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The Russian Defence Ministry says six Russian bombers hit ISIL positions in Syria's Deir ez-Zor Governorate. | Six long-range Russian bombers launched an air strike against Islamic State positions in Syria’s Deir al-Zor province on Monday, , the Interfax news agency reported, citing Russia’s Defence Ministry.
Reporting by Peter Hobson; Editing by Alexander Winning
| Armed Conflict | January 2017 | ['(Reuters)'] |
India and Russia sign a range of treaties including on development of a fifth–generation stealth fighter and provision of nuclear reactors from Russia to India. | Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has signed nuclear and defence agreements worth billions of dollars during a two-day visit to India. He has met Indian PM Manmohan Singh in Delhi on a trip that saw handshakes on the joint development of a so-called fifth generation stealth fighter jet.
There was also an agreement to supply more Russian nuclear power reactors.
All five permanent UN Security Council members have now made trade-focused visits to India in recent months.
The BBC's Mark Dummett in Delhi says the visits are a sign of India's growing clout on the world stage. As recession bites elsewhere, India is booming, he points out.
A Cold War ally and for many years the default weapons supplier to India, Russia has faced tough competition from Europe and the US for a slice of Delhi's booming defence market.
Wary of its rising regional rival, China, India is now one of the world's largest buyers of fighter jets, tanks, submarines and other defence equipment. As Mr Medvedev and Mr Singh met on Tuesday, nearly a dozen agreements were signed in such areas as energy, technology and chemicals.
The setpiece was a long-awaited deal for the joint production of a fifth-generation fighter. India reportedly plans to take as many as 300 of the aircraft.
On the nuclear front, Mr Medvedev agreed to provide another two civilian nuclear energy reactors in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, where Russia is already setting up two reactors.
Energy-hungry India is one of the world's biggest nuclear power markets, with plans to expand its capacity nearly 15-fold to 63,000 megawatts by 2032.
The Russian president, who was joined by about 100 business leaders, is also meeting ruling Congress party president Sonia Gandhi in Delhi.
On Wednesday, he will tour the Taj Mahal in Agra and India's financial capital, Mumbai (Bombay). In a joint statement, Russia voiced its support for India "as a deserving and strong candidate" for a permanent seat in an expanded UN Security Council.
US President Barack Obama voiced similar backing for India's hopes of a place at the UN's top table during his visit in November.
Hailing what he described as a "special and privileged" strategic partnership, Mr Singh said Russia was a "time-tested friend... that has stood by us in our times of need in the past".
"It is a partnership that has, and will continue, to develop independently of our relations with other countries."
On Monday, Delhi and Moscow agreed to double bilateral trade from the current $10bn over the next five years.
British Prime Minister David Cameron visited India in July, and President Obama, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao have passed through over the past six weeks.
Each was also accompanied by a large business delegation, and each has gone home boasting of billions of dollars of extra trade with one of the world's fastest growing economies. | Sign Agreement | December 2010 | ['(The Hindu)', '(BBC)', '(RIA Novosti)'] |
Ali Haider Gillani, the son of former Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani, is abducted by unidentified gunmen at an election rally in the city of Multan two days before the May 11 general election. | The son of former Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has been kidnapped by unidentified gunmen during an election rally.
Mr Gilani told the BBC his son Ali Haider - a candidate for the Pakistan Peoples' Party (PPP) - was seized in the central city of Multan.
He accused his political opponents of being behind the attack, which came ahead of Saturday's elections.
One person was reportedly killed when the attackers opened fire at the rally.
No group has so far claimed responsibility for Thursday's attack.
Eyewitnesses say the gunmen arrived at the gathering in a black Honda car and on a motorbike.
"A couple of them started shooting," a teenager at the rally told Pakistan's Geo TV.
"A man standing in front of Gilani was hit and fell down. Then they grabbed Gilani, put him in the car and sped away."
Reports say the person who died in the shooting was one of Ali Haider Gilani's aides. Another five people were injured.
Some of those who saw the attack say there was also blood on Ali Haider. Pakistan's Express Tribune newspaper quotes eyewitnesses saying he was hit by a bullet, but this is not confirmed. Ali Haider - the youngest son of the ex-prime minister - is contesting a seat in the Punjab provincial assembly.
"We want our brother back tonight. If we don't get him, we will not allow elections to be held in our area," his elder brother Ali Musa - who was in tears - later told reporters.
Police have now sealed off all entry and exit points in Multan, and a massive search operation is under way, local media report. Yousuf Raza Gilani served as prime minister until June 2012, when he was forced out of office by the Supreme Court over his refusal to pursue a corruption case against President Asif Ali Zardari. But the Gilanis are still a powerful political family, with the two sons standing in elections to the provincial and national assemblies, the BBC's Mike Wooldridge in Islamabad reports. Who was behind Thursday's attack, and their motive, remains unclear. Kidnapping is a tactic frequently used by militants and criminal groups across Pakistan. Ransom is an important revenue stream for the Pakistani Taliban and hostages can be used as bargaining chips in negotiations with the authorities, the BBC's M Ilyas Khan in Islamabad says. Among the most prominent Taliban hostages is Shahbaz Taseer, the son of assassinated Punjab governor Salman Taseer, who was snatched in Lahore in 2011 and remains in captivity. The run-up to the 11 May elections has been marred by a series of attacks across the country in which more than 100 people have been killed.
The Pakistani Taliban have attacked the PPP, the Awami National Party (ANP) and the MQM party for being secular, preventing them from campaigning normally. The militant group has also pledged to carry out suicide attacks on polling day. To counter the threat, the military has pledged to deploy tens of thousands of troops to polling stations.
On Wednesday, Nawaz Sharif - the man tipped to be Pakistan's next prime minister - promised to end the country's involvement in the US-led war against militants if elected. Mr Sharif - who leads the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) - told the BBC the move was necessary for there to be peace in Pakistan and elsewhere in the world.
Pakistan has been part of the US-led fight against Islamist militancy in the region since the 11 September attacks in the US in 2001. Mr Sharif's remarks may cause concern among Western leaders, the BBC's Orla Guerin reports from Islamabad. However, Mr Sharif - who served as prime minister twice in the 1990s - declined to say whether he would stop military operations against the Taliban and al-Qaeda.
Meanwhile, Imran Khan - another politician tipped to do well - is continuing to recover in hospital after falling off a makeshift lift at an election rally earlier this week. Doctors say that the former cricketer - who leads the Tehreek-e-Insaf (Movement for Justice) party - received stitches in the head and treatment for injuries to his spine.
| Armed Conflict | May 2013 | ['(BBC)'] |
In cricket, Australia defeats West Indies in the final of the 2013 Women's Cricket World Cup. |
Australia registered their sixth championship victory after beating West Indies by 114 runs in the final match of the 2013 ICC Women’s World Cup in Mumbai on Sunday.
Needing 260 to win, West Indies began slowly scoring only 32 runs in their first 10 overs. They soon struggled against the pace bowling of Ellyse Perry who struck thrice in her first three overs.
The West Indians also found it tough to score runs off all-rounder Lisa Sthalekar off-spin as she gave away just 20 runs off her 10 overs picking up two crucial wickets.
West Indies, the surprise finalists of the tournament, defeated Australia in their previous encounter in the Super Six stage to qualify for the final. However, they were undone against the quality performance of the tournament favourites.
None of the West Indian players could put up a fight with the bat against some discpline bowling of the Australians. Skipper Merissa Aguilleira was the top-scorer for West Indies scoring 23 runs.
Earlier, Rachel Haynes (52) and Jessica Cameron (75) scored half-centuries up the order, before the West Indies triggered a middle-order collapse. But captain Jodie Fields (36 not out) and Ellyse Perry (25 not out) came to the rescue lower down the order and put on 50 runs in the last six overs to give their bowlers a defendable total. For the West Indies, leggie Shaquana Quintyne (three for 27) was the pick of the bowlers. Brief Scores: Australia 259 for 7 in 50 overs (Jessica Cameron 75, Rachel Haynes 52; Shaquana Quintyne 3 for 27) beat West Indies 145 all-out in 43.1 overs (Merissa Aguilleira 23; Ellyse Perry 3 for 19, Lisa Sthalekar 2 for 20) by 114 runs.
Full Scorecard
India vs New Zealand - Final
18 Jun, 2021
15:00 IST
The Rose Bowl, Southampton
West Indies vs South Africa - 2nd Test
RSA 71/3 OVERS: 28.1 England vs Sri Lanka - 1st T20I
23 Jun, 2021
23:00 IST | 17:30 GMT
Sophia Gardens, Cardiff
England vs Sri Lanka - 2nd T20I
24 Jun, 2021
23:00 IST | 17:30 GMT
Sophia Gardens, Cardiff
England vs Sri Lanka - 3rd T20I
26 Jun, 2021
19:00 IST | 13:30 GMT
The Rose Bowl, Southampton
West Indies vs South Africa - 1st T20I
26 Jun, 2021
23:30 IST | 18:00 GMT
National Cricket Stadium, St George's, Grenada
West Indies vs South Africa - 2nd T20I
27 Jun, 2021
23:30 IST | 18:00 GMT
National Cricket Stadium, St George's, Grenada
England vs New Zealand - 2nd Test
New Zealand beat England by 8 wickets
West Indies vs South Africa - 1st Test
South Africa beat West Indies by an innings and 63 runs
England vs New Zealand - 1st Test
England drew with New Zealand
Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka - 3rd ODI
Sri Lanka beat Bangladesh by 97 runs
Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka - 2nd ODI
Bangladesh beat Sri Lanka by 103 runs (D/L method)
Virat Kohli as Aquaman And Ben Stokes as Batman: ICC Releases Cricket Version of Snyder Cut
ICC Awards 2020: Kohli And Perry Claim Top Honours, Dhoni Wins 'Spirit of Cricket' Award | Full List
On This Day in Cricket History: Virender Sehwag Smashed 293 Against Sri Lanka in Mumbai, Nearly Became First Man to Score 3 Test Triple Centuries
International Cricket Council Board Meet: India To Host 2021 World T20, Women’s World Cup Postponed To 2022
'Khush Toh Bohot Hoge' | Vijay Becomes Butt of All Jokes After Perry Announces Divorce | POSTS | Sports Competition | February 2013 | ['(BBC Sport)', '(Cricket Country)'] |
South Korea's Constitutional Court upholds the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye, removing her from office. Hwang Kyo-ahn assumes powers as Acting President. | SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea’s Constitutional Court removed President Park Geun-hye from office on Friday over a graft scandal involving the country’s conglomerates at a time of rising tensions with North Korea and China.
South Korea rocked by demonstrations after impeachment
01:24
The ruling sparked protests from hundreds of Park’s supporters, two of whom were killed in clashes with police outside the court, and a festive rally by those who had demanded her ouster who celebrated justice being served.
“We did it. We the citizens, the sovereign of this country, opened a new chapter in history,” Lee Tae-ho, the leader of a movement to oust Park that has held mostly peaceful rallies in downtown involving millions, told a large gathering in Seoul.
Park becomes South Korea’s first democratically elected leader to be forced from office, capping months of paralysis and turmoil over the corruption scandal that also landed the head of the Samsung conglomerate in detention and on trial.
A snap presidential election will be held within 60 days.
Park did not appear in court, and a spokesman said she would not be making any comment. She also would not leave the presidential Blue House residence on Friday.
“Park is not leaving the Blue House today,” Blue House spokesman Kim Dong Jo told Reuters.
Park was stripped of her powers after parliament voted to impeach her but has remained in the president’s official compound.
The court’s acting chief judge, Lee Jung-mi, said Park had violated the constitution and law “throughout her term,” and despite the objections of parliament and the media, she had concealed the truth and cracked down on critics.
Park has steadfastly denied any wrongdoing.
The ruling to uphold parliament’s Dec. 9 vote to impeach her marks a dramatic fall from grace of South Korea’s first woman president and daughter of Cold War military dictator Park Chung-hee. Both her parents were assassinated.
Park, 65, no longer has immunity and could now face criminal charges over bribery, extortion and abuse of power in connection with allegations of conspiring with her friend, Choi Soon-sil.
Graphic: Who's Who in Korea scandal
Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn was appointed acting president and will remain in that post until the election. He called on Park’s supporters and opponents to put their differences aside to prevent deeper division.
“It is time to accept, and close the conflict and confrontation we have suffered,” Hwang said in a televised speech.
A liberal presidential candidate, Moon Jae-in, is leading in opinion polls to succeed Park, with 32 percent support in one poll released on Friday. Hwang, who has not said whether he will seek the presidency, leads among conservatives, none of whom has more than single-digit poll ratings.
“Given Park’s spectacular demise and disarray among conservatives, the presidential contest in May is the liberals’ to lose,” said Yonsei University professor John Delury.
Relations with China and the United States could dominate the coming presidential campaign, after the U.S. military this month started deploying the U.S. THAAD missile defense system in South Korea in response to North Korea’s stepped-up missile and nuclear tests.
Beijing has vigorously protested against the deployment, which was agreed last year between Washington and Seoul, fearing its radar could see into its missile deployments. China has curbed travel to South Korea and targeted Korean companies operating in the mainland, prompting retaliatory measures from Seoul.
The U.S. military said on Friday it would keep delivering THAAD components, separating the issue from South Korea’s internal political crisis. The new U.S. administration has been keen to install the system as quickly as possible due to concerns that a new government in Seoul could block the deployment.
“We have a strong relationship and will continue to work with South Korea,” White House spokesman Sean Spicer said. “It’s a domestic issue in which the United States takes no position in the outcome of that election.”
The Seoul market's benchmark KOSPI index .KS11 and the won currency KRW= rose after the ruling. The prospect of a new president in the first half of this year instead of prolonged uncertainty would buoy domestic demand as well as the markets, said Trinh Nguyen, senior economist at Natixis in Hong Kong.
“The hope is that this will allow the country to have a new leader that can address long-standing challenges such as labor market reforms and escalated geopolitical tensions,” he said.
Park was accused of colluding with her friend Choi and a former presidential aide, both of whom have been on trial, to pressure big businesses to donate to two foundations set up to back her policy initiatives.
The court said Park had “completely hidden the fact of (Choi’s) interference with state affairs.”
Park was also accused of soliciting bribes from the head of the Samsung Group for government favors, including backing a merger of two Samsung affiliates in 2015 that was seen as supporting family succession and control over the country’s largest “chaebol,” or conglomerate.
Samsung Group leader Jay Y. Lee has been accused of bribery and embezzlement in connection with the scandal and is in detention. His trial began on Thursday.
He and Samsung have denied wrongdoing.
Graphic: South Korea's impeachment -
‘COMMON CRIMINAL’
The scandal and verdict have exposed fault lines in a country long divided by Cold War politics.
While Park’s conservative supporters clashed with police outside the court, elsewhere most people welcomed her ouster. A recent poll showed more than 70 percent supported her impeachment.
Hundreds of thousands of people have for months been gathering at peaceful rallies in Seoul every weekend to call for Park to step down.
On Friday, hundreds of Park’s supporters, many of them elderly, tried to break through police barricades at the courthouse. Police said one 72-year-old man was taken to hospital with a head injury and died. The circumstances of the second death were being investigated.
Six people were injured, protest organizers said.
Police blocked the main thoroughfare running through downtown Seoul in anticipation of bigger protests.
Park will be making a tragic and untimely departure from the Blue House for the second time in her life.
In 1979, having served as acting first lady after her mother was killed by a bullet meant for her father, she and her two siblings left the presidential compound after their father was killed.
This time, she could end up in jail.
Prosecutors have named Park as an accomplice in two court cases linked to the scandal, suggesting she is likely to be investigated.
North Korean state media wasted little time labeling Park a criminal.
“She had one more year left as ‘president’ but, now she’s been ousted, she will be investigated as a common criminal,” the North’s state KCNA news agency said shortly after the court decision.
Graphic: Falls from grace around the world | Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | March 2017 | ['(Reuters)'] |
The death toll from the eruptions of Mount Merapi in Indonesia reaches 292. | (CNN) -- The death toll from recent eruptions of Indonesia's Mount Merapi volcano climbed to 304 Sunday after searchers found bodies buried in the ashes on its slopes, the country's disaster coordination board said.
A report on the board's website Sunday said 467 people were injured and still admitted to hospitals, while 203,449 had been displaced.
Activity of the volcano, which started its recent eruptions on October 26, has decreased, the report said. But the government's volcano alert remains at its highest level.
The toll keeps rising as rescuers search for victims of the volcano.
Merapi, which looms on the horizon north of the major city of Yogyakarta, is on the island of Java. The volcano has a summit elevation of almost 3,000 meters (10,000 feet). It is one of Indonesia's most active volcanoes and lies in one of the world's most densely populated areas. Many people raise crops and livestock in its shadow.
Many of those who live on its slopes risked their lives by staying or returning to feed their cows during lulls in the volcanic activity. About 1,300 people died when the volcano erupted in 1930. | Volcano Eruption | November 2010 | ['(CNN)'] |
NASA launches its Kepler spacecraft from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. | (CNN) -- Calling it a mission that may fundamentally change humanity's view of itself, NASA on Friday launched a telescope that will search our corner of the Milky Way galaxy for Earth-like planets.
This image shows part of the Milky Way region of the sky where the Kepler spacecraft will be pointing.
The Kepler spacecraft blasted into space on top of a Delta II rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. "This is a historical mission. It's not just a science mission," NASA Associate Administrator Ed Weiler said during a prelaunch news conference.
"It really attacks some very basic human questions that have been part of our genetic code since that first man or woman looked up in the sky and asked the question: Are we alone?" Watch iReport video of launch
Kepler contains a special telescope that will stare at 100,000 stars in the Cygnus-Lyra region of the Milky Way for more than three years as it trails Earth's orbit around the Sun. The spacecraft will look for tiny dips in a star's brightness, which can mean an orbiting planet is passing in front of it -- an event called a transit. Watch how astronomers will try to find 'Earths' »
The instrument is so precise that it can register changes in brightness of 20 parts per million in stars that are thousands of light years away. "Being able to make that kind of a sensitive measurement over a very large number of stars was extremely challenging," Kepler project manager James Fanson said.
"So we're very proud of the vehicle we have built. This is a crowning achievement for NASA and a monumental step in our search for other worlds around other stars." See what the telescope looks like and which part of the galaxy it will monitor »
Are we alone?
The $600 million mission is named after Johannes Kepler, a 17th-century German astronomer who was the first to correctly explain planetary motion. His discoveries combined with modern technology may soon help to answer whether we are alone in the universe or whether Earth-like worlds inhabited by some type of life are common.
"We won't find E.T., but we might find E.T.'s home," said William Borucki, science principal investigator for the Kepler mission.
About 330 "exoplanets" -- those circling sun-like stars outside the solar system -- have been discovered since the first was confirmed in 1995.
Most are gas giants like Jupiter, but some have been classified as "super earths," or worlds several times the mass of our planet, said Alan Boss, an astronomer with the Carnegie Institution who serves on the Kepler Science Council. They are too hot to support life, he added, calling them "steam worlds."
Europe's COROT space telescope caused a stir last month when it spotted the smallest terrestrial exoplanet ever found. With a diameter less than twice that of Earth, the planet orbits very close to its star and has temperatures up to 1,500° Celsius (more than 2,700° Fahrenheit), according to the European Space Agency. It may be rocky and covered in lava.
