoned Jafari to court in mid-March, after a video was released on social media showing Najafi at a Women’s Day ceremony where young girls were dancing.
Iran’s conservatives controlled the Tehran City Council for 14 years between 2003 and 2017. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was the first Tehran Mayor elected by a conservative council in 2003. He took over as the country’s president within two years.
Qalibaf, who was defeated in the 2005 presidential election, took over as Tehran’s mayor in 2005 although he kept trying his luck as a presidential candidate in 2013 and 2017. His term of office as Mayor came to an end with reformist faction’s overwhelming victory in the council elections in March 2017, and Najafi replaced him in August. | Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | April 2018 | ['(Radio Farda)'] |
Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Liberman asks Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit to probe NGO B’Tselem for "incitement to disobedience" for asking Israeli troops at the border to refuse orders. B’Tselem accuses Liberman in response of "a deep contempt for basic moral principles" and reiterates its call for IDF personnel to refuse to carry out "manifestly illegal orders". | Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said Sunday he had asked the attorney general to investigate the leaders of a left-wing group that called on Israeli soldiers to refuse orders to open fire at Palestinian protesters during clashes on the border with the Gaza Strip.
The organization, B’Tselem, lashed out in response, saying Liberman himself was guilty of incitement by demanding that soldiers carry out a manifestly illegal order.
In a tweet Sunday, Liberman said he had asked Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit to “probe the heads of B’Tselem for incitement to disobedience after their call for soldiers to refuse orders in defending the border.”
He was referring to advertisements that B’Tselem took out in Hebrew-language newspapers Thursday in which the group urged Israel Defense Forces soldiers to refuse to fire their weapons at unarmed protesters during demonstrations planned by the Palestinian terror group Hamas at the Gaza border for the next day.
“This subversive and marginal organization, together with haters of Israel and the international media, are trying to delegitimize our soldiers, whose behavior is both legal and moral in an extremely complex situation,” Liberman continued. “We will put an end to this.” | Famous Person - Give a speech | April 2018 | ['(The Times of Israel)'] |
In Afghanistan, president Hamid Karzai appoints Abdul Rashid Dostum as his chief–of–staff. Dostum has been accused of involvement in human rights abuses. (Daily Times, Pakistan) | A presidential spokesman said Abdul Rashid Dostum is being appointed to the position of chief-of-staff to the commander of the armed forces.
It is being seen as a move to win Gen Dostum's support ahead of parliamentary elections due later this year.
It is not clear how much power this position will give Gen Dostum.
'Should stand trial'
Afghanistan
In the 1980s Gen Dostum backed the invading forces of the Soviet Union against the Mujahideen rebels.
He then played a prominent role in the civil war of the 1990s that destroyed much of the capital Kabul, and left thousands dead.
In 2001, while helping the United States, his militia troops were accused of suffocating hundreds of Taleban prisoners to death by locking them inside shipping containers. For these alleged crimes many Afghans and human rights groups say Gen Dostum should be put on trial.
However, President Karzai's spokesman dismissed the idea when briefing journalists about the impending appointment. That the Afghan leader seems prepared to overlook such concerns is because of Gen Dostum's still considerable influence. He stood in last year's presidential elections and came fourth with 10% of the votes, most of them from his fellow Uzbeks in northern Afghanistan.
When parliamentary elections happen sometime later this year, President Karzai would prefer those votes to go to his side.
But many will see this decision as more evidence of the Afghan leader's tendency to co-opt militia leaders rather than confront them | Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration | March 2005 | ['(Reuters)', '(BBC)'] |
An Egyptian court jails three Muslim Brotherhood members for life and 36 others for ten years each for terror offences. Fourteen others are acquitted. | An Egyptian court has sentenced three Muslim Brotherhood members to life in prison on terror-related charges.
The Zagazig criminal court, northeast of the capital Cairo, sentenced another 36 defendants to 10 years in prison on similar charges, including rioting, inciting violence against security forces and joining an outlawed group, a reference to the Brotherhood.
Wednesday's verdict can be appealed. The court also acquitted 14 people in the same case.
The Brotherhood won a series of free elections after Egypt's 2011 uprising, and a senior Brotherhood figure, Mohammed Morsi, was elected president in 2012.
A year later, the military overthrew Morsi amid mass protests against his rule. Since then, hundreds of Islamists, including Brotherhood members, have been sentenced to death.
Authorities have branded the Brotherhood a terrorist organization | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | April 2018 | ['(News24)'] |
People armed with axes and crowbars attack and set ablaze ten Chinese factories and a hotel in Yangon, resulting in injuries to several Chinese nationals. Some protesters have accused the Chinese government of supporting the Burmese military. | Activists say 38 protesters have been killed in one of the bloodiest days yet in Myanmar since the military coup. Security forces opened fire in an area of Myanmar's largest city, Yangon, with protesters using sticks and knives.
The military declared martial law in the area after Chinese businesses were attacked. Protesters believe China is giving support to the military but it is unclear who was behind the attacks.
Myanmar has been gripped by protests since the military coup on 1 February.
Military rulers have detained Aung San Suu Kyi, the country's civilian leader and head of the National League for Democracy (NLD) party. The NLD won a landslide in last year's election but the military alleged there had been widespread fraud.
Some of the ousted MPs have refused to accept last month's coup and have gone into hiding.
In his first public address, their leader Mahn Win Khaing Than urged protesters to defend themselves against the military crackdown during what he called a "revolution".
"This is the darkest moment of the nation and the moment that the dawn is close," he said, adding: "The uprising must win." At least 21 people were reportedly killed in Yangon on Sunday. Further deaths and injuries were reported elsewhere in the country. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) monitoring group said the day's death toll was at least 38.
Medical workers said the number of people killed in the Yangon area of Hlaing Tharyar was likely to rise, with dozens suffering gunshot wounds. The junta has declared martial law in Hlaing Tharyar and neighbouring Shwepyitha after China said Chinese factories in the area had been targeted and demanded protection.
Beijing said people armed with iron bars, axes and petrol had set alight and damaged 10 Chinese facilities - mostly clothing production or storage factories - in Yangon. A Chinese hotel was also attacked. On its Facebook page the Chinese embassy said some "factories were looted and destroyed and many Chinese staff were injured and trapped".
The embassy urged Myanmar to "take further effective measures to stop all acts of violence, punish the perpetrators in accordance with the law and ensure the safety of life and property of Chinese companies and personnel in Myanmar".
The military-owned Myawaddy Media reported that firefighters had been hindered in their response to the blazes by people blocking their routes. Gunshots were heard throughout the day and military trucks were seen in the streets. Demonstrators barricaded themselves in with sandbags, car tyres and barbed wire when security forces opened fire. Using makeshift shields, some were seen inching forwards to retrieve the injured. One officer posted on social media that police were planning to use heavy weaponry.
"I will not have mercy on Hlaing Tharyar and they will fight back seriously too because there are all kinds of characters there," the officer said in the subsequently deleted TikTok post.
"Three died in front of me while I was giving treatment. I'm sending another two to hospital. That's all I can say at this moment," one medic told AFP.
Several other deaths at the hands of the military were reported in other parts of Myanmar, including a young man shot dead by security forces in the northern jade-producing city of Hpakant, and a man and a woman killed in Bago to the north of Yangon.
Meanwhile, state TV said one police officer had been killed. Three more were injured by protesters throwing rocks and using catapults in the Bago region, MRTV said. In total, more than 120 protesters have reportedly been killed during the crackdown, according to the AAPP monitoring group. Later in the evening, hundreds of people sat with lit candles raised at the main junction on Hledan road in central Yangon. NLD MPs who managed to escape arrest after the coup formed a new group, the CRPH, or Committee for Representing the Union Parliament.
Mahn Win Khaing Than was appointed the CRPH's acting head and the group is seeking international recognition as Myanmar's rightful government. In a speech on Facebook, Mahn Win Khaing Than said: "This is the time for our citizens to test their resistance against the dark moments. "In order to form a federal democracy, which all ethnic brothers who have been suffering various kinds of oppressions from the dictatorship for decades really desired, this revolution is the chance for us to put our efforts together.
"Despite our differences in the past, this is the time we must grip our hands together to end the dictatorship for good. "
The military considers the CRPH to be an illegal group, warning that anyone co-operating with them will face treason charges.
Independent international observers have disputed the military's claim of the fraudulent election held in November 2020, saying no irregularities were observed.
Last week, the military accused Ms Suu Kyi of illegally accepting $600,000 (£430,000) and 11kg of gold. No evidence was provided and an NLD lawmaker denied the allegation.
Ms Suu Kyi has been held for the past five weeks at an undisclosed location and faces several other charges including causing "fear and alarm", illegally possessing radio equipment, and breaking Covid-19 restrictions.
Since the coup the military has used violent force to try to quell protests, leaving dozens dead and prompting widespread international condemnation. The US has announced sanctions on coup leaders, while steps are also being taken to block access by the military to $1bn of government funds held in the US.
The military has dismissed criticism of its actions, instead blaming Ms Suu Kyi for the violence.
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| Riot | March 2021 | ['(BBC)'] |
Kyrgyzstani police arrest Akhmat Bakiyev, a brother of ousted leader Kurmanbek Bakiyev, in an apartment raid in Jalalabad. | Police in Kyrgyzstan have detained one of the brothers of ousted leader Kurmanbek Bakiyev. Akhmat Bakiyev was captured in a raid on an apartment in the southern city of Jalalabad, the region hit by deadly ethnic violence in June. Officials said he was arrested on suspicion of fomenting the unrest. Kyrgyz authorities have accused the Bakiyev family of instigating the violence that erupted between the ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbek communities. Officials say as many as 2,000 people may have died in the clashes. Hundreds of thousands were forced to flee their homes. "Akhmat Bakiyev was arrested in one of the multi-storied homes near the centre, where he was renting an apartment. He did not put up resistance though he was armed," said local deputy police chief Melis Turganbayev. "He is accused of organising mass riots, sparking inter-ethnic conflict and organising illegal armed groups."
Kurmanbek Bakiyev - who drew much of his support from southern Kyrgyzstan - was ousted in mass protests in April. He is now in exile in Belarus, although the new Kyrgyz government says its wants him to face trial over the 85 deaths in April's protests. Kyrgyz authorities are also seeking another of his brothers, Zhanybek, who is accused of giving the order to fire on protesters in April. 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. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Arrest | July 2010 | ['(BBC)'] |
At least 15 people are killed and 25 others wounded when a passenger bus collides with a truck in Kandahar, Afghanistan. | At least 15 people were killed, and 25 others were wounded in a traffic accident early Saturday, Kandahar local officials said.
According to local officials the accident occurred on Saturday morning at around 6am in Hawoz Madad village of Zhari district when a passenger bus and a truck collided.
Kandahar provincial governor’s spokesman Aziz Ahmad Azizi confirmed the crash said that women and children are among the victims.
Three women are among the dead and three are among the wounded, Azizi said.
According to Azizi three children were also killed.
A number of wounded are in critical condition, officials said.
Officials said the crash happened at about 6am when a passenger bus and truck collided in Zhari district.
| Road Crash | September 2018 | ['(TOLONews)'] |
The Comoros army supported by African Union troops invade Anjouan. | Troops from the Comoros archipelago in the Indian Ocean have recaptured most of the island of Anjouan after a year-long rebellion, officials say.
They said troops backed by an African Union force had taken Anjouan's main city and airport with light resistance. But fighting continues in some areas and the whereabouts of rebel leader Col Mohammed Bacar is unclear. His re-election as president of the semi-autonomous island of Anjouan last
year had been declared illegal. Surrender call
Defence Minister Bacar Dossar said coalition forces had not yet secured total control of the island and were "trying to flush out a pocket near [Col Bacar's] residence in Barakani". There were other small areas of resistance, he told the BBC, adding that so far neither the AU troops nor the Comoros army had suffered any casualties. Officials said government forces had arrested several high-ranking aides of Col Bacar, but were still looking for the rebel leader himself. About 450 Comoran and AU troops landed in a seaborne assault at dawn on Tuesday. Mortar and machine-gun fire was heard. The invading force captured the airport at Ouani and the main city, Mutsamudu. The presidential palace was abandoned. The Comoran troops are being supported by a nearly 1,500-strong AU force, including Tanzanian and Sudanese soldiers. As the assault was launched on Monday night, Comoran President Ahmed Mohamed Sambi said: "I have ordered the Comoran army and the forces of our country's friends to bring Anjouan back under the rule of law and free her citizens." Residents of the island were pictured greeting the government forces with jubilation as they patrolled through the streets, with some of the crowds chanting "Bacar is a dog". Fractious history
Five boats carrying the Comoran and AU troops had left the island of Moheli overnight on Sunday, while a helicopter dropped leaflets over Anjouan warning citizens that the assault to retake the island would begin in hours. The Comoros archipelago has had a fractious history since independence from France in 1975, experiencing more than 20 coups or attempted coups. The three main islands of the archipelago lie 300km (186 miles) off Africa's east coast north of Madagascar. Mr Bacar was elected president of semi-autonomous Anjouan in 2002. His re-election in 2007 was declared illegal by the federal authorities on Grand Comore who declared Anjouan to be in rebellion. The AU condemned Mr Bacar's move and agreed to provide troops to topple him. What are these? | Armed Conflict | March 2008 | ['(BBC News)'] |
Ryanair tries to buy Aer Lingus. | The budget airline Ryanair has launched another attempt to buy its biggest Irish rival Aer Lingus.
Ryanair says it plans to make a cash offer for Aer Lingus, which would value it at 694m euros ($883m; £561m). Ryanair will make the offer through a subsidiary called Coinside.
Ryanair already owns 30% of Aer Lingus.
On Friday, Ryanair's existing holding was referred to the UK's Competition Commission for a probe that could lead to it being forced to sell the stake.
When Ryanair tried to buy Aer Lingus in 2006, its attempt was blocked by the European Commission.
It said the 1.30 euro offer was a premium of 38.3% above Tuesday's Aer Lingus closing price.
Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary said: "This offer represents a significant opportunity to combine Aer Lingus with Ryanair, to form one strong Irish airline group capable of competing with Europe's other major airline groups.
"Since the European Commission recently approved BA's takeover of British Midland, and Etihad recently invested in Aer Lingus, and there are reports that it has a 'strong interest' to acquire the government's stake, and since the Irish government has decided to sell this stake, we believe now is the time to focus on the right long-term strategic partner for Aer Lingus."
| Organization Merge | June 2012 | ['(BBC)'] |
35 people are injured and fire bombs are thrown after Egyptian riot police clash with protesters at a demonstration outside the Algerian embassy in Cairo, following Egypt's defeat in a World Cup qualifying playoff match. | Riot police in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, quelled a violent demonstration near the Algerian embassy in the early hours of Friday.
Egyptian protesters reportedly hurled firebombs at police protecting the embassy and overturned a police van. Egypt's interior ministry said 35 people were injured. The clashes stem from Egypt's defeat by Algeria in a World Cup qualifying match on Wednesday, securing Algeria the last African place for next year's finals. On Friday Alaa Mubarak, the son of Egypt's president Hosni Mubarak, made a rare public statement calling for a "tough stance" to be taken against Algeria. "When you insult my dignity... I will beat you on the head," the businessman, who had attended the game in Khartoum, told a TV news programme.
On Thursday night around 1,000 Egyptians burned Algerian flags in a street near the Algerian embassy. The protests continued into the morning, with 15 cars reported damaged, along with a number of shops. The ministry said 11 police officers were among the injured. On Friday afternoon, worshippers leaving a mosque in the neighbouring Mohandisseen district gathered after prayers to again burn Algerian flags and chant anti-Algerian slogans. Attack
Algeria beat Egypt 1-0 in a play-off in Sudan on Wednesday.
Protesters were incensed by reports that Egyptian fans at the match had been attacked as they left the stadium. "We should treat Algeria like any country that has declared war on us," university student Amr Higazi told Agence France Presse. The BBC's Christian Fraser in Cairo says demonstrations like this are normally broken up well before they begin. Meanwhile, Egypt has threatened to quit international football for two years after complaining to world football governing body Fifa over Algerian fans' behaviour in Khartoum. The statement by Egypt's Football Federation added: "Egyptian fans, officials and players put their lives at risk before and after the game, under threat from weapons, knives, swords and flares." If Egypt do not go through with their threat, there is a chance the teams could meet again in less than three months in the Cup of African Nations, hosted by Angola. The two teams were drawn in different groups at Friday's ceremony but could meet each other in the later stages. Diplomatic spat
Egypt's foreign ministry had summoned the Algerian ambassador to hear complaints about reports of attacks on Egyptian fans in Khartoum and on Egyptian businesses in Algeria. The Egyptian ambassador in Algiers was than recalled "for consultations". Sudan has also summoned the Egyptian envoy in Khartoum, angry at Egyptian media coverage of the game's aftermath. The Egyptian government alleges 21 of its citizens were attacked after the match, but Sudan says many fewer were injured. The teams needed the play-off in a neutral country to decide on qualification after the final group match between them on Saturday saw Egypt win 2-0, meaning the two teams finished tied at the top of the group with equal points and identical goal difference. Fifa has opened disciplinary proceedings against Egypt after the Algerian team bus was pelted with stones in Cairo before the match. Three Algerian players were injured by rocks thrown as they arrived. Violence between Egypt and Algeria fans flared up across four countries. | Protest_Online Condemnation | November 2009 | ['(BBC)', '(Ennahar)'] |
Thousands of people join protests against budget cuts in Madrid and ask that the government quit. Riot police greet the demonstrators. | Several thousand people have marched to Spain’s parliament in an anti-austerity protest, but were held back from surrounding the building by metal rail barricades and a large police presence.
The “Surround Parliament” protest group had on Saturday called on people to gather at Plaza de Espana and march on the legislature to express their opposition to spending cuts and tax hikes introduced by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s government.
Police on horseback and with dogs had earlier arrived at Neptuno fountain next to parliament in preparation for crowd control duties as the protesters marched 2.3km from the gathering point.
Protesters were accompanied along the route of the march by a strong police escort, including vans with reinforced windows.
Demonstration organizers said protesters will be asked to hold a minute of silence with their backs turned on parliament to express their disapproval of government public sector cuts while offering financial support to ailing banks.
“And now they are going to give banks a bailout, rescue them as if they were princesses,” said Alan Pipo, 70.
“They should be put out on the streets, just like all those families who are being evicted from their homes because they are unable to keep up with mortgage payments.”
Rampant unemployment
Earlier, about 3,000 off-duty police officers had also demonstrated to protest the government’s austerity measures, including the cancellation of their Christmas bonuses.
The police protest blocked one of the capital’s central boulevards opposite the interior ministry. On-duty police officers watched as their off-duty colleagues demonstrated by throwing fireworks and chanting slogans.
A demonstrator was injured when a firework he was set to throw exploded in his hand. Many protesters draped themselves in Spanish flags and added to the ear-splitting noise by blowing their police-issued whistles.
Since being voted to office in general elections in November, Rajoy has hiked taxes, cut spending, including a wage-cut for civil servants, and introduced stinging labor reforms in a bid to persuade investors and international authorities that he can manage Spain’s finances without the need for a full-blown bailout.
However, Spain’s public finances have been overwhelmed by the cost of rescuing some of its banks and regional governments, many of which have experienced heavy losses following a property sector crash in 2008.
One Spaniard in four is unemployed as the economic crisis tightens its grip. The government is under pressure to seek aid to ease debts while the country sinks into its second recession in three years.
Economic output has contracted for five quarters in a row and Spain’s troubled banks have been granted a $130bn loan facility by the 17 eurozone countries.
| Protest_Online Condemnation | October 2012 | ['(BBC)', '(Al Jazeera)'] |
The United States Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals rules that Wikimedia Foundation has the legal right to challenge the National Security Agency Upstream program of mass online surveillance. This decision reinstates the suit that had been dismissed by a Federal district judge in Baltimore, Maryland. Eight other organizations, including Amnesty International USA and the Global Fund for Women, are also plaintiffs in this case. | (Reuters) - A federal appeals court on Tuesday revived a Wikipedia lawsuit that challenges a U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) program of mass online surveillance, and claims that the government unconstitutionally invades people’s privacy rights.
By a 3-0 vote, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, said the Wikimedia Foundation, which hosts the Wikipedia online encyclopedia, had a legal right to challenge the government’s Upstream surveillance program.
The decision could make it easier for people to learn whether authorities have spied on them through Upstream, which involves bulk searches of international communications within the internet’s backbone of cables, switches and routers.
Upstream’s existence was revealed in leaks by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden in 2013.
Lawyers for the Wikipedia publisher and eight other plaintiffs including Amnesty International USA and Human Rights Watch, with more than 1 trillion international communications annually, argued that the surveillance violated their rights to privacy, free expression and association.
The U.S. Department of Justice countered that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act had authorized Upstream’s review of communications between Americans and foreign “targets.”
In October 2015, U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III in Baltimore dismissed the lawsuit, finding a lack of evidence that the NSA, headquartered in Maryland, was conducting surveillance “at full throttle.”
Writing for the appeals court panel, however, Circuit Judge Albert Diaz found “nothing speculative” about the Wikimedia Foundation’s claims.
Diaz said the NSA interception and copying of communications showed “an invasion of a legally protected interest - the Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures.”
The foundation could also pursue its First Amendment claim because it had “self-censored” some communications in response to the Upstream surveillance, Diaz said.
By a 2-1 vote, the same panel also ruled the plaintiffs lacked standing to challenge the NSA’s alleged “dragnet” to intercept “substantially all” text-based communications to and from the United States while conducting Upstream surveillance.
Justice Department spokesman Mark Abueg declined to comment.
Patrick Toomey, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer representing the plaintiffs, said the ruling means Upstream “will finally face badly needed scrutiny” in the courts.
“This is an important victory for the rule of law,” he said in a statement. “Our government shouldn’t be searching the private communications of innocent people in bulk.”
Some Democratic and Republican lawmakers are working on legislation to curtail parts of Upstream. A section of FISA that authorizes the program expires at year end.
The case is Wikimedia Foundation et al v National Security Agency et al, 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 15-2560.
| Government Policy Changes | May 2017 | ['(Reuters)'] |
Two people are killed and a further 12 injured in a stabbing attack in Beijing. | BEIJING: The man who stabbed two people to death with a knife Thursday evening in downtown Beijing was confirmed to be drunken at that time, local police said Friday.
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The suspect, named Zhang Jianfei, was captured at the scene by police on patrol. He, 46, was a native of Jilin City of northeastern Jilin province.
The police sources said Zhang had created many disturbances under the influence of liquor in Jilin.
After the incident, the municipal government has dispatched armed police to patrol in major downtown areas of the city. | Armed Conflict | September 2009 | ['(China Daily)', '(Associated Press)', '(China Post)'] |
Osvaldo Rivera is the suspect jailed in Camden County, New Jersey for the stabbing to death of a 6–year–old boy and the attempted murder of the boy's 12–year–old sister. Authorities say he was high on PCP–laced marijuana. | TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — A man high on PCP-laced marijuana stabbed two neighborhood children in their home while they slept, killing a 6-year-old boy and critically wounding his 12-year-old sister, authorities said.
Osvaldo Rivera was found hiding between a mattress and a bedroom wall Sunday afternoon inside a Camden apartment and was charged Monday with murder and attempted murder, said Jason Laughlin, a spokesman for the Camden County prosecutor's office.
The attack was the second recent one in Camden, an impoverished city across the river from Philadelphia, involving a child and a suspect said to be high on PCP and marijuana.
Rivera, 31, was being held in jail awaiting arraignment, which Laughlin said will likely be held Tuesday. Laughlin didn't know if Rivera had an attorney.
Police found blood-stained sneakers inside the apartment where Rivera was arrested that matched bloody footprints in the home where Dominick Andujor was stabbed to death, Laughlin said. The boy's 12-year-old sister had her throat slit while she slept in the same room. She remained hospitalized Monday at Cooper University Hospital in Camden. The hospital, though, has declined to discuss her condition, citing privacy reasons.
While being questioned by investigators, Rivera said he had smoked a combination of marijuana and the hallucinogenic drug PCP before the attack, Laughlin said.
On Aug. 22, 33-year-old Chevonne Thomas of Camden allegedly decapitated her 2-year-old toddler and then fatally stabbed herself after smoking a similar combination, known as "wet."
Laughlin said there have been several other murders in recent years in which PCP-laced marijuana has apparently played a role. He said the drug combination makes people incoherent, hallucinatory and, in some cases, violent, adding that authorities plan to take steps to curb the drug's market.
The children stabbed Sunday were being watched by a 14-year-old girl, authorities said. The teen, who was unharmed, was caring for them because their mother recently underwent surgery and was still in the hospital.
Laughlin said the 12-year-old, whose name wasn't released, fled the home after the attack and was found at a neighbor's home a few doors down. Police soon went to the girl's home and were met by another child who ran outside, screaming for help for her brother. The 6-year-old boy was found lying on the floor.
While Rivera was still being sought on Sunday, a woman who lives nearby said he was well-known around the neighborhood and seemed to be a peaceful person. He also was often seen playing with the local children.
"People would never think he would do something like this," Nakyta McCray said.
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BILLINGS, Mont. — From the moment Silver Little Eagle decided to run for Northern Cheyenne Tribal Council, people dismissed her as too young, too green. But she was determined. Wooing voters with coffee, doughnuts and vows of bringing new energy to tribal issues, she won as a write-in candidate, becoming her tribe’s youngest councilwoman at age 23. Then last month, Little Eagle was beaten and robbed inside a Billings hotel room by two other women. News of the assault of a young Native American l
Clippers coach Tyronn Lue experimented all season with rotations and personnel because of injury problems. Their adaptability has paid off vs. Jazz.
The pro-democracy newspaper printed a bumper 500,000 copies after police arrested five senior staff.
Kim Jong-un has declared that North Korea should be ready for negotiations with the United States, striking an unusually conciliatory note amid a growing economic crisis that has led to dire shortages of fuel and food. The dictator's comments come just days after the United States and others urged the totalitarian regime to abandon its nuclear program and return to talks. Speaking at a meeting on the ruling Workers’ Party on Friday, the North Korean leader “stressed the need to get prepared for
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Yogi Adityanath, the Hindu priest tipped as successor to India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has said hospitals lied about shortages of oxygen during the height of the Covid crisis, in an exclusive interview with the Telegraph. Mr Adityanath, the chief minister of India’s most populous state Uttar Pradesh, is seen as the third most powerful man in India behind his colleagues in the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Mr Modi and home minister Amit Shah. The controversial politician attracts f
Borderline theater: A cutout of Vice President Kamala Harris, a state's plan to fund its own wall, and a governor sending police to Texas and Arizona.
Scarlett Johansson says her character was treated like "a possession or a thing" in Iron Man 2.
Gerrit Cole said gripping the ball is "so hard" after his first start since MLB announced a strict penalty for pitchers who use sticky substances.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will not vote in Friday’s presidential election in Iran and warned that the outcome would produce a government without a popular mandate, in another blow to the credibility of the most restricted poll in the Islamic Republic's history. Mr Ahmadinejad, who was president of Iran from 2005 to 2013, said he would exercise his "personal right" to abstain after what he described as the disenfranchisement of voters. “I am not going to vote. And the main reason is that I am witnessin
A conspiracy theory suggests that Navy SEALs arrested Hillary Clinton under Trump's direction, and that she was later hanged. This is false.
The child made it back to the boat, but the man slipped under the water.
The House vote on Juneteenth passed by 415-14 for a new federal holiday, but 14 GOP members of Congress voted no. Who are they? Why did they vote no? | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Arrest | September 2012 | ['(AP via Yahoo! News)'] |
A United States court martial in Baghdad, Iraq sentences Specialist Armin J. Cruz to eight months in jail for maltreating and conspiring to maltreat Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison. | Specialist Armin J Cruz had confessed to forcing three naked inmates at Abu Ghraib jail to crawl along a floor before making them simulate sex acts. Cruz, 24, was spotted in a photo taken during abuses committed in October. He is the eighth American soldier to be charged over the abuses but the first from military intelligence.
In addition to the jail sentence - four months short of the maximum term - the court reduced Cruz to the rank of private and gave him a bad conduct discharge.
