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Following the German federal election, 2005, Christian Democrat Angela Merkel will become the next Chancellor of Germany, replacing Social Democrat Gerhard Schröder, although Schröder's party will be the dominant party in the grand coalition. | Mrs Merkel confirmed the deal at a news conference and said a CDU-SPD "grand coalition" would have to create jobs and push through economic reforms.
Under the deal, the SPD will take eight ministerial posts, against a reported six for the CDU and their CSU allies.
It is unclear whether opponent Gerhard Schroeder will be in the coalition.
Both the former Chancellor Mr Schroeder and Mrs Merkel had laid claim to the chancellery after a tight election on 18 September.
The "grand coalition" deal must still be approved by both parties and parliament.
Hard bargaining
Further CDU-SPD coalition talks are being held. The two parties have already held three rounds of what they called exploratory talks.
NEW BUNDESTAG
1. Christian Democrats/Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU): 2262. Social Democrats (SPD): 2223. Free Democrats (FDP): 614. Left Party: 545. Greens: 51
Victory - but at a price
"We have set our aim to create a coalition that stands for new policies," Mrs Merkel said. "We want to work together for the people of this country."
Even if agreement has been reached, it will only be the start of a lengthy and more detailed negotiation on the small print of future government policy, the BBC's Ray Furlong reports. It all suggests just how difficult it might be for a "grand coalition" to govern Germany if it is indeed formed as anticipated.
Such a formation has been tried only once before in Germany's post-war history - in the 1960s.
Mrs Merkel said on Monday there was "no good alternative to a reform course in Germany".
Key SPD posts
A senior Social Democrat source quoted by Reuters news agency said the SPD was poised to fill the ministries of foreign affairs, finance, justice and labour.
The grand coalition may be a good thing for Germany as Ms Merkel can take the best policies from each party Gareth Lukey, Chester
Christian Social Union (CSU) chief and Bavarian leader Edmund Stoiber on Monday confirmed he would become the new economy minister.
While opinion polls in the run-up to September's poll had given Mrs Merkel a clear lead, her conservatives emerged just four seats ahead of Mr Schroeder's SPD when the votes were counted.
Denied a clear majority, she was thus unable to form her preferred coalition with the smaller, liberal FDP - pushing the conservatives into coalition talks with the Social Democrats.
Mr Schroeder had initially engineered an early election by deliberately losing a confidence vote in parliament, arguing that he needed a new mandate to push through controversial economic reforms.
His SPD-Green coalition faced strong opposition to reforms of Germany's welfare system and labour market, which were aimed at reviving the sluggish economy and tackling unemployment running at more than 11%.
Mrs Merkel's CDU wants to ease the rules for dismissing workers, limit sector-wide wage deals and increase sales tax. | Government Job change - Election | October 2005 | ['(BBC)', '(Reuters)'] |
The U.S. Justice Department announces Roman Seleznev, the son of Russian parliament member Valery Seleznev, pleaded guilty in a $50 million identity theft probe. This past April, Roman Seleznev was sentenced to 27 years in prison on 38 counts of hacking crimes. |
The US Justice Department announced that alleged Russian hacker Roman Seleznev, sentenced to 27 years in US prison, has pled guilty to cashing out more than $2 million with five hacked debit card numbers in 2008.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Alleged Russian hacker Roman Seleznev, sentenced to 27 years in US prison, has pled guilty to cashing out more than $2 million with five hacked debit card numbers in 2008, the US Justice Department announced in a release on Friday.
"Roman Seleznev has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud for his role in the 2008 hack of RBS Worldpay," the release said. "Seleznev was responsible for cashing out $2,178,349 associated with five hacked debit card numbers."
The US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia has charged 14 individuals involved in the hack and cashout, including Russian nationals Viktor Pleschuk, Evgeniy Anikin, and Roman Seleznev.
Seleznev was convicted in August 2016 of 38 counts of hacking crimes. He was accused of defrauding small business and financial institutions in the United States of more than $169 million. In April, Seleznev was sentenced to 27 years in prison on those charges.
Seleznev was arrested by CIA agents in the Maldives and brought to the United States. The Russian Foreign Ministry and his father, a Russian lawmaker, said this was illegal and equalled a kidnapping.
We are committed to protecting your personal information and we have updated our Privacy Policy to comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), a new EU regulation that went into effect on May 25, 2018.
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | September 2017 | ['(Reuters)', '(Sputnik)'] |
The U.S. Secret Service dismisses three more employees over the prostitution scandal involving U.S. agents at last weekend's 6th Summit of the Americas in Colombia. | The US Secret Service has said three more employees are resigning over the prostitution scandal that overshadowed a summit in Colombia last weekend.
Supervisors David Chaney and Greg Stokes are among three agents already leaving the elite agency in the wake of the affair.
US President Barack Obama was briefed on Friday by Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan about the scandal.
It broke as the president arrived for last weekend's Summit of the Americas.
On Friday, a 12th Secret Service employee was placed on administrative leave.
Another member of staff at the agency was cleared by investigators of "serious misconduct", but will face administrative action.
The scandal broke when a dispute between an escort and an agent spilled into the hallway of a beachfront hotel.
Up to 20 women were involved in the antics in the city of Cartagena.
A 24-year-old Colombian single mother told the New York Times on Wednesday that an agent had agreed to pay her $800 (£500) for sex, but offered her only $30 the next morning.
Mr Chaney, 48, who was in the international programmes division, will be allowed to retire, but Mr Stokes, an assistant special agent in charge of the K9 division, has been told he will be fired, US media report. A third unnamed employee resigned over the allegations. Lawrence Berger, a lawyer for Mr Chaney and Mr Stokes, told AP on Friday: "Nothing that has been reported in the press in any way negatively or adversely impacted the mission of that agency or the safety of the president of the United States." Lawmakers on a congressional panel investigating the scandal had earlier warned more agents would lose their jobs.
Representative Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, told Reuters news agency: "It would not surprise me if there were within the next few days additional resignations or firings." A photo on Mr Chaney's Facebook page showed him near Sarah Palin while on her security detail during the former Alaska governor's 2008 vice-presidential run.
A comment apparently posted by him on the page said: "I was really checking her out, if you know what i mean?" Mrs Palin took to Fox News on Thursday to respond.
"This agent who was kind of ridiculous there in posting pictures and comments about checking someone out," she said. "Check this out, bodyguard: you're fired! And I hope his wife sends him to the doghouse."
Eleven military members who were supporting the Secret Service in Colombia are also under investigation: six from the Army, one from the Air Force and two each from the Marines and Navy.
Colombia prostitute tells of row
Colombia scandal 'embarrasses' US
US army disciplines summit staff
Senate Homeland Security Committee
| Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | April 2012 | ['(BBC)', '(Al Jazeera)'] |
Juan Manuel Santos is sworn in for a second term as President of Colombia. | COLOMBIA NEWS – Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos was sworn in for a second four-year term here on Thursday.
Smiling throughout, Santos took the oath before President of Congress, Jose David Name, who presented him with the presidential sash.
At the ceremony, the president said, “I firmly believe that Colombia should establish a goal in which we can all compromise. What would it be? To be a country in total peace by 2025, a country with more equity and the most educated in Latin America.”
The president, in his speech, reiterated that he would seek to end the 50-year-long internal armed conflict.
He asked for goodwill from Colombia’s largest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), in the ongoing peace talks and expressed the hope to initiate a negotiation with another rebel group National Liberation Army (ELN).
In regard to the talks with FARC, the Colombian president said that both sides had agreed on three of the five points on the agenda, and now were moving to the fourth: the conflict victims.
But he warned the FARC’s recent attacks might jeopardize ongoing talks in Havana. “The violence reported in recent weeks are an unacceptable contradiction and compromises the peace process,” he said.
In terms of education, he revealed his goal to make Colombia the most educated country in Latin America by 2025.
“The first decision I took is that the budget for education will be the largest of all in the national budget starting from next year, even above that for defense and security,” Santos said.
More than 500 dignitaries attended the ceremony, including Latin American leaders, diplomats and Spain’s former King Juan Carlos, who abdicated the throne to his son in June. | Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration | August 2014 | ['(Today Colombia)'] |
Former boxing world champion Ricky Hatton speaks on British radio about depression and gives an account of past suicide attempts. | Last updated on 29 December 201629 December 2016.From the section Boxing
Ex-world champion Ricky Hatton says he tried to kill himself on several occasions in a battle with depression.
The Briton also talked about the need for boxers to get more help after retiring, when he appeared on BBC Radio 4's Today show, guest edited by Olympic boxing champion Nicola Adams. "I tried to kill myself several times," said Hatton, 38, who retired in 2012. "I used to go to the pub, come back, take the knife out and sit there in the dark crying hysterically."
Manchester's Hatton, who previously spoke to the BBC in 2011 about attempted suicide and depression, won the world light-welterweight and welterweight titles.
Hatton was stripped of his licence to box in 2010 after admitting using cocaine and retired the next year before fighting once more. He is now a promoter and trainer.
He continued: "There were times when I hadn't had a drink for days and I'd still come home and if something went through my mind I'd start pondering something. It was the same outcome whether I was having a drink or wasn't having a drink.
"But in the end I thought I'll end up drinking myself to death because I was so miserable.
"I was coming off the rails with my drinking and that led to drugs. It was like a runaway train."
Former world champion Barry McGuigan told BBC Radio 5 live in October that boxing authorities should fund a new foundation to help fighters with mental health issues.
And Hatton feels "more should be done for boxers" with depression, with ex-world champions Tyson Fury and Frank Bruno among other Britons to have suffered with the illness.
"Footballers have an agent who looks out for them and a football club that gets behind them. The Football Association and the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) can also be there," added Hatton.
"Whereas boxers, it's like once your time has gone it's 'on your way' and move on to the next champion coming through. "The thing is with boxers, we don't come from Cambridge and places like that, we come from council estates. So in boxing it's very, very hard. If boxing had a professional boxing association or something like that, I think it would be a better place.
"It seems to be happening more with boxers. It's an individual sport so you get in the ring on your own and then when you retire you tend to spend the rest of your life on your own."
His call was echoed by former British, Commonwealth and European light-middleweight champion Herol 'Bomber' Graham, who suffered from depression and contemplated suicide after his boxing career.
"When retirement comes around, boxers go into panic mode. The next thing you know, people are taking their life over a situation which could have been sorted for them, by a union or something like that," he told 5 live.
Fury vacated his WBO and WBA world heavyweight titles in October to deal with his "medical treatment and recovery".
The Briton, 28, admitted taking cocaine to deal with depression and has not fought since beating Wladimir Klitschko in November 2015.
Hatton said he contacted Fury to see if he was all right but said he never got a reply.
"Tyson is a very complex person. When he said what he said it was heartbreaking," added Hatton.
"To think Tyson had become the heavyweight champion of the world and should kick on with his life and his career and for it to go pear-shaped was a real crying shame.
"Having said that, he doesn't help himself in some interviews. If he is in a bad place and is depressed, I hope he's speaking to the right people in order to sort it out.
"As boxers we don't do that. We think, 'I'm Ricky Hatton or I'm Tyson Fury, I can take on the world'. You can take on the world in the ring but this problem called depression, you can't take it on.
"We're out of our comfort zones with depression. I certainly was and whenever I have bad days now I speak to someone to get it off my chest. I have no shame telling that and that's why I'm here today."
Analysis and opinion from the BBC's boxing correspondent.
The sports promoter meets the biggest names in sport, entertainment and politics
Fifty-two years ago, boxer Rubin Carter was convicted of a triple murder. BBC World Service investigates the case in the podcast series The Hurricane Tapes.
How to get into boxing - intense cardiovascular exercise from sparring in one of the Olympics' oldest sports. | Famous Person - Give a speech | December 2016 | ['(BBC Sport)', '(The Daily Telegraph)'] |
UBS trader Kweku Adoboli is charged with fraud and false accounting. | Kweku Adoboli, the UBS trader alleged to have lost UBS $2bn (1.3bn) in unauthorised trading, has appeared in court in London charged with fraud and false accounting.
He has been remanded in custody until a committal hearing on 22 September.
According to the charges, the fraud took place between January and September this year.
UBS is expected to provide more details of Mr Adoboli's trading by Monday morning.
The charges add that Mr Adoboli filed false accounts between October 2008 and December 2009, and from January to September 2011.
The 31-year-old worked for UBS's global synthetic equities division, buying and selling exchange traded funds, which track different types of stocks or commodities such as precious metals.
Prosecutors say Mr Adoboli "dishonestly abused that position intending thereby to make a gain for yourself, causing losses to UBS or to expose UBS to risk of loss". BBC business editor Robert Peston reports that Mr Adoboli worked in the back office before becoming a trader, which may explain how he managed to keep his trading secret.
"This revelation, that it may have been almost impossible for UBS to spot Mr Adoboli's unauthorised dealings at an early stage, is expected to reinforce political pressure in Switzerland for UBS to hive off its investment bank," our correspondent said. The Financial Services Authority (FSA), the City regulator, is investigating why the Swiss bank did not identify the trades.
City of London Police said in a statement that its "investigation is ongoing and officers continue to work in close collaboration with the FSA (Financial Services Authority), SFO (Serious Fraud Office) and CPS (Crown Prosecution Service)."
Earlier, it emerged that UBS learnt of the unauthorised trades after being informed by Mr Adoboli.
"The disclosure that it was Mr Adoboli's decision to inform his colleagues of his actions that set alarm bells ringing at UBS, rather than its own monitoring system, will add to concerns that investment banks simply aren't capable of controlling the huge risks that their traders take," Robert Peston said.
Mr Adoboli has taken on the law firm Kingsley Napley, which also represented Nick Leeson, the rogue trader who brought down Baring's bank.
According to reports he is the son a retired United Nations employee from Ghana, and that he attended school and university in Britain.
The credit rating agency Moody's says it is reviewing UBS's rating, focusing on "ongoing weaknesses" in the Swiss bank's risk management. Another agency, Standard & Poor's, suggested it was considering lowering the bank's A+ rating. UBS lost 35bn in the 2007-8 banking crisis and had to be bailed out by Swiss taxpayers.
Moody's said that although UBS was strong enough financially to absorb the loss, it had concerns about its risk controls.
"We have continued to express concerns with regards to the ability of management to develop a robust risk culture and effective control framework," the agency said.
Last month the bank announced 3,500 jobs cuts. Of the 65,000 staff worldwide about 6,000 are in the UK, with the bulk of UBS's investment banking operations based in London and New York.
It has been reported that the fresh losses from the investment bank will lead to a major restructuring of the business, involving thousands more job losses, which will be announced in November.
"We believe that yesterday's event could have personnel consequences on senior management level, which in turn could lead to adjustments to UBS' business portfolio," said Teresa Nielsen, an analyst at the Swiss bank Vontobel.
"The exit from non-core businesses inside the investment bank could be accelerated," she added.
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | September 2011 | ['(BBC)'] |
Two miners, trapped after a coal mine fire on Thursday in Melville, West Virginia, are found dead. | MELVILLE, West Virginia -- The bodies of two miners who were trapped after an underground fire broke out at Aracoma Alma Mine No. 1 were found Saturday, mine officials said. Jesse Cole of the Mine Safety and Health Administration said that the bodies were found in an area where "there would've been heavy smoke and high (carbon monoxide)."
"They were both located close together when we found them," Cole added. The families of the miners identified them as Don Israel Bragg, 33, and Ellery "Elvis" Hatfield, 47.
Bragg, from Accoville, is survived by his wife, Delorice, and his two children. Hatfield, of Simon, leaves his wife, Freda, and four children. Bragg began mining at the age of 18, but started at the Aracoma Mine five years ago with Hatfield, who has 12 years of mining experience. After the announcement that the two miners were dead, Gov. Joe Manchin said he was planning to introduce mine-safety bills in the state Legislature and to lobby the U.S. Congress to enact more mine-safety laws. (Watch the governor's promise to make mines less dangerous -- 7:27)
Among the issues he said he intends to address are ensuring that there are ample oxygen stations within mines and making sure rescuers have the means to respond as rapidly as possible.
"Time, hours, days go by -- that's unacceptable," Manchin said. Manchin promised earlier Saturday that he would announce "bold steps and bold actions" to prevent another mining tragedy in his state. "We're going to do everything we can never to put another family in this situation," he said. Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-West Virginia, said that today's technology should provide rescuers with better tools to save miners.
"You can talk to a man on the face of the moon and you can't talk to a miner 1,000 feet underground," Rockefeller said. He said he was "very angry" about the state of mine safety in West Virginia and encouraged others to get angry because only a "sustained rage" will effect change. (Watch Rockefeller talk about his plans to press Congress for mine-safety legislation -- 9:14)
There were hopes the missing miners had sought safety in a fresh-air pocket. The deaths in Melville followed a tragedy in Tallmansville, West Virginia, in which 12 miners died of carbon monoxide poisoning following an explosion at Sago Mine, about 180 miles away. The lone survivor, Randy McCloy, is hospitalized in serious condition.
A widow of one of Sago Mine victims is at the Aracoma site, offering comfort to the families, the governor said. Rescuers on Saturday contained the underground fire that trapped the miners and were moving down a mile-long shaft. Cole said the heat and smoke from the fire prevented rescuers from going too deep into the mine.
Complicating rescue efforts was the collapse of the mine's roof because of the fire and the blockage of several entryways.
Officials said the fire probably started on a conveyor belt that moves coal out of the mine.
The missing men were apparently separated from their 10 other crew members when the fire broke out. Their colleagues, as well as a second crew, managed to exit the mine about two hours later. | Mine Collapses | January 2006 | ['(CNN)'] |
Former Balochistan senator Habib Jalib is shot dead outside his home in Quetta, leading to riots and widespread mourning. | A former senator from the Pakistani province of Balochistan has been shot dead in the provincial capital, Quetta.
Habib Jalib was killed by two unknown gunmen outside his home in the Musa colony, police said.
He was the Balochistan National Party's secretary general. Angry supporters chanted slogans and protested against the killing in Quetta.
Another Baloch politician, National Party's Maula Bukhsh Dashti, was assassinated in Turbat town on Sunday.
His attackers escaped on a motorbike. 'Despicable act'
Mr Jalib was a Moscow-educated lawyer with a reputation as an intellectual and an articulate politician.
Police say they are investigating whether Wednesday's was a targeted killing.
Protests over the killing have forced several shops in Quetta to shut down.
All schools and colleges, including Balochistan University, will remain closed for two days. A large number of police and security personnel have been deployed in the city to keep peace.
President Asif Ali Zardari condemned the assassination, describing it as "a heinous and despicable act".
No group has said it carried out the attack and it remains unclear who might have shot Mr Jalib.
The BBC's M Ilyas Khan in Islamabad says the National Party has been under pressure from separatists in Balochistan to abandon using political means to achieve its goals.
Separatist groups in the province have carried out targeted killings of their opponents but they have also been blamed for killings which they deny, our correspondent says. Pakistan's shadowy security agents are also frequently accused by Baloch politicians of orchestrating targeted killings of popular leaders and then blaming insurgents. | Famous Person - Death | July 2010 | ['(BBC)', '(The News International)', '[permanent dead link]', '(Xinhua)'] |
Many people are feared dead after suspected Boko Haram militants raided the town of Damboa with substantial parts of the town including the market burnt down. So far, 18 bodies have been recovered with the death toll expected to rise. | Many people are feared dead after suspected Boko Haram Islamist gunmen attacked a town in north-east Nigeria.
Eyewitnesses told the BBC that half of Damboa had been burnt down, including the town's main market.
At least 18 bodies so far have been recovered from the attack, which lasted for several hours. The death toll is expected to rise, residents say.
Boko Haram's violent campaign to establish an Islamic state has killed thousands of people in recent years.
In April, it sparked international outrage by abducting more than 200 girls from their boarding school in Chibok, in Borno state, like Damboa.
Boko Haram, whose name means "Western education is forbidden", has often targeted schools since it launched its insurgency in 2009.
Borno state governor Kashim Shettima on Thursday said that 176 teachers had been killed and 900 schools destroyed since 2011. Damboa, 85km (53 miles) from the state capital Maiduguri, is now said to be deserted as many people have fled to neighbouring towns. "Those who could not flee surrendered and were killed by the insurgents," a local official, who did not want to be named, told the AFP news agency.
Boko Haram attacked the barracks in the town two weeks ago, killing several soldiers. Nigeria's defence ministry said the military had repelled that attack and killed at least 50 insurgents. But residents say that since then the town has only been defended by vigilante groups.
"We were defenceless because all the security personnel, including soldiers and policemen, have withdrawn," resident Ahmed Buba told AFP.
On Tuesday, Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan asked the National Assembly for an extra $1bn to help the military fight Boko Haram.
But the parliamentarians have now gone on a two-month recess without debating the request.
Nigeria's soldiers have frequently complained that the insurgents have superior firepower.
Nigeria has a military budget of about $6bn a year but large sums are lost to corruption, critics say.
The US, UK, China, France and Israel have all sent military assistance to help rescue the schoolgirls. | Armed Conflict | July 2014 | ['(BBC)'] |
At least seven soldiers are killed after al-Shabaab militants storm a jail in Bosaso, Puntland, Somalia. More than 400 prisoners are freed during the assault, the majority of whom are Al-Shabaab fighters. | BOSASO, Somalia (Reuters) - At least seven soldiers were killed when fighters of the Somali Islamist group al Shabaab stormed a jail in the semi-autonomous state of Puntland early on Friday, police and the group said.
Al Shabaab said it had freed at least 400 prisoners, many of them its members, in its assault on the main prison in Bosaso, Puntland’s largest city, in the early hours of Friday. The authorities did not confirm that figure.
“Last night many well-armed men attacked us from various directions. We fought back but finally they entered the central jail by force using explosions. They freed the prisoners and took most with them,” Mohamed Abdi, a prison guard, told Reuters.
“There was a hellish battle... As I fought inside, we lost five soldiers.”
He said two other soldiers who had been sent to reinforce the regular prison guards were killed in their car which was set on fire.
Al Shabaab confirmed that its fighters had carried out the attack and said they had freed at least 400 prisoners. The group often exaggerates its successes in such assaults.
“The prisoners included men and women who were al Shabaab members and were in jail for over 10 years,” Abdiasis Abu Musab, al Shabaab’s military operations spokesman, told Reuters.
Al Shabaab frequently carries out such attacks in Somalia and elsewhere as part of its campaign to oust the central government in Mogadishu and establish its own rule based on its strict interpretation of Islamic sharia law.
Bosaso police commander, Col. Hussein Ali, said an operation was underway to recapture prisoners who had escaped or had been taken away by the fighters.
Reporting by Abdiqani Hassan, Writing by Giulia Paravicini and Elias Biryabarema; Editing by Gareth Jones
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. | Armed Conflict | March 2021 | ['(Reuters)'] |
The death is announced of award–winning poet, essayist and public intellectual Adrienne Rich, credited with bringing the oppression of women and lesbians to the forefront of poetic discourse. | The award-winning poet and essayist Adrienne Rich, who was one of America's most powerful writers, has died aged 82.
Her daughter-in-law Diana Horowitz said Rich died at home in Santa Cruz, California, following complications from the rheumatoid arthritis from which she had suffered for many years.
Described as "one of America's foremost public intellectuals" by the Poetry Foundation, and as "a poet of towering reputation and towering rage [who] brought the oppression of women and lesbians to the forefront of poetic discourse and kept it there for nearly a half-century" by the New York Times, Rich's career spanned seven decades, numerous prizes and more than 20 collections of poetry as well as acclaimed essays, articles and lectures.
When she was just 21, WH Auden chose her as winner of the Yale Younger Poets Competition. Auden went on to write a preface for her first collection, A Change of World. "The typical danger for poets in our age is, perhaps, the desire to be 'original'," he wrote. "Miss Rich, who is, I understand, 21 years old, displays a modesty not so common with that age, which disclaims any extraordinary vision, and a love for her medium, a determination to ensure that whatever she writes shall, at least, not be shoddily made."
By the 60s and early 70s, however, with collections such as Diving into the Wreck and Snapshots of a Daughter-in-Law, Rich was writing radical free verse full of her feminist ideals and leftwing convictions, exploring sexuality and identity, motherhood and politics. Her transformation, said the critic Ruth Whitman in 2002, has been "astonishing to watch ... In one woman the history of women in the 20th century, from careful traditional obedience to cosmic awareness, defying the mode of our time."
The publication of Twenty-One Love Poems in 1976 in effect marked Rich's coming out as a lesbian. "The rules break like a thermometer,/ quicksilver spills across the charted systems/ we're out in a country that has no language/ ...whatever we do together is pure invention/ the maps they gave us were out of date/ by years...", she wrote. Rich separated from her husband, with whom she had three children, in 1970. He was subsequently ruled to have killed himself. She was with her partner, the writer Michelle Cliff ,for more than 30 years.
Presented with the National Book Award for Diving into the Wreck, Rich accepted it on behalf of all women. She refused the National Medal of Arts in 1997, however, "because the very meaning of art as I understand it is incompatible with the cynical politics of this [Clinton's] administration".
"She sought always in her work to discover the truth about her life, and through that lens to discover the truth about women's lives and the lives of people who came from marginal or cross-cultures," the poet DA Powell told Reuters. "Her poetry is something that some people might categorise as poetry of witness. But witness is only one aspect of it. There's a kind of unsentimental, unselfish lens through which she articulates the simple joys and burdens of living, the journey of finding oneself."
Judith Pamplin, who worked with Rich at her publisher WW Norton, told the Guardian that the author's poetry and ideas "could change people's lives". "A wonderful speaker and reader of her own poetry, she was a brilliant poet whose precision in word choice may be unparalleled," said Pamplin. "Adrienne wrote with a rare and unwavering integrity about social injustice and her influence in this wider sphere cannot be underestimated."
In 2006, Rich wrote in the Guardian that "poetry has the capacity to remind us of something we are forbidden to see. A forgotten future: a still uncreated site whose moral architecture is founded not on ownership and dispossession, the subjection of women, outcast and tribe, but on the continuous redefining of freedom – that word now held under house arrest by the rhetoric of the 'free' market." | Famous Person - Death | March 2012 | ['(The Guardian)'] |
Protesters storm the State Security Intelligence building in Alexandria, Egypt after police officers had previously fired on the crowd. | Protesters in the Egyptian city of Alexandria have stormed the HQ of the state security agency, believing officers were destroying key documents.
Several people were injured after police inside fired on the protesters, who then broke into the building's lower floors and clashed with police.
The abolition of the force has been a demand of protesters who ousted Hosni Mubarak as president in February.
Earlier, new PM Essam Sharaf vowed to meet protesters' demands for change.
Mr Sharaf was named as head of the transitional caretaker government by the army on Thursday. He replaced Ahmed Shafiq, who was appointed in the dying days of Mr Mubarak's rule.
The clashes in Alexandria came to an end when soldiers arrived and took control of the state security building.
Witnesses said officers inside had been trying to destroy papers.
The force is widely accused in Egypt of human rights abuses, including torture of detainees.
One of the demands of the protesters who overthrew Mr Mubarak was an end to Egypt's decades-long state of emergency.
The military council, which has been running the country since Mr Mubarak stepped down on 11 February, has ordered the government to run the country's affairs for six months "or until the end of parliamentary and presidential elections".
They have also promised to end the state of emergency before the elections.
On Friday, it was announced that a referendum on constitutional reform in the country would be held on 19 March.
Speaking to an estimated 10,000 people in Cairo's Tahrir Square, Mr Sharaf said: "I will do my utmost to realise your demands".
The square was at the centre of protests that toppled Hosni Mubarak.
"I pray that Egypt will be a free country and that its security apparatus will serve the citizens," Mr Sharaf said after chants broke out calling for the state security force to be abolished.
The protesters had planned Friday's rally to call for the resignation of Mr Shafiq but went ahead with the gathering as a celebration of the appointment of Mr Sharaf. A US-educated civil engineer, Mr Sharaf opposed Mr Mubarak's government after stepping down from the cabinet five years ago. | Protest_Online Condemnation | March 2011 | ['(Al Jazeera)', '(BBC)'] |
A new centre to help rape victims in the Democratic Republic of the Congo opens in the eastern city of Bukavu. | A new centre has opened designed to help some of the thousands of people who have been raped in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The UN-funded City of Joy is intended to help women become activists and community leaders.
DR Congo has been called the "rape capital of the world" because of the high incidence of sexual abuse during its long conflict.
Both rebels and government troops have been accused of mass rapes.
A local army commander was arrested last month following allegations that he had led the gang rape of at least 50 women in the town of Fizi.
In August 2010, rebel forces were accused of raping hundreds of women, girls, men and boys around the town of Luvungi.
The UN recorded some 11,000 rapes in 2010 - the true figure is believed to be much higher.
The new $1.5m (£1m) centre, funded by the UN children's agency Unicef, is to be opened by UN special envoy on sexual violence Margot Wallstrom in the eastern city of Bukavu.
US author Eve Ensler, who wrote the best-selling book and play The Vagina Monologues, helped set up the V-Day movement against sexual violence, which will manage the City of Joy.
"The whole idea is to create a place where women who have been through gender violence, who have survived, and are often the strongest women, become the next leaders of the Democratic Republic of Congo," she told the BBC.
She said it was not a hospital but said people will be given therapy, as well as literacy training, sexual education and advocacy training.
Many women have been employed to build the centre.
About 90 victims of sexual assault at a time will spend between four and six months in nine communal houses.
They will then return to their communities to spread the knowledge they acquired in the centre, including internet use and radio broadcasting.
The BBC's Thomas Hubert in DR Congo says the promoters of the project are confident that it will change the role of women, and the level of violence directed against them. But our reporter says other specialists in Bukavu have questioned the use of such large resources to help just 200 rape victims a year.
| Organization Established | February 2011 | ['(BBC)'] |
At least 10 people die and dozens disappear after a passenger boat sinks off the coast of Indonesia. | At least 11 people have died and more than 30 were missing after an Indonesian passenger boat was hit by high waves and sank, rescue officials said.
Rescuers braved storms and rough seas to search for survivors, drafting in local fishermen to help scour the waters near Flores island in the east of the country.
"We have found 11 dead bodies and still look for about 32 people that went missing," National Search and Rescue Agency spokesman Gagah Prakoso told AFP on Monday.
The boat set sail carrying about 60 passengers at 7.30 am (0930 AEST) and capsized two hours later in East Nusa Tenggara province, he said.
Local police chief Abdul Rahma Aba said that the inter-island vessel was struck by high waves which caused panic among passengers before it capsized about two miles from shore.
Some 17 passengers were found alive, and four vessels from the local search and rescue agency and sea police unit have been deployed with up to 70 rescuers, Prakoso said.
"Our search operation will take place for seven days. We cannot say now whether the chance to find any survivor is very slim. We'll do our best and will deploy more rescuers tomorrow," he said.
Local fishermen were also involved in the operation, Prakoso added.
Search and rescue official Thomas Aguino said the rescuers were being hampered in their work by bad weather and rough seas.
"We may halt today's search at 6pm (2100 AEST) and will resume our operation tomorrow very early," he said.
The Indonesian archipelago of more than 17,000 islands is heavily dependent on maritime services but its safety record is poor, and fatal accidents are common.
| Shipwreck | August 2010 | ['(BBC)', '(France24)', '(The News International)', '(The Age)'] |
Former interior minister of Ukraine, Yuri Kravchenko, is found dead in his country house, in an apparent suicide. He had been linked to the murder of journalist Georgiy Gongadze and was due to give evidence. | Mr Kravchenko had been due to testify on Friday in the case of murdered journalist Georgiy Gongadze. Initial reports say he committed suicide.
President Viktor Yushchenko has pledged to find out who abducted and killed Gongadze, who reported on high-profile corruption scandals, five years ago.
He said those involved had a choice of testifying or "sentencing themselves".
Ukraine's prosecutor general said on Wednesday that investigators knew who had killed Gongadze, but have not made the name public.
The discovery of his headless body in a wood near Kiev triggered a political scandal, especially after the emergence of a covertly-recorded tape that allegedly implicated the former President, Leonid Kuchma.
GONGADZE CASE
Sept 2000 - Abducted. Headless body is found weeks later
Jan 2001 - Tape recordings apparently implicating President Kuchma emerge
Feb 2001 - EU calls for murder inquiry
May 2001 - US forensic tests confirm headless body is Gongadze's
Dec 2004 - Viktor Yushchenko elected president, promises to solve case
1 March 2005 - Suspected killers arrested
In the tapes, Mr Kuchma was heard to complain about Gongadze's reporting and allegedly ordered Mr Kravchenko to "get rid of" the journalist.