Scientists have marveled how strange some of the alien worlds are.
"The density of these planets has been astounding," Borucki said. "We're finding planets that float like a piece of foam on water, [with] very, very low densities. We're finding some planets where the densities are heavier than that of lead."
The Kepler telescope, however, is seeking something much more familiar: Earth-like planets with rocky surfaces, orbiting in their stars' habitable, or "Goldilocks," zones -- not too hot or too cold, but just right for liquid water to exist. Watch a NASA scientist explain where life could exist »
Quest for a 'pale blue dot'
Once Kepler spots a planet, scientists will be able to calculate its size, mass, orbital period, distance from star and surface temperature, Boss said. He called the mission a "step one" that will tell astronomers how hard it is to find nearby habitable worlds.
"Once we know how many there really are ... then NASA will be able to build space telescopes that can actually go out and take a picture of that nearby 'Earth' and measure the elements and compounds in its atmosphere of the planet and give us some hint as to whether or not it's got life," Boss said.
Boss believes that there may be 100 billion Earth-like planets in the Milky Way, or one for every sun-type star in the galaxy. He said scientists should know by 2013 -- the end of Kepler's mission -- whether life in the universe could be widespread.
The 20-year goal is to someday take a picture of a pale blue dot orbiting a nearby star, said Debra Fischer, an astronomy professor at San Francisco State University, during a NASA news conference.
Boss called it a potentially unprecedented time of discovery for scientists.
"Sometimes, people call this the golden age of astronomy. I think it's more like the platinum age of astronomy. It's beyond gold," Boss said. | New achievements in aerospace | March 2009 | ['(CNN)'] |
Australia wins the Derby Stakes. Trainer Aidan O'Brien becomes the first trainer to win the Derby for three successive years. | Last updated on 7 June 20147 June 2014.From the section Horse Racing
Australia won the 235th running of the Derby at Epsom as jockey Joseph O'Brien helped his Irish trainer father Aidan create racing history.
The 11-8 favourite travelled beautifully and triumphed from runner-up Kingston Hill as O'Brien senior became the first trainer to saddle the winner three years running.
Scoring by a length and a quarter, Australia was roared home by a crowd of more than 100,000 with Romsdal back in third.
After the victory O'Brien senior said: "It's special to train three successive Derby winners, but we are very lucky to have such well bred horses to handle - that's the reality of it.
"A long time ago we thought he was very special - we wanted to be here with him, but you can never be sure because there are so many variables. Things can go wrong so big credit to everyone at home."
2001: Galileo 2002: High Chaparral
2012: Camelot
2013: Ruler Of The World
2014: Australia
Australia justified his high-class breeding as a son of 2001 Derby winner Galileo and 2004 Epsom Oaks victor Ouija Board.
His trainer had previously won the race four times, triumphing also with High Chaparral (2002), Camelot (2012) and last year's winner Ruler Of The World.
But O'Brien had indicated before the race that he considered the colt to be the best he has ever trained.
O'Brien's 21-year-old son, winning his second Derby after Camelot's victory in the famous Classic, had his mount positioned perfectly throughout.
He swept to the lead coming down the hill and accelerated in fine style to land another victory for the Coolmore owners of Sue Magnier, Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith. The fourth and final owner of Australia is Teo Ah King, the first time a Malaysian has held a share in the Derby winner.
The winning jockey said on Channel 4: "Horses don't come any easier to ride than this one. He's the best."
The 2014 winner has a link to the 12th Earl of Derby, whose name was given to the Classic in 1780. His descendant, the 19th Lord Derby, bred Australia.
Earlier, Cirrus Des Aigles - ridden by Christophe Soumillon for French trainer Corine Barande Barbe - secured a stirring success in the Group One Coronation Cup.
The eight-year-old gelding won by two lengths from Flintshire in the race run in commemoration of St Nicholas Abbey, the triple winner who died in January.
There was a poignant victory in the opening race on Derby Day for jockey Jimmy Fortune, whose wife Jan died aged three weeks ago aged 53 from a brain aneurysm, leaving behind her husband and two sons.
After winning on 9-1 chance What About Carlo, trained by Eve Johnson-Houghton, Fortune said: "It's been a tough couple of weeks but life goes on and Jan would understand."
Frankie Dettori - without a ride in the Derby for the third year running - enjoyed his first win at the Epsom meeting since returning from a six-month drugs ban a year ago when scoring with 15-8 favourite Baith Alga for trainer Richard Hannon in the Woodcote Stakes. | Sports Competition | June 2014 | ['(BBC)'] |
Mayon Volcano erupts in the Philippines killing four mountain climbers and requiring four other climbers trapped near the summit to be rescued. | One of the Philippines' most active volcanoes rumbled to life yesterday, spewing room-sized rocks toward nearly 30 surprised climbers, killing five and injuring others that had to be fetched with rescue helicopters and rope.The climbers and their Filipino guides had spent the night camping in two groups before setting out at daybreak for the crater of Mayon volcano when the sudden explosion of rocks, ash and plumes of smokes jolted the picturesque mountain, guide Kenneth Jesalva told ABS-CBN TV network by cellphone.He said rocks "as big as a living room" came raining down, killing and injuring members of his group, some of whom were in critical condition. Jesalva said he rushed back to the base camp at 914 metres (3000 feet) to call for help.Among the dead were three Germans and their Filipino guide, said Albay provincial Gov. Joey Salceda. He said everyone on the mountain had been accounted for at midday, except for a foreigner who was presumed dead.Eight people were injured, and Salceda said the others were in the process of being brought down the mountain. Ash clouds have cleared over the volcano, which was quiet later in the morning."The injured are all foreigners ... they cannot walk. If you can imagine, the boulders there are as big as cars. Some of them slid and rolled down. We will rappel the rescue team, and we will rappel them up again," he said from Legazpi, the provincial capital at the foothill of the mountain.An Austrian mountaineer and two Spaniards were rescued with small bruises, he said.Tuesday's eruption was normal for the restive Mayon, said Renato Solidum, the head of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.The 2460-metre (8070-foot) mountain about 340 kilometres (212 miles) southeast of Manila has erupted about 40 times during the last 400 years.In 2010, thousands of residents moved to temporary shelters when the volcano ejected ash up to 8 kilometres (5 miles) from the crater.Solidum said no alert was raised after the latest eruption and no evacuation was being planned.Climbers are not allowed when an alert is up, and the recent calm may have encouraged this week's trek. However, Solidum said that even with no alert raised, the immediate zone around the volcano is supposed to be a no-go area because of the risk of a sudden eruption.Salceda said he would enforce a ban on climbers.Despite the risks, Mayon and its near-perfect cone is a favorite spot for volcano watchers. Most enjoy the occasional nighttime spectacle of the rim lit by flowing lava, viewing from the safety of hotels in Legazpi.The volcano has a trail to the crater that is walkable though it's steep and strewn with rocks and debris from past eruptions. | Volcano Eruption | May 2013 | ['(AP via New Zealand Stuff)'] |
The President of Malawi Joyce Banda annuls the general elections in which she was a candidate because of claimed electoral irregularities. | Malawi's High Court has rejected a decision by President Joyce Banda to annul this week's general election - in which she was a candidate.
Ms Banda had earlier said Tuesday's vote had been marred by rigging, multiple voting and computer-hacking. She said a new vote should be held within 90 days but she would not stand again in any new poll.
However, the head of the electoral commission said the president did not have the power to annul the vote.
The High Court made its ruling after the commission said that despite problems involving the electronic transmission system, the poll remained valid and vote-counting would go on.
Malawi's election was chaotic, with one BBC correspondent reporting people voting two days on from election day because of delays in distributing polling material.
Frustrated voters set one polling station alight and smashed election material at another.
In some places, voting boxes or lids did not arrive so officials used buckets and plastic wrap.
Late on Friday, the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) said Joyce Banda's rival candidate Peter Mutharika had taken a lead of 42%, with 30% of votes counted. Ms Banda was in second place with 23%, the commission said.
"I am nullifying the elections, using the powers invested in me by the Malawi constitution," Ms Banda told a news conference.
"I want to give Malawians an opportunity to choose a candidate of their choice in a free and fair manner. When elections are to be held again, I will be stepping aside," she added.
Mrs Banda had previously accused a party, which she did not name, of infiltrating and hacking the electronic system, which transmits the results to the electoral commission's headquarters.
The MEC's chairman denied that its system had been hacked.
In a previous statement about the elections, Mrs Banda had said that irregularities included
Around 7.5 million people were eligible to vote in the fifth elections since the end of one-party rule 20 years ago.
This was the first time that Malawi held presidential, parliamentary and local elections on the same day.
Malawi's competitive elections
| Government Job change - Election | May 2014 | ['(BBC)'] |
A pregnant Australian woman in the state of Queensland tests positive for the Zika virus. | A pregnant Queensland woman has tested positive to Zika virus after returning from overseas, Queensland Health has confirmed.
The woman was diagnosed yesterday and authorities said the illness was not acquired locally. It is the third case of Zika virus to be identified in Queensland this year.
In the latest incident, a woman was diagnosed with the disease in south-east Queensland yesterday after recently returning from overseas.
No further information will be released on the latest woman to test positive.
However, Queensland Health said it was a separate case from that of a woman who returned to the Gold Coast from El Salvador in December, who had also tested positive to Zika last week.
Zika is a mosquito-borne illness that has surged through Latin America and has been linked to birth defects in children in the region.
However, a four-year survey in Brazil suggested Zika may not be the cause of microcephaly, which results in babies being born with abnormally small heads.
A statement from Queensland Health said the Federal Government recommended that until more was known about Zika virus, women who are pregnant or those actively seeking to get pregnant should consider postponing travel to any area where Zika virus transmission is present.
Pregnant women who have recently travelled to areas affected and suffered an illness they suspect to be Zika are advised to see a doctor. | Disease Outbreaks | February 2016 | ['(ABC News Australia via MSN)'] |
In athletics, Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya wins the men's race in the Berlin Marathon while his compatriot Gladys Cherono wins the women's race. , | BERLIN (Reuters) - Kenyan favourite Eliud Kipchoge shrugged off mid-race footwear problems to win the Berlin marathon on Sunday with a personal best time of two hours, four minutes and one second but missed out on a world record by more than a minute.
The in-form 30-year-old, a winner in London in April, proved a master of the flat, inner-city course, regarded as the fastest in the world, even as his insoles slipped out of his shoes early in the race, winning ahead of fellow Kenyan Eliud Kiptanui and Ethiopia's Feyisa Lilesa.
"At some point they started coming out but I had no time to remove them," Kipchoge told reporters. "But when you run without soles there is a lot of impact. There was a lot of pain with every step."
"The world record was really my aim but it was not my day for it," he said. "But I ran a personal best and I am happy and I will come back next year for it."
Fellow Kenyan Gladys Cherono clocked 2:19:25, | Sports Competition | September 2015 | ['(Reuters via Yahoo! Australia)', '(Reuters via Daily Mail)'] |
A court in Lismore, Australia, convicts the former National Rugby League player Craig Field of the manslaughter of Kelvin Kane outside the Kingscliff Hotel in 2012. | Former rugby league star Craig Field has been found not guilty of murder but guilty of the manslaughter of a man outside a hotel in northern New South Wales in 2012.
Field, 41, admitted to punching 50-year-old Kelvin Kane outside the Kingscliff Hotel but his defence team argued he did not deliver the blow that caused a fatal brain haemorrhage. The former Rabbitohs, Manly and West Tigers half-back pleaded not guilty to murdering Mr Kane.
There was a gasp from the public gallery and member's of Field's family began weeping as the verdict was handed down.
Field bowed his head as he was found guilty of manslaughter.
Judge Elizabeth Fullerton said the defendant can expect a jail sentence.
"A period of full-time jail is an inevitable outcome of these proceedings," she said.
The judge hopes to complete a sentencing hearing next week.
During the trial Field told the court that he threw the punch because he feared he was about to be hit. The defence and prosecution agreed the fatal blow connected with the left side of Mr Kane's jaw, but there had been conflicting evidence about where the punch thrown by Field landed.
Field told the court his punch grazed Mr Kane's right temple. The court also heard another man, Shaun Fathers, could have thrown up to six blows towards the deceased.
But Mr Fathers told police during the investigation that none of his punches connected with Mr Kane's body.
The prosecution told the court medical evidence supported the proposition of a single punch being landed.
Field's legal team argued to have his bail continued but it was refused.
Outside the court, Field's lawyer James Fuggle said his client was weighing up his legal options.
"Mr Field is holding up fairly well," he said.
"We'll be talking to him over the next couple of days in respect of his options with respect to appeals, bail applications, pending appeals.
"But essentially the court has decided that it wants to proceed to sentencing as quickly as it can and we'll be sorting that out on Monday of next week."
We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we live, learn, and work.
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | December 2014 | ['(ABC News Australia)'] |
Voters in Armenia go to the polls for an election, the first since constitutional changes were approved in a referendum in 2015, which changed the country's governance from a semi-presidential system to a parliamentary republic. Opinion polls predict a tight race between the nationalist Republican Party, led by President Serzh Sargsyan, and the centre-right Prosperous Armenia, led by Gagik Tsarukyan. With votes from 64% of the polling stations counted, the Republican Party leads with 49.7% of votes. , | YEREVAN -- Official results indicate that President Serzh Sarkisian's ruling Republican Party of Armenia has won about half the votes cast in parliamentary elections that international observers said were "tainted" by reports of vote-buying and pressure on voters.
The Central Election Commission said on April 3 said that with ballots counted from almost all precincts in the April 2 vote, the Republican Party had won 49.15 percent and the center-right Tsarukian alliance, led by Russia-friendly tycoon Gagik Tsarukian, had 27.37 percent.
Republican Party (HHK) spokesman Eduard Sharmazanov told a news conference that the results meant the party "has every chance of forming the new government" in the South Caucasus state, which is set to shift to a parliamentary system of rule next year.
Monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and other groups said the vote was "tainted by credible information about vote-buying" and pressure on voters, according to a statement posted on the OSCE website.
It said the interference "contributed to an overall lack of public confidence and trust in the elections."
The pro-Western opposition alliance Yelk (Way Out) got 7.78 percent of the vote, enough to secure entry into parliament, the election commission said. It said the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (HHD-Dashnaktsutiun), a nationalist party that is currently in a ruling coalition with the Republicans, was also on track to win seats, with 6.58 percent.
Turnout was 60.86 percent, the election commission said.
The Tsarukian alliance and the HHD are potential coalition partners for Sarkisian's HHK if it does not win enough votes to form a government on its own.
Nine parties and alliances were seeking seats in parliament in a campaign that focused mostly on economic difficulties in the country of 3 million.
Gross domestic product (GDP) growth dropped from 3 percent in 2015 to 0.2 percent last year in the former Soviet republic, whose economy is heavily dependent on Russia.
Under constitutional changes approved in a 2015 referendum, the Armenian prime minister's office will become more powerful while the presidency is to become a largely ceremonial post elected by parliament.
Those changes are due to take place when Sarkisian's second and final term ends in 2018. Critics charge that they were designed to allow him to stay in power beyond the presidency's two-term limit.
Sarkisian denies that. But if the ruling party wins enough votes to control a parliamentary majority, either alone or in a coalition, he could continue to exercise executive power as prime minister.
He also could maintain clout by staying on as leader of his party, or he could exert influence through a handpicked successor.
Coalition Puzzle
It was not clear ahead of the election whether Tsarukian would be willing to form a coalition again with Sarkisian's party if his alliance did not receive enough votes to govern on its own.
"Everything now depends on our people," Tsakurian said after casting his ballot in his native village of Arinj north of Yerevan. "They are the ones who decide," he added.
Before breaking away and branding itself as an opposition force, Tsarukian's bloc had been a coalition partner of the Republican Party.
The Armenian Revolutionary Federation, a smaller party currently in the ruling coalition with the Republicans, could help Sarkisian's party form a majority coalition if Tsarukian is unwilling to do so.
To win parliamentary seats, a party needed at least 5 percent of the vote and alliances needed at least 7 percent.
Days ahead of the vote, the U.S. Embassy in Yerevan issued a joint statement with the European Union, Germany, and the United Kingdom expressing concerns about allegations of irregularities since the campaign formally began on March 5.
The March 29 statement said diplomats were "aware of and concerned by" what it said were allegations of "voter intimidation, attempts to buy votes, and the systemic use of administrative resources to aid certain competing parties."
On election day, a reporter with RFE/RL's Armenian Service was attacked in Yerevan’s Kond neighborhood after investigating allegations of vote-buying at a local campaign office of the ruling HHK.
Another female reporter was also attacked outside the HHK office in Kond when she started filming people visiting it.
The Prosecutor-General's Office said more than 220 criminal allegations of voter fraud were under investigation and that it had reports of significant problems with new voter identity devices that failed to recognize hundreds of voters, including the president.
Political analysts say that’s because public anger over Armenia's economic problems is even stronger now than in 2015, when thousands of demonstrators blocked a central boulevard in Yerevan to protest planned electricity-price hikes.
For many, low wages, high inflation, joblessness, and corruption have eclipsed the question of whether Armenia should remain within the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union or seek closer integration with Europe.
Russian weapons deliveries to Baku had been the topic of heated debate after an escalation of the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh last year.
But in the parliamentary campaign, most political forces steered clear of those issues and the question of whether Armenia is more secure with Russia as its ally.
RFE/RL journalists report the news in 27 languages in 23 countries where a free press is banned by the government or not fully established. | Government Job change - Election | April 2017 | ['(Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)', '(TASS)'] |
At least ten people are killed and 120 injured as a severe storm hits the twin towns of Eagle Pass, Texas, and Piedras Negras, Coahuila, on the U.S.–Mexico border. | On the US side, a tornado tore through a rural community in Texas, killing six people and injuring dozens more. Just across the border, three people died in the city of Piedras Negras, where winds destroyed houses and cars.
Rescue workers and troops were carrying out door-to-door checks in the area, US officials said.
The tornado hit near the town of Eagle Pass, about 145 miles (230km) south-west of San Antonio. Seventy-four people required hospital treatment, Mayor Chad Foster said, and the storm destroyed a primary school, around 20 houses and a local sewage plant. On the Mexican side of the border, at least 40 people were injured and power lines had been toppled, a local official said. | Hurricanes_Tornado_Storm_Blizzard | April 2007 | ['(CNN)', '(BBC)'] |
Belizean Prime Minister Dean Barrow wins a record third term in Wednesday's snap general election in the Central American nation as his United Democratic Party gains a clear majority in parliament. The UDP won 19 constituencies and Francis Fonseca's People's United Party took 10, with two constituencies yet to report. Belize is a parliamentary constitutional monarchy with Queen Elizabeth II, the symbolic head of state. | Belizean Prime Minister Dean Barrow won a record third term in a snap general election in the tiny English-speaking Central American country on Wednesday, after his party gained a clear majority in parliament.
Barrow, a 64-year-old lawyer, called the vote in late September more than a year ahead of schedule amid signs his political opponents were regrouping and fears generous Venezuelan aid crucial to his budget may be at risk.