Cruz is filing an appeal against the sentence.
'Remorseful'
At the trial, Cruz testified that he had gone to a cell in the prison one night in October and ordered the prisoners to be stripped and then took part in actual abuse.
The prosecution said the actions of Cruz and others tarnished the image of the US army and of the nation and would make future enemies readier to fight them. But the defence called him an American hero who had made one mistake. Lawyer Stephen Karns said earlier his client took "full responsibility" for his actions and was "extremely remorseful [with] great sympathy for those who have suffered abuse in the prison".
The US has tried to transform Abu Ghraib since the scandal but questions remain as to how high up the chain of command the abuses were sanctioned, the BBC's Mike Donkin reports from Iraq.
And many Iraqis are unimpressed by the way they say the Americans are judging their own for the Abu Ghraib abuses, he says. Inquiry calls
The abuses at Abu Ghraib caused outrage around the world when photographs were made public. The seven others indicted are military police soldiers. One of them, Private Jeremy Sivits, pleaded guilty at a special court martial held in Baghdad in May and was sentenced to a year in prison and other penalties.
Our correspondent says that prisoners now have better conditions and, the army says, interrogation techniques based on fear and degradation are banned.
FAY REPORT
27 military intelligence personnel accused
8 personnel knew of abuse but did not act
Senior commanders at fault
Full report (920KB)
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But most of the 2,700 men detained in Abu Ghraib have been there for months without being charged and can be held indefinitely if considered a security threat.
Iraqis believe sentences, like Cruz's, are so low as to be insulting and they, along with international human rights campaigners, want a full independent inquiry, our correspondent says. That, they say, should pursue the real story of the events at Abu Ghraib right up the chain of command.
Two US public reports - Schlesinger and Fay - were released this summer. The Fay report found 44 incidents of abuse at Abu Ghraib.
Both reports lay most of the blame for what went on in Abu Ghraib at the feet of the soldiers involved and their local commanders but they also suggest that higher authorities were aware of abuses. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | September 2004 | ['(BBC News)'] |
Federal authorities charge 44-year-old Eduardo Moreno, a railroad engineer, with train-wrecking after he allegedly derailed a train near USNS Mercy to bring attention to the U.S. government's response to the pandemic. | LOS ANGELES Prosecutors charged a locomotive engineer who worked at the Port of Los Angeles with intentionally derailing a train at full speed near the Navy hospital ship Mercy because of suspicions over its activities surrounding COVID-19, according to a federal criminal complaint.
Eduardo Moreno, 44, of San Pedro, California, was charged with one count under a little-known train-wrecking statute that carries a maximum sentence of up to 20 years in the incident Tuesday, according to the 10-page criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.
Moreno, who was held overnight, was turned over to FBI agents Wednesday morning. He was expected to make an initial appearance in federal court Wednesday afternoon.
Prosecutors claim Moreno ran the train off the tracks. It crashed through a series of barriers before coming to rest more than 250 yards from the Mercy in an incident that was captured on video.
Although the train leaked fuel oil, which required cleanup by firefighters and other hazardous materials personnel, no one was hurt.
A California Highway Patrol officer who witnessed the crash and took Moreno into custody told authorities that he saw the train, which is used to haul shipping cargo, smash through a barrier at the end of the tracks before it drove through several obstacles, including a steel barrier and a chain-link fence. It slid through one parking lot and another filled with gravel and smashed into a second chain-link fence, according to the affidavit.
The complaint alleges that when the officer approached him, Moreno said: "You only get this chance once. The whole world is watching. I had to. People don't know what's going on here. Now they will."
The affidavit said Moreno, who waived his right to speak to an attorney before being interviewed by investigators, admitted in two post-arrest interviews that he intentionally ran the train off the track because he wanted to bring attention to the government's activities regarding COVID-19 and was suspicious of the Mercy.
In his first interview with Los Angeles port police, Moreno acknowledged that he "did it," saying he was suspicious of the Mercy and believed it had an alternative purpose related to COVID-19 or a government takeover, the affidavit states.
Moreno also told investigators that he acted alone and had not planned the attempted attack, according to the affidavit. He said he knew that derailing and crashing the train would bring media attention and that "people could see for themselves," referring to the Mercy, according to the affidavit.
In a second interview with FBI agents, Moreno said "he did it out of the desire to 'wake people up,'" according to the affidavit. "Moreno stated that he thought that the U.S.N.S. Mercy was suspicious and did not believe 'the ship is what they say it's for,'" it said. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | April 2020 | ['(NBC News)'] |
The newly appointed President of Catalonia, Carles Puigdemont, vows to continue his predecessor Artur Mas i Gavarró's plans to secede from Spain within 18 months. | The new leader of the government in the Spanish region of Catalonia has pledged to continue his predecessor Artur Mas's plans to secede within 18 months.
Carles Puigdemont was speaking in the regional assembly ahead of a vote that confirmed him in office by 70 votes in favour to 63 against.
On Saturday Mr Mas abandoned efforts to regain the regional presidency after another party refused to support him.
Spanish PM Mariano Rajoy has meanwhile pledged to fight for national unity.
"The government won't allow a single act that could harm the unity and sovereignty of Spain," he said in Madrid.
The Spanish prime minister - whose own position is unclear since inconclusive elections in December - has insisted that whoever forms the next national government should have "an ample parliamentary base with the stability and capacity to face the separatist challenge".
"We have known how to set aside our differences to defend the unity of the nation," Mr Rajoy said on national TV.
The future of Catalonia's independence movement had been uncertain since regional parliamentary elections in September.
The pro-independence parties that triumphed in the polls bickered over who should lead the new local government.
But addressing the assembly on Sunday, Mr Puigdemont pledged to end the divisions.
"There are many [supporters of independence], true, there are many more than there used to be, more than there were 20 years ago," he said.
"[But] in this phase we have to gain total democratic legitimacy, we need more [supporters] and I call on everyone."
On Saturday Mr Mas agreed to withdraw his candidacy for the regional presidency because his nomination led to disagreements between the anti-capitalist CUP party and the Junts pel Si (Together for Yes) alliance.
That in turn has cleared the way for Mr Puigdemont to claim the leadership.
In November, the Catalan parliament voted to start the secession process - a move declared unconstitutional by Mr Rajoy's conservative Popular Party (PP), which ran the country before last month's election.
Catalonia is a highly industrialised and populous region in Spain's north-east that accounts for about a fifth of the country's economic output.
Both the PP and the Socialists (PSOE), who came first and second respectively in Spain's general election, oppose Catalan secession.
.
| Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration | January 2016 | ['(BBC)'] |
Trade union leaders in Guinea are released and meet with President Lansana Conté as the general strike escalates. | Union leaders in Guinea have met President Lansana Conte after being released following the worst violence so far in a two-week general strike.
A heavy security presence is reported in the capital, Conakry, and other towns following Monday's clashes in which more than 30 people were killed.
The government announced an inquiry into the violence after the talks. The strike is the third in the last year.
The strikers say President Conte is too sick to govern and want him to resign.
They also accuse Mr Conte, who is his 70s and suffers from diabetes, of mismanaging the economy and personally securing the release from prison of two men accused of corruption.
'Overwhelmed'
"We were released yesterday (Monday) at 2200 and were taken to the home of the president, in the Samory camp to meet with Conte," Rabiatou Serah Diallo of the National Confederation of Guinean Workers told AFP news agency.
She said the president registered his displeasure about their arrest.
"We will not close the door to negotiations," she said.
The BBC's Alhassan Sillah in the capital said the first lady Harriette Conte helped to negotiate their release from custody.
With the heavy deployment of the military and police the capital is reported to be quiet.
But in the towns of Dabola and Kundara several thousand people again marched on the streets calling on the president to step down.
Late on Monday night, the government announced that they would hold an inquiry into the violence when demonstrators heading for parliament got into running battles with the police in Conakry.
Negotiation doubts
The United Nations and the African Union have both condemned the violent response to the demonstrations and have called for dialogue to end the crisis.
Regional presidents Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal and Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria are expected to go to Guinea to try and mediate.
But our correspondent say there are now doubts about whether they will be allowed into the country.
A civil society leader Ben Sekou Sylla told the BBC French Service that he believed troops from neighbouring Guinea-Bissau were in the country helping the military.
There has been no independent confirmation of his allegations but analysts say Guinea-Bissau's President Joao Bernardo Vieira is a long-time ally of Mr Conte.
On Saturday, Mr Conte made a speech on television, asking for the support of the people and the army.
Mr Conte seized power in a 1984 coup but has since won three elections.
Food prices are said to have risen sharply in Conakry, with shortages of staple foods including rice and bread. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Release | January 2007 | ['(BBC)'] |
Zambian opposition leader and presidential election runnerup Hakainde Hichilema is charged with treason and "trying to overthrow the government". | LUSAKA (Reuters) - Zambia opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema, arrested last week on suspicion of treason, was charged in a magistrate’s court on Tuesday with trying to overthrow the government.
Relations between the government and opposition have been raw since last August, when President Edgar Lungu’s Patriotic Front (PF) party beat Hichilema’s United Party for National Development (UPND) in a vote the opposition says was rigged.
Police in Africa’s No. 2 copper-producing country raided Hichilema’s house on April 11 to arrest him and he was initially charged with treason for obstructing Lungu’s motorcade.
In court on Tuesday, he was charged with treason in that “(he together with other persons did prepare or endeavored to overthrow by unlawful means the government” between Oct. 10 last year and April 8 this year.
The charge in the motorcade incident was changed to disobeying instructions from a police officer by failing to give way to a presidential motorcade and using insulting language.
The court directed that Hichilema should be allowed visits by his children and at least five other family members following an application by his defense lawyers, who said he had so far been allowed to see only his wife.
Dressed in a red coat and khaki shirt, Hichilema waved his party symbol to supporters in court and stood throughout.
The prosecution is expected to respond to the issues raised on Wednesday after which the magistrate will make a ruling. Hichilema and five others facing the same charges, who are all members of his party and include his driver, did not enter pleas as treason can only be tried in the high court.
Lungu has narrowly beaten Hichilema, an economist and wealthy businessman who goes by the nickname “HH”, in two presidential elections by a razor-thin margin.
Rising political temperatures in Zambia, a landlocked and impoverished southern African nation, has come against the backdrop of an economy hobbled by low commodity prices, mine closures, rising unemployment, power shortages, a widening budget deficit and diminishing foreign-currency reserves.
The political turbulence, however, does not appear to have closed the taps of international finance or aid. The presidency said on Tuesday Zambia was on the verge of a possible $1.2 billion program with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), saying it was expected to be sealed by the end of April.
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | April 2017 | ['(Reuters)'] |
An Indonesian ferry carrying over 200 passengers sinks off the cost of Sumatra. | JAKARTA: Rescuers saved more than 240 people aboard an Indonesian passenger ferry that sank Sunday in rough waters off Sumatra island, but at least 25 people have died, officials said. Search operations were called off after nightfall for the unknown number of passengers still missing.
A second ferry was still stranded in nearby waters after running aground, but all its passengers were said to be safe.
Rescue teams found 25 bodies, including those of two children, according to the latest reports, said Daniel, an official from the local search and rescue agency who like many Indonesians uses only one name. A total of 243 survivors from the Dumai Express 10 were rescued, he said.
It was unclear how many people were aboard the ferry. Police and navy officials said the ferry manifest listed 228 people, including 15 children, and 14 crew members, but the number of people accounted for has already surpassed those numbers.
The ship had a capacity of 273, but it is not uncommon for ferries to be overloaded.
Authorities called off search and rescue operations in the rough sea after nightfall, said Yasin Kosasih, a local police chief coordinating the rescue mission.
"Considering the weather condition and the dark, we ... will resume the search tomorrow morning," Kosasih said.
High waves had made the rescue operation difficult, which at its peak had at least nine ships and several fishing boats searching the choppy sea. Local television news showed two survivors, wearing life jackets, floating on the water.
The ferry left on an inter-island voyage Sunday morning and sank in stormy weather 90 minutes into the trip from Batam to Dumai in Riau, a province off Sumatra island in western Indonesia. The area is about 600 miles (900 kilometers) northwest of Jakarta.
The ship sank about 30 minutes after huge waves hit its bow and water started seeping in, according to a report from the ship's captain, said Lt. Col. Edwin, the local navy chief.
Passing boats picked up dozens of those rescued and took them to nearby islands for medical treatment.
In a separate accident Sunday, the Dumai Express 15 with 278 people on board ran aground on its way from Batam to Moro island in Sumatra. No one was hurt said local police chief Yasin Kosasih.
Indonesian ferry accidents have killed hundreds of people in recent years. Boats are often overcrowded and safety regulations are poorly enforced. The vast country spans more than 17,000 islands, and boats are a popular and relatively cheap form of transportation.
In January, some 230 people went missing after their ferry capsized in a cyclone off the coast of western Sulawesi. In December 2006, a crowded ferry broke apart and sank in the Java Sea during a violent storm, killing more than 400 people. | Shipwreck | November 2009 | ['(Jakarta Post)', '(AFP via News Limited)', '(China Daily)'] |
Syrian state media report that more than 50 civilians are injured in a suspected poison gas attack by Syrian rebels on Aleppo. | Damascus: At least 50 civilians are being treated after a suspected poison gas attack by Syrian rebel groups on the government-held Aleppo city in the country's north, according to Syrian state media.
The number of people reportedly affected continues to rise - Syrian state TV earlier said that 21 people had been injured on Saturday, but people continued to arrive at a hospital in Aleppo where state TV was airing live.
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Video shows the moments after a bomb blast hits a bus convoy waiting to cross into government-held Aleppo on Saturday.
Doctors told state TV that most of those admitted to hospitals suffered from breathing problems and blurred vision. One doctor said two were in critical condition, including a child. State TV showed footage of medical professionals treating men and women on hospital beds.
Syrian rebels dismissed the government accusations they used poison gas.
This photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows a man receiving treatment at a hospital following a suspected chemical attack on his town of al-Khalidiya, in Aleppo, Syria, on Saturday.
Rebel commander Abdel-Salam Abdel-Razak said the opposition doesn't possess poisonous gases or the capabilities to lob them. Abdel-Razak served in Syria's chemical weapons program before defecting to join the opposition in the early years of the conflict, which began in 2011.
Abdel-Razak tweeted that "These are lies" soon after reports emerged of an attack in Aleppo that injured dozens of people.
Rebel spokesman Mustafa Sejari dismisses the poison-gas claims. He says they came after government shells landed in rebel-held areas, violating a Russian-backed cease-fire. He says the government is trying to undermine the cease-fire.
Rami Abdurrahman, the head of Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said there was a stench of gas in Aleppo city after projectiles were fired.
Aleppo police chief Essam al-Shali told state TV the projectiles landed in the al-Khalidiya neighbourhood and wind conditions caused gas to spread. State TV later said the gas affected two other areas in the city. There are no deaths, al-Shali said.
Aleppo Governor Hussein Diab visited the injured at the hospital. He told state TV that a total of 41 people (later revised to 50) had been admitted and accused rebels of using poisonous gas in the missiles they lobbed at the Aleppo neighbourhood.
An unnamed doctor told the same outlet that a poisonous gas was believed to have been used, but tests were needed to determine what kind.
A photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows people receiving treatment at a hospital following a suspected chemical attack on Saturday.Credit:AP
Earlier, state media said it was believed to be chlorine.
One patient said a foul smell filled the air after projectiles were lobbed.
"There are often missiles on the city but this is the first time we smelled such a smell," the patient said without giving his name.
Aleppo has come under rebel attack in recent weeks, with missiles falling inside the city. The government has responded with counter attacks on rebel-held areas in the Aleppo countryside.
In the absence of independent monitors, it is difficult to corroborate gas attacks. But both sides of the conflict have accused each other throughout the war of using poison gas.
A joint team from the United Nations and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons accused Syria's government of using chlorine gas in at least two attacks in 2014 and 2015, and the nerve agent sarin in an attack in April 2017 in the town of Khan Sheikhoun that killed about 100 people. The US launched a series of strikes on Syrian government sites in retaliation for the attack in Khan Sheikhoun.
The UN-OPCW team also accused the Islamic State extremist group of using mustard gas twice in 2015 and 2016.
The government accused rebels of using gas in a 2013 attack on Khan al-Assal, a village south-west of Aleppo city, that killed 25 people. | Mass Poisoning | November 2018 | ['(The Sydney Morning Herald)'] |
Nelson Mandela, former President of South Africa, is in a critical condition after his lung infection takes a turn for the worse. | June 23, 2013— -- Nelson Mandela, the former president of South Africa, took a turn for the worse and was in critical condition today in his battle with a lung infection, according to a statement from the South African president's office.
"The doctors are doing everything possible to get his condition to improve and are ensuring that Madiba is well-looked after and is comfortable. He is in good hands," South African President Jacob Zuma said, using Mandela's tribal nickname.
Mandela had been listed in "serious but stable condition" for since he entered the hospital June 8.
The 94-year-old Nobel Peace prize winner's medical team informed the president's office that Mandela's condition become critical over the past 24 hours, according to the statement.
PHOTOS: Nelson Mandela Through the Years
Zuma reiterated today that Mandela's health was not compromised when the ambulance that was bringing him to the hospital in June 8 broke down.
"There were seven doctors in the convoy who were in full control of the situation throughout the period. He had expert medical care," Zuma said. "The fully equipped military ICU ambulance had a full complement of specialist medical staff including intensive care specialists and ICU nurses. The doctors also dismissed the media reports that Madiba suffered cardiac arrest. There is no truth at all in that report."
Mandela was forced to wait for a second ambulance after the first one broke down, the South African government admitted Saturday.
"When the ambulance experienced engine problems it was decided that it would be best to transfer to another military ambulance which itself was accompanied for the rest of the journey by a civilian ambulance," the president's office said Saturday.
Mandela was rushed to the hospital in the early morning hours of June 8, after his health deteriorated rapidly from a recurring lung infection.
News of Mandela's turn for the worse comes after a week in which there were several statement's that his health was improving.
Former South African president Thabo Mbeki suggested Saturday that Mandela was getting better.
After speaking to Mandela's doctors, Mbeki told a South African radio station, "Nelson Mandela is improving in terms of his health. I don't think anyone should entertain some sort of wrong notion that Nelson Mandela is about to die tomorrow. He's not going to."
Earlier this week, Mandela's daughter Zenani Mandela-Dlamini told a crowd of reporters outside Mediclinic Heart Hospital her father "is doing very well." President Jacob Zuma has also said publicly Mandela's health is "improving."
In April, Mandela spent 18 days in the hospital due to a lung infection and was treated for gall stones in December 2012.
Mandela served as the first black president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999.
In 1993, he received a Nobel Peace Prize for his work in ending apartheid through non-violent means. | Famous Person - Sick | June 2013 | ['(ABC News)'] |
The Acting President of Mali, Dioncounda Traoré, is taken to hospital after an angry encounter with demonstrators who object to a deal for the 70–year–old to remain in office for a year. | Interim Mali President Dioncounda Traore has been taken to hospital with a head wound after being attacked by demonstrators, officials say.
He is said to have been unconscious on arrival, but later left the hospital. The army says it shot dead three people during mass protests by supporters of March's coup who were angry at a deal for Mr Traore, 70, to remain in office for a year.
Mr Traore's initial mandate was due to expire on Monday.
But West African leaders reached a deal with coup leader Capt Amadou Sanogo for Mr Traore to stay on to organise elections and end a northern rebellion.
The deal also saw Capt Sanogo recognised as a former head of state with a salary and a mansion.
Capt Sanogo has been silent all day and has not called on his supporters to leave the streets, correspondents say.
The coup, and ensuing rebel seizure of northern Mali, have led many thousands of people to flee their homes.
Aid agencies say they are extremely concerned about the humanitarian situation in Mali, which is also suffering from the regional drought.
Bamako-based journalist Martin Vogl says soldiers let some of thousands of demonstrators into Mr Traore's office, next to the presidential palace.
"They beat him seriously and tore his clothes," military spokesman Bakary Mariko told Reuters news agency.
One of Mr Traore's close aides told the BBC that the president had suffered minor head injuries. He was later released from hospital. Reports say he then returned to his residence.
Mr Mariko also said that during the protest "Dioncounda's security shot at people". "There were three dead and some injured by gunshot amongst the demonstrators," the spokesman added. Martin Vogl says there is some genuine support for the coup in Bamako and people are unhappy that a representative of the ousted political class was allowed to stay in power for a year.
They want a national convention of Mali's political parties and civic society groups to decide on the interim leader.
The protesters shouted slogans including "Down with Ecowas" and "Down with Dioncounda." Some carried a mock coffin with Mr Traore's name on it.
Earlier, mediators from West African regional bloc Ecowas left Bamako, saying "we have accomplished our mission".
Martin Vogl says that the status of a former head of state gives Capt Sanogo considerable respect, as well as a salary.
Chief Ecowas mediator, Burkina Faso Foreign Minister Djibrill Bassole, also said the coup leader would be able to consult Mr Traore and his prime minister until new elections are held next year.
Last week, Ecowas threatened to reimpose sanctions against the coup leaders, accusing them of continuing to meddle in the country's politics.
Capt Sanogo seized power in March and led the country for less than three weeks, before handing power to Mr Traore, the former speaker of parliament, in the face of intense international pressure and the rapid advance of rebels, whose seized the whole of the north - an area the size of France.
As part of the deal, the government is supposed to focus on recovering the north from a mixture of Tuareg separatists and Islamist fighters.
Some of the groups have links to al-Qaeda's branch in the region, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.
Ecowas has said it is preparing to send 3,000 troops to Mali to help the country reclaim its northern territory, but no date has been set for the force to arrive.
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Houthi forces regain several positions across southern Yemen after launching a fresh offensive against loyalist and coalition forces. In Lahij province, which borders Aden, Houthi forces are now positioned on a hill overlooking the strategic Al Anad Air Base, which houses Sudanese forces. The Houthis also retook the Damt District in the Dhale province after besieging it for hours, at least 16 people were killed in the clashes. | Aden (AFP) - Iran-backed rebels retook positions in southern Yemen in a bid to advance on second city Aden, military sources said Sunday as a landmine blast killed 16 soldiers east of Sanaa.
The rebels regained the positions they had lost in fighting in recent months, including a hilltop overlooking the strategic Al-Anad airbase in Lahj province which borders Aden, they sources said.
The base currently houses Sudanese forces from a Saudi-led coalition that has been battling rebels across Yemen since March.
The rebel deployment near Al-Anad "poses a real danger to pro-government and coalition forces", a military source told AFP.
Yemen's loyalist forces, backed by coalition strikes, supplies and troops, had pushed the rebels out of Aden, now the temporary headquarters of the Gulf-backed government, after a July offensive.
Four other southern provinces -- Lahj, Daleh, Abyan and Shabwa -- were also retaken by the loyalist forces.
Military sources said the rebels also retook Damt, the second city in Daleh province, after besieging it for hours on Saturday and clashing with loyalist troops.
At least 16 people, including nine loyalists, were killed in the clashes and many wounded, the sources said.
Forces fighting in support of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi "were forced to withdraw from the city", one of the sources said.
The rebels also seized a military base in the coastal city of Dhubab, near the Bab al-Mandab strait, following clashes with pro-government troops, another military source said.
Six loyalists and 11 rebels were killed.
Pro-government troops seized Dhubab early last month, giving them effective control of Bab al-Mandab, through which much of the world's maritime traffic passes.
Late Sunday, 16 pro-Hadi soldiers were killed and six wounded when a landmine exploded as their vehicle passed in the city of Marib, east of the capital Sanaa, a military source said.
The blast took place on the road to the Sahn military base northwest of Marib, the source added.
Loyalists are in control of Marib while Sanaa is in the hands of the Iran-backed Huthi rebels who are also allied with forces loyal to ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh.
The Huthis, a Shiite minority from Yemen's north, seized Sanaa last year and then advanced south to Aden, forcing Hadi and his government to flee to Saudi Arabia.
Ministers from Hadi's government returned to Aden in mid-September after six months in exile in the neighbouring oil-rich kingdom.
Hadi designated Aden as the temporary capital of Yemen.
The United Nations says that around 5,000 people have been killed in Yemen's conflict since it escalated in March.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon was leaving for Saudi Arabia Sunday amid a new push by the world body for peace talks in Yemen.
The United Nations is hoping to announce next week a date for talks between the government and the rebels.
Young people who are unvaccinated and socially active may be particularly susceptible to a Delta infection.
Graphic House/GettyI had to start Richard Wright’s novel The Man Who Lived Underground three times before I could get past the first 20 pages. On the first couple of tries, I had to put the book down; it was too painful to keep readingand I’ve got a strong stomach. The third time I just buckled down and plowed through. It still wasn’t easy.As anyone knows who has read Wright’s memoir Black Boythat’s the one that opens with a four-year-old boy accidentally setting fire to his family’s homeno w
Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast/Photos via GettyMyPillow CEO Mike Lindell’s charity and business combo venture to make and sell COVID-19 masks has cost him millions of dollars, according to the increasingly far-right conservative figure.Today his company is sitting on millions of unsold face coverings, which he now despises and wants to burn.“I can’t give them away,” Lindell told The Daily Beast in a phone interview this week. “I tried to. No one wants the things anymore.”Lindell, who clai
After a space rock struck Earth 66 million years ago - killing the dinosaurs - another asteroid hit, delaying Earth's recovery from a mass extinction.
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Ryan Lochte finished seventh in the 200-meter individual medley at the U.S. Olympic swimming trials Friday night, missing his chance to compete in Tokyo.
A Tory MP is facing trial accused of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy in 2008, it can now be revealed. Imran Ahmad Khan, 47, the Conservative MP for Wakefield, West Yorkshire, is alleged to have groped the teenager in Staffordshire. Mr Ahmad Khan, who was elected at the 2019 general election, appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Thursday by video-link from his lawyers' office. He was named on Friday after reporting restrictions were lifted. Mr Ahmad Khan has had the Tory whip suspe
The border closure will now extend into its 16th month since the start of the pandemic.
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Teachers should drop the terms boys and girls in favour of “learners”, and mix up the sexes in PE classes, Stonewall has told schools. The controversial LGBT charity is urging teachers to ditch all gendered language and gendered uniforms and suggests that children should compete against the opposite sex in sport. A series of guidance documents state that uniform policies should "give the option to wear a skirt as well as the option to wear trousers". One of Stonewall’s guides said that its work
Daredevil Alex Harvill, 28, crashed his motorcycle while practicing to perform a 351-foot jump at an airshow in Washington state on June 17.