Mr Kuchma has repeatedly denied the allegations, and says the tapes have been edited to distort his words.
But correspondents say it is difficult to see how the case will not now reach him.
According to Ukrainian law, the former president has no immunity against criminal prosecution.
He is currently on holiday in the Czech Republic, and is expected to return home next week.
Communist MPs have called for his arrest.
Suicide or murder?
Mr Kravchenko had been summoned to give evidence to prosecutors at 1000 local time (0800 GMT), but was found dead an hour earlier at his home in the exclusive Kiev suburb of Konche Zaspa.
Kravchenko was found dead at his home outside Kiev
He had a gun in his hand, and officials say his death was probably suicide. But several media reports say he had more than one gunshot wound.
Gongadze's widow, who fled to the US after her husband's murder, said Mr Kravchenko's death was part of a cover-up.
There were "too many people from the old regime who would try to conceal the true course of events", she told AP news agency.
The former minister had been under surveillance since December and was barred from leaving Ukraine, according to media reports.
Two of Gongadze's alleged killers are interior ministry policemen who have been detained.
A proper investigation into this crime was among the main demands of the pro-Western opposition, which staged the "orange revolution" that brought Mr Yushchenko to power following the disputed elections in November. "Everyone has a choice," he said on Friday. "Either co-operate with the tribunal, the prosecutor, give testimony ... defend your rights and honour. There is a second possibility - sentence yourself." | Famous Person - Death | March 2005 | ['(Reuters)', '(Scotsman)', '(BBC)'] |
16–year–old Lewis Clarke of Bristol, United Kingdom sets a new world record after becoming the youngest person to trek to the South Pole. | A 16-year-old boy from Bristol has set a new record by becoming the youngest person to trek to the South Pole. Lewis Clarke spent 48 days at temperatures as low as -50C (-58F) and winds of up to 120 mph (193 kmh).
He arrived at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station at 18:00 GMT after completing the gruelling 702-mile journey from the Antarctic coast.
He will now be submitting evidence to Guinness World Records so his claim can be officially verified.
On his arrival, he said: "I'm really happy but mostly relieved that for the first time in 48 days I don't have to get up tomorrow and drag my sled for nine hours in the snow and icy wind.
"Today was really hard, the closer I got to the Pole the slower I went, my legs had had enough.
"But now I'm here and I've had some spaghetti bolognaise and I am sitting in a heated tent."
Speaking earlier in the day when his son was still about 10 miles from the Pole, his father Steven said Saturday's weather had been the "worst yet".
The QEH Bristol (Queen Elizabeth Hospital School) pupil is hoping to have broken the record for the same coast-to-pole route taken by Sarah McNair Landry from Canada in 2005, when she was aged 18.
The challenge began on 2 December, two weeks after his 16th birthday, and brings an end to an expedition which has seen Lewis ski for an average of eight hours a day
He has pulled his supplies behind him on a sledge with help provided by the experienced polar guide Carl Alvey.
Problems encountered along the way have included blisters, coughs caused by being at high altitudes, and a broken ski.
His record-breaking feat has raised more than £2,000 for The Prince's Trust.
Lewis will remain at the Pole overnight before taking a tour of the Amundsen Scott Polar Research base on Sunday. He will then fly back to the Union Glacier base camp and is expected to arrive back in the UK on 24 January.
South Pole trek teen takes record
The teen bidding for South Pole glory
Parks 'fastest Brit to South Pole'
| Break historical records | January 2014 | ['(BBC)'] |
Kenya and Sudan, completing trade talks that have gone on since 2001, announce plans to sign a landmark trade agreement. Kenya, which is currently in a drought, is in desperate need of food to feed 3.5 million Kenyans by the end of March, despite the presence of the U.N. food agency. Sudan has had a huge surplus this season. | Nairobi — Kenya and Sudan will sign a bilateral trade agreement that will open up the vast Sudanese market to Kenyan entrepreneurs.
Trade and Industry assistant minister, Abdirahman Ali, this week led
a Kenyan delegation on week-long business trip to the Sudanese capital,
Khartoum.
| Sign Agreement | March 2006 | ['(AllAfrica)', '(Reuters)'] |
A landslide in Indonesia kills at least seven people and hundreds are reported missing | Officials said heavy rains had caused a municipal dump to collapse, dislodging tonnes of earth and rubbish which buried dozens of people living nearby.
Other victims are believed to be scavengers, who earn a living sifting through rubbish for anything valuable.
The accident happened in Cimahi, near the West Javan city of Bandung, 180 km (110 miles) south-east of Jakarta.
Army, police and local residents are due to resume their search for survivors at daybreak on Tuesday, having called it off because of poor visibility on Monday evening.
Around 50 people have been pulled alive from the debris, according to a rescue worker interviewed by the BBC.
A police chief quoted by the AFP news agency earlier on Monday said the recovery effort was being hindered because rescuers were wary of triggering further landslides if they disrupted the already unstable ground.
Local village chief Saiful Bagir told Indonesian television that the authorities had promised many times to relocate the rubbish dump.
There are also fears that further rains could cause more upheaval.
More than 10,000 people had been evacuated as flood waters neared their homes to the south of Bandung, local radio said. | Mudslides | February 2005 | ['(Channel News Asia)', '(BBC)'] |
After an independentist demonstration, the Mossos d'Esquadra evicts riots demanding the implantation of the Republic before the main door of the Catalan Parliament in a failed attempt to assault it. | Protesters have clashed with police in Barcelona as thousands took to the streets there and in cities across Catalonia to mark the first anniversary of the contested referendum on independence from Spain.
More than 180,000 demonstrators marched in Barcelona.
Police wielding batons broke up a demonstration in front of the Catalan regional parliament.
Hundreds of activists occupied high-speed rail tracks for several hours.
Roads and a motorway were also blocked.
Catalonia held the vote on 1 October 2017 and its separatist government declared independence on 27 October.
But Spain's constitutional court deemed the referendum illegal and Madrid imposed direct rule.
At the time, there were ugly scenes on the streets as Spanish police tried to prevent people from going to the polls.
The anniversary protests were organised by the Committees for the Defence of the Republic (CDRs), which are demanding a clean break with the Spanish state. The CDRs briefly blocked the rail service between Barcelona and Figueres, as well as city streets in Lleida and Barcelona and the motorway between the coastal city and the Spanish capital, Madrid.
CDR groups also demonstrated in cities around the world, including in London and Paris.
.
In June, Spain ended its temporary direct rule over the region, as a new nationalist-led government was sworn in there, headed up by Quim Torra. Speaking earlier at a ceremony at Sant Julia de Ramis, northern Catalonia, Mr Torra praised activists for "putting on the pressure".
Mr Torra succeeded Carles Puigdemont, who fled into exile in Belgium after the failed independence bid. Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Borrell, who is Catalan, said it was up to Mr Torra and the Catalan regional government to maintain public order.
"We will continue to try to lower tensions... and demand that everyone assume their responsibilities," he told reporters in Madrid.
An opinion poll in July suggested 46.7% of Catalans favoured independence and 44.9% opposed it.
Spain's Supreme Court has withdrawn its European Arrest Warrants against Mr Puigdemont and five of his aides who remain abroad.
But the charges against them remain, meaning they still face arrest if they return to Spain. | Riot | October 2018 | ['(La Vanguardia)', '(BBC)'] |
U.S. President Barack Obama declares a state of emergency for South Carolina, after the state receives over two feet of rain in some areas. More than 250 roads across the state close. A low pressure area funnels heavy tropical moisture into the region, as well as, pulls in Hurricane Joaquin-related precipitation. , | Follow NBC News Unprecedented and deadly rainfall turned South Carolina roads into rivers and parking lots into lakes on Sunday, prompting officials to warn residents not to leave their homes for any reason — even on foot.
"We haven't seen this level of rain in the Low Country in 1,000 years," said Gov. Nikki Haley during a news conference Sunday. "That’s how big this is."
: Charleston Int'l Airport had 17.70" of #rain the past 5 days, breaking the all-time 5-day record for the state of South Carolina.
More than 250 roads across the state were closed due to the storm that dumped over two feet of rain in some areas, according to the state's department of transportation, which reported it had responded to nearly 1,200 distress calls and more than 300 collisions. One DOT employee was unaccounted for, said South Carolina Transportation Secretary Christy Hall Sunday, without offering additional details.
A record-breaking 8.7 inches of rain fell during a 24-hour period over the weekend in Columbia, South Carolina, the National Weather Service reported.
Many rivers in major flood stage. Interactive map from Southeast River Forecast Center: http://t.co/V4jZMetmB3 #scwx pic.twitter.com/crY2pGdOBp
Haley advised people to stay off the roads not only to stay safe but to keep streets clear for rescue crews, as well as utility trucks working to restore power to 25,000 customers. Haley and the South Carolina Department of Public Safety said people shouldn't even leave their homes on foot.
"If you are in your house, stay in your house," Haley said. "This is not something that you want your kids playing in ... this is not something that you want to be taking pictures of.”
Haley encouraged local government offices businesses and schools to close Monday and maybe even Tuesday, as the damage to roads and bridges couldn't be immediately assessed. Some schools had already announced cancellations, and North Charleston County, Lexington County and the city of Columbia announced a curfew that would start at 10 p.m. Sunday and last until 6 a.m. Monday.
Seven people had already died in weather-related incidents across North Carolina and South Carolina since Thursday, according to authorities.
A woman who drove around a flood barrier in Spartanburg drowned in the standing water Thursday, Sherri Iacobelli, a spokeswoman with the South Carolina Department of Public Safety, told NBC News. And three more people have died in separate weather related traffic incidents in South Carolina since Friday, according to the state's department of public safety.
Michael Wukela, 36, didn’t have a choice but to venture out. The Columbia Mayor’s Office employee had to head into the emergency operations center, but told NBC News, “I’m going on official city business. People should stay indoors. Do not drive.”
“I’ve never seen anything like this in Columbia,” Wukela, who has lived in the city since 2006, said. “And I lived in Florence during Hurricane Hugo.”
Ethan Nunn, from North Carolina, also drove through South Carolina Sunday, with the goal of getting to a Foo Fighters concert in Atlanta, Georgia. “For an hour, hour and a half, we were in pouring rain, very windy, the roads were flooded,” said Nunn, who was celebrating his 21st birthday.
Nunn said he and his friends were detoured by police in Columbia where the group saw “a car where the water was up to the window.” Nunn said he and his friends made it safely to Georgia and didn’t plan to travel back home until Monday.
Columbia resident, Portia Bell, on the other hand, wasn’t taking any chances. The 46-year-old said she’s lived in Guam and California — and living through other extreme weather events has taught her to stock her apartment because driving isn't worth the risk.
“I’m used to being in areas where you have to be prepared for acts of God like this," Bell told NBC News. "But the flooding — this is the first time I’ve seen flooding like this and flooding so close to me."
The downpours and "catastrophic" flooding were expected to persist not only in South Carolina, but along the east coast through the night Sunday, according to the National Weather Service. Part of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Virginia were under coastal flood warnings on Sunday.
In a Delaware town on the shore, firefighters had already rescued two people from truck that got caught in floodwaters Saturday, according to NBC Philadelphia. In New Jersey, the floods dislodged an entire house from its pilings in a low-lying town, according to NBC New York.
The effects of the storm could be felt long into the week. "A lot more damage is still yet to be done," NBC News meteorologist Bill Karins said on MSNBC. "The rivers are going to be a problem in this area for days to come." | Hurricanes_Tornado_Storm_Blizzard | October 2015 | ['(CNN)', '(NBC News)'] |
The House of Keys, the lower house of the Isle of Man, a crown dependency of the United Kingdom, votes to lower the voting age to 16. | Members voted by 19 to 4 in favour of an amendment to the Registration of Electors Bill, proposed by former Education Minister Steve Rodan.
The majority of countries in the world have a minimum voting age of 18.
About 2,000 16 and 17-year-olds will now be able to vote in elections for the Manx parliament.
"It may be that only a few 16 and 17-year-olds will want to vote," said Mr Rodan.
Votes for women
"But if we can get even a small number engaged at an early age it could lead to a lifetime's active interest in politics."
Ministers came to the decision at the House of Keys, which is the main branch of the Island's parliament, Tynwald.
A report from the UK Electoral Commission in April 2004 concluded that the voting age in the UK should not be lowered.
The Isle of Man was the first country in the world to introduce votes for women, in 1881.
The Manx parliament has two chambers - the House of Keys, with 24 members (MHKs) elected at general elections every five years, and the Legislative Council, with nine members (MLCs) mostly elected by the Keys. | Government Policy Changes | February 2006 | ['(BBC)'] |
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announces sanctions on four shipping firms for transporting oil from Venezuela. Three firms are based in the Marshall Islands and another in Greece. Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza responds by saying Pompeo has a "criminal obsession" with Venezuela. | (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury Department on Tuesday said it had sanctioned four shipping firms for transporting Venezuelan oil, the latest escalation in Washington’s effort to oust socialist President Nicolas Maduro by cutting off the OPEC nation’s crude exports.
Marshall Islands-based Afranav Maritime Ltd, Adamant Maritime Ltd and Sanibel Shiptrade Ltd, as well as Greece-based Seacomber Ltd, all own tankers that lifted Venezuelan oil between February and April of this year, the Treasury Department said.
“These companies are transporting oil that was effectively stolen from the Venezuelan people,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement.
In response, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza said in a tweet that Pompeo had a “criminal obsession” with Venezuela and that U.S. moves to inhibit crude exports would complicate food and medicine imports.
Washington sanctioned Venezuelan state-run oil company Petroleos de Venezuela [PDVSA.UL] last January, shortly after the United States and dozens of other countries declared Maduro a usurper who rigged his 2018 re-election.
But Maduro remains in power, which some U.S. officials privately say has been a source of frustration for President Donald Trump.
Tuesday’s sanctions come after Washington in February and March sanctioned two units of Russia’s Rosneft, which became the main intermediary of Venezuelan crude in 2019. The units stopped lifting Venezuelan crude in March.
The FBI is also probing several Mexican and European companies that are allegedly involved in trading Venezuelan oil. One of those companies, Libre Abordo, said this week it was bankrupt.
Treasury also designated four tankers owned by the companies as blocked property. Those tankers had been used by Rosneft, Libre Abordo and a related Mexican firm - Schlager Business Group - to transport Venezuelan oil this year, according to PDVSA documents.
| Government Policy Changes | June 2020 | ['(Reuters)'] |
Mayor Abdurisaq Mohamed Nor instructs residents to leave the war zones of Mogadishu after at least 50 of them are killed in three days of violence. | Mogadishu's mayor has told residents to leave the Somali capital's war zones, amid fierce battles with insurgents.
At least 50 people have been killed in three days of Islamist insurgent attacks, witnesses and officials say. Mayor Abdurisaq Mohamed Nor said the long-anticipated government offensive may start soon, so residents should withdraw at least 2km (1.25 miles). About half of Mogadishu's residents have already fled the city after two decades of conflict. The BBC's Mohamed Olad Hassan in Mogadishu says this is the heaviest fighting since May 2009, when insurgents tried to topple the weak UN-backed government. He says those still in the city have not yet responded to the mayor's call. "We urge the civilians to flee from the battle zones and go at least 2km away to avoid being hit," Mr Nor said. The United Nations Refugee Agency estimates that some 33,000 people have been driven from their homes in Mogadishu over the past six weeks. 'Trapped'
Our reporter says government forces are shelling insurgent front lines, to stop them advancing towards the few areas under control of government forces, who are backed by African Union peacekeepers.
"Some 200 insurgents aboard 12 vehicles mounted with machine guns came to our district and started to move towards the presidential palace," said Mohamed Abdi Haji, a resident of Mogadishu's northern Wardhigley area. "Government soldiers and AU peacekeepers bombed them with heavy artillery and forced them to retreat," he said. Some of those fleeing the city told the BBC that many of their relatives and neighbours are trapped in the war zone. "My husband and six of my relatives and some of my neighbours are trapped inside their homes in north Mogadishu's Abdulasiz district by landing mortars and bullets flying everywhere," said Dahabo Duhulow, a mother of six.
With his two-year-old son clasped to his chest, Adow Yusuf Da'ud said he had walked three hours through dangerous streets and alleyways to escape the fighting. "During the day and during the night, the shells were raining down into our residences," Mr Da'ud said. "My oldest son is still there to take care of the house and the property." The UNHCR said it was especially worried about the thousands of people who are unable to flee the capital. There are almost 1.5 million people now displaced within the country. For months now government leaders and its military commanders have been talking about an impending operation to seize control of the whole of Mogadishu. Our reporter says there are few civilians left in areas which often see battles but large numbers remain in some districts controlled by the insurgents. | Armed Conflict | March 2010 | ['(BBC)'] |
Red Lake shootings: In a U.S. school shooting, Jeff Weise opened fire at Red Lake High School in Minnesota, killing nine people and then himself. | At least 12 other people were hurt at Red Lake High School on a Native American reservation in the northern state of Minnesota.
It was the deadliest school shooting since the Columbine killings in 1999 when two teenage gunmen killed 13.
North Country Regional Hospital in Bemidji received six casualties, one of whom died.
Two of them were later transferred to another hospital in Fargo, North Dakota, where they remained in critical condition with head wounds. 'Headshots'
Officials at North Country said all the injuries they had dealt with had been gunshot wounds - to the head, face, hip or chest.
Some of the victims were shot at close range.
"It looks like they were shooting at people's heads," one of the doctors who dealt with the injured told reporters. "The shooter was intent on something... I think there was an intent to kill."
All those sent to North Country were male and under the age of 18, but they have not been identified. The three people still being treated there were in non-critical condition. 'Grinning'
Monday's carnage began when the boy, identified by school officials as 17-year-old Jeff Weise, shot dead grandfather Daryl Lussier - a veteran police officer - and his partner. They died at their home in the Red Lake reservation, about 240 miles (390km) north of the state capital, St Paul. US SCHOOL SHOOTINGS
April 2003: Teenager shoots dead headteacher, then kills himself, at Pennsylvania school
April 1999: Two teenagers shoot dead 12 pupils and a teacher, then kill themselves at Columbine School, Colorado
May 1998: Fifteen-year-old shoots dead two pupils in a school cafeteria in Oregon
March 1998: Two boys, aged 11 and 13, kill four girls and a teacher in Arkansas
October 1997: Teenager stabs mother, then shoots dead two pupils at a school in Mississippi
School shooting timeline
Armed with at least two weapons - a handgun and a shotgun thought to have been taken from his grandfather - the youth then drove his grandfather's police car to the school, reports said. The shooting there is said to have occurred shortly before 1500 (2100 GMT) on Monday.
The student shot dead a male security officer at the door and walked down the hallway to a classroom, where he fired at pupils, killing five of them and a female teacher.
One survivor, Red Lake pupil Sondra Hegstrom, told the Pioneer of Bemidji newspaper: "You could hear a girl saying, 'No, Jeff. Quit! Quit! Leave me alone. Why are you doing this?' "Boom, boom, boom, and then no more screaming."
Other witnesses said the teenage gunman was "grinning and waving" as he fired. Pupils and teachers dived for cover and used mobile phones to call police.
When the police arrived, a gun battle with the boy ensued before he retreated to a classroom where he is believed to have shot himself, FBI spokesman Paul McCabe said.
'Darkest hour'
Red Lake tribe chairman Floyd Jourdain said: "This is, without doubt, the darkest hour in the history of our tribe.
"It's extremely painful. The community is in utter shock. Our hearts go out to the families."
The FBI said it was too early to speculate on a motive for the shootings. Described as a loner, Weise is reported to have expressed admiration for Adolf Hitler on a Nazi website. His fellow pupils said he was sometimes teased because he dressed in black. | Armed Conflict | March 2005 | ['(Kansas City Star)', '(BBC)'] |
Clashes in and around Tajikistan's capital Dushanbe kill at least 17 people. Government representatives blame the attacks against security forces on former Deputy Defense Minister Aduhalim Nazarzoda, who fought against government forces in the Tajikistan Civil War. | The interior ministry said nine policemen were killed in gun attacks in the town of Vahdat just outside Dushanbe, and at a central interior ministry building.
Officials blamed sacked Deputy Defence Minister Abdukhalim Nazarzoda, saying he was leading a "terrorist group".
They said 13 of the attackers were killed and 32 detained.
The US embassy said it had closed and warned that the clashes "may be precursors to other acts of violence".
In a statement given to a state-owned news agency, the interior ministry said that early on Friday morning an "organised criminal group" had launched armed attacks on Vahdat's internal affairs department and on the central government building in Dushanbe. "As a result, a large amount of weapons and ammunition were seized and taken away by that terrorist group," the statement said.
The statement added that "a group of terrorists" led by Gen Nazarzoda had fled towards the Romit Gorge area and that authorities were searching for him and his accomplices.
A later statement said Gen Nazarzoda was hiding in the Romit Gorge with "seven or eight followers".
The unrest is rare for Tajikistan and comes after recent renewed controversy over the role of Islam in public life in the country, which is majority Muslim but has had a secular political order since independence.
In recent years economic hardship has been seen as contributing to a renewed interest in Islam - including more radical forms - among young Tajiks.
Last week the justice ministry imposed a ban on the activities of the Islamic Revival Party, the only legal faith-based party in ex-Soviet Central Asia.
Gen Nazarzoda is a former member of the United Tajik Opposition (UTO), which fought government forces during the civil war in the 1990s and joined the cabinet after a peace agreement was signed in 1997. Correspondents say the latest attacks seem to suggest a growing conflict between the government of President Emomali Rakhmon and former UTO warlords.
Mr Rakhmon has been in power for two decades and was re-elected in 2013 with 83.6% of the vote.
International observers said the election was quiet and peaceful but "without a real choice".
Motives for violence murky
Tajikistan profile
| Armed Conflict | September 2015 | ['(BBC)'] |
France holds a parliamentary election; early projections indicate that President Nicolas Sarkozy's center–right UMP party will secure a comfortable victory. | Although most seats will not be decided until next week's second round, polling firms said Mr Sarkozy's UMP party would win at least 383 of the 577 seats.
Analysts say a big majority would allow the new president to press ahead with his sweeping economic reforms.
Turnout is reported to have reached a record low, at around 61%.
That contrasted with a turnout of 84% at the presidential election a month ago.
"Many people seem less interested in the parliamentary elections because they think Sarkozy will win a large majority anyway," Mikhael Perez, a 48-year-old voter from Paris told Reuters news agency.
Socialists flounder
With a second round of voting to follow next week, the size of the UMP's likely majority was still uncertain.
Many voters will return to the polls for 17 June's second round
Polling companies said the party could win anything between 383 and 501 of parliament's 577 seats, compared to its 359 at present.
Mr Sarkozy's Prime Minister, Francois Fillon, said: "Today you have chosen to give the presidential majority a beautiful lead... Tonight we have gone some of the way. "But everything will really be decided next Sunday. This is why all the French need to go to vote. Change is on the march."
The Socialists, whose presidential candidate Segolene Royal lost to Mr Sarkozy, appeared set for another big disappointment.
It was predicted they could lose some of their 149 seats - and possibly as many as half of them.
Ms Royal urged left-wing voters to show up next weekend. "The republic needs you, because the republic needs a great force of the left to watch over things," she pleaded.
Blue wave
If candidates do not win more than 50% of the vote, with at least a 25% turnout, the constituency must vote again on 17 June. Most will go to a second round. Any candidate with a first-round score of 12.5% or more of the registered vote is eligible to stand.
France has not returned the same government to power since 1978 - but this time the pattern looks set to change, the BBC's Emma Jane Kirby in Paris says.
France's "blue wave" means the president will get exactly what he wants - strong backing with which to implement his ambitious programme of economic reforms, our correspondent adds.
The parties of the left - including the communists, who look set for their worst result in memory - have called for a big turnout next week, warning voters not to give absolute power to Nicolas Sarkozy.
"He is a sort of hyper-president," said Socialist Pierre Moscovici, a member of the European parliament.
Mr Sarkozy has said he will hold a special session of parliament in July to initiate his first set of political reforms, which include tougher immigration rules and more freedom for universities. A new finance bill will mean that overtime earnings are no longer taxed, inheritance tax is abolished for most people and overall individual taxation is capped at 50%. | Government Job change - Election | June 2007 | ['(BBC)'] |
The newly elected British House of Commons commences its session with the State Opening of Parliament ceremony in which the Queen's Speech is delivered. | An EU referendum by the end of 2017 is among a packed programme of new laws in the first Conservative Queen's Speech in nearly two decades.
It also includes more free childcare, an income tax freeze and the right-to-buy for housing association tenants.
David Cameron said the 26-bill package was a "programme for working people" that would create full employment and "bring our country together". The measures were unveiled by the Queen amid the usual pomp and ceremony.
The proposed legislation includes:
Many of the proposed new laws were promised by the Conservatives during the general election campaign and Mr Cameron can press ahead with plans previously blocked by the Liberal Democrats.
He told MPs that after the election, he now had a "clear mandate" from the British people and "we will not waste a single moment with getting on with the task," in his first speech to the new Parliament.
These include an Investigatory Powers Bill to give intelligence agencies new tools to target internet data, dubbed a "snooper's charter" by critics.
But the prime minister has delayed plans to scrap the Human Rights Act to avoid a potential confrontation with his own backbenchers. Instead, the government will bring forward proposals for a British Bill of Rights to replace the Human Rights Act, with legislation expected following consultation later in the parliament.
There was no mention in the speech of a promised free Commons vote on repealing the fox hunting ban, but environment secretary Liz Truss said the vote would happen by 2020.
The political message is clear - that the government will help "working people" but not those claiming benefits who, in the words if the prime minister, are "sitting at home". The Conservatives' own polling highlighted that this was a powerful message especially in the Midlands and southern marginals seized from, or defended from, Labour.
The intention is to try to recreate the coalition, not with the Lib Dems, but with people who don't traditionally back the Conservatives, but whose parents may well have voted for Mrs Thatcher before deserting the party for Tony Blair.
The prime minister is even using the language of 'One Nation' - briefly favoured by Ed Miliband.
Mr Cameron's flagship policy of giving 1.3 million housing association tenants in England the right to buy their homes at a discount was in the Queen's Speech.
Another key priority for the new government is Chancellor George Osborne's Northern Powerhouse plan, with a bill paving the way for HS2 and another piece of legislation enabling cities to bid for an elected mayor, with more powers over transport, planning, policing and health. The mayors would take over the role of Police and Crime Commissioner for their area.
There is also a Trade Unions Bill, imposing a 50% turnout threshold on strike ballots, with a further requirement in essential public services for strikes to be supported by 40% of those entitled to vote.
Reading out the speech, which is prepared for her by the government, from her throne in the House of Lords, the Queen said: "My government will legislate in the interests of everyone in the country.
"It will adopt a one nation approach, helping working people get on, supporting aspiration, giving new opportunities to the disadvantaged and bringing different parts of our country together."
Mr Cameron described his first legislative programme as the head of a Conservative government as an agenda for "working people," with three million more apprenticeships promised over the next five years and a new law to ensure the minimum wage remains tax free.
"There should be a job for everyone who wants one - in other words, full employment," said the prime minister in his introduction to the Queen's Speech.
He said that after the British economy was hauled back from the brink of disaster in 2010, the UK now stands "on the brink of something special".
"We have a golden opportunity to renew the idea that working people are backed in this country; to renew the promise to those least fortunate that they will have the opportunity for a brighter future; and to renew the ties that bind every part of our United Kingdom.
"We now have the mandate to deliver that renewal. And it starts with this Queen's Speech."
He described the programme as "the bold first step of a One Nation government".
Harriet Harman, Labour's acting leader, said her party would back the government's EU referendum bill but campaign for Britain to stay in the Union. She also confirmed that Labour had dropped its opposition to lowering the benefit cap.
She attacked proposals to give housing association tenants the right to buy their homes as "uncosted, unfunded and unworkable" and condemned plans to make it harder for workers to strike and other measures that "undermine people's rights at work" as "divisive posturing".
She also told Mr Cameron it would be "utterly irresponsible to continue what he did so shamefully in the general election which was to set the English against the Scottish," urging him not to give Scotland full fiscal autonomy demanded by the SNP.
The SNP said they were "the only real opposition to the Tories in Westminster", following a Queen's Speech which they said "ties Scotland to the wrong priorities".
But the party's 56 MPs got their first ticking off from Commons Speaker John Bercow when they burst into applause as their leader at Westminster Angus Robertson hit back at Labour MP Ian Austin, who angrily told them they should be sitting with the Conservatives. The Speaker said the SNP members "must show some respect" for the Commons convention that frowns on applause.
In his speech, Mr Robertson called for "honesty" from the government on its plans for "austerity cuts".
"On the vow that was given to the people of Scotland, we will judge the Scotland Bill on its contents. The legislation that is introduced must live up to the Smith Commission in full, anything less would be a breach of faith," he added.
Former deputy prime minister Nick Clegg accused Mr Cameron of abandoning the "liberal stance" espoused by the previous coalition government. In what he said would be his final Commons speech as Lib Dem leader, he told MPs: "The human rights we hold dear, our right to privacy in an online age, our future as an open-minded, outward-looking country, are all hanging in the balance again because of the measures announced today. "It is clear, too, that the previous government's commitment to fairness is also weakened."
He began his speech, in a half empty chamber, by saying it was "an unaccustomed surprise" to speak in the Commons without being greeted by a "disobliging wall of noise" from the opposition benches.
| Famous Person - Give a speech | May 2015 | ['(BBC)'] |
The Seattle Sounders FC defeat Toronto FC 3–1 at CenturyLink Field to win their second MLS Cup. | The Seattle Sounders won their second MLS Cup title in club history when they beat Toronto FC 3-1 in 2019 MLS Cup on Sunday at CenturyLink Field in front of a Seattle record crowd of 69,274. It's their second MLS championship in the last four years.
The Sounders' first MLS Cup title in 2016 also came against Toronto FC when they beat the Canadian side in a memorable penalty-kick shootout at BMO Field in Toronto.
| Sports Competition | November 2019 | ['(Major League Soccer)'] |
Aid starts to flow in after an earthquake kills over 270 people in Ecuador. | At least 272 people have been confirmed dead and more than 1,500 people injured after Ecuador was hit by its most powerful earthquake in decades.
Some 10,000 troops and 3,500 police are being deployed in the affected areas, as rescue operations continue.
The magnitude-7.8 quake struck on Saturday evening.
Coastal areas in the north-west were closest to the epicentre and officials say the death toll is likely to rise as information begins to come in.
Ecuador's President Rafael Correa has cut short a visit to Italy to deal with the crisis. He has declared a state of emergency and said the priority is finding survivors.
"Everything can be rebuilt, but lives cannot be recovered, and that's what hurts the most," he said.
Ecuador's Vice-President Jorge Glas, visiting one of the worst-hit cities, Manta, met a resident who pleaded for people trapped under rubble.
"We cannot go in with heavy machinery because it can be tragic for the wounded," Mr Glas told him.
Helicopters and buses are ferrying troops north but have been hampered by landslides. In some areas people are using their bare hands to try to dig out survivors.
Food and other essentials has been handed out and international aid is also beginning to arrive, with the first coming from Venezuela and Mexico.
Colombia announced it was sending rescue teams with search dogs, and its navy would carry water to the affected area. Gabriel Alcivar, mayor of Pedernales, close to the epicentre, said the "entire town" had been flattened.
"We're trying to do the most we can but there's almost nothing we can do," he added, warning that looting had broken out.
Widespread damage is reported, with a bridge destroyed as far south as Guayaquil about 300km (190 miles) away.
In Manta, one woman said: "The third floor collapsed on top of us. They are all there, my family, my sister, my children. My God, may the help arrive."
Cristian Ibarra Santillan was in the capital Quito when the quake struck.
"There had been some small tremors going on for about two or three months and I thought it was one of those but after about 20, 30 seconds it started to get really strong," he told the BBC.
"And I grabbed my dog and I hid under the table. But then I realised that it wasn't going away so I just ran with him outside."
The quake is Ecuador's largest since 1979. More than 130 aftershocks have followed.
The US Geological Survey said the earthquake struck at a fairly shallow depth of 19.2km (11.9 miles), about 27km from Muisne in a sparsely populated area.
David Rothery, a professor of geosciences at The Open University, said Ecuador's quake was about six times as powerful as the earthquake that struck southern Japan on Saturday. The quake was also felt in Colombia, where patients in a clinic in the city of Cali were evacuated from the building.