With official results announced from 29 of the country's 31 constituencies, Barrow's United Democratic Party (UDP) won 19 while the main opposition People's United Party (PUP) had taken 10, election official Jennevieve Gladden said.
"It is a magnificent victory," Barrow said as he addressed party supporters in Belize City, who roared their approval. "The magnitude of this victory still hasn't properly set in."
Many voters in the country of about 350,000 people, which faces a push by neighboring Guatemala to absorb a large area of its territory, voiced apathy, seeing little scope for change whichever of the two main parties wins.
Some hoped the upstart Belize Progressive Party, which also fielded candidates, would win some seats in the national assembly.
"I'm for change. We need better people ... Both of the two major parties are corrupt," said retired teacher Lorraine Gomez, her index finger stained with purple ink after voting.
Belize's $1.6 billion economy is highly dependent on tourism, as well as agricultural exports like sugar and bananas. It also relies heavily on PetroCaribe, a Venezuelan aid program that offers fuel at discounted prices.
Since 2012, Barrow has plowed the best part of 300 million Belize dollars ($151.52 million) in Venezuelan aid into infrastructure projects including 150 new paved roads in Belize City, the country's commercial hub.
Venezuela's economic woes and the prospect of the opposition winning parliamentary elections there in December are stirring concerns that the aid to Belize could end.
"There are looming crises facing the Belizean nation and people. The PetroCaribe monies are drying up, the banking system is in trouble," PUP leader Francis Fonseca, 48, a two-time former cabinet minister and Barrow's main rival for the top job, said before the vote.
A longstanding territorial dispute with neighboring Guatemala that Guatemalan President-elect Jimmy Morales revived during his successful campaign will also face Belize's next government.
Morales, a comedian who swept to power last month as an anti-corruption crusader, pledged to win back portions of Belize that a previous Guatemalan government argued it lawfully inherited from Spain's colonial holdings centuries ago.
"We will not be bullied and Mr. Morales needs to learn that right quick," said Barrow, whose UDP is hoping to add to the 19 seats it holds in the 31-member national assembly.
| Government Job change - Election | November 2015 | ['(UDP)', '(PUP)', '(Reuters)', '(Newsweek)'] |
Sudanese forces arrest about 160 people on the border with Libya who were en-route to enter the neighboring country to operate as "mercenaries". A General for the Rapid Support Forces says that "sending Sudanese to fight in Libya as mercenaries is unacceptable". | Sudanese forces arrested around 160 people on the border with Libya who were en-route to the war-torn neighboring country to work as “mercenaries”, a state-linked paramilitary group said Sunday.
“The joint security forces stationed at the Sudanese-Libyan border arrested 160 people who were going to work as mercenaries to fight in Libya, including two foreigners,” Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) said in a statement.
The RSF is led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, a leading member of Sudan’s transitional ruling council.
For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
“Sending Sudanese to fight in Libya as mercenaries is unacceptable,” said General Jaddo Hamdan, the RSF’s commander in North Darfur state.
“We have been monitoring and securing the border with Libya to combat illegal migration, human trafficking and all cross-border criminal enterprises,” he added.
Read more:
Sudan’s army to take legal action against ‘insulting’ activists, journalists
Over 100 armed cars head towards Libya’s Bani Walid town: Reports
Sudan is currently undergoing a fragile democratic transition after massive protests last year prompted the military to topple long-time autocrat Omar al-Bashir.
In January, a United Nations panel of experts said many Arabs from Sudan’s conflict-wracked region of Darfur and neighboring Chad were fighting as “individual mercenaries” in Libya.
The panel said they belonged to the same tribes that made up a majority of RSF personnel, but said there was no “credible evidence” that the RSF itself had deployed in Libya.
The UN experts’ report also said several Darfuri armed groups operating in Libya “have participated in various clashes and military operations alongside Libyan warring parties.”
Sudan’s Darfur region itself remains scarred by war after a rebellion in the early 2000s against al-Bashir was brutally suppressed.
Libya has turned into a regional proxy-war in recent years, amid chaos following the 2011 uprising that toppled and killed dictator Moamer Gaddafi.
Since 2015, a power struggle has pitted Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) against the Libyan National Army (LNA) headed by General Khalifa Haftar, based in the east of the country.
Last month, Khartoum arrested 122 people including eight children in western Darfur who were allegedly intending to serve as mercenaries in Libya’s civil war.
In an interview with AFP in June, Sudan’s then foreign minister Asma Abdalla denied that Sudanese forces were involved in the conflict in Libya.
Sudanese forces arrested around 160 people on the border with Libya who were en-route to the war-torn neighboring country to work as “mercenaries”, a state-linked paramilitary group said Sunday.
“The joint security forces stationed at the Sudanese-Libyan border arrested 160 people who were going to work as mercenaries to fight in Libya, including two foreigners,” Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) said in a statement.
The RSF is led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, a leading member of Sudan’s transitional ruling council.
For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
“Sending Sudanese to fight in Libya as mercenaries is unacceptable,” said General Jaddo Hamdan, the RSF’s commander in North Darfur state.
“We have been monitoring and securing the border with Libya to combat illegal migration, human trafficking and all cross-border criminal enterprises,” he added.
Read more:
Sudan’s army to take legal action against ‘insulting’ activists, journalists
Over 100 armed cars head towards Libya’s Bani Walid town: Reports
Sudan is currently undergoing a fragile democratic transition after massive protests last year prompted the military to topple long-time autocrat Omar al-Bashir.
In January, a United Nations panel of experts said many Arabs from Sudan’s conflict-wracked region of Darfur and neighboring Chad were fighting as “individual mercenaries” in Libya.
The panel said they belonged to the same tribes that made up a majority of RSF personnel, but said there was no “credible evidence” that the RSF itself had deployed in Libya.
The UN experts’ report also said several Darfuri armed groups operating in Libya “have participated in various clashes and military operations alongside Libyan warring parties.”
Sudan’s Darfur region itself remains scarred by war after a rebellion in the early 2000s against al-Bashir was brutally suppressed.
Libya has turned into a regional proxy-war in recent years, amid chaos following the 2011 uprising that toppled and killed dictator Moamer Gaddafi.
Since 2015, a power struggle has pitted Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) against the Libyan National Army (LNA) headed by General Khalifa Haftar, based in the east of the country.
Last month, Khartoum arrested 122 people including eight children in western Darfur who were allegedly intending to serve as mercenaries in Libya’s civil war.
In an interview with AFP in June, Sudan’s then foreign minister Asma Abdalla denied that Sudanese forces were involved in the conflict in Libya. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Arrest | July 2020 | ['(AFP via Al Arabiya)'] |
Germany charges a former member of the Red Army Faction in connection with the murder of Attorney General Siegfried Buback, who was shot alongside two other men in 1977. | Germany has charged a former member of the radical far-left Red Army Faction (RAF) militant group over the 1977 murder of a federal prosecutor.
Verena Becker, 57, was arrested last August for her suspected role in the ambush of Siegfried Buback. Two men escorting him were also shot dead. Ms Becker is accused of being an accessory to the murder - one of the RAF's most notorious attacks. The RAF, also called the Baader-Meinhof gang, killed more than 30 people. DNA evidence implicating Ms Becker was found on a letter in which her group claimed responsibility, police said. The three victims were shot dead by two people on a motorcycle as their car stopped at traffic lights en route to a Karlsruhe court. Although Ms Becker was arrested the month after the Buback assassination, after a shoot-out with police, there was insufficient evidence at the time to convict her of his murder. She was sentenced to life imprisonment for her involvement in six other murders, but was pardoned by then President Richard von Weizsaecker in 1989 and released. The RAF broke up 10 years ago. It targeted bankers, businessmen, judges and US servicemen. Bodyguards and drivers were also gunned down in the gang's attacks. | Armed Conflict | April 2010 | ['(RAF)', '(Deutsche Welle)', '(BBC)', '(Die Welt)'] |
A military coup is announced in Guinea, hours after the death of President Lansana Conté. | A Guinea army statement has announced the dissolution of the government, after President Lansana Conte's death.
An army officer said on state radio a "consultative council" of civilian and military chiefs would be set up. The EU and African Union condemned the move.
A BBC correspondent in the capital Conakry says tanks have been seen on the streets.
But Guinea Prime Minister Ahmed Tidiane Souare said the government had not been dissolved and "continues to function".
And National Assembly Speaker Aboubacar Sompare, the constitutional successor, told French TV there had been an attempted rebellion but he did not think the entire military was behind it.
'Long illness'
He announced earlier that President Conte, who ruled the West African country with an iron fist for 24 years, had died on Monday night after a "long illness". Forty days of national mourning have been declared.
The cause of his death is unknown, but Mr Conte, 74, was a chain-smoker and diabetic who is also believed to have suffered from leukaemia.
BBC West Africa correspondent Will Ross says it is important to see whether the army is united, as a power struggle could be extremely dangerous given the country's ethnic divisions.
Guinea's neighbours - Liberia, Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast - are enjoying relative stability after years of conflict and there are fears any unrest there could spread and embroil the sub-region in fighting once more.
'Stay at home'
Only hours after the announcement of the president's death, a junior army officer went on state radio to say the army had taken over, and a body called the National Council for Democracy and Development (CNDD) set up.
"As of today, the constitution is suspended as well as political and union activity," said Capt Moussa Dadis Camara. "The government and the institutions of the republic have been dissolved."
Capt Camara, who is head of the army's fuel supplies unit, said an interim council would be set up to root out corruption and organise fair elections.
"Public assemblies are formally forbidden," he said.
Announcers said the officer was speaking on behalf of the entire military, although this has not been independently confirmed.
Ministers were later ordered to present themselves at the Alpha Yaya Diallo military base "to guarantee their security", while civilians were told to stay indoors and refrain from looting.
African Union peace and security commissioner Ramtane Lamamra told the BBC: "This is a blatant violation of the Guinean constitution and a violation of African legality."
Former colonial power France - in its capacity as the current holder of the European Union's rotating six-month presidency - said it would oppose any attempted putsch in Guinea and called for free and transparent elections.
The BBC's Alhassan Sillah in the capital, Conakry, said soldiers have set up check-points along the main roads into the city centre, but so far there have been no reports of them being heavy-handed.
Vehicles are checked briefly and waved through, he says.
Earlier, the leader of the Union for the Progress of Guinea and the secretary of the opposition alliance, Frad, Jean-Marie Dore, called for a peaceful transition of power.
Veteran opposition leader Alpha Konde returned to Guinea on Sunday after 15 months of self-imposed exile in France. He left Guinea after being released from jail.
According to the constitution the National Assembly speaker should be in charge until a presidential election is held within 60 days.
The BBC's Will Ross says many analysts had predicted the army would try to take over following Mr Conte's death because he had been increasingly relying on it to shore up his oppressive rule.
General Conte came to power in 1984 at the head of a military coup to fill the vacuum left by the sudden death of his predecessor, Sekou Toure, who had been president since independence from France in 1958.
He eventually oversaw a return to civilian rule and was elected three times, although critics said the votes were never free or fair.
As his health declined over the last five years, it was often unclear who was in charge and the government barely functioned, our correspondent says.
Although Guinea's mineral wealth makes it potentially one of Africa's richest countries, its population of about 10 million is among the poorest in the region. | Regime Change | December 2008 | ['(BBC)'] |
U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Judge Amy Berman Jackson sentences Roger Stone, long-time adviser and ally to the President of the United States Donald Trump, to 40 months in federal prison for seven charges of obstruction, lying to Congress and witness tampering. | A judge has expressed "disgust" at US President Donald Trump's former adviser Roger Stone, as she sentenced him to 40 months in prison. Stone, 67, was found guilty in November on seven counts of lying to Congress, obstruction and witness tampering.
The judge said Stone threatened her, but Mr Trump said he should be cleared.
He is the sixth Trump aide convicted on charges linked to a justice department inquiry that found Russian attempts to boost Mr Trump's 2016 campaign.
Stone was found guilty of lying to the House Intelligence Committee about his attempts to contact Wikileaks, the website that released damaging emails about Mr Trump's 2016 Democratic election rival Hillary Clinton.
US intelligence officials have concluded the messages were stolen by Russian hackers.
Stone will serve two years' probation after his custodial sentence. He has also been fined $20,000 (£15,500) and must serve 250 hours of community service. He will not have to report to prison until the judge rules on a pending defence appeal. Stone's sentence fell short of an initial seven- to nine-year recommendation from prosecutors. Speaking in her Washington DC court on Thursday, Judge Amy Berman Jackson said Stone had engaged in "threatening and intimidating conduct" towards her.
She said Stone "knew exactly what he was doing" when he posted an image on social media last year of a gun's crosshairs next to her head.
Stone had claimed he thought the crosshairs were a Celtic cross.
"This is intolerable to the rule of justice," she said. "The court cannot just sit idly by and say 'that's just Roger being Roger.'" Judge Jackson also said Stone "was not prosecuted for standing up for the president, he was prosecuted for covering up for the president".
She continued: "The dismay and disgust at the defendant's belligerence should transcend party."
"At his core, Mr Stone is an insecure person who craves and recklessly pursues attention." She said the politics surrounding the case did not inform her ultimate decision. "The truth still exists. The truth still matters," she said. After prosecutors last week recommended a sentence of seven to nine years, Mr Trump tweeted that such a prison term would be "very horrible and unfair".
The Department of Justice then swiftly said it planned to reduce the amount of prison time sought for Stone.
This led all four prosecutors on the case to quit, one leaving the justice department entirely. On Thursday, Judge Jackson called the justice department intervention "unprecedented". The defendant's attorney, Seth Ginsberg, said that despite his client's image as a "dirty trickster", he was a spiritual man, devoted to his family. "Mr Stone is, in fact, not simply that public persona, but a human being," he said.
Mr Ginsberg had argued that Stone should get no prison time.
Stone declined to speak at Thursday's hearing. Wearing sunglasses and a dark fedora, he entered the courthouse flanked by his wife, family and friends.
He walked past several protesters, one of whom shouted "traitor". Speaking in Las Vegas, Nevada, after the sentencing, the Republican president defended Stone. He indicated no immediate plans to pardon Stone, but said "at some point I'm going to make a determination".
Mr Trump said: "I'd love to see Roger exonerated, and I'd love to see it happen because I personally think he was treated very unfairly."
"It is my strong opinion that the forewoman of the jury is totally tainted," Mr Trump also said. "She was an anti-Trump activist." Awaiting Stone's sentencing, Mr Trump sent a tweet that seemed to question his ally's conviction while listing a host of perceived enemies.
“They say Roger Stone lied to Congress.” @CNN OH, I see, but so did Comey (and he also leaked classified information, for which almost everyone, other than Crooked Hillary Clinton, goes to jail for a long time), and so did Andy McCabe, who also lied to the FBI! FAIRNESS?
Mr Trump was apparently referring to Tomeka Hart, a former Democratic congressional candidate originally from Tennessee who has publicly identified herself as a jury forewoman. One of her fellow jurors has denied bias played any part in the guilty verdict for Stone.
Stone plans an appeal on the basis of supposed juror bias.
Stone has worked with Republicans since the 1970s and has a tattoo of Richard Nixon on his back.
In the 1990s, Stone worked as a lobbyist for Mr Trump's casino business, and later helped Mr Trump's unsuccessful White House run in 2000.
According to the Netflix documentary Get Me Roger Stone, the strategist reportedly encouraged Mr Trump to run for the presidency again.
. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | February 2020 | ['(CNN)', '(BBC)'] |
A fire destroys at least 35 houseboats moored along the Tennessee River in Scottsboro, Alabama, United States, killing eight people. | A woman on one of the boats says they woke up hearing "screams and popping noises" and could "see red through the window".
Monday 27 January 2020 17:59, UK
At least eight people have died after a fire spread among houseboats moored along the Tennessee River in Alabama.
Residents leapt into the water as the flames ravaged at least 35 vessels in Scottsboro - some of them suffering from burns.
The blaze began at about midnight in Jackson County Park and tore through a wooden dock and an aluminium roof that covered many of the vessels, blocking escape routes.
Many of those on the boats - including families - lived there permanently.
A woman who was on her boyfriend's boat said they woke up hearing "screams and popping noises" and could "see red through the window".
"Within 15 to 20 minutes, the whole dock was in flames," Mandy Durham said.
The fire destroyed the B dock - about 45m (150ft) from the A dock, where Ms Durham's boyfriend's boat was moored.
"All these boats have propane tanks and gas tanks, and that's a lot of fire," Ms Durham continued, adding that "water was the only place they had to go".
Seven people were taken to hospital, Scottsboro Fire Chief Gene Necklaus said.
"There were numerous people rescued from the water who had escaped by going into the water," Jackson County Chief Sheriff's Deputy Rocky Harnen said.
"We're trying to get divers down here to search for possible victims."
Mr Harnen added: "We have some confirmed fatalities, but we don't have an exact number yet.
"We have several people who were taken to the hospital from being in the water, and some had minor burns.
"The damage from the dock has fallen on top of the boats, and some of the boats have drifted off." | Fire | January 2020 | ['(Sky News)'] |
Nine top officials are jailed for their role in the near–bankruptcy of one of Vietnam's largest state–owned companies. | Nine top officials have been given tough jail sentences for their role in the near-bankruptcy of one of Vietnam's largest state-owned companies.
Ex-chairman Pham Thanh Binh was given the maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for violating state rules.
The Vietnam Shipbuilding Industry Group (Vinashin) ran up debts of up to $4.5bn (£2.9bn) after rapid expansion.
The defendants were convicted of being directly responsible for a loss of $43m.
The court, in the northern port city of Hai Phong, sentenced the remaining eight defendants to between three and 19 years in prison.
Vinashin was established in 1996 with the goal of becoming one of the world's top shipbuilders. At the heart of the case was the loss of $43m incurred through the purchase of ships without government approval and two failed power plant projects.
In his ruling, the presiding judge, Tran Van Nghiem, said the actions of the executives had led to serious economic consequences and damaged the country's prestige in the eyes of foreign investors. After the scandal, agencies downgraded Vietnam's credit rating and cited Vinashin as one of the reasons. In 2010, Vinashin defaulted on its first payment on a $600m loan to creditors.
Binh is considered to be close to Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, who appointed him to office. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | March 2012 | ['(BBC)'] |
Yemeni army reports that seventeen militants and at least two government soldiers have died in clashes in south Yemen. | Seventeen militants and at least two government soldiers have died in clashes in south Yemen, the army says.
The clashes began on Tuesday night when the army retaliated for an al-Qaeda attack near Zinjibar, and carried on into Wednesday morning.
The army has been taking part in a new offensive to regain territory in the area lost last year.
Earlier, in the capital, Sanaa, thousands took to the streets to demand the speeding up of democratic reforms.
Demonstrators in Sanaa's Change Square called for the prosecution of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who relinquished power after mass rallies against his rule.
The authorities have now begun to dismantle the main protest camp in the square, correspondents say.
The clearing of the camp from the square was part of the political agreement that eventually saw President Saleh resign. Correspondents say the latest clashes were among the fiercest since the military began its assault early last month against Ansar al-Sharia, a group linked to al-Qaeda, in the southern province of Abyan.
Since being elected in February, President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi has vowed to make fighting al-Qaeda a key priority.
More than 350 people - mostly militants - have died in the campaign, which has the backing of the US.