Rumours abounded on Friday night that China's top spycatcher had defected to the US, amid a growing focus in Washington on the theory that Covid-19 escaped from a Wuhan laboratory. Dong Jingwei, vice minister of state security, was reported to have flown from Hong Kong to the US in February with his daughter. There was no confirmation of the rumoured development from either the US or China. Dr Han Lianchao, a former Chinese foreign ministry official who is now a pro-democracy activist in the US,
The last 15 months haven’t been kind to our bodies. A more sedentary lifestyle and the pursuit of something to salve the fear of the deadly pandemic raging around the globe has pushed us to the biscuit tin and takeaway delivery apps. In the first three months of the pandemic, Brits reportedly saw body weight increase by between 1.6 and 6.5lbs. Recognising the potential damage that could cause, and preparing for society reopening, we’ve started to take action. Six in 10 of us have made at least o
Former White House doctor Rep. Ronny Jackson and 13 other Republicans want President Joe Biden to take a mental cognition test and share the results. | Armed Conflict | November 2015 | ['(AFP via Yahoo)'] |
José Montilla becomes the new President of the Generalitat of Catalonia, renewing the left–of–centre tripartite pact between his PSC, the pro–independence ERC and the leftist ICV–EUiA alliance after the election held on 2006–11–01. | Barcelona - The prosperous northeastern Spanish region of Catalonia appeared set to get another leftist government Monday as three left-leaning parties started negotiations to form a coalition. The centre-right Catalan nationalist party Convergence and Union (CiU) took the most votes in Wednesday's regional elections, but did not get an absolute majority. The separatist party Esquerra Republicana (ERC) became a power- broker and decided to give its backing to the Socialists, who are seeking to renew their previous coalition with the ERC and the ecologist ICV. Catalonia was governed by CiU for 23 years until 2003, when the Socialists were voted in. Their three-party coalition fell apart when the ERC opposed Catalonia's new autonomy statute, arguing it did not go far enough in extending the region's self-rule. Regional prime minister Pasqual Maragall had to call early elections and was replaced by a new Socialist candidate, former industry minister Jose Montilla, who was closer to Spain's Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. If the ongoing negotiations are successful, Montilla would become regional premier and ERC leader Josep Lluis Carod-Rovira possibly his deputy. The Socialists' alliance with the ERC has caused concern in Spain, where especially the conservatives fear regional separatist strivings. Catalonia, a region of 7 million residents, contributes about 20 per cent of Spain's gross domestic product (GDP). Barcelona - The prosperous northeastern Spanish region of Catalonia appeared set to get another leftist government Monday as three left-leaning parties started negotiations to form a coalition. The centre-right Catalan nationalist party Convergence and Union (CiU) took the most votes in Wednesday's regional elections, but did not get an absolute majority. The separatist party Esquerra Republicana (ERC) became a power- broker and decided to give its backing to the Socialists, who are seeking to renew their previous coalition with the ERC and the ecologist ICV. Catalonia was governed by CiU for 23 years until 2003, when the Socialists were voted in. Their three-party coalition fell apart when the ERC opposed Catalonia's new autonomy statute, arguing it did not go far enough in extending the region's self-rule. Regional prime minister Pasqual Maragall had to call early elections and was replaced by a new Socialist candidate, former industry minister Jose Montilla, who was closer to Spain's Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. If the ongoing negotiations are successful, Montilla would become regional premier and ERC leader Josep Lluis Carod-Rovira possibly his deputy. The Socialists' alliance with the ERC has caused concern in Spain, where especially the conservatives fear regional separatist strivings. Catalonia, a region of 7 million residents, contributes about 20 per cent of Spain's gross domestic product (GDP). There are currently no comments for this article. Be the first to comment! | Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration | November 2006 | ['(Monsters and Critics)'] |
Voters in Afghanistan head to the polls to elect a new president. The process is overshadowed by "insurgent" attacks, which led to dozens of civilian casualties. | Voting has ended in Afghanistan's presidential election amid fears that accusations of a deeply flawed vote could drive the war-weary country into chaos. Insurgent attacks on election day caused dozens of casualties.
Explosions and rocket attacks caused dozens of casualties as Afghans headed to the polls on Saturday to elect a new president. Polls opened at 7 a.m. local time (0230 UTC) and closed at 5 p.m. after the Independent Election Commission (IEC) extended polling by one hour.
A hospital official in the southern city of Kandahar said 15 people were injured in the first blast inside a mosque that was being used as a polling station. A second explosion at a polling station in the Sorkh Rod district in eastern Nangarhar left one person dead and three others wounded.
Meanwhile, a rocket attack in Kunduz province killed an election observer, according to authorities.
A local official, Ghulam Rabani Rabani, said insurgents fired multiple mortars on the northern city of Kunduz in order to disrupt the election. He confirmed there had been civilian casualties, but could not give a number.
Security stepped up
Polling centers closed on Saturday amid accusations that voting was flawed and the voter turnout was very thin. A deeply flawed election and contested result could drive the war-weary country into chaos.
Voting started amid tight security due to threats from the Taliban.
The war-torn country's Ministry of Interior Affairs said 72,000 troops would be in place to protect close to 5,000 polling centers set up across Afghanistan.
The Taliban warned that those involved in the electoral process would be attackedusing any means at their disposal.
Deputy Interior Minister General Khushal Sadat called on Afghans to exercise their democratic right, while also allaying fears over their security.
Turnout worries
More than 9.6 million people had registered for the election, according to the Afghan Independent Election Commission (IEC), of which about a third are women.
After voting began, Afghan election officials said they have had no contact with 901 of the 4,942 polling centers across the country.
"We sent materials to 4,942 centers, but we received some reports that only 4,041 centers are open," said Hawa Alam Nuristani, the head of the IEC, in the capital Kabul. It was not clear whether voting had taken place in these 901 centers, or they were forced to shut down by the Taliban.
Afghans also complained that voters' lists were incomplete or missing and biometric identification machines intended to reduce fraud were not working properly or people were not adequately trained on how to use them.
The five-year rule of Ghani (r) and Abdullah (l) has been a tumultuous one marked by relentless bickering and infighting
Who are the main candidates?
Eighteen candidates are registered with the IEC as presidential hopefuls, with the two favorites being current President Ashraf Ghani, and his Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah.
To win the election outright, a candidate needs 51% of all votes. If no one gets a majority, the top two candidates will face off in a second vote. The preliminary results should be ready by October 17, nearly three weeks after the election. The final tally is expected to be announcement on November 7.
Ghani is the front-runner, although he's facing accusations of corruption and abuse of power. Abdullah is Ghani's partner in the unity government, but his biggest rival on election day.
Among the second-tier candidates is Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a deeply conservative former warlord. Like Ghani, he's also an ethnic Pashtun. That means he, along with other minor Pashtun candidates, could take votes away from the incumbent's base and force a second round of voting.
Afghanistan has been roiled by conflict and bloodshed over the past several decades. Nearly 18 years after the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, the war-ravaged country remains in the grip of Islamist violence.
The Taliban now control roughly half of Afghanistan and are at their strongest since the US-led invasion ousted them from power.
Some 20,000 American and NATO forces remain in the country after formally ending their combat role in 2014. They continue to train and support Afghan forces.
More than 2,400 US troops have been killed since the US invaded Afghanistan, America's longest war.
Afghanistan was the world's deadliest war in 2018, and civilians have suffered more than anyone. More civilians were killed by Afghan and international coalition forces in Afghanistan in the first half of 2019 than by the Taliban and other militants, the UN mission said in a report released July 30.
The UN report said 403 civilians were killed by Afghan forces in the first six months of the year and another 314 by international forces, a total of 717. That's compared to 531 killed by the Taliban, an Islamic State affiliate and other militants during the same period. | Government Job change - Election | September 2019 | ['(DW)'] |
South Korea's finance minister Hong Nam-ki presses Japan to take steps to lift its export restrictions. | SEJONG, Nov. 20 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's finance minister pressed Japan on Wednesday to take steps to lift its export restrictions following the collapse of bilateral talks on their trade row.
"The Japanese move would damage South Korea and Japan, and significantly weaken a global value chain," Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said in a meeting with officials at a chemical firm's research center in Ansan, a city located about 40 kilometers southwest of Seoul.
Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki speaks in a meeting with officials at a chemical firm's research center in Ansan, a city about 40 kilometers southwest of Seoul, on Nov. 20, 2019. (Yonhap)
The meeting is the latest in a series of South Korea's efforts to boost competitiveness in industrial materials, parts and equipment, and to reduce South Korea's heavy reliance on Japan in the key industrial sector.
In July, Tokyo imposed tighter regulations on exports to Seoul of three materials -- resist, etching gas and fluorinated polyimide -- that are critical for the production of semiconductors and flexible displays. Japan later removed South Korea from its list of trusted trading partners.
Under the new rules, Japanese companies are required to apply for an individual license to export materials to South Korea, a process that can take up to 90 days.
South Korea views the Japanese moves as retaliation against last year's South Korean Supreme Court rulings ordering Japanese firms to compensate South Korean victims of forced labor during Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.
On Tuesday, South Korea and Japan failed to narrow their differences during their second round of talks in Geneva aimed at resolving their dispute over Tokyo's export restrictions.
South Korea's chief negotiator Chung Hae-kwan said South Korea will conduct a comprehensive review of options, including requesting the establishment of a panel at the dispute settlement body of the World Trade Organization.
South Korean companies in four key sectors, including semiconductors, automobiles and electronics, are set to invest a combined 180 billion won (US$154 million) from 2019 to 2024 as part of efforts to work together to develop industrial technologies for mass production. | Government Policy Changes | November 2019 | ['(Yonhap)'] |
The Obama administration fines Honda $70 million for failing to report deaths and injury complaints from 2003 to 2014. | The Obama administration said Thursday it is fining Honda $70 million — the largest civil penalty levied against an automaker — for not reporting to regulators some 1,729 complaints that its vehicles caused deaths and injuries, and for not reporting warranty claims.
The Japanese automaker acknowledged in November that it failed to report the death and injury complaints to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration over an 11-year period beginning in 2003. The company admitted it learned of the omissions in 2011 but had waited three years to take action.
The company also failed to report certain warranty claims and claims under customer satisfaction campaigns throughout the same period, federal officials said. The safety administration is imposing twin fines — $35 million for not reporting the death and injury complaints, and another $35 million for not reporting the warranty and customer satisfaction claims. Both fines are the maximums the agency is legally allowed to impose.
Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said the fines reflect the government's determination to take a tough stance against automakers who withhold safety information from regulators.
"What we cannot tolerate and will not tolerate is an automaker failing to report to us any recall issues," Foxx said.
The Honda complaints include incidents related to air bags made by Japanese auto supplier Takata Corp., as well as other defective parts. Honda has recalled more than 5 million vehicles in the U.S. since 2008 to fix a potentially fatal defect in Takata-made air bags. The air bag inflators can rupture after a crash and injure occupants with shards of metal.
Foxx said information about Honda's failure to disclose the death and injury complaints also has been forwarded to the Justice Department. The Center for Auto Safety, a consumer watchdog group, called for a criminal investigation of Honda after the company's failure to disclose the complaints became public. | Organization Fine | January 2015 | ['(KNTV)'] |
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake strikes Yunnan province of China, killing one person and destroying over 10,000 homes. | An earthquake in south-western China has destroyed 10,000 homes, killed one person and injured more than 300 people, state media have reported.
The US Geological Survey said the 5.7 magnitude quake struck a remote, mountainous area of Yunnan province. The quake on Thursday damaged about 30,000 homes and was followed by eight aftershocks, Xinhua news agency said. The agency said authorities had sent thousands of tents, quilts and other aid materials to the site of the quake. The epicentre was in Yao'an County, 100km (60 miles) north-east of the town of Dali.
Thirty people in Yao'an were seriously injured and were being treated in hospital there, Xinhua said. Hundreds of police have also been deployed to provide assistance, the agency said. Yunnan is next to Sichuan province, where a devastating earthquake in May last year flattened several towns and cities, killing more than 80,000 people. | Earthquakes | July 2009 | ['(BBC)'] |
Lima receives its first female mayor in Susana Villarán. | Votes are still being counted from Peru's municipal and regional elections but the capital city, Lima, is set to have its first elected female mayor. Susana Villaran, of the leftist Social Force Party, was just ahead of conservative Lourdes Flores. First results put Ms Villaran on 38.9% and Ms Flores on 37.2%. Sunday's elections were being closely watched as a possible indicator of voter sentiment ahead of next April's presidential poll. Opinion polls ahead of the 3 October elections had made Ms Villaran, a 61-year-old human rights advocate, favourite to take charge of Lima. This would be the first time a leftist has been in charge of the capital since the early 1980s. Ms Flores has twice been a contender in presidential elections. Whoever wins, though, the capital will have its first female elected mayor since the city was founded in 1535. A woman served briefly as mayor of Lima in 1963-4, but she was appointed by the military government then in power, rather than elected.
With regional and municipal elections held around the country, President Alan Garcia is constitutionally barred from standing in next year's presidential race.
Opinion polls make Keiko Fujimori, a conservative congresswoman and daughter of former president, Alberto Fujimori, the front-runner, ahead of current Lima mayor, Luis Castaneda.
Peru country profile
Timeline: Peru
| Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration | October 2010 | ['(BBC)'] |
Belarusian security forces arrest 32 members of the private military company Wagner Group at a sanitarium near Minsk in an overnight raid. All those detained are Russian nationals, according to authorities. President Alexander Lukashenko convenes an emergency meeting with his security council, and instructs the Chairman of the State Security Committee to ask Russia for an official explanation. | Authorities were tipped off that militants planned to destabilise country, according to state news Last modified on Wed 29 Jul 2020 18.54 BST
Belarusian authorities said they have detained dozens of Russian private military contractors days before Belarus’s presidential vote, in a sign of escalating tensions between the two neighbours.
Belarus’s authoritarian president, Alexander Lukashenko, 65, who is seeking a sixth term in office in the 9 August vote, has repeatedly accused Russia of trying to force Belarus to abandon its post-Soviet independence. Throughout his 26-year rule, Lukashenko has relied on Russian subsidies and political support but has fiercely resisted Moscow’s efforts to gain control over the country’s economic assets.
The arrest of dozens of Russians accused of planning to destabilise Belarus during the election campaign pushes political tensions between the countries to a new high. Some observers see the move as a campaign stunt by Lukashenko.
The Belarus state news agency, BelTA, said 32 members of Russia’s Wagner private military company had been detained overnight at a sanitarium outside Minsk by a Swat team from the Belarusian state security committee, still known by its Soviet-era name, KGB. Another person was detained in the country’s south, said BelTA, which published a list of the detained Russians.
Yulia Goncharova, the spokeswoman for Belarus’s top investigative agency, the Investigative Committee, confirmed the detentions but did not comment further.
Lukashenko called a meeting of his security council and instructed the KGB chief to ask Russia for an official explanation. “It’s necessary to immediately ask the relevant Russian structures to explain what’s going on,” he said.
The Russian embassy in Belarus had no immediate comment on the report, saying it had not received official information about the detentions from the Belarusian authorities.
BelTA said that Belarusian law enforcement agencies were acting on a tip that more than 200 militants had arrived in Belarus on a mission to destabilise the country during the election campaign.
Alexander Alesin, an independent Minsk-based military expert, said that Belarus had long provided a transit corridor for sensitive Russian operations abroad.
“The Russians have used Belarus to deploy special troops to other countries for many years,” Alesin said. “The Belarusian security agencies knew all about it and until recently they offered help and assistance to the Russians.”
The Wagner company, linked to Yevgeny Prigozhin, a Russian businessman who has been indicted by the US for meddling in the 2016 presidential election, has allegedly deployed hundreds of military contractors to Syria and Libya.
Alesin said the detentions appear to be part of Lukashenko’s efforts to mobilise support before the vote.
“The authorities are using Wagner members to scare people before the vote by inventing a thriller about Russian militants,” Alesin said. “The footage of the detentions looks silly: If the 33 Wagner people were indeed planning to stage riots they wouldn’t have worn combat fatigues and T-shirts with the word ‘Russia’ and stayed all in one place.”
He added that the Belarusian leader may also have wanted to vent his anger with the Kremlin: “With the detentions, Lukashenko also wants to show Russia its place as relations with the Kremlin have worsened after Russia sharply cut its subsidies.”
Lukashenko, the former state farm director, has ruled the ex-Soviet nation of 9.5 million with an iron hand, cracking down on dissent and free media and extending his rule through votes the west has criticised as rigged.
He is expected to easily win re-election on 9 August despite a wave of opposition protests fuelled by public fatigue with his rule and a painful economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Arrest | July 2020 | ['(The Guardian)'] |
Premier League fixtures are announced, with champions Manchester City kicking off at home against newly promoted Southampton. | Last updated on 18 June 201218 June 2012.From the section Football
Manchester City will begin the defence of their Premier League title at home to newly promoted Southampton.
Runners-up Manchester United start their campaign at Everton when the top flight kicks off on 18 August.
Reading return to the Premier League by hosting Stoke, while promoted West Ham entertain Aston Villa.
The Manchester derby at Etihad Stadium takes place on 8 December with the return fixture at Old Trafford scheduled for 6 April.
New Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers starts with a trip to West Brom, now managed by former Reds coach Steve Clarke.
Liverpool, whose poor home form of last season was a factor in Kenny Dalglish's dismissal, face Manchester City, Arsenal and Manchester United in their first three home games.
Michael Laudrup, who took over from Rodgers at Swansea, can look forward to an opening game at QPR.
Paul Lambert's reign as Aston Villa manager begins with a trip to play-off winners West Ham before he has a chance to impress fans at Villa Park when taking on Everton.
New Norwich manager Chris Hughton has a difficult task in his first match with the Canaries travelling to Fulham.
Arsenal start with a visit from Sunderland and Roberto Di Matteo's first match as full-time manager of Champions League winners Chelsea sees him take his team to Wigan.
Tottenham have been handed a tricky trip to Newcastle.
The first Merseyside derby of the season will take place at Goodison Park on 27 October.
Chelsea travel to play Arsenal on 29 September and the north London derby between the Gunners and Tottenham is scheduled for 17 November at the Emirates.
Sunderland and Newcastle go head-to-head on 20 October at the Stadium of Light with the Magpies playing Manchester United at Old Trafford on Boxing Day.
Manchester City face Norwich at home on the final day, with neighbours United travelling to West Brom. Chelsea take on Everton at Stamford Bridge with Arsenal finishing their season at Newcastle. | Sports Competition | June 2012 | ['(BBC)'] |
Yannick Jadot drops out in an effort to boost Benoît Hamon. | French Green party candidate Yannick Jadot has said he will support Socialist presidential candidate Benoit Hamon. Shifting alliances ahead of April-May elections have cast uncertainty over the vote. French green party candidate Yannick Jadot on Thursday announced he was dropping from the presidential race and would back Socialist party candidate Benoit Hamon in two stage elections in April and May.
"I am withdrawing as a candidate in the presidential election to take part in a great adventure," Jadot said on France 2 television after striking a "marvelous" agreement with with the Socialists earlier in the day.
Opinion polls show Jadot getting one or two percent of the vote, but by throwing his support behind fourth place Hamon the left hopes to consolidate its voter base to advance in the polls. Hamon has unsuccessfully sought to persuade Communist-backed Jean-Luc Melenchon to drop out of the race and support his bid.
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Some polls show all three men may have enough supporters to give a leftist alliance a chance to mount a challenge.
Marine Le Pen, the far-right leader of the National Front, is currently ahead in the polls with about a quarter of the vote. But she is forecasted to lose the second round vote on May 7 to centrist former economy minister Emmanuel Macron or Francois Fillon, the conservative candidate for the right-wing Republicans party.
Macron was given a slight boost this week after centrist François Bayrou threw his support behind the centrist candidate. Two new polls released showed Macron neck-and-neck with Fillon at about 20 percent each, while a third showed the former economy minister slightly ahead of Fillon after Bayrou's announcement.
| Withdraw from an Organization | February 2017 | ['(Deutsche Welle)'] |
Morrissey, ex–frontman of The Smiths, is hospitalized after collapsing on stage while performing "This Charming Man" during his world tour. | The former Smiths frontman Morrissey was rushed to hospital tonight after collapsing on stage at the start of a concert.
Witnesses said that just moments after the 50-year-old had finished performing his opening song, the 1983 hit This Charming Man, he fell to the floor and was dragged offstage by worried band members. Minutes earlier he had arrived on stage and said: "Good evening ... probably."
The singer, whose real name is Steven Patrick Morrissey, was performing at the Oasis Leisure Centre in Swindon, Wiltshire, as part of a world tour when the incident happened at around 9pm. He was taken by ambulance to Great Western hospital where medics described his condition as stable.
Mark Taylor, 40, who was in the 1,000-strong audience, said: "The stage went dark and he was taken off the stage and then his band then all left the stage. There was a wait of about 25 minutes before one of the stage crew came on and said Morrissey had left the building, and that he was seriously ill.
"Everybody started booing, thinking 'here we go again'. He has a bit of a poor track record for cancelling his concerts."
Morrissey has already cancelled a string of concerts this year due to an "unspecified illness". In May he cancelled a show at Birmingham's Symphony Hall due to ill health and during February and March, the four opening dates of his tour – all in Florida – were also cancelled, reportedly due to illness too.
A spokesman for the Great Western Ambulance Service said: "A 50-year-old man who was reported to be reported to be suffering from respiratory problems and was unconscious. We sent a paramedic in a doubled-crewed ambulance. When they arrived they found a conscious patient who was not feeling well at all."
A spokesman for the Great Western hospital said: "Morrissey is being reviewed by the medical staff and his condition is stable."
… as you’re joining us today from Korea, we have a small favour to ask. Tens of millions have placed their trust in the Guardian’s high-impact journalism since we started publishing 200 years ago, turning to us in moments of crisis, uncertainty, solidarity and hope. More than 1.5 million readers, from 180 countries, have recently taken the step to support us financially – keeping us open to all, and fiercely independent.
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If there were ever a time to join us, it is now. Every contribution, however big or small, powers our journalism and sustains our future. S | Famous Person - Sick | October 2009 | ['(BBC)', '(The Guardian)', '(Sky News)'] |
Boko Haram attacks the village of Alagarno, in Nigeria's Borno State, killing 17 people. | The Islamist group Boko Haram has been accused of killing at least 27 people in attacks on two villages in north-east Nigeria, close to where hundreds of schoolgirls were seized.
Gunmen killed 10 people in the village of Shawa and a further 17 in Alagarno, police and witnesses said.
The area is near Chibok, where the schoolgirls were abducted last month.
On Tuesday 118 people died in a double bombing in the central city of Jos, also blamed on Boko Haram.
The abductions of more than 200 girls caused international outrage and prompted foreign powers, including the US, to send military advisers to assist Nigeria's army.
In another development on Wednesday, US President Barack Obama said 80 military personnel had been deployed to neighbouring Chad to help search for the missing girls.
"These personnel will support the operation of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft for missions over northern Nigeria and the surrounding area," Mr Obama said in a letter to Congress.
Many parts of restive north-east Nigeria are no-go zones for the military and insurgents operate freely there, correspondents say.
Analysis by Will Ross, BBC News, Abuja
The big question is where is Nigeria heading? The ferocity, frequency and geographical spread of the attacks is alarming. The military continues to fail to protect civilians in the north-east despite endless promises from the government that additional help is being sent there. Boko Haram has in the past said it wanted to create an Islamic state. The current bombing campaign is indiscriminate, killing Christians and Muslims. Following most of the devastating attacks in the remote north-east this year, the government has been silent.
These days the president and government officials take less time to condemn, but there is no real sign that the military has the capacity to turn the tide against this brutal campaign of violence. That is terrifying.
The attack on Shawa happened on Monday and that on Alagarno on Tuesday, but were only reported on Wednesday.
Witnesses in Shawa said the gunmen had been on motorcycles. Villagers in Alagarno said the suspected Boko Haram fighters had arrived at night, forcing many residents to flee into the bush.
The militants left the village some four hours later with stolen food and vehicles. One survivor told the BBC that every building had been torched.
In Jos, the search for bodies has been continuing in the rubble left by the twin bombings.
The attacks targeted a crowded market and a hospital, and the second blast went off 30 minutes after the first - killing rescue workers who had rushed to the scene.
"People were using wheelbarrows to move bodies and limbs," eyewitness Janzen Weyi told the BBC.
There has been widespread international condemnation.
US state department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the bombing, and other recent attacks blamed on Boko Haram, were "unconscionable, terrorist acts".
UK Foreign Secretary William Hague called the attack in Jos a "cowardly, inhumane crime".
Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan said those who carried out the attacks were "cruel and evil".
The president announced increased measures to tackle the militants, including a multinational force around Lake Chad which comprises a battalion each from Chad, Niger, Cameroon and Nigeria.
Nigeria's government has been accused of not doing enough to tackle the Islamist extremists - criticism that has grown since the abduction of the schoolgirls.
Earlier this month, the Nigerian senate unanimously approved a six-month extension of a state of emergency in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states.
Boko Haram is fighting to overthrow the government and create an Islamic state. More than 1,000 people have been killed in attacks linked to the group this year alone. | Armed Conflict | May 2014 | ['(BBC)'] |
Four days after the formation of new Japan cabinet, Transport Minister Nariaki Nakayama resigns after series of controversial speeches. | The resignation will be seen as a setback for new Prime Minister Taro Aso, who took office on Wednesday.
Mr Nakayama was criticised over a series of controversial remarks. He called Japan's largest teachers' union a "cancer" in the education system.
He also angered Japan's indigenous Ainu people last week, when he described the country as ethnically homogeneous.
The remark was seen as particularly insensitive because Japanese parliament passed a landmark resolution in June recognising the Ainu as "an indigenous people with a distinct language, religion and culture".
Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura said the controversy of Mr Nakayama had been "damaging".
"We must show the people how hard the Aso government is working, and try to win back the public's confidence. That is all that we can do," he told a news conference.
'Birth machines'
Mr Nakayama is no stranger to controversy, having previously angered China by saying that reports of Japanese wartime atrocities, including the 1937 Nanjing Massacre, were exaggerated.
He joins a growing line of Japanese ministers who have risked their jobs by sharing unguarded opinions.
Earlier this month, farm minister Seiichi Ota resigned after admitting that his ministry had known about a rice contamination scandal but that he had seen no need to make "too much of a fuss over it".
Fumio Kyuma resigned as defence minister in July 2007 after implying that the US atomic bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima in 1945 was inevitable.
And in January 2007, former health minister Hakuo Yanagisawa was sharply criticised for referring to women as "birth-giving machines" during discussions about Japan's low birth rate.
Mr Nakayama, a former minister for education, had said he would "stand at the forefront to destroy the Japan Teachers' Union, which is a cancer for Japanese education".
Defending his comments, he said he had "meant to stir the interest of the Japanese people that distorted education is now conducted in schools".
"If my remarks have made any impact on parliamentary proceedings, it would not be what I had intended," he said.
The union's secretary general said he was "flabbergasted" by the comments" and questioned Mr Nakayama's judgement.
Low support
Pressure is growing on Mr Aso to call a snap election in a effort to shore up his authority.
His Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has dominated Japanese politics for more than 50 years, but is now facing a resurgent opposition.
The latest newspaper opinion polls show public support for Mr Aso at lower than 50% and the country is facing stormy economic conditions.
Last week, Japan announced its sharpest fall in economic output in almost seven years.
The last prime minister, Yasuo Fukuda, resigned earlier this month after less than a year in office, frustrated by the ability of the opposition-controlled upper house of parliament to stymie his legislative plans. | Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | September 2008 | ['(BBC News)'] |
Pope Francis appoints Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, the Archbishop of Manila, Philippines, to head the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. It is a congregation of the Roman Curia, responsible for world–wide missionary work and related activities. | Pope Francis Sunday appointed Cardinal Luis Antonio G. Tagle, archbishop of Manila, Philippines, to lead the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.
Tagle, 62, follows Cardinal Fernando Filoni as prefect, usually referred to by its historic name of Propaganda Fide.
Charged with the Church’s missionary works and territories, Propaganda Fide is one of the largest curial departments, with a size and scope exceeding almost any other.
The beneficiary of centuries of dedicated legacies and bequests, Propaganda Fide is also the most financially autonomous curial department.
Praedicate evangelium, the new curial constitution, not yet promulgated, is expected to place an even further emphasis on evangelization as the structural priority of the Church’s mission, with the possible merger of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples and the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization into a single larger department.
As the head of a curial department, Tagle will no longer be the archbishop of Manila, a post he has held since December 2011. He was made a cardinal by Benedict XVI in 2012.
Since 2015, he has been president of Caritas Internationalis. Tagle was also very involved in the October 2018 youth synod.
Tagle was born in Manila in 1957 and ordained a priest in 1982 for the Diocese of Imus, Philippines. He served as bishop of Imus from 2001 to 2011.
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His episcopal motto is Dominus est (It is the Lord). From 1997 to 2002 he was on the International Theological Commission, appointed by St. Pope John Paul II.
Filoni, who headed Propaganda Fide since 2011, was Dec. 8 named Grand Master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, following the retirement of Cardinal Edwin O’Brien at the age of 80.
In a statement Dec. 8, O’Brien said he accepts and appreciates the pope's decision to accept his resignation, appointing Cardinal Filoni as his successor.
The order supports around 80% of the total operating budget of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, supporting parishes, schools, and Christians in Jordan, Palestine, Israel and Cyprus.
“Throughout my more than eight years as Grand Master, my personal faith and love of our Church have deepened as I have witnessed our members’ commitment to the goals of our Order, expressed in different cultures and languages, all profoundly Catholic!” O’Brien said.