Ecuador is used to earthquakes. There have been seven magnitude-7.0 or greater events within 250km of this latest tremor since 1900. And some of these have resulted in very considerable loss of life, not just from the shaking but also from tsunami waves.
The country sits on the so-called "Ring of Fire" - the arc of high seismic activity that extends right around the Pacific basin. At its location, Ecuador fronts the boundary between the Nazca and South American tectonic plates.
These are vast slabs of the Earth's surface that grind past each other at a rate of about 65mm per year. The Nazca plate, which makes up the Pacific Ocean floor in this region, is being pulled down (subducted) and under the South American coast.
It is a process that has helped build the Andes and Ecuador's many volcanoes, including the mighty Chimborazo.
Models that try to forecast the likely casualty numbers from the nature of the quake and local building construction methods indicate this event could be very serious, with the number of deaths running into the hundreds. | Earthquakes | April 2016 | ['(AP via Fox News)', '(BBC)'] |
Thousands of Iraqis flee western Mosul as the battle between Iraqi and allied forces and ISIL militants escalates in the densely populated Old City. | MOSUL, Iraq (Reuters) - Thousands of Iraqis surged out of western Mosul on Saturday during a lull in heavy fighting in districts around the densely populated Old City where Iraqi forces are facing fierce resistance from Islamic State militants.
Five months into the battle to take Islamic State’s last bastion in Iraq, government forces have cleared the east and half of western Mosul, and are now focused on controlling the Old City as well as the strategic al-Nuri Mosque.
As fighting has entered into the narrow alleyways and densely populated parts of the west, more residents are fleeing liberated areas where food and water are scarce, security fragile and where homes are often caught in shelling.
“We have been trapped for 25 days. No water, no food, everyone will die and they will have to pull us from the rubble,” said one resident of Bab Jdid district, not giving his name because relatives remained inside Mosul.
Families with elderly relatives and children marched through western Mosul’s muddy streets, past buildings pock-marked by bullet and bombs. Some said they had hardly eaten in weeks, scrambling for supplies handed out by a local aid agency.
“It is terrible, Islamic State have destroyed us. There is no food, no bread. There is absolutely nothing,” said another resident.
As many as 600,000 civilians may be caught inside the city with the militants.
Iraqi forces cut off Mosul from the remaining territory that Islamic State controls in Iraq and Syria. But even in liberated areas, many prefer to leave the city amid heavy fighting.
Around 255,000 people have been displaced from Mosul and surrounding areas since October, including more than 100,000 since the latest military campaign in western Mosul began on Feb. 19, according to United Nations figures.
The last week has seen the highest level of displacement yet, with 32,000 displaced between March 12 and 15.
Heavy rains and clouds this week restricted air cover and helicopters, slowing the advance of Federal Police and Rapid Response forces who are consolidating positions around the Old City and the al-Nuri Mosque.
“The weather is cloudy and rainy but our forces are advancing toward their targets,” Federal Police Major General Haider Dhirgham told reporters at the forward base inside Mosul. “In a few steps and strikes we will reach the Nuri mosque.”
As militants retreat into the confined streets of the Old City, Islamic State has been resisting with snipers, mortars and the armored suicide car bombs that plow into army positions.
The fall of Mosul would be a significant blow to Islamic State, whose leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi used the al-Nuri mosque to declare a self-proclaimed caliphate spanning Iraq and Syria in 2014.
U.S. officials have estimated that around 2,000 fighters remain inside the city. But even after the liberation of Mosul, there are risks that militants will return to the kind of guerrilla warfare and bombings they have used in the past.
Writing by Patrick Markey; Editing by Julia Glover | Armed Conflict | March 2017 | ['(Reuters)'] |
Government planes bomb tribesmen opposed to President Ali Abdullah Saleh. | Yemeni government forces have carried out air strikes against tribal forces opposed to President Ali Abdullah Saleh, tribesmen say.
They said air force planes struck an area in Naham province, outside the capital, Sanaa, leaving an unknown number of dead and injured. Government and tribal forces have been battling each other for days.
Supporters of the government and the opposition have both called for large demonstrations later on Friday.
President Saleh has faced a wave of popular protests similar to those seen in other Arab countries, as well as a mounting challenge from a rival clan.
Since Monday, more than 80 people have been killed in fighting between fighters loyal to Sheikh Sadiq al-Ahmar, head of the Hashid tribal federation, and security forces.
The air strikes reported in Naham province, north-east of Sanaa, appear to mark a further escalation in recent fighting.
One tribal leader, Sheikh Ali Saif, told the Associated Press that his forces had taken control of a Republican Guard camp in Naham to try to prevent government forces from travelling to the capital to fight tribal gunmen. Meanwhile, fighting also flared in the southern city of Zinjibar when dozens of armed militants believed to be linked to al-Qaeda stormed the city, attacking security forces, residents told Reuters news agency.
President Saleh has repeatedly refused to sign a deal that would see him transfer power within a month to a unity government.
It would also give the president immunity from prosecution.
Friday prayers have been a traditional rallying point for protesters calling for Mr Saleh to step down.
Anti-government protesters used Facebook and text messages this week to call for a "Friday of Peaceful Revolution".
One message said the rally "is to stress the peacefulness of the revolution and rejection of efforts to drag the country into a civil war".
Saleh supporters were planning their own "Friday of Law and Order" rally. A text message said their rally would "condemn the crimes against our rights and the rebellion against the country".
During recent fighting in the capital, hundreds of residents have fled or taken refuge in basements to escape the mortar strikes.
On Friday, the leaders of the G8 group of wealthy nations issued a communique calling on Mr Saleh to stick to his commitment to end his 33-year rule.
"We condemn the use of violence in response to peaceful protest throughout Yemen," the statement read.
"We urge President Saleh to immediately follow through on his commitments and ensure that the legitimate aspirations of the Yemeni people are addressed."
| Armed Conflict | May 2011 | ['(UPI)', '(BBC)'] |
Nigeria bans international humanitarian organization Action Against Hunger for allegedly providing food and medicine for Boko Haram militants in the north-east of the country. Action Against Hunger denies the Nigerian military's accusations. | Nigeria's army has stopped the work of international NGO Action Against Hunger accusing it of supplying a militant Islamist group with food and drugs.
The army said it had warned the NGO against "aiding and abetting" Boko Haram in north-east Nigeria.
Action Against Hunger, which denies the accusations, says its "life-saving assistance" to vulnerable people has now been put "into jeopardy".
Boko Haram's 10-year campaign of terror has left more than 30,000 people dead.
More than two million people have also been displaced.
A network of NGOs is assisting the government in helping those who have been forced from their homes.
In 2018, the military accused the UN's children's agency, Unicef, of spying for the militants. It banned the organisation, which denied the allegations, but hours later lifted the ban.
In a statement, Action Against Hunger said it "delivers neutral, impartial and independent humanitarian aid to millions of people in Borno state by providing basic services to the most vulnerable people, especially women and children".
It said it had been told by soldiers without any notice to close its office in the capital of Borno state, Maiduguri.
In July, the Paris-based charity said six of its aid workers had been kidnapped in Nigeria. The six abductees appeared on a video, with one of them calling on the Nigerian government and international community to intervene. Their whereabouts are still unknown.
No group has said it was behind the kidnapping.
By 2015, Boko Haram had seized control of much of Borno state, and spread its activities to neighbouring countries.
A counter-insurgency by the army led to much of that territory being recaptured. But the militants have come to rely more on suicide bombings and kidnappings in recent years.
One of its most notorious attacks was on a school in Chibok, north-east Nigeria, when 276 schoolgirls were kidnapped. Many of them have been freed, but the whereabouts of more than 100 are still unknown.
Since 2013, Boko Haram are thought to have kidnapped more than 1,000 people.
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | September 2019 | ['(BBC)', '(Africanews)'] |
Interior minister Horst Seehofer offers his resignation citing a conflict with Angela Merkel over her refugee policy. | The move, which comes after weeks of stand-off, risks the future of chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition government.
Monday 2 July 2018 04:25, UK
Germany's interior minister has offered his resignation after a conflict with Angela Merkel over migration policy, party figures say.
Horst Seehofer has been at odds with the chancellor over her approach to mass migration.
He has threatened to turn away some categories of asylum seekers at the German border while Mrs Merkel has sought a European solution.
Sources in Mr Seehofer's party - Bavaria's Christian Social Union (CSU) - said he wanted to "step down" as interior minister and chairman of his party, as he enjoys "no support".
The CSU tried for weeks to get Mrs Merkel to agree to reject asylum seekers at the border if they had already registered in other countries or to get a similar deal from the European Union by 1 July.
Mr Seehofer complained in Sunday's closed meeting with party bosses that his conversation with the chancellor had "no effect", sources said.
Germany's DPA news agency reported that some members of Mr Seehofer's party were trying to change his mind on the resignation.
It is not clear what effect Mr Seehofer's resignation could have on Mrs Merkel's government, which has looked increasingly precarious during the three-week stand-off.
The CSU and Mrs Merkel's CDU (Christian Democratic Union) have been allies since 1949 but the CSU faces a state election in Bavaria in October, and its anti-immigration stance is its main campaign platform. | Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | July 2018 | ['(Sky News)'] |
Ten people were shot Tuesday night in what appears to be two driveby shootings in southeast Washington D.C., with at least four killed. | WASHINGTON, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Four people were killed and five others injured Tuesday night in what appears to be two drive-by shootings in southeast Washington D.C., police told Xinhua. The shootings involved two crime scenes, one on Galveston Street SW inside D.C. Police said an 18-year-old man was shot there. He was injured but the injuries were non-life threatening. The other crime scene was on nearby Brandywine St SE and S Capitol St SE. The shooting there involved multiple casualties. Police said 8 people were shot there. Local TV quoted authorities as saying all of the victims are in their 20s and 30s expect for one teenager. There were six male victims and three females. The suspected shooters fled south into Maryland after the shooting. Police recovered an AK-47 assault rifle near the crime scene, seemed to be tossed out of the suspects' car. As police chased the suspects into Maryland, two of their patrol cars crashed in Oxon Hill, Maryland. Five police officers were hurt. Police said they detained 3 suspects. They didn't give a motive for the shooting. The crime scenes were closed off as investigators worked. Chinas high-speed rail goes global | Armed Conflict | March 2010 | ['(Xinhua)', '(China Dialy)', '(CCTV)', '(CNN)'] |
New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees becomes the NFL’s career leader in passing yardage, surpassing Peyton Manning. | Move over, Peyton Manning, the NFL has a new career leader in passing yards. New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees topped Manning’s mark of 71,940 yards Monday, accomplishing the feat in the latter’s hometown of New Orleans, during a nationally televised game against the Washington Redskins.
The game was paused in the second quarter after Brees completed a 62-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Tre’Quan Smith to allow for recognition of the accomplishment, which came in the quarterback’s 18th NFL season. He actually began the evening third on the all-time list and passed Brett Favre (71,838 yards) on Monday, as well.
Brees was immediately enveloped by his teammates in a joyful hug, then he pointed to the home crowd while Pro Football Hall of Fame President David Baker took possession of the football used on the play. Brees’s next move was to the sideline, where his wife, children and Saints Coach Sean Payton awaited emotional embraces.
The game continued after with the Saints unsuccessfully attempted a two-point conversion — with Brees notably split out as a receiver, at least in theory, while backup quarterback Taysom Hill took the snap and tried to run into the end zone. ESPN, televising the “Monday Night Football” game, had Brees wearing a microphone during the game, and it played audio of Brees telling his young sons, “Hey, boys, how about that, huh? You can accomplish anything in life, if you’re willing to work for it.”
Anticipating that Brees might break the record against his team, Redskins Coach Jay Gruden told the Athletic’s Tarik El-Bashir before the game, “It’s a great accomplishment, man . . . You have got to have the utmost respect for what he’s been able to accomplish in his career. To have the game stop for a few minutes to congratulate him, I think it is well worth it.”
Whereas Manning barely was able to surpass Favre’s record in 2015, doing so in a final NFL season in which his play dropped sharply and he was benched for Brock Osweiler before returning late in the season to help the Broncos win the Super Bowl, Brees has a chance to put some distance between himself and second place. Even at 39 years old, the same age Manning was when he last threw a pass, Brees is still playing like one of the of the NFL’s best quarterbacks.
Three squirts of water. 53 exercise reps. To Drew Brees, every number has a purpose.
Brees came into Week 5 not only leading the NFL in completion percentage, but with a mark higher than the 72.0 he posted last year, which set a single-season league record. Brees also led the NFL last year in completions (386) and yards per attempt (8.1), and while his passing yardage and touchdowns were down from previous seasons, that reflected in large part the fact that his Saints were unusually effective in 2017 on defense and at running the ball.
A second-round pick by the Chargers in 2001 after setting records at Purdue, Brees spent five seasons in San Diego as his career got off to a somewhat slow start. He had a breakout campaign in 2004, but by then the Chargers had drafted Philip Rivers with the fourth overall pick, and in the final game of the 2005 season, Brees suffered a major shoulder injury.
The Saints took a chance in free agency on Brees, who is also undersized for an NFL quarterback at a listed 6-0, and it paid off immediately. Partnered in 2006 with a first-year head coach in Payton, the pair took the previously underachieving franchise to new heights, while also helping bring joy to a New Orleans community struggling with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina’s destruction.
“This is one of the great stories in NFL history — a guy who was told was told every reason why he would never be the guy,” Joe Tessitore, the “MNF” announcer, said before the game (via the Advocate). “From being a great high school player in Texas who chose not to stay home, to his troubles in San Diego, to his right shoulder not being able to pass a physical, to this day Drew Brees a guy that I marvel at.”
Over his 12 full seasons with the Saints, Brees quarterbacked the team to its first Super Bowl title and another appearance in the NFC championship game, and he has led the NFL in passing yardage seven times, including from 2014 to 2016. He has also led the league in completions six times, in completion percentage five times and in passing touchdowns four times.
Brees entered Monday 43 passing touchdowns short of Manning’s NFL record of 539 for a career, meaning that he is on pace to top that mark in 2019. However, he has some competition from 40-year-old Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, who threw his 500th touchdown pass Thursday, while Favre is currently in second place at 508.
“Obviously, and I know Drew feels the same way, you never play for individual records of any sorts,” Manning said in June (via the New Orleans Times-Picayune). “I think touchdowns probably has a little more meaning to a quarterback, because it means that you got six points, and it means you were doing something good for your team. Yards, as you all know, cannot necessarily mean winning games. I think Drew’s had a couple of big yardage seasons and maybe they haven’t been winning as many games, so I think that can be a little bit misleading.”
Of the passing-yardage record, Manning said at the time, “He deserves it . . . He’s just been the ultimate pro, taking care of himself, being in great shape. Credit to him for playing as long as he has, at such a high level."
Brees came into Monday already in possession of several other NFL career passing records, including most completions (6,344), highest completion percentage (67.1), most passing yards per game (283.6), most consecutive 4,000-yard passing seasons (12), most consecutive games with a touchdown pass (54) and most consecutive games with at least 20 completions (57). He also has the most 5,000-yard passing seasons, with five — all other NFL quarterbacks have combined for just four such campaigns — and he holds the league’s single season record for most completions, notching 471 in 2016.
Brees ended Monday’s game in style, getting lifted with two minutes left and the Saints up by 24 points. The only slight disappointment from the evening might have been that he didn’t quite get to 500 touchdown passes, throwing three against Washington to reach 499, but it was a magnificent outing in which he completed 26 of 29 passes, for an eye-popping 89.7 percentage, and racked up 363 yards.
“I’m just so grateful for the opportunity to play this game,” Brees said after the win, claiming that he wasn’t sure if it would “ever sink in” that he had topped some of the NFL’s all-time greats. “It’s truly been a dream come true.”
(H/T nola.com)
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The NHL’s expansion era may be ending with Seattle. What does that mean for Quebec City? The most important news stories of the day, curated by Post editors and delivered every morning. | Sports Competition | October 2018 | ['(Fox News)', '(The Washington Post)'] |
Police seal off and trap hundreds of students and protesters inside Hong Kong Polytechnic University amid fears of a crackdown. After a police officer is injured, security forces threaten to fire live bullets if protesters do not give up lethal weapons. | HONG KONG (Reuters) - Dozens of Hong Kong protesters staged a dramatic escape from a university campus sealed off by police on Monday by shimmying down plastic hosing from a bridge and fleeing on waiting motorbikes as the police fired projectiles.
Students leave Hong Kong university siege
01:05
Many more anti-government protesters remained trapped inside the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and two prominent figures were allowed by police onto the campus late on Monday to mediate, a sign that there is a growing risk of bloodshed.
“The situation is getting more and more dangerous,” Jasper Tsang, a pro-Beijing politician who is the former head of Hong Kong’s Legislative Council, told Reuters soon after he arrived at the campus.
As he spoke, big explosions were heard and flames flared up at a distant part of the campus. In streets nearby, protesters rained down petrol bombs, burning parked cars and the front of a Standard Chartered Bank branch.
Polytechnic University in Hong Kong’s Kowloon district is at the center of a standoff in the past week that has seen the most intense violence in five months of anti-government demonstrations.
Some of the protesters who escaped on Monday lowered themselves several meters from a bridge they had occupied on the campus to a flyover below. They then sped off on the back of motorcycles that were already waiting or arrived quickly.
A number of them appeared subsequently to have been arrested, a Reuters witness said.
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Other protesters, hurling petrol bombs, tried repeatedly to break into the campus but police fired tear gas and water cannon to push them back.
The United States expressed concern about the situation but China’s ambassador to London accused Western countries of interfering.
The size of demonstrations has dwindled in recent weeks, but clashes have worsened since early last week, when police shot a protester, a man was set on fire and the city’s financial district was filled with tear gas in the middle of the workday.
The city’s hospital authority reported 116 injuries on Monday, including one female in serious condition.
Earlier on Monday, police prevented dozens of people breaking out of the university through police lines. Officers had been deployed “on the periphery” of the campus for a week, appealing to “rioters” to leave, police said.
Tsang said there could be bloodshed if the police enter the campus by force and meet strong resistance, adding: “This is something that we want to avoid.”
Tsang, who with legal scholar Eric Cheung was the first prominent mediator let onto the campus by police, said it was priority to ensure children trapped inside get out first.
Early on Tuesday, about 20 students accompanied by Tsang left the campus voluntarily, broadcaster RTHK reported on its livestream.
Witnesses estimated there were more than 300 people still on the campus as of late Monday.
Demonstrators are angry at what they see as Chinese meddling in Hong Kong’s promised freedoms when the then British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997. They say they are responding to excessive use of force by police.
China says it is committed to the “one country, two systems” formula granting Hong Kong autonomy. The city’s police deny accusations of brutality and say they show restraint.
The unrest poses the gravest popular challenge to Chinese President Xi Jinping since he came to power in 2012.
In Washington, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters the United States was “gravely concerned” about the unrest and violence and said the Hong Kong government bore primary responsibility for ensuring a return to calm.
“Unrest and violence cannot be resolved by law enforcement efforts alone,” he said, calling for an independent investigation into protest-related incidents and for the ruling Chinese Communist Party to honor promises of freedom and liberties for the Hong Kong people.
Earlier on Monday, China’s ambassador to London accused foreign countries including the United States and Britain of interfering in Chinese internal affairs through their reactions.
“Some Western countries have publicly supported extreme violent offenders,” Ambassador Liu Xiaoming told a news conference at which he criticized Western reporting on Hong Kong as “misleading” and not giving enough prominence to violence perpetrated by the protesters.
Reporting by Marius Zaharia, James Pomfret, Josh Smith, Jessie Pang, Joyce Zhou, Donny Kwok, Anne Marie Roantree, Twinnie Siu, Greg Torode, Kate Lamb, Farah Master, David Lague, Jennifer Hughes and Tom Lasseter in Hong Kong, Phil Stewart in Bangkok and Humeyra Pamuk and David Brunnstrom in Washington; Writing by Greg Torode and Tony Munroe; Editing by Stephen Coates, Robert Birsel and Timothy Heritage
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
All quotes delayed a minimum of 15 minutes. See here for a complete list of exchanges and delays.
Exclusive: Fed’s Neel Kashkari opposes rate hikes at least through 2023 as the central bank becomes more hawkish | Protest_Online Condemnation | November 2019 | ['(Reuters)'] |
London votes Sadiq Khan to succeed Boris Johnson as Mayor of London; Khan is the first Muslim to be elected London's Mayor. | Sadiq Khan has been elected the new Mayor of London - boosting Labour after it slumped in Scotland's elections.
Mr Khan is the city's first Muslim mayor, after beating Tory Zac Goldsmith by 1,310,143 votes to 994,614.
The result bolsters leader Jeremy Corbyn after Labour was beaten into third in Scotland by the Tories and lost some English councillors.
In Scotland, the SNP said it would form a minority government after winning its third election in a row. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is celebrating what she said was an "emphatic" victory, her first as party leader, after the SNP emerged as the largest party at Holyrood with 63 seats, ahead of the Conservatives on 31 and Labour on 24.
But she played down talk of another independence referendum after falling short by two seats of an overall majority.
In Wales, Labour remains as the largest party, with 29 out of 60 seats, but was denied a majority as Plaid Cymru and UKIP both made notable gains. Counting is continuing in Northern Ireland.
Mr Khan's victory - which gave him the largest personal mandate of any politician in UK history - ends eight years of Conservative control of City Hall. The former Labour MP and minister, 45, becomes London's third mayor after Ken Livingstone and Boris Johnson.
Mr Khan distanced himself from Mr Corbyn during the campaign, pledging to freeze fares on the capital's transport network and build more affordable housing, but also promising to champion business and cut taxes on enterprise.
In his victory speech, he referred to his humble origins on a council estate and said he had never imagined that "someone like me could be elected as mayor of London," promising to be a mayor "for all Londoners". He said the campaign had not been without controversy, but added: "I am so proud that London has today chosen hope over fear".
He added that the "politics of fear is not welcome in our city".
BBC political correspondent Chris Mason said questions were now focusing on the tone of the Conservative campaign, which was criticised by some within the party and Labour for accusing Mr Khan of sharing a platform with Islamist extremists.
Defence Secretary Michael Fallon - who said during the election campaign that Mr Khan was unfit to be mayor - said it was legitimate to put a candidate under scrutiny. "Both candidates were asked questions about their backgrounds, their personalities, their judgements, the people they associate with. That's the nature of our democracy and the rough and tumble of politics," he told BBC Radio 4 Today.
Mr Fallon repeatedly declined to say whether he thought Mr Khan was a security risk to London, instead saying: "London is safe with a Conservative government working with the new mayor of London."
Asked if that would require a lot of work, he replied: "Yes, of course it does."
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Zac Goldsmith's sister Jemima has criticised how his campaign was run, while former Conservative cabinet minister Baroness Warsi called it an "appalling dog whistle campaign" and former Tory chancellor Ken Clarke said it was a "mistake".
Ms Goldsmith tweeted: "Sad that Zac's campaign did not reflect who I know him to be - an eco friendly, independent-minded politician with integrity."
She also congratulated Mr Khan, calling him a "great example to young Muslims".
David Cameron's former director of strategy Steve Hilton described the Goldsmith campaign as "really weird," claiming it had brought back the "nasty party label to the Conservative party".
The new mayor did not have a privileged start in life. He was one of eight children born to Pakistani immigrants, a bus driver and a seamstress, on a south London housing estate. From an early age, he showed a firm resolve to defy the odds in order to win success for himself and the causes important to him.
That resolve has won him the biggest personal mandate in the UK, a job with wide-ranging powers over London and with enormous emotional significance for him. Some question whether he has the experience or record of good judgement necessary for the role. He insists he is there to represent all Londoners and to tackle inequality in the capital, and now he has the chance to prove it. The Sadiq Khan story
Outgoing mayor Boris Johnson congratulated Mr Khan on "securing a huge mandate to do the best job in British politics" and wished him "every possible success". He also paid tribute to Mr Goldsmith for his "heroic efforts" in the campaign.
Meanwhile, Mr Corbyn led congratulations on Twitter using the hashtag YesWeKhan and told the new mayor: "Can't wait to work with you to create a London that is fair for all."
A Labour victory in the capital was seen as a minimum expectation if Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was to avoid a full-blown leadership crisis after the party suffered one of its worst ever results in Scotland - losing 13 seats and being pushed into third place by the resurgent Scottish Conservatives.
Mr Corbyn has talked up Labour's performance in Thursday's elections, saying the party had defied predictions by retaining control of councils in the south of England such as Southampton, Hastings, Crawley and Norwich.
"We hung on and we grew support in a lot of places," he said.
Allies of Mr Corbyn, including shadow chancellor John McDonnell and shadow environmental minister Clive Lewis, have called on critics within the party to rally round the leader. But others, including former shadow minister Michael Dugher, have said Labour was "not on a trajectory to victory" in the next general election, scheduled for 2020.
Labour's vote share is down about 6% on average on 2012 - the last time these seats in England were contested - with 24 fewer councillors. But its share is up 4% on the general election in key wards, with the Conservatives down by a similar amount.
In other election developments:
On the basis of Friday's results, the BBC is calculating that Labour would have got a 31% projected share of the national vote, slightly higher than expected, with the Conservatives on 30%, the Lib Dems on 15% and UKIP on 12%.
In Scotland, Labour gained one seat from the SNP - Edinburgh Southern - but failed to take other targets and was beaten into third place by the Conservatives - a result that would have been unthinkable in the past.
Speaking in Edinburgh, Nicola Sturgeon said the SNP had a "clear and unequivocal" mandate and would govern on its own rather than in alliance with other parties. On the question of a future vote on independence, she said the SNP would make "its case with passion, with patience but will always respect the opinion of the people".
But Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson, who said any prospect of the issue being reopened in the next five years had been "utterly shredded" by the SNP's failure to win a majority. In Wales, Labour's vote is down by eight points overall, the Conservative vote is down by three points, while Plaid Cymru is up by two points.
Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood celebrated a famous victory after she took the seat of Rhondda from Labour in its south Wales heartlands. Lib Dem Welsh leader Kirsty Williams resigned after her party was reduced to one seat in the Welsh Assembly.
But the biggest story of the night in Wales was the performance of UKIP, which saw its vote increase by 12 points and saw seven candidates elected. Thursday's polls were the single largest test of political opinion before the next general election, which is scheduled for 2020, with 43 million people entitled to take part.
In total, 2,747 seats in English councils - spanning metropolitan boroughs, unitary authorities and district councils - were up for grabs. David Cameron said the party's second place in Scotland and its showing in England, where it took control of Peterborough Council and won council seats in key Westminster marginals such as Dudley and Nuneaton, represented a good result for a party which had been in government for six years. | Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration | May 2016 | ['(BBC)'] |
Turkish police fire tear gas and rubber bullets at demonstrators marching to Taksim Square. Over 200 people are arrested at protests around the city of Istanbul. | ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Police in Istanbul fired tear gas and rubber bullets to break up a group of May Day demonstrators on Monday, a Reuters witness said, as authorities detained more than 200 people at protests around the city.
Turkish police disperse May Day protesters with rubber pellets
01:05
Protests for May Day, the international workers’ holiday, are an annual occurrence in Turkey and have in the past been characterized by widespread police actions against demonstrators.
Protests were expected to be more subdued this year after unions said they would not attempt to march on Taksim Square, a traditional rallying point for anti-government protests that has been declared off-limits for demonstrators.
Police presence was heavy across the city, with helicopters buzzing overhead. Tensions are particularly high after President Tayyip Erdogan narrowly won a referendum last month giving him sweeping new powers.
Police in the Mecidiyekoy neighborhood used tear gas and rubber bullets on a group of protesters who were attempting to march toward Taksim Square. They were shouting “Taksim is ours and it will remain ours”.
The square became the focal point for weeks of anti-Erdogan demonstrations in 2013. Two demonstrators who managed to reach it were detained shortly after they unfurled a banner, Dogan news agency said.
In the Besiktas neighborhood, where two years ago police used water cannon on stone-throwing May Day demonstrators, dozens of people were rounded up for attempting to make their way to Taksim.
“A total of 207 people have been detained,” the Istanbul governor’s office said in a statement, adding that some 40 Molotov cocktails, 17 hand grenades and 176 fireworks had been confiscated. Illegal posters were also seized, it said.
Rights groups and some of Turkey’s Western allies say Ankara has sharply curtailed freedom of speech and other basic rights in the crackdown that followed a failed coup last year.
Since his referendum win, Erdogan has conducted two further purges, targeting the police, civil service and military.
Over the weekend, 3,900 people were removed from the civil service and the armed forces, while authorities blocked access to online encyclopedia Wikipedia, citing a law allowing the banning of access to websites deemed obscene or a threat to national security.
Erdogan says the measures are necessary given the security threats faced by Turkey.
| Protest_Online Condemnation | May 2017 | ['(Reuters)'] |
Relatives of the 66 people killed in the crash sue Apple alleging that an overheating iPad caused the disaster. | In mid-January 2017 Patently Apple posted a report titled "A Weak Circumstantial Theory by French Investigators Points to Fiery Apple Device Bringing Down Air Egypt." We noted back then that "A report this week out of Europe noted that French investigators theorize that the batteries in a co-pilot's iPad mini 4 or iPhone 6s may have caused the mysterious crash of EgyptAir flight MS804, which went down on May 19th of last year. All 66 people onboard were killed." We ended our report stating that "Unless the French investigative team can produce the very Apple product and confirm a direct connection to the crash, putting out a theory such as this to the public is incomprehensibly irresponsible. You have to wonder what political motivation there could possibly be for such reckless behavior."
Today we're learning from various European reports that a new lawsuit has been filed against Apple for the crash of the EgyptAir Flight 804. TMZ reports that The families of several of the victims of the May 19, 2016 crash claim the tragedy was due to the co-pilot's iPhone 6S or iPad mini overheating in the cockpit and catching fire.
According to the docs ... an investigation revealed the device ignited and led to a bigger fire in the cockpit, which ultimately took the plane down.
It should be noted, however -- some industry experts have questioned this phone theory ... and believe the fire on the plane started beneath the cockpit in the avionics bay due to a short circuit or some kind of explosion.
Still, the families believe there's enough evidence to hold Apple responsible for the deaths of their loved ones."
Until there's an official government report definitively pointing to an Apple device being the cause of the crash, the action of the relatives is simply anger looking for a party to blame and nothing more.
In 2016 the BBC reported that "Egyptian investigators" announced that traces of explosives had been found on the victims. The Guardian reported at the same time that "French investigators were reported to have found trace levels of the explosive TNT on recovered debris but claimed they were prevented from further examining it. Egyptian officials denied the claim.
Posted by Jack Purcher on May 12, 2018 at 10:53 AM in 5. Apple News | Permalink | Air crash | May 2018 | ['(Patently Apple)'] |
Police in the western Indian city of Thane arrest more than 750 people suspected of defrauding U.S. citizens from a fake call center. | Police in the western Indian city of Thane have arrested more than 750 people suspected of defrauding US citizens from a fake call centre. Officers say the suspects obtained lists of US tax defaulters and used threats to obtain their bank details.
The scam is said to have netted more than $150,000 (118,000) a day, making it one of the biggest frauds in India's history.
Thane police officials said they were contacting the FBI to ask for help.
Some 70 of those detained were formally arrested, police said, with the rest released pending further inquiries. Nine people believed to have led the scam have been identified.
The scammers pretended to be members of the US Internal Revenue Service, and told victims they owed back taxes.
In some cases, the victims were duped into buying gift vouchers from different companies and bullied into revealing voucher ID numbers, police said.
The scammers then made purchases with the voucher numbers.
Police say those involved in the scam at the Indian end retained 70% of the earnings, with 30% going to their US collaborators. Paramvir Singh, the police commissioner of Thane, told reporters that 851 hard disks, high-end servers, and other electronic equipment had been seized. Mr Singh said overnight raids on Wednesday had lasted well into the morning, and involved more than 200 policemen who had raided buildings in three locations in the city.
Thane police superintendent Mahesh Patil told BBC Hindi that the investigation could open up cases from other countries as well.
A US State Department official said: "We have seen reports and are following the situation closely to confirm any US citizen involvement. We would refer you to the local Indian authorities for further details on the case."