The army claims it is now in control of almost 90% of Zinjibar but is still fighting to retake the northern part of the city.
Ansar al-Sharia, whose name means "Partisans of Islamic law" in Arabic, was formed by al-Qaeda in response to the growing youth movement in Yemen, which marginalised Salafi-jihadists who want the violent overthrow of the government. | Armed Conflict | June 2012 | ['(BBC Middle East)'] |
Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas meets with US President George W. Bush at the White House . |
Office of the Press Secretary
July 25, 2003
President Bush Welcomes Prime Minister Abbas to White House
Remarks by President Bush and Prime Minister Abbas
The Rose Garden
12:05 P.M. EDT
PRESIDENT BUSH: Good day. I'm honored to welcome Prime Minister
Abbas to the White House. It is such an honor to have you here, sir. PRIME MINISTER ABBAS: Thank you. PRESIDENT BUSH: To break through old hatreds and barriers to
peace, the Middle East needs leaders of vision and courage and a
determination to serve the interest of their people. Mr. Abbas is the
first Palestinian Prime Minister, and he is proving to be such a
leader. We had a good meeting today about the way forward on the road map
to Middle Eastern peace. Prime Minister Abbas and I share a common
goal: peace in the Holy Land between two free and secure states,
Palestine and Israel. Reaching this goal will require all sides to meet their
responsibilities. We made a good progress last month at the Red Sea
Summit in Aqaba. The government of Israel recognized that Israel's own
interests would be served when the Palestinians govern themselves in
their own state, a peaceful, democratic state where the forces of
terror have been replaced by the rule of law. Prime Minister Abbas committed to a complete end to violence and
terrorism, and he recognized that terror against Israelis, wherever
they might be, is a dangerous obstacle to the achievement of a
Palestinian state. I committed to both sides that the United States will strive to see
that promises, and monitor the parties' progress on this difficult
journey. To meet the goal we have set, we must improve the daily lives of
ordinary Palestinians. For just this purpose, I recently approved a
grant of $20 million directly to the Palestinian Authority. Today, I'm
also pleased to announce that the United States and Palestinian
Authority will establish a joint Palestine Economic Development Group. This group of American and Palestinian officials will meet regularly
and be charged with finding practical ways to bring jobs and growth and
investment to the Palestinian economy. In addition, I'm sending Treasury Secretary John Snow and Commerce
Secretary Don Evans to the region early this fall. I'll ask them to
report back to me on the steps we need to take to build a solid
economic foundation for a free and sovereign Palestinian state. In our talks this morning, Prime Minister Abbas and I covered a
range of issues. We discussed the impact on the Palestinian people of
the limits on their freedom of movement and the need to reduce the
network of checkpoints and barriers. Prime Minister Abbas shared his
concerns about Israeli settlements, confiscation of land, and the
building of a security fence. He also expressed his strong desire to
see the release of many more Palestinian prisoners. We will continue to address these issues. We will address them
carefully and seriously with Palestinian and Israeli officials. We
will work to seek solutions. We've seen important progress towards peace over the last 13
months, and we see even more progress today, here in Washington and in
the region, as well. Today, the government of Israel announced that it
will be taking down more of the checkpoints that are making it
difficult for Palestinians to travel to their jobs and schools. In
addition, Israel will consider ways to reduce the impact of the
security fence on the lives of the Palestinian people. And Israel has helped -- has also pledged to transfer to the
Palestinian Authority security responsibility for two additional cities
in the West Bank, and to make further progress in removing settlement
outposts. Like Prime Minister Abbas, Prime Minister Sharon is
demonstrating that he's a partner committed to reaching a peace
settlement. I welcome these announcements from Israel. And I look forward to
seeing Prime Minister Sharon on his visit to Washington next week. Together, these leaders can bring a bright future to both their
people. This is the time of possibility in the Middle East. And the people
of the region are counting on the leaders to seize opportunities for
peace and progress. Too many years and lives have been squandered by
resentment and violence. The Palestinian people, like people
everywhere, deserve freedom. They deserve an honest government and
they deserve peace. I thank Prime Minister Abbas for his hard work. I thank him for
his service to his people, and for carrying their cause here to
Washington, D.C. Welcome, Mr. Prime Minister. PRIME MINISTER ABBAS: Thank you. Mr. President, allow me to start
by thanking you to your invitation and for the fruitful meeting we have
just had, and for the bilateral support we have received from you. We
are particularly grateful for the $20 million of direct assistance to
Palestinian Authority. And we hope that this assistance increases and
is, in turn, in legislation. Allow me to also express my appreciation to you for your relentless
efforts in pursuit of peace, and your intensive engagement in resolving
the conflict between us and the Israelis. Mr. President, we remain committed to the road map and we are
implementing our security and reform obligations. Security for all
Palestinians and Israelis is an essential element in progress, and we
will achieve security based on the rule of law. We have succeeded
significantly, where Israel, with its military might, has failed in
reducing violence, and we will continue. Reform and institution-building are an internal Palestinian
priority. We do not merely seek a state, but we seek for a state that
is built on the solid foundations of the modern constitution,
democracy, transparency, the rule of law, and the market economy. We continue to negotiate with Israel on the implementation of its
obligations. Some progress has been made, but movement needs to be
made in terms of freeing prisoners, lifting the siege on President
Arafat, Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian areas, and easing up
freedom of movement to Palestinians. A transformation in the human conditions on the ground must occur. As you have said many times, Mr. President, attacks on the dignity of
the Palestinians must end. Palestinians must be able to move, go to
their jobs and schools and conduct a normal life. Palestinians must
not be afraid for their lives, property, or livelihood. Some steps
have been taken by Israel so far, but these steps remain hesitant. The
new era of peace requires the courageous logic of peace, not the
suspicious logic of conflict. The outcome most correspond with your vision, Mr. President,
achieving a peace that will end the occupation that started in 1967. The establishment of a sovereign, independent Palestinian state, with
East Jerusalem as its capital, and a just, agreed solution of the
refugee question on the basis of the U.N. Resolution 194. This vision cannot be realized if Israel continues to grab
Palestinian land. If the settlement activities in Palestinian land and
construction of the so-called separation wall on confiscated
Palestinian land continue, we might soon find ourselves at a situation
where the foundation of peace, a free Palestine state, living
side-by-side in peace and security in Israel is a factual
impossibility. Nothing less than a full settlement freeze will do
because nothing less than a full settlement freeze will work. For the
sake of peace, and for the sake of future Palestinian and Israeli
generations, all settlement activities must be stopped now, and the
wall must come down. Mr. President, in conclusion, allow me to thank you again for all
your efforts, to reiterate our commitment to peace and security for
all, and to express my hope for a solid, fruitful relation between our
governments and our peoples. Thank you. PRESIDENT BUSH: Good job, Mr. Prime Minister. PRIME MINISTER ABBAS: Thank you very much. Q Mr. President --
PRESIDENT BUSH: Hold on for a second, please. We'll have two
questions a side, alternating, starting first with Barry of AP. Q Thank you, Mr. President. On Liberia, if I may. PRESIDENT BUSH: Liberia, yes. Q How many U.S. troops will be going in? What is their role? How long might they stay? PRESIDENT BUSH: As the statement says that we put out, that U.S.
troops will be there to help ECOWAS go in and serve as peacekeepers,
necessary to create the conditions so that humanitarian aid can go in
and help the people in Liberia. We're deeply concerned that the
condition of the Liberian people is getting worse and worse and worse. Aid can't get to the people. We're worried about the outbreak of
disease. And so our commitment is to enable ECOWAS to go in. And the
Pentagon will make it clear over time what that means. Secondly, it is very important for Charles Taylor to leave the
country. Third, we want to -- in order to expedite aid and help, in
order to make the conditions such that NGOs can do what they want to
do, which is to help people from suffering, that the cease-fire must be
in place. And finally, we're working very closely with the United Nations. They will be responsible for developing a political solution, and they
will be responsible for relieving the U.S. troops in short order. And
so we're working all these pieces right now. But today I did order for
our military in limited numbers to head in the -- to the area, to help
prepare ECOWAS's arrival to relieve human suffering. Q Mr. President --
Q Prime Minister -- (question asked in Arabic) --
Mr. President, how you perceive the settlements as obstacle to your
vision, to implementation of your vision? Thank you. PRESIDENT BUSH: Yes --
Q The first question to the Prime Minister --
PRESIDENT BUSH: Okay, good, yes. This is the old two-question
trick. It's an international trick, I see. (Laughter.) Very good
job, yes. You learned from the guy to your left. Both of them from
your left are pros at that, too, I might add. (Laughter.) Q (Question to the Prime Minister is translated.) Various
officials in the administration yesterday indicated that they are
having difficulties understanding the Palestinian situation when it
comes to the issue of prisoners. In your meeting today with the
President, did you discuss that, and did any progress happen on the
U.S. understanding? PRIME MINISTER ABBAS: We always raise this issue, that it is
basically an important and sensitive issue for us. This is the issue
of prisoners. We look at the prisoners as the true constituency for
peace. And we have raised this issue. We believe that they will
support the peace process. Today, we did discuss this issue, and we
see understanding coming from the administration about this
humanitarian and fair issue. PRESIDENT BUSH: As to the settlements, I've constantly spoken out
for the need to end the settlements. I -- and we'll continue to work
with both sides on this very sensitive issue. Let me make something --
let me say this -- this is necessary. It is necessary for this good
man to continue to fight off the terrorist activity that creates the
conditions of insecurity for not only Israel, but for the peaceful
Palestinian people. In order for us to be able to make progress on a
lot of difficult issues, there has to be a firm and continued
commitment to fight terror. One reason I'm willing to stand with the Prime Minister is because
I believe that he has that commitment. He understands what I
understand, that terrorists, every time, everyplace, will thwart the
desires of those who want peace and freedom. And the commitment to
fight terror and the results in fighting terror will make it a lot
easier to deal with difficult issues, including the settlement issue. | Diplomatic Talks _ Diplomatic_Negotiation_ Summit Meeting | July 2003 | ['(White House press release)'] |
The centre–right opposition bloc led by Venstre wins the 2015 Danish general election, even though the Social Democrat party remains Denmark's largest. The anti–immigration Danish People's Party will be the second–largest in parliament. (U.S. News & World Report) | The centre-right group led by ex-PM Lars Lokke Rasmussen beat Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt's centre-left coalition, although her party is the largest.
Ms Thorning-Schmidt has now stood down as Social Democratic Party leader.
The right-wing, anti-immigration Danish People's Party will become the second-largest in parliament.
With almost all votes counted, the centre-right bloc led by Mr Rasmussen had secured the 90 seats needed to form a government in the 179-seat parliament.
Turnout was 85.8%, the interior ministry said.
Talks are due to begin soon on forming a cabinet, which correspondents say could take weeks.
Mr Rasmussen wrote on Facebook that "difficult negotiations lie ahead".
Denmark election: Anti-EU party sets Rasmussen tough task
Anti-EU Danish party gets big boost
The DPP's leader Kristian Thulesen Dahl had previously poured cold water on the idea of going into government (in Danish).
He told Denmark's Politiken he preferred "the little free bird role, which can make the Danish People's Party come closer to getting our policy through in the real world than you think".
But Mr Dahl could yet be in a position to make a bid to become prime minister.
In a victory speech just before 01:30 local time (23:30 GMT), Mr Rasmussen - who led the country between 2009 and 2011 - said: "Four years ago, we returned the keys to the PM's office. I said [at] that time that they were only a loan."
He said he would push for "control of the flow of refugees".
Ms Thorning-Schmidt's governing Social Democratic Party was the biggest party, winning at least 26.3% of the vote, according to Danish broadcaster DR.
But her allies failed to gain as much of the vote as those of the opposition and she stood down as leader after conceding victory.
On Friday morning she presented her resignation as prime minister to Queen Margrethe.
Ms Thorning-Schmidt said she was proud to have led the Social Democratic Party to the highest percentage of the vote, adding: "We lost at the finish line."
According to DR, the Danish People's Party won 21.1% of the vote, and Mr Rasmussen's Denmark Liberal Party came third on 19.5%. | Government Job change - Election | June 2015 | ['(BBC)'] |
A French court sentences two former Rwandan mayors of the town of Kabarondo to life in prison on charges of crimes against humanity and genocide committed during the Rwandan Genocide in 1994. During the genocide, Hutu extremists massacred over 2,000 Tutsi who sought refuge in the town. | A French court has sentenced two former Rwandan mayors to life in prison for their part in the 1994 genocide.
Tito Barahira, 65, and Octavien Ngenzi, 58, were found guilty of crimes against humanity and genocide. They were accused of playing leading roles in the massacre of 2,000 ethnic Tutsis who sought refuge in a church in the town of Kabarondo. About 800,000 people, mostly Tutsis, died at the hands of Hutu extremists during the Rwandan genocide.
It is the second case of its kind to be brought in France, after Rwandan army captain Pascal Simbikangwa was jailed for 25 years over the mass killings.
Attacks on Tutsis in Kabarondo began soon after Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana was killed in a rocket attack on his plane, the trigger for the violence.
Survivors of the church massacre testified at the two men's trial. Marie Mukamunana said she lost seven children and her husband, killed by machetes and grenades.
"Someone said 'don't waste the bullets' and they continued with machetes," she said.
A lawyer for the civil parties in the case, Gilles Paruelle, said: "To kill one man, hatred is sufficient. To kill 1,000, you need organisation."
Both men had denied any involvement in the killings. The pair were arrested separately on French territory a few years ago and have been in custody ever since.
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | July 2016 | ['(BBC)'] |
The Turnbull Government loses its parliamentary majority, after Liberal Party MP John Alexander resigns from the Australian House of Representatives due to likely holding British dual citizenship. | Turnbull government MP John Alexander has resigned from Parliament after British authorities were unable to uncover any evidence to support repeated assurances he was not a dual citizen.
Mr Alexander's resignation - five days after Fairfax Media revealed he was likely a dual citizen by descent - will trigger a byelection in the former tennis champion's Sydney seat of Bennelong, and means Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has lost his parliamentary majority.
Liberal MP John Alexander is the second Lower House Coalition MP to resign over the citizenship debacle after declaring his father was born in Britain and never renounced his citizenship. "I have always believed that I am Australian and solely Australian," Mr Alexander said.
The 67-year-old told Mr Turnbull he intended to resign during a "business-like" phone call about 6pm yesterday.
John Alexander, Liberal MP for Bennelong, has stood down, triggering a byelection in his seat.
"He encouraged me to be decisive, to act expeditiously, and to put things beyond any question of doubt and that's what I think the people of Bennelong want," Mr Alexander said. "Australia is tired of this absurd situation. I don't have any degrees, I have a degree in common sense and it doesn't make any common sense."
The absence of Mr Alexander and former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce sees the government reduced to just 74 of the 150 seats on the floor of the House of Representatives during the final two sitting weeks of the year. While the government will not fall, Labor and the crossbench could combine forces to cause trouble when Parliament resumes on November 27.
Asked whether a general election was looming, Mr Turnbull on Saturday responded with a simple "no".
Mr Alexander held the culturally diverse electorate of Bennelong with a margin of 10 per cent, which is normally considered safe. But some Liberal Party figures in NSW fear the seat is vulnerable despite Mr Alexander's strong personal support. Labor held the seat from 2007 to 2010, when former ABC star Maxine McKew snatched it from former prime minister John Howard. "In any competition, you've got to keep an open mind there is a chance of losing," Mr Alexander said.
Mr Alexander is a British citizen by descent because his father, Gilbert Alexander, was born in England before moving to Australia as a young child. When Fairfax Media unearthed documents proving his British connection, the Bennelong MP admitted he had never renounced UK citizenship and for days could not say for sure whether his father did, but repeatedly assured the public and the Liberal Party that was his "belief".
He needed to quit no later than Monday to allow the minimum 33-day campaign required to hold the poll on December 16.
The weeks after that date – during the Christmas and New Year period,– would be impractical, pushing back the next likely date until at least early February.
A complication is that Mr Alexander would have to fully renounce his claim to UK citizenship before nominating as a candidate. If he failed to have written confirmation of his status before standing he could still be considered constitutionally ineligible.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has said MPs who have no doubt that they are dual citizens should resign from Parliament immediately. On Saturday he called on Labor MPs who were possible dual citizens to also resign so a series of byelections can be held on the same date.
Labor's candidate for Bennelong at the 2016 election, Lyndal Howison, accused Mr Alexander of disrespecting the constitution and Parliament.
"His father was born in the UK and this can hardly have escaped his attention during recent weeks, when his parliamentary colleagues were embroiled in one of the greatest political crises of recent years," Ms Howison said.
"Yet he stayed silent. When finally exposed, he invoked a response reminiscent of that famous scene in The Castle: 'It's the vibe of the thing'. It's one thing to believe you are Australian, it's another thing to have shown a troubling lack of attention to the preparation required to stand for Parliament."
. | Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | November 2017 | ['(The Sydney Morning Herald)'] |
Hamas militants fire an anti-tank missile at an Israeli school bus, critically injuring a teenage boy and the driver, and then fire 45 mortars and 3 rockets at towns in southern Israel; the Israeli army launches a counterattack in Gaza, killing five people and injuring a number of others | A 16-year boy was critically injured after a bus driving near the Sha'ar Hanegev Regional Council was hit, apparently by an anti-tank missile, fired from the Gaza Strip on Thursday. He is currenlty being treated for severe trauma to the head, after sustaining shrapnel injuries.
An hour later the fire from Gaza continued, with more than 15 mortar shells launched at Israel. One of the shells exploded inside a town in Eshkol Regional Council. No injuries or damage were reported.
Afterwards three rockets were fired towards Ashkelon, and witnesses reported seeing one of them explode in midair, apparently due to interception by the Iron Dome defense system.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on an official visit to Germany, remarked on the violence in the south. "I have just received updates on this criminal attack," he said, but added that he was allowing officials in Israel to handle the outbreak.
Student bus hit by anti-tank missile (Photo: Tsafrir Abayov)
The bus was hit in the rear, causing its windows to shatter. Rescue forces were quick to arrive on the scene to evacuate the victims, and the roads were immediately blocked for fear of additional attacks.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak ordered the IDF to respond immediately, and Palestinian medics in Gaza reported soon after that Air Force craft had bombed a target east of Gaza City, killing a 50-year old man and injuring at least six people, including a child.
The army said its helicopters had bombed a number of targets, all of which were Hamas headquarters or areas from which rockets and mortars had been launched.
Barak's office stated that the defense minister ordered the strike because "he sees Hamas as responsible for every attack originating in Gaza".
:
Video: Roee Idan
Dr. Arnon Vizhenitzer, the lead doctor on call at Soroka Hospital in Beersheba, described the 16-year old victim's condition. "The boy came to us by helicopter, unconscious and on artificial respiration, and in very bad shape. He is suffering from multi-system injury and head trauma. He is being operated on by our best specialists, who are fighting to save his life," he said.
Hanania Reich, a paramedic who arrived on the scene, recounted the horror. "We were first to arrive together with soldiers. On the road lay a young victim, unconscious and bleeding. We began to resuscitate him and eventually MDA came and evacuated him by helicopter," he said.
"The driver was hysterical. He had shrapnel in his leg, he was lightly injured." Reich added that the front of the bus had also been hit.