.
h. | Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration | December 2019 | ['(Catholic News Agency)'] |
On the 122nd anniversary of the Philippines's independence from Spain, more than a thousand protestors march at the main campus of the University of the Philippines in Manila to protest a controversial anti–terrorism bill introduced by President Rodrigo Duterte. | MANILA (Reuters) - More than 1,000 Filipinos on Friday braved the threat of coronavirus infection to protest against a controversial new anti-terrorism bill, which is awaiting Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s signature.
The demonstration, spearheaded by anti-Duterte activists, was held as the Philippines marked the 122nd anniversary of its independence from Spanish rule.
Human rights activists have raised alarm over the bill pushed by Duterte, warning of draconian and arbitrary provisions, including arrest without warrants, that they say could be abused to target his detractors.
“It looks like we will lose our basic rights because of this anti-terrorism bill, especially our right to express our concerns with the government,” said Ofelia Cantor, one of the more than 1,000 protesters at the University of the Philippines’ main campus in the capital Manila.
Wearing face masks and observing physical distancing to protect themselves from the coronavirus, the protesters held placards and chanted slogans such as “Junk terror bill!” and “Activists not terrorists!”.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque has defended the bill, saying elements were modelled on those used in countries that had dealt effectively with extremism.
Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said he had instructed the police to exercise maximum tolerance while monitoring the protesters, even as he warned mass gatherings are prohibited under the country’s coronavirus quarantine rules.
| Protest_Online Condemnation | June 2020 | ['(Reuters)'] |
A court in Burma denies bail to the chief of the Myanmar Times newspaper, charged with violating immigration law. | YANGON - A MYANMAR court has refused to allow an Australian publisher charged with violating immigration law to be freed on bail. Judge Aung Min said on Thursday that bail would not be granted for Ross Dunkley because he is in good health. Dunkley has been held at Yangon's notorious Insein prison since his Feb 10 arrest. He is charged with drugging a local woman and with violating immigration law by committing an illegal act. The maximum penalty is 10 years in prison for the drugging charge and five years for the immigration charge. Dunkley has denied the accusations. His associates say the charges are related to a business dispute and are designed to force him to relinquish control of the English-language Myanmar Times newspaper. -- AP | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | March 2011 | ['(Straits Times)', '(Journal of Turkish Weekly)', '[permanent dead link]'] |
David W. Goodall, an Australian scientist aged 104, announces his intention to travel assisted by Exit International to Switzerland to end his own life. Goodall is not terminally ill but says his quality of life has deteriorated with age. | Australia’s oldest scientist, who caused a stir when his university tried to vacate his office aged 102, will fly to Switzerland in early May to end his life, reigniting a national euthanasia debate.
David Goodall, who is now 104, does not have a terminal illness but his quality of life has deteriorated and he has secured a fast-track appointment with an assisted dying agency in Basel, euthanasia advocates said.
“I greatly regret having reached that age,” the ecologist told broadcaster ABC on his birthday earlier this month. “I’m not happy. I want to die. It’s not sad particularly. What is sad is if one is prevented.
“My feeling is that an old person like myself should have full citizenship rights including the right of assisted suicide,” he added.
Assisted suicide is illegal in most countries around the world and was banned in Australia until the state of Victoria became the first to legalise the practice last year. But that legislation, which takes effect from June 2019, only applies to terminally ill patients of sound mind and a life expectancy of less than six months.
Other states in Australia have debated euthanasia in the past, but the proposals have always been defeated, mostly recently in New South Wales state last year. It was legalised in the Northern Territory, which is not a state, in 1995, but the commonwealth government overturned that legislation in 1997.
Exit International, which is helping Goodall make the trip, said it was unjust that one of Australia’s “oldest and most prominent citizens should be forced to travel to the other side of the world to die with dignity”.
“A peaceful, dignified death is the entitlement of all who want it. And a person should not be forced to leave home to achieve it,” it said on its website Monday.
The group has launched a GoFundMe campaign to get plane tickets for Goodall and his helper upgraded to business class from economy and has so far raised more than A$17,000 ($13,000).
Goodall, an honorary research associate at Perth’s Edith Cowan University, made international headlines in 2016 when he was declared unfit to be on campus.
After an uproar and support from scientists globally, the decision was reversed.
He has produced dozens of research papers and until recently continued to review and edit for different ecology journals.
This article was amended on 1 May 2018 to acknowledge the legalisation of euthanasia in the Northern Territory from 1995 to 1997. | Famous Person - Sick | April 2018 | ['(The Guardian)'] |
Robin van Persie, the Dutch Arsenal footballer, has been arrested in Rotterdam on suspicion of rape. | The 21-year-old striker was held on Monday following the alleged assault in the city of Rotterdam over the weekend.
The Public Prosecutor's Office of Reijnmond told BBC News police could hold the footballer for three days before charging or releasing him.
Van Persie moved to the north London club from Dutch side Feyenoord for £2.75m last summer.
Arsenal Football Club said it had no comment on the situation.
International debut
A spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office said: "Robin van Persie was arrested on Monday suspected of [a] rape incident that took place at the weekend.
"We cannot reveal any details of what happened as the Dutch legal system is different to that in England."
He can be held for three days, then a further 14 if a judge allows it. If convicted he would face a maximum sentence of 12 years.
Van Persie has hired Dutch lawyer Abraham Moszkowicz who said his client was innocent.
I can see myself staying at Arsenal for many years
Robin van Persie
Last season Van Persie made his senior international debut for Holland and scored 10 goals for Arsenal as they went on to win the FA Cup and finish runners-up in the Premiership. At the weekend he stressed his desire to stay at Arsenal long-term and to learn from fellow Dutchman Dennis Bergkamp.
"I can see myself staying at Arsenal for many years," he said. "My contract has three years to run and, of course, we will have to see about it.
"I can learn a lot from Dennis and it is great he has signed a new contract." | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Arrest | June 2005 | ['(BBC)'] |
At least ten people are killed and 120 injured as a severe storm hits the twin towns of Eagle Pass, Texas, and Piedras Negras, Coahuila, on the U.S.–Mexico border. | (CNN) -- Authorities in the southwest Texas border town of Eagle Pass have largely completed search-and-rescue operations in the wake of a powerful tornado that killed 10 people.
The focus is turning to cleaning up after the storm and aiding the survivors, a county official said Wednesday afternoon.
The storm uprooted mobile homes and battered buildings, killing seven people near Eagle Pass and three across the border in Piedras Negras, Mexico.
Five family members -- including a young girl -- were killed in the rural area south of Eagle Pass when their mobile home was blown from its foundation and into an elementary school, City Councilman Ramsey English Cantu said. (Watch the scene of destruction as the sun rises over Eagle Pass )
Rescuers said family members were found huddled together in the home's bathtub, according to the Web site of the San Antonio Express-News.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry was en route to the area to tour the damage Wednesday afternoon, Maverick County Judge Jose Aranda said.
At least 80 people in Texas were injured by the strong tornado, including four who suffered serious injuries and were evacuated to a medical facility in San Antonio, said Jack Colley, chief of the Governor's Division of Emergency Management. Of the wounded, 32 have been treated and released, Colley said.
Across the Rio Grande in Piedras Negras, authorities told CNN en Español that at least three people were killed by the same tornado. Forty other people were injured, according to Mexico's El Universal newspaper.
Piedras Negras is a sister city, Cantu said, adding that Eagle Pass has offered to assist the larger town across the Rio Grande.
"If we can help them in any way, we will. But we are still focusing our efforts on making sure everybody's out of that area," Cantu said, referring to the damaged area outside Eagle Pass. (Watch an Eagle Pass home where nothing remains but plumbing )
Aranda said most of the Texas damage was in a 1,500-acre area south of Eagle Pass that's mostly made up of mobile homes. He described the damage as "devastating."
An elementary school "was hit pretty much head-on by this tornado" and sustained serious damage, Aranda said. "There was a wrought-iron fence around the school that was twisted and torn and broken. It was just terrible."
Eagle Pass resident Billy Perez told the Express-News: "There were a lot of power lines that were open, and there were trucks with people bloody all over. People were rescuing people all over the place." Earlier, officials had said several mobile homes were missing. But Aranda said Wednesday afternoon that he did not expect more bodies to be found and that search and rescue operations were largely complete.
About 350 people, he said, were being housed in shelters. Authorities were attempting to clear the damaged areas and allow people to return to their homes as soon as possible, he said. "We're getting ready to assess the entire area and identify exactly how much of a loss it is."
Water services remained intact, Aranda said, and electricity was expected to be restored later Wednesday.
The tornado touched down in Eagle Pass at 7:01 p.m., then moved across the Rio Grande into Mexico, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It was part of a larger weather system that dumped 2 feet of snow in Colorado and produced heavy rain that flooded parts of Nebraska.
The storm also produced more than 20 reported tornadoes in Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas, according to NOAA. (Watch why some people chase tornadoes )
Eagle Pass and Piedras Negras suffered the brunt of the storm system, NOAA said.
Video footage of the damage in Piedras Negras showed aluminum siding littering the streets, with one piece wedged in a treetop. The force of the winds overturned some cars, while others were left with the windows blown out.
Footage from Eagle Pass showed fences and power lines scattered in the streets, with roofs torn off buildings and windows smashed. Mobile homes were reduced to scrap.
A sewage treatment facility also was damaged and must be repaired before it's operational again, said Aranda, the Maverick County judge.
National Guard troops, already in the area helping the U.S. Border Patrol, were called to help sort through what the Maverick County Sheriff's Department chief dispatcher called the "havoc" left behind.
| Hurricanes_Tornado_Storm_Blizzard | April 2007 | ['(CNN)', '(BBC)'] |
China has a day of mourning to commemorate the victims of last weekend's Zhouqu landslide. | BEIJING (Reuters) - China observed a national day of mourning Sunday for the victims of last weekend’s massive landslide in a remote part of its northwest, which killed more than 1,200 people when a torrent of mud swept through a town.
Flags across the country flew at half mast, all public forms of entertainment have been suspended and front pages of the country’s main websites removed all color from their pages.
The day began with thousands of people gathering in Beijing’s central Tiananmen Square, with the somber atmosphere punctuated by shouts of “Come on Zhouqu! Come on China!,” in images shown on state television.
Zhouqu in the northwestern province of Gansu was devastated when an avalanche of mud roared down the slopes of a mountain last weekend after unusually strong rain. The death toll has now risen to 1,239, with another 505 missing.
Communist Party mouthpiece the People’s Daily said such a large public expression of grief would show the country’s determination to get over the disaster.
Officials had warned for years that heavy tree-felling and rapid hydro development were making the mountain area struck by the mudslide vulnerable to flooding and land slips.
Government reports last year urged work to restore environmental defenses in the Zhouqu area, deemed a “high-occurrence disaster zone for landslides.”
Heavy rains have continued to batter Gansu. At least 33 people have died in Zhouqu’s neighboring town of Longnan over the past few days, and thousands of people have been relocated, Xinhua said.
| Mudslides | August 2010 | ['(Reuters)', '(China Daily)', '(Aljazeera)'] |
Lewis Hamilton of McLaren wins the 2011 Chinese Grand Prix. | The Chinese GP, won by McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, was one of the most exciting races in years with passing and changes of the lead throughout.
It was even doubtful that Hamilton would start the race at all as a fuel spillage in the McLaren garage minutes before the start of the
race compromised him leaving for the grid. Although he dropped back down the order during several pit stops for tyres, he drove with great
pace to pass the cars ahead and canter away to an easy win over the last few laps.
Reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull-Renault) finished second after and eventful race that saw him lose his pole position
to both McLarens in the run down to the first corner. Third place went to his team mate Mark Webber who started from 18th on the grid but
overcame that handicap to surge through the field and finish on the podium.
Jenson Button (McLaren) finished fourth, followed Nico Rosberg (Mercedes), Felipe Massa (Ferrari), Fernando Alonso (Ferrari), Michael
Schumacher (Mercedes) and Vitaly Petrov (Renault).
"I think today the strategy we came up with definitely helped," said Hamilton . "It was a few things that came together:
the pit stops were fantastic and the car felt right. It was one of the best races if have experienced. It feels amazing to be able to bring
the car home with a victory.
"I think we still have along way ahead of us. In qualifying we still have a lot of work to do, but I am very proud and extremely
grateful for all the work the team put into it."
"I think the start was not the best we have had this year," said Vettel in an understatement. "It was about being patient.
I could have stayed out on the softs on the first stint but there was no point. After the first stop I came out in front. I saw Lewis coming
closer and closer and tried to defend but he found his way past. Still, I got second so I am very happy with that. Congratulations to Lewis
and to McLaren. I think it was a good race for us and we learned a lot today we. We had a problem with (radio) communications. I asked a lot
of questions but didn't get many answers."
"It was an interesting GP," said Webber. "I decided to start on prime (hard tyres) but everyone was using the DRS at the
same time so it wasn't easy. To see P17 on your pit board after 15 laps wasn't fun. Congratulations to Lewis - we're all here together
fighting for victory."
At the start of the race, Jenson Button (McLaren-Mercedes) and team mate Lewis Hamilton both got to the first corner ahead of pole man
Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull-Renault) at the start of the Chinese Grand Prix.
Vettel appeared hesitant off the start line and defended hard against Button and then pushed Hamilton wide as he dived from side to side
trying to defend his lead, but both McLarens got to the first corner ahead of the Red Bull.
Even Nico Rosberg, who started from fourth, was able to get the nose of his Mercedes ahead of the reigning world champion before being
pushed wide and having to abort his attack. The top four were followed by Felipe Massa (Ferrari), Fernando Alonso (Ferrari), Paul di Resta
(Force India-Mercedes) and Adrian Sutil (Force India-Mercedes).
At the end of the first lap, Button had a lead of 1.3 sec but Hamilton pegged that at about a second over the next few laps, with Vettel
0.6 behind Hamilton.
Hamilton had a bit of a scare before the race even began as he only just made it out of his garage with just 35 seconds to spare to take
up his third place on the grid. Once there, the engine covers came off as mechanics went to work once again. Fuel had flooded the engine in
the garage and wet the air filter which had to be replaced.
The track temperature was 29°C on a mild day, but the race was taking place in typical Chinese heavy industrial air pollution that made
it impossible to clearly see down the length of the main straight at the Shanghai track.
Mark Webber (Red Bull-Renault) had started from 18th place on the grid after a terrible Saturday afternoon, but fortunately the KERS
system which was faulty in Malaysia last weekend was apparently fully operational once again in the Australian's car. He only made up one
position on the opening lap but then began to gradually make up a place a lap.
On lap 7, Hamilton set a 1'43.928 while further back Nick Heidfeld (Renault) was down in 14th place and battling to make his way through
the backmarkers after qualifying 16th.
Meanwhile Sergio Perez (Sauber-Ferrari) caught and passed Webber who went backwards to 16th and the Australian dropped another place as
Rubens Barrichello (Williams-Cosworth) got past him as the right rear wheel came off Jaime Alguersuari's Toro Rosso-Ferrari and he retired.
Webber pitted on lap 10 for fresh tyres, dropping to 20th.
Lap 10 Positions
1 Button
2 Hamilton +1.2
3 Vettel +1.8
4 Rosberg +4.9
5 Massa +5.4
6 Alonso +6.9
7 Di Resta +14.0
8 Sutil +14.5
9 Schumacher +15.4
10 Kobayashi +16.0
Hamilton closed to within 0.9 sec of Button, bringing him into the zone for operation of the Drag Reduction System, with Vettel even closer,
just 0.3 sec behind Hamilton. The top three cars were covered by just 0.9 sec with their first pit stops imminent.
Hamilton came under pressure from Vettel and had to start defending, giving Button a chance to get away. Vettel used his DRS and got past
Hamilton into second.
Button and Vettel pitted together and Button made a crucial error, stopping in the Red Bull pit instead of the McLaren one. He pulled
ahead to the correct lane, but the delay cost him a couple of seconds and allowed Vettel to get ahead of him in the running order as Alonso
took the lead from Massa who got ahead of Hamilton in their pit stops.
Alonso pitted next out of the lead promoting Rosberg to the top position. He was followed by Vettel +5.0, Button +6.6, Massa +7.3 and
Hamilton +7.8.
Button set a new fastest lap of 1'42.612 as he worked at the 1.4 sec gap between himself and Vettel ahead in second place
Lap 20 Positions
1 Rosberg
2 Vettel +4.7
3 Button +6.2
4 Massa +7.3
5 Hamilton +7.8
6 Schumacher +12.9
7 Alonso +13.3
8 Di Resta +18.4
10 Kobayashi +24.4
Double world champion Alonso was trying hard to find a way around seven-times world champion Schumacher in sixth place but he was
unable to make a clean pass.
Webber was up to 11th place but he received the same radio message as in Malaysia: "No KERS" as the reliability problem reared
its head again.
Button pitted from third to rejoin fifth, 1.7 sec behind Hamilton and 6.7 sec a head of Schumacher. Race leader Rosberg responded to
Button's pit stop as did Hamilton and Webber.
Vettel did not make a pit stop and emerged in the lead again, followed by Massa and Alonso who also had not made their second stops.
Alonso got past Schumacher who then immediately stopped for his next set of tyres.
Button's first lap out on his fresh tyres yielded a 1'41.536 to set the fastest lap of the race, but Webber went faster still - 1'41.200.
Rosberg made a cheeky move up the inside of Massa for third in the last corner and powered away from the Ferrari up the pit straight.
Button came up behind Alonso on the straight and as the Spaniard defended one way, the Brit went the other and took fourth place.
Hamilton was next to set the quickest lap - 1'40.736 - as he breezed past former team mate Alonso and closed on current team mate Button
just over a second ahead.
Vettel pitted on lap 31 to release Massa into the lead, the only front-runner not yet to make a second stop for tyres. The Brazilian was
followed by Rosberg +6.2, Button +8.2, Hamilton +9.1 and Vettel +20.5.
Race leader Massa pitted on lap 33 while Webber was pushing hard to try and pass Schumacher for sixth. Schumacher got past Petrov but
Webber was unable to follow him past and had to wait his chance to get past the Renault.
So on lap 34, Rosberg was leading from Button +1.7 who was followed by Hamilton +2.5, Vettel +16.0 and Massa +17.9.
On lap 35, Hamilton pulled a nice slipstream tow down the pit straight (with no DRS allowed) and got ahead of his team mate into the
first corner to take a crucial second place 2.6 sec behind Rosberg but lapping 0.4 sec a lap quicker.
Button pitted for the third time on lap 37 for a set of brand new hard tyres and he dropped from third to sixth fifth ahead of the
Schumacher/Webber battle.
Hamilton pitted on the next lap and was followed a lap later by race leader Rosberg. The German emerged just ahead of the 2008 champion
and they began a very spirited battle for third place.
Second-place Massa was being caught by the Rosberg/Hamilton battle. As they came up to some backmarkers, Hamilton was able to dive up the
inside of Rosberg and into third place, a second behind Massa with race leader Vettel a further four seconds ahead.
Further back, never-say-die Webber set a new fastest lap of 1'38.993 in seventh place, 1.6 sec behind Alonso.
Hamilton's pace carried him forward to muscle his way past Massa with 11 laps to go. Vettel was 4.6 sec a head of Hamilton, but the
McLaren was lapping nearly a second faster than the Red Bull.
Button was also flying and was looking for a way past Massa in third.
Vettel set his personal best lap with nine laps remaining, but even still Hamilton took another four tenths out of his 3.3 sec lead.
Sutil damaged his front wing in an altercation with Perez and had to return to the pits. Perez was given a drive-through penalty for his
indiscretion.
Hamilton continued to take chunks out of Vettel's lead and with seven lap remaining, the lead was down to 1.6 seconds with the McLaren
lapping 0.7 a sec quicker than the Red Bull.
Rosberg was putting pressure on Massa for fourth place as Webber, driving like a man possessed, closed up on the five cars ahead of him.
Hamilton got alongside race leader Vettel down the main straight, but the German closed the door on him. Hamilton shadowed him for
another lap, looking for a way past.
But Hamilton's pace and determination were unstoppable and he surged past into the lead on lap 51.
Further behind, Rosberg and then Webber got past Massa and Webber now had fourth-placed Rosberg in his sights.
Webber, on fresh, soft tyres, caught and passed Rosberg and with two laps remaining he had Button 3.6 ahead of him in the final podium
position. Webber ate away the gap in just a lap and then he used his DRS system to get past Button into third place.
Hamilton won the Chinese GP from Vettel and a rapidly closing Webber who went from 18th on the grid to the podium. | Sports Competition | April 2011 | ['(Super Sport)'] |
Three ISIS supporters stab a 56-year-old French Jew and history teacher in Marseille, France. The attackers are interrupted and flee. The teacher's wounds are not life-threatening. , | Three ISIS supporters stabbed a Jewish school teacher in France Wednesday, according to a French prosecutor.
The teacher was stabbed after being attacked in Marseilles by three people riding two scooters, prosecutor Bruce Robin told Reuters, but his life is not in danger. “The three people insulted, threatened and then stabbed their victim in the arm and leg. They were interrupted by the arrival of a car and fled,” said Robin.
According to Robin, one of the attackers was wearing an Islamic State t-shirt and another showed a picture of Mohamed Merah, who killed seven people during a 2012 rampage in southern France.
The stabbing comes as France is on high alert after a deadly terrorist attack in Paris last week and an early morning raid Wednesday that killed at least two suspects connected to the attacks. | Riot | November 2015 | ['(The International Business Times)', '(Time)'] |
Former CEO of the Renault–Nissan–Mitsubishi Alliance Carlos Ghosn escapes house arrest in Tokyo and flees to Lebanon. He was under arrest for money laundering and underreporting his income, though he denies the charges. | BEIRUT/TOKYO (Reuters) - Ousted Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn said on Tuesday he had fled to Lebanon to escape a “rigged” justice system in Japan, raising questions about how one of the world’s most-recognized executives had slipped away while on bail.
Ghosn flees to Lebanon, won't be 'held hostage'
01:52
Ghosn’s abrupt departure marks the latest twist in a year-old saga that has shaken the global auto industry, jeopardised the alliance of Nissan Motor Co Ltd and top shareholder Renault SA and increased scrutiny of Japan’s judicial system.
“I am now in Lebanon and will no longer be held hostage by a rigged Japanese justice system where guilt is presumed, discrimination is rampant, and basic human rights are denied,” Ghosn, 65, said in a brief statement on Tuesday.
“I have not fled justice - I have escaped injustice and political persecution. I can now finally communicate freely with the media, and look forward to starting next week.”
Tokyo officials have previously said the system is not inhumane and that Ghosn, who is facing trial on financial misconduct charges he denies, has been treated like any other suspect.
It was unclear how Ghosn, who holds French, Brazilian and Lebanese citizenship, was able to orchestrate his departure from Japan. He had been under strict surveillance by authorities while out on bail and had surrendered his passports.
According to a senior Lebanese foreign ministry source, Ghosn entered Lebanon legally on a French passport and using his Lebanese ID with normal security procedures. People familiar with the matter told Reuters he had arrived in Beirut on a private jet from Istanbul on Monday.
The French and Lebanese foreign ministries both said they were unaware of the circumstances of his journey. “All discussion of it is his private matter,” the Lebanese ministry added.
Lebanon’s state security directorate said Ghosn will not face any legal consequences for the way he entered the country, state NNA news agency reported. The foreign ministry said Lebanon did not have a judicial cooperation agreement with Japan.
Japanese authorities had no record of Ghosn leaving, Japanese public broadcaster NHK said. A person resembling him entered Beirut international airport under a different name, NHK reported, citing an unidentified Lebanese security official.
His lawyers were still in possession of his three passports, one of his lawyers, Junichiro Hironaka, told reporters.
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Hironaka, in comments broadcast live on NHK, said the first he had heard of Ghosn’s departure was on the news this morning and that he was surprised. He also said it was “inexcusable behaviour”.
Japan has extradition treaties with only the United States and South Korea, according to the justice ministry, meaning it could be difficult to force Ghosn to return to stand trial.
While his arrest on financial misconduct charges last year ensured a dramatic fall from grace in Japan, he retains more popularity in Lebanon, where billboards saying “We are all Carlos Ghosn” were erected in his support and he was previously featured on a postage stamp.
Born in Brazil of Lebanese ancestry, Ghosn grew up in Beirut and has retained close ties to Lebanon.
At Ghosn’s gated villa in the Achrafieh neighborhood of Beirut, a handful of police and private security personnel stood guard on Tuesday.
A man who identified himself only as his English neighbor walked by to leave a card, with the words “Carlos, welcome home!” written inside. It was not immediately clear if Ghosn was at the address.
“It’s a good thing that at last he’s out of being locked up for something which he may or may not -- probably not -- have done,” said the neighbor.
A French minister said before the report Ghosn used a French passport that she was “very surprised” by news of his emergence in Lebanon.
Ghosn was first arrested in Tokyo in November 2018, shortly after his private jet touched down at the airport. He faces four charges - which he denies - including hiding income and enriching himself through payments to dealerships in the Middle East.
Nissan sacked him as chairman saying internal investigations revealed misconduct including understating his salary while he was its chief executive, and transferring $5 million of Nissan funds to an account in which he had an interest.
The case sparked international criticism of Japan’s justice system, in which 99.9 percent of people charged with crimes are convicted and defence lawyers are prohibited from being present during interrogations that can last eight hours a day.
Ghosn was initially released in March on a record $9 million bail only to be arrested on related charges weeks later and then released on bail again at the end of April.
His movement and communications have been monitored and restricted to prevent his fleeing the country and tampering with evidence, the Tokyo District court previously said.
The terms of his bail have also been striking by Western standards. He has been prevented from communicating with his wife, Carole, and had his use of the internet and other communications curtailed.
Carole is now with him in Lebanon at a house with armed guards outside, the New York Times reported, citing a person familiar with the matter.
Ghosn did not believe he would get a fair trial in Japan and was “tired of being an industrial political hostage”, one person told The Wall Street Journal.
A person familiar with Nissan’s thinking told Reuters: “I think he gave up fighting the prosecutors in court.”
The trial was widely expected to start in April. Ghosn’s Japanese lawyers have fought, so far unsuccessfully, to get access to 6,000 pieces of evidence collected from Nissan, which they say is crucial to a fair trial.
Ghosn has said he is the victim of a boardroom coup, accusing former Nissan colleagues of “backstabbing” and describing them as selfish rivals bent on derailing closer ties between the Japanese automaker and its biggest shareholder Renault, of which Ghosn was also chairman.
His lawyers have asked the court to dismiss all charges, accusing prosecutors of colluding with government officials and Nissan executives to oust him to block any takeover by Renault.
Ghosn began his career in 1978 at tyre maker Michelin. In 1996, he moved to Renault where he oversaw a turnaround that won him the nickname “Le Cost Killer.”
After Renault sealed an alliance with Nissan in 1999, Ghosn used similar methods to revive the ailing brand, leading to business super-star status in Japan, blanket media coverage and even a manga comic book on his life.
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Arrest | December 2019 | ['(Reuters)'] |
The Pentagon announces plans to reduce the size of the United States Army to pre–World War II levels. | Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel has unveiled plans to shrink the US Army to its smallest size since before the US entered World War Two.
Outlining his budget plan, the Pentagon chief proposed trimming the active-duty Army to 440,000-450,000 personnel, down from 520,000 currently.
Cold War-era Air Force fleets - the U-2 spy plane and the A-10 attack jet - will also be retired.
The US defence budget remains higher than during most of the Cold War.
On Monday, Mr Hagel noted the US military had come under pressure to downsize after two costly foreign wars.
"This is a time for reality," he said.
"This is a budget that recognises the reality of the magnitude of our fiscal challenges." The number of active-duty US Army members was already expected to be pared down to 490,000, as the US prepares to end its combat role in Afghanistan later this year.
Mr Hagel added: "Since we are no longer sizing the force for prolonged stability operations, an Army of this size is larger than required to meet the demands of our defence strategy."
He said the administration would also recommend closing some domestic military bases in 2017, though such proposals have been rejected by Congress in recent years.
The Pentagon chief went on to unveil plans for changes to pay and benefits, including curbing housing allowances and limiting pay raises.