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | October 2016 | ['(BBC)'] |
Lukashenko, in power since 1994, declares a landslide victory against the opposition, as riot police clash with protesters in the capital Minsk. Protests in reaction to the disputed results have been reported in at least 20 other Belarusian cities. Fifty civilians and thirty-nine police officers were injured, while at least 3,000 protesters are arrested across the country, one-third of them in Minsk. | Protesters and riot police have clashed in Belarus's capital Minsk and other cities, after a state TV exit poll said long-time leader Alexander Lukashenko was re-elected in Sunday's election. Police used stun grenades, rubber bullets and water cannon. A human rights group said one protester was killed and about 120 arrested.
Mr Lukashenko won 80% of the vote, according to a preliminary count.
But the main opposition leader has refused to recognise the results.
"We have already won, because we have overcome our fear, our apathy and our indifference," Svetlana Tikhanovskaya said.
The preliminary results give her 9.9% of the vote, but her campaign said she had been polling 70-80% in some areas.
Ms Tikhanovskaya entered the election in place of her jailed husband and went on to lead large opposition rallies.
Mr Lukashenko, 65, has been in power since 1994.
The lead-up to Sunday's poll saw a crackdown on activists and journalists amid the country's biggest opposition demonstrations in years.
Demonstrators took to the streets in central Minsk as soon as voting ended and the exit polls were released late on Sunday. Many chanted "Get out" and other anti-government slogans. Riot police fired stun grenades, used batons, and made arrests as they dispersed the demonstrators. Early on Monday, Valentin Stefanovic from the Belarusian human rights group Viasna, told Reuters news agency that at least one person had died after being knocked over by a police van and dozens had been injured.
He added that at least 120 people had been detained.
However, the interior ministry denied that there had been any deaths.
Similar protests took place in Brest, Gomel, Grodno and other cities.
Sometimes referred to as Europe's last dictator, President Lukashenko was first elected in 1994. In the last vote in 2015, he was declared winner with 83.5% of the vote. There were no serious challengers and election observers reported problems in the counting and tabulation of votes.
This year's election is being held amid growing signs of frustration at his leadership.
The campaign saw the rise of Ms Tikhanovskaya, 37, a former teacher who became a stay-at-home mother until she was thrust into the political spotlight. After her husband was arrested and blocked from registering for the vote, she stepped in to take his place.
In the lead-up to the election she told the BBC that people in Belarus did not believe the election would be run fairly.
"But I still believe that our president will understand that his time is over. People don't want him any more," she said. President Lukashenko has dismissed Ms Tikhanovskaya as a "poor little girl", manipulated by foreign "puppet masters".
Tens of thousands defied an escalating crackdown on the opposition last month to attend a protest in Minsk, the largest such demonstration in a decade.
Since the start of the election campaign in May, more than 2,000 people have been detained, according to Human Rights Centre Viasna.
On the eve of the vote Ms Tikhanovskaya's team said her campaign manager had been arrested and would not be released until Monday.
And on Sunday, as people voted, internet service was "significantly disrupted", according to online monitor NetBlocks. Opposition supporters say this makes it harder for evidence of election fraud to be collected and shared. There were already concerns over a lack of scrutiny because observers were not invited to monitor the election and more than 40% of votes were cast ahead of election day.
There were three other candidates:
Two key opposition figures were barred from running and threw their weight behind Ms Tikhanovskaya's campaign.
One of them, Valery Tsepkalo, fled Belarus ahead of the contest, fearing arrest. His wife Veronika stayed behind, becoming a key campaigner for Ms Tikhanovskaya.
It emerged on Sunday that Ms Tsepkalo had also now left Belarus for Moscow, for "safety" reasons. Anger towards Mr Lukashenko's government has been in part fuelled by the response to coronavirus. The president has downplayed the outbreak, advising citizens to drink vodka and use saunas to fight the disease.
Belarus, which has a population of 9.5 million, has reported nearly 70,000 cases and 600 deaths. Belarus in surprising presidential election battle
| Protest_Online Condemnation | August 2020 | ['(BBC)', '(The Guardian)'] |
Fossils of Australopithecus anamensis help bridge a long gap during a crucial phase of human evolution. | Fossil hunters have found remains of a probable direct ancestor of humans that lived more than four million years ago.
The specimens of this ancient creature are helping bridge a long gap during a crucial phase of human evolution.
Professor Tim White of the University of California, Berkeley, and colleagues unearthed the cache of fossils in the Middle Awash region of Ethiopia.
They describe the finds, which belong to the species Australopithecus anamensis, in the journal Nature.
Australopithecus is an important ancient genus of humanlike creatures, or hominids.
I think you could argue...what we're monitoring here is the genesis of that second stage of human evolution - the genesis of Australopithecus
Tim White, UC Berkeley
Our own genus, Homo, is widely thought to have evolved from this group. So the relationship of Australopithecus to even earlier bipedal hominids is crucial to understanding where we all ultimately come from.
When placed together with other fossils from the same general area of Ethiopia, the 4.1-million-year-old anamensis specimens appear to establish an evolutionary succession between earlier and later species.
"The fact anamensis is sandwiched between earlier and later hominids is what is really significant about this Ethiopian sequence," Tim White told the BBC News website.
Middle man
The finds close the gap between a more ancient species known as Ardipithecus ramidus, which is found at 4.4 million years and a later species known as Australopithecus afarensis, which is present in the Middle Awash 3.4 million years ago.
Australopithecus anamensis is intermediate between the two not only chronologically but also in terms of its anatomy.
The anamensis species is not new, but, say the researchers, "this is the first time that these three species have been shown to be time-successive in a single place".
One explanation is that one species simply evolved into the other - so-called phyletic evolution. Another possibility is that Australopithecus first emerged as a side branch of Ardipithecus. Under this scheme the mother species would have lived alongside the daughter species for some period of time before the mother species died out.
But no overlap between any of the three species has been found in Ethiopia.
Mind the gap
"I think you could argue, fairly, that the circumstantial evidence based on geography and habitat is of one evolving phyletically into the other and what we're monitoring here is the genesis of that second stage of human evolution - the genesis of Australopithecus," White explained.
But, he added: "We cannot disprove the alternative hypothesis just yet."
The new discoveries go some way to bridging the gap between Ardipithecus and Australopithecus, but do not entirely plug it.
"The gaps don't get entirely filled; you fill a big gap and create two smaller ones," said Professor White.
"Now we're looking at a gap between 4.4 million and 4.1 million. That's 300,000 years; an awful lot of time when measured on a human timescale, but not that long on a geological one."
The fossils represent at least eight individuals and include the largest hominid canine ever found, the earliest known Australopithecus thigh bone as well as hand and foot bones.
In the woods
The excavation at Asa Issie also uncovered the remains of pigs, monkeys and big cats. The fauna suggest that anamensis was living in a closed, wooded habitat.
Australopithecus anamensis had a significantly thicker layer of enamel on its teeth than Ardipithecus, suggesting the later hominid was adapting to eating a more abrasive diet of roots. In many species, this is a fallback food when resources are scarce, but it is not clear what caused the diet shift in this case.
The Turkana Basin in Kenya has also yielded Australopithecus anamensis fossils.
Australopithecus afarensis was first recognised in the 1970s on the basis of the now famous "Lucy" skeleton from Hadar, Ethiopia, and footprints preserved in volcanic ash at Laetoli, Tanzania.
Tim White, Gen Suwa and Berhane Asfaw discovered the first Ardipithecus ramidus fossils in the 1990s. | New archeological discoveries | April 2006 | ['(BBC)'] |
Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov signs a decree that declares a two-day nationwide mourning effort for those who have died during border clashes with Tajikistan. | BISHKEK, May 1. /TASS/. Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov signed a decree on Saturday to declare a two-day nationwide mourning for those killed in clashes on the border with Tajikistan, his press service said.
"The President of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan has signed a decree to declare nationwide mourning on May 1-2, 2021," the press service said in a statement.
According to the decree, the April 29-30 clashes "resulted in numerous deaths and injuries among civilians and servicemen" and "caused significant property loss for civilians and enterprises."
During the nationwide mourning period, national flags will fly at half mast all over the country and at its diplomatic missions abroad. TV and radio channels were advised to take entertainment shows off air. The government was tasked with "taking necessary measures to help the families of victims and those injured."
According to the Health Ministry of Kyrgyzstan, the clashes left 31 Kyrgyz citizens dead and over 120 injured. Most of the victims are civilians. Dozens of buildings were burned down or destroyed, including a school, a border post and a fire station. About 10,000 people were evacuated from the zone of the hostilities.
The situation on the border between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, where armed clashes were reported earlier this week, is now stable, the State Committee for National Security’s Border Service of the Kyrgyz Republic said.
"As of 09:00 local time (06:00 Moscow time) on May 1, 2021, the situation on the Kyrgyz-Tajik section of the state border is stable," the statement says. "No incidents or shootouts have been reported."
Traffic has resumed along roads blocked as a result of the hostilities.
The situation at the border of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan escalated on April 28 near the Golovnoy water distribution station, which both sides consider their territory. On April 29, the conflict between local residents escalated into armed hostilities. Casualties were reported on both sides. Kyrgyzstan accused Tajikistan of using mortars and machinegun, and of an attempt to capture the water distribution station. Later that day, the sides agreed to cease fire and withdraw forces to their permanent deployment locations.
The border between the two republics is about 980 kilometers long. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, tens of disputed areas remained at the border. Currently, the two republics finished the delimitation and demarcation of about 580 kilometers. The last demarcation commission meeting took place in March 2021, the next one is supposed to take place on May 1. | Government Policy Changes | May 2021 | ['(TASS)'] |
Flood warnings are in place in 10 US states from Ohio to Texas with at least 25 people believed to have died in the past week. | Meanwhile, a heatwave in south-eastern states is also setting records and has been blamed for a similar death toll.
States from Iowa to Texas have all been deluged, some suffering the aftermath of Tropical Storm Erin, followed by other heavy storm systems.
More heavy rain is forecast in Illinois, prompting flood warnings.
The National Weather Service has warned that residents can expect another 2in (5cm) of rain on Friday afternoon and evening.
"It could turn out to be a pretty bad flooding situation for the area," forecaster Nathan Marsili told the Associated Press.
Earlier in the day, another band of thunderstorms dumped more rain on Missouri, Iowa and Wisconsin.
About 500 flights via Chicago's O'Hare airport were cancelled on Thursday.
Forty people were injured in the same city when the roof of an industrial site collapsed during the violent thunderstorm.
Electrocuted
Flood watches or warnings are in place for a number of states from Iowa to Texas.
While some areas have seen the worst of the weather, with a high pressure system expected to dry things out over the weekend, others may still have more rain to come.
Diving teams were deployed to search for a boy lost in Oklahoma
"This is unprecedented," a spokesman for the National Weather Service told the AFP news agency.
The victims included a teenage cross-country runner swept away while trying to cross a flooded watercourse in Oklahoma, and an elderly man in Ohio killed by fumes when flood waters knocked over a can of petrol and started a fire.
In Wisconsin three people, including a toddler, were electrocuted at a bus stop when a live power cable was struck by lightning and fell into a puddle. One of them was killed trying to assist the other two, while a bus driver was also badly hurt as he tried to help.
Hundreds of homes across the region were badly damaged by flooding, while mudslides in some places destroyed houses and hampered rescue efforts.
In Ohio, the rain eased on Friday but temperatures climbed to about 95F (above 30C), making the clean-up operation even tougher. Records set
Texas is suffering its wettest year in more than a century, and 40 people have died there in flash flooding incidents in 2007 - equalling the record set in 1989.
"We've had persistent, ongoing, relentless precipitation pretty much all year," Victor Murphy, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, told AFP.
Meanwhile, the south-eastern states of Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama continue to suffer from a heatwave and drought.
In Athens, Georgia, the temperature has exceeded 100F (38C) in 13 days this month - compared to the August average of one day. | Floods | August 2007 | ['(BBC)'] |
In France, rail workers and Paris Métro personnel go on strike in the first wave of public–sector strikes. | PARIS (Reuters) - French commuters dusted off old bikes and aired their walking shoes on Tuesday in anticipation of a transport strike that is set to last for days and could become the biggest the country has seen in more than 10 years.
A commuter runs for a train at the Paris Gare Saint Lazare railway station, October 18, 2007. French commuters dusted off old bikes and aired their walking shoes on Tuesday in anticipation of a transport strike that is set to last for days and could become the biggest the country has seen in more than 10 years. REUTERS/Regis Duvignau
With several hours left before public transport workers launched their protest, President Nicolas Sarkozy, his reputation as a tough-minded reformer at stake, again pledged no-retreat from his plan to level their special pension rights to that of the rest of France.
“I will pursue these reforms to the end,” he told the European Parliament. “Nothing will blow me off course.”
National rail and Paris public transport workers begin their rolling walkout on Tuesday evening in protest against Sarkozy’s plan, a key item in his economic reform program.
With other powerful groups including civil servants, energy workers and students due to hold their own protests against various reforms in the next week, Sarkozy faces the first major test of his presidency.
Opinion polls indicate most French people back Sarkozy.
“Victory or the end of Sarkozyism. It is in those terms, with great risks for itself, that the ruling power describes the first large social conflict facing it,” the left-wing, generally anti-Sarkozy, newspaper Liberation said in an analysis.
State rail operator SNCF said it expected only 90 out of 700 high-speed intercity services to run during the strike, while one-tenth the normal number of buses and metro trains were due to be running in Paris on Wednesday.
Sarkozy has repeatedly said the door remains open to talks, and Labour Minister Xavier Bertrand was due meet a delegation from the influential CGT trade union at 10:15 a.m. EST, less than four hours before the first transport workers go on strike.
“WHIFF OF 1995”
Transport workers say their working conditions may not be as difficult as when their pension privileges, or “special regimes” were devised more than half a century ago, but they still face awkward working hours that justify their status.
Related Coverage
The government says such schemes are outdated and costly, and it will have to pump 5 billion euros ($7.3 billion) into the special pension funds this year alone to balance their accounts.
“If this reform isn’t done today, no one can guarantee them that in 10 or 15 years time their pensions can still be paid,” Bertrand told France 2 television.
Introduced after World War Two for workers in especially arduous jobs, the special regimes allow some workers to retire after paying pension contributions for 37.5 years rather than the 40 years demanded of other workers.
Some observers say the walk-out could last until at least November 20 -- when civil servants and teachers launch a one-day strike against plans to cut 23,000 public sector jobs next year.
Students, who are blockading buildings at around a dozen campuses across the country over a reform that has given greater autonomy to universities, are due to protest on the same day.
The prospect of such massive protests has prompted some commentators to draw parallels with the biggest transport strike in recent memory -- a crippling walkout of 1995 that forced the government to scrap plans to reform the special regimes.
French daily Le Parisen quoted the head of the Communist Revolutionary League, Olivier Besancenot, as saying there was “a whiff of 1995” in the air, but SNCF management disagreed.
“The situation is completely different (to 1995), this reform was prepared on the political and technical level,” SNCF chief Anne-Marie Idrac told RTL radio.
| Strike | November 2007 | ['(Reuters)'] |
American singer Chris Brown is arrested on suspicion on assault with a deadly weapon following a lengthy standoff with the Los Angeles Police Department. | Chris Brown was released on $250,000 bail Tuesday night after he was booked on charges of assault with a deadly weapon, following an hours-long standoff earlier that day between the singer and officers at his Los Angeles home, police said.
Brown's attorney MarkGeragostweeted that the singer was "out and well" and "allegations against him are demonstrably false."
Thanks to everyone for their support and well wishes. Chris is out and well. The allegations against him are demonstrably false #TeamBreezy
Mark Geragos (@markgeragos) August 31, 2016
Brown was released at 11:19 p.m. and is scheduled to be arraigned on Sept. 20 at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center, jail records show.
Officers responded to the property in the typically quiet Tarzana neighborhood around 3 a.m. following a 911 call from a woman requesting help.
The woman who made the call told authorities Brown pointed a gun at her, NBC News reported.
Los Angeles police spokesman Lt. Chris Ramirez did not identify the woman, elaborate on the assistance she needed or know if she was injured.
But model Baylee Curranlater told the Los Angeles Times that Brown had pointed the gun at her face. She said Brown and another man became angry with her when she admired the man's diamond necklace. Curran said she and her friend ran outside as one of Brown's associates gave chase and hid under a neighbor's SUV.
The model, who hasn't responded to requests for comment from The Associated Press, also told TMZ she's visited Brown's home in the past and never encountered any trouble.
Earlier Tuesday, police said several people were in the home, including Brown, who was posting videos on Instagram in which he described the police response.
"Y'all gonna stop playing with me like I'm the villain out here, like I'm going crazy," he said in one Instagram video, waving a cigarette and looking at the camera. "When you get the warrant or whatever you need to do, you're going to walk right up in here and you're going to see nothing. You idiots."
Geragos did not immediately return a call for comment. The attorney arrived at Brown's mansion early Tuesday afternoon, parking near a fleet of exotic cars that included three Lamborghinis.
Throughout the afternoon, several of Brown's associates descended to the street below Brown's estate. They declined to identify themselves or answer questions from the media about what occurred. In some instances, the men were belligerent, flashing obscene hand gestures and grabbing recording equipment.
Aerial video showed law enforcement positioned around the sprawling property and several police vehicles at the residence.
The LAPD's robbery-homicide division, which typically handles high-profile cases and those involving celebrities, was assigned to the investigation.
Brown moved into the Tarzana mansion about a year ago. Police have responded to the location before, including for a home invasion robbery and a report that Brown and others were illegally riding ATVs on a neighbor's property.
Brown was the subject of a domestic abuse report involving former girlfriend Rihanna in 2009. He completed five years of felony probation last year after pleading guilty to felony assault in the February 2009 attack.
Earlier this year, authorities in Las Vegas announced Brown would not be charged with a crime after a woman reported a New Year's weekend confrontation in a hotel room. Police said the woman complained that Brown hit her and took her cellphone when she tried to snap his photo during a private party, an account his publicist described as a fabrication. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | August 2016 | ['(NBC Los Angeles)'] |
Natalie Coughlin and Aaron Peirsol break world records for the 100 metres backstroke at the United States Olympic trials. | Natalie has clocked 58.97 seconds to break her own world record in the women's 100m backstroke at the US Olympic swimming trials.
It marks the third time in two days that the record has fallen.
Coughlin had set the world record at 59.03 in the final heat on Monday, moments after Hayley McGregory had lowered the mark to 59.15 in the penultimate heat.
Aaron Peirsol then lowered his own 100m backstroke world record with a time of 52.89sec in the final.
Peirsol had set the previous record of 52.98sec on March 27, 2007, at the World Championships in Melbourne. | Break historical records | July 2008 | ['(AFP via Sydney Morning Herald)'] |
Dmitry Medvedev assumes the role of the President of Russia. | Dmitry Medvedev is sworn in as president
Dmitry Medvedev has promised to extend Russia's civil and economic freedoms after being sworn in as new president.
"Human rights and freedoms... are deemed of the highest value for our society," he said at a lavish inauguration ceremony in the Kremlin.
Mr Medvedev took over from Vladimir Putin, becoming Russia's third leader since the collapse of the USSR in 1991.
Within hours, Mr Medvedev, 42, nominated Mr Putin, his mentor, as prime minister.
"Medvedev has put forward Putin's candidacy for prime minister to parliament," a Kremlin spokesman said. Mr Putin has a large majority in parliament and is expected to take up his new post as early as Thursday. The 55-year-old former KGB agent was barred by the constitution from running for a third consecutive presidential term in the March elections. Gun salute
Mr Medvedev won a landslide victory in the polls, and Wednesday's inauguration capped his sharp ascendance from obscurity. It was held in the Kremlin's magnificent St Andrew's Hall. The ceremony began with an honour guard bringing in the symbols of the presidential office. Mr Putin then made a short speech, describing the handover of power as "a hugely important stage" for Russia. "It's extremely important... to continue the course that has already been taken and has justified itself," said Mr Putin, referring to his eight years in power. Mr Medvedev then took an oath on a red-bound copy of the Russian constitution. In a brief speech, he pledged to work for "a better" Russia, developing "civil and economic freedom". He said that "human rights and freedoms... determine the meaning and content of all state activity". Mr Medvedev also stressed he would "pay special attention to the fundamental role of the law". He then thanked Mr Putin for his personal support, saying he hoped he would enjoy such backing in the future. A 30-gun salute was then fired from the Kremlin embankment to mark Mr Medvedev's inauguration. The grand ceremony was the expression of a new confidence that oil- and gas-rich Russia now feels, correspondents say. Lengthy partnership
Having campaigned as Mr Putin's protege and tied himself to his mentor's policies as soon as his victory became known, analysts say it is no surprise that Mr Putin will continue to play a central role.
An economic liberal, Mr Medvedev has served Mr Putin as first deputy prime minister, chairman of Gazprom - Russia's enormous state-run gas monopoly, campaign chief and chief of staff. But his working relationship with his predecessor goes back much further. A lawyer by training, in the 1990s Mr Medvedev was an assistant professor at St Petersburg State University, during which time he became an expert consultant for the city administration - where one Vladimir Putin had a senior position. And, analysts suggest, their partnership looks set to continue. But the question of who wields the real power in the Kremlin will continue to fascinate, puzzle and perplex, the BBC's James Rodgers in Moscow says. Mr Putin will remain Russia's most popular politician for the foreseeable future, which will give him huge influence over the man he mentored as his successor, our correspondent says. 'Wait and see'
The Kremlin's lack of tolerance for dissenters was highlighted on Tuesday as police detained dozens of would-be protestors in advance of a planned rally by The Other Russia, an opposition group led by world chess champion Garry Kasparov. However, there are hopes - both in Russia and abroad - that the country will be changing under Mr Medvedev. "Any day that you can exchange a member of the secret police for a law professor is a good day," international lawyer Robert Amsterdam, who represents jailed Yukos boss Mikhail Khodorkovsky, told the BBC. "We'll simply have to wait and see," he added. | Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration | May 2008 | ['(BBC News)'] |
A car bomb explodes outside a courthouse in Londonderry, Northern Ireland. The bomb exploded as the area was being evacuated, and there were no injuries. Investigations currently point responsibility for the attack towards the New IRA dissident organisation. | The explosion occurred in Bishop Street at about 20:15 GMT on Saturday, shortly after police received a warning. Officers were on the scene when the blast occurred. No one is believed to have been injured. Police had just started evacuating nearby buildings, including a hotel, when the explosion took place. A cordon remains in place at the scene.
Local politicians have told the BBC that the vehicle was hijacked in Derry some time before the explosion.
An eyewitness told the BBC: "The remains of the car could still be seen burning in the middle of the road. "A cordon has been set up around the scene and police are evacuating more buildings on Bishop Street."
In a statement issued on Facebook, the PSNI said: "As far as we know no one [is] injured."
However, they said that there is another car they "are not happy about" and are evacuating the area and advising residents in the area to make preparations to leave. Greg McLaughlin, who lives nearby, said his windows shook with the force of the blast.
"It was very, very loud. I knew right away this was a bomb," he said.
"We knew it was quite close. "You could see the ball of fire on the street. It sounded to me like a very significant blast. I haven't heard anything like it in Derry for quite a while."
Businesses and other properties have been evacuated and the cordon on Bishop Street has been extended. One business owner said she heard a bang and was lucky to be inside at the time. She said she could have been on the street minutes later.
Bishop Street is within Derry's famous city walls.
The PSNI has asked members of the public to stay away.
Colin Neill, chief executive of Hospitality Ulster, said the explosion had caused major disruption in the Bishop Street area of the city.
"This has to be condemned in its strongest terms, taking place on a Saturday evening when many people are out enjoying themselves. "The loss of trade for the local hospitality sector and the impact that this will have on tourism and the local economy benefits no one."
The Northern Ireland secretary, Karen Bradley, said she was concerned at the reports coming from Londonderry and was "being kept informed by PSNI".
Sinn Féin MP Elisha McCallion said the incident had "shocked the local community".
"In particular, there are many elderly residents who live in the area who have been alarmed by this incident," she said.
SDLP MLA Mark H Durkan tweeted: "Whoever is responsible for this explosion outside Bishop Street Courthouse in Derry clearly hasn't got the message that the people of Derry DO NOT want this on our streets."
The DUP MLA, Gary Middleton, described the incident as a "disgraceful act of terrorism". His party leader Arlene Foster tweeted: "This pointless act of terror must be condemned in the strongest terms. Only hurts the people of the city.
"Perpetrated by people with no regard for life. Grateful to our emergency services for their swift actions which helped ensure there have been no fatalities or injuries."
The Irish tánaiste (deputy prime minister) Simon Coveney condemned the attack.
"There is no place and no justification possible for such acts of terror, which seek to drag Northern Ireland back to violence and conflict," he wrote on Twitter. | Armed Conflict | January 2019 | ['(BBC)'] |
Angola makes two arrests over an attack on the Togo national football team in Cabinda Province. | (CNN) -- Angolan authorities have arrested two people in an attack on the Togo national soccer team that left three dead, state media reported.
The men were captured at the same location in the state of Cabinda where the bus carrying the soccer team came under fire on Friday, the Angolan Press Agency said Sunday. It did not say when they were arrested.
The suspects were said to be members of the Forces for Liberation of the State of Cabinda, an armed wing of a separatist group that has claimed responsibility for the attack and has threatened to strike again.
Cabinda is a disputed oil-rich enclave in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and is the site of eight matches in the African Cup of Nations tournament, to which the soccer team was headed.
The tournament is one of the biggest sporting events in the world this year, and Angola's first since a 2002 peace deal ended decades of civil war in the southern African country.
The president of the Confederation of African Football sent "his most heartfelt condolences" to Togo Monday. Issa Hayatou expressed his sympathy "on behalf of the entire African football family" in a letter to Togo's President Faure Gnassingbe, the confederation announced.
Togo tragedy should not increase World Cup worries Hayatou went to Cabinda personally following the attack, the sports body said.
The confederation will observe a moment of silence in memory of the slain Togolese before each match in the first round of the tournament, it announced Monday.
Togo striker Thomas Dossevi said rebels opened fire on the team bus with AK-47 assault rifles.
The gunfire killed the team's assistant coach, its communication officer and the bus driver. At least seven others were wounded, including goalkeeper Kodjovi Obilale.
Erin Smylie, a spokeswoman for the South African hospital that has been treating Obilale, told British newspaper The Daily Telegraph the 25-year-old remained "stable but ventilated and sedated to assist with recovery."
After the ambush, Togo's government said the squad had to return home, though the team had indicated it would like to play.
"It's disappointing that Togo left, but it was a difficult decision," said Kwesi Nyantakyi, president of the Ghana Football Association.
Do you think athletes are an easy target for attack?
Togo was to play Ghana on Monday.
"I saw them. They were really down. We tried to console them and encourage them. Their departure was a definite blow to the competition," Nyantakyi said Monday.
Angolan officialstrying to assuage security fears that could dampen the nation's sporting aspirationsvowed to heighten security, particularly in Cabinda.
"'The security has definitely improved since we arrived here on Thursday," Nyantakyi said. "There are helicopters flying in the air, patrol teams in the host venue. ... We have security all the time, even at the hotel." | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Arrest | January 2010 | ['(Angola Press)', '(CNN)', '(Xinhua)'] |
Former Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier is elected President of Germany. | Vocal Donald Trump critic says he wants Germany to be an ‘anchor of hope’ after he was voted in by parliamentary assembly
A centre-left politician who once characterised Donald Trump as a “hate preacher” has been elected president of Germany. The former foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier was voted in on Sunday by a parliamentary assembly made up of 1,260 MPs and representatives of Germany’s 16 states.
Steinmeier, a member of the Social Democratic party, had guaranteed the support both of his own centre-left bloc and Angela Merkel’s centre-right Christian Democratic party, who between them hold a majority of 923 seats in the assembly.
In his acceptance speech, Steinmeier, 61, said Germany should be an “anchor of hope” while democratic institutions were under threat across the globe. “As the foundations are shaking elsewhere, we have to prop up those foundations even more strongly,” he said Gaining 75% of votes in the first round, he beat four outsider candidates fielded by the smaller parties, including Christoph Butterwegge, a political scientist and poverty researcher; Albrecht Glaser, a former Christian Democrat running for the rightwing populist Alternative for Germany party (AfD); and Engelbert Sonneborn, the father of the leader of the satirical organisation the Party.
Despite the role being largely ceremonial, past German presidents have aspired to act as a moral authority in debates of national and international importance. Steinmeier succeeds Joachim Gauck, 77, a former Protestant pastor and East German civil rights activist who told the Guardian this month that Germany would “staunchly stand by the European project”.
In contrast to Gauck, Steinmeier will enter the presidential residency at Bellevue Palace in Berlin’s Tiergarten district as a career politician. A former chief of staff to Gerhard Schröder, Steinmeier was one of the architects behind the “Agenda 2010” labour market reforms of the early 2000s.
After serving as foreign minister in Merkel’s first coalition government between 2005 and 2009, Steinmeier presided over his party’s worst performance at a general election. In 2010, when he was the country’s main opposition leader, Steinmeier took a break from politics to donate a kidney to his wife, Elke Büdenbender, a judge at Berlin’s administrative court.
However, in a second stint in the foreign ministry as part of Germany’s “grand coalition” between the SPD and CDU, he enjoyed consistently high popularity ratings.
In the run-up to the US election, he said Trump had much in common with “fearmongers” in the AfD and with advocates of Britain’s exit from the EU.
After Trump’s shock victory in November, he predicted that “American foreign policy will be less predictable for us in the future” and that “America will be more inclined to make unilateral decisions”.
Some in Germany have criticised Steinmeier for adhering to his party’s Ostpolitik philosophy – a more diplomatic and conciliatory approach to Russian power than that pursued by Merkel. Last June the foreign minister raised eyebrows when he appeared to criticise a large-scale Nato manoeuvre in Poland as “sabre rattling”. But his commitment to trying to solve the long-running crisis in Ukraine has also gained Steinmeier respect in the international community.
Relations with his British counterpart were visibly frosty during their first bilateral meeting in November, with Steinmeier failing to reciprocate Boris Johnson’s offer of a fist bump during their joint press conference, and there were reports that the Vote Leave campaigner greeted the German politician as “Frank-Markus”. Steinmeier had openly criticised the methods of the leave camp in the run-up to the Brexit vote. | Government Job change - Election | February 2017 | ['(The Guardian)'] |
Buildings are set alight in La Paz overnight in apparent retaliatory attacks after Evo Morales resigned under pressure from anger over his disputed re-election. | LA PAZ (Reuters) - Bolivia’s ousted president Evo Morales was flying to political asylum in Mexico on Monday night, the latest step in the once-beloved leader’s rapid fall, while military and police deployed in the streets of La Paz to quell violence.
Morales, who was the country’s first indigenous president, boarded a Mexican government plane from the central Bolivian town of Chimore, a stronghold of his supporters where he retreated over the weekend after weeks of protests over a disputed election win loosened his grip on power.
In a tweet, he confirmed he was departing for México, but pledged to return with more “strength and energy.”
Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said on Twitter that Morales had boarded the plane “to ensure his safe journey to our country,” and said the aircraft had taken off.
Ahead of the news of Morales’ departure, the military said it would join Bolivia’s overwhelmed police in patrolling the streets, after protesters destroyed at least four police stations amid looting in some areas.
The departure of Morales, who was part of a wave of leftists who dominated Latin America’s politics at the start of the century, followed weeks of violent protests over allegations of fraud in the Oct. 20 election.
The 60-year-old former llama herder and coca leaf farmer was viewed by many as a champion of the poor who brought steady economic growth. But others saw him as an autocrat who overstepped by defying a referendum on presidential term limits.
His government collapsed on Sunday after the Organization of American States (OAS) delivered a damning report on serious irregularities during the October vote, prompting ruling party allies to quit and the army to urge him to step down.
The audit found “clear manipulation” of the count and “serious security flaws,” which the OAS said meant the result should not stand and new elections should be held.
Earlier Monday, thousands of Morales supporters began to march toward La Paz from the nearby city of El Alto, which provoked panic among police in the city, who implored residents to fend off the protesters with sticks and other weapons if need be.
Around La Paz’s central Murillo square and other parts of the city, opposition protesters erected roadblocks made of metal scraps and other debris.
“It’s very worrying. There was a lot of fear and panic last night. I think people are similarly if not more scared this evening,” a Western diplomat in the city said, adding that most embassies had been shut with staff working from home.
Legislators, who had been discussing the nuts and bolts of a potential provisional government on Monday in the assembly under heavy police guard, were later evacuated, one lawmaker said.