Tamir, who got off the bus just a short while before it was hit, said the critically injured teen was the only one who remained on the bus when the missile hit it, aside from the driver.
"I think he caught a ride with the driver because when we got on at school he was already there," Tamir said. "The ride went to one of the kibbutzim and dropped students off there. When we got off at the kibbutz only he stayed on, he must have had to go somewhere else with the driver."
Tamir got off the bus and began to walk towards his family's place of business. "Then I heard blasts and more mortar fire started. I ran to the clubhouse, which has a bomb shelter, and now I'm here with a few friends," he said.
"It's really scary," the boy added. "There are Qassams and mortars all the time here, but it's the first time the incident was so dangerous. It could hit any one of us."
Ilana Cohen's only son, 13-year old Adir, also disembarked just moments before the attack. She said he had very nearly escaped being on board, but that she had told him to get off at home instead of continuing on to an after-school class.
"Now I know why I said it," she said. "The bus dropped him off, left the kibbutz, and 50 meters after got hit… This is my only son. I don't have any more to give to God. This is a very difficult situation."
Ronit, who was driving before the bus, narrowly escaped being hit. "I heard a blast and saw smoke," she said. "The thought that it could have been me was very scary. I just saw the smoke and realized we were under attack."
Minister of Science & Technology Daniel Hershkowitz, who is currently on a visit to the south, was rushed to a bomb shelter in one of the Negev communities.
"It's intolerable that, in a sovereign state, children are murdered and hurt every day," he said. "Israel must put an end to this and I will make sure the government of which I am a part makes the proper decision."
The fire from Gaza Thursday began a few hours after the Air Force bombed two smuggling tunnels in the northern Gaza Strip. The army said direct hits were identified. Palestinian sources reported that four people had been injured.
The security establishment has raised concerns about a dangerous new trend by which Gaza terror organizations use anti-tank missiles to target civilian vehicles inside Israel.
The missile fired on Thursday was the second anti-tank missile launched into Israel in 48 hours.
Unlike mortar shells and Qassam rockets, the anti-tank missile is extremely accurate and launching it requires a high level of skill.
Military officials noted that Palestinian terror organizations, headed by Hamas, need to understand that there are red lines that cannot be crossed.
"We will make it clear to them. We have a large toolbox and these violations will be answered with harsh means," said an IDF source. | Armed Conflict | April 2011 | ['(Ynet)', '(The Jerusalem Post)', '(Al Jazeera)', '(CNN)'] |
The studio behind battle royale game PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds sues Epic Games for allegedly copying their game with Fortnite Battle Royale. | The makers of Fortnite, one of the world's most popular video games, have been accused of copying rival title PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG).
The studio behind PUBG has asked a court in South Korea to determine whether Epic Games copied its intellectual property.
Fortnite and PUBG have both attracted millions of gamers with their huge "last player standing" online battles.
Epic Games has not yet commented on the lawsuit.
PUBG was first released in March 2017. It was inspired by the Japanese thriller film Battle Royale, in which a group of students is forced to fight to the death by the government.
In PUBG, up to 100 players parachute on to an island, search for weapons and kill one another until only one player remains.
Fortnite was first released in July 2017 but its Battle Royale mode was not added until September 2017.
The game also sees up to 100 players land on an island, search for weapons and kill one another until one player is left standing. However, Fortnite additionally lets players gather wood, metal and bricks to build defences. Both games have proved hugely popular. In February, Epic Games said Fortnite had broken the world record with 3.4 million people playing at once. The previous record of 3.3 million simultaneous players was set by PUBG.
However, analysts suggest the popularity of PUBG has waned since January, while Fortnite continues to attract more players.
PUBG confirmed it had applied for an injunction against Epic Games Korea in January. The company is accused of copying PUBG's user interface and game items.
"We filed the suit to protect our copyright," the company told the Korea Times.
Behind the scenes, the two companies have an existing business relationship as PUBG is built on the Unreal gaming engine, which was developed by Epic Games.
According to Bloomberg, PUBG has generated sales of up to $1.3 billion (980m). While Fortnite is free to download, players can buy cosmetic skins for weapons and characters. Analysts suggest the game generates more than $200m a month. Epic offers $100m Fortnite prize fund | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | May 2018 | ['(PUBG)', '(BBC)', '(The Verge)'] |
Hillary Clinton wins Puerto Rico's Democratic presidential primary and, according to the Associated Press, is now less than 30 delegates short of the 2,383 needed to win the nomination. | With about a quarter of precincts reporting, Clinton had about two-thirds of the vote. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders had about one-third.
Delegates from Puerto Rico put Clinton just shy of the 2,383 delegates she needs to clinch the Democratic nomination — and become the first woman to win the nomination of a major party in American politics. The Associated Press puts her less than 30 delegates from that threshold.
That count includes superdelegates, elected officials and other party leaders who have publicly pledged to support Clinton or rival Bernie Sanders at the Democratic National Convention this summer.
Clinton is expected to easily hit that number on Tuesday evening, when six more states hold Democratic contests: California, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota and South Dakota.
Both Clinton and Sanders campaigned in Puerto Rico. They disagree over legislation in Congress to restructure the island's massive debt. Both initially expressed reservations about the plan and its creation of a control board to oversee the process. Clinton backed the bill a couple of weeks ago. "I will work to ensure that concerns about the oversight board are addressed," she said in a statement. "And any such entity includes members that will act in the best interest of Puerto Ricans." Sanders has remained vociferously opposed to the proposed control board.
Clinton also sent campaign advisers to the island in April to investigate the spread of the Zika virus there.
Clinton also won there in 2008. Like other U.S. territories, Puerto Rico does not vote for president in the general election, so primary contests are Puerto Rican voters' only chance to cast a ballot in the presidential race.
Looking ahead to Tuesday's contests, Sanders asserted this weekend that Clinton will not be able to clinch the nomination because it's unlikely that she will have enough pledged delegates to reach 2,383.
"At the end of the nominating process, no candidate will have enough pledged delegates to call the campaign a victory," Sanders contended at a press conference in Los Angeles on Saturday. "They will be dependent on superdelegates. In other words, the Democratic National Convention will be a contested convention."
However, Clinton leads Sanders in superdelegates by about 500. He argues that they could still switch their support, though there has been no evidence of any shift coming.
A major shift, in which some 400 superdelegates would need to switch allegiances to hand Sanders the nomination, is unlikely considering Clinton's close connections throughout the Democratic establishment that Sanders lacks as a long-time independent.
What's more, there is little argument for them to do so, given that Clinton also leads Sanders by about three million popular votes and has a substantial lead in pledged delegates. She will almost certainly end the primary season with a majority of pledged delegates.
Though Sanders argues, based on polling, that he is the strongest candidate to take on Donald Trump, for superdelegates to switch en masse and hand Sanders the nomination, it would mean overriding the will of the majority of Democratic primary and caucus voters — something Sanders supporters warned against earlier in the campaign.
The race between the two in California remains very close. If Sanders wins California, it will not be enough to deny Clinton the nomination, but it would be an important symbolic victory as Sanders has pledged to carry his fight to the Democratic convention in Philadelphia at the end of July. Sanders would likely use that leverage to argue for the Democratic Party to eliminate the role of superdelegates and open all its primary contests to independents, who have been more favorable to Sanders than registered Democrats. | Government Job change - Election | June 2016 | ['(AP)', '(NPR)'] |
The California State Senate approves Assembly Bill 5, a bill to regulate gig economy work, introducing a formal test to classify workers as independent contractors or employees. | Assembly Bill 5, the gig worker bill opposed by the likes of Uber, Lyft and DoorDash, has passed in the California State Senate. This comes shortly after California Governor Gavin Newsom officially put his support behind AB-5 in an op-ed.
AB-5 would ensure gig economy workers are entitled to minimum wage, workers’ compensation and other benefits.
The state Senate passed the bill in a 29 to 11 vote this evening. The state Assembly, which previously approved the legislation, will now vote on amendments to AB-5. If the Assembly passes the legislation, which it is expected to, it will go to Gov. Newsom, who has expressed support for the measure.
Assuming Gov. Newsom signs the bill, it will go into effect January 1, 2020.
“AB5 is only the beginning,” Gig Workers Rising member and driver Edan Alva said in a statement. “I talk daily to other drivers who want a change but they are scared. They don’t want to lose their only source of income. But just because someone really needs to work does not mean that their rights as a worker should be stepped all over. That is why a union is critical. It simply won’t work without it.”
The bill, first introduced in December 2018, aims to codify the ruling established in Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v Superior Court of Los Angeles. In that case, the court applied the ABC test and decided Dynamex wrongfully classified its workers as independent contractors based on the presumption that “a worker who performs services for a hirer is an employee for purposes of claims for wages and benefits…”
Those who work as 1099 contractors can set their own schedules, and decide when, where and how much they want to work. For employers, bringing on 1099 contractors means they can avoid paying payroll taxes, overtime pay, benefits and workers’ compensation.
According to the ABC test, in order for a hiring entity to legally classify a worker as an independent contractor, it must prove the worker is free from the control and direction of the hiring entity, performs work outside the scope of the entity’s business and is regularly engaged in an “independently established trade, occupation, or business of the same nature as the work performed.”
Uber and Lyft, two of the main targets of this legislation, are adamantly against it. Last month, Uber, Lyft and DoorDash amped up their efforts to do whatever they can to prevent it from happening. That’s in part due to the fact that the companies cost of operating would increase.
Uber, Lyft and DoorDash each put $30 million toward funding a 2020 ballot initiative that would enable them to keep their drivers as independent contractors.
AB5 has passed through the Senate! We thank @LorenaAD80 for championing this in the legislature and celebrate with drivers from across the state who have spent years organizing. Up next: a real union for drivers! | Government Policy Changes | September 2019 | ['(TechCrunch)', '(The Week)'] |
Two hotels in Sousse, Tunisia came under attack from an unknown number of gunmen; at least 37 people have been killed and 36 injured. , , | At least 39 people, mostly foreigners, have been killed and 36 injured in an attack on a beach in the Tunisian resort town of Sousse, officials say.
Video footage showed the body of a suspected gunman lying in a street.
Tunisians, Britons, Germans, Belgians, French and at least one Irish citizen are among the dead in the attack claimed by Islamic State (IS). In March militants killed 22 people, mainly foreign tourists, in an attack on a museum in the capital Tunis.
Islamic State said it was behind Friday's attack. It had urged followers to step up assaults during Ramadan.
Social media accounts close to IS showed pictures of the man they say carried out the killings. The shooting in Tunisia comes on the same day as:
France, Kuwait and Tunisia attacks: What we know
Who could be behind Tunisia attack?
Could attacks be connected?
Tunisian Prime Minister Habib Essid said "the majority" of victims were British, without providing details. Earlier, UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said at least five Britons were confirmed dead, adding: "We must expect more reports of fatalities".
Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi - who visited some of the wounded in hospital - has promised "painful but necessary measures" in the wake of the attack.
At the scene: BBC's Rana Jawad
This was a brazen attack that has affected everyone here. Tourists gathered in the hotel lobby of the Marhaba Imperial consoling each other. Most were thankful they had survived and described a day where they faced their worst fears: not seeing their children again back home or losing a loved one before their eyes. A woman sat in alone in a corner silently crying with her packed luggage sitting beside her. So many here were frustrated at having to stay at the scene of the attack tonight, but one busload after another took many of the residents away. These are sobering times for a country, and people now reeling from the effects of deadly attacks on tourists. But the people of Sousse remain defiant: they are socialising with friends and family, and large parts of the city are still lit up on what is arguably its darkest day yet.
Security officials said a attacker had posed as a swimmer but was carrying a rifle under a parasol. He started shooting on the beach before entering the Hotel Riu Imperial Marhaba, continuing to shoot as he walked past the pool.
He was then shot dead in an exchange of fire with police, officials said. They said he was a student not previously known to authorities.
Local media reported that a second suspected attacker had been arrested, but this has not been confirmed. One British holidaymaker in Sousse, Steve Johnson, told the BBC: "We were just lying on the beach as usual and... we heard what we thought at first was fireworks. "But it was soon pretty obvious... that it was firearms that were being discharged and people screaming and starting to run."
One survivor told the BBC how her fiance, a Welsh tourist, had been shot three times as he used his body as a shield.
"He took a bullet for me," said Saera Wilson. "I owe him my life because he threw himself in front of me when the shooting started.
"It was the bravest thing I've ever known. But I just had to leave him under the sunbed because the shooting just kept on coming.
"I ran back, past bodies on the beach to reach our hotel. It was chaos - there was a body in the hotel pool and it was just full of blood.
Welsh tourist was human shield
The UK Foreign Office said the British embassy in Tunis was sending a crisis team to the area.
"Any British nationals in these hotels or nearby should remain indoors, and contact their tour operator and the Foreign Office," the FCO said in its updated travel advice.
The Belgian foreign ministry is advising against all travel to Tunisia and the Belgian Jetairfly airline recalled a flight en route to Tunisia in mid-air, later announcing it is cancelling all flights to Tunisia because of the attack.
Friday's attack was the deadliest in Tunisia's recent history. The country has seen militant Islamists gain strength since the overthrow of long-serving ruler Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in a popular uprising in 2011.
Democratic elections after Ben Ali's removal saw the moderate Islamist Ennahda party take power before the secularist Nidaa Tounes government won a parliamentary poll in October.
However, neither party has been able effectively to combat Islamist violence made worse by a raging conflict in neighbouring Libya and by Tunisian fighters returning home after going to join Islamist campaigns in Iraq and Syria.
6.1 million
the number of tourist arrivals to Tunisia in 2014
15.2% the total contribution of travel and tourism to Tunisia's GDP 473,000 the number of jobs supported by travel and tourism (13.8% of total employment) Kim ready for 'dialogue and confrontation' with US | Armed Conflict | June 2015 | ['(Sky News)', '(BBC)', '(USA Today)'] |
Greece secures a debt–restructuring deal with private lenders. | Greece appeared to have clinched a landmark debt restructuring deal with its private sector lenders late Thursday. The deal would clear the way for the release of bailout funds from Europe and the International Monetary Fund that would save the country from default.
Given all the twists and turns in the recent negotiations, and the ups and downs in Greece’s long debt struggle, something could still go wrong at the last minute, participants said. But most bond investors and government officials were expecting a positive outcome on the deal, which would help buy additional time for a European crisis that has recently shown signs of cooling down. | Sign Agreement | March 2012 | ['(New York Times)'] |
Germany's Federal Court of Justice sentences the perpetrator of the 2019 synagogue shooting to life imprisonment with subsequent preventive detention. | BERLIN (Reuters) - A German court on Monday sentenced a man to life in prison for killing two people in a shooting attack near a synagogue in eastern Germany on the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur last year.
German synagogue shooter given life sentence
01:12
The Naumburg Higher Regional Court found the man, referred to by authorities only as Stephan B., guilty of murder, attempted murder and incitement, a court spokesman said.
Stephan B., who live-streamed the shooting in the city of Halle on the internet, had confessed to the crime and to a far-right, anti-Semitic motivation.
Prosecutors said he aimed to kill as many as possible of the more than 50 worshippers inside the synagogue. Only his poor aim and the unreliability of his homemade firearms spared nine other people from being wounded during his half-hour rampage, according to the intended victims.
Life imprisonment in Germany has an indeterminate length and can be changed to parole after 15 years.
But the court’s sentence includes a provision for preventive detention, which denies release after the completion of the prison sentence to protect the public from dangerous offenders.
The World Jewish Congress welcomed the ruling.
“I commend the German justice system for imposing the harshest possible sentence on a heartless, vicious anti-Semite who attempted to murder Jews in a synagogue on the holiest day of the Jewish year, and took the lives of two innocent people who happened to be in his way,” WJC President Ronald Lauder said.
“The speed, follow-through and decisiveness of this trial is a definitive example of how the judicial system must respond to such horrific violence, making crystal-clear there is no place for such hateful, harmful rhetoric or behaviour in society.”
Anti-Semitic crimes are particularly sensitive in Germany due to the legacy of the Holocaust.
Their number rose by 13% last year, the interior minister said in May, blaming right-wing radicals.
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | December 2020 | ['(Reuters)'] |
Eight people die in a house fire in Chicago, Illinois. | Ten children died after an extra-alarm fire tore through a residential building early on the morning of Aug. 26, ...
Eight people were killed in Little Village on Sunday morning — including at least six children — in what officials said was the deadliest city fire in a decade.
A teenager and a young adult also were rushed to hospitals in very critical condition, and a firefighter was hospitalized in good condition, according to fire officials.
Marcos Contreras, 15, said the fire struck a home where a group of his siblings and cousins were attending a sleepover. Early in the morning, he said, his sister woke him up and they ran to the blazing house.
“By the time we got here, the whole house was on fire,” he said. “They were taking out my cousins and my brothers.
“I don’t even got words to explain the pain I’m feeling right now,” Marcos said. “It just feels like my whole world is crashing.”
“Our family went through a tragedy today,” said Ramonita Reyes, who said she lost several grandchildren in the fire. “We lost several grandchildren, I've lost several grandchildren, Marcos has lost several brothers and sisters, friends, cousins, and we don't even know what to say. This was a tragedy. Not anything I ever dreamed of.”
She said the family was “always together.”
“That’s why we never have family reunions — because we had them every day,” Contreras said. “We stuck together like glue. Nothing could separate us.”
Late Sunday, authorities had not released the names and ages of the victims. Krystle Sauseda, 31, who said she was an aunt of many of the victims, said they included four siblings from one family, three siblings from another family and an unrelated teen who was a close friend to the group.
As the sun rose and broke through hazy clouds earlier Sunday morning, a large crowd gathered outside Mount Sinai Hospital, where some of the victims were taken. Those in the crowd were quiet and pacing until they received word of the fatalities.
The family and friends gripped each other and cried. A little boy crouched on the ground and buried his head in his hands. A woman staggered and grabbed the cement wall of the hospital for support.
“I can’t live without my babies,” a woman cried.
Hours later, it was still unclear how the fire started in the 2200 block of South Sacramento Avenue on the West Side. Nearby, men cried, women held onto the hands of children and neighbors watched from across the street as Jessie Cobos said he was close to three of the children who died in the fire.
“We’re asking God to protect us, and he’ll heal our hearts,” Cobos said. “We’ve got to love each other today because tomorrow is not promised.”
The Rev. Clifford Spears of St. Michael Missionary Baptist Church led the crowd in a prayer as candles were lit and lined up along the sidewalk. A man hammered a wooden cross into the ground. Written in marker on its center board were six names: Giovanni, Gialanni, Alanni, Ariel, Xavier and Cesar. The name Victor was added later.
Cobos said he was a caretaker of Giovanni, 10, Gialanni, 5, and Alanni, 3.
“I got a phone call stating that there was a fire on this block and the pastor wanted me to come pray for the family,” he said. “I never knew I was going to come pray for my own kids.”
Cobos said the trio was “amazing” as he cried and held onto a little Mickey Mouse stuffed animal from the Red Cross. Gio was a happy little kid who loved to play outside and play Fortnite, he said.
“Alanni, she was just a sweet little girl,” he said. “And Gia was just a beautiful soul.
“Anything could happen from one minute or the next,” he said. “If I could only go back to last night and give my kids one more hug, let them know that they are loved.”