However, Winslow Wheeler, a defence budget analyst with the Project on Government Oversight in Washington DC, criticised the proposal as "hype".
He said that even after the cuts in troop levels and the elimination of the A-10 and U-2 aeroplanes, overall military spending including for the war in Afghanistan and on the US nuclear weapons programme will remain near 2005 levels.
"That level is scores of billions above what we spent during the Cold War when the threats were real and huge," he told the BBC.
"We're making all the wrong decisions in terms of the bang for the buck that we're getting for the budget. We will be spending multiples of what China and Russia spend combined."
And even the relative modest cost-cutting drive could well cause ructions on Capitol Hill, which is gearing up for November's midterm elections.
Reaction to the proposal was swift, with Republican members warning such cuts could hurt military readiness.
"This is not the time for us to begin to retreat, and certainly not the time to cut our military," Republican Representative Michael Turner told Bloomberg News.
The proposed Army staffing levels would be the lowest since 1940, when the US employed 267,767 active-duty soldiers. The US entered that conflict in 1941 following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. By the end of World War Two, there were 8.2 million active-duty US Army members, according to figures provided on Monday by the Pentagon. The number was 482,000 in 2000, a year before the attacks of 11 September 2001. After those attacks, the force peaked at 566,000 in 2010. | Government Policy Changes | February 2014 | ['(BBC News)'] |
A Christmas message by Pope Benedict XVI is broadcast by BBC Radio 4's Thought for the Day programme in the United Kingdom. | LONDON (Reuters) - Pope Benedict called for people to remember the significance of Christ’s birth in a Christmas message specially recorded for Britons and aired on the BBC on Friday.
Pope Benedict XVI is seen during a recording session for BBC radio's "Thought for the Day" programme, at the Vatican December 24, 2010. REUTERS/Osservatore Romano
It was the first time the pope has addressed a Christmas message specifically to one of the countries visited during the year, the BBC said.
The pope recalled his four-day state visit to England and Scotland in September, and told the people of Britain and every part of the English-speaking world that they were in his prayers in the Holy season.
The recording was broadcast in the “Thought for the Day” slot on the Radio 4 current affairs program “Today.”
The slot lasts about three minutes and has a regular place on the morning program broadcast Monday to Saturday. It offers a personal perspective, from leaders of a variety of religious denominations, on topical issues.
“God is always faithful to his promises, but he often surprises us in the way he fulfils them,” the Pope said in the message pre-recorded at the Vatican.
“Let us joyfully proclaim to those around us the good news that God offers us freedom from whatever weighs us down. He gives us hope, he brings us life.”
The pope’s visit to Britain, the first ever official papal visit to the country, was deemed a success despite a backdrop of a global sex-abuse scandal within the Catholic Church and hostility from one of Europe’s most secular nations. The pope did not refer to sex abuse in his broadcast.
The Catholic Church’s relations with the Church of England have also been tense since the pope offered Anglicans opposed to their church’s ordination of women and other liberal tendencies the chance to convert to Rome while keeping some of their traditions.
The National Secular Society described the pope’s broadcast as a slap in the face because it gave him access to the “unquestioned, unchallengeable Thought for the Day slot.”
“(It) may be a coup for the BBC, but it is a slap in the face for the thousands of clerical abuse victims who are still waiting for justice,” it said on its website.
Editing by Steve Addison
Our Standards: | Famous Person - Give a speech | December 2010 | ['(Reuters)', '(PA)'] |
AC Milan defeat FC Barcelona 2–0 in the first leg of the 2012–13 UEFA Champions League round of 16, while Galatasaray S.K. and FC Schalke 04 draw 1–1. | From the section Football
Goals from Kevin-Prince Boateng and Sulley Muntari gave AC Milan victory over Barcelona and a huge chance of making the Champions League last eight.
The Rossoneri defended in numbers and the two former Portsmouth players struck twice in the second half.
Boateng turned and fired in following a free-kick, before Muntari's close-range volley nine minutes from time.
Andres Iniesta fizzed a shot off target as Champions League favourites Barca had a subdued night.
Carles Puyol also headed wide following Muntari's first Champions League goal, but chances were only occasional for stand-in coach Jordi Roura's side as they slipped to their third defeat of the season.
It was a tactical masterclass by the hosts, who sprung a surprise result based on a tight, disciplined display in the first period but became more expansive after the break.
That said, Barcelona, who are top of La Liga by 12 points, lacked their usual creativity. Lionel Messi was only involved sporadically, and they paid for continually attempting to cut through the heart of the Milan defence.
The Italian club's excellent central midfielders, Riccardo Montolivo and Massimo Ambrosini, ensured that path was closed, and the win gives Milan a great opportunity to avenge last season's Champions League quarter-final defeat by Barcelona.
Back then, the two teams shared a 0-0 draw at the San Siro before the Catalans won 3-1 in the second leg, and on this evidence the four-time European Cup champions will need to significantly raise their game to get a repeat result at Nou Camp on 12 March.
The Spanish side barely mustered a chance in the first period as Massimiliano Allegri's Milan team worked tirelessly in midfield to shut down space and prevent the likes of Messi and Iniesta navigating through them.
When Messi did carve out some space on the edge of the box with some fine footwork, his shot was quickly blocked, while Xavi was limited to a long-range effort.
The best opportunities in a cagey first half went to Milan. Stephan El Shaarawy bore down on goal after a clever touch from Boateng but the Italian over-ran the ball, with Puyol seeing it out of play. Boateng then clipped the resulting corner just wide of Victor Valdes's left post in front of an expectant home crowd.
Barcelona's domination of possession continued until after the break when the San Siro exploded into life as Boateng struck. The lively El Shaarawy drew a foul 30 yards out and when Montolivo fired in the free-kick, the ball hit Cristian Zapata on the edge of the box, allowing Boateng to swivel and drill in his left-footed shot.
Barcelona complained that the ball had hit Zapata's arm, but it had cannoned off Jordi Alba before it hit the AC Milan player.
The goal gave the Rossoneri added purpose and Giampaolo Pazzini hooked in a shot as the game became more even. Milan were content to defend the width of the 18-yard box and Barca had few efforts on goal, save for Iniesta's fizzing shot which whistled past the post with 15 minutes left.
Muntari's goal then almost took the roof off after Milan broke down the right. El Shaarawy lifted the ball to the back post and his Ghanaian team-mate made no mistake with his left-foot strike. | Sports Competition | February 2013 | ['(BBC)', '(The Guardian)'] |
American financial services company Visa Inc. buys European franchisee Visa Europe for $US23 billion. | Payment processing giant Visa announced plans Monday to buy its sister company, Visa Europe, in a deal that could be worth more than $23 billion and would consolidate all of Visa's operations worldwide.
The deal was long expected and, if approved by regulators, would make the world's largest payment processing company even larger. The two companies have more than 2.9 billion cards issued on its combined network, processing roughly 88 billion individual transactions a year.
"We are very excited about unifying Visa into a single global company with unmatched scale, technology and services," said Charles Scharf, Visa's chief executive officer, in a prepared statement.
Under the terms of the transaction, Visa will pay 11.5 billion euros ($12.66 billion) in cash plus stock valued at about $5.5 billion. Visa Europe investors also could earn an additional payment valued at nearly $5.2 billion if certain revenue targets are met four years after the deal is closed, which is expected in mid-2016.
Visa plans to pay for the transaction through the issuance of $15 billion to $16 billion in new debt.
Visa and Visa Europe operated under one banner for years, but had to separate when Visa started its conversion from a cooperative owned by the banks into a publicly traded company. Visa Europe became independent of Visa in 2004 but Visa always continued to have a hand in the fate of Visa Europe through an option to buy Visa Europe under certain conditions. Visa became a publicly traded company in 2008.
The deal will finally give Visa meaningful exposure to Europe, which was considered a competitive disadvantage to its rival MasterCard, which owns its European operations. But the combined company is likely to face more regulatory scrutiny as the payment processing industry becomes even further consolidated under the banners of Visa, MasterCard and, to a much lesser extent, American Express.
Visa's announcement of a deal came as the company reported its fiscal fourth quarter and full year results that mostly met Wall Street's expectations.
The company reported net income of $1.51 billion for the period ending Sept. 30, up from $1.07 billion in the same period a year ago. On a per-share basis, Visa earned 62 cents per A-class common share, versus 43 cents per A-class common share a year earlier
Global payment volume on Visa's network, a key measure of the company's business, rose 12 percent to $1.265 trillion in the quarter, when adjusted for currency fluctuations. Like MasterCard, Visa takes a small percentage of each debit or credit card transaction processed on its network as a fee. Credit and debit card volume in the U.S., Visa's biggest single market, rose roughly 10 percent from a year earlier.
For the full year, Visa earned $6.33 billion compared with $5.44 billion in the same period a year earlier on $13.88 billion in operating revenue. Per share earnings were $2.58 per share versus $2.16 per share in 2014.
Visa shares fell $1.67, or 2.2 percent, to $75.91 in premarket trading about an hour before the market open.
| Organization Merge | November 2015 | ['(AP via AL.com)'] |
Voters in France go to the polls for the second round of the French presidential election with socialist Ségolène Royal and conservative Nicolas Sarkozy as the two contenders. Exit polls indicate that Nicolas Sarkozy has won the runoff poll in the election with 53% of the vote, beating Ségolène Royal who has 47% of the vote. She later concedes defeat. | The final count gave Mr Sarkozy 53.06%, compared with 46.94% for socialist Segolene Royal, with turnout at 85%.
Mr Sarkozy, 52, the son of a Hungarian immigrant, takes over from the 74-year-old Jacques Chirac.
Riot police have fired tear gas at a small group of demonstrators who were protesting in central Paris against Mr Sarkozy's victory.
According to the French news agency AFP, a few hundred stone-throwing rioters charged the police in the Place de la Bastille, where 5,000 supporters of Segolene Royal had earlier gathered to hear the results.
Friendship for US
Mr Sarkozy's supporters have gathered for an open-air concert in the Place de la Concorde, which is expected to continue until the early hours.
France has given me everything, and now it is my turn to give back to France what France has given me
Nicolas Sarkozy
Sarkozy victory speech
Washington relief at win
In his victory speech, Mr Sarkozy said he would be the president of all the French.
"France has given me everything, and now it is my turn to give back to France what France has given me," he said.
He said the US could count on France's friendship, but urged Washington to take a lead in the fight against climate change.
He also said he believed deeply in European integration, but appealed to France's partners to understand the importance of social protection.
"[Voters] have chosen to break with the habits and the ideals of the past so I will rehabilitate work, authority, morality, respect, merit!" he said.
After he finished speaking at his party headquarters, jubilant supporters sang a rousing rendition of the French national anthem.
Third defeat
Ms Royal is the first woman ever to have made it to the second round of a French presidential election.
Hope for renewal in defeat
Conceding defeat - the third in a row for France's Socialist Party - she thanked 17m French people for their votes, saying she could measure their sadness and their pain.
"I gave it all my energy, and will continue," she told supporters. "Something has risen up that will not stop."
She expressed the hope that "the next president of the Republic" would accomplish his mission at the service of all the French people.
Mr Sarkozy has promised to try to reform France to face the challenges of the 21st century, with putting the nation back to work at the top of his agenda. He has pledged to bring unemployment down from 8.3% to below 5% by 2012.
Police deployed
He is also expected to bring forward policies to cut taxes and keep trains running during strikes, in the first 100 days after he takes office on 16 May.
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Royal v Sarkozy: Policies
But the BBC's Caroline Wyatt in Paris says he will have to work hard to unite the French, and try to win round those who voted against him.
More than 3,000 police have been deployed in Paris and its multi-ethnic suburbs in case Mr Sarkozy's victory sparks a repeat of the riots seen in 2005.
French pundits greeted the strong turnout as a victory for French democracy.
Both candidates worked hard to woo the supporters of the third-placed candidate in round one, centrist Francois Bayrou.
Polls suggest that they each won over 40% of the Bayrou voters, and that 20% did not cast a ballot in round two. | Government Job change - Election | May 2007 | ['(BBC)', '(BBC)'] |
Further violence breaks out in the Nigerian city of Jos following bombings earlier this week. | Further violence between armed groups has broken out in the city of Jos in central Nigeria following bombings that killed 32 people.
Witnesses said buildings were set alight and people were seen running for cover as police and soldiers arrived.
Previous violence between Christian and Muslim ethnic groups in the region has killed hundreds.
The latest unrest was triggered by explosions on Christmas Eve in villages near Jos.
Nigerian Vice President Namadi Sambo is reported to be on his way to the area.
Details of the latest violence were unclear,but one witness quoted by Reuters news agency reported dozens of buildings on fire and bloodied people being carried to hospital.
Police commissioner Abdulrahman Akano told AFP news agency that one person had been killed.
"There were some skirmishes between the two groups and it is under control now," he said.
Mr Sambo's spokesman said that the vice-president was travelling to Jos on Sunday "to make an effort to quell this crisis".
Friday's bomb attacks near Jos also left more than 70 people injured.
Reports said two bombs exploded near a large market. A third hit a mainly Christian area while the fourth was near a road leading to a mosque. No group has claimed responsibility.
Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan has pledged to bring those responsible to justice.
Jos has been blighted by religious violence over the past decade with deadly riots in 2001 and 2008.
The city is in Nigeria's volatile Middle Belt - between the mainly Muslim north and largely Christian south.
The tensions stem from decades of resentment between indigenous groups and settlers from the north.
Correspondents say that although clashes are often blamed on sectarianism, poverty and access to land and other resources are often the root causes.
Nigeria pledges to hunt bombers
Nigeria violence in Jos | Riot | December 2010 | ['(BBC)'] |
A Pakistan International Airlines aircraft carrying at least 48 people, including former singer Junaid Jamshed, crashes shortly after taking off from Chitral, Pakistan. , | ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan on Thursday mourned the 47 victims of its deadliest plane crash in four years, including a famed rock star-turned-Muslim evangelist, as officials sought to pinpoint the cause of the disaster.
Engine trouble was initially believed responsible, but many questions remain, stirring new worries about the safety record of money-losing state carrier Pakistani International Airlines.
The ATR-42 aircraft involved in the crash had undergone regular maintenance, including an “A-check” certification in October, said airline chairman Muhammad Azam Saigol.
“I want to make it clear that it was a perfectly sound aircraft,” Saigol said.
The aircraft appeared to have suffered a failure in one of its two turboprop engines just before the crash, he added, but this would have to be confirmed by an investigation.
“I think there was no technical error or human error,” Saigol told a news conference late on Wednesday. “Obviously there will be a proper investigation.”
Grief erupted online soon after flight PK661 smashed into the side of a mountain near the town of Havelian, in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, on Wednesday, after taking off from the mountain resort region of Chitral.
It crashed just 50 km (31 miles) short of its destination, the international airport in Islamabad, the capital.
A PIA spokesman said the pilot, who issued a “mayday” emergency call before the crash, may have prevented an even bigger catastrophe by manoeuvring the plane away from populated areas.
Related Coverage
“It seems that the pilot directed it away from people’s homes. Otherwise there could have been even more damage,” Daniyal Gillani told Reuters outside a morgue at an Islamabad hospital where bodies were being identified.
Stunned relatives gathered there, some weeping quietly, others besieging officials with questions.
“What can I tell you?” said Raja Amir, as he waited for his mother’s remains. “I don’t know what we will get of her. There is still another hell to go through.”
Remains continue to be brought by helicopter to Islamabad, where DNA tests will be used to identify them.
Television images appeared to show rescue officials retrieving the aircraft’s “black box” flight recorder from the wreckage, and the airline confirmed the recovery to the Geo News channel.
Much of the public’s anguish focused on Junaid Jamshed, the vocalist of Vital Signs, one of Pakistan’s first and most successful bands of the 1990s, who abandoned his music career in 2001 to become a travelling evangelist with the conservative Tableeghi Jamaat group.
Many comments on social network Twitter pointed up the contrast between his two roles, first as a pop sensation singing about love and heartbreak, and then as a stern, bearded preacher admonishing young people for straying from Islam.
“Junaid Jamshed’s journey was so quintessentially Pakistani. Conflicted, passionate, devoted, ubersmart, and so, so talented. Tragic loss,” Mosharraf Zaidi, an Islamabad-based development professional and analyst, said in a tweet.
Others simply shared his band’s many hits, such as ‘Dil Dil Pakistan’, which has become an unofficial anthem, played at public gatherings since its release in 1987.
Among the 46 others who perished were two infants, three foreigners - two Austrians and a Chinese man - and five crew listed on the manifest.
Foreign tourists increasingly travel to Chitral, along with numerous domestic visitors, as Pakistan emerges from years of militant violence.
The dead included a member of Chitral’s traditional royal family, his wife and family, besides a regional administrative official, Osama Ahmad Warraich, killed with his wife and infant daughter.
At a funeral for the Warraich family, Osama’s mother was seen waving at the coffins and weeping: “Let me say goodbye to my kids one more time”.
The aircraft, made by French company ATR in 2007, had racked up 18,739 flight hours since joining PIA’s fleet that year.
Its captain, Saleh Janjua, had logged more than 12,000 flight hours over his career, the airline said.
Concern is growing over air safety as media in recent years have reported several near-misses.
In the worst disaster, in 2010, all 152 people on board were killed when a plane operated by airline Air Blue crashed in heavy rain near Islamabad.
Two years later, all 127 aboard were killed when a plane operated by Bhoja Air crashed near the city.
The father of one of the crew who died lashed out at PIA and the government, saying better management could have prevented the crash.
“I have no hope,” Raja Abdul Ghaffar said after the body of his son was brought to the morgue. “I am left with nothing.”
Additional reporting by Jibran Ahmad, Amjad Ali; Writing by Asad Hashim; Editing by Kay Johnson and Clarence Fernandez
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. | Air crash | December 2016 | ['(BBC)', '(Reuters)'] |
A Cessna 525 carrying six passengers goes missing shortly after takeoff from Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport in the United States. | CLEVELAND — Search and rescue crews suspended their search of Lake Erie for a small plane that disappeared overnight shortly after takeoff from Cleveland, Coast Guard officials said late Friday.
The Cessna Citation 525 aircraft departed Burke Lakefront Airport in Ohio at 10:50 p.m. ET Thursday. According to the Federal Aviation Administration, its intended destination was Ohio State University in Columbus, but the plane was not visible on radar.
The plane suddenly lost altitude about 2 miles over the lake during a scheduled return trip to Columbus, according to a flight-tracking service.At a morning news conference, Capt. Michael Mullen, the chief of response for the Ninth Coast Guard District, said the crews searching for the twin-engine plane were in search-and-rescue mode, not recovery mode, as they plied waters about 50 feet deep.
National Park Service: 3 dead in Smokies plane crash
But the search spanned 20 hours and covered more than 128 square miles of the great lake, using a helicopter, plane, Coast Guard cutter and Canadian Air Force resources.
"The decision to suspend a search is never easy," Mullen said. "I extend my deepest condolences to the family and friends of those who lost loved ones."
Burke Lakefront Airport officials confirmed six passengers were on board the plane, including three adults and three children. The passengers went to the Cleveland Cavaliers game at Quicken Loans Arena.
Mullen had held out the possibility of finding survivors Friday morning despite water temperatures that hovered around 40 degrees. But when asked if the twin-engine corporate jet could land safely on Lake Erie, he said, “Aircraft are not designed to float, especially in 12-foot seas.”
John T. Fleming, 46, president and chief executive officer of Columbus, Ohio-based Superior Beverage Group; his wife, 46, Sue; their sons, Jack, 15, and Andrew, 14; and two friends were on the plane, Superior Beverage officials said on their website.
"Our hearts are with John, his wife, their sons, and close friends on board, as well as with their loved ones and everyone in the Superior Beverage family.
This is a difficult day for us, and we appreciate the concern and thoughtfulness extended by so many," company officials said earlier in the day in a statement.
Searchers found no signs of debris Friday, and it remains unknown why the plane vanished from radar. Authorities said they received no distress signals from the pilot.
Pilot in deadly Smokies crash lacked optional instrument certification
The Coast Guard said it was notified about the missing plane by air traffic control sometime after 11 p.m. No signs of debris were found.
Coast Guard official James Cox in Buffalo, N.Y., said the plane was kept in a hangar at the Ohio State University airfield, but those aboard the aircraft aren't affiliated with the university. The plane is registered to Maverick Air and operated by Superior Beverage Group.
Authorities had detected “faint hints” but no strong pulse from an emergency locating transmitter, a beacon that could help searchers find the plane, Mullen said. The search was made difficult by snow squalls, high seas and darkness.
It would have been the pilot’s responsibility to determine whether it was safe to fly Thursday night, he said.
Fleming's father, John W. Fleming, told The Columbus Dispatch that his son was an experienced pilot. Records show he was issued a private pilot's license in January 2015. | Air crash | December 2016 | ['(USA Today)'] |
Judges at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia find former President of the Republika Srpska Radovan Karadžić guilty of committing genocide and crimes against humanity in Bosnia during the Bosnian War and is sentenced to 40 years in prison. Karadžić is found to be "criminally responsible" for the Srebrenica massacre. | A UN tribunal has sentenced former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic to 40 years in prison after convicting him of genocide and other crimes committed during Bosnia's 1992-95 civil war.
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague ruled March 24 that Karadzic is guilty of genocide over the deaths of 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica in 1995.
Presiding Judge O-Gon Kwon said that Karadzic ordered the takeover of Srebrenica before the massacre and intended to eliminate the Bosnian Muslim males of the town.
As supreme commander of the Bosnian Serb Republic, Karadzic controlled the forces that committed the Srebrenica massacre after Bosnian Serbs seized the UN-declared safe haven from peacekeepers.
The war crimes tribunal also ruled that Karadzic is guilty of crimes against humanity -- including murder, extermination, and forcible transfer -- for a campaign to drive Bosnian Muslims and Croats out of towns and villages claimed by Bosnian Serb forces.
But the court stopped short of convicting him of genocide for his role in that campaign.
The judge also ruled that Karadzic is criminally responsible for murder, attacking civilians, and terror for overseeing the 44-month siege of the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo.
Kwon said Karadzic used a campaign of sniping and shelling targeting the city's civilians as a way of furthering his political goals.
Reacting to the verdict, many people in Sarajevo voiced disappointment that Karadzic did not receive a life sentence, RFE/RL's Balkan Service reported.
No media source currently available
WATCH: 'There Is No Justice' -- Survivors Of Bosnian War React Angrily To Karadzic Verdict
Several other Bosnian Serbs involved in the war have been sentenced to life in prison by the ICTY for their roles in the Srebrenica massacre and other crimes.
In total, Karadzic was found guilty of 10 out of 11 charges.
His legal adviser said Karadzic was "disappointed and astonished" at the verdict and plans to appeal.
"He feels that he was convicted on inference instead of evidence and will appeal the judgment," Peter Robinson told journalists outside the tribunal. Appeals could take several years.
In the Serbian capital of Belgrade, several thousand Serbian ultranationalists protested the outcome, saying Karadzic was convicted only because he was a Serb. Nationalist leader Vojislav Seselj, who himself is awaiting a war crimes verdict next week, said Karadzic "was convicted innocent, without guilt." Throughout his 497-day trial, Karadzic, who is 70 and in good health, insisted he is innocent. The former wartime Bosnian Serb leader was arrested near Belgrade in 2008 after 11 years on the run.
Dozens of relatives of Srebrenica victims traveled to The Hague for the trial's final day.
Munira Subasic, whose son was among the victims, said ahead of the verdict that "it is very important to show new generations, especially those in Serbia who have been poisoned with hatred already, what really happened in Bosnia."
Karadzic is the highest-ranking person to face a reckoning before the tribunal over the war two decades ago in which 100,000 people were killed as rival armies carved up Bosnia along ethnic lines that largely survive today.
The only more senior official to face justice before the ICTY was the late Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, who died in custody a decade ago before a verdict was reached.
Ratko Mladic, the general who commanded Bosnian Serb forces, is the last suspect to be detained over the Srebrenica massacre and is in a UN prison cell awaiting judgment.
Karadzic, a former psychiatrist and a self-styled poet, rose to power on a Serb nationalist platform during the breakup of Yugoslavia and played a seminal role in instigating the Bosnian civil war.
Journalists who followed his early career say he used the skills he acquired as a professional psychiatrist to help convince Bosnian Serbs that they should break with the newly declared state of Bosnia and unify with Serbia instead.
"It shouldn't be forgotten that Karadzic was a psychiatrist and one of his specialties was social psychology," recalled RFE/RL Balkan Service journalist Gordana Knezevic, who at the time was an editor of the Sarajevo daily newspaper Oslobodjenje. "It was always clear to me that he was using some of his knowledge about the behavior of social groups and how to appeal to them."
SPECIAL REPORT: The Faces Of Srebrenica
She said his message of nationalism won him support partly because it broke so uncompromisingly with the former Yugoslav state policy of cooperation between ethnic groups.
"He came at [an opportune] moment, at the time when nationalism was high, and spoke in clear, simple, nationalistic messages, saying things that were forbidden," Knezevic said. "In the former Yugoslavia, you could say anything but you could not say bad things about other national groups -- and all of a sudden there was somebody who was not politically correct and so everybody would listen to him."
Elected head of the self-declared Bosnian Serb Republic in 1992, Karadzic engaged in a campaign of territorial expansion that was marked by brutal treatment of Bosnian Serb and Bosnian Croat civilian populations, including mass killings, rapes, and forced expulsions.
The Srebrenica massacre and other horrors committed during the war helped turned world opinion against the Bosnian Serbs, leading to NATO air strikes that brought the conflict to an end.
Karadzic denied during his trial that there was systematic ethnic cleansing of the territory under his control during the war. He also blamed Bosnian Muslims for much of the violence against civilians that marked the war on all sides.
He told the court in October that "I know of no one in the Serb leadership who wanted to harm Muslims or Croats."
Ahead of the verdict on March 24, Serbia's prime minister said Belgrade will stand by the Serb part of Bosnia no matter the fate of its wartime leader Karadzic.
Aleksandar Vucic said "Serbia has an obligation to take care of its people outside the Serbian borders."
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | March 2016 | ['(Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)', '(The Guardian)'] |
Three Indonesian soldiers captured on video torturing two men from West Papua are jailed; human rights groups criticize the sentences of 10 months in jail for "disobeying orders" handed out to the low–ranking soldiers, saying the military was reluctant to abide by human rights principles. | JAKARTA, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Human rights groups have criticised sentences handed out on Monday to three low-ranking Indonesian soldiers whose alleged torture of indigenous Papuans caused a sensation on Youtube.
An Indonesian military court said there was insufficient evidence to charge the three with torture, and so had sentenced them to up to 10 months in jail for disobeying orders.
Western countries such as the United States and Australia are forging closer ties with the world’s most populous Muslim country -- particularly on defence and security -- despite remaining watchful of its human rights situation.
Resource-rich Papua province, home to the world’s largest gold mine, has a heavy military presence because of a simmering campaign for greater autonomy by its people who also want a greater slice of the benefits from its resources.
Journalists and rights workers are barred from the province,
which is Indonesia’s easternmost territory and the western half of a big island with Papua New Guinea to the east.
The trial of the three was ordered after Youtube clips (bit.ly/9JSMsX) emerged that seemed to show them shoving burning sticks against the genitals of a Papuan man, and a knife against the neck of another.
“Their mistake was disobedience against their superiors,” Lieutenant Colonel Harry Priyatna, a spokesman for the military command in Papua, said by telephone.
“There was not enough evidence (to charge them with torture), so to avoid them being acquitted we laid the disobedience charge,” he said.
Rights groups said the trial showed how the military was reluctant to abide by human rights principles or to reform its courts.
“This is a miscarriage of justice, a manipulation of justice,” said Usmad Hamid of New York-based International Center for Transitional Justice.
Another rights campaigner, Ridha Saleh of the National Commission on Human Rights, said: “The (military) has not learned a lesson. I think this goes to show, as the public believes, that the military court is not independent.”