But by late Tuesday night, it had become clear that the dramatic showdown would not come to pass, as the march dissipated when protesters wended their way downhill into the city center.
Much of the city had returned to an uneasy calm late on Tuesday, punctuated by acts of vandalism and confrontations with police in some areas, as residents manned thousands of makeshift roadblocks throughout the city.
“DO WHAT’S NECESSARY”
Foes celebrated Morales’ departure but also moved to find a temporary successor before a presumed new election in the landlocked nation that is one of South America’s poorest, dependent on farming and natural gas.
With Morales’ deputy and many allies in government and parliament gone with him, opposition politician and Senate second vice-president Jeanine Anez flew into La Paz saying she was willing to take control. She was later taken by the military to the legislative assembly.
“If I have the support of those who carried out this movement for freedom and democracy, I will take on the challenge, only to do what’s necessary to call transparent elections,” said Anez, who is constitutionally next in line to assume the presidency.
Speaking tearfully about the crisis, she said the Senate would look to hold a session on Tuesday and urged members of Morales’ Movement for Socialism (MAS) party to attend to find a constitutional solution and interim president.
Morales’ resignation still needs to be approved by the Legislative Assembly, convened by both chambers of Congress. The Assembly said it planned to meet at 4 p.m. (2000 GMT) on Tuesday, though with clashes gripping the city it was not yet clear if it would go ahead.
Overnight on Sunday, gangs had roamed the highland capital, businesses were attacked and properties were set on fire. Schools and shops were largely closed, while public transport halted, roads were blocked, and rival political groups clashed on the streets.
“I am afraid of what will happen, everything is a mess in the city. There are fights between neighbors,” said Patricia Paredes, a 35-year-old secretary in La Paz.
Morales repeated on Monday accusations that he was the victim of a conspiracy by enemies including election rival Carlos Mesa and protest leader Luis Fernando Camacho. “The world and our Bolivian patriots repudiate the coup,” he tweeted.
In a sharp change of tone later in the evening he called on his “people” to be peaceful. “We cannot clash among our Bolivian brothers. I make an urgent call to resolve any differences with dialogue and consultation,” he said.
Argentine President-elect Alberto Fernandez echoed Morales’ denunciations of a coup, as did Mexico. “It’s a coup because the army requested the resignation of the president, and that violates the constitutional order of that country,” Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said.
In a redrawing of Latin America’s political landscape, the left has regained power in both Mexico and Argentina, though powerhouse Brazil retains a right-wing government.
“A great day,” Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro tweeted, in apparent reference to events in Bolivia.
In Venezuela, opponents of Morales ally Nicolas Maduro also hailed the fall of the Bolivian leader, whom they call a dictator, saying they hoped Maduro would be next.
Further afield, Russia backed Morales, while U.S. President Donald Trump said Morales’ resignation was a “significant moment for democracy” and sent a signal to “illegitimate regimes” in Venezuela and Nicaragua
The United States also urged Bolivia’s legislative assembly to meet soon to formally accept the Morales resignation and begin a civilian-led transition.
Under Bolivian law, the head of the Senate would normally take over provisionally. However, Senate President Adriana Salvatierra also stepped down on Sunday.
Bolivia under Morales had one of the region’s strongest economic growth rates and its poverty rate halved, but his determination to cling to power and run for a fourth term alienated many allies, even among his indigenous base.
Reporting by Daniel Ramos, Gram Slattery, Monica Machicao in La Paz, Matt Spetalnick in Washington, Dave Graham and Miguel Gutierrez in Mexico City, Tom Balmforth in Moscow, Marco Aquino in Lima; Writing by Hugh Bronstein, Adam Jourdan and Aislinn Laing; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne, Tom Brownand Leslie Adler
| Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | November 2019 | ['(Reuters)'] |
Hundreds of people from the group Black Lives Matter Minneapolis protest at the Mall of America, leading to its partial shutdown and 25 arrests. | BLOOMINGTON, Minn. — About 25 people were arrested during a police brutality protest at Mall of America Saturday afternoon, according to mall officials.
Hundreds of people gathered to demonstrate at the mall despite warnings that the facility is private property.
Official attendance figures weren't immediately available, but the group Black Lives Matter Minneapolis had more than 3,000 people confirm on their Facebook page that they would attend the event, billed as a peaceful gathering.
Protesters chanted "Black lives matter" and "No justice, no peace" as they gathered in the mall's rotunda. There was also silence as demonstrators staged a die-in.
Mall of America officials sent letters to organizers in advance to tell them that protests aren't allowed on private property, and they tried to redirect the group to a nearby parking lot.
After about 10 minutes into the protest, protesters cheered as a warning that the demonstration "is not authorized and is in clear violation of Mall of America policy" was announced over the loudspeaker and displayed on a large screen in the rotunda. The warning asked participants to disperse and stated that those who continued to demonstrate could be arrested.
Mall officials shut down all of the escalators in the rotunda, and some stores in the area closed their gates. The mall enhanced security, and police in riot gear were present.
After about a half hour, most demonstrators peacefully left the rotunda area -- many holding their hands in the air -- and left the mall. Others migrated to a shopping area and occupied two levels. A small "die-in" with people lying on the floor was staged in front of several stores.
Bloomington police said 25 people were arrested, mainly for reasons such as trespassing. Commander Mark Stehlik said he was not aware of any injuries or property damage. | Protest_Online Condemnation | December 2014 | ['(USA Today)'] |
The Investigative Committee of Russia accuses opposition leader and anticorruption activist Alexei Navalny of fraud for allegedly using public funds from his organization for personal needs. The accusation comes after the federal prison service demanded that Navalny report to its office today or face jail time. | The Kremlin critic has been accused of fraud by Russian investigators, who allege he spent money raised for his organizations on personal needs. Navalny says the new case against him was "invented" by President Putin.
Russian investigators accuse Alexei Navalny of fraudulently spending money
Russian state investigators opened a new criminal case against Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny on Tuesday, accusing him of"fraud."
Navalny, 44,is alleged to have collected donationsfrom the public on behalf of the organizations he represents before spending the fundson personal needs.
The Investigative Committee said in a statement that Russia's most prominent opposition figure used the money for acquiring "personal property,material assets and paying expenses," sayingthat the donations were effectively "stolen."
The committee, which probes major crimes in Russia, claimsNavalnyusedmore than 356 million rubles ($4.8 million;3.9 million)for personal usewhen the donations wereintended for his organizations, which include an anti-corruption foundationa non-profit establishment aimed atinvestigatingand exposingcorruptionwithin the Kremlin.
Earlier on Tuesday, Russia's federal prison service demandedNavalny reportto its office with immediate effector face jail.
One of President Vladimir Putin's fiercestcritics, Navalny was airlifted to Berlin for treatment in August after collapsing on a plane in what Germany and other Western nations saidwas an attempt to murder him with a Novichok nerve agent.
Navalny,who is convalescing in Germany, tweeted in response to the case brought against him, saying it was "invented by Putin."
"I immediately said that they will try to put me in jail because I didn't die" from the poisoning, he wrote on Twitter.
Russia has said there is no evidence of any poisoning while also denyingany involvement.
It's not the first time Navalny has faced fraud charges. In 2014, he spent almost a year under house arrest afterauthorities charged him with money laundering and fraud offenses. He was given a suspended prison sentence in December of that year.
Moscow has barred some German and EU officials from entering Russia as part of its response to EU sanctions, following the poisoning of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.
Lyubov Sobol, like Navalny, has been a strong critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Video footage has emerged of Moscow police trying to enter her apartment before detaining her. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | December 2020 | ['(DW)'] |
XVI International AIDS Conference, 2006 is convened in Toronto, Canada. , , | This weekend, 24,000 people from around the world will converge on Toronto for the sixteenth International Aids Conference. Improved medication has revolutionised HIV care
It's the not the first time that delegates have travelled to Canada for the annual meeting.
Ten years ago, they gathered in Vancouver to hear the news so many had been hoping for - effective drugs which could hold HIV at bay were soon to be a reality.
That breakthrough was the discovery of protease inhibitors. When taken in combinations with other drugs, these drugs meant that the numbers of people who became ill from opportunistic infections, or died from Aids, dropped by about 70%
They are hoping for similar progress from this year's conference.
Crisis plans 'too little'
HIV has not gone away. There are now more than 40 million people living with HIV worldwide, and the epidemic shows little sign of slowing down.
We have a long way to go
While the six-day conference is taking place, more than three times the number attending - 81,000 - will be infected with HIV in the countries the delegates are coming from. By the time they go home, the virus will have claimed the lives of a further 51,000 people. It is unsurprising, then, that delegates are arriving with a very real sense of urgency, as well as expertise, experience and ideas. So what can they hope to achieve? High-profile delegates like Bill and Melinda Gates, Richard Gere and President Bill Clinton want to keep Aids high on political agendas, to re-invigorate the international response to HIV and protect vital funding.
Delegates will also examine ways to address the factors which are driving the epidemic - stigma and discrimination, homophobia, poverty and gender inequality.
There is a growing campaign from community groups across the globe to stop the law being used to punish transmission of HIV. Campaigners say prosecutions damage public health by driving unprotected sex underground, encouraging complacency and increasing stigma. Peter Piot, executive director of UNAids, will tell the conference there must be a broader approach from crisis management to include long-term sustainable programmes. While 8,000 people dying every day is a crisis, plans for the next 25 years must be in place now if they're to have a chance to work. He says this will be crucial for supporting people living with HIV for the decades and generations to come. 'Cause for hope'
Getting drugs to people living in developing countries will be a central theme in the coming week. More people than ever before have access to treatment, and those drugs are becoming better and easier to take
The World Health Organization's campaign to get three million people on treatment by 2005 - "3 by 5" fell short of the mark, but it provided the necessary jump-start to make universally available treatment a reality in the near future.
Experts will also argue that, with no cure or vaccine in sight, effective prevention programmes are vital.
A third of young people in the UK mistakenly believe there is a cure for HIV, and a quarter think it can be passed on through kissing. We have a long way to go.
Each country has its own story to tell, and brings its own successes, challenges and frustrations. It's becoming clear that health services in some African countries are being seriously affected as their nurses and doctors fall ill with the virus.
It's a little-known fact that HIV is now the fastest growing serious health condition in the UK. Unicef has just warned of an Aids catastrophe in Asia. There is good news, though, and cause for hope. Never has there been more money and commitment to fight Aids from governments around the world. Thousands of local initiatives are staggering in their inventiveness and effectiveness.
More people than ever before have access to treatment, and those drugs are becoming better and easier to take. The rate of new infections is starting to slow in one or two countries as national and local efforts begin to pay off.
It will be the hope of all here that, as Vancouver heralded the arrival of life-saving drugs, Toronto will be the tipping point in the epidemic. If the 24,000 delegates could have their way, they would not need to come back to Canada again. | Diplomatic Talks _ Diplomatic_Negotiation_ Summit Meeting | August 2006 | ['(CBC)', '(BBC)', '(Wikinews)'] |
U.S. President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump make an unannounced Thanksgiving visit to troops at the Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan, their second visit to a combat zone since taking office. While there he also claims he has re-started talks with the Taliban. | The declaration came on an unannounced trip as the president seeks to highlight a record of achievement while he campaigns for re-election.
By Michael Crowley
BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan — President Trump paid an unannounced Thanksgiving visit to American troops in Afghanistan on Thursday and declared that he had reopened peace negotiations with the Taliban less than three months after scuttling talks in hopes of ending 18 years of war.
“The Taliban wants to make a deal, and we’re meeting with them,” Mr. Trump said during a meeting with Afghanistan’s president, Ashraf Ghani, at the main base for American forces north of Kabul.
| Diplomatic Visit | November 2019 | ['(The New York Times)'] |
Islamist rebels including the al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front claim to have captured most of the town of Jisr al-Shughur in the Idlib Governorate. | Islamist rebels in Syria have taken over the key north-western town of Jisr al-Shughur, activists say.
It was the last major town under government control in Idlib province. Correspondents say it may give rebels a route to the ruling elite's heartland.
The Islamist forces, including the al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front, began the assault on Thursday.
State media said the army had redeployed outside the town "to avoid civilian casualties".
They quoted a military official as saying that, before withdrawing, troops had engaged in fierce fighting with "armed terrorist groups" who arrived in large numbers from the Turkish border.
Activists from the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said government forces had fled.
The bodies of at least 60 pro-government fighters were lying in the streets, the observatory added.
Before the rise of Islamic State, the Nusra Front was seen as the strongest and most militant rebel force.
The city of Idlib was overrun by the rebel groups last month. Since then, government forces have been trying to protect their supply route between Aleppo and Hama province on one side and Latakia on the other.
Latakia is home to the core of the Alawite minority to which the family of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad belongs and is so far largely untouched by the war.
BBC World Service Middle East analyst Sebastian Usher says that if the rebels can drive the government completely out of Idlib province, they would open the way to Latakia. The town of Jisr al-Shughur has been under government control since the early stages of the conflict. In June 2011, large protests against the regime led to the deaths of 120 troops in circumstances disputed by the government and its opponents.
| Armed Conflict | April 2015 | ['(BBC)'] |
The President of the United States George W. Bush hosts the President of France Nicolas Sarkozy at a casual lunch at the Bush family home in Maine. | President George W. Bush and French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Saturday stressed friendship over disagreement at a lunch of hamburgers and hot dogs at the Bush family estate aimed at improving relations strained by the Iraq war.
President George W. Bush (L) listens to French President Nicolas Sarkozy at the Bush family home in Kennebunkport, Maine, August 11, 2007. Alongside is former U.S. President George H. W. Bush (R). REUTERS/Jason Reed
Bush called Sarkozy “a friend” while waiting with his wife, Laura, and parents to greet the French leader on the driveway of the family’s compound in this Maine resort town.
“We’ve got good relations with France, obviously there’s been disagreements,” Bush said.
“We have had disagreements, on Iraq in particular. But I’ve never allowed disagreements to not find other ways to work together,” he told reporters.
The United States hopes for improved ties with France under Sarkozy after relations chilled with his predecessor, Jacques Chirac, who opposed the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
Sarkozy, wearing blue jeans in keeping with the casual nature of the meeting, also stressed good relations. “Do we agree on everything? No,” he said. “Even within families there are disagreements, but we are still the same family.”
Sarkozy arrived at the Bush “Walker’s Point” estate from nearby New Hampshire, where he is on his first vacation since taking office in May.
The American holiday, which has drawn criticism in France, was briefly interrupted when Sarkozy flew home to attend the funeral of Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger on Friday.
Sarkozy’s wife, Cecilia, called first lady Laura Bush on Saturday morning and said she and her children were not feeling well and would not attend the lunch. Sarkozy said when he returned from France he discovered they had sore throats.
“She’s a very dynamic woman, we were looking forward to seeing her as well as the children,” Bush said. “We fully understand.”
The invitation to the lunch was extended during the Group of Eight meeting in Germany in June, where Bush fell ill with a stomach ailment on the day of his bilateral meeting with Sarkozy. They still met, but in Bush’s private quarters.
Only one other foreign leader has been invited by Bush to his family’s Maine seaside compound -- Russian President Vladimir Putin in July to try and soothe escalating tensions over U.S. missile defense plans in Europe.
The Russian leader was treated to a speedboat tour of the area before sitting down to a traditional lobster dinner.
The setting for the lunch -- which also featured corn-on-the-cob, baked beans and fresh blueberry pie -- was a cluster of dark brown buildings with tennis courts and a swimming pool on a point jutting over rocks, with boats and ducks bobbing nearby in the waves.
The French flag flew over the compound.
Bush, Sarkozy, and Bush’s father, former President George Bush, held a private meeting for about 50 minutes before lunch. Bush said they were to have a “heart-to-heart talk” about key issues, including Iran.
They took a boat ride before the French president left after a more than two-hour visit with the Bush family.
Bush usually invites foreign allies to his ranch in Crawford, Texas, to show a special relationship. The last head of state to visit the ranch was Colombian President Alvaro Uribe in August 2005.
Bush, who came to Maine to attend the wedding of a family friend, will continue his vacation at the Texas ranch starting on Monday.
Asked whether he would consider taking a vacation in France, Bush replied: “Absolutely. Particularly if he could find a place for me to ride my mountain bike.”
But Bush noted that he enjoyed going to his ranch. “I’m a Texan, I like my place down there, I like to go down there as much as I can. It’s where I can relax.”
| Diplomatic Talks _ Diplomatic_Negotiation_ Summit Meeting | August 2007 | ['(Reuters)'] |
The regional Samajwadi Party leads in the count in Uttar Pradesh. | India's governing Congress party has suffered a major setback in elections in the politically crucial state of Uttar Pradesh.
Congress party star Rahul Gandhi conceded defeat when it became clear that the regional Samajwadi Party had won a clear majority in the state.
Congress had disappointing results in three other states, winning a clear majority only in Manipur.
These polls are seen as a litmus test for national elections due by 2014.
Congress had hoped that the scion of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty would deliver a victory in Uttar Pradesh that would revive the flagging fortunes of India's ruling party, dogged by high inflation, a slowdown in economic growth and allegations of corruption.
Samajwadi took at least 220 seats out of the 403 in Uttar Pradesh's legislative assembly, while Congress languished in fourth with fewer than 30.
Uttar Pradesh, in northern India, has a population of more than 200 million people, but is one of the country's least developed states.
Politics has been dominated in recent years by Mayawati, a low-caste Dalit who heads the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and has had four terms as chief minister.
She has largely alternated in power with Mulayam Singh Yadav, leader of the Samajwadi Party. It mainly represents the interests of a caste grouping called the Other Backward Classes.
Samajwadi has won 220 seats and with almost all the returns in, was leading in another four, giving it a clear majority.
The ruling BSP was a distant second with 76 seats and leads in another four.
The Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 45 seats and was leading in two more.
The Congress party took 26 seats and had the lead in two more - a scant increase from the 22 it currently holds.
As the results came in, Samajwadi supporters danced in the street outside the party's headquarters in Lucknow, the state capital, says the BBC's Sanjoy Majumder.
Speaking to BBC Hindi's Ram Dutt Tripathi in Lucknow, Mr Yadav said: "The credit for our victory goes to the people, workers of the Samajwadi Party and Akhilesh [Mr Yadav's son and heir apparent]."
The 72-year-old Samajwadi Party leader, who is now expected to lead the government in the state, said he would "try to meet all the expectations of the voters". He said the party's legislative board would meet on Wednesday to elect the new chief minister.
Speaking in Delhi, Rahul Gandhi took responsibility for his party's disappointing results.
He is widely tipped to be India's next prime minister. He was not running in the state polls, but had led campaigning for Congress in Uttar Pradesh.
"I led the campaign, so it's my responsibility, we fought well but the results are not that good," he said.
"Organisationally we are not where we should be in UP [Uttar Pradesh]... I think it will be a very good lesson for me, because I think it will make me think about things in a detailed way."
In Punjab, the incumbent regional Shrimoni Akali Dal-BJP alliance has won with 68 seats beating Congress which took 46 seats.
With nearly all districts in Uttarakhand reporting, Congress had a one seat lead over the BJP, with 30 seats of the state's 70.
In Goa, the BJP won 21 seats while Congress took nine. Goa has 40 seats.
The only bright spot for Congress was the north-eastern state of Manipur where the party won 42 of the 60 seats.
The month-long elections were held in a total of 690 assembly seats and were staggered over a number of phases for security and logistical reasons. | Government Job change - Election | March 2012 | ['(BBC)'] |
American singer–songwriter Bob Dylan wins the Nobel Prize in Literature. |
Bob Dylan performs in Chicago in 1978. He is the first American to claim the Nobel Prize in literature since Toni Morrison won in 1993.
Bob Dylan has won the 2016 Nobel Prize in literature. The prolific musician is the first Nobel winner to have forged a career primarily as a singer-songwriter. What's more, he's also the first American to have won the prize in more than two decades. Not since novelist Toni Morrison won in 1993 has an American claimed the prize.
Dylan earned the prize "for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition," according to the citation by the Swedish Academy, the committee that annually decides the recipient of the Nobel Prize. The academy's permanent secretary, Sara Danius, announced the news Thursday.
BREAKING 2016 #NobelPrize in Literature to Bob Dylan “for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition” pic.twitter.com/XYkeJKRfhv
The win comes as something of a shock. As usual, the Swedish Academy did not announce a shortlist of nominees, leaving the betting markets to their best guesses. And while Dylan has enjoyed perennial favor as an outside shot for the award, the prospect that the musician would be the one to break the Americans' long dry spell was regarded as far-fetched — not least because he made his career foremost on the stage, not the printed page.
Yet few would argue Dylan has been anything but influential, both in the U.S. and beyond its borders. The prolific singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist has produced dozens of albums, including The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, Highway 61 Revisited and Blood on the Tracks. His track "Like a Rolling Stone" has taken on mythic standing in the decades since its release; many, including Dylan himself, have pointed to it as emblematic of a sea change in American music.
"Tin Pan Alley is gone," Dylan proclaimed in 1985, referring the dominant conventions established by music publishers of the early 20th century. "I put an end to it. People can record their own songs now."
Dylan, who was born Robert Allen Zimmerman in 1941, "has the status of an icon," the Swedish Academy wrote in a biographical note. "His influence on contemporary music is profound, and he is the object of a steady stream of secondary literature."
In an interview following the announcement, Danius elaborated on the Swedish Academy's decision: "He is a great poet in the English-speaking tradition, and he is a wonderful sampler — a very original sampler," Danius explained. "For 54 years now he has been at it and reinventing himself, constantly creating a new identity."
And for his work, he has been amply recognized by critical community. Dylan has won Grammys, an Academy Award, a Golden Globe and a Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the U.S. Now, to that trove of honors Dylan has added a Nobel.
The Nobel Prize in literature has been awarded since 1901 to writers who have produced "the most outstanding work in an ideal direction." In that time, 109 prizes have been distributed to 113 writers. This year, the prize carries with it a purse of approximately $900,000 and, as usual, inclusion on literature's most illustrious list — the pantheon of Nobel winners. | Awards ceremony | October 2016 | ['(NPR)'] |
Thirteen people are injured when a roadside bomb hits a Pakistani security vehicle in the southwestern city of Quetta, the same town where at least 74 were killed in a suicide bombing at a hospital on Monday. The police were escorting a judge, who was not injured. | QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) - A roadside bomb hit a Pakistani security vehicle and wounded 13 people on Thursday in the southwestern city of Quetta, days after a suicide bombing at a hospital killed at least 74 people, most of them lawyers, officials and media said.
The driver of the police pickup truck managed to drive the damaged vehicle to the Civil Hospital of Quetta - the same facility hit in Monday’s attack - to get the wounded to medical treatment.
The truck was parked outside the hospital with its mangled bonnet, blown-out wheels and blood-stained interior later on Thursday.
About 10 police officers were guarding the entrance to the hospital.
Provincial interior minister Safaraz Bugti said Thursday’s bomb targeted police escorting a judge, who was not hurt in the attack.
“It was a judge’s car that was passing, but I believe it was the police who were the target,” he said on Pakistani television.
Medical Superintendent Abdul Rehman Miankhel told Reuters that 13 wounded people, including four members of the security forces, were being treated at the hospital.
An announcer for Geo TV warned viewers not to gather at the scene in central Quetta for fear of a second bombing, like the one on Monday.
The Monday attack hit a large group of lawyers gathered at the hospital to mourn the head of the provincial bar association who was shot dead earlier that day.
“Care must be taken that a rush not be created at the scene as the terrorists have reached the point of barbarity where they target crowds like this,” the news announcer said.
Monday’s suicide bombing was Pakistan’s deadliest attack this year. It was claimed by both a faction of the Pakistani Taliban, Jamaat-ur-Ahrar, and also by the Islamic State militant group, which has been seeking to recruit followers in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Targeted killings have become increasingly common in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province that has seen rising violence linked to a separatist insurgency as well as sectarian tension and rising crime.
Later on Thursday, Bugti told Reuters that security at all potential targets was being beefed up around Baluchistan.
A Chinese-funded trade corridor with promised investment of $46 billion is due to pass through the gas-rich province and the government has promised to boost security.
“We have already done (added security) for our schools, educational institutions and universities ... Watchtowers have also been constructed,” he said.
“But obviously this new threat against hospitals has emerged - we are checking that and will beef up.”
Writing by Kay Johnson; Editing by Paul Tait, Robert Birsel
| Armed Conflict | August 2016 | ['(Reuters)'] |
A gold mining operation is investigated by Chinese authorities after allegations it has damaged part of the Great Wall of China in Inner Mongolia. | A gold mining firm is being investigated after part of one of the oldest sections of the Great Wall of China was damaged during prospecting.
About 100 metres of the wall was badly damaged, and investigators from the Chinese government and regional police now plan to bring charges. The damage was originally discovered in September and work halted, but officials later found it had restarted. The damaged section, in Inner Mongolia, dates from the Qin Dynasty (BC221). Hohhot Kekao Mining Company is alleged to have knocked two holes, covering a total area of 300 sq m, through the Wall. The head of the regional cultural relics bureau, Wang Dafang, told the Associated Press news agency that the damage was "irreparable". "Some people think the only part of the Great Wall that needs to be protected is in Beijing," said Mr Wang. "But although the Inner Mongolia wall is more modest, it carries the same significance."
Police in Hohhot City, the capital of Inner Mongolia, are now collecting evidence. Company officials could face up to 10 years in prison if found guilty. China has special laws to prevent damage to the wall, which is a Unesco World Heritage Site. Five miners were jailed last year for damaging part of the Inner Mongolia wall, the only people jailed to date under the preservation laws. The wall, built by a number of emperors over many centuries, extends in different sections more than 8,850km (5,487 miles) across northern China. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Investigate | November 2009 | ['(Xinhua)', '(BBC)', '(Times of South Africa)'] |
Obama administration officials hold a conference call with 34 governors to assure them, "refugees would undergo the most rigorous screening and security vetting of any category of traveler to the United States." A spokesperson for Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder said that he has asked federal officials for "more robust data" and an "enhanced flow of information." , | WASHINGTON, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Obama administration officials held a conference call on Tuesday with 34 U.S. governors to discuss the country's refugee program, the White House said, after more than a dozen governors said they would refuse to accept Syrian refugees.
The administration officials assured the governors that the refugees would undergo the most rigorous screening and security vetting of any category of traveler to the United States, the White House said in a statement.
Some of the governors encouraged further communication by the White House to ensure that they are able to better respond to questions from the public about the refugee screening and resettlement process, the White House said. (Reporting by Eric Beech; Editing by Eric Walsh)
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Severe winds wreck homes, displace thousands in Mozambique - agency
Caught between climate and virus threats, migrants have no safe place to go
Can a video game save a life? African refugee puts players in his race for survival
Shelterless Syrians burn refuse for warmth in bitter Idlib winter
Our global editorial team of about 55 journalists and more than 350 freelancers covers the lives of people around the world who struggle to live freely or fairly.
| Government Policy Changes | November 2015 | ['(Reuters)', '(AP via ABC News)'] |
Separatists capture two Ukrainian Military bases in Luhansk Oblast as fighting continues near the rebel-held town of Sloviansk. | Separatist rebels have taken two Ukrainian military bases in the eastern region of Luhansk as fighting continues near the rebel-held town of Sloviansk.
Separatists seized a border guard base after days of fierce combat, and a National Guard base after an attack which began on Tuesday.
An apparent air attack in Luhansk city on Monday killed a number of civilians.
Meanwhile, in the neighbouring Donetsk region, troops are closing in on the rebel stronghold of Sloviansk.
Pro-Russian separatists in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, Ukraine's industrial heartland, declared independence after holding referendums last month which were declared illegal by the government in Kiev.
The rebellion began amid the turmoil which followed the downfall in February of the elected Ukrainian President, Viktor Yanukovych, whose pro-Moscow policies sparked mass street protests in Kiev during the winter.
Reports of casualties in the fighting in Luhansk could not be verified independently.
Ukraine's border service announced on its website that the personnel in the base of the Luhansk border detachment had been "redeployed to safer places" as a result of sustained attacks by large rebel forces.
The National Guard base came under sustained fire from mortars, rocket-propelled grenades, machine-guns and assault rifles on Tuesday after the soldiers rejected an ultimatum from a large rebel force to surrender, according to a report on the National Guard's website.
Three soldiers were wounded and all of the base's vehicles and its headquarters building were destroyed in the fighting, the statement said. The garrison, it added, had now been "redeployed to a different, safe place".
However, a rebel spokesman told Russia's Ria-Novosti news agency the soldiers had surrendered and had been allowed to "go home". The Russian news website ura.ru quoted a rebel commander as saying there had been "no battle as such" and the soldiers had simply surrendered after spiking some of their weapons.
Investigations are continuing into the attack on the rebel-held regional administrative building in Luhansk on Monday afternoon. Rebels have accused the Ukrainian air force of killing eight civilians in the attack, and graphic video of bodies at the scene has been posted on websites. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe said that, based on available evidence, "these strikes were the result of non-guided rockets shot from an aircraft. The number of casualties is unknown".
But the Ukrainian authorities deny their planes were involved and suggest the damage was caused by the rebels themselves.
Ukraine's interim President, Olexandr Turchynov, said in a statement on Tuesday that the northern part of Donetsk region had been "fully cleared" of separatists and the military had started blocking the border with Russia in the north and east of Luhansk region.
Government forces took the town of Krasnyi Lyman, north-east of Sloviansk, after heavy fighting.
A hospital was damaged by an air attack during the fighting and a surgeon killed by shrapnel, the hospital told Ukraine's Segodnya newspaper. Three patients were also wounded, it said. Photos of damage to the hospital were published by Segodnya.
The rebels told Ria-Novosti that eight of their fighters had been killed in the town.
In another development, Donetsk International Airport, scene of fierce fighting recently, said it would be closed until at least the end of June.
Russia has been accused of fomenting the rebellion, following its annexation of another Ukrainian territory, Crimea, in March. Russian citizens have been fighting on the rebel side but President Vladimir Putin has again denied any official involvement by the Russian military. In an interview for French radio station Europe 1, he said: "No Russian military force and no Russian military instructor are present in south-east Ukraine".
Nato's top military commander, US General Philip Breedlove, has said that Russian irregular forces, and forces backed and funded by Russia, are very active in eastern Ukraine and "this has to stop".
Speaking in Brussels, he confirmed Russia was pulling back most of its troops from the Ukrainian border but a portion of the Russian force looked "like it intends to remain". | Armed Conflict | June 2014 | ['(BBC)'] |
Shinzō Abe is elected Prime Minister of Japan as the Liberal Democratic Party win an absolute majority in the House of Representatives. | TOKYO -- The conservative party that dominated post-war Japan is back in power after a three-year absence, in a landslide election victory Sunday that will result in hawkish Shinzo Abe returning as prime minister.
Abe, 58, who served in the post once before, is likely to pursue a tougher stance toward China and prevent the nation from abandoning nuclear energy.
The conservative Liberal Democratic Party was projected by NHK Television to win 291 out of 480 seats in Japan’s lower house, while its ally, the New Komeito Party, had 30. That would give them the two-third majority needed to overrule the upper house, perhaps breaking deadlocks that have long stymied Japanese governments.
The Liberal Democrats held a near monopoly on power in Japan from 1955 to 2009, when they were beaten by the Democratic Party of Japan. This time around, the Democratic Party was projected to win only 56 seats. Prime Minister Yoshiko Noda resigned as head of the party Sunday night, hours after the polls closed, conceding the election results were a “disappointment.”
The remarkable comeback of the conservative establishment reflects the high level of national anxiety about economic stagnation and falling behind China.
“They’re more experienced and are a better fit at leading,” said Takashi Yamada, 38, an office worker in Tokyo, explaining why he voted for the Liberal Democrats. Last time around he opted for a third party opposing nuclear power.
The Liberal Democrats’ return could exacerbate tensions over contested islands that have become a lightning rod for nationalist outbursts in Asia. Abe supports revisions in Japan’s post-World War II constitution to loosen limits on the military and has promised a strong defense of Japanese sovereignty.
“A good Japan-China relationship is in the national interest for both countries. Both sides need to recognize that. I think there is a problem that China lacks that understanding,’’ Abe told Japanese television after the polls closed.
.
| Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration | December 2012 | ['(BBC)', '(Los Angeles Times)'] |
Easter Islanders vote to restrict the number of immigrants in a referendum. | In a referendum the residents of Easter Island have almost unanimously voted to limit the stream of tourists coming to the island.