Firefighters were called just before 4 a.m. Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Merritt said investigators had not found working smoke detectors.
Fire officials were still working to determine the cause of the fire, aided by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, according to spokeswoman Larry Langford. They determined the blaze started in an enclosed porch at the back of the rear building, he said.
Langford said the fire was the deadliest in Chicago in more than a decade, but it could have been avoided if smoke detectors had been in use.
"It was not hard to get out. The fire started in the rear, and the entryway to the front was wide open," Langford said. "Had they been awake or if someone had woken them, they would have gotten out."
At an unrelated event Sunday, Mayor Rahm Emanuel praised firefighters’ response. “There’s a horrific loss of life. We haven’t seen this in a long time in the city of Chicago,” he said.
The homes were just south of a main business corridor on Cermak Road populated with restaurants and shops. Emergency crews staged a massive scene at the corner of Cermak and Sacramento.
On Sunday, city workers boarded up the windows of three homes where the fire had spread. Two were street-facing greystones with multiple apartment units and three stories tall. The third unit, where the children died, was a brown brick cottage set behind the twin apartment buildings but visible from the street with an outside staircase and a front porch.
As people came to look at the scene, several stopped at a pop-up memorial of candles, balloons and stuffed animals erected on the lot next door to kneel and say a prayer.
Ald. George Cardenas, 12th, said community organizations were working in coordination with the Red Cross to assist families.
Throughout the morning, workers from the Red Cross handed out drinks and snacks, and were on-site to provide support.
“Our hearts go out to the families and children impacted by this type of fire,” said Celena Roldan, chief executive officer for the Red Cross in Chicago and Northern Illinois.
Roldan said the Red Cross will help those affected by the fire find financial assistance, provide mental health support, and organize community memorials and funerals in the coming weeks.
In the next week, the Red Cross will carry out a “reactive canvas,” working with the Fire Department and alderman’s office to install smoke alarms in the area.
“We know that seven people die in home fires every day in this country, and it’s the number one disaster that we respond to,” Roldan said.
On Sunday evening, police closed off the street as about 60 people came to pay their respects and launch white balloons into the air. A group of firefighters also came to join in prayer.
As the balloons floated skyward, the mother of several of the children shouted, “Fly high, my babies. I love you.”
| Fire | August 2018 | ['(Chicago Tribune)'] |
A bomb kills nine people in a café in Baghdad, Iraq. | Iraqi officials say a bomb exploded in south-west Baghdad on Wednesday evening, killing nine people and injuring many others. The device was planted inside a cafe and was detonated as customers watched a football match on television. The blast was in a mainly Shia Muslim area and is the latest of several to take place in cafes in the evening. The US plans to withdraw troops from from Iraqi cities and major towns on 30 June as overall violence has fallen. Correspondents say bombings remain a regular occurrence in Iraq, but May saw the fewest Iraqi deaths from violence in one month since the US-led invasion in 2003, with 124 civilians, six soldiers and 25 policemen killed by attacks, according to official figures. However, US forces suffered their worst monthly casualties since September 2008, with 24 soldiers killed. The US is due to end combat operations across Iraq by September 2010 and US President Barack Obama has pledged to remove all US troops from Iraq by 2012. | Armed Conflict | June 2009 | ['(BBC)'] |
Protesters march through Philadelphia for a second night, demanding racial justice after the killing of Walter Wallace. The marches began peacefully but became more confrontational into the evening and Wednesday morning. Police and the city's office of emergency management said looting was reported in several areas. Protesters try to erect makeshift barricades using bins while police use pepper spray and batons after saying they were attacked by demonstrators. | Hundreds of protesters marched through the US city of Philadelphia for a second night, demanding racial justice after police fatally shot a black man.
The family of Walter Wallace Jr says he was suffering a mental health crisis when officers opened fire on him.
Police say they shot him because he would not drop a knife he was holding.
The National Guard as well as police reinforcements have been deployed. Authorities say 30 officers were hurt during Monday night clashes.
The city's police have also accused protesters of looting and ransacking businesses during the unrest.
Mr Wallace, 27, had bipolar disorder, and his wife told officers this before they shot him, a lawyer representing his family said.
Philadelphia also saw large protests earlier this year over police brutality and racism following the death of George Floyd in Minnesota. The marches began peacefully on Tuesday but became more confrontational as the evening drew on. Officers in riot gear arrived in squad cars, on bicycles and on buses, and used their bikes to shove protesters back from barricade lines.
Shops around the city closed early and set up barricades. Police and the city's office of emergency management said widespread looting was reported in several areas.
According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, protesters tried to erect makeshift barricades using bins. Police used pepper spray and batons after saying they were attacked by demonstrators.
On Monday, more than 300 people took to the streets to protest, and 91 were arrested. One officer was in hospital with a broken leg and other injuries after being struck by a pickup truck.
Speaking at a campaign rally in Wisconsin on Tuesday, President Donald Trump attempted to tie the protesters to his democratic rival, former Vice-President Joe Biden, without providing evidence of a link.
"Last night [Monday] Philadelphia was torn up by Biden-supporting radicals," he said. "Thirty police officers, Philadelphia police officers, they were injured, some badly. Biden stands with the rioters, and I stand with the heroes of law enforcement."
In a joint statement, Mr Biden and his running mate, Kamala Harris, said: "We cannot accept that in this country a mental health crisis ends in death.
"It makes the shock and grief and violence of yesterday's shooting that much more painful, especially for a community that has already endured so much trauma," they added, while condemning Monday's looting, calling it a crime. Philadelphia is the largest city in Pennsylvania, a state critical to next week's presidential election. Mayor Jim Kenney, a Democrat, said the video of the shooting presented "difficult questions that must be answered", and that he was looking forward to a "speedy and transparent resolution" to the case.
Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said she had visited the scene and felt the "anger of the community". "We anticipate the chance of additional incidents of civil unrest," she said, vowing to take "additional steps to ensure order".
Police said two officers responded to a report of a man with a weapon in the neighbourhood of Cobbs Creek in West Philadelphia at about 16:00 (20:00 GMT) on Monday.
Police spokeswoman Tanya Little told AP news agency that a man, later identified as Mr Wallace, was holding a knife when the officers approached, and instead of following orders to drop the weapon he "advanced towards them".
Both officers fired "several times", hitting Mr Wallace in the shoulder and chest, she said. One of the officers drove him to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, according to Ms Little.
Footage shared on social media shows two officers pointing their guns at Mr Wallace as he walks towards them. The officers back away from him and shout at him to put the knife down. Shots are then fired and Mr Wallace is seen lying on the street. Mr Wallace's father told the Philadelphia Inquirer that his son had mental health issues and was on medication. "Why didn't they use a Taser?" he asked.
At Tuesday's news conference, officials said the officers both fired seven shots each. The officers, who have not been named, were wearing body cameras and did not carry tasers. Meanwhile, Mr Wallace's family lawyer said they had called for an ambulance - not police - to help deal with Walter Wallace's mental issues. Instead, two police officers arrived, lawyer Shaka Johnson was quoted as saying by the Inquirer.
Mr Wallace's pregnant wife told them her husband had bipolar disorder and was in crisis. Mr Wallace was an aspiring rapper, and often recorded songs on issues including gun and police violence and racial injustice, according to relatives and neighbours, who described him as a "quiet, family man".
The Inquirer reported he was a father of eight who had been in and out of court throughout his adult life. He was awaiting trial for allegedly making threats, but this had been delayed repeatedly because of the coronavirus pandemic.
He pleaded guilty to robbery, assault and possessing an instrument of crime in 2017 after kicking down a woman's door and putting a gun to her head, Philadelphia's ABC affiliate WPVI reports. He was sentenced to 11-23 months behind bars, with a judge requiring mental health supervision.
In 2013, he pleaded guilty to assault and resisting arrest after punching a police officer in the face, the broadcaster reported, saying that a judge had ordered him to undergo psychiatric evaluation and treatment.
"I do know that he was on a regimen of lithium and that says to me he was under a doctor's care," the family lawyer said after the shooting, citing a medicine used in the treatment for conditions including bipolar disorder.
Data about the number of disabled people who are killed by police in the US is hard to come by. Conservative estimates suggest that about a quarter of those who die in interactions with police have a disability - whether mental, intellectual or physical. But other research indicates that the proportion may be far greater.
. | Protest_Online Condemnation | October 2020 | ['(BBC)'] |
Demonstrators gather outside the Iranian Embassy in London to protest against an attack on Iranian exiles in Iraq, an attack reportedly ordered by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al–Maliki. | Demonstrators have gathered outside the Iranian Embassy in London to protest at what they claim was an attack on Iranian exiles in Iraq.
They have accused Iraqi special forces and Iranian agents of breaking into Camp Ashraf and injuring 175 refugees with stones, pieces of metal and other sharp objects.
Camp Ashraf, close to the border with Iran, houses 3,500 Iranian dissidents.
They have "protected persons" status under the Geneva Convention. They are members of the People's Mujahideen of Iran (PMOI), also known as the Mujahideen Khalq Organisation, which is regarded as a terrorist group by Iran and the US. But the PMOI, which in the past was behind bombings against both the clerical leaders of Iran and their predecessor the Shah, was taken off an EU list of terrorist groups in 2009. The British Parliamentary Committee for Iran Freedom has accused Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki of ordering the attack. The committee's chairman, Lord Corbett of Castle Vale, called on American troops and the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq to intervene.
He warned of an "imminent humanitarian tragedy" and claimed that the Iranian government had played a part in the attack, calling it "Tehran's response to growing domestic unrest and nationwide calls for regime change". The committee also voiced concern that Camp Ashraf's residents were being psychologically assaulted by more than a hundred loudspeakers.
Protesters in London, who waved purple flags and chanted slogans, linked the most recent attack to a visit by the Iranian foreign minister to Baghdad. In a statement, the National Council of Resistance of Iran claimed the attack had been "in pursuance of a dictated policy by the Iranian regime". "Therefore, it is the duty of the US forces and the United Nations to assume the protection of Ashraf residents immediately," it said. The incident comes after Spain's central court summoned the chief of police of Iraq's Diyala Province for prosecution for war crimes and crimes against humanity in connection with the killing of 11 residents of Camp Ashraf in July 2009. Spain to probe Iraq camp deaths
| Protest_Online Condemnation | January 2011 | ['(BBC)'] |
The French Navy, supported by European Union aircraft and vessels, seizes 35 suspected pirates in 4 mother ships and 6 little boats off the coast of Somalia in the EU's most successful mission. | The French navy has captured 35 piracy suspects off Somalia's coast - hailing it as the most successful mission since EU operations began in 2008.
French officials said four mother ships and six smaller boats had been seized in four operations since last Friday. EU forces used helicopters and fired warning shots to capture the pirates, France's defence ministry said. The EU launched its anti-piracy mission in December 2008, but the pirates have since attacked ships in a wider area. The EU's mission has focused on the Gulf of Aden, one of the world's busiest shipping lanes which was being ravaged by pirates. But recently, the attackers have struck hundreds of miles further south - near the Seychelles and even as far afield as Madagascar. Legal problems
The defence ministry said the frigate Nivose was backed by an Italian vessel and Spanish aircraft during its three-day mission. The ministry did not specify where the action took place, but said 22 suspected pirates were held on Friday, two on Saturday and 11 more on Sunday. It is not yet clear what France intends to do with the suspects. More than 100 Somalis accused of piracy have been sent to Kenya, but very few have been convicted and most are languishing in jail awaiting trial in the country's overburdened legal system. A handful have been sent for trial in France, the Netherlands and the US. But jurisdiction over suspected pirates seized on the high seas remains unclear and calls for an international tribunal to be set up have so far come to nothing. Lawlessness in Somalia allows the pirates to function with relative impunity in their own country - and many pirate leaders have reportedly amassed fortunes through ransoms paid by shipping firms. War-ravaged Somalia has had no functioning central government since 1991. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Arrest | March 2010 | ['(BBC)'] |
The United States Trump administration and the government of Israel announce their plans to withdraw as members of UNESCO. , | Israel has said it will join the US in pulling out of the UN's cultural organisation Unesco, after US officials cited "anti-Israel bias".
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the US decision as "brave and moral", a statement said.
The agency is known for designating world heritage sites such as Syria's Palmyra and the US Grand Canyon.
Unesco head Irina Bokova earlier called the US withdrawal a matter of "profound regret".
The US withdrawal will become effective at the end of December 2018 - until then, the US will remain a full member. The US will establish an observer mission at the Paris-based organisation to replace its representation, the state department said.
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu tweeted he had instructed his foreign ministry to "prepare Israel's withdrawal... in parallel with the United States".
By Jonathan Marcus, BBC diplomatic correspondent
Unesco is an easy target for US President Donald Trump - it is a multilateral body with educational and developmental goals like promoting sex education, literacy and equality for women. The US withdrawal will be seen by many as a manifestation of Mr Trump's "America First" approach and his across-the-board hostility to multilateral organisations; the irony being that Unesco is part of the international architecture that the US helped to establish in the wake of World War Two. But it is the organisation's perceived anti-Israel bias that is the fundamental issue here. It has condemned Israel in the past for its activities in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and earlier this year it designated the old city of Hebron a Palestinian World Heritage Site - a step Israel insisted denied centuries of Jewish history there, not least the Tomb of the Patriarchs that dates back to biblical times.
The decision follows a string of Unesco decisions that have drawn criticism from the US and Israel.
In 2011 the US cut its funding to the agency in protest at its decision to grant full membership to the Palestinians.
And last year, Israel suspended co-operation with Unesco after the agency adopted a controversial resolution which made no reference to Jewish ties to a key holy site in Jerusalem.
The resolution also criticised Israel's activities at holy places in Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank.
Then earlier this year, Mr Netanyahu condemned Unesco for declaring the Old City of Hebron in the West Bank a Palestinian World Heritage site.
He accused Unesco of ignoring Judaism's ancient connection to the city, which includes the crypt where its matriarchs and patriarchs are buried.
Unesco's troubled timeline
November 1945: Unesco founded by 37 countries in the immediate aftermath of World War Two, its purpose "to contribute to peace and security by promoting collaboration among nations through education, science and culture".
1974: Congress suspends US contribution after Unesco criticises Israel and recognises the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) - but later rejoins.
1984: Under President Ronald Reagan, US withdraws from Unesco, saying the agency is politically left-wing and financially irresponsible.
1985: UK withdraws, rejoining under change of government in 1997.
2003: US rejoins under George W Bush.
2011: US withdraws funding in protest at Palestinian membership of UN; arrears begin to accumulate.
2017: US announces it will withdraw entirely; Israel says it will follow suit.
Yes. As well as accusing Unesco of bias, the US state department said it was also concerned about mounting financial arrears at the agency and said it should be reformed.
But that's mainly due to the US decision to cut more than $80m (£60m) worth of funding to the agency amid the furore over Palestinian membership six years ago - slashing its budget by 22%.
Reports say the US withdrawal is also motivated by a desire to stop accruing arrears to the agency itself. Despite suspending funding the US continues to be charged, and now owes more than $500m.
Mr Trump has criticised what he sees as a disproportionate contribution by the US to UN institutions. The US funds 22% of the UN's regular budget and 28% of UN peacekeeping.
Unesco chief Ms Bokova said the withdrawal represented a loss to the "UN family" and to multilateralism in general.
But she admitted that "politicisation" had "taken its toll" on the organisation in recent years.
Ms Bokova told the New York Times that she had informed members of Congress repeatedly that immediate payment of US arrears to Unesco was not an issue, and that American re-engagement in the organisation was the priority.
But she questioned the timing of the announcement, coming as Unesco chooses a new leader.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he "deeply regretted" the US decision but that the UN would continue to "interact with the United States very productively on a range of issues through a range of organisations".
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) applauded, saying that for years, the agency had "betrayed its original laudatory mission... and chosen instead to unfairly target the Middle East's lone democracy, Israel". Russia said it regretted the decision, but agreed Unesco was too politicised. President Vladimir Putin's aide for culture Vladimir Tolstoy reportedly called the news "flabbergasting".
| Withdraw from an Organization | October 2017 | ['(The Washington Post)', '(BBC)'] |
Former Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, popularly known as "Ahok", is found guilty of blasphemy and sentenced to two years in prison. The accusation that he insulted the Quran sparked large protests last November. | Shock sentence comes after hardline Islamist groups called for Christian official to be jailed for referencing Qur’an verse
Jakarta’s Christian governor has been sentenced to two years in prison after a trial that was widely seen as a measure of religious pluralism in Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority country.
Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, better known as Ahok, was “found to have legitimately and convincingly conducted a criminal act of blasphemy, and because of that we have imposed two years of imprisonment”, the head judge, Dwiarso Budi Santiarto, told the court.
“As part of a religious society, the defendant should be careful to not use words with negative connotations regarding the symbols of religions, including the religion of the defendant himself.”
Another judge, Abdul Rosyad, said reasons for the stiff sentence included that “the defendant did not feel guilt, the defendant’s act has caused anxiety and hurt Muslims”.
After the verdict was read out, Ahok was taken in an armoured police van to a prison in Cipinang, East Jakarta.
Hundreds of supporters wearing his signature red and blue check print gathered outside the jail on Tuesday afternoon. A candelit vigil was planned for the evening.
Photos posted on social media showed prison officials posing with the convicted governor. Ahok’s lawyer said he would appeal against the sentence. It was unclear whether he would be released once the legal challenge was under way.
The blasphemy charge related to Ahok’s reference to a passage of the Qur’an during his re-election campaign in September, which hardline Islamist groups said amounted to insulting the holy book.
He insinuated that his opponents had used a Qur’anic verse to trick people into voting against him. An edited version of the speech went viral, sparking outrage. Ahok, a Christian with ethnic Chinese roots, is a “double minority” in Indonesia. A series of protests against him drew hundreds of thousands on to the streets of the capital late last year. On Tuesday, hundreds of members of hardline Islamist groups gathered outside the south Jakarta courtroom amid a heavy security presence, with many calling for Ahok to receive the maximum penalty.
As news of the sentence emerged, some protesters shouted “God is greatest”. Some Protestors not happy with 2 year sentence for Ahok. Wanted 5 pic.twitter.com/cuYdlD3XGq
The government has been criticised for not doing enough to protect religious minorities, but President Joko Widodo, an ally of Ahok’s, has called for opponents to respect the legal process. Thousands of police have been deployed in the capital to prevent clashes between Ahok supporters and opponents. “Both groups will have the opportunity to demonstrate but we are taking steps to prevent clashes,” said the national police spokesman, Setyo Wasisto.
Ahok lost his bid for re-election in an April run-off to a Muslim rival, Anies Baswedan, who is scheduled to take over in October. The vote was the most divisive and religiously charged in recent years.
With Ahok in detention, Jakarta’s deputy governor, Djarot Saiful Hidayat, will assume the role of acting governor.
The decision to jail Ahok surprised some observers because prosecutors had called for a conditional sentence of two years’ probation.
They also dropped their demand that Ahok be charged with blasphemy under article 156a of the criminal code, which carries a maximum five-year sentence, instead recommending that he face a lesser charge.
Andreas Harsono, an Indonesia researcher at Human Rights Watch, said the verdict was “a sad day for Indonesia”.