Saleh’s group said this month it had recorded about 40 incidents of violence by military personnel in Papua between 2004 and 2010. (Reporting by Olivia Rondonuwu; Editing by David Fox and Robert Birsel)
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | January 2011 | ['(Reuters)', '(Al Jazeera)', '(Jakarta Post)'] |
Violent clashes break out between the Syrian rebels and Syrian Democratic Forces on the outskirts of al-Muhsenli Village, in the northeastern countryside of Aleppo, but no casualties are reported. | by Loaa Adel Jul 21, 2017, 8:06 pm Aleppo (Syria News) Violent clashes broke out between the Syrian rebels and Syrian Democratic Forces militias (SDF), in the northeastern countryside of Aleppo, a source told Qasioun News on Friday.
The source said in a statement that clashes broke out between the Syrian rebels and Syrian Democratic Forces militias (SDF) on the outskirts of al-Muhsenli Village, in the northeastern countryside of Aleppo.
The clashes were followed by a mutual mortar shelling, but no casualties were reported, the source added.
Meanwhile, Syrian army forces shelled, using heavy artillery, the residential neighborhoods in Zaitan Village, in the countryside of Aleppo, destroying civilian property.
Yesterday, Syrian regime forces shelled several villages and towns in the southern countryside of Aleppo, without leaving any casualties. | Armed Conflict | July 2017 | ['(Iraqi News)'] |
Flash flooding in Washington, D.C. delivers a month's worth of rain on the local area in the span of an hour. The torrential rain leaves commuters stranded on car rooftops, floods several metro stations and causes flooding in the White House. | The Washington, DC, area on Monday was deluged with heavy rain, which turned streets into rivers and led to closed roads and stranded drivers. Water also seeped into the White House basement.
The National Weather Service declared a flash flood emergency, and CBS News reports that "the storm dumped about 6.3 inches of rain near Frederick, Maryland, about 4.5 inches near Arlington, Virginia, and about 3.4 inches at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in a two-hour period."
The flooding was deep in the streets outside the National Archives building, which had to close Monday. The site's official Twitter account said the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, Bill of Rights and other valuable records stored there were not in danger.
The National Archives Building in Washington, DC, is closed today due to electrical outages. The Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights--along with all of the permanently valuable records stored in the building--are safe and not in any danger. pic.twitter.com/aGWOie0BjC
The weather led to some frightening images of water flooding elevators, Metro stations and parking lots.
The White House didn't go untouched. Several journalists posted photos of water leaking into the press space in the White House basement, which naturally led to plenty of jokes about presidential leaks and swamp-draining.
White House is leaking pic.twitter.com/rmfQBDiyCk
It’s official: The White House basement is flooding. pic.twitter.com/f1DR6awE89
Update: swamp draining in progress. WH leaks appear contained. Press pool dry. pic.twitter.com/crYTdjelG5
The leaks from this White House just don't stop.
Unnerving photos and video shared to social media showed just how deep the water really was.
Got to see a waterfall today during my morning commute #VSquare pic.twitter.com/e3i0sCmxGo
Scary exit from the parking garage under the Capitals Ice Rink / Ballston Commons Mall in Arlington. The bottom level is a River! @WTOP @WTOPtraffic @ABC7News pic.twitter.com/exleKNbpEw
Serious flooding situation on Canal Road near Fletchers Cove with numerous drivers stranded, so I’m swimming to safety #DCWX @WTOP pic.twitter.com/UNFOmZkltO
A number of roads are impassable, Amtrak has suspended service south of D.C., DASH buses are suspended, even the White House basement is flooding. https://t.co/UkQIx6AQbG pic.twitter.com/RBabFTXwfx
I’m advising commuters not to use the street elevator at Pentagon Metro this morning. #wmata pic.twitter.com/z8bNwAPcPG
The rain is largely over, but power outages, sinkholes, road closures, and flooding remain. https://t.co/dBbu51zlJB pic.twitter.com/gi1zw3p416
#DCsBravest have removed several occupants to safety from cars in high water at 15th St and Constitution Ave NW. pic.twitter.com/MKXSMJzsua
We got a bit of an issue here... ? pic.twitter.com/58g9RJfm0c
That happens a lot downtown, and it is actually fine, to a point. Remember: This was a swamp, and you are really in what was the Potomac's marshy banks all the way up to Capitol Hill. And once in a while nature reminds you of it.
The situation was serious, but it being DC, jokes, of course, were inevitable.
The Reflecting Pool is getting a bit full of itself...
Harder for the brits to burn down again...
I spent all weekend being like "Will it just fucking rain already?" and now I have to go gather up animals by twos.
At press time, transportation officials were warning of a bad evening commute ahead for Washingtonians.
| Floods | July 2019 | ['(CNET)'] |
United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warns China that the expulsion of 13 U.S. journalists could affect the U.S. assessment of Hong Kong’s status. | U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Sunday he believed China had threatened to interfere with the work of U.S. journalists in Hong Kong, and warned Beijing that any decision impinging on Hong Kong’s autonomy could affect the U.S. assessment of Hong Kong’s status.
“These journalists are members of a free press, not propaganda cadres, and their valuable reporting informs Chinese citizens and the world,” Pompeo said in a statement.
Britain returned Hong Kong to China in 1997, and the territory was promised a “high degree of autonomy” for 50 years. The system formed the basis of the territory’s special status under U.S. law, which has helped it thrive as a world financial center.
Pompeo announced on May 6 that the State Department was delaying a report to Congress assessing whether Hong Kong enjoyed sufficient autonomy from China to continue receiving special treatment from the United States.
He said at the time the delay was to allow the report to account for any actions Beijing might contemplate in the run-up to China’s May 22 National People’s Congress.
Tensions between Washington and Beijing have spiked in recent weeks, as Pompeo and President Donald Trump have complained about China’s early handling of the coronavirus outbreak.
The United States and China have also clashed over journalists working in each other’s countries.
In February, the Trump administration said it would begin treating five major Chinese state-run media entities with U.S. operations the same as foreign embassies, requiring them to register their employees and U.S. properties with the State Department.
Beijing then expelled three Wall Street Journal correspondents - two Americans and an Australian - following an opinion column by the newspaper that called China the “real sick man of Asia”.
In early March, the United States slashed the number of journalists allowed to work there at four major Chinese state-owned media outlets to 100, from 160 previously.
In retaliation, China said it was revoking the accreditations of American correspondents with the New York Times NYT.N, News Corp's NWSA.O Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post whose credentials expire by the end of 2020.
Beijing said the expelled journalists would not be permitted to work in mainland China, Hong Kong or Macau. The expulsion is expected to affect at least 13 journalists, according to the Foreign Correspondents Club of China. | Diplomatic Talks _ Diplomatic_Negotiation_ Summit Meeting | May 2020 | ['(Reuters)'] |
Accused Craiglist killer Philip Markoff is found dead in prison in the U.S. state of Massachusetts after apparently committing suicide. | A former US medical student accused of murdering a masseuse he met through the classified ads website Craigslist has been found dead in prison in Boston.
The body of Philip Markoff, 24, was found on Sunday morning after an apparent suicide, police said.
Markoff pleaded not guilty to the fatal shooting in April 2009 of Julissa Brisman, 26, whom he met through Craigslist's erotic services section.
He was also facing charges of armed robbery and kidnapping.
Markoff was expected to stand trial next March for the murder of Ms Brisman and the armed robbery of a woman from Las Vegas.
He was also accused of attacking a stripper in Rhode Island during the same week.
Prosecutors say Markoff, a former medical student at Boston University, met all three women through Craigslist.
He was found dead in his cell at Nashua St Jail in Boston at 1017 local time (0417 GMT) on Sunday.
"Markoff was alone in his cell and all evidence collected thus far indicates that he took his own life," police and prosecutors said in a joint statement.
"Nonetheless, as with all such cases, a comprehensive investigation will be conducted to determine the facts and circumstances surrounding his death."
Markoff was engaged to be married at the time of his arrest, but his fiancee broke off the engagement. Saturday would have been the first anniversary of his wedding.
In the wake of Ms Brisman's murder, some law-enforcement officials accused Craigslist of promoting prostitution.
The San Francisco-based website subsequently removed its erotic services section, replacing it with listings for "legal adult service providers".
Forty million adverts - for jobs, housing and services - are posted on Craigslist each month.
Craigslist ditches erotic adverts
Craigslist Boston
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Le Pen set for regional power with eye on presidency
How the Delta variant took hold in the UK. VideoHow the Delta variant took hold in the UK | Famous Person - Death | August 2010 | ['(BBC)'] |
Norwegian chess prodigy Magnus Carlsen becomes the world's youngest international Grandmaster , and the second youngest ever, after four wins and four draws out of nine games in the 6th Dubai Open Chess Championship. | Carlsen becomes the second youngest GM in the history of the game and the seventh titleholder in Norway.
He remains one of the front-runners in the nine-game tournament that boasts 39 international grandmasters but was clearly more concerned with securing the coveted GM title than taking risks, agreeing a draw after 17 moves after defusing his opponent's attempts at aggression.
In the seventh round on Sunday Carlsen defeated highly-rated Indian GM Suyra Shekhar Ganguly to move within half a point of the tournament lead.
Carlsen started the tournament slowly, conceding a draw to the weakest opponent he has faced. He responded with four wins and two draws from his next six games to sprint back into contention for first prize.
One of his victims was GM Evgeny Vladimirov, one of the top seeds and a former trainer of world champion Garry Kasparov.
Sergei Karyakin of Ukraine holds the record for the youngest ever GM, gaining the title at 12 years and seven months of age in 2002.
Carlsen is now widely considered to be a potential world title contender and the brightest prospect in the West, in a game still greatly dominated by players from the former Communist bloc.
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Sentralbord: 22 86 30 00 | Kundeservice: 05040 | Kontaktinfo | Biskop Gunnerus' gate 14A, 0185 OSLO | Sports Competition | April 2004 | ['(13)', '(GM)', '(Aftenposten)'] |
An Idaho man, Oscar Ramiro OrtegaHernandez, is charged with the attempted assassination of U.S. President Barack Obama, after two bullets are found embedded in the exterior of the White House. The President and First Lady were not present at the time of the alleged attack. | WASHINGTON Federal authorities on Thursday charged a 21-year-old Idaho man with attempting to assassinate President Obama saying he had told one friend that the president was “the Antichrist” and that he “needed to kill him,” according to a complaint filed in federal court.
The man, Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez of Idaho Falls, who is accused of spraying bullets from an assault rifle at the residential floors of the White House last week, was also “convinced the federal government is conspiring against him” and had become “increasingly more agitated” before he disappeared from Idaho last month, the complaint said.
The complaint was filed in conjunction with a brief appearance by Mr. Ortega-Hernandez in a federal courthouse in Pittsburgh on Thursday afternoon. He had been arrested on Wednesday at a hotel near the town of Indiana, Pa., and officials intend to bring him back to the District of Columbia to face the assassination charge, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Mr. Ortega-Hernandez was shackled and dressed in a white prison-issue jumpsuit. He spoke only briefly during the hearing, muttering “yes ma’am” when asked by a magistrate judge if he understood his legal rights. Law enforcement officials had been hunting for Mr. Ortega-Hernandez since Friday night, after discovering evidence linked to his identity in a black Honda Accord with an Idaho license plate. The car was found abandoned on the lawn of the United States Institute of Peace, about seven blocks west of the White House and near a bridge over the Potomac River.
Minutes earlier, at least two witnesses had seen the car pause on Constitution Avenue in front of the Ellipse a grassy field between the White House and the Washington Monument as gunshots were fired out of its passenger window, after which the vehicle sped away, according to the complaint. A search of the car found a Romanian-made semiautomatic rifle with a “large scope” mounted on its top, nine spent cartridges, and large amounts of ammunition of the same size as a bullet later found at the White House. Two of Mr. Ortega-Hernandez’s acquaintances in Idaho said he owned such a weapon, the complaint said.
On Wednesday, agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation searched the area around the White House and located “several confirmed bullet impact points on the south side of the building on or above the second story,” where the first family’s residential quarters are located. President Obama and his wife, Michelle, were out of town at the time of the shooting, just after 9 p.m.; it is not clear if the authorities have evidence showing whether Mr. Ortega-Hernandez believed that the president was at home. The Secret Service has declined to say whether the Obamas’ daughters, Sasha and Malia, were in the residence.
The president, who is in Bali, Indonesia, declined to answer a reporter’s shouted question about the shooting during an appearance on Friday morning. He walked out of a room without responding. Aides traveling with the president have referred all questions to the Secret Service.
It was not clear why it took so long to discover the bullets. But Daniel Bongino, a former Secret Service agent with the presidential protection division, said in an interview that the search for bullet damage on the building and grounds would have been like looking for “a needle in a haystack” and was most likely conducted slowly and methodically to avoid missing or damaging any evidence.
Mr. Ortega-Hernandez’s family had reported him missing in Idaho Falls last month, after he drove away in the Honda Accord, the complaint said. The Secret Service has said it did not have Mr. Ortega-Hernandez on record as having made any threats against the president. But after the shooting, several acquaintances said he had been fixated on Mr. Obama.
Besides the one friend who told investigators that Mr. Ortega-Hernandez had said he believed the president was the “Antichrist” and that he needed to kill him, another friend said he stated “President Obama was the problem with the government,” was “the devil,” and that he “needed to be taken care of.” The second friend also said he appeared to be “preparing for something.”
Mr. Ortega-Hernandez has had legal problems in Idaho, Texas, and Utah, including charges related to drug offenses, resisting arrest and assault on a police officer, officials have said. He is said to be heavily tattooed, with the word “Israel” on his neck and pictures of rosary beads and hands clasped in prayer on his chest.
Investigators searching the car found, in addition to the rifle and ammunition, brass knuckles, a baseball bat, a sales receipt from a purchase at a Wal-Mart in northern Virginia about four hours before the shooting, and a black hooded jacket with “LA” written in the style of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ team logo. The complaint said Mr. Ortega-Hernandez had been photographed at least twice earlier that day wearing the jacket on a surveillance tape at the Wal-Mart, and when the police in nearby Arlington County, Va., had stopped him a few hours earlier because someone reported that he was acting suspiciously. He was on foot and unarmed, and the police let him go. Mr. Bongino, who left the Secret Service in May and is now running for a United States Senate seat in Maryland, said the agency was very likely now conducting an “exhaustive review” of its security procedures on the outer edge of the White House complex. He predicted that the review would focus more on the agency’s response how it was that the gunman had been able to get away rather than being apprehended quickly than on how someone had managed to shoot at the White House in the first place.
“The Secret Service’s job is not to prevent every bad thing from happening,” he said. “You can’t prevent bad people from doing bad things. What you can do is stop bad outcomes. And that’s what they did the structure did what it was supposed to do, and stopped that round.”
Officials have said that reinforcements on the building and its windows stopped the bullets from penetrating the interior. Still, one of the bullets apparently struck a window overlooking the Truman balcony, where the Obamas sometimes go outside to relax. Mr. Bongino noted, however, that Mr. Obama was not home and no one was on the balcony, so there would have been a lower level of security.
. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | November 2011 | ['(New York Times)'] |
A series of bombings across Iraq kills at least eleven people. | The UN's envoy to Iraq has warned that "systemic violence is ready to explode at any moment", as a fresh wave of attacks killed at least 24 people.
Martin Kobler urged Iraq's political leaders to "engage immediately to pull the country out of this mayhem".
There has been a recent upsurge in violence across Iraq amid rising sectarian and political tension.
Several car bombs targeted different areas of the capital, Baghdad, and the northern city of Mosul on Thursday.
Five bombs killed 21 people in Baghdad and wounded dozens, officials said.
In Mosul, three policemen were killed in an early morning suicide attack.
The dramatic escalation in attacks in recent weeks has raised fears of a return to the levels of sectarian violence seen in 2006 and 2007, in which thousands died.
This week alone, more than 60 people were killed in attacks targeting main Shia areas of Baghdad on Monday. A further 25 deaths were reported in bombings in the city on Wednesday. The UN has said more than 700 people were killed in April - the highest monthly toll in almost five years. That would take the toll from the last two months well over 1,000 victims. | Armed Conflict | May 2013 | ['(BBC)'] |
The United Nations says around 204,000 people have fled violence in Mogadishu, Somalia as a result of a militant offensive against government forces. | (CNN) -- Around 204,000 people have fled their homes in the Somali capital of Mogadishu as a result of a militant offensive against government forces, the U.N. refugee agency said on Tuesday.
Islamist fighters exchange gunfire with government forces in Mogadishu on July 3.
The eight-week long push by Al-Shaabab and Hisb-ul-Islam militias has prompted what the agency calls "the biggest exodus from the troubled Somali capital since the Ethiopian intervention in 2007."
"The escalating conflict in Mogadishu is having a devastating impact on the city's population causing enormous suffering and massive displacement," the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said.
The agency said its local partners in the capital reported that fighting over the past week "has killed some 105 people and injured 382."
"Neighborhoods affected by the fighting include Kaaran, Shibis, Shangaani and Boondheere in North Mogadishu. These areas have hitherto been islands of peace, escaping much of the conflict and destruction. Many residents are fleeing their homes for the first time since the start of the Somali civil war in 1991," the agency said.
The agency said the number of internally displaced people in Somalia amounts to more than 1.2 million people.
There has been growing concern that Somalia, in the Horn of Africa, could be the next base for al Qaeda as U.S. forces pound their positions in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Last month, a U.S. State Department spokesman said the United States is providing weapons and ammunition to Somalia's transitional government as it fights al Qaeda-linked Islamist militants.
CIA Director Leon Panetta recently said that the intelligence agency is keeping tabs on the region as a possible destination for fleeing al Qaeda operatives.
"Our concern right now is that likely safe havens are areas in the Horn of Africa, like Somalia and Yemen, that are countries that because of their political status can be attractive to al Qaeda in order to operate there," Panetta said earlier this month.
Al-Shaabab, also known as the Mujahideen Youth Movement, was officially designated as a terrorist organization by the United States in March 2008. It is waging a war against Somalia's government in an effort to implement a stricter form of Islamic law. | Armed Conflict | July 2009 | ['(CNN)'] |
Venezuelan political parties waive the multi-party agreement to rotate leadership of the National Assembly annually in favor of allowing Juan Guaidó to continue in the position for another term. | CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan lawmakers from small opposition parties on Friday said Juan Guaido should continue as head of congress in 2020, waiving their option to lead the legislature under an informal agreement to rotate leadership between parties.
The announcement ended speculation of an opposition rift over the 2020 legislative term, which under a 2016 agreement within the opposition would have fallen to a group of 17 small parties.
Guaido in January declared President Nicolas Maduro a usurper and assumed a rival interim presidency that has been recognized by more than 50 countries, and the opposition is keen for him to remain in the post.
“The national interest comes first,” Carlos Berrizbeitia, a lawmaker from the small Venezuela Project party, told reporters. “Until the usurpation ends, the president of the National Assembly will be Juan Guaido.”
Venezuela’s constitution says that in the event of a presidential vacancy, the presidency falls to the head of the National Assembly until a new election is held.
Maduro calls Guaido a U.S. puppet seeking to oust him through a coup and has suggested he may be arrested for treason.
Venezuela’s political stalemate comes against the backdrop of a hyperinflationary economic collapse that has fueled an economic crisis.
More than 4 million citizens have left the country, fleeing shortages of food and medicine, according to the United Nations.
Reporting by Mayela Armas; Writing by Luc Cohen; Editing by David Gregorio
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Exclusive: Fed’s Neel Kashkari opposes rate hikes at least through 2023 as the central bank becomes more hawkish | Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration | September 2019 | ['(Reuters)'] |
President of Austria Thomas Klestil dies of a heart attack, just two days before he was due to leave office. | He had suffered a heart attack at his home in the Austrian capital on Monday. His security guards tried to revive him before he was rushed to hospital in a critical condition.
President Klestil's death came less than two days before was due to leave his largely ceremonial post after two six-year terms in office.
Social Democrat Heinz Fischer, who was elected in April, will take up office in his stead.
Career diplomat
Klestil took up the Austrian presidency in 1992 after a successful career as a diplomat.
He replaced Kurt Waldheim, who had been tainted by revelations that he had served as an officer in a German army unit which had committed war crimes during World War II. Mr Klestil repaired much of the damage done to Austria's image abroad by the scandal surrounding Waldheim, including expressing sympathy with the victims of the Holocaust in a speech to the Israeli parliament in 1994. | Famous Person - Death | July 2004 | ['(BBC)'] |
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam announces the formal withdrawal of the controversial extradition bill. | HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam on Wednesday withdrew an extradition bill that triggered months of often violent protests so the Chinese-ruled city can move forward from a “highly vulnerable and dangerous” place and find solutions.
Her televised announcement came after Reuters reports on Friday and Monday revealing Beijing thwarted an earlier proposal from Lam to withdraw the bill and she had said privately that she would resign if she could.
“Lingering violence is damaging the very foundations of our society, especially the rule of law,” a somber Lam said as she sat wearing a navy blue jacket and pink shirt with her hands folded on a desk.
It was not clear when the recording was made. The withdrawal needs the approval of the Legislative Council, which is not expected to oppose Lam.
The bill would have allowed extraditions to mainland China where courts are controlled by the Communist Party. Its withdrawal is a key demand of protesters but just one of five. The move came after pitched battles across the former British colony of 7 million. More than 1,000 protesters were arrested.
Many are furious about perceived police brutality and the number of arrests and want an independent inquiry.
“The government will formally withdraw the bill in order to fully allay public concerns,” Lam said.
“I pledge that the government will seriously follow up the recommendations of the IPCC (Independent Police Complaints Council) report. From this month, I and my principal officials will reach out to the community to start a direct dialogue ... we must find ways to address the discontent in society and look for solutions.”
The protests began in March but snowballed in June and have evolved into a push for greater democracy for the city which returned to China in 1997. It was not clear if killing the bill would help end the unrest. The immediate reaction appeared skeptical.
“FIVE DEMANDS, NOT ONE MISSING”
Some lawmakers said the move should have come earlier.
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“The damage has been done. The scars and wounds are still bleeding,” said pro-democracy legislator Claudia Mo. “She thinks she can use a garden hose to put out a hill fire. That’s not going to be acceptable.”
Many people on street corners after nightfall were shouting: “Five demands, not one missing.”
“We still have four other demands. We hope people won’t forget that,” said a woman speaking for the protest movement who declined to identify herself except by the surname Chan. “The mobilization power won’t decrease.”
Riot police fired beanbag guns and used pepper spray on Tuesday to clear demonstrators from outside the Mong Kok police station and in Prince Edward metro station, with one man taken out on a stretcher with an oxygen mask over his face, television footage showed.
The four other demands are: retraction of the word “riot” to describe rallies, release of all demonstrators, an independent inquiry into perceived police brutality and the right for Hong Kong people to choose their own leaders.
“Too little, too late,” Joshua Wong, a leader of pro-democracy protests in 2014 that were the precursor to the current unrest, said on his Facebook page.
In the United States, Republican Senator Marco Rubio, a persistent critic of what he sees as Beijing’s attempts to undermine Hong Kong’s autonomy, called Lam’s move “welcome but insufficient.”
“The Chinese Communist Party should uphold its commitments to Hong Kong’s autonomy and stop aggravating the situation with threats of violence,” he said in a statement.
U.S. Democratic House speaker Nancy Pelosi called the move long overdue and demanded an end to the use of force against demonstrators. Pelosi said she looked forward to the swift advance of bipartisan legislation to reaffirm the U.S. commitment to democracy, human rights and the rule of law in Hong Kong.
Rubio has co-sponsored a Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act that would require annual certification of Hong Kong’s autonomy to justify special treatment the territory enjoys under U.S. law.
In an op-ed in the Washington Post on Tuesday, Rubio said the United States and the rest of the world needed to make clear to China that aggression toward Hong Kong risked “swift, severe and lasting consequences.”
He said the U.S. administration should make clear it could respond “flexibly and robustly,” including with sanctions against the police force and individuals responsible for abuses. The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In a voice recording obtained by Reuters, Lam said at a meeting last week that her room to find a political solution to the crisis was “very limited”, as authorities in Beijing now viewed the situation as a matter of national security.
The protests are the biggest popular challenge to Chinese President Xi Jinping’s rule since he took power in 2012. Beijing denies meddling in Hong Kong’s affairs, yet it warned again on Tuesday that it would act if protests threatened Chinese security and sovereignty.
Pro-Beijing lawmaker Cheung Kwok-kwan said Lam’s announcement was not a compromise to appease those promoting violence but a bid to win over moderates in the protest camp.
“It was likely speaking to the so-called peaceful, rational, non-violent people who were dissatisfied with the government’s response before,” he said.
The chief executive’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the bill’s withdrawal.
Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng Index .HSI jumped after the report of the bill's imminent withdrawal, trading up about 4%. The property index also jumped.
Hong Kong returned to China under a “one country, two systems” formula that allowed it to keep freedoms not enjoyed on the mainland, like the freedom to protest and an independent legal system, hence the anger at the extradition bill and perceived creeping influence by Beijing.
Beijing has regularly warned about the impact on Hong Kong’s economy.
Cathay Pacific Airways 0293.HK has been one of the biggest corporate casualties.
China’s aviation regulator demanded Cathay suspend staff from flying over its airspace if they were involved in, or supported, the demonstrations and the airline has laid off at least 20 personnel, including pilots and cabin crew.
On Wednesday it announced the resignation of chairman John Slosar following the departure of CEO Rupert Hogg last month.
Reporting by Clare Jim, Twinnie Siu, Jessie Pang, Lukas Job, Noah Sin, Donny Kwok and Anne Marie Roantree in Hong Kong; additional reporting by David Brunnstrom in Washington; Writing by Joe Brock, Nick Macfie and David Brunnstrom; Editing by Robert Birsel and David Gregorio
| Government Policy Changes | September 2019 | ['(Reuters)'] |
A memorandum is signed by Russia, Iran, and Turkey calling for de–escalation of the Syrian Civil War, although neither the Syrian government nor the Syrian opposition are signatories. | BEIRUT, Lebanon — Russia, Iran and Turkey signed a memorandum on Thursday to create four “de-escalation zones” in Syria, to reduce bloodshed in a war now in its seventh year, but many questions remained about the plan.
Presented at talks in Astana, Kazakhstan, the memorandum was the most ambitious of recent proposals, but it was not signed by the Syrian rebels or government. Rebel representatives said it left too many loopholes for the Syrian military to continue what the rebels called indiscriminate bombings of civilian areas.
| Sign Agreement | May 2017 | ['(The New York Times)'] |
Kyrgyzstan President Sadyr Japarov signs a decree approving the new constitution, which was approved following a referendum on April 11. | BISHKEK, May 5. /TASS/. Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov on Wednesday signed a new version of the country’s constitution, approved in a nationwide referendum on April 11.
The ceremony was broadcast live by the country’s TV channels.
"The new constitution was written with regard to challenges that are important for our country at this particular time, it reflects values that we cherish as a nation, and the ideals to which we aspire as a society," the Kyrgyz leader said.
The Kyrgyzstan referendum on amendments to the Constitution and local elections procedures took place on April 11, with a turnout of slightly over 37%, 79% of them voted in favor of the amendments.
The constitutional amendments significantly extend presidential powers while limiting the authority of the parliament and reduce its membership from 120 to 90 people. The head of state now gains full control over the government, including power to appoint and dismiss ministers. Kyrgyzstan effectively switches from presidential-parliamentary republic to presidential form of government. | Government Policy Changes | May 2021 | ['(TASS)'] |
About 150 soldiers and police officers from Australia and New Zealand have arrived in Tonga following an appeal for help to restore order after riots. | At least eight people died when crowds ransacked much of the centre of the Pacific nation's capital, Nuku'alofa.
The city is now said to be calm but a state of emergency has been declared. The unrest was sparked by concern about the slow pace of democratic reform.
The government has now announced major changes ahead of elections in 2008.
Australia has sent about 85 of the troops and police officers deployed, with New Zealand providing the remainder.
Australia's Prime Minister John Howard and his New Zealand counterpart Helen Clark announced the mission at a joint press conference in Vietnam, where they are attending a regional summit.
"Being the largest and wealthiest countries in the region, part of our responsibility is to help," said Mr Howard.
Soothe tensions
Many buildings in Nuku'alofa have been destroyed in the rioting, including the government and prime minister's offices, the power company, Nuku'alofa's only bank and a number of Chinese-owned shops.