The vote paves the way for the Chilean government to introduce a limit on the number of people who travel to the island in the constitution.
Ninety-six percent of the 1300 eligible voters on the island wants strict regulation of tourists and migrants.
The islanders fear incomers cause pollution which would threaten the island's fragile ecosystem if the population grew unchecked.
Every year 50,000 tourists visit Easter Island to see the huge statues, which are on UNESCO's world heritage list.
In August protesters occupied the island's only airport for many hours, stranding hundreds of tourists.
In response the Chilean government introduced travel restrictions, but the Supreme Court ruled the restrictions were unconstitutional.
| Government Policy Changes | October 2009 | ['(Radio Netherlands Worldwide)', '(BBC)'] |
Twelve villagers are killed and 14 are wounded in an attack by Ansar al-Sunna on a village in northern Mozambique. | Twelve villagers were killed and 14 injured in an attack by suspected jihadists on a village in a gas-rich region of northern Mozambique, a local source told AFP on Friday.
Since October, the southeast African country's golden vision to exploit its gas reserves has been thrown into doubt by an explosion of bloodthirsty assaults in the region where the industry plans to base its hub.
"Ten people killed were shot by firearms and two burnt (to death) after 55 houses were charred. A person was beheaded after being shot dead" in the northern village of Paqueue late Thursday, said the source.
A health official in the Cabo Delgado region, who declined to be named, said that an ambulance was dispatched to Paqueue to "rescue the 14 wounded".
In a separate incident, a military convoy came under attack near the Tanzanian border north of Paqueue, killing a senior army officer, according to a police source.
"The attack occurred at night when defence and security forces routinely patrol. The attackers wore military uniforms and had large-calibre firearms," said the source who declined to be named.
| Armed Conflict | September 2018 | ['(News24)'] |
78th Academy Awards: Crash wins Best Picture, Ang Lee wins Best Director, Reese Witherspoon wins Best Actress, and Philip Seymour Hoffman wins Best Actor. | LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- In a year when best picture nominees thrived on controversy, the Academy Awards' top honor went to the film that attacked its issues most bluntly.
The Los Angeles social drama "Crash," which interwove plots and characters from different racial and economic backgrounds in Los Angeles, won best picture honors despite favorite "Brokeback Mountain" winning virtually every other major award it had been up for leading up the the 78th Oscars.
The ensemble film, with a cast that included Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon, Sandra Bullock and hip-hop star Ludacris, also won awards for best original screenplay and best editing.
"We are humbled by the other nominees in this category," producer Cathy Schulman said in accepting the Oscar. "You have made this year one of the most breathtaking and stunning maverick years in American cinema." (Watch how one film Crashed the party and other highlights -- 2:21)
Haggis was still stunned when he came backstage to talk about the award.
"I didn't believe any of that nonsense," he said of reports that "Crash" was making a late run towards best picture. "We're still trying to figure out if we actually got this." "Brokeback Mountain" director Ang Lee won best director for his film about the homosexual relationship that grows between two sheepherders in remote Wyoming.
"Brokeback" writers Diana Ossana and Larry McMurtry won the Oscar for best adapted screenplay, and Gustavo Santaolalla took the award for best original score.
The film had been the odds-on favorite for top honors. But "Crash" had strong support for its willingness to address prejudice with its tangled tale of crime and bigotry in the Academy's hometown.
Lee couldn't hide his disappointment backstage.
"I don't know the answer," he said when asked why "Brokeback" didn't end up as best picture. "I was backstage, enjoying the kind of buildup I was familiar with. It was a surprise this year for me."
Philip Seymour Hoffman and Reese Witherspoon were awarded best actor and actress honors.
Hoffman won for his portrayal of Truman Capote in "Capote," while Witherspoon won her Oscar for playing June Carter Cash in the Johnny Cash biography, "Walk the Line."
Backstage, Hoffman -- a versatile actor who has already been pigeonholed with the dread appelation "character actor," usually associated with supporting roles -- said he would continue to choose roles that challenged him.
"I hope all the roles I take are character roles -- lead, supporting, gaffer -- that's how I look at it. I don't look at character roles as supporting roles."
As for why he didn't bark like a dog, which was the subject of a bet about winning Oscar he made years ago, he said it never crossed his mind until he was practically off stage.
"I lost all control over my bowels up there. I thought maybe I'd bark up there for my friends ... but I was swimming in my head," he said. The pressure leading to the award announcement is "not the most comfortable environment."
Joaquin Phoenix, who played Cash in "Walk the Line" was also nominated for best actor. Rachel Weisz won her first Academy Award for her performance as an impassioned activist who dies under mysterious circumstances in "The Constant Gardener."
And George Clooney won best supporting actor for his performance as a CIA man who starts unraveling the truth in the political thriller "Syriana."
"Wallace & Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit" was awarded the Oscar for best animated feature film and "King Kong" won for visual effects.
Director Robert Altman won an honorary Oscar for lifetime achievement.
Altman said he was receiving his award under a "false pretense" because of a "total heart transplant" about 11 years earlier.
"I got the heart of, I think, a young woman who was about in her late 30s. And so by that kind of calculation, you may be giving me this award too early. Because I think I've got about 40 years left on it, and I intend to use it," he said.
Asked backstage why he decided to disclose the operation after keeping it secret so long, Altman said, "I don't know. It just occurred to me.
"I didn't make a big secret out of it. I thought maybe nobody would hire me. There's such a stigma about heart transplants, and there's a lot of us out there."
Clooney, who also was nominated for best director and best original screenplay for "Good Night, and Good Luck," acknowledged critics who accuse the film industry of being out of touch with the American mainstream -- but he said, "It's probably a good thing."
"We're the ones who were talking about AIDS when it was just being whispered, and we talked about civil rights when it wasn't really popular ... I'm proud to be a part of this academy, proud to be a part of this community and proud to be out of touch," he said. (Watch how Middle America feels cut off from Hollywood -- 2:50)
"Syriana," which explores the intermingling of oil and politics in the Middle East, was one of several films with social and political overtones among this year's nominees.
Weisz addressed the issue backstage after accepting her award.
"It's definitely nice being part of a moment where fiction is holding a mirror up to contemporary culture and asking questions about what's going on," she said.
"The Constant Gardener" spins a tale of pharmaceutical company chicanery across Africa.
First-time Oscar nominee Matt Dillon said the five movies up for best picture this year reflect audiences' desire for "authenticity."
"I think audiences are into authenticity at this point," said Dillon, nominated for best supporting actor for his role in "Crash" on his way down the Red Carpet into the Kodak Theatre for tonight's ceremony.
"They are interested in films that are very specific, in things that are trying to look at things that are not usually addressed in films," he told CNN. (See Dillon talk about "Crash" and the other best picture nominees -- 1:29)
This year's ceremony threatened to be one of the most politically charged in recent memory because of both the themes of the nominated pictures and host Jon Stewart, who made his name mocking politics on Comedy Central's late-night "The Daily Show," pointing out the absurdities of both parties through election campaigns, scandal and simple Washington inefficiency.
But Stewart confined most of his monologue's jabs to the film industry, however: He praised "Capote" for showing Americans that "not all gay people are virile cowboys." And "Capote" and "Good Night, and Good Luck," he said, "are about determined journalists defying obstacles in a relentless pursuit of the truth."
"Needless to say, both are period pieces," he added.
And after a montage of films that highlighted the social issues of their day, from "The Grapes of Wrath" to "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner," Stewart quipped: "And none of those issues was ever a problem again."
Most of the best picture nominees had something else in common: They were "small" movies, released by indies or the major studios' independent arms. In fact, critics of this year's Oscars have pointed out that none of the best picture nominees has come close to $100 million at the box office (a standard benchmark for a film's success) nor have they necessarily played well in the heartland.
But director Paul Haggis, whose "Crash" was a steady earner at the box office and then earned continued exposure through its DVD release and an appearance on "The Oprah Winfrey Show," was proud of the film's achievement -- and didn't mind that not everybody liked it.
"These are films that are telling very human stories, but risky human stories. We are so proud to be listed among them," he said. "My favorite kind of films are films in which you walk outside and you argue about them -- that you break up with your date because you disagree."
And what's next? Well, perhaps something more commercial.
"I think we're all interested in selling out and going for the big-budget blockbuster picture," said Haggis. | Awards ceremony | March 2006 | ['(Brokeback Mountain)', '(Walk the Line)', '(Capote)', '(CNN)'] |
John Key resigns as the Prime Minister of New Zealand and leader of the National Party after 8 years as PM and 10 years as party leader due to personal reasons. |
John Key has resigned as New Zealand's prime minister in a sudden announcement.
John Key's stunning announcement that he is standing down has turned politics on its head and almost certainly reduced National's chances of winning a fourth term.
His personal popularity throughout his term in office was a main factor in his party's election successes, and it will surely miss him when it goes to the country next year.
However much Mr Key says the party is well positioned to win again, he has given Labour's Andrew Little a much better chance of becoming the next prime minister.
Mr Key has endorsed his deputy, Bill English, to succeed him.
English was leader of the opposition when National suffered a devastating loss in 2002, and he was rolled by Don Brash.
Mr Key insists the political world was different then, the cycle was running against English and now it will be running with him.
He could be right, but National's task has just got a lot harder.
It would be good for the party if English puts his hand up and isn't challenged, that way there won't be blood on the floor and no wounds to heal.
If he is challenged, Steven Joyce and Judith Collins are the obvious ones to do it, with Amy Adams a possibility.
And if English becomes prime minister, Joyce would be the likely deputy and minister of finance.
Mr Key was right to announce his decision now.
He couldn't have fought the next election pretending he was going to run a full fourth term, and then quit part way through.
As he said, he has been honest with New Zealand throughout his term and there was no way he was going to change now.
Mr Key spent nearly 40 minutes of his press conference explaining why he was standing down, saying he had never been a career politician and it was time for a change.
He said his wife Bronagh didn't give him an ultimatum, and would have backed him all the way if he had decided to run for a fourth term.
Mr Key has been an outstanding prime minister, although the opposition would differ on that.
He was the main reason National retained its level of support through three elections, and his departure leaves a gulf that's going to be hard to fill.
Malcolm Turnbull says his New Zealand counterpart is leaving the country's economy in a very strong state.
The prime minister says Mr Key has been a great role model as a reforming PM, who's won and retained strong public support for his economic reform.
Labor leader Bill Shorten says Mr Key is a civilised conservative and has been a good friend to Australia.
| Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | December 2016 | ['(AAP via SBS)'] |
An estimated half–million Italians protest in Rome's Circus Maximus against pending legislation that would legalize same–sex unions. The legislation would extend to civil unions the same rights they would have under marriage, including adoption of children. | ROME (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of Italians staged a mass rally in Rome’s Circus Maximus on Saturday to urge the government to drop legislation that offers homosexual couples legal recognition and limited adoption rights.
The much-contested bill was presented to parliament last week and is due to be voted on in February, but the government itself is deeply divided over the issue and opponents are hopeful they can sink it, as they have done it the past.
Trains and buses ferried in protesters from around Italy to take part in the event, staged in Ancient Rome’s famed chariot racing stadium. A group of black-clad Roman Catholic priests danced the conga, while children rushed around the grassy arena.
“We want the whole law to be withdrawn, no ifs and no buts,” said one of the organizers, Simone Pillon, sporting a red bow tie. He took particular offense at a clause in the law which would let gays adopt the biological children of their partner.
Critics say this would encourage surrogacy, which is outlawed in Italy. “We cannot let children pay for the desires or caprices of adults. Children need to have a father and a mother,” said Pillon.
Showing how polarized the nation is, Saturday’s rally came a week after thousands of people took to the streets of Italy to demand that the “civil union” bill, which relates to both homosexual and heterosexual couples, be approved.
Organizers said two million people joined the Circus Maximus rally. Police did not give any crowd estimates, but city authorities have said the arena can hold some 350,000.
Italy is the last major country in Western Europe that has not offered rights or recognition to same-sex couples and has been criticized regularly by the European Court of Justice for failing to act.
Prime Minister Matteo Renzi promised to pass a law by the end of last year but has faced fiercer opposition over this from within coalition ranks than any of his other reform plans.
Several government officials, including many from the small New Centre Right party (NCD), took part in Saturday’s demonstration, while others cheered it on from the sidelines.
“I fully adhere to the aims of this gathering,” Interior Minister Angelino Alfano, who is also the head of the NCD, wrote on Twitter, underscoring the difficulties Renzi faces in trying to secure a majority in parliament.
Italy is a heavily Roman Catholic country and although the church’s influence has waned over the years, it remains a formidable social force. The Italian Bishops Conference has come out firmly against the bill and many of the banners on display had overt religious overtones.
A week ago Pope Francis issued a strong reminder of the church’s opposition to gay marriage, saying that the traditional family was “the family God wants”.
Some protesters echoed his view. “I am a grandfather and this law goes against God and goes against the bible,” said Franco Pantuso, 71, a retired waiter from the central city of L’Aquila who had came to Rome especially. “Our children and grandchildren must be protected.”
Latest opinion polls say that 70 percent of Italians believe that same sex couples should be granted legal protection, such as inheritance rights. However, only some 24 percent think that any adoption rights should be granted to gay couples.
| Protest_Online Condemnation | January 2016 | ['(AP via The New York Times)', '(Reuters)', '(NBC News)', '(The Local)'] |
The United States extends sanctions against Russia over its military intervention in Ukraine. | MOSCOW — -- President Obama has extended for another year U.S. sanctions imposed on Russia over its military intervention in Ukraine, according to a White House statement.
Obama signed an executive order to prolong the raft of measures that target senior Russian officials and businessmen connected to President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle, as well as a number of key Russian state companies, blocking them from visiting or holding assets in the United States, as well as doing business with some U.S. companies.
The United States imposed the sanctions in March 2014, after Russian troops seized Crimea from Ukraine, sparking the most serious crisis between Moscow and Washington since the end of the Cold War.
Obama broadened the sanctions again after Moscow launched a covert war in eastern Ukraine, where the Kremlin has been arming pro-Russian separatists. The European Union has also imposed its own sanctions against Moscow over the crisis.
Referred to as "targeted sanctions,” the measures are meant to inflict discomfort on the Kremlin leadership as well as hurt Russian state companies, intended to express U.S. disapproval and to deter Moscow from further land-grabs.
A copy of the order released by the White House said Russia’s actions in Ukraine continued to pose "an unusual and extraordinary threat" to U.S. national security. Although fighting in eastern Ukraine has largely halted since a ceasefire began last year, the conflict remains deadlocked with the front lines frozen in place.
The United States has said that the lifting of the sanctions is tied to the fulfillment of the so-called Minsk peace agreements, signed in early 2015. Part of those agreements require Moscow to help Ukraine’s government regain control over its borders in the areas held by the rebels and for local elections to be held there, but so far there has been minimal progress towards this.
The United States has accused Moscow of continuing to support the rebels with money and weapons.
Russia has called the sanctions unjustified. A spokesman for Putin, Dmitrii Peskov, said today the Kremlin "regretted" Obama’s decision to prolong the sanctions regime. Moscow has retaliated to the European Union sanctions by banning many food imports from the bloc, including gourmet cheeses.
The sanctions, along with those imposed by the E.U., have had an effect on Russia, exacerbating an economic downturn prompted by low oil prices that has pushed the country into recession. The measures have created serious difficulties for some of Russia’s largest state companies, including key state banks, that have been unable to access Western financing.
Perhaps even more damaging for the Russian economy, the sanctions have significantly chilled foreign investment in the country, with many investors wary that Russia may be headed into further economic isolation and spooked that another geopolitical crisis might lie in wait for Moscow.
Even companies not directly affected by the sanctions have curtailed their business and many Russian companies are struggling to attract investment or foreign partnerships.
The E.U. will review its own sanctions in June, with some members of the bloc pushing for the sanctions to be eased. The U.S. extension of its own measures is now expected to harden resolve among some European countries to resist this. | Government Policy Changes | March 2016 | ['(ABC News)'] |
A powerful, magnitude 7.2 earthquake has shaken Tajikistan. It was felt as far away as India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. No damage or casualties have been reported as the epicenter lies within the vast Badakhshan national park. The US Geological Survey describes the area as one of the “most seismically hazardous regions on Earth” because of tectonic activity along shifting fault lines. | . The December 7, 2015, M 7.2 earthquake in Tajikistan occurred as the result of strike-slip faulting within the crust of the Eurasia plate. Focal mechanism solutions indicate that rupture occurred on either a northwest-southeast-striking right-lateral fault, or on a southwest-northeast-striking left-lateral fault. Of these two possible fault orientations, finite-fault modeling of globally recorded seismic data is more consistent with slip on the southwest-striking (left-lateral) fault. At the location of this earthquake, the India plate is moving northward with respect to Eurasia at a rate of approximately 38 mm/yr.
The December 7, 2015, earthquake is located several hundred kilometers north of the India:Eurasia plate boundary, in the Pamir Mountains. The collision of these two plates drives the tectonics of the broad region surrounding the Himalayan Mountains and the Tibetan Plateau, and causes uplift that produces the highest mountain peaks in the world including the Himalayan, the Karakoram, the Pamir, and the Hindu Kush Ranges.
The location of the December 7, 2015, earthquake is close to Saraz Lake, which was formed in February 1911 when a nearby M 7.3 earthquake triggered a landslide that dammed the Murghab River. Over the past century, 18 other earthquakes of M 6.5 or larger have occurred within 250 km of the December 7, 2015, earthquake. Given the remoteness of the region, earthquakes here rarely cause shaking-related fatalities; however, secondary hazards such as landsliding have caused damage and fatalities in the past.
Hayes et al. (2016) Tectonic summaries of magnitude 7 and greater earthquakes from 2000 to 2015, USGS Open-File Report 2016-1192. (5.2 MB PDF) | Earthquakes | December 2015 | ['(AP)', '(USGS)', '(The Independent)'] |
A road accident in Tanzania leaves 20 dead and 45 others injured. | ARUSHA, Tanzania, July 1 (Xinhua) -- At least 20 people were killed and 45 injured in a road accident in south-western Tanzania's region of Mbeya on Sunday, police said.
Mussa Taibu, Mbeya Regional Police Commander, confirmed the accident, saying it happened at Mbalizi Hill on the outskirts of Mbeya city in the afternoon and involved three commuter buses and a truck.
Taibu said that the accident occurred when a truck carrying a container rammed into a commuter mini-bus and killed 20 people on the spot.
After hitting the first mini-bus, the truck got out of the way and hit other two mini-buses before plunging into a river, said Taibu.
The truck was heading to the Tanzania-Zambia border town of Tunduma from the south-western city of Mbeya, according to the police.
He said the injured people have been sent to Mbalizi District Designated Hospital and Mbeya Zonal Referral Hospital.
The accident came only three days after another road accident, in which five people died and three injured, happened in Mtwara Region in Tanzania.
Reports have it that reckless driving and poor road infrastructures as among the major factors fueling road accidents in.
| Road Crash | July 2018 | ['(Xinhua)'] |
Former Malagasy President Marc Ravalomanana is sentenced in absentia to incarceration until 2013 for misconduct. | A Madagascar court has sentenced former leader Marc Ravalomanana in absentia to four years in jail for alleged abuse of office, a minister says.
Justice Minister Christine Razanamahasoa told reporters it was for buying a presidential jet. The court also fined Mr Ravalomanana $70m (£42m). He is currently in South Africa seeking international support for a return to the Indian Ocean island. He lost power in March amid protests by opposition leader Andry Rajoelina. The army-backed takeover has been widely condemned as a coup d'etat. "Ravalomanana mixed public interests with his personal interests," Ms Razanamahasoa said. 'Extravagance'
Mr Ravalomanana, a self-made millionaire, had said the $60m (£37m) jet was meant to enable him to travel more efficiently and to be able to secure more aid and foreign investment. But critics saw it as an unnecessary extravagance and Mr Rajoelina has repeatedly used the purchase to denounce Mr Ravalomanana, accusing him of mismanaging public funds. Mr Ravalomanana's former finance and budget minister, Haja Razafinjatovo, was given a similar sentence by the court in the capital, Antananarivo. The BBC's Christina Corbett in Antananarivo says the court's verdict makes the prospect of any return to Madagascar for the deposed leader very unlikely. Mr Ravalomanana has accused the island's former colonial power, France, of backing Mr Rajoelina. He has not been internationally recognised as president, but appears emboldened after a return from recent trips to Libya and Senegal, our correspondent says. The unrest earlier this year led to the deaths of more than 100 people and crippled the island's tourist industry. Fragile negotiations between Madagascar's political parties have been taking place in the capital, our reporter says. But the UN-backed talks have failed to reach any agreement on a consensus government to rule in Madagascar until presidential elections are held. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | June 2009 | ['(BBC)'] |
Twenty-seven people died in Solomon Islands after their boat capsized during the Cyclone Harold. | Cyclone Harold is a category five storm - the most severe - and has already killed 27 people in the neighbouring Solomon Islands.
The victims were swept off a ferry that defied cyclone warnings.
Vanuatu, home to around 300,000 people, is already in a state of emergency because of the coronavirus - and is awaiting general election results. The storm is particularly affecting Sanma province, home to the country's second biggest city, Luganville.
Although there have been no injuries reported, photos showed roofs blown off buildings and power lines brought down. Some people took shelter in caves.
"There is lots of damage in Sanma, they lost lots of buildings," Jacqueline de Gaillande, chief executive of Vanuatu Red Cross, told Reuters.
The Vanuatu meteorology department recorded winds of 135mph in Sanma but said gusts - which are less sustained - were reaching 145mph (235km/h).
A major international effort was needed after the last category five storm - Cyclone Pam - hit Vanuatu in 2015.
Although Vanuatu has no confirmed Covid-19 cases, it declared a state of emergency last month, soon after the country voted in a general election.
The counting of the votes was live-streamed, as social distancing rules made it difficult to have enough observers in one room.
Unofficial results have been published, with official results due soon.
On Sunday, police in the Solomon Islands said five of the 27 bodies lost in the ferry disaster had been recovered.
The MV Taimareho set sail in strong winds with more than 700 people on board, reportedly as part of a virus evacuation programme.
The ship was initially thought to have just 60 people on board.
| Hurricanes_Tornado_Storm_Blizzard | April 2020 | ['(BBC)'] |
Costa Rica declares a national emergency as Hurricane Otto prepares to make landfall after killing at least three people in Panama. | Thousands ordered to evacuate in Nicaragua and Costa Rica after storm strengthens over the Caribbean First published on Thu 24 Nov 2016 02.45 GMT
Costa Rica’s president has declared a state of emergency and thousands have been evacuated from its Caribbean coast as hurricane Otto strengthened and began heading towards land.
Luis Guillermo Solís urged vehicles off the roads and said hospitals in the most at-risk areas had suspended elective surgeries and were transferring patients elsewhere.
The unusually late-season storm is heading towards neighbouring Nicaragua, which closed schools and was evacuating more than 10,000 people from communities in the storm’s path. Heavy rains were expected to affect the entire country on Thursday and Friday, raising the possibility of flooding and landslides in the interior.
The US National Hurricane Center in Miami said Otto was a category one hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 140km/h (85mph) and was moving west at a speed of 15km/h (9mph). On Wednesday night, the storm was 160km (100 miles) north-northeast of Limon, Costa Rica. It is forecast to make landfall on Thursday in Nicaragua, just north of the Costa Rican border.
The National Hurricane Center 2-Day Graphical Costa Rica’s National Emergency Commission said it was evacuating 4,000 people from the area where the storm was expected to hit and where rivers could overflow. The effort was expected to involve evacuations by plane, boat and road in the low-lying coastal areas. School was called off nationwide for the rest of the week. Heavy rain was already causing flooding in some areas and the president announced that public employees would not have to work Thursday or Friday.
The country’s National Meteorological Institute noted that a hurricane had never made landfall in Costa Rica since records began.
Heavy rains from the storm have been blamed for three deaths in Panama so far.
Jose Donderis, Panama’s civil defense director, said a landslide just west of Panama city early on Tuesday trapped nine people. Seven were rescued but two bodies were pulled from the mud. In the capital, a child was killed when a tree fell on a car outside a school.
Panamanian authorities have released water from the locks and lakes feeding the Panama Canal.
Costa Rica’s president said Otto could damage the country’s important coffee and agriculture sectors. Nicaragua also feared Otto could threaten coffee crops that are almost ready for harvest, placing further pressure on impoverished farmers.
Jennifer Zapata, a regional director for Heifer International, a US-based anti-poverty group, said Otto “could seriously jeopardize food security for small-holder farmers who rely on maize, beans, cocoa, honey, coffee and livestock for their livelihoods”. | Hurricanes_Tornado_Storm_Blizzard | November 2016 | ['(The Guardian)'] |
German airline Condor, a subsidiary of the now insolvent Thomas Cook Group, files for bankruptcy. | Thomas Cook's German subsidiary has announced it is filing for insolvency in an attempt to save its national brands after the collapse of the UK parent company on Monday.
Almost 100,000 holidaymakers are travelling with the German affiliates and it is not clear what the bankruptcy proceedings will mean for them.
The German government has already granted a €380m (£335m; $420m) bridging loan to the holiday airline Condor.
Condor is 49% owned by Thomas Cook.
The central state of Hesse, where Condor is based, also stepped in to rescue the airline, arguing that it was profitable. The company said it was "operationally healthy" and the six-month loan was aimed at preventing any "bottlenecks" resulting from its British parent company. The funding will be paid out pending an agreement with the European Commission.
Thomas Cook Germany is also based in Hesse and state premier Volker Bouffier said it was in principle willing to step in to help that company too.
It said that it had long been burdened by the weak Thomas Cook business in Great Britain and by Brexit.
A total of 600,00 holidaymakers have been caught up in the collapse of the UK company. Many have travelled from the UK but Thomas Cook's empire stretches across Europe and tens of thousands have travelled with its subsidiaries.
Under EU package holiday rules, holidaymakers are protected financially from a company's insolvency as well as having the right to repatriation.
The UK's Civil Aviation Authority has had the task of bringing back more than 150,000 holidaymakers. It repatriated more than 14,000 passengers on Tuesday and was expecting to bring back another 16,500 on Wednesday.
Thousands of Dutch, Belgian and Polish tourists are still abroad, but the biggest group affected outside the UK is from Germany. A spokeswoman said on Wednesday that 97,000 people were currently travelling with the company.
Thomas Cook Germany employs some 2,000 people and has several national brands, including Neckermann, Öger Tours, Air Marin and Bucher Reisen. A thousand people are employed by the company near Frankfurt.
It said it was talking to the German foreign ministry as well as the travel bankruptcy insurer, Zurich, about repatriating customers. Like Condor, it has asked the Hesse state government and the federal government for a bridging loan.
The German subsidiary believes its brands have a future and is in negotiations with investors and hotel operators to continue in business.
Thomas Cook GmbH said it had been forced to seek insolvency to extricate itself from its (UK) parent company's "financial tie-ups and related liabilities".
"We owe this to our long-standing customers, committed employees and other partners who have supported us so much over the years and in the last difficult weeks," said chief executive Stefanie Berk.
Thomas Cook businesses in several other European countries are also trying to survive:
Founded in 1841, parent company Thomas Cook filed for bankruptcy after failing to secure emergency funding of £200m from the UK government.
In the UK, anyone who has bought a package holiday covered by the Air Travel Organiser's Licence scheme (Atol) will have the cost refunded.
However, some customers whose future holidays have been cancelled have seen the price of replacement deals spiral.
There is also concern that local businesses will be badly affected in countries where Thomas Cook operates | Organization Closed | September 2019 | ['(BBC)'] |
The International Committee of the Red Cross admits the Israeli Magen David Adom and the Palestine Red Crescent Society. The resolution, ending 58 years of struggle, was passed by a 237–54 vote, over Muslim objections. | The Magen David Adom has sought membership since the 1930s, but its red Star of David emblem is not accepted under the Geneva conventions. The breakthrough came with approval of a third emblem, the Red Crystal, to identify relief and emergency workers.
A vote was held after Muslim states opposed Israel's membership over the status of land it occupied in 1967.
The same meeting of the international Red Cross and Red Crescent movement in Geneva approved membership for the Palestinian Red Crescent (PRC).
It had been excluded because the statutes only allow relief societies from sovereign states to join, but the rule was specifically modified to include the PRC.
It is hoped that the move to upgrade both societies from observer status will help engender better co-operation, say Red Cross officials.
Two-thirds majority
The Red Cross and Red Crescent conference in Geneva had hoped for a universal consensus on Israel's admission, but the agreement almost collapsed when Syria raised objections over Israel's role in the occupied Golan Heights. RED CROSS EMBLEMS
Used in conflict zones to protect medics and civil defence teams
Original symbol, reverse of Swiss flag, adopted in 1864 Red Crescent first used by Ottoman Empire in 1870s; formally recognised in 1929; used by 33 of 185 RC societies
Red Crystal can be used alone or in combination with recognised symbols
The issue was then put to a vote, in which 237 states and societies voted for the changes, with 54 voting against and 18 abstaining.
This gave the necessary two-thirds majority to modify the movement's statute and allow the change of emergency relief symbols. An amendment demanding that the movement's rules apply to all the occupied territories - putting them under Palestinian, Lebanese and Syrian responsibility - was also rejected. Correspondents say the Red Cross traditionally tries to work by consensus and to avoid potentially bruising ballot box confrontations among members.
The chair of the American Red Cross, Bonni McElveen-Hunter, said it would now pay about $45m in dues it has withheld since 2000 because of Israel's exclusion. 'Crusader symbol'
The Red Cross symbol - the reversal of the colours on the Swiss national flag - was adopted in 1863 when the organisation was set up to care for wounded soldiers.
The reversed Swiss flag was meant to signify neutrality
Muslim countries objected to the use of the cross symbol, which is redolent of the Crusades in medieval times, and have used a crescent instead since the 19th Century.
But until now, members have baulked at introducing a third symbol - a situation exacerbated by international opposition to Israel and its post-1967 occupation of Arab lands. The new symbol, a red square at an angle on a white background, can be used by any relief teams in areas where there is sensitivity about Christian or Muslim symbols.
Israelis, including military medics, will be able to use the crystal by itself on a white flag. On their own territory - or with the agreement other states participating in UN operations abroad - they will be able to combine it with the star of David.
Under the Geneva conventions relief workers and ambulances bearing Red Cross-authorised symbols are protected under international law and must be granted free access to people in need of help. In the past, RC officials have argued that having too many emblems could compromise their protection. | Sign Agreement | June 2006 | ['(CNN)', '(BBC)'] |
Diplomatic officials from the United States and Burma hold their first high level meetings in New York City. | A top US official has confirmed that he has held a meeting with a Burmese minister in New York - the first such high-level talks in more than a decade.
Kurt Campbell, assistant US secretary of state for Asia, said he met Health Minister U Thaung on the margins of the UN General Assembly on Tuesday. It came a day after the US announced a new policy on Burma, which consists of a mix of sanctions and dialogue. Washington imposed sanctions on Burma in 1988. But US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said last week that neither sanctions nor isolation had worked on their own. | Diplomatic Talks _ Diplomatic_Negotiation_ Summit Meeting | September 2009 | ['(Press Trust of India)', '(BBC)'] |
In Uruguay, Dr. Tabaré Vázquez, the first leftist president in the country's 180–year history, takes office, announces his cabinet and restores diplomatic relations with Cuba. , ,, (Globe&Mail), | Thousands of Uruguayan supporters celebrated in the streets of the capital, Montevideo, as he took office.
President Vazquez restored full diplomatic relations with Cuba immediately after being sworn in.
He said that ties between the two countries - severed in 2002 - should never have been broken off.
Mr Vazquez, whose win in presidential elections in October ended almost 180 years of two-party rule, promised to "work tirelessly" for Uruguay's people.
Uruguay becomes the fifth Latin American nation to move to the left.
Mr Vazquez was sworn in for a five-year term in front of leaders including Brazil's Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva, Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and Argentina's Nestor Kirchner.
Cuba ties
Cuba's President Fidel Castro cancelled his trip at the last minute, citing health reasons, but Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque did attend the ceremony. Uruguay broke off diplomatic ties with Cuba three years ago under outgoing President, Jorge Battle, after Fidel Castro accused him of being a traitor for supporting US efforts to condemn Cuba's human rights record in a United Nations vote. The Cuban minister and his Uruguayan counterpart Reinaldo Gargano signed the agreement restoring relations.