“Ahok’s is the biggest blasphemy case in the history of Indonesia. He is the governor of Indonesia’s largest city, an ally of the president. If he can be sent to jail, what could happen to others?” he said.
Harsono said more than 100 Indonesians had been convicted of blasphemy in the past decade, with acquittals in such cases extremely rare. Todung Mulya Lubis, a human rights lawyer who defended the Bali Nine duo Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, said it was worrying that one judge cited the leader of the hardline Islamic Defenders Front as an expert in the judgment.
“[The group’s leader] Rizieq Shihab cannot be considered as an expert because he openly, publicly accused Ahok of blasphemy, so he is not an independent, neutral expert any more. But the judges mentioned his name in their judgment and I thought this is not correct.
“The judges also talked about experts from [the Islamic organisation] Majelis Ulama Indonesia. With all respect, I don’t think they can be considered as experts because they had taken sides long before the trial.”
Lubis said the verdict set a “bad precedent”, adding: “Religion is a private matter … so when you put it in the criminal code it can be used by people to discredit and suppress others. This is the problem with the blasphemy law. This is a very sad moment for us.” | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | May 2017 | ['(The Guardian)'] |
Thousands of students march in central London over a rise in university tuition fees. | Some 4,000 officers were on duty, as demonstrators marched peacefully in a protest against higher tuition fees and "privatisation" in universities.
After the violence of last year's major fees protest, the police had warned they might use plastic bullets in "extreme circumstances".
Police said 24 people were arrested, mostly for breaches of the peace.
Police estimate there were about 2,000 protesters, but organisers put the number attending at 15,000.
Scotland Yard said three arrests were for public order offences, one was for possession of an offensive weapon, three were for going equipped and 12 breaches of the peace.
At lunchtime, some protesters broke away from the march and set up tents in Trafalgar Square, but were eventually moved on.
The crowd marched to the City of London, where a protest against corporate greed has been taking place outside St Paul's Cathedral.
BBC correspondent Mike Sergeant was with the protesters as they neared St Paul's and the City.
"The march is moving slowly, sedately even. It is quite extraordinary the way it's being policed," he said.
"It's the most tightly controlled march through London that I have ever seen. Very little opportunity for protesters to break away - an enormous contrast to last year." The student protest, organised by the National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts, is against the government's plans for a market-driven higher education system and the rising tuition fees.
"We are being told by a cabinet of millionaires that we will have to pay triple tuition fees," said campaign leader Michael Chessum.
As a warning against any outbreaks of violence, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Police had said that one of the tactics available was "the authority to deploy baton rounds [plastic bullets] in extreme circumstances".
As police and news helicopters hovered overhead, thousands of protesters set off from Malet Street in London's university district.
Protesters carried placards which read "Scrap Tuition Fees" and "Free Education" and chanted "No ifs, no buts, no education cuts" and slogans criticising the police over rubber bullets.
They then marched through the capital.
BBC Education Correspondent Sean Coughlan is at the demonstration. At 1325, he said: "Chanting student protesters are going through London's Theatreland, lots of noise, lots of cameras and lots of police. It feels less predictable than last year's protests, but so far no trouble." As the demonstration moved through Trafalgar Square, some protesters broke away from the march. They set up about 20 pop-up tents at the base of Nelson's column, but were later moved on by the police. The police had said they would arrest those who refused to move, on the grounds that they had broken away from the authorised route of the march. Earlier, one of the campaigners, Glynn, told BBC News he had come from another camp in London's Finsbury Park, to protest against a "corrupt government" which was fuelled by "corrupt money and bankers".
As dusk fell, a few hundred protesters continued their demonstration at the end point of the march, London Wall. The rally is being supported by the National Union of Students, but it is not being organised by them.
Much of the anger is over tuition fees, which are set to rise to a maximum of £9,000 a year at England's universities next year.
Universities in Wales are also raising their fees up to to that maximum level from autumn 2012 - but only for students from outside Wales. In Scotland, Scottish students will continue to pay no fees, but fees of up to £9,000 a year will be charged to students from other parts of the UK.
Daisy Robinson, a London student, is among the marchers.
"It is just not fair, education should be available to everyone," she said.
Annette Webb, studying at Portsmouth University, said: "I was against it when they raised fees from £1,000 to £3,000, but to go up to £9,000 will price out most students.
"It will mean that education is only for the rich and I believe it should be for everyone."
James Dodge, 22, from Ashford, Kent, said: "I like to exercise my free right to protest, even when it is being curtailed by the Metropolitan Police."
Universities Minister David Willetts said: "We are putting students at the heart of the system, with a diverse range of providers offering high-quality teaching. Going to university depends on ability not the ability to pay. "Most new students will not pay upfront, there will be more financial support for those from poorer families and everyone will make lower loan repayments than they do now once they are in well paid jobs.
"Students, like other citizens, have the right to participate in peaceful protest."Police in force at student march Paul Clark, director of policy at Universities UK, which represents higher education institutions, says universities will not be damaged by increased competition.
"I think that the level of private involvement in higher education at the moment is relatively small and is likely to remain that way for the foreseeable future although we know there are plans to, to change this," he said. "But we also know that competition is a fact of life for universities. They compete for part-time students; post-graduate students for research funding and for international students. So this is not something that we should necessarily be afraid of, as a sector."
| Protest_Online Condemnation | November 2011 | ['(BBC)'] |
China claims all gold and silver medals in the Table Tennis World Championships in Zagreb, Croatia. | The defending champion played a smart game to outlast South Korean Olympic champion Ryu Seung Min 6-11, 11-3, 11-7, 14-16, 11-6, 10-12, 11-7, joining teammate Ma Lin in the final. China has won the men's doubles, mixed doubles and women's singles, and made the women's doubles a Chinese affair. It is the fifth time for China to clean sweep the individual golds and for the third time, after the 1981 and 2001 championships, to walk way with all the golds and silvers. In the deciding seventh set, Wang forced the South Korean to make mistakes by pressuring on his backhand and hitting open space on his forehand side. Ryu had driven into the net four times, before Wang jumped to a 8-4 lead and then ran away 10-7. A backhand service return too long made the lanky Shanghaiese the third singles world champion. Ryu opened brilliantly with a 4-0 lead as Wang looked hesitant. The Chinese had closed it to 4-6 but Ryu cashed in on a series of errors by the opponent to face the set point, which was lost by Wang who sent a forehand drive too long. Taking head coach Liu Guoliang's advice, Wang frequently returned to Ryu's righthand open space. The tactics went well and Wang took the second set 11-3. Wang changed his tactics in the third set as he kept pressure on Ryu's backhand. This set was 11-7 in favor of the 2001 and 2005 world champion. Ryu overcame Wang's 4-1 lead to move ahead 9-7 in the fourth set.Wang made it nine-all before the game moved on like a seasaw game. At 14-14, Wang sent a topspin strike to the net and then served into the net to concede the set. Then Ryu's topspin play went wrong. He drove the ball into the net seven times to lose the fifth set 11-6. The sixth set was Wang's turn to make mistakes. He sent returns to the net as many as Ryu did in the previous set, losing by two points to face the deciding set. Earlier, Ma Lin ousted fellow Chinese Wang Hao 6-11, 11-9, 12-10, 4-11, 11-9, 11-6 in the first semifinal. In last world championship final in 2005, Wang Liqin downed Ma Lin, who had finished runner-up to Liu Guoliang in the 1999 final.
Wang Liqin shut the last non-Chinese out of the world table tennis championships on Sunday, ensuring China's clean sweep of gold and silver medals for the third time. The defending champion played a smart game to outlast South Korean Olympic champion Ryu Seung Min 6-11, 11-3, 11-7, 14-16, 11-6, 10-12, 11-7, joining teammate Ma Lin in the final. China has won the men's doubles, mixed doubles and women's singles, and made the women's doubles a Chinese affair. It is the fifth time for China to clean sweep the individual golds and for the third time, after the 1981 and 2001 championships, to walk way with all the golds and silvers. In the deciding seventh set, Wang forced the South Korean to make mistakes by pressuring on his backhand and hitting open space on his forehand side. Ryu had driven into the net four times, before Wang jumped to a 8-4 lead and then ran away 10-7. A backhand service return too long made the lanky Shanghaiese the third singles world champion. Ryu opened brilliantly with a 4-0 lead as Wang looked hesitant. The Chinese had closed it to 4-6 but Ryu cashed in on a series of errors by the opponent to face the set point, which was lost by Wang who sent a forehand drive too long. Taking head coach Liu Guoliang's advice, Wang frequently returned to Ryu's righthand open space. The tactics went well and Wang took the second set 11-3. Wang changed his tactics in the third set as he kept pressure on Ryu's backhand. This set was 11-7 in favor of the 2001 and 2005 world champion. Ryu overcame Wang's 4-1 lead to move ahead 9-7 in the fourth set.Wang made it nine-all before the game moved on like a seasaw game. At 14-14, Wang sent a topspin strike to the net and then served into the net to concede the set. Then Ryu's topspin play went wrong. He drove the ball into the net seven times to lose the fifth set 11-6. The sixth set was Wang's turn to make mistakes. He sent returns to the net as many as Ryu did in the previous set, losing by two points to face the deciding set. Earlier, Ma Lin ousted fellow Chinese Wang Hao 6-11, 11-9, 12-10, 4-11, 11-9, 11-6 in the first semifinal. In last world championship final in 2005, Wang Liqin downed Ma Lin, who had finished runner-up to Liu Guoliang in the 1999 final. | Sports Competition | May 2007 | ['(Xinhua)'] |
The Obama administration chooses retired United States Air Force Brigadier General Gregory Touhill the first federal CISO chief, who reports to the CIO of the U.S. Tony Scott. | In February, President Obama announced a Cybersecurity National Action Plan (CNAP) that takes a series of short-term and long-term actions to improve our cybersecurity posture within the Federal Government and across the country. The CNAP builds upon a comprehensive series of actions over the last nearly eight years that have fundamentally shifted the way we approach security in the digital age and raised the level of cybersecurity across the country.
Over the last year alone we’ve made significant progress. For example, we’ve:
While we’ve seen progress, and as the President has made clear on many occasions, there’s much more to do. That’s why today we are proud to announce Brigadier General (retired) Gregory J. Touhill as the first Federal Chief Information Security Officer (CISO).
A key feature of the CNAP is creation of the first CISO to drive cybersecurity policy, planning, and implementation across the Federal Government. General Touhill is currently the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Cybersecurity and Communications in the Office of Cybersecurity and Communications (CS&C) at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), where he focuses on the development and implementation of operational programs designed to protect our government networks and critical infrastructure. In his new role as Federal CISO, Greg will leverage his considerable experience in managing a range of complex and diverse technical solutions at scale with his strong knowledge of both civilian and military best practices, capabilities, and human capital training, development and retention strategies. Greg will lead a strong team within OMB who have been at the forefront of driving policy and implementation of leading cyber practices across federal agencies, and is the team that conducts periodic cyberstat reviews with federal agencies to insure that implementation plans are effective and achieve the desired outcomes.
In addition to the naming the first Federal CISO, we are also proud to announce Grant Schneider as the Acting Deputy CISO. In creating the CISO role, and looking at successful organizational models across government, it became apparent that having a career role partnered with a senior official is not only the norm but also provides needed continuity over time. Grant currently serves as the Director for Cybersecurity Policy on the National Security Council staff at the White House where he focuses on development and oversight of cybersecurity policies to protect government data, networks, and systems, and brings over 20 years of technical skills to the role.
Strong cybersecurity depends on robust policies, secure networks and systems and, importantly, a cadre of highly skilled cybersecurity talent. Building on the Cybersecurity Workforce Strategy to identify, recruit, and retain top talent, the CISO will play a central role in helping to ensure the right set of policies, strategies, and practices are adopted across agencies and keeping the Federal Government at the leading edge of 21st century cybersecurity. | Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration | September 2016 | ['(Reuters)', '(White House)', '(Fortune)'] |
A bus carrying high school band students tips over on Interstate 94 northwest of Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, killing one person and leaving three others in critical condition. | (CNN) -- A bus carrying high school band students tipped over Saturday on Interstate 94 northwest of Minneapolis, Minnesota, killing one person.
The bus that was carrying school band members rests upright after it crashed Saturday in Minnesota.
Three people were critically injured, authorities said.
A second bus traveling with the one that crashed wasn't affected, according to a report posted on the Web site of the Pelican Rapids School District. The students from Pelican Rapids High School were returning from a band trip to Chicago, Illinois, when the accident happened near Albertville, Minnesota, the Minnesota Highway Patrol said.
Forty-eight people, including the driver, were on the westbound bus that tipped over about 6 a.m., the Minnesota Highway Patrol said. Everyone on that bus was taken to hospitals for treatment or evaluation, the school district said. Watch rescuers work at the scene »
Pelican Rapids is in west-central Minnesota. The cause of the accident is being investigated. E-mail to a friend All About Minnesota • Traffic Accidents | Road Crash | April 2008 | ['(CNN)'] |
Alexander Downer, the Foreign Minister of Australia, appears on al Jazeera to urge for the release of Douglas Wood, who is being held hostage by insurgents who demand the withdrawal of Australian troops from Iraq. John Howard, the Prime Minister of Australia has said he refuses to negotiate. | Mr Downer made the plea in an interview for the Arabic TV station al-Jazeera, saying that Douglas Wood, 63, wanted to be reunited with his family.
It came as an emergency team of officials and police from Canberra arrived in the Iraqi capital Baghdad.
Mr Wood's brothers later released their own appeal to his captors.
"We are extremely concerned for Douglas's welfare. He is not a well man, with several medical problems needing constant care," said his younger brother Malcolm in a tape released to al-Jazeera.
"He has a serious heart condition. In his current stressed environment, without medication, his health could fail him altogether," he added, as another brother, Vernon, stood beside him.
'Not a well man'
Mr Downer, who also said Mr Wood had a problem with one of his eyes, earlier said in his appeal that Australia was making a "very big effort" to get him out alive.
Please take the American troops, the Australian troops, the British troops out of here and let Iraq look after itself
Douglas Wood plea Douglas Wood's plea
"We would appeal to the people who have taken him hostage to release him and not to involve a man who is just providing assistance to the Iraqi people ... in politics," he said.
Pictured sitting on the floor flanked by two armed men, the hostage is heard, on a tape released to journalists on Sunday, to call for US, British and Australian forces to withdraw from Iraq. Mr Wood's wife, Pearl, has said she is sure the man featured is her husband.
A sign on the tape gives the name of a militant organisation, the Shura Council of the Mujahideen of Iraq, which has claimed previous attacks on US and Iraqi troops.
The man on the tape is heard saying: "Please help me. I don't want to die."
Prime Minister John Howard has ruled out talks with Mr Wood's captors.
His brothers said Douglas wanted to help local communities
Mr Wood, who was working as an engineer in Iraq, said in an interview last year that he favoured a "low-key" approach to security.
"If I don't look like I'm a bloody thug or protected by a super convoy, I'm less likely to be apprehended," he said.
Australia has about 950 troops stationed in and around Iraq. It is in the process of sending another 450 troops there.
Mr Wood is the first Australian contractor to be kidnapped in the Gulf since the insurgency began. Last October Australian journalist John Martinkus was kidnapped in Baghdad.
He was released unharmed a short time later, once it was established he was not working for a US company. | Armed Conflict | May 2005 | ['(BBC)'] |
The Green Bay Packers win the National Football Conference Championship Game defeating the Chicago Bears 21-14. | CHICAGO Nearly 70 years had passed since the N.F.L.’s oldest rivals played each other in a postseason game. In 1941, George Halas roamed the sideline for the Chicago Bears. Vince Lombardi was nearly two decades from coaching the Green Bay Packers to a series of championships, including the first two Super Bowls. On Sunday night, when the relieved and exhausted Packers returned to the visitors’ locker room deep under the southern end of Soldier Field, they celebrated around the George S. Halas Trophy. That piece of shiny hardware, given to the champions of the National Football Conference, was soon shepherded away. There is a bigger prize to capture.
Green Bay’s 21-14 victory over the Bears, its third straight road victory of the playoffs, sends the Packers to Super Bowl XLV against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Feb. 6. They are searching for their 13th N.F.L. championship, and first in 14 years. Advertisement
“We always felt we were a very good football team,” Green Bay Coach Mike McCarthy said. “Now we have an opportunity to achieve greatness. That’s winning the Super Bowl down in Dallas and bringing the Lombardi Trophy back home.” The Packers shot to a 14-0 lead early in the second quarter and never trailed, but found themselves scrambling to hold on as darkness descended in the fourth quarter. Jay Cutler, Chicago’s starting quarterback, was ineffective before he left the game early in the third quarter with a knee injury. The backup Todd Collins was no better, completing none of his four passes. The Bears, with zero points and little hope, turned to the third-stringer Caleb Hanie.
He had thrown 14 passes in his three N.F.L. seasons. But he rallied the team like Sid Luckman, the Hall of Fame quarterback who led Chicago to that playoff victory over the Packers in 1941, sparking the Bears to their only two touchdown drives. Hanie sandwiched those scores around one of his two mistakes a short pass into the arms of Green Bay’s B. J. Raji, a 337-pound defensive tackle who rumbled 18 yards for what proved the clinching touchdown. With 47 seconds left and the tying touchdown in reach, on fourth-and-5 at Green Bay’s 29, Hanie was intercepted by cornerback Sam Shields at the 12. Advertisement
One snap later, the Packers (13-6) kneeled to run out the clock and became the second No. 6 seed to reach the Super Bowl, after the 2005 Steelers. They have won three Super Bowls but lost their last time there, at the end of the 1997 season.
Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers completed 17 of 30 passes for 244 yards and was intercepted twice. He led the Packers to touchdowns on their first possession and again early in the second quarter. Still, Green Bay’s 14-0 lead seemed frozen in the 20-degree temperatures for much of the afternoon. There were 17 punts and the teams combined to convert only 3 of 24 third downs. On a third-and-goal at Chicago’s 6-yard line, Rodgers was intercepted by Chicago linebacker Brian Urlacher. He chased Urlacher down 39 yards later, perhaps saving a game-altering touchdown.
Handed momentum and the ball, Collins entered for Cutler and threw three consecutive incomplete passes.
It was Hanie who re-energized a well-bundled and restless crowd of 61,171. Early in the fourth quarter, his 32-yard throw to Johnny Knox moved the Bears to Green Bay’s 1. Chester Taylor’s touchdown run cut Green Bay’s lead in half, 14-7, with 12 minutes 2 seconds to play.