The trouble has been blamed on gangs with links to pro-democracy groups, says the BBC's Phil Mercer in Sydney.
They have been agitating for political reform in a country where the king wields enormous power.
The embattled government of Prime Minister Fred Sevele has now announced sweeping reforms, which it is hoped will soothe tensions in Nuku'alofa, our correspondent says.
The intervention by Australia follows similar action in the Solomon Islands and comes amid fears of a military coup in Fiji, our correspondent adds.
Australia is concerned that trouble in the region could be exploited by extremists or drug traffickers.
Reform plans
The rioting began after the government assembly failed to pass democratic reforms before it went into recess.
The Tongan king appoints 10 of the 14 cabinet members to their posts for life, with the other four reserved for "nobility".
Hereditary noblemen hold the majority of seats in the country's parliament.
After the death of King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV in September, a government committee recommended that all lawmakers be elected by the public.
King Tupou IV reigned for 41 years and was opposed to reforms.
His son and heir, Siaosi Tupou V, is thought to be more in favour of change. | Riot | November 2006 | ['(BBC)'] |
Rwanda and Burundi join the East African Community in a meeting in Kampala, Uganda. | Rwanda and Burundi are formally to join the East African Community at a meeting in the Ugandan capital, Kampala.
Leaders of the three existing members, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania will welcome Rwandan President Paul Kagame and President Pierre Nkurunziza of Burundi.
Their membership will take effect from 1 July. Consultations are also under way on forming a political union.
The group was founded in 1999 and a customs union between the original members came into effect two years ago.
The East African Community (EAC) heads of state are expected to sign treaties of accession which will admit Rwanda and Burundi into the regional grouping.
Further integration
Although the EAC has been in existence in its current form for eight years, it is the customs union that has been the most significant development to date.
It means that member countries pay no duties on goods within the East African Community.
Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda have all reported increased revenues since the customs union was launched. Trade between the three countries and Rwanda and Burundi will also now be free of customs tariffs, making the movement of goods across the region cheaper.
There are also plans for further integration; an East African common market is to be established by 2010 and the possibility of a single currency has been raised.
Consultations on political integration have been taking place in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda since October. A federal president and government could be in place within seven years. | Diplomatic Talks _ Diplomatic_Negotiation_ Summit Meeting | June 2007 | ['(BBC)'] |
Pop singer Beyoncé Knowles wins the most awards at the 52nd Grammy Awards, winning six of her ten nominations including Song of the Year for "Single Ladies ", and becoming the first woman to win six awards in the same night. | Pop star Beyonce was the big winner at the prestigious Grammy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles, winning six prizes.
Starting the night with 10 nominations, her awards included song of the year and best R&B song, both for Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It). Twenty-year-old country star Taylor Swift picked up four prizes, including the coveted album of the year title. The Black Eyed Peas, Jay-Z and Kings of Leon all picked up three trophies each, while Lady GaGa and Eminem won two. Beyonce has set a new record for the most awards won in a single year by a solo female, and takes her career tally to 16. Her other awards this year included best contemporary R&B album, best R&B female vocal for Single Ladies and best traditional R&B performance for At Last, which she performed at President Obama's inauguration. She also won best pop vocal performance for Halo. Accepting that trophy, she said: "This has been such an amazing night for me and I'd like to thank the Grammys. "I'd like to thank my family including my husband, I love you," she added, referring to rapper Jay-Z. But she lost out to Tennessee rock band Kings of Leon in the record of the year category. In a surprise result, the group's song Use Somebody won that prize, also beating hits by Lady GaGa, Taylor Swift and The Black Eyed Peas. The song had also earlier been named best rock song - triumphing over tracks by heavyweights like Bruce Springsteen, U2 and Green Day - as well as best rock performance by a duo or group with vocals. Michael Jackson's children Paris and Prince accepted a lifetime achievement award on behalf of the King of Pop, who died last June. "Daddy was going to perform this year," 11-year-old Paris told the audience. "He couldn't perform last year. Thank you and we love you daddy." Their appearance followed a 3D tribute featuring Carrie Underwood, Jennifer Hudson, Celine Dion, Smokey Robinson and Usher accompanying a recording of Jackson's Earth Song. The Black Eyed Peas won best short video for Boom Boom Pow and best pop performance by a duo or group with vocals for I Gotta Feeling. And the group beat acts including Kelly Clarkson and Pink to win best pop vocal album for The END. An emotional Taylor Swift won best country album for her second LP Fearless plus best country song and best female country vocal performance, both for the track White Horse. Jay-Z's track Run This Town, featuring Rihanna and Kanye West, was named best rap song and best rap/sung collaboration, while the rapper also picked up best rap solo performance for DOA (Death Of Auto-Tune). Fellow rapper Eminem, meanwhile, won best rap album for Relapse and best rap performance by a duo or group for Crack A Bottle, his comeback collaboration with Dr Dre and 50 Cent. Lady GaGa took two awards - best dance recording for Poker Face and best electronic/dance album for The Fame. But she missed out on the major prizes. The outrageous newcomer also performed an elaborate routine that culminated with her playing piano opposite Sir Elton John. Other winners included Indian composer AR Rahman, who won two trophies for his soundtrack to the Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire. Film composer Michael Giacchino also won a pair, for best score soundtrack album and best instrumental composition for his work on the Pixar animation Up. Neil Young won the first Grammy of his career, taking best art direction on a boxed or special limited edition package for Neil Young Archives Vol. 1 (1963-1972). British artists have dominated the Grammys in the past couple of years. Last year, Robert PLant and Alison Krauss took top honours, with Coldplay, Adele, Duffy and Radiohead also doing well. And in 2008, Amy Winehouse scooped five prizes. But this year, UK artists fared less well. Rock veterans Judas Priest took home best metal performance and Jeff Beck won best rock instrumental. Singer-songwriter Imogen Heap was awarded best engineered non-classical album, while the London Symphony Orchestra won best opera recording for Benjamin Britten's Billy Budd. | Awards ceremony | February 2010 | ['(Put a Ring on It)', '(BBC)', '(The Times of India)', '(Chicago Tribune)'] |
The Eurozone moves out of 18 months of recession because of Germany and France. There was a growth rate of 0.3% in the June quarter. | Brussels warned against complacency on Wednesday as the troubled eurozone finally returned to growth, after 18 months stuck in a double-dip recession.
Olli Rehn, Europe's economic commissioner, welcomed news that the 17 nations using the single currency had expanded collectively by 0.3% in the three months to June – the first pickup in activity since the autumn of 2011.
But Rehn said celebrations should be put on hold, given Europe's jobs crisis and the wide disparity in economic performance between different countries in the eurozone.
"Yes, this slightly more positive data is welcome – but there is no room for any complacency whatsoever," Rehn said. "I hope there will be no premature, self-congratulatory statements suggesting the crisis is over, for we all know that there are still substantial obstacles to overcome. The growth figures remain low and the tentative signs of growth are still fragile."
Rehn said the average number for the bloc hid substantial differences between states, with Germany's performance outstripping those of Spain and Italy, which remained in recession. He added that some member states still had unacceptably high unemployment rates, with economic reforms still in their infancy, leaving the region with a "very long way to go".
"A sustained recovery is now within reach, but only if we persevere on all fronts of our crisis response: keep up the pace of economic reform, regain control over our debt, both public and private, and build the pillars of a genuine economic and monetary union," he said.
Figures released by Eurostat, the EU's statistical agency, showed that a stronger than expected performance by the single currency's two biggest economies – Germany and France – helped haul the eurozone out of recession. Financial markets had been expecting a rise in eurozone GDP following the increase in industrial production reported on Tuesday, but were surprised by news that Germany grew by 0.7% in the second quarter and France by 0.5%.
Along with the rest of the world, the eurozone fell into a deep slump in the winter of 2008-09 before recovering in 2010 and early 2011. But a second leg of the downturn then began as a result of the eurozone's sovereign debt crisis, which hit confidence, led to a mothballing of investment and resulted in the imposition of hardline austerity programmes.
Despite the growth in the second quarter, the European commission still expects the eurozone to suffer a second full calendar year of falling output in 2013, with growth resuming in 2014.
Eurostat's figures showed that Italy and Spain – the single currency's third and fourth biggest economies – both remained in recession in the second quarter of 2013. Spain's economy shrank by 0.1%, while Italy posted a 0.2% decline.
The Dutch economy also contracted by 0.2% but Portugal – one of the three countries that required a financial bailout – recorded the fastest expansion of any eurozone country, with 1.1% quarterly growth.
Torben Kaaber, chief executive of Saxo Capital Markets, said: "So the eurozone is finally out of recession. While this wasn't entirely unexpected, the strength of the growth in the second quarter, 0.3%, was. The growth was primarily driven by the German economy, which grew 0.7% on the back of increase in domestic private and public consumption. This will provide a welcome boost to Chancellor Merkel in the runup to the German elections; however, critics will point to the continuing underperformance of southern Europe, and to Greece and Italy in particular, and argue that a few select countries cannot continue to hold up the common market. As the value of the euro climbs today, the jubilation will be short-lived, as the consistent problem of the southern neighbours will weigh on the minds of investors."
Dario Perkins of Lombard Street Research said Germany would continue to be crucial to the eurozone's recovery, adding that there were signs of consumer spending and investment picking up. "But the French contribution to this recovery is likely to sag, thanks to its labour market which is still in a horrible state. Unemployment has surged over the past two years and the demand for labour has collapsed, with the level of job vacancies at multi-decade lows. Without France rediscovering its 'va-va-voom' and with the rest of the Mediterranean countries struggling with too much debt, Germany is still the euro area's only bright spot."
David Brown of New View Economics said: "It is a tale of two very different economies. Germany is doing all the hard work in the vanguard of strong recovery as its 0.7% second-quarter GDP expansion showed. On the other side of the equation, the troubled eurozone economies are still mired down in the mud of deep recession risk."
| Financial Crisis | August 2013 | ['(BBC)', '(The Guardian)'] |
The United States Congress approves a $168 billion economic stimulus package and sends it to President George W. Bush for his approval. | WASHINGTON Congress overwhelmingly approved a $168 billion economic stimulus program on Thursday, sending it to President Bush for his signature so that millions of Americans can look forward to government checks in the mail. The House gave its final approval to the package on Thursday night by a vote of 380 to 34. The House was able to act because a stalemate in the Senate was broken a few hours earlier after Democrats agreed to add only payments for senior citizens and disabled veterans to a plan approved earlier by the House with the backing of President Bush. The Democrats’ retreat on adding other measures to the bill cleared the way for an 81-to-16 Senate vote in favor of it. | Government Policy Changes | February 2008 | ['(The New York Times)'] |
The Communist Party of Vietnam announces at the closing of the Tenth National Congress that Nông Đức Mạnh will be re–appointed as its general secretary for another five–year term. Other key positions, such as those of prime minister and president, are yet to be appointed. New faces are expected. | The announcement was made during the closing session of the eight-day National Party Congress in Hanoi.
Other key positions, such as those of prime minister and president, have yet to be appointed.
The new leadership faces the task of continuing economic reforms while combating wide-scale corruption.
There have been several high-profile scandals in recent months. Several senior transport ministry officials have been accused of using state funds to bet on football matches and buy luxury cars. Transport Minister Dao Dinh Binh resigned over the issue earlier in April. Frontrunners
The congress meets every five years to set the country's future policies. Delegates had already elected a new Central Committee on Sunday. But the announcement of more senior positions was reserved until the closing day of the congress on Tuesday.
The names of the new elite 14-member Politburo were first read out, and then Nong Duc Manh's name was given as general secretary.
Other key roles, including those of president, prime minister and chairman of the National Assembly have yet to be decided, but correspondents say they should become clear once the national assembly, Vietnam's parliament, meets next month.
The frontrunner for the premier's job is Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, while Ho Chi Minh City's party chief Nguyen Minh Triet and Minister of Public Security Le Hong Anh have both been slated as likely presidential candidates. The congress was held in Ba Dinh Hall, where a golden bust of the country's revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh takes centre stage.
But correspondents said the gathering was overshadowed by recent corruption scandals. Last week Nong Duc Manh warned party members that the issue was threatening "the survival of our regime". He stressed the party aimed to "build a clean and strong leadership and management, to overcome a huge risk". | Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration | April 2006 | ['(BBC)'] |
Iran and world powers, including the United States, Russia, and China, begin talks about Iran's nuclear program. | ISTANBUL — Iran and six world powers agreed Saturday to hold a new round of talks in Baghdad on May 23, Catherine Ashton, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, said after the first meeting in nearly 15 months on Tehran’s disputed nuclear program.
Ms. Ashton, speaking for the six nations, called the daylong meeting “constructive and useful” and said that “we want now to move to a sustained process of dialogue.” She gave no specifics on any proposals made during the sessions, but said that the six nations were satisfied that Iran was serious about negotiations that “will lead to concrete steps toward a comprehensive negotiated solution which restores international confidence in the exclusively peaceful nature of the Iranian nuclear program.”
Testing Iran’s willingness to negotiate seriously on its nuclear program was the purpose of this meeting, European and American officials said. That was a low bar to hurdle and represented no real breakthrough, and there were no negotiations here on specific steps or proposals. The lack of concrete detail is likely to lead to political criticism of President Obama as the presidential election campaign unfolds and will make the meeting in Iraq even more important.
The weeks until May 23 will be used by experts on both sides to draw up a concrete agenda for those talks, Ms. Ashton said.
A senior American official at the talks emphasized that this meeting was about testing Iran’s seriousness. “But dialogue is not sufficient for any sanction relief,” said the official, who, like others involved, spoke on the condition of anonymity as a matter of diplomatic practice. “There must be an urgent effort and concrete steps,” the official said, to restore confidence in Iran’s assertion that its program is not military.
“We believe there is a conducive atmosphere, but we need to test it,” and success in Baghdad is not at all guaranteed, the official added, repeating Mr. Obama’s warning that “the window for diplomacy is closing.”
A senior European diplomat at the talks said that “we’ve opened a box, and now we have to fill it.” The Iranians were serious and receptive, but in a sense, he said, “we’ve pushed the problem six weeks down the road,” and the six powers must work hard to shape the Baghdad agenda and decide what to do in response to possible Iranian actions. Although Iran said it would have new proposals, the diplomat said there were none, but rather a promise for a serious dialogue.
The leader of the Iranian delegation, Saeed Jalili, told reporters that there were important points of agreement as well as differences. He praised the “desire of the other side for dialogue and cooperation” and said that “we consider that as a positive sign,” compared with “the language of threats and pressure that do not work on the Iranian people.”
During the talks, Mr. Jalili held a 90-minute session with Ms. Ashton in which he argued that since Iran was cooperating with the International Atomic Energy Agency, sanctions should be lifted, but he was rebuffed, another European diplomat said.
Russia and China maintained a unified stance with the other four nations — the United States, Britain, France and Germany — and Russia was chosen to begin the discussion because of its relatively close ties to Iran. But after Mr. Jalili thanked Moscow for its support, the Russian delegate, Sergei Rybakov, said bluntly that “Russia doesn’t have to be thanked, but you need to do what we need you to do,” a senior European diplomat said.
The centerpiece for future talks, Ms. Ashton said, will be the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, which permits peaceful nuclear energy but requires strict oversight and monitoring by the atomic agency, which has been rebuffed in its efforts to investigate possible evidence of Iranian efforts to make a nuclear bomb.
“We want now to move to a sustained process of serious dialogue, where we can take urgent practical steps to build confidence and lead on to compliance by Iran with all its international obligations,” Ms. Ashton said. “In our efforts to do so, we will be guided by the principle of the step-by-step approach and reciprocity.”
The agreement to hold another meeting is without question a success, given that a failure here would make the chances of a military strike on Iran more likely. But putting off any hard decisions until the next meeting will increase pressure on both sides to make progress there, especially on the question of Iran’s growing stockpile of uranium enriched to 20 percent purity, only a few steps from bomb grade.
That stockpile is the most urgent matter to settle, American officials have said. They want to get Iran to agree to stop enriching to 20 percent purity and to export its 20-percent stockpile, in order to buy more time for diplomacy and reassure Israel that Iran is not close to being able to make a nuclear weapon.
Mr. Jalili said Saturday that Iran needed 20 percent uranium for its medical reactor, on which 150,000 people depend. In previous meetings, the West has offered to supply Iran with the necessary fuel for the reactor.
Michael Adler, who works on the Iranian nuclear issue at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, said that in Baghdad the six powers “are going to have to make clear their primary concerns, why they need to be answered, and lay out an effective timeline for moving forward.” In particular, he said, there is urgent concern over enrichment to 20 percent and expanding enrichment at the site in Fordo, Iran, “which is almost impregnable since it is under a mountain and which is fanning tensions,” while there is plenty of room for more centrifuges in a plant in Natanz.
Other issues are likely to include complete access for energy agency inspectors and acceptance by Iran of its obligation to give an early warning of its intention to build nuclear facilities.
Iran denies that its nuclear program has any military aim, but the members of the United Nations Security Council and the international energy agency, which is charged with inspecting nuclear programs, have expressed doubts.
Iran is under four sets of United Nations sanctions for refusing to stop uranium enrichment, which can be used both to make reactor fuel and the fissile core of nuclear warheads.
Iranian officials said they had rejected an American suggestion that the two sides hold a bilateral meeting, which would be the first since October 2009. | Diplomatic Talks _ Diplomatic_Negotiation_ Summit Meeting | April 2012 | ['(New York Times)'] |
Militants ambush a convoy carrying counter-terrorism judge Aftab Afridi, killing him and three members of his family, in Swabi, KP, Pakistan. | Gunmen killed an anti-terrorism court judge and his three family members in northwestern Pakistan on Sunday evening, police said.
Aftab Afridi, the slain judge, and his family were traveling to the capital Islamabad when their vehicle was ambushed by the assailants near Swabi district, located some 51 miles from Peshawar, the capital of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkwa province, which lies near the border with Afghanistan.
According to the district police chief Muhammad Shoaib, the judge, his wife, son, and daughter were killed in the ambush.
Two bodyguards of the judge were also injured in the ambush.
The attackers managed to flee.
The slain judge was hearing several terrorism related cases as the lead judge of an anti-terrorism court in the scenic Swat valley, once the hotbed of militancy.
The police are investigating the possible motives behind the attack, Shoaib told reporters, adding that the incident seems to be the outcome of an "old enmity".
The judge's family, according to him, have accused their rivals of being involved in the attack.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Imran Khan condemned the incident on Twitter, assuring the family that the perpetrators of this "gruesome" act will be apprehended and dealt with full "severity of the law." | Armed Conflict | April 2021 | ['(AA)'] |
Australian artist Ben Quilty wins the Archibald Prize for his portrait of artist Margaret Olley. | NSW artist Ben Quilty has won Australia's most prestigious portraiture prize, the Archibald, with his painting of esteemed artist Margaret Olley.
Quilty was chosen from more than 800 entries and 41 finalists to win the $50,000 prize, now in its 90th year.
Born in Sydney in 1973, Quilty was named runner-up in the 2009 Archibald and has been a finalist six times.
He embraced Olley after he was awarded the prize at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney.
Quilty said he first met the elderly artist when she was a guest judge for the 2002 Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship, which he won.
"It's quite moving to be here today," he said, adding that Olley had been a "very maternal figure to me, but most of all a friend".
Olley told reporters she had turned down Quilty's request to sit for him for years.
"I kept on saying no, and I said 'until you get over this thing you have with death, you must start celebrating life'," the frail 88-year-old said.
"I'm proud for him."
Quilty says Olley's support has been amazing.
"It's been such an amazing experience for me to have over the last eight years. To know someone like that, for her to give so freely to me," he said.
"She doesn't hold anything back. She's very direct and very honest with her opinions.
"If she doesn't like what I'm doing, she tells me to my face and I think to be a good artist you have to take those comments on in a really positive way."
Olley says she is not biased when she says Quilty's painting was the best.
"I told Ben the best painting doesn't always win. This year it has," she said.
"I saw them all on television the other night and I thought Ben Quilty is the winner in my estimation."
Quilty says his wife was certain he would win the Archibald this year.
"I told her that's seven years in a row now," he said.
Waiting for the call on Friday morning had been "nerve-wracking", he said.
Quilty, who is based in the NSW Southern Highlands, also won the 2009 Doug Moran National Portrait Prize.
His winning entry was a portrayal of singer Jimmy Barnes in oils and aerosol.
This year's Archibald finalists included previous winners Del Kathryn Barton, with her portrait of actress Cate Blanchett and her three sons, Craig Ruddy's picture of Olympian Cathy Freeman and Nicholas Harding's portrait of Hugo Weaving.
All finalists will be on display at the Art Gallery of New South Wales until June.
Last year Melbourne-based artist Sam Leach won the Archibald, with a compact portrait of musician Tim Minchin.
In other art news, Richard Goodwin was awarded the 2011 Wynne Prize for his painting Co-isolated Slave.
The $20,000 Sulman prize for best landscape went to Peter Smeeth for The Artist's Fate, while Graham Fransella won the 2011 Trustee's Watercolour Prize with Tree.
| Awards ceremony | April 2011 | ['(The Canberra Times)', '[permanent dead link]', '(AAP via ABC News)'] |
Elections in Papua New Guinea: Bougainville in Papua New Guinea begins the first elections of its autonomous government. (National, Papua New Guinea) | The Pacific island of Bougainville is voting for its first ever autonomous government. The poll is being seen as a test for a UN-brokered peace deal, which ended over a decade of separatist fighting. The final day of polling is on 2 June.
What is the background?
Bougainville is the largest of the Solomon Islands and a province of Papua New Guinea (PNG).
The separatist struggle began in 1989. Many Bougainvilleans were angry at environmental damage from the Australian-owned Panguna copper mine and a lack of local benefit from mining revenue. The Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA) fought against PNG forces and pro-government militias until the Bougainville Peace Agreement was signed in August 2001. Thousands were reported to have died.
The deal guaranteed a referendum on independence in 10-15 years, promised more autonomy in the interim, and set out a plan for weapons' disposal. In December 2004, PNG's parliament approved a Bougainville constitution, laying the ground for elections. What is at stake?
Voters will chose a president and 39 representatives - one for each of 33 constituencies, plus 6 others, two for each of Bougainville's three regions. There are polling stations throughout PNG for Bougainvilleans to vote. Postal voting is also allowed. Ten international observers have been invited. Who is standing?
There are five candidates for president:
John Momis. Resigned as Bougainville governor in April to contest the election. A former Catholic priest and an MP for 34 years. Served briefly as PNG's deputy prime minister in 1985. Acted as negotiator between PNG's government and Bougainville separatists. Wants the autonomous government to succeed. Heads the New Bougainville Party.
Joseph Kabui. A former leader of the Bougainville Revolutionary Army. Now says the peace process provides the most "practicable, viable option" for the island. President of the Bougainville People's Congress Party.
James Tanis: Currently Bougainville peace minister and vice-president of the Bougainville People's Congress Party. Launched the Bougainville Independence Movement in April. Reportedly offered the party leadership to rebel leader Francis Ona, in a bid to bring him into mainstream politics.
The other two are: Joel Banam, chairman of the Leitana Council of Elders, a pro-administration body during the fighting, and Bartholomew Kigina, from Buin in South Bougainville.
A total of 235 candidates will contest the 33 constituency seats in the House of Representatives. Fifty-three are running for the six regional seats.
Are there security concerns?
One question is whether rebel leader Francis Ona will disrupt the polls. Ona is the leader of the Me'ekamui Movement, a breakaway faction of the Bougainville Revolutionary Army. The faction boycotted the peace process. He recently came out of hiding and maintains Bougainville is already an independent state, so elections are unnecessary. He has demanded the withdrawal of the Australian and PNG presence in Bougainville.
But there have been reports of splits in his group, with many of his followers choosing to endorse the peace process. Reports also say the Me'ekamui Movement has given an assurance it will not disrupt polling.
Has there been trouble so far?
Youths burned electoral rolls in South Bougainville in March, in what has been widely seen as a local dispute rather than a bid to derail the election by the Me'ekamui faction.
Presidential hopeful Joseph Kabui and two legislative candidates from his party were held up by members of a rival party on Buka Island in early May. Local leaders condemned the "isolated incident" and apologised. The head of the UN observer mission, Tor Stenbock, has warned that a failure to comply with the weapons disposal schedule could jeopardize the election process.
| Government Job change - Election | May 2005 | ['(Radio Australia)', '(BBC)'] |
A car bomb attack on a police checkpoint in Baghdad kills at least 15 people and injures 40 others. | At least 15 people have been killed in a suicide car bomb attack on a police checkpoint in Iraq's capital Baghdad, officials say.
They say more than 40 people were injured when the bomber detonated the vehicle - an oil tanker laden with explosives - at the checkpoint in the south of the capital.
No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack.
So-called Islamic State has recently carried out similar attacks in Iraq.
Wednesday's attack comes as Iraq forces are continuing a major offensive to recapture the city of Mosul - the last IS urban stronghold in the country.
Supported by US-led coalition air strikes and military advisers, the Iraqi army has managed to retake large parts of the northern city and its surrounding area. | Armed Conflict | March 2017 | ['(BBC)'] |
The French Senate approves the reworded autonomy statute for French Polynesia. | Earlier this month a joint commission of the French National Assembly and the Senate agreed that the territory's contribution to France's plan to become a nuclear power was involuntary.
The original text raising the French Polynesian contribution had been cleared by the Senate but in April the Assembly suggested that its wording was insulting.
The Assembly then changed it to say that French Polynesia was made to contribute to the weapons tests.
The Senate has approved the revised text which will now go to the French National Assembly.
Two months ago, the French Polynesian president Edouard Fritch said the main point to revise the statute was to calm domestic and international opinion about the weapons test legacy.
France carried out 193 tests in French Polynesia between 1966 and 1996.
The amended autonomy statute for French Polynesia has been changed by the French National Assembly after being adopted by the French Senate.
There is new opposition to the amended autonomy statute for French Polynesia which is to be debated in the French Assembly overnight.
The French Senate has voted in favour of a revision of French Polynesia's autonomy statute.
The French Polynesian government says it's imperative France's recognition of its nuclear legacy is included in the territory's autonomy statute.
France has decided to exclude its overseas territories such as French Polynesia from the general debate to confront the country's social and economic crisis. | Government Policy Changes | May 2019 | ['(Radio New Zealand)'] |
315,000 demonstrators in Barcelona demand the freedom of jailed separatist leaders and freedom of speech. | More than 300,000 people are estimated to have taken to the streets of Barcelona to call for the return of the 16 Catalan leaders who are in prison or have fled the country in the aftermath of last October’s unilateral independence referendum.
Sunday’s mass demonstration, which was called by the two main Catalan pro-independence groups and backed by the regional branches of Spain’s two biggest unions, took place under the slogan “For rights and freedoms, for democracy and cohesion, we want you home!”
Police put attendance at 315,000 while the organisers said 750,000 people had turned out to take part in the protest, with the city’s streets once again filled with people dressed in yellow clutching pro-independence estelada flags.
The former regional president, Carles Puigdemont, who fled to Belgium at the end of October and is on bail in Germany, tweeted that the march was “a great civic and democratic demonstration”, adding: “We are European citizens who just want to live in peace, free and without fear.”
Elsa Artadi, a spokeswoman for Puigdemont’s Together for Catalonia party, said the event put paid to suggestions that the independence movement was running out of steam.
“We’re once again showing all those who say that the movement is demobilising, or that people are tired, that things aren’t that way,” she said. “We’re here today because there are 16 people in prison or in exile for defending political ideas that represent 2 million people.”
Alex de Ferrer, a 50-year-old IT specialist, told Agence France Presse that he had decided to join the protest as jailing separatist leaders “only serves to manufacture separatists”.
While conceding that the arrests of prominent Catalan leaders on possible charges of rebellion, sedition and misuse of public funds had left the independence movement “decapitated”, he said the setback was only temporary.
The involvement of the Catalan branches of the Workers’ Commissions and General Workers’ Union was not universally endorsed as some members oppose the region’s secession.