"It is with great pleasure that I am welcoming the Cuban people once again at this house and thus strengthening that friendship and ties that should never have been broken," said President Vazquez. Focus on poverty
The 65-year-old's win at the head of the Frente Amplio (Broad Front) coalition party ended the long dominance of the ruling Colorado Party, beaten into third place, and the National Party, whose candidate came second.
"I swear to work tirelessly for the prosperity of the Uruguayan people," Mr Vazquez said as he took office, also promising to respect the constitution. The BBC's Elliott Gotkine in Uruguay says the country's shift to the left is down to disillusionment with the right and the failure of its economic policies.
The left has also rejected many policies which had scared off voters in the past, he says.
Most analysts expect Mr Vazquez to emulate Brazil's President Lula by maintaining a broadly unchanged economic policy but placing greater emphasis on poverty and jobs, our correspondent adds.
Mr Vazquez, a former mayor of Montevideo, signed a $100m anti-poverty programme as one of his first acts in office. "We have pledged changes and we will bring in changes," he said. | Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration | March 2005 | ['(Prensa Latina)', '(Bloomberg)', '(XinHua)', '(BBC)'] |
The master stylist John Banville wins this year's Prince of Asturias Award for Literature, announced in Oviedo, Spain. | John Banville: described by George Steiner as “the most intelligent and stylish novelist currently at work in English”. Photograph: Cyril Byrne
John Banville has become the first Irish author to receive the prestigious Prince of Asturias Award for Literature, announced today in Oviedo, Spain. The award, established in 1981, is conferred on those “whose literary work represents an outstanding contribution to universal literature” and includes a Joan Miró sculpture and a cash prize of €50,000. The award will be presented in the autumn in Oviedo at a ceremony presided over by the prince of Asturias.
Unusually, the judges’ citation confers the award not just “on the Irish novelist John Banville for his intelligent, insightful and original work as a novelist” but also “on his alter ego, Benjamin Black, author of disturbing, critical crime novels”.
Previous winners include Philip Roth, Arthur Miller and Gunter Grass.
The judges added: “John Banville’s prose opens up dazzling lyrical landscapes through cultural references in which he breathes new life into classical myths and beauty goes hand in hand with irony. At the same time, he displays an intense analysis of complex human beings that ensnare us in their descent into the darkness of baseness or in their existential fellowship. Each of his works attracts and delights for his skill in developing the plot and his mastery of registers and expressive nuances, as well as for his reflections on the secrets of the human heart.”
Banville, who was born in Wexford in 1945, and is a former literary editor of The Irish Times, has received numerous accolades throughout his career. In 2005, The Sea earned Banville his highest award, the Man Booker Prize, which he had been shortlisted for with The Book of Evidence in 1989. Doctor Copernicus (1976), a fictionalised biography of the Polish astronomer, earned him the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction. Kepler (1981), on the German astronomer, won him the Guardian Fiction Prize. The Book of Evidence (1989) won the Guinness Peat Aviation Book Award,
In 2006 he began to publish a series of thrillers under the pseudonym Benjamin Black, featuring the forensic pathologist Quirke, starting with Christine Falls, recently adapted for television starring Gabriel Byrne. His latest work is The Black-Eyed Blonde, in which he brings Raymond Chandler’s detective Philip Marlowe back to life.
George Steiner called him “the most intelligent and stylish novelist currently at work in English”. Considered by some critics as Nabokov’s “heir”, his style is appreciated for its precise prose and black humour .
Banville was nominated for the award by José Antonio Pascual Rodriguez, deputy director of the Royal Spanish Academy, and Javier Garrigues, Spain’s ambassador to Ireland. There were 23 other candidates from around the world. | Awards ceremony | June 2014 | ['(euronews)', '(The Irish Times)'] |
Member of Parliament for Scunthorpe Elliot Morley will resign at the United Kingdom's 2010 General Election. | Elliot Morley: "I made a genuine mistake"
Former minister Elliot Morley has announced he will stand down at the next general election over his involvement in the expenses scandal.
Mr Morley had claimed for mortgage interest payments of £16,000 - 18 months after the mortgage was paid off. He has apologised and repaid the money, blaming "sloppy accounting". Meanwhile, David Cameron has said MPs who claimed for "phantom" mortgages on their expenses should be investigated by the police and prosecuted. And a new opinion poll has suggested that Labour has been badly damaged by the expenses scandal in the run-up to next week's European elections. Mr Morley made the announcement after a meeting with local Labour Party officials in his Scunthorpe constituency.
He said the pressure had been affecting his family and his health and insisted the decision was his own, made after consultation with his family and constituency officers. In the statement Mr Morley said: "The last two weeks have been traumatic for me and I have to think of my family and my health, both of which have suffered. "Nor do I want in any way to undermine the strong position the Labour Party has in this constituency in what will be a crucial election." Mr Morley added that he had made a "genuine mistake" and insisted that he believed he would be cleared of any wrong-doing. Amount repaid
After Mr Morley was asked why he did not step down immediately, he repeated his actions had been without malice and that there was still work to be done for his constituents. He said: "I have never tried to duck responsibility for my mistake and have repaid the amount in full. "I understand people's anger over the whole issue of MPs' expenses. "For those who condemn me I would simply ask to be allowed the opportunity to present my case." Following Mr Morley's statement, the constituency chairman Mick Grant said: "Elliot has been a long-standing and committed MP for Scunthorpe. "He has always had our full support and will be a hard act to follow." Mr Morley, a former agriculture minister, has already been suspended from the Parliamentary Labour Party and referred to the party's disciplinary panel. Prime Minister Gordon Brown has described the allegations against him as "serious". Criminal investigation
The Telegraph also alleged Mr Morley rented out a London flat designated as his main residence to another Labour MP, Ian Cawsey, a close friend and former special adviser. Mr Morley said he used the money from his Labour colleague to reduce his claim to the taxpayer. Since the Daily Telegraph began its reports on MPs' expenses - based on leaked receipts - 13 MPs, including Speaker Michael Martin, have announced their intention to stand down. In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, Tory leader David Cameron said any MP who had committed a crime with their expenses claims should "face the full force of the law". He added Scotland Yard, which is considering whether to launch criminal inquiries into potentially fraudulent claims, should examine them "without fear of favour". Meanwhile, a Populas poll in Saturday's Times newspaper, has suggested Labour is at its lowest ever national rating following the expenses expose. Labour trailed in third place after the UK Independence Party with just 16% of respondents prepared to vote for them in next weekend's European elections. BBC political editor Nick Robinson said: "If that [projection] was to be repeated in next Sunday's results, it would have serious consequences for Gordon Brown and raise serious questions over how and whether he can help his party recover." | Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | May 2009 | ['(BBC)'] |
Several dozen policemen were seen joining the protests against Evo Morales' government in at least three cities. Bolivia's defence minister stated that no "military measures" would be taken against the policemen, but added that he would "get" the disobedient officers. | Police in at least three Bolivian cities have declared mutinies and joined anti-government protests – a possible indication that parts of the security forces may be withdrawing their backing for President Evo Morales after weeks of unrest over disputed election results.
Bolivia’s defence minister, Javier Zavaleta, said on Friday that no military action would be taken against the police involved for now and the government would not mobilise troops as tens of thousands of Bolivians took to the streets in cities across the country.
The commander general of the Bolivian police said the officers had been “garrisoned” and had not mutinied.
Television images showed thousands of protesters gathered in peaceful vigils throughout the night at police stations and army barracks. More began to arrive at sunrise on Saturday morning.
Bolivia’s interior minister, Carlos Romero, said in a televised address that a “coup strategy was taking place” and hinted that talks could take place to try to resolve the escalating political crisis as protesters call for Morales to step down amid accusations of fraud in October’s presidential elections.
In La Paz, crowds cheered dozens of police officers who marched down a main avenue and garrisoned themselves in the city’s central police station. Other police remained on the streets guarding barricades around the presidential palace on Friday but the mood was starkly different from previous nights of clashes as protesters surrounded them singing: “Brother, police, join the people.”
In the rest of the country, police units in the official capital, Sucre, and the most populous city, Santa Cruz, a bastion of the opposition, announced they were joining a mutiny launched by police officers in Cochabamba. Uniformed police waved Bolivia’s red, yellow and green flags from the rooftop of their station in Cochabamba. Local reports showed protesters picketing police stations in other cities urging officers to join them.
At least three people have died, the latest a 20-year-old student on Wednesday, in clashes between anti-government protesters and Morales’ supporters since the disputed election on 20 October.
A civic opposition leader, Luis Fernando Camacho, who urged the police to turn against the government, tweeted that he “cried with joy” and thanked the police for “siding with the people”. | Protest_Online Condemnation | November 2019 | ['(Reuters)', '(The Guardian)'] |
Thousands of Afghans protest in Badakhshan province over U.S. plans to hold an "International Burn-a-Koran Day", despite its cancellation. | PUL-E-ALAM, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Protestors clashed with Afghan security forces on Saturday, as thousands of Afghans demonstrated for a second day, despite a U.S. pastor suspending plans to burn copies of the Koran, officials said.
Afghan protesters hold a banner near a fire during a demonstration against the planned burning of copies of the Koran by a small U.S. church, in Nangarhar province September 10, 2010. The banner reads: "There is no God but Allah and Mohammad is the messenger of Allah". REUTERS/Parwiz
The renewed protests in the war-torn country came after obscure Florida Pastor Terry Jones called off plans to burn copies of the Koran to mark the ninth anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the United States.
The plans triggered outrage in Afghanistan and across the Muslim world with President Barack Obama warning the action could deeply hurt the United States abroad and endanger the lives of U.S. troops.
Four demonstrators were seriously wounded when Afghan security forces opened fire as thousands of protestors tried to storm several government buildings in Pul-e-Alam, the capital of Logar province, south of Kabul, a provincial official said.
“The security forces did not want any trouble but were forced to open fire when the protestors tried to force their way into the buildings,” said Din Mohammad Darwish, the provincial governor’s spokesman.
Demonstrators also hurled stones at the buildings, including the department for women’s affairs, causing some damage. Pul-e-Alam is located some 70km (40 miles) south of the capital, Kabul.
“MORE BLOODY ATTACKS”
Elsewhere in northeastern Badakhshan province, where a day earlier one protestor was shot dead, several thousand people took to the streets in three separate districts, provincial police chief Aqa Noor Kentuz said.
“Demonstrators have come in their thousands to protest the Koran burning, though so far it is peaceful. Our police force is there to prevent any violence,” he told Reuters.
A spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said he was aware of two demonstrations in Badakhshan. He said no ISAF forces were involved and that the protests were not near any military bases.
In a statement posted on their website, alemarah-iea.com/, the Taliban called on all Afghans to join the hardline Islamists in their fight against the Western forces and warned of more attacks if the Koran burning went ahead.
“This stupid pastor who wants to avenge the September 11 attacks by burning the Koran will not only cause hundreds of bloody attacks in the United States but also throughout the world,” the statement said.
On Friday, a crowd estimated at 10,000, protested on the streets of Faizabad, the capital of Badakhshan, after special prayers for Eid al-Fitr, the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
One protester was shot dead when a smaller group attacked a German-run NATO base in Faizabad, hurling stones at the outpost. Protesters also gathered in the capital, Kabul, and in four other provinces, mainly in the west of the country.
Similar protests over perceived desecration of Muslim symbols have led to dozens of deaths in Afghanistan in recent years, including after a Danish newspaper published a cartoon depicting the Prophet Mohammad in 2005.
| Protest_Online Condemnation | September 2010 | ['(Reuters)'] |
In American football, the Buffalo Bills win a playoff game for the first time since the 1995 season with a 27–24 win against the Indianapolis Colts. | Brady threw for 381 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Tampa Bay Buccaneers past Washington 31-23 in their NFC wildcard game Saturday night for their first playoff victory since 2002.
In his 42nd postseason start and first not in a New England Patriots uniform, Brady made the most of a lack of pressure to carve up the NFL’s second-ranked defense on 22 of 40 passing.
He had to outduel Washington’s Taylor Heinicke, who had a breakout performance in just his second pro start and first in the playoffs in place of injured starter Alex Smith. Heinicke signed in early December to the practice squad ran for 46 yards and a touchdown and threw for 306 yards and a score.
But that wasn’t enough to overcome Brady’s brilliance.
While Bill Belichick and the Patriots watch from home with their playoff streak snapped at 11 following a 7-9 season, Brady has the opportunity to play in another Super Bowl in his new home stadium.
The Buccaneers await the result of Chicago at New Orleans on Sunday to see if they’ll be visiting Drew Brees and the Saints or host the Los Angeles Rams next weekend. They’d need a Bears upset to play at home in the divisional round.
There’s not much slowing Brady, who at 43 years, 159 days passed George Blanda as the oldest player to throw a TD pass in a playoff game. A 36-yard scoring connection with Antonio Brown was Brady’s longest in the playoffs since 2011.
Brady was methodical in the first half with 12 completions for 209 yards and wasn’t sacked until the final minute of the second quarter.
Heinicke made things interesting in the third, most notably scrambling for an 8-yard TD by diving at the pylon in the corner of the end zone. The play even got the attention of reigning Super Bowl champion Patrick Mahomes, who tweeted, “Bro what!?!?!”
The series after Heinicke banged up his left shoulder, Brady engineered a 69-yard scoring drive capped by a three-yard Leonard Fournette TD run. That made it 28-16, which was enough to withstand Heinicke’s attempt to be the unlikely hero.
Cam Akers rushed for 131 yards and a touchdown and Darious Williams returned an interception for a score as the sixth-seeded Los Angeles Rams upset the host Seattle Seahawks 30-20 Saturday in the opening round of the NFC playoffs.
Matt Gay kicked three field goals for the Rams and their defense allowed 278 yards of total offense against the third-seeded Seahawks, who had won their previous 10 postseason games at Lumen Field. Seattle’s last home playoff loss was to the St Louis Rams in 2004.
Jared Goff, who suffered a fractured right thumb at Seattle two weeks ago that required surgery, came off the bench to guide the Rams, throwing a 15-yard touchdown pass to Robert Woods with 4:46 remaining to help clinch the victory. Goff was 9 of 19 for 155 yards.
Seattle’s Russell Wilson was 11 of 27 for 174 yards and two touchdowns, both to DK Metcalf. Wilson was sacked five times, twice each by Aaron Donald and Leonard Floyd, and the Seahawks converted just 2 of 14 third-down attempts.
Metcalf’s 12-yard touchdown reception with 2:28 pulled the Seahawks within 10 points, but Woods recovered the ensuing onside kick.
There were three touchdowns scored in a span of 4:48 late in the first half, giving Los Angeles a 20-10 lead.
With the Rams up 6-3, Williams jumped a Wilson screen pass intended for Metcalf, picked it off and went 42 yards for a touchdown with 6:46 left in the half.
Wilson scrambled to his left and lofted a ball over the secondary, finding Metcalf for a 51-yard touchdown with 3:43 remaining.
On third-and-9 from the Rams’ own 26-yard line, Goff hit Akers with a screen pass. The rookie took it 44 yards down the right sideline, setting up his own five-yard touchdown run with 1:57 to go in the half. Akers, a second-round pick from Florida State, missed the Week 16 matchup between teams with an ankle injury as the Seahawks won 20-9, clinching the NFC West title.
John Wolford started at quarterback for the Rams and led them into field-goal range on their second possession before suffering a neck injury while being tackled by Seattle’s Jamal Adams. Wolford didn’t return and was taken to the hospital.
The Seahawks’ Chris Carson rushed for 77 yards and Jason Myers kicked 50- and 52-yard field goals.
Quarterback Josh Allen and safety Micah Hyde teamed up to make the Buffalo Bills’ losing past history.
Now do you Bill-ieve?
In a season in which the Bills busted numerous slumps, Allen became Buffalo’s first starter in a quarter century to win a playoff game. And Hyde ensured the Bills wouldn’t endure another second-half collapse as happened last year in a wild-card loss to Houston, or last-second touchdown.
With Buffalo the AFC East champions for the first time since 1995 and hosting their first playoff game since ‘96, Allen threw two touchdown passes and scored another rushing in leading the Bills to a 27-24 win over the Indianapolis Colts in a wild-card game Saturday.
Hyde batted down Philip Rivers’ desperation pass as time ran out in helping Buffalo snap an 0-6 postseason skid by winning its first playoff game since a 37-22 win over Miami on 30 December 1995.
The past was very much present in Allen’s mind when reflecting on how Buffalo squandered a 16-0 third-quarter lead in a 22-19 overtime loss to Houston in his first career playoff appearance.
“Obviously we started off a little slow and we were able to get into a rhythm late. Made enough plays to win,” Allen said. “It’s new territory for myself, but it just gives us a chance to play next week.”
The end of the game was so stunning, in which the Bills nearly squandered a 24-10 fourth-quarter lead, safety Jordan Poyer was still having difficulty trying to put the result in perspective.
“I haven’t had time to celebrate and take it in, but this is awesome for the Bills organization, the city, to be able to play a home game and get a victory,” said Poyer, in his fourth season in Buffalo. “Since 2017, we’ve been working at this, but a day like today, to come out on top, we worked so hard.”
Hyde’s pass defense eased memories of the Bills giving up DeAndre Hopkins’ leaping 43-yard touchdown catch in the final seconds of a 32-30 loss at Arizona on 15 November. Buffalo has won seven straight since for its longest winning streak since 1990.
And the win came with a limited number of 6,700 fans in attendance for the first time this season.
Allen finished 26 of 35 for 324 yards with a 5-yard touchdown to Dawson Knox and a 35-yarder to Stefon Diggs, which led to the fans chanting “MVP! MVP!” to celebrate the first Buffalo player to lead the NFL in catches and yards receiving.
The Colts (11-6) ended a season in which they won 11 games for the first time since 2014, and reached the playoffs for the second time in three years under Frank Reich.
Rivers finished 27 of 46 for 309 yards and had his career playoff record drop to 5-7 in completing his first – and potentially last – season with the Colts as he ponders retirement.
Losing doesn’t get any easier for the 39-year-old, who has reached the conference championship just once in 2008.
“Shoot, it’s hard to go back 12 years ago to think how I felt in the locker room after that championship game,” Rivers said, referring to the Chargers’ 21-12 loss to New England. “It’s always emotional. But is it more emotional when you’re about to be 40 and you’re not sure if you’ve been in your last huddle? Heck yeah.”
The game wasn’t decided until the final play, when Rivers faced fourth-and-11 from Buffalo’s 47. Rivers heaved a deep pass for TY Hilton, who was surrounded by defenders in the right side of the end zone. Hyde broke through the crowd of bodies, leaping up and batting the ball to the ground.
Rookie kicker Tyler Bass accounted for the decisive points by hitting a 54-yard field goal to put Buffalo up 27-16 with 8:08 remaining.
The Colts responded with a seven-play, 75-play drive capped by a nine-yard touchdown pass to Pascal. After Bass upped Buffalo’s lead to 27-16, the Colts scored less than two-minutes later. Rivers hit a wide-open Jack Doyle for a 27-yard touchdown and Doyle caught a 2-point conversion.
The Bills, however, didn’t make it easy. with Allen nearly losing a fumble at midfield when sacked for a 23-yard loss by Denico Autry on first down from the Indianapolis 37. Offensive lineman Daryl Williams, however, recovered, forcing the Bills to punt with 2:30 remaining.
“It doesn’t matter how it looks,” Allen said. “It’s the playoffs. It’s win or go home and we got it done.” | Sports Competition | January 2021 | ['(The Guardian)', '(ESPN)'] |
United States Secretary of Defense Robert Gates meets with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Kamal Al–Maliki and U.S. military leaders in Iraq to discuss the effectiveness of the current military campaign. | - U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates met Iraqi leaders on Saturday to tell them Washington was disappointed with their efforts to reconcile warring factions.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates meets members of the Iraqi Army and Iraqi police during a visit to a joint security station in Baghdad, June 16, 2007. Gates told Iraqi leaders on Saturday that Washington was disappointed with their efforts to reconcile warring factions. REUTERS/Andrew Gray
Gates, who flew into Baghdad Friday night, was briefed by U.S. commanders on a U.S. troop build-up intended to buy time for Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s Shi’ite-led government to reach a political accommodation with Sunni Arabs.
There were few details of Gates’ meeting with Maliki and other Iraqi leaders but Gates told reporters travelling with him he would deliver a simple message “that our troops are buying them time to pursue reconciliation, that frankly we are disappointed with the progress so far.”
General David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said troops had launched offensives against Sunni Islamist al Qaeda hideouts around Baghdad in the past 24 hours to hunt car-bombers.
“For the first time we are really going to a couple of the key areas in the belts from which al Qaeda has sallied forth with car bombs, additional fighters and so forth,” he said.
The U.S. military has completed its troop build-up in Iraq to 160,000 soldiers. Nearly 28,000 additional troops have been sent to Iraq, mainly to Baghdad for a major crackdown on sectarian violence.
“We are ahead in some areas and behind in others,” Petraeus said of the four-month-old crackdown. He has previously said the success of the operation could not be judged until all the reinforcements were fully operational.
Gates’ visit and criticism were signs Washington is growing increasingly frustrated with what U.S. officials regards as foot-dragging on laws on distributing oil revenues, control of regional oil fields and holding provincial elections.
Newsweek quoted Maliki as saying in an interview on Friday that his government rejected pressure and considered timetables harmful.
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“The word ‘pressure’ and timetables, they do not help and they are not a good principle for political relations,” Maliki said in the interview posted on the Newsweek Web site.
Iraq’s main political blocs have so far shown a reluctance to compromise on any of the key issues blocking reconciliation. Shi’ites and Sunni Arabs are also locked in a cycle of violence that many fear is pushing the country toward all-out civil war.
The second bombing of the revered Shi’ite al-Askari mosque in Samarra this week has alarmed U.S. officials, who fear it could derail reconciliation efforts and trigger a repeat of the wave of violence that was unleashed by the first attack in February 2006, killing tens of thousands.
A four-day curfew in Baghdad has largely kept a lid on retaliatory attacks in the capital, although a number of Sunni mosques have been torched or blown up elsewhere. In the latest attack, a Sunni mosque in the southern Shi’ite city of Basra was leveled in an explosion Saturday, police said.
Maliki said Iraqi security forces were in control of the country’s streets after the “painful” Samarra bombing.
The government had signed an agreement with UNESCO to rebuild the famed mosque, he added.
On his last visit in April, Gates explicitly tied political progress to the U.S. troop build-up. Petraeus and U.S. envoy Ryan Crocker are due to report in September on the success of the new strategy and make recommendations on how to proceed.
The U.S. military said troops found the identity cards of two U.S. soldiers missing for nearly a month during a raid on an al Qaeda safe house north of Baghdad.
The cards were shown in an al Qaeda Web video posted on June 4 in which the group said it had killed the two soldiers. The U.S. military said no one was found in the house.
The cards belonged to Specialist Alex Jimenez and Private Byron Fouty. Jimenez and Fouty were abducted along with a third soldier, whose body has since been found, after an attack on their patrol in Yusufiya south of Baghdad on May 12.
| Diplomatic Talks _ Diplomatic_Negotiation_ Summit Meeting | June 2007 | ['(Reuters)'] |
Sudanese President Omar al–Bashir names Vice President Bakri Hassan Saleh as Prime Minister of Sudan, the first person to hold the post since it was abolished following the 1989 Sudanese coup d'état. | KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir named his first vice president and long-time ally Hassan Saleh to the newly created post of prime minister on Wednesday, the clearest sign yet that he intends for him to one day take over.
It is the first time Sudan has had a prime minister since Bashir came to power in a 1989 Islamist and military-backed coup. Saleh is the last member of the group of officers that launched the coup to remain at Bashir’s side.
“The party leadership meeting chaired by President Bashir approved the nomination of Hassan Saleh as prime minister and his retention of the post of first vice president,” said ruling National Congress Party Deputy Leader Ibrahim Mahmoud.
Saleh will be sworn in on Thursday and immediately start negotiations on forming a new cabinet, Mahmoud said.
Sudan’s constitution was amended in December to introduce the position of prime minister, a demand of opposition parties that took part in a national dialogue with the government, with the aim of distributing some of the presidency’s extensive powers.
Bashir agreed to the proposal but reserved most executive authority for himself. Saleh is now seen as the strongest contender to succeed Bashir if he keeps his promise of not running for re-election in 2020.
Bashir has undergone heart surgery in recent weeks, raising questions over who would succeed him. While leading an Islamist party, Bashir also has the military’s loyalty as a one-time officer which strengthens his position and raises doubts over a civilian succeeding him, especially as conflicts between government forces and various armed rebel groups go on.
Saleh, a retired army general, is a former defense, interior and presidential affairs minister. He currently serves as first vice president and National Congress Party deputy leader for executive affairs.
Bashir’s long war against various rebel groups coincides with a severe economic downturn. This year’s budget foresees a growing deficit and slower growth.
Sudan’s economic problems have been building since the south seceded in 2011, taking with it three-quarters of oil output, the main source of foreign currency and government income.
Bashir is wanted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
Writing by Ahmed Aboulenein; Editing by Janet Lawrence
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
All quotes delayed a minimum of 15 minutes. See here for a complete list of exchanges and delays.
Exclusive: Fed’s Neel Kashkari opposes rate hikes at least through 2023 as the central bank becomes more hawkish | Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration | March 2017 | ['(Reuters)'] |
The North Korean supreme court convicts and sentences South Korea–born Canadian pastor Hyeon Soo Lim to hard labor for life for trying to overthrow the DPRK and undermine the country's social system. Lim's relatives said he's traveled to North Korea more than 100 times since 1997, to help people, but not for any particular political purpose. Lim, from the Light Korean Presbyterian Church in Toronto, has been in custody since February. | Clergyman arrested in February was previously shown in video released by regime propaganda channel saying he had ‘defamed and insulted’ the state
A North Korean court has sentenced a Canadian pastor to life in prison with hard labour for what it called crimes against the state.
Hyeon Soo Lim, from the Light Korean Presbyterian Church in Toronto, was given the sentence after a brief trial before the North’s supreme court on Wednesday. He had been in detention since February.
Relatives of Lim have said he travelled to North Korea on 31 January as part of a regular humanitarian mission where he supports a nursing home, a nursery and an orphanage.
They said Lim, who is in his early 60s, has made more than 100 trips to North Korea since 1997, and that his trips were about helping people, not political.
In the video released in August, South Korean-born Hyeon appeared to read from a script as he addressed a sparse congregation at the state-operated Pongsu Church in Pyongyang. “The worst crime I committed was to rashly defame and insult the highest dignity and the system of the republic,” he said in the purported confession, posted on a state-controlled propaganda website.
Other foreigners detained in North Korea and then released have said they were coerced into making similar statements and confessing guilt during their detention.
North Korea has very strict rules against any missionary or religious activities that it sees as threatening the supremacy of its ruling regime. Merely leaving a Bible in a public place can lead to arrest and severe punishment.
Both the US and Canadian governments warn against travel to North Korea.
In 2014 the North released Kenneth Bae, a Korean-American missionary who was convicted of “anti-state” crimes and had been serving a 15-year sentence.
Bae, whose detention received worldwide attention, suffered medical issues in detention. He was freed along with one other American detainee after a secret mission to the reclusive communist country by James Clapper, the top US intelligence official. Bae is reportedly planning a book about his two-year-ordeal in detention.
An Australian missionary detained for spreading Christianity was deported in 2014 after he apologised for anti-state religious acts and requested forgiveness. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | December 2015 | ['(DPRK)', '(Reuters)', '(Xinhua News Agency)', '(The Guardian)'] |
The JAXA probe Akatsuki successfully enters orbit around Venus five years after the first attempt. This mission is Japan's first successful mission to another planet. The orbital injection was achieved using the probe's attitude control thrusters, a feat which has never been done before. | Updated at 0315 GMT (10:15 p.m. EST)
Five years after missing a shot to enter orbit at Venus, Japan’s Akatsuki spacecraft completed a critical rocket burn late Sunday in a bid to salvage the research mission and become the only space probe operating around Earth’s nearest planetary neighbor.
Four maneuvering thrusters were scheduled to ignite at 2351 GMT (6:51 p.m. EST) Sunday for approximately 20 minutes and 30 seconds to slow down the Akatsuki probe enough for Venus’ gravity to capture it into an elongated, high-altitude orbit.
Akatsuki was never designed to fire its secondary attitude control rocket jets for such a long time, but the thrusters were required to steer the craft into orbit after its main engine failed during the mission’s first encounter with Venus exactly five years ago.
Officials confirmed the burn went as planned early Monday.
“It is in orbit!” wrote Sanjay Limaye, a planetary scientist based at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, in an email to Spaceflight Now.
“They were cautiously optimistic before the burn, but confident. Now smiling!” reported Limaye from Akatsuki’s mission control center in Sagamihara, Japan. He is is a NASA-sponsored participating scientist on the Akatsuki mission.
It could take a few days to precisely measure Akatsuki’s trajectory to verify it is in the proper orbit around Venus, officials said.
“As a result of analyzing data transmitted from the orbiter, we confirmed that the thrust emission of the attitude control engine was conducted for about 20 minutes as scheduled,” the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said in a press release Monday.
“The orbiter is now in good health,” JAXA said. “We are currently measuring and calculating its orbit after the operation. It will take a few days to estimate the orbit, thus we will announce the operation result once it is determined.”
The reaction control thrusters, originally designed to help point the spacecraft, were not rated for such a hefty propulsive maneuver.
Venus was 149.5 million kilometers, or nearly 93 million miles, from Earth at the time of Akatsuki’s arrival Sunday. It took radio signals more than 8 minutes to travel at the speed of light between the two planets.
The spacecraft’s guidance system targeted an orbit with a high point stretching up to 475,000 kilometers (295,000 miles) from Venus, farther than the distance of the moon from Earth, according to Takeshi Imamura, Akatsuki’s project scientist at JAXA’s Institute of Space and Astronautical Science.
The smaller thrusters aboard Akatsuki generate just 5 pounds of thrust, a fraction of the power provided by the probe’s main engine. Even with four of the rocket jets operating — there are two sets of four pointing forward and aft from Akatsuki’s main body — the secondary thrusters did not have the energy to put the spacecraft into its originally planned orbit.
At the low end of its looping path around Venus, Akatsuki should pass as close as 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) from the planet’s scorched surface hidden beneath a blanket of thick clouds driven around Venus, Imamura told Spaceflight Now in an email. The pull of the sun’s gravity, which is stronger at Venus that at Earth, will gradually perturb Akatsuki’s orbit.
A follow-up rocket burn tentatively slated for March 26 will tweak Akatsuki’s trajectory around Venus, lowering the peak altitude of its orbit to about 330,000 kilometers (205,000 miles).
Instead of taking 30 hours to complete a lap around Venus under Akatsuki’s original flight plan, the probe was expected to take 15 days to orbit the planet after arriving Monday. That will be changed to a nine-day orbit with the March adjustment.
Assuming all the maneuvers go well, then Akatsuki’s science mission will begin.
“We expect two Earth years or more, but the estimate of the remaining fuel has a large uncertainty,” Imamura wrote in response to questions from Spaceflight Now. “We cannot present a precise estimate.”
Imamura told a meeting of Venus scientists in October that the plan to drive into orbit using Akatsuki’s reaction control thrusters was risky, but ground controllers tested the rocket jets in a 10-minute firing — half the duration of the orbit insertion maneuver — giving officials some confidence going into the make-or-break burn.
Engineers programmed Akatsuki’s software to flip the spacecraft around and fire a separate set of four thrusters if the primary rocket jets run into trouble during the 20-minute burn.
Akatsuki’s main engine, designed for 112 pounds of thrust, was unavailable after a failed burn during the mission’s first encounter with Venus five years ago. The engine cut off less than three minutes into a 12 minute burn, providing an insufficient impulse for the craft to be captured in orbit.
Engineers believe a salt formation in a check valve inside the spacecraft’s propulsion system restricted the flow of fuel to the main engine, starving it of fuel and creating an oxidizer-rich combustion condition, raising temperatures inside the engine before it failed.
The probe continued on in an orbit around the sun following the failed insertion maneuver in 2010, and ground controllers searched for a new way to steer Akatsuki into Venus’ orbit during its next flyby of the planet in 2015.
Controllers commanded Akatsuki to dump extra propellant to lighten the mass of the spacecraft, allowing its thrusters greater control of the probe.
Akatsuki is Japan’s first mission to Venus, and it blasted off aboard a Japanese H-2A rocket in May 2010 for a planned six-month cruise.