But the regional secretary general of the latter defended the move. “The majority of Catalans, regardless of their political position, agree that pre-trial jail is not justified,” said Camil Ros. “What we as labour unions are asking for now is dialogue.”
The protest came almost six months after the Spanish prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, responded to the illegal referendum and subsequent unilateral declaration of independence by sacking Puigdemont’s government and taking direct control of the region.
Rajoy also called elections in December, a move that backfired after the pro-independence bloc retained its parliamentary majority. Repeated attempts to form a new Catalan government have come to nothing as Puigdemont remains in self-imposed exile and two other presidential candidates – Jordi Sànchez and Jordi Turull – are on remand.
Despite the huge turnout and the talk of cohesion and coexistence, polls suggest Catalans remain deeply and almost evenly divided over the notion of seceding from Spain. While the overwhelming majority of people in the region favour a legal referendum agreed between Madrid and Barcelona, a recent survey found that support for independence dropped from 48.7% last October to 40.8% in February this year.
An anti-independence rally held in Barcelona last November attracted hundreds of thousands of protesters. Police put attendance at 350,000; organisers said 930,000 people took part. | Protest_Online Condemnation | April 2018 | ['(The Guardian)'] |
Electoral authorities in Egypt set the first round of the presidential election for 26–27 May. | The first round of Egypt's presidential poll has been set for 26-27 May, officials say, days after army chief Field Marshal Abdul Fattah al-Sisi resigned and announced his candidature.
State TV said nominations would be accepted from Monday until 20 April.
Abdul Fattah al-Sisi led the overthrow of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in July after mass opposition protests.
Correspondents say he is likely to win the presidency, given his popularity and the lack of any serious rivals.
If he does not win more than 50% in the first round of voting, a second round will be held on 16-17 June.
Egyptians abroad will vote between 15 and 19 May, state media report.
The only other person to declare his candidacy so far has been Nasserist politician Hamdeen Sabahi, who came third in the last presidential elections in 2012.
If Mr Sisi does become president, he will be the latest in a line of Egyptian rulers drawn from the military; a line only briefly broken during President Morsi's year in office.
Human rights groups say the military-backed authorities have displayed increasing hostility to independent media and to political opponents.
Since Mr Morsi's overthrow more than 1,000 people have been killed and thousands of members of Mr Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood have been detained in a crackdown by the interim authorities, who have designated the Islamist movement a terrorist group. | Government Job change - Election | March 2014 | ['(BBC)'] |
A gunman kills two of his family members and two responding sheriff's deputies during a 13-hour standoff in Boone, North Carolina. The perpetrator later commits suicide at the scene. | BOONE, N.C. (AP) A married couple found dead along with a suspected gunman after a 13-hour standoff at a North Carolina home were members of the same family, a sheriff’s office said Thursday. Two deputies also were fatally shot in the home. The Watauga County Sheriff’s Office said George Wyatt Ligon, 58, and Michelle Annette Ligon, 61, were killed Wednesday inside their home in Boone. A sheriff’s statement said the suspect, Isaac Alton Barnes, 32, also was found dead at the home and had a large number of weapons.
Barnes was identified as Michelle Ligon’s son and George Ligon’s stepson. Authorities said Barnes was suspected in the fatal shootings of two deputies who had been dispatched to the home Wednesday. Sgt. Chris Ward died at a hospital in Johnson City, Tennessee, after Wednesday’s shooting while K-9 Officer Logan Fox died at the scene, the sheriff’s office said.
Watauga County Sheriff Len Hagaman said family members had expressed concerns about the large number of weapons in Barnes’ possession. The sheriff added that he believed Barnes may have been contemplating an attack in public.
“There was familial concern that he might try to do something and he had evidently a fairly large cache of weapons and he was at the house, which we didn’t think he would be,” the sheriff said.
“I’m convinced that the attitude of the suspect was such that he was planning this, not particularly at the officers, but possibly the public in general,” Hagaman said. “The officers, they thought they were going into one situation, and the perpetrator, the suspect was there.”
A Boone Police officer, a Boone firefighter and an Appalachian State University police officer also were shot at during an initial attempt to rescue the deputies, and the Boone police officer was hit, but he escaped injury because of his Kevlar helmet, Hagaman said.
Morganton Department of Public Safety Maj. Ryan Lander told The News Herald just before 11 p.m. that the suspect appeared to have killed himself. “This is an incredibly tragic situation and our thoughts and prayers are with everyone involved as well as their families and our community,” Hagaman said earlier. “I greatly appreciate the tremendous support we are receiving from law enforcement agencies across the region and the state.” The sheriff’s office said officers from approximately 15 law enforcement agencies had surrounded the home during the standoff. Other people living nearby were evacuated or told to shelter in place as it dragged on throughout the day and into Wednesday night.
Clarence Wilson, 78, was on his porch Wednesday when deputies pulled up in front of the house across the street. Gunfire erupted after the deputies arrived, Wilson said.
“Then they told me to get back in the house and stay,” he said.
Wilson said he later saw officers pull a man from the house.
“I don’t know if it was a deputy or who it was,” he said. “I was just worried about keeping myself safe.”
Wilson said he heard a second barrage of gunfire around noon Wednesday as the house remained surrounded. Afterward, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said he spoke with the sheriff to offer support and express his condolences.
“We grieve for Sgt. Chris Ward, K-9 Deputy Logan Fox and the entire Watauga County law enforcement community today,” Cooper tweeted. “These horrific shootings that claimed lives and loved ones show the ever-present danger law enforcement can encounter in the line of duty.” | Armed Conflict | April 2021 | ['(AP)'] |
People in Pakistan protest in Karachi over the U.S. killing of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps general Qasem Soleimani. | KARACHI/ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Protestors clashed with police in Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi on Sunday, as thousands of demonstrators attempted to march toward the U.S. consulate to protest the killing of Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani.
Soleimani, a powerful Iranian military commander and the architect of Iran’s spreading military influence in the Middle East, was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Iraq on Friday.
In Karachi, thousands of Shi’ite protestors, including women and children, carrying images of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as well as of Soleimani, marched and chanted slogans of “Death to America,” and “Death to Israel.”
The protest was organized by a diverse group of Shi’ite Muslim organizations.
Pakistani security forces blocked the road leading to the U.S. consulate in Karachi using shipping containers. However, some protestors attempted to push through the security cordon and climb over the containers, leading to scuffles with security forces.
Police were able to push protestors back and prevent them from getting beyond the barricades. Following a brief period of tension on Sunday evening, the demonstration was called off.
Iran, with a Shi’ite Muslim majority, enjoys a large support base in Pakistan, its neighbor to the east. Though Pakistan is a Sunni Muslim-majority country, it has a fairly large Shi’ite population.
“Pakistan should not in any way allow its soil to be used against Iran,” a senior cleric, Shahanshah Naqvi, said while addressing the protest rally.
A smaller rally was also held in the capital, Islamabad, where protestors burnt U.S. and Israeli flags.
It dispersed without any violence.
Earlier, the spokesperson of Pakistan’s Army told local media the country would not allow its soil to be used against anyone, referring to speculation about an imminent military standoff between the United States and Iran.
He quoted Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan and the Army chief as saying they wanted a peaceful resolution to all disputes.
| Protest_Online Condemnation | January 2020 | ['(Reuters)'] |
WeWork co–founder Adam Neumann agrees to resign as chief executive officer of the office rental firm amid investors increasing concern about the firm's true market value which has led to the company postponing its initial public offering. | WeWork's Adam Neumann has agreed to step down as chief executive of the trendy office rental firm saying it's in the "best interests" of the company.
The decision is effective immediately, the firm said. He will remain with the company as non-executive chairman. Scrutiny of his leadership had "become a significant distraction," it said. The move comes after WeWork's plans for a stock market listing ran into trouble, with investors raising concerns about losses and governance.
"While our business has never been stronger, in recent weeks, the scrutiny directed toward me has become a significant distraction, and I have decided that it is in the best interest of the company to step down as chief executive," Mr Neumann said in a statement. WeWork's board of directors said it had named WeWork's Artie Minson, formerly co-president and chief financial officer, and Sebastian Gunningham, formerly vice chairman, co-chief executives of the company.
Mr Neumann built WeWork in his own image, creating a buzzy, multi-billion dollar company known for its co-working spaces, free-flowing alcohol and a stated mission to "elevate the world's consciousness".
Since 2010, the firm has expanded from a single office in New York City to more than 500 locations in 29 countries. Japanese investment giant Softbank valued the company at $47bn (£37bn) in its most recent investment round.
But Mr Neumann's brash charisma, which once attracted investors, emerged as a liability as WeWork decided to sell its shares on the public market. Reports suggest the firm's expected valuation had sunk to between $10bn and $12bn.
Reports surfaced detailing erratic decision making and the ways his hard-partying habits had infused corporate culture.
Perhaps most alarming to potential investors were the ways Mr Neumann had blurred the lines between his own personal finances and WeWork.
For example, over the years, the company had been a tenant in some properties that he owned; and Mr Neumann, who had voting control of the company, had also secured personal loans using company stock as collateral.
"I think many investors are uncomfortable with Neumann's relationship with the company," Sam Reynolds, a technology analyst, told the BBC.
Mr Neumann agreed to modify some of those arrangements as it became clear that he was losing support from major backers, such as Softbank. For example, he returned the $5.9m in stock he received for selling WeWork the trademark "We" and agreed to give WeWork any profit from properties he owns that the company leases. His wife Rebekah, a WeWork co-founder who had been given the power to identify a successor, also had her role reduced.
Mr Neumann has reportedly also agreed to significantly reduce his voting powers. But even that move and his role change may not assuage concerns about the company, which lost nearly $2bn last year. Market sentiment has turned, after shares in other high-profile, loss-making start-ups such as ride-hailing apps Uber and Lyft, have crashed following flotation.
And critics have long complained that WeWork's financials don't make sense, pointing to the firm's losses and the much lower valuations of similar companies such as rival IWG, which used to be known as Regus.
WeWork "is a property company trying to sprinkle tech company fairy dust over itself," said Richard Kramer, founder of Arete Research. "That won't work with investors." The company was relying on its stock market launch to unlock new loans, which means its delay could spell trouble.
Mr Reynolds said he expected the company to remain privately held for the foreseeable future.
"I think the IPO will be delayed indefinitely," he said. "WeWork certainly has a future, but not as a public company."
Born in Israel, Mr Neumann served in the Israeli Navy before moving to New York to "get a great job, have tons of fun and make a lot of money", as he put it in a 2017 TechCrunch interview. He enrolled at Baruch College at the City University of New York in 2002, but dropped out just shy of graduation to go into business. One of his early ventures was a baby clothing company that evolved into the luxury Egg Baby brand.
Later, he and business partner Miguel McKelvey, an architect, renovated an office space and sublet the property. They sold the business but the idea grew into WeWork. | Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | September 2019 | ['(BBC)', '(The New York Times)'] |
Joseph Clancy, Director of the United States Secret Service, announces his retirement effective March 4. | WASHINGTON — Secret Service Director Joseph Clancy announced his retirement Tuesday, two years after President Barack Obama appointed him to right the then-troubled agency.
"I am announcing I will retire from the Secret Service effective March 4,'' Clancy said in a message to staffers. "President Trump and his administration have been very supportive of this agency and of me personally which makes this a very difficult decision. My love for this Agency has only complicated the decision further, but for personal reasons it is time. I look forward to spending time with my family.''
Clancy, a career agent who headed the organization's Presidential Protection Division, was called out of retirement more than two years ago after the service was rocked by a series of high-profile incidents of misconduct and security breaches, including a fence-jumper armed with a knife who made it into the presidential residence before being tackled by agents.
In the fallout, then-Director Julia Pierson, the first woman to lead the agency, was forced to resign.
In selecting Clancy, Obama defied the recommendation of a bipartisan White House security panel, which recommended that a new director come from outside the agency.
During his brief tenure, Clancy moved to stabilize the service while presiding over the most demanding period in the organization's history. Beginning in 2015, with Pope Francis' visit to the United States, through the raucous election season and culminating with last month's inauguration, the service has been challenged by an unrelenting workload.
"The Secret Service is stretched to and, in many cases, beyond its limits,'' the investigative panel concluded following Pierson's resignation. "Perhaps the service's greatest strength--the commitment of its personnel to sacrifice and do the job no matter what--has had unintended consequences.''
Just prior to Election Day, USA TODAY reported that at least 1,000 agents, about a third of the workforce, had already maxed out annual overtime and salary allowances, a consequence of the contentious political season's demands.
The disclosure prompted new legislation that ensured payment of previously uncovered overtime. The agency is now in the midst of an effort to add more than 1,000 agents and uniformed officers to the ranks by next fall.
Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, who led reviews of the agency as chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Tuesday acknowledged Clancy's "dedicated service'' but called on Trump to select a successor from outside the agency.
Chaffetz had previously called on Obama to make an outside appointment before Clancy's selection.
"He took on a difficult task of returning to and taking over an agency plagued with mismanagement, misconduct and security lapses,'' Chaffetz said of Clancy. "Under his leadership, the Secret Service has worked with this committee to implement detailed recommendations'' made by the panel's staff.
Virginia Rep. Bob Goodlatte, the Republican chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, lauded the service's work during the busy campaign season, characterizing the protection effort as "stellar.''
"He also helped restore professionalism at the agency after a series of security lapses and incidents of misconduct over the past few years,'' Goodlatte said. "I have the utmost respect for Director Clancy and his leadership.'' | Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | February 2017 | ['(USA Today)'] |
India abolishes larger banknotes in a bold and unexpected move to curb circulation of counterfeit notes and to fight black money. | Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced that the 500 ($7.60) and 1,000 rupee banknotes will be withdrawn from the financial system overnight.
The surprise move, announced on Tuesday evening, is part of a crackdown on corruption and illegal cash holdings. Banks will be closed on Wednesday and ATM machines will not be working.
India is overwhelmingly a cash economy. New 500 and 2,000 rupee denomination notes will be issued to replace those removed from circulation. "Black money and corruption are the biggest obstacles in eradicating poverty," Mr Modi said.
People will be able to exchange their old notes for new ones at banks over the next 50 days but they will no longer be legal tender.
The announcement prompted people across the country to rush to ATMs that offer 100 rupee notes in an attempt not to be left without cash over the next few days.
The move is designed to lock out money that is unaccounted for - known as "black money " - which may have been acquired corruptly, or be being withheld from the tax authorities. Finance Secretary Shaktikant Das warned people with large stashes of hidden cash that banks would closely monitor the exchange of old notes for new ones.
Mr Modi has set his stall out as a modernising, anti-corruption crusade. Scrapping notes that are very, very common is his biggest offensive yet. Most transactions in daily life are in cash and 45% of those are in notes in denominations of 500 rupees and over.
Not a single news organisation seemed to know this was coming. I saw one news anchor produce a wad of 500s from his own pocket on air wondering whether these were now just pieces of paper - and also wondering if the bars of Delhi would see a sudden surge of business.
It has caught the country completely off guard. There will also be limits on cash point withdrawals over the next couple of weeks.
The 500 and 1,000 rupee notes are the highest denomination notes in the country and are extremely common in India. Airports, railway stations and hospitals will only accept them until 11 November.
People will be able to exchange their money at banks between 10 November and 30 December.
Mr Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party came into power in 2014 promising to bring billions of dollars of black market money into the country's financial system. His government is half way through its term of office.
The announcement comes just over a month after the government raised nearly $10bn through a tax amnesty for Indians to declare hidden income and assets.
The BBC's Justin Rowlatt in Delhi says the issue of "black money" is a huge problem in India and the latest move is the prime minister's big demonstration that he is taking it seriously.
The idea is to lock out money that is unaccounted for and make it visible for tax purposes - banks will be happy to exchange a few thousand rupees, but will be asking questions of those who turn up with hundreds of thousands or millions in currency.
There are no precise figures available but experts say the government's move could be "a very powerful measure" to curb "black money". IIFL Holdings Ltd Chairman Nirmal Jain told Bloomberg that it will have "a deflationary impact in general and more specifically on real estate prices - making homes affordable".
It seems not. An individual can put as much as he or she likes into the bank - but withdrawals are limited so the banking system may end up being flooded with cash.
Government guidelines say it is possible to exchange 4,000 rupees - but it is not clear if this is per day or in total.
Critics say the new rules may make it especially difficult for people who choose to keep their cash at home rather than in a bank account and for people with large rupee cash reserves who live abroad.
If there is a legitimate explanation for the cash, the authorities say, it will be possible to exchange it.
Cash points will close on Wednesday and in some places also on Thursday - a development that it seems may cause cash blockages or queues at ATMs.
It's a bold step because many people who voted for Mr Modi were small traders who overwhelmingly did their business in cash.
Our correspondent says these are people who probably do have a few hundred thousand rupees - a few thousand dollars - stored under their beds and will have problems when they turn up in the bank on Thursday trying to change their money.
The move leaves a lot of uncertainty about the Indian economy at least in the short term.
| Government Policy Changes | November 2016 | ['(BBC)', '(NDTV)'] |
International internet group Anonymous protests censorship by targeting Chinese websites, including government bureaus in several Chinese cities. | China is struggling to restore several government websites that international hacking group Anonymous says it attacked in an apparent protest against Chinese internet restrictions.
On a Twitter account established in late March, Anonymous China listed the websites it says it hacked over the last few days.
They include government bureaux in several Chinese cities, including in Chengdu, a provincial capital in south-west China. Some of the sites were still blocked today, with error messages shown.
Anonymous activists have defaced websites around the world. They are engaged in political causes, including opposition to the global clampdown on file-sharing sites and defence of the secret-spilling site WikiLeaks.
Some websites that Anonymous said it attacked were working and government officials denied the sites had ever been hacked.
China’s National Computer Network Emergency Response technical team was not available for immediate comment.
In a message left on one of the hacked Chinese sites - cdcbd.gov.cn, a home page for Chengdu’s business district - the hackers expressed anger with the Chinese government for restrictions placed on the internet.
“Dear Chinese government, you are not infallible, today websites are hacked, tomorrow it will be your vile regime that will fall,” the English-language message read.
“What you are doing today to your Great People, tomorrow will be inflicted to you. With no mercy.”
The message also offered instructions on how to circumvent China’s restrictions on its internet.
The government tries to block internet users in China from seeing social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Information on politically sensitive topics is often blocked. | Protest_Online Condemnation | April 2012 | ['(Al Jazeera)', '(AP via The Irish Times)'] |
There are unconfirmed reports of another attack at the Jizan Airport, although there has been no confirmation. | One person died and seven people were wounded in a Saudi Arabia airport attack by Houthi militia, Reuters reported.
Yemen's Houthi movement, which is aligned with Iran, attacked the airport on Sunday night in Abha, a city in southern Saudi Arabia. Saudi state television confirmed that a Syrian resident was killed and seven civilians were wounded in Abha. Flights have resumed at the airport.
According to the Houthi-run Al-Masirah TV, Houthi rebels used drones to target airports in Abha and Jizan. An attack on the Jizan airport has not been confirmed.
Since 2015, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Sunni Muslim allies have been fighting against the Houthis in Yemen. Last November, the Houthis said they would halt drone and missile attacks on Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and their Yemeni allies in response to a demand from the United Nations.
However, the past few weeks have seen increased missile and drone attacks in the past weeks, coinciding with tensions between Iran and Arab states that are allied with the US.
On June 13, Houthis also had launched drone attacks on Abha Airport, wounding 26 people. And in May, the Houthis launched a drone attack on an airport in Najran, which is near Yemen's border. | Armed Conflict | June 2019 | ['(Business Insider)'] |
Samoa confirms that 20 persons, all but one under the age of four, have died of measles, and 11 more are in critical condition. Authorities recorded 1,644 cases since the outbreak began last month. | The death toll from Samoa's measles epidemic has risen to 20, with 202 cases recorded in the past day.
The government said 147 people were currently in hospital because of the measles, including 11 children who were in a critical condition.
The majority of them are at the main hospital in the capital, Apia.
It said there had been 1644 cases of measles recorded in the country since the outbreak started last month.
Tu'ivale Luamanuvae of Lauli'i Village beside the grave of his three children who died of measles.
The country is in a state of emergency, with schools closed, a mass vaccination campaign underway, and public gatherings restricted.
Nearly 89 percent of the cases are on the main island, Upolu, and restrictions are in place on travel between the two islands, including a ban on children under the age of 19.
All but one of the recorded deaths have been children; nine under the age of one, and 10 between the ages of one and four.
Pregnant women in Samoa who are unvaccinated against measles have been told to stop going to work, as part of the latest round of government orders.
Samoa's government is warning those trying to discourage people from getting measles vaccinations to stop immediately.
Samoa remains open for business despite the country's measles epidemic, says Samoa Tourism's acting chief executive.
Samoa's government has launched a mass measles immunisation campaign nationwide.
New Zealand's Minister for Pacific Peoples is warning holiday travel to Samoa may worsen the measles epidemic. Audio | Disease Outbreaks | November 2019 | ['(RNZ)'] |
Rising floodwaters are causing problems in the northern Philippines as Typhoon Koppu is set to linger over the island of Luzon until Wednesday. Eleven people have died so far. | Heavy rain and floods are affecting dozens of villages, after Typhoon Koppu swept through the northern Philippines.
The slow-moving weather system has killed at least two people and forced tens of thousands from their homes.
Troops have been deployed to help residents trapped on rooftops, but are struggling to access more remote areas.
Koppu has now been downgraded to a severe tropical storm by the Japanese Meteorological Agency, which is responsible for naming and tracking it.
However, the Philippines' own weather agency, which calls the weather system Lando, is still characterising it as a typhoon.
Despite weakening, Koppu is expected to keep dumping rain on the country for a considerable time to come. Some forecasts suggest it may not be until Wednesday that it moves past the Philippines and on to Taiwan.
Unlike previous tropical cyclones, the threat from typhoon Koppu is not so much from the wind but from the massive amount of rain. More than a metre of rainfall is forecast in just a few days in Luzon province. That is double what London gets in an entire year. In the south of Luzon, it has brought severe flooding with whole villages under water. But perhaps more dangerous are massive landslides. The fear is that with the ground heavy and saturated with water, whole hillsides could collapse. We visited one small community near Burgos where 70 families are now living in a makeshift evacuation centre because of the fear the hills on which they live could collapse. Typhoon Koppu made landfall near the town of Casiguran on the main island of Luzon on Sunday morning, bringing winds of close to 200km/h (124mph) and cutting power to vast areas.
A teenager was killed by a fallen tree in Manila which also injured four others. A concrete wall also collapsed in the town of Subic, northwest of Manila, killing a 62-year-old woman, officials said.
By dawn on Monday, wind speeds were down to 150 km/h (93 mph) in the northern town of Santiago, according to the state weather service.
But floodwaters are preventing even military vehicles reaching many of the worst-hit villages, and rescuers report a shortage of boats.
"We haven't reached many areas. About 60% to 70% of our town is flooded, some as deep as three metres," said Henry Velarde, vice mayor of Jaen, a town in Nueva Ecija province.
"There are about 20,000 residents in isolated areas that need food and water."
While the Philippines is no stranger to typhoons and tropical storms, the slow-moving nature of Koppu means heavy rain will fall for longer than usual, bringing greater risk of flooding and landslides.
It is the second strongest storm to hit the archipelago this year.
Justin Morgan, Philippines country director for the charity Oxfam, told the BBC while evacuations for those still in the path of the typhoon was the most urgent task, "we can expect that there will be needs in terms of helping people recover their livelihoods as we know that many of the farmers would have lost their crops".
There are two typhoons in the west Pacific at the moment - Typhoon Champi sits just to the east of Koppu. The complex interaction between these two typhoons and the warm air within these storms helps to build a ridge of high pressure over Taiwan this weekend. It is this ridge that effectively traps typhoon Koppu over the Philippines for a number of days rather than it being able to turn away from the Philippines and out of harm's way to the South China Sea. In a different storm in the central Philippines, a passenger boat with 41 people on board has capsized, leaving seven dead and two missing, the coast guard said.
The accident is said to have happened as the boat was travelling to Guimaras province.
In 2013, Typhoon Haiyan tore through the Philippines causing major destruction and leaving more than 7,300 people dead or missing.
| Floods | October 2015 | ['(Lando in the Philippines)', '(BBC)', '(AP via Fox News)'] |
The Netflix "documentary" The White Helmets, a film about the Syrian Civil War, wins the Best Documentary Short.The cinematographer Khaled Khatib who is himself a member of the rebel-aligned group couldn't attend the ceremony because officials from the Department of Homeland Security discovered "derogatory information" about him. | Khatib is a member of the Syria Civil Defense, which Assad’s government has accused of faking footage.
This is a developing story.
The 40-minute documentary The White Helmets won the Oscar for Documentary Short on February 26, but two of the film’s subjects — one of whom also served as one of its three cinematographers — weren’t at the ceremony in Los Angeles. On Saturday, the Associated Press reported that the United States had refused entry to Syrian cinematographer Khaled Khatib, who was scheduled to arrive in Los Angeles on a Turkish Airlines flight from Istanbul the day before the awards. Khatib — who is himself a member of the Syrian Civil Defense, the group profiled in the film — was said to have been denied entry to the US after officials from the Department of Homeland Security said they had discovered “derogatory information” about him. Before leaving Istanbul, Khatib was detained by Turkish authorities, who said the US would now also require a passport waiver to allow him to enter the country. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told the AP that “a valid travel document is required for travel to the United States,” declining to provide further information.
Then, in a statement that Khatib posted to his Twitter account on Sunday, the Syrian Civil Defense said that its leader, Raed Saleh, needed to remain in the country instead of attending the Oscars because the “intense air strikes across the country mean he must focus on work inside Syria.” Khatib and Saleh had been previously issued visas to attend the ceremony. The statement went on to say that Khatib had planned to attend, but “was not able to travel to the Oscars due to his passport being cancelled by the Syrian regime, despite having been issued a US visa specifically to attend the awards ceremony.”
Later on Sunday, Khatib spoke with NBC News by phone, and said that Turkish officials had told him it was his visa that was canceled when he arrived at the airport on Tuesday. “Khatib said he wanted to attend the ceremony, but circumstances did not allow it, calling his experience ‘naseeb’— an Arabic expression meaning ‘fate,’” according to NBC’s story.
According to the Guardian, the Syrian government under President Bashar al-Assad of Syria has accused the Syria Civil Defense of being a front for al-Qaeda and “of faking footage of the aftermath of airstrikes for propaganda purposes.” The group has denied this charge.
The White Helmets (which is streaming on Netflix) takes its title from the colloquial name of the Syria Civil Defense, a group of ordinary Syrian men — former builders, tailors, and artisans — who work heroically and tirelessly to extract victims from beneath the rubble in places like Aleppo. The group was nominated for a Nobel Prize in 2016, and has saved more than 58,000 people since 2013. In a February 17 statement, Khatib had said, “It is so important that people see the film. It is important that people understand that Syria has people who want the same things they want: peace, jobs, family and to live without the fear of bombs. If we win this award, it will show people across Syria that people around the world support them. It will give courage to every volunteer who wakes up every morning to run towards bombs."
The volatile political situation around the globe has left its mark on the Oscars ceremony. In January, the celebrated Iranian director Asghar Farhadi, whose film The Salesman is nominated for Best Foreign Picture, announced that he would not attend the ceremony — even if he were afforded a visa to do so — in protest of the US’s immigration ban. The film’s star, Taraneh Alidoosti, stated that she would boycott as well.
And in a nearly unprecedented move, the five directors whose films are nominated for Best Foreign Picture penned a joint letter released on Friday, February 24, expressing “unanimous and emphatic disapproval of the climate of fanaticism and nationalism we see today in the U.S. and in so many other countries.” The signees are Farhadi, Maren Ade of Germany, Martin Zandervliet of Denmark, Hannes Holm of Sweden, and Martin Butler and Bentley Dean of Australia.
“Human rights are not something you have to apply for,” the directors wrote. “They simply exist — for everybody. For this reason, we dedicate this award to all the people, artists, journalists and activists who are working to foster unity and understanding, and who uphold freedom of expression and human dignity — values whose protection is now more important than ever.”
| Awards ceremony | February 2017 | ['(Vox)'] |
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