It cost 24.4 billion yen, or about $200 million at today’s currency exchange rates, to build and launch the Akatsuki mission, which carries a suite of five cameras to observe Venus’ atmosphere.
Engineers instructed Akatsuki to turn its cameras toward Venus immediately after the insertion burn in a bid to collect “contingency” imagery of the planet in case the maneuver did not work.
Assuming the arrival was a total success, Akatsuki is now the only spacecraft currently operating at Venus. The European Space Agency’s Venus Express probe ended its mission there in late 2014.
“The orbit around Venus in the new plan will be a very long elliptical one,” Imamura said before Akatsuki approached Venus. “From far distances, we continually monitor the global-scale dynamics of the atmosphere and clouds, and of course, from close distances, we take close-up images of the atmosphere, the surface, and we also observe lightning and airglow when the spacecraft is in the shadow of Venus.”
Also named the Venus Climate Orbiter, Akatsuki is primarily designed to study the Venusian atmosphere.
The mission will observe climate and weather conditions on Venus with a suite of five cameras to look at low-altitude cloud patterns, chart the distribution of water vapor and carbon monoxide, and map the surface of Venus with a goal of finding active volcanoes. Thick clouds prevent visible cameras from seeing through Venus’ global clouds, but scientists say an infrared imager aboard Akatsuki can resolve the surface.
A long-wavelength infrared camera and an ultraviolet instrument aboard Akatsuki will study the super-rotating cloud structures in the upper atmosphere. The ultraviolet camera will also track sulfur dioxide, a precursor to cloud formation at Venus.
Researchers also plan to measure radio waves transmitted through the planet’s atmosphere to measure its profile.
Imamura said engineers have uploaded new software to Akatsuki to better see Venus from the spacecraft’s higher-than-planned orbit, reducing the data volume coming back to Earth to streamline the mission’s scientific return.
“By combining this information, we can model the three-dimensional structure of the atmosphere and the clouds,” Imamura said. | New achievements in aerospace | December 2015 | ['(Gizmag)', '(Spaceflight Now)'] |
A French magistrates' court drops 228 charges of manslaughter brought by victims' relatives against Airbus and Air France. | Magistrates in France have dropped charges against Air France and Airbus over a mid-Atlantic plane crash in 2009 that killed all 228 people on board.
The Airbus A330 aircraft flying from Rio de Janeiro to Paris stalled in a storm and plunged into the ocean.
On Thursday, the magistrates looking into manslaughter charges brought by victims' relatives decided that there were not enough grounds to prosecute.
They blamed the plane's crew for losing control after speed sensors froze. The main association of victims' families called the magistrate's decision an "insult to the memory of the victims" and announced plans to appeal, AFP news agency reports.
In 2012, a civil investigation found a combination of technical failure and human error had led to the loss of Flight AF447 on 1 June 2009.
The report by the French aviation authority highlighted faults with the Airbus 330's air-speed sensors which confused the pilots.
But it also pointed to inappropriate action by the pilots.
One of the mistakes of the crew was to point the nose of the aircraft upwards after it stalled, instead of down.
The accident is the worst disaster in the history of Air France.
The wreckage of the plane was discovered after a long search of 10,000 sq km (3,860 sq miles) of sea floor.
Since the crash, Air France has replaced the speed sensors on its fleet of Airbus jets with a newer model.
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | September 2019 | ['(BBC)'] |
The Libyan National Army launches a surprise offensive in western Libya, moving units towards the Government of National Accord-held capital Tripoli, with reports of clashes in the city of Gharyan. The LNA say their operation, ordered by General Khalifa Haftar, is aimed at "cleansing the western zone from terrorist groups". | BENGHAZI, Libya/TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Eastern Libyan military forces have moved to western Libya and were briefly locked in a skirmish with a rival force south of the capital Tripoli, an eastern official and residents said on Wednesday, in an escalation between rival camps in the oil producer.
The advance took diplomats and analysts by surprise, exploiting their focus on neighboring Algeria where President Abdelaziz Bouteflika resigned on Tuesday after protests, to the relieve of Western countries valuing stability there.
Libya -- in trouble since the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 -- is divided between the internationally recognized government in Tripoli and a parallel administration allied to Khalifa Haftar.
Haftar has turned into major player in the North African country, enjoying the backing of Egypt and the United Arab Emirates which see him as bulwark against Islamists. His opponents see in him a new Gaddafi.
His forces control the east and recently expanded to southern Libya.
Now in a new escalation Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA) moved in the past days discreetly forces west with the LNA media office publishing on Wednesday videos of troops traveling on a coastal road from Benghazi, the main eastern city.
In the evening a brief skirmish lasting one hour was reported near Gharyan, a town south of Tripoli between the LNA and forces allied to Tripoli Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj, who relied on patches of armed groups with flexible loyalties.
“Right now they are clashes south of Tripoli...in Gharyan,” LNA spokesman Ahmed Mismari told al-Arabiya channel.
No casualty figures were or details were immediately available.
There was no immediate comment from the Tripoli government, which had issued earlier a general alert for its forces in response to the eastern advance.
“There is no military solution,” Serraj said in the statement.
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Analysts doubt the LNA is capable of launching a full-scale attack as it has stretched itself with the southern advance and it also relies on tribesmen and other auxiliary forces.
Some diplomats say the advance is mainly a psychological campaign to pressure Serraj into a power-sharing deal on eastern terms, allowing Haftar to become commander of a national army.
The confrontation is in any case a major setback for the U.N and Western countries which have been trying to mediate between Serraj and Haftar. Both men had met in Abu Dhabi last month to discuss a power sharing deal and a national conference is set to follow this month to agree on a road map for elections.
Some of Haftar’s supporters have called the U.N. efforts a waste of time, urging him to carry out a military solution to establish himself as national army commander.
During the day the LNA had turned up pressure on Tripoli, warning of a military campaign to “liberate the homeland from terrorism”.
“We expect the women of Tripoli to welcome the Libyan army like the women of Benghazi and Derna did,” said Mismari, referring to two eastern cities which the LNA took by force.
Mismari also called on young people in Tripoli to focus on the battle between LNA and Daesh, or Islamic State, in another hint that military action might be looming.
The comments suggest the LNA might seek to takeover Tripoli working with local groups instead of seeking an invasion.
In January, the LNA, which is loyal to Haftar, started a campaign to take control of the south and its oilfields with a similar rhetoric.
The announcements coincided with the arrival in Tripoli of U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres who is on a regional tour seeking to help avoid a confrontation between the rival Libyan camps.
On another potential frontline, a resident in Ras Lanuf, an oil town located on the coastal road, said tanks and military convoys were seen heading westwards in the direction of Sirte.
Sirte is in central Libya controlled by a force from the western city of Mistrata allied to the Tripoli administration.
Misrata, a port east of Tripoli, is home to powerful armed groups, which could match at least partly the firepower of LNA ground troops, analysts say. Haftar’s forces enjoy air superiority.
Reporting by Ayman al-Warfalli, Ulf Laessing, Ahmed Elumami and Hesham Hajali; Writing by Ulf Laessing, Editing by William Maclean, James Dalgleish and Lisa Shumaker | Armed Conflict | April 2019 | ['(LNA)', '(Reuters)', '(Al Jazeera)'] |
At least 18 people are dead and 45 people are missing in Japan after Typhoon Wipha hit yesterday. | Rescue workers were combing through piles of debris from mudslides that buried people and destroyed dozens of homes on a Japanese island, as officials acknowledged today that an evacuation could have saved lives.
Tokyo: Rescue workers were combing through piles of debris from mudslides that buried people and destroyed dozens of homes on a Japanese island, as officials acknowledged today that an evacuation could have saved lives.
At least 18 deaths were confirmed from Typhoon Wipha and 45 people are missing, the government said.
Hardest hit from the storm, which swept up Japan`s eastern coast yesterday, was Izu Oshima island, about 120 km south of Tokyo.
Some 1,100 rescuers were searching through mountains of trees, wrecked homes and other debris, shouting in hopes of finding survivors. Residents and shop owners cleaned out the mud from their buildings.
"There is concern that perhaps more lives could have been saved if there had been an evacuation. We have concluded this and must apologize," said Masafumi Kawashima, mayor of Izu Oshima.
Katsunobu Kato, a government spokesman, told reporters that his understanding is that proper warnings were issued regarding forecasts for torrential rains.
The areas affected by the mudslides were indicated as hazardous zones on maps, he said, adding that the government was checking to see if there was any factual basis for complaints that an evacuation order should have been issued.
More than 350 homes were damaged or destroyed, including 283 on Izu Oshima, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency said.
The typhoon, was downgraded to a tropical storm last evening and churned offshore from the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido.
More than 30 inches of rain fell on Izu Oshima during a 24-hour period ending last morning, the most since record-keeping began in 1991.
Izu Oshima is the largest island in the Izu chain southwest of Tokyo. It has one of Japan`s most active volcanoes, Mount Mihara, and is a major base for growing camellias. About 8,200 people live on the island, which is accessible by ferry from Tokyo. | Hurricanes_Tornado_Storm_Blizzard | October 2013 | ['(Zee News)'] |
Election officials announce all ballots have been processed and Pedro Pablo Kuczynski wins the closest presidential contest in five decades with 50.1 percent of the votes versus 49.9% for Keiko Fujimori. Fujimori has yet to concede defeat. As many as 50,000 ballots still need to be reviewed, but experts say Fujimori can not make up the difference of roughly 40,000 votes separating her from Kuczynski. | With all votes counted, the economist Pedro Pablo Kuczynski appears to have won the majority of votes in Peru's cliff-hanger presidential election.
The electoral commission said he received 50.12% of votes, against 49.88% for his rival, Keiko Fujimori. About 50,000 ballots must first be settled by an electoral court before a winner can be officially declared.
Ms Fujimori has yet to concede, but Mr Kuczynski tweeted his thanks to the Peruvian people.
"It's time to work together for the future of our country," he told his followers on Twitter
This has been the tightest fought election in Peru in five decades.
As the last few votes were counted, the candidates remained neck-and-neck, with Mr Kuczynski leading by a tiny margin.
The closeness of the result came as a surprise after polls in the run-up to the election had suggested Ms Fujimori had a comfortable lead. Analysts said corruption scandals in Ms Fujimori's Popular Force Party may have dented her support since April, when she comfortably won the first round of voting.
She is the daughter of Peru's former President, Alberto Fujimori, who is in jail for crimes against humanity.
Mr Kuczynski, who is an ex-Wall Street financier, said he would use his international financial experience to promote economic growth.
He has the support of prominent figures such as Nobel-Prize-winning novelist Mario Vargas Llosa and left-wing candidate Veronika Mendoza, who came third in the first round of voting.
But he has faced scrutiny over his close relationship to Peru's business elite.
Peru election on a knife edge
| Government Job change - Election | June 2016 | ['(BBC News)', '(ABC News)', '(AP)'] |
British Prime Minister Theresa May proposes that a snap election for the House of Commons will be held on the 8th of June. A two-thirds majority of the House of Commons is needed to approve this, eventually tomorrow. The Labour and Liberal Democrats party leaders have expressed their support. | UK Prime Minister Theresa May has announced plans to call a snap general election on 8 June.
She said Britain needed certainty, stability and strong leadership following the EU referendum.
Explaining the decision, Mrs May said: "The country is coming together but Westminster is not."
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said his party wanted the election, calling it a chance to get a government that puts "the majority first".
The prime minister will refuse to take part in televised leader debates ahead of the vote, Number 10 sources said.
Mr Corbyn said Mrs May should not be "dodging" a head-to-head encounter, and the Lib Dems urged broadcasters to "empty-chair" the prime minister - hold a debate without her.
Live TV debates took place for the first time in a UK general election in 2010, and the experiment was repeated in 2015 using a range of different formats.
A BBC spokesman said that it was too early to say whether the broadcaster would put in a bid to stage a debate.
There will be a vote in the House of Commons on Wednesday to approve the election plan - the prime minister needs two thirds of MPs to vote in favour to bring forward the next scheduled election date of 2020.
Explaining her change of heart on an early election, Mrs May said: "I have concluded the only way to guarantee certainty and security for years ahead is to hold this election."
She accused Britain's other political parties of "game playing", adding that this risks "our ability to make a success of Brexit and it will cause damaging uncertainty and instability to the country".
"So we need a general election and we need one now. We have at this moment a one-off chance to get this done while the European Union agrees its negotiating position and before the detailed talks begin.
"I have only recently and reluctantly come to this conclusion. Since I became prime minister I've said there should be no election until 2020, but now I have concluded that the only way to guarantee certainty and security for the years ahead is to hold this election and seek your support for the decisions we must take."
In a statement outside Number 10, Mrs May said Labour had threatened to vote against the final Brexit agreement and cited opposition to her plans from the Scottish National Party, the Lib Dems and "unelected" members of the House of Lords.
"If we don't hold a general election now, their political game-playing will continue and the negotiations with the European Union will reach their most difficult stage in the run-up to the next scheduled election," she said.
Senior government sources point to a specific factor that changed the prime minister's calculation on an early election.
The end of the likely tortuous Article 50 negotiations is a hard deadline set for March 2019.
Under the Fixed Term Parliaments Act, that's when the Tories would be starting to prepare for a general election the following year, with what one cabinet minister described as certain "political needs".
In other words, the government would be exposed to hardball from the EU because ministers would be desperate to avoid accepting anything that would be politically unpopular, or hold the Brexit process up, at the start of a crucial election cycle.
Ministers say that's the central reason for May's change of heart because "if there was an election in three years, we'd be up against the clock".
Read Laura's latest blog in full
The PM challenged the opposition parties: "Let us tomorrow vote for an election - let us put forward our plans for Brexit and our alternative programmes for government and then let the people decide.
"The decision facing the country will be all about leadership. It will be a choice between strong and stable leadership in the national interest, with me as your prime minister, or weak and unstable coalition government, led by Jeremy Corbyn, propped up by the Liberal Democrats - who want to reopen the divisions of the referendum - and Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP."
Mr Corbyn said he welcomed the prime minister's decision, saying it would "give the British people the chance to vote for a government that will put the interests of the majority first", saying that this would include dealing with "the crisis" in housing, education funding and the NHS and pushing for an "economy that works for all".
He told the BBC: "I'm starting straight away and I'm looking forward to it and we'll take our message to every single part of this country... We're campaigning to win this election - that's the only question now."
Asked if he will be the next prime minister, the Labour leader said: "If we win the election - yes - and I want to lead a government that will transform this country, give real hope to everybody and above all bring about a principle of justice for everybody and economic opportunities for everybody."
Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said she would be fighting the election "to win".
"I think the prime minister has called this election for selfish, narrow, party political interests, but she has called it and therefore I relish the prospect of getting out to stand up for Scotland's interests and values, standing up for Scotland's voice being heard and standing against the ability of a right-wing Conservative Party to impose whatever policies it wants on Scotland."
In his response to Mrs May's announcement, Lib Dem leader Tim Farron tweeted: "This is your chance to change the direction of your country. If you want to avoid a disastrous hard Brexit. If you want to keep Britain in the single market. If you want a Britain that is open, tolerant and united, this is your chance."
He also accused the PM of "bottling" the TV debates and urged broadcasters to "empty chair" her if she refused to take part.
Mrs May spoke to the Queen on the phone on Easter Monday to let her know of the election plan, the prime minister's official spokesman said. She also got the full backing of the cabinet before calling the election.
Former prime minister David Cameron called Theresa May's decision to hold a snap general election "brave and right". In a tweet, he added: "My very best wishes to all Conservative candidates."
Another ex-PM, Tony Blair, said voters need to put election candidates under "sustained pressure" to say whether or not they would vote against a Brexit deal which does not deliver the same benefits as single market membership - or against a "damaging" decision to leave without a deal.
"This should cross party lines," he added.
British business groups gave a mixed response to the prime minister's sudden call for a general election, as the pound jumped on the news and shares fell.
European Council President Donald Tusk's spokesman said the 27 other EU states would forge ahead with Brexit, saying the UK election would not change their plans.
He added: "We expect to have the Brexit guidelines adopted by the European Council on 29 April and following that the Brexit negotiating directives ready on 22 May. This will allow the EU27 to start negotiations."
| Government Job change - Election | April 2017 | ['(BBC)', '(The New York Times)'] |
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announces he has signed a deal with Azerbaijan and Russia to end the war by Tuesday morning. A Kremlin spokesman confirms the deal. Later, Azerbaijan's president Ilham Aliyev says a "trilateral agreement" has been signed. President of Russia Vladimir Putin says Russian peacekeepers will be deployed. The agreement cedes several districts to Azerbaijan, including the Lachin District. The agreement will also establish a transport corridor through Armenia, linking Azerbaijan to Nakhchivan. | Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia said they have signed a deal to end the military conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region after more than a month of bloodshed.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan first announced the signing on social media in the early hours of Tuesday and the Kremlin and Azerbaijan’s president Ilham Aliyev later confirmed the news.
“The signed trilateral statement will become a (crucial) point in the settlement of the conflict,” Aliyev said in a televised online meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Putin said Russian peacekeepers would be deployed along the frontline in Nagorno-Karabakh and the corridor between the region and Armenia.
Arayik Harutyunyan, the leader of the Nagorno-Karabakh region, said on Facebook that he gave agreement “to end the war as soon as possible”.
The declaration has followed six weeks of heavy fighting and advancement by the Azerbaijan’s forces. Baku said on Monday it had seized dozens more settlements in Nagorno-Karabakh, a day after proclaiming victory in the battle for the enclave’s strategically positioned second-largest city.
“The decision is made basing on the deep analyses of the combat situation and in discussion with best experts of the field,” Prime Minister Pashinyan said.
Related Coverage
“This is not a victory but there is not defeat until you consider yourself defeated. We will never consider ourselves defeated and this shall become a new start of an era of our national unity and rebirth.”
Armenian protesters marched to the prime minister’s official residence in Yerevan, Government House No. 1, after the ceasefire was announced, said local news outlet Norlur.am.
Videos seen on social media showed crowds inside the building, but the prime minister’s location was unclear.
The Nagorno-Karabakh fighting has raised fears of a wider regional war, with Turkey supporting its ally Azerbaijan, while Russia has a defence pact with Armenia and a military base there.
Azerbaijan says it has since Sept. 27 retaken much of the land in and around Nagorno-Karabakh that it lost in a 1991-94 war which killed an estimated 30,000 people and forced many more from their homes. Armenia has denied the extent of Azerbaijan’s territorial gains.
Several thousand people are feared killed in the flare-up of the conflict. Three ceasefires have failed in the past six weeks and Azerbaijan’s superior weaponry and battlefield gains have reduced its incentive to seek a lasting peace deal.
Azerbaijan said on Sunday it had captured Shusha, known by Armenians as Shushi, which sits on a mountaintop overlooking Stepanakert, the city regarded as the enclave’s capital by its ethnic Armenian administration.
President Aliyev announced a list of 48 settlements he declared liberated on Monday in several parts of the enclave.
An Azeri defence ministry video posted online showed Azerbaijan’s national flag flying over deserted streets in what it said was Shusha.
Armenia disputed that the city had fallen.
| Sign Agreement | November 2020 | ['(Reuters)'] |
Three Boston University students are killed and another five are injured in a minivan crash during a trip to New Zealand. | Hundreds of Boston University students have held a candlelight vigil for three classmates killed in a minivan crash in New Zealand, where they were studying.
Junior Tori Pinheiro says her boyfriend, Austin Brashears, was among those who died in the Saturday morning accident. She cried at the Boston vigil as she recalled how friendly he was and how much she loved him.
She says he recently had left her a voicemail saying he missed her and she has been playing it repeatedly.
Brashears was from Huntington Beach, Calif. The university says the other students killed were Daniela Lekhno, of Manalapan, N.J., and Roch Jauberty, whose parents live in Paris.
New Zealand police say the students were traveling near a North Island vacation town when their minivan drifted to the side of the road and then rolled over. | Road Crash | May 2012 | ['(Boston Herald)'] |
In golf, Tiger Woods wins the PGA Tour's season–ending Tour Championship for his first tour win since 2013. Justin Rose wins the season–long FedEx Cup points race and its associated US$10 million bonus. | ATLANTA -- The coronation could finally occur as Tiger Woods made his way to the 18th green Sunday, a remarkable scene as thousands of spectators engulfed him on his walk to victory while chanting and cheering his name as he was about to put the finishing touches on his 80th PGA Tour win.
The final round at East Lake was not easy, but it paled in comparison to the treacherous comeback Woods endured in recent years as he tried to recover from multiple back surgeries.
That beaming Woods smile and arms raised in triumph after the final tap-in suggested it was worth all the hardship.
A 1-over-par 71 was good enough to capture the Tour Championship, the season-ending tournament on the PGA Tour schedule and one that gave Woods his first victory in more than five years. He won by two shots over Billy Horschel as Justin Rose captured the season-long FedEx Cup title.
"I was pretty emotional when Rory [McIlroy] was tapping out, he was finishing out,'' Woods said. "I looked around, and the tournament was over because I'd already put the bunker shot on the green, and I'd won 80. 80 is a big number. I've been sitting on 79 for about five years now, and to get 80 is a pretty damned good feeling.''
A birdie at the first hole set the tone for Woods, who increased his lead over playing partner McIlroy and Rose to four shots at the point. In much the same manner he won numerous titles over the years, Woods played smart, methodical golf, doing all he could to limit mistakes while letting others make them.
His lead was never less than two, and it got that close only at the 16th hole, where Woods made a bogey while Horschel was already in the clubhouse.
"The game plan was to shoot under par, and I birdied the first hole right out of the gate,'' he said. "Now, play the next 17 in even par, and we're good to go. I was just grinding out there, and I was telling [caddie] Joey [LaCava], it felt like more of a grind today because of where I kept leaving myself. I had downhill putts virtually every single hole. The only three putts I made today at 1 and 4, the par putt, and 13 -- those were all uphill. It seemed like I was downhill, down grain every single hole, and I was putting very defensive and conservatively all day.''
Rose, despite a final-round 73 that dropped him out of contention for the Tour Championship, birdied the last hole to capture the FedEx Cup and a $10 million bonus. Had he not birdied the last, Woods would have won his third FedEx title.
Clearly, winning the tournament was more important to Woods. It came only a few days short of a year since he told reporters, "I don't know what my future holds,'' months after spinal fusion surgery meant he was still unable to take full swings with a golf club.
"It is emotional for sure,'' said Rob McNamara, Woods' long-time friend who has served as his eyes and ears over the past year while the golfer played without a coach. "He made me cry, but I couldn't be more proud of him, a true champion in every sense of the word.''
Woods is expected to go to No. 13 in the world after dropping as low as 1,199th late last year. It was his 18th start of 2018, and he has seven top-10 finishes. Woods also now trails all-time PGA Tour victory leader Sam Snead by two.
"I am extremely proud of him,'' Jack Nicklaus said in a series of tweets congratulating Woods.
I never dreamed @TigerWoods could come back and swing the way he has, after surgery. I think you could argue he's swinging better than he has ever in his life. He has played fantastically!
Woods played beautifully to give himself a three-shot 54-hole advantage, a lead he has never failed to convert now in 24 tries. He shot rounds of 65-68-65 to get to 12 under par, giving him his first three-round advantage since he won the 2013 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, his last victory.
It proved beneficial on a day when East Lake seemed particularly difficult. Just 13 players broke par, and those closest to Woods -- McIlroy and Rose -- manage scores of 74 and 73, respectively.
"It was a grind out there,'' Woods said. "I loved every bit of it. The fight and the grind and the tough conditions and just had to suck it up and hit shots, and I loved every bit of it.''
McIlroy shot 39 on the front nine to fall out of contention and finished with a 74 and in a tie for seventh. Rose also struggled, falling four shots back by the turn and tied for fourth. It was then a matter of Woods getting to the clubhouse at East Lake, the home of the great amateur Bobby Jones, whose photos and memorabilia adorn the surroundings.
Horschel, who won the 2014 FedEx Cup, made a late push with a 66, but when he was in at 9 under par, Woods had only three holes to play.
Woods, 42, was basically out of golf for the past two years, playing just three tournaments worldwide as he attempted to alleviate back and nerve pain that led to four surgeries. When he returned at the Farmers Insurance Open in January, he was ranked 656th in the world, had not earned a single Ryder Cup point and seemed miles away from being able to compete with the game's best.
But Woods slowly gained form, posting six top-10 finishes coming into the Tour Championship, including at The Open and the PGA Championship.
"He's played such good golf all year that it's just not surprising,'' Phil Mickelson said while Woods was on the back nine. "It was just a matter of time before he does win. He's playing so well on a very difficult golf course. We all have been kind of expecting it. I've seen the way he's been swinging the club and the way he's been playing. We all knew it was just a matter of time.''
Woods has said many times that he has been touched by the outpouring of support he has received throughout the year from fans, many of whom had never seen him or had certainly not watched him perform at a high level.
He admitted that the conclusion Sunday was unique, as he was swarmed trying to get the bunker that fronted the green, from where he was able to blast on and complete the tournament.
"I appreciate it a little bit more than I did because I don't take it for granted that I'm going to have another decade, two decades in my future of playing golf at this level,'' Woods said. "It means a lot more to me now in that sense because I didn't know if I'd ever be out here playing again, doing this again.''
And then, putting the length of his career into perspective -- Woods won his first PGA Tour title in 1996 -- he was asked how he thought the world would react, given that he had likely broken the internet.
"Well, when I came out here, there was no internet,'' Woods said, smiling.
Woods is now the favorite to win next year's Masters. Heading into the Tour Championship, he was 12-1 behind then-Masters favorite Jordan Spieth. By the end of the tournament, Woods' odds had been trimmed to 9-1, ahead of Spieth's, at the Westgate SuperBook in Las Vegas.
Woods also is a minus-220 favorite over Mickelson in their match play event in November in Las Vegas. | Awards ceremony | September 2018 | ['(ESPN)'] |
U.S. Representative John Conyers steps down amid allegations of sexual harassment. |
Several women have accused Rep. John Conyers, who is the most senior member of Congress, of verbal abuse, inappropriate touching and groping over decades.
Updated at 2:30 p.m. ET
Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., has sent a letter to House Speaker Paul Ryan and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi informing them of his decision to step down from Congress as of Tuesday, amid allegations of sexual misconduct leveled by multiple women.
Conyers told a Detroit radio show Tuesday morning that "I am retiring today," though he is effectively resigning. He also said in an interview on The Mildred Gaddis Show that he wants son John Conyers III to succeed him in Congress. "My legacy will continue through my children," Conyers said.
Michigan law says it's up to the governor to call a special election to fill the seat. Earlier, Conyers' grandnephew, Michigan state Sen. Ian Conyers, told the The New York Times that he planned to run for Conyers' seat. John Conyers spoke from an undisclosed hospital, according to his attorney. He is being treated for stress-related health concerns.
Several women have accused the Michigan Democrat, who is the most senior member of Congress, of verbal abuse, inappropriate touching and groping over decades.
Conyers, 88, has denied the allegations, saying Tuesday that "they are not accurate; they are not true." But amid an inquiry by the House Ethics Committee following revelations of a settlement two years ago for wrongful dismissal of a female employee, Conyers is stepping down. The ethics committee does not investigate former members, so that inquiry would likely come to an end. Last week, a woman who received a $27,000 confidential settlement, Marion Brown, described to NBC's Today her accusations against Conyers. "Violating my body, propositioning me, inviting me to hotels with the guise of discussing business, and then propositioning for sex," Brown said. "He just violated my body. He has touched me in different ways, and it was very uncomfortable and very unprofessional."
Brown said she came forward because she wants "to be a voice" and so that her granddaughter would "not have to endure sexism and gender inequality. I thought it was worth the risk to stand up for all the women in the workforce that are voiceless."
Pelosi, D-Calif., had called for Conyers' resignation after Brown's TV appearance. She had previously defended him, calling him an "icon."
The same day as Pelosi's remarks, Ryan, R-Wis., also said Conyers should resign. Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., one of Pelosi's top deputies in House Democratic leadership and the highest-ranking African-American in Congress, had also told Conyers he should resign, Politico reported.
Conyers stepped down as ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee on Nov. 26. He was the first African-American member of that committee.
Giving up his spot on the committee was a move that a senior Democratic aide said Pelosi helped orchestrate. The minority leader had spent a few days prior to Nov. 26 working with Conyers and other Congressional Black Caucus members on how to "lay groundwork for him to step aside gracefully," the aide told NPR's Scott Detrow.
On Nov. 27, Pelosi said she had spoken to another woman, Melanie Sloan, a founder of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, who had worked for Conyers and also came forward. She told The Washington Post about alleged mistreatment and verbal abuse, though Sloan said she did not believe she was sexually harassed by Conyers.
Conyers' potential resignation was raised in a statement by Congressional Black Caucus Chairman Cedric Richmond. Richmond, D-La., said he had met with Conyers on Nov. 28 and had a "very candid conversation about the seriousness of the allegations against him, which he vehemently denies."
He added that "any decision to resign from office before the ethics investigation is complete is John's decision to make."
Conyers missed two roll call votes in the House on the evening of Nov. 28, and he was photographed that night on a flight from Washington, D.C., back to Detroit.
Conyers was first elected in 1964 and is a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus. He had previously served on the staff of former Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich. Conyers' congressional career, which spanned more than 50 years, included voting for articles of impeachment against President Richard Nixon. He sponsored the bill to declare Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday a national holiday, as well as the Alcohol Warning Label, National Voter Registration and Hate Crime Statistics acts.
He also hired civil rights heroine Rosa Parks to serve on his congressional staff in his Detroit office. Parks worked for Conyers for more than 20 years.
A previous version of this story incorrectly said Rosa Parks worked for John Conyers for more than 30 years. She actually worked for him from 1965 to 1988. | Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | December 2017 | ['(D-Mich.)', '(NPR)'] |
The Bulgarian captain of Portuguese-flagged cargo ship the Tommi Ritscher, who was kidnapped along with seven other sailors by pirates off the coast of Benin last month, is freed. The captain was kidnapped at the port of Cotonou in the Gulf of Guinea on April 19. | SOFIA (Reuters) - The Bulgarian captain of a Portuguese-flagged cargo ship who was kidnapped along with seven other sailors by pirates off the coast of Benin last month, has been freed, Bulgaria’s foreign ministry said on Monday.
The captain of the container ship Tommi Ritscher, which was attacked at the port of Cotonou in the Gulf of Guinea on April 19, was already in an European country and would soon return to Bulgaria, the ministry said in a statement.
The ministry said it has been in close coordination with the ship’s owners but did not give other details. It’s unclear what whether the other seven sailors have been released.
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Release | May 2020 | ['(Reuters)'] |
Acting United States Secretary of Defense Patrick M. Shanahan authorizes the deployment of approximately 1,000 additional U.S. troops to the Middle East region "for defensive purposes to address air, naval and ground-based threats" amid increased tensions with Iran. The move comes four days after two oil tankers were attacked in the Gulf of Oman incident. | Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan announced Monday that President Donald Trump's administration will send a thousand troops to the Middle East amid increased tensions with Iran.
Shanahan said that the increased forces were in response to a request from U.S. Central Command for defensive purposes to address air, naval and ground-based threats in the Middle East. U.S authorities accused Iran of attacks on two tankers last week, though the country's foreign minister has denied the accusations.
"The recent Iranian attacks validate the reliable, credible intelligence we have received on hostile behavior by Iranian forces and their proxy groups that threaten United States personnel and interests across the region," Shanahan said. "The U.S. does not seek conflict with Iran."
The decision comes hours after the State Department said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo planned to meet with U.S. military commanders overseeing American forces to provide more proof that Iran was behind the tanker attacks.
U.S. Central Command said the two vessels were hit Thursday by a limpet mine, which is attached to boats below the waterline using magnets.
Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif angrily dismissed the claims and said they were without "a shred of factual or circumstantial evidence."
Iran's president, Hassan Rouhani, said on Tuesday that Iran wouldn't "wage war" against any nation.
The Japanese owner of one of the tankers attacked in the Gulf of Oman contradicted reports by U.S. officials and the military on the source of the blast, claiming it was struck by a flying projectile.
Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said in an interview with pan-Arabic newspaper Asharq al-Awsat last week that he would not hesitate to confront regional threats.
"The kingdom does not want war in the region, but we will not hesitate to deal with any threat to our people, our sovereignty and our vital interests," Salman said. | Armed Conflict | June 2019 | ['(NBC News)', '(CBS News)'] |
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