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After Hanie’s interception gave Green Bay another 14-point lead, his 35-yard touchdown pass to Earl Bennett with 4:43 remaining cut the lead to 21-14. The Bears, their defense buzzing, got the ball back at their 29 with 2:53 remaining. Hanie completed a third-down pass to Greg Olsen, Chicago’s first third-down conversion of the day after 10 failures. Hanie threw his second interception moments later. “I didn’t really know a whole lot about the third one,” the Packers’ defensive coordinator, Dom Capers, said of Hanie’s status as a third-stringer. It was the 182nd meeting between the Bears and the Packers, but only the second in the postseason. The other was on Dec. 14, 1941, when the Bears won, 33-14, at Wrigley Field. On Sunday, the video boards showed black-and-white clips of past games between the franchises, separated by about 200 miles of highway and 90 years of bitter competition. Amid the pregame jet flyovers and set against a backdrop of Chicago’s glassy skyline, the clips imbued a sense of nostalgia and history to the biggest game played in the league’s deepest rivalry. The Packers wasted little time quieting a vociferous crowd. Rodgers completed 22- and 26-yard passes to Greg Jennings on the game’s first two plays from scrimmage. Bounding downfield like children playing hopscotch, the Packers scored when Rodgers faked a handoff and ran around the left end from the 1. Advertisement
The lead doubled on James Starks’s 4-yard touchdown run with 11:13 left in the second quarter. But the Bears’ defense slowly solidified, beating back every other Green Bay possession. 12 Photos
View Slide Show ›
Pressure for a comeback fell quickly to Cutler, the mercurial quarterback with the big arm. He moved the Bears to Green Bay’s 41 in the final minute of the half, but soon threw a deep pass that was intercepted at the 3 by Shields.
Fans booed the Bears as the teams jogged to the locker rooms. The Packers, leading, 14-0, had outgained the Bears, 252-103, and had 17 first downs to Chicago’s 6. During the break, Cutler’s left knee was examined and treated. After one third-quarter series, he was pulled in favor of Collins and watched glumly from the sideline. Cutler finished 6 of 14 for 80 yards and an interception. Hanie completed 13 of 20 passes for 153 yards, all in the fourth quarter, with a touchdown and two interceptions. | Sports Competition | January 2011 | ['(New York Times)'] |
Russian President Vladimir Putin signs the Internet Sovereignty Bill into law. The bill has drawn fierce criticism from civil society groups over fears that it would lead Russia to establish an isolated internet landscape. | President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday signed a bill that seeks to establish Russia’s “internet sovereignty” into law.
Deputies first submitted the measures to tighten state control over the internet in December, citing the need to respond to an “aggressive” U.S. national cybersecurity strategy. It has drawn fierce criticism from civil society groups over fears that it would lead Russia to follow China’s example in establishing an isolated internet landscape.
The law will seek to create an alternative domain name system (DNS) to protect the Russian-language section of the internet in case it is disconnected from the World Wide Web. So far, no country has ever been deliberately disconnected from the internet.
Although Russia’s state media regulator and major tech firms backed the steps to unplug from foreign servers, experts criticized the bill as being too vague and impossible to implement. | Government Policy Changes | May 2019 | ['[ru]', '(The Moscow Times)'] |
Pro–Beijing Hong Kong leader CY Leung says he will quit after his term ends. | Hong Kong chief executive CY Leung has said he will not seek re-election in March, citing family reasons for the surprise announcement.
Speaking at a news conference, Mr Leung said: "If I run my family will suffer an intolerable stress."
Mr Leung has often been accused by pro-democracy campaigners of putting China's interests above those of the people of Hong Kong.
He will step down when his term ends in July 2017.
His successor will be elected by a 1,200-member, mostly pro-Beijing, Election Committee, rather than by the wider electorate.
In 2014, two years after Mr Leung took office, massive pro-democracy rallies in Hong Kong failed to win any concessions from him or from China, and he was vilified by protesters who accused him of being too close to Beijing.
He said that he was stepping down out of "responsibility as a father and a husband", and not because of his perceived unpopularity.
He did not want to give further details of his family situation.
According to reports in Hong Kong media, Mr Leung's 25-year-old daughter has been in hospital for more than a month, although the reasons are unclear. He added that "the central authorities including the top leaders in the country have been very supportive of my work all these years". Profile: CY Leung | Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | December 2016 | ['(BBC)'] |
The Scottish Government announce plans to legalise same–sex marriage, prospectively becoming the first part of the United Kingdom to do so. | Scotland could become the first part of the UK to introduce gay marriage after the SNP government announced plans to make the change.
Ministers confirmed they would bring forward a bill on the issue, indicating the earliest ceremonies could take place by the start of 2015.
Political leaders, equality organisations and some faith groups welcomed introducing same-sex marriage.
But it was strongly opposed by the Catholic Church and Church of Scotland.
The announcement was made in the wake of a government consultation which produced a record 77,508 responses.
Same-sex couples in Scotland currently have the option to enter into civil partnerships and the Holyrood government has insisted no part of the religious community would be forced to hold same-sex weddings in churches.
The Scottish government said;
Scotland's deputy first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, said: "We are committed to a Scotland that is fair and equal and that is why we intend to proceed with plans to allow same-sex marriage and religious ceremonies for civil partnerships - we believe that this is the right thing to do.
She went on: "The Scottish government has already made clear that no religious body will be compelled to conduct same-sex marriages and we reiterate that today. Such protection is provided for under existing equality laws.
"However, our view is that to give certainty on protection for individual celebrants taking a different view from a religious body that does agree to conduct same-sex marriages, an amendment will be required to the UK Equality Act."
The Scottish government said it was now going ahead with another consultation to consider what extra measures are needed to guarantee freedom of speech, including the protection of religious beliefs of teachers and parents in schools. Ministers said the Scottish Catholic Education Service would continue to decide on the faith content of the curriculum in Catholic denominational schools.
Welcoming the government's approach, Tom French, policy co-ordinator for the Equality Network, said: "Same-sex marriage is about equality and freedom - the freedom for couples, and religious and humanist groups that want to, to celebrate same-sex marriages, but equally, upholding the freedom of other religious groups to say no to same-sex marriages.
"That's the right way for Scotland to deal with the different opinions on this."
The Church of Scotland, which will report on its own investigation of the issue in May 2013, expressed concern the government was rushing ahead with its plans.
The Rev Alan Hamilton, convener of the Church of Scotland legal questions committee, said: "We are acutely aware that opinions differ among our own members and that many people are anxious and hurt in the current situation.
"We believe homophobia to be sinful and we reaffirm our strong pastoral commitment to all people in Scotland, regardless of sexual orientation or beliefs." He added: "We are concerned the government will legislate without being able to effectively protect religious bodies or their ministers whose beliefs prevent them from celebrating civil-partnerships or same-sex marriages."
A spokesman for the Catholic Church in Scotland said: "The Scottish government is embarking on a dangerous social experiment on a massive scale.
"We strongly suspect that time will show the Church to have been completely correct in explaining that same-sex sexual relationships are detrimental to any love expressed within profound friendships."
Civil partnerships in Scotland offer the same legal treatment as marriage, but are still seen as distinct from marriage.
The UK government, which is consulting on changing the status of civil ceremonies to allow gay and lesbian couples in England and Wales to get married, wants to make the change by 2015.
| Government Policy Changes | July 2012 | ['(BBC)'] |
South Korea's Hyundai Motor reaches an agreement with Tencent to partner on research and development of self–driving cars. Hyundai plans to roll such cars out commercially by 2030. | South Korean automaker Hyundai Motor Co and Chinese technology firm Tencent Holdings have signed a preliminary deal to develop software for driverless vehicles, South Korea’s Maeil Business Newspaper reported on Saturday.
Both companies plan to conduct joint research and development on safety and security systems for self-driving cars, which Hyundai seeks to roll out commercially by 2030, the report, which cited unnamed industry sources, said.
The agreement was signed on the sidelines of a business forum held in Seoul on Thursday by the South Korean government and China’s Guangdong province, it said.
Hyundai and Tencent did not offer any immediate comments on the report.
The two companies are also exploring ways to utilize Tencent’s popular WeChat messaging app in developing China-targeted car models, the newspaper said.
Hyundai, the world’s 5th largest automaker together with affiliate Kia Motors, has been fostering partnerships with self-driving tech and social media firms as it aims to introduce highly automated vehicles by 2020 and fully autonomous vehicles by 2030.
Hyundai Mobis, another affiliate of the car maker, clinched an agreement last month with Russia’s largest internet search engine Yandex to jointly develop control systems for driverless vehicles.
Shenzhen-based and Hong Kong-listed Tencent has also ventured into self-driving tech and had advertised to recruit engineers in Silicon Valley last year.
| Sign Agreement | April 2019 | ['(Reuters)'] |
United Nations Secretary General António Guterres urges Japan and other wealthy nations to give up on their reliance on fossil fuels and invest in green energy. Guterres noted that many countries are using green energy to keep global warming at 1.5 °C (2.7 °F). | The United Nations chief urged Japan and other wealthy nations on Thursday to give up their reliance on coal and other fossil fuels and commit to investments in green energy as they recover from the coronavirus pandemic. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres made the appeal in an address to an online climate conference hosted by Japan. Guterres noted that many countries are using the opportunity of the pandemic to double down on green energy and other initiatives, aiming to attain a goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above the pre-industrial average. “We are facing two critical crises, COVID and climate change,” he said in pre-recorded remarks. He said he hoped the meeting would “leave future generations with the hope that this moment is the true turning point for people and the planet.”
A major U.N. Climate Change Conference due to be held in Glasgow, Scotland, this November was postponed due to the pandemic. Dubbed COP26, it is to be held there in early November 2021.
Japan’s Environment Ministry has led an initiative called the Online Platform for Sustainable and Resilient Recovery from COVID-19, or “Platform for Redesign 2020.” Its website says it is a hub that collates countries’ climate and other environmental policies and actions that are planned and implemented in the context of recovery from COVID-19.
Guterres noted that Japan’s advanced technology in many fields should make it a leader in shifting to renewable energy and urged it to stop financing construction of coal-fired power plants.
The top priorities, he said, are prioritizing “green” jobs, ending subsidies for use of fossil fuels and taking energy and climate change issues into account in all decisions. “Clean energy delivers more jobs, cleaner air, better health and stronger economic growth,” Guterres said. “It makes no sense economically to burn money on coal plants that will soon become stranded assets,” he added. “There is simply no rational case for coal power in any investment plan.”
Japan scaled back its ambitions for shifting to renewable energy after the massive March 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown disasters in the northeastern Tohoku region led it to close down its nuclear power plants for safety overhauls. Some have restarted but most have not. In the meantime, the country has made up for lost power generating capacity by boosting use of coal, oil and gas, ramping up use of solar power and reducing waste. The government also has sought to export its expertise and technology by helping to finance construction of coal-fired power plants. Guterres said the goals of halving global emissions by 2030 and achieving “carbon neutrality” by 2050 — key to limiting global warming — were achievable, “but we are currently off track.”
He urged countries participating in the conference to come up with more ambitious plans and long-term strategies before COP26 next year.
In comments delivered on the website Platform for Redesign 2020, Japan’s environment minister, Shinjiro Koizumi, said the endeavor aims to help countries “redesign their economic and social systems in this time of dual crises.”
The pandemic has slowed most activities, he noted, but “climate change gives us no time to waste.”
“Our task is not to return to the pre-pandemic world, but to build back better,” he said. | Diplomatic Talks _ Diplomatic_Negotiation_ Summit Meeting | September 2020 | ['(AP)'] |
Militants kill at least 17 Niger Armed Forces troops in an ambush near the Malian border. Another 11 soldiers are missing; six others have been evacuated to a hospital. No group has claimed responsibility. | NIAMEY (Reuters) - Gunmen killed at least 17 Nigerien troops in an ambush near the Malian border, where several jihadist groups are active, and another 11 soldiers are missing, a government spokesman said on Wednesday.
The attack on Tuesday occurred near the town of Tongo Tongo, where fighters from an Islamic State affiliate killed four U.S. special forces and four Nigerien soldiers in an ambush in October 2017, spokesman Abdourahamane Zakaria told Reuters.
Zakaria did not identify the perpetrators of the attack, which is one of the deadliest against the military in Niger’s west in recent years.
Jihadists, including affiliates of al Qaeda and Islamic State, have stepped up attacks on military and civilian targets across West Africa’s Sahel region this year, particularly along the porous borders between Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso.
Niger also faces a threat in its southeast from Boko Haram and a splinter group affiliated with Islamic State, which are both based in Nigeria but frequently strike in neighbouring Niger, Chad and Cameroon.
Reporting By Moussa Aksar; Writing by Juliette Jabkhiro; Editing by Aaron Ross and Toby Chopra | Armed Conflict | May 2019 | ['(BBC)', '(Reuters)'] |
California Governor Gavin Newsom declares a state of emergency to ensure the state receives vital resources as at least 27 wildfires are raging across the state, exacerbating a stifling heat wave. | California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency Tuesday to ensure the states receive vital resources amid wildfires that have exacerbated a stifling heat wave.
At least 27 fires are raging across the state, including some caused by lightning from a rare summer thunderstorm Sunday, according to a map by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The flames have intensified temperatures from an already serious heat wave that rolled in over the weekend.
On Saturday, a fiery tornado was spotted near the Nevada border where the Loyalton Fire continues to burn in the Tahoe National Forest.
The emergency order will allow agencies to deploy every possible resource to keep residents safe under such “extreme” conditions, Newsom announced Tuesday.
“California and its federal and local partners are working in lockstep to meet the challenge and remain vigilant in the face of continued dangerous weather conditions,” Newsom said.
The state has experienced rolling blackouts as the high temperatures have stretched the state's energy grid to its limits.
The governor signed an emergency proclamation Monday to prevent rolling blackouts. The order allowed some users and utilities to use "backup energy sources" during peak times.
The National Weather Service urged residents on the West Coast to take the heightened temperatures seriously in order to prevent heat-related illnesses.
"Yeah, it's summer, and summer is hot, but this is different," the agency tweeted. "These are record high temperatures in what is typically one the hottest times of the year anyways."
| Fire | August 2020 | ['(NBC News via msn.com)'] |
The United States and South Korea begin showing off their navy and air force by maneuvering dozens of ships and planes and thousands of troops in the Sea of Japan with intent to "rattle" North Korea. | The US and South Korean militaries are taking part in a major exercise in the Sea of Japan, despite threats of retaliation from North Korea.
The four-day operation involves 20 ships, 200 planes and 8,000 personnel. The two countries say they want to send a clear signal to the North following the sinking of a South Korean warship in March, which left 46 sailors dead.
A South Korean-led inquiry found that a North Korean torpedo sank the ship, which Pyongyang has vigorously denied.
On Saturday, North Korea threatened to use its nuclear deterrent in a retaliatory, "sacred war" in response to the exercise.
The BBC's John Sudworth, who is aboard the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the USS George Washington, says the show of strength is intended to rattle Pyongyang's military and political elite.
North Korea's inflammatory rhetoric is nothing new, he adds, but the rising tension is causing concern, with China urging all parties to show restraint.
The South Korean defence ministry said the manoeuvres had been relocated from the sensitive Yellow Sea to the Sea of Japan following protests from China, North Korea's ally.
Amid the rising tension, military officials in Seoul said they were closely monitoring the North's military in border areas but had not detected any unusual activity in the run-up to the exercises, code-named Invincible Spirit.
The North's National Defence Commission denounced the war games as "nothing but outright provocations aimed to stifle the Democratic People's Republic of Korea [North Korea] by force of arms," the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.
"The army and people of the DPRK will start a retaliatory sacred war of their own style based on nuclear deterrent any time necessary in order to counter the US imperialists and the South Korean puppet forces deliberately pushing the situation to the brink of a war," it added.
The US responded by saying it was "not interested in a war of words with North Korea". Officers on board the USS George Washington believe the drills are a measured and restrained response to a serious act of aggression.
"We are showing our resolve," said Capt David Lausman, the carrier's commanding officer.
"North Korea may contend that it is a provocation, but I would say the opposite," he added. "It is a provocation to those who don't want peace and stability. North Korea doesn't want this."
ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) | Armed Conflict | July 2010 | ['(BBC)'] |
White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus states that people from the affected countries who have been lawfully admitted for permanent residence, i.e. have a green card, will not be prevented from returning to the United States. | WASHINGTON — Travelers were stranded around the world, protests escalated in the United States and anxiety rose within President Trump’s party on Sunday as his order closing the nation to refugees and people from certain predominantly Muslim countries provoked a crisis just days into his administration.
The White House pulled back on part of Mr. Trump’s temporary ban on visitors from seven countries by saying that it would not apply to those with green cards granting them permanent residence in the United States. By the end of the day, the Department of Homeland Security formally issued an order declaring such legal residents exempt from the order.
But the recalibration did little to reassure critics at home or abroad who saw the president’s order as a retreat from traditional American values. European leaders denounced the order, and some Republican lawmakers called on Mr. Trump to back down. As of Sunday evening, officials said no one was being held at American airports, although lawyers said they believed that dozens were still being detained.
More than any of the myriad moves Mr. Trump has made in his frenetic opening days in office, the immigration order has quickly come to define his emerging presidency as one driven by a desire for decisive action even at the expense of deliberate process or coalition building. It has thrust the nine-day-old administration into its first constitutional conflict, as multiple courts have intervened to block aspects of the order, and into its broadest diplomatic incident, with overseas allies objecting.The White House was left to defend what seemed to many government veterans like a slapdash process. Aides to Mr. Trump insisted they had consulted for weeks with relevant officials, but the head of the customs and border service in the Obama administration, who resigned on inauguration day, said the incoming president’s team never talked with him about it.
White House officials blamed what they portrayed as a hyperventilating news media for the confusion and said the order had been successfully carried out. Only about 109 travelers were detained in the first 24 hours, out of the 325,000 who typically enter the United States in a day, they said. As of Sunday evening, the Department of Homeland Security said 392 green card holders had been granted waivers to enter. That did not count many visitors who remained overseas now unable to travel.
Reince Priebus, the White House chief of staff, said Mr. Trump simply did what he had promised on the campaign trail and would not gamble with American lives. “We’re not willing to be wrong on this subject,” he said on “Face the Nation” on CBS. “President Trump is not willing to take chances on this subject.”
The order bars entry to refugees from anywhere in the world for 120 days and from Syria indefinitely. It blocks any visitors for 90 days from seven designated countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. The Department of Homeland Security initially said the order would bar green card holders from those seven countries from returning to the United States.
With thousands of protesters chanting outside his White House windows and thronging the streets of Washington and other cities, Mr. Trump late on Sunday defended his order. “To be clear, this is not a Muslim ban, as the media is falsely reporting,” he said in a written statement. “This is not about religion — this is about terror and keeping our country safe.”He noted that the seven countries were identified by former President Barack Obama’s administration as sources of terrorism and that his order did not affect citizens from dozens of other predominantly Muslim countries. “We will again be issuing visas to all countries once we are sure we have reviewed and implemented the most secure policies over the next 90 days,” he said.
Mr. Trump expressed sympathy for victims of the long-running civil war in Syria. “I have tremendous feeling for the people involved in this horrific humanitarian crisis in Syria,” he said. “My first priority will always be to protect and serve our country, but as president, I will find ways to help all those who are suffering.”
transcript
SOUNDBITE: (English) Senator John McCain, (R) Arizona ++OVER FEW ANGLES++: “I think the effect (of the ban) will probably in some areas give ISIS (Islamic State group) some more propaganda. But I’m very concerned about our affect on the Iraqis right now. The dominant influence in Iraq today is not the United States of America. It’s Iran. So what will the Iraqi parliament do if we’re talking about the fight against extremists and ISIS, the battle of Mosul is going on as we speak and we certainly don’t need some impediment to succeeding and driving the ISIS out of Mosul.” SOUNDBITE: (English) Senator Mitch McConnell, Senate Majority Leader ++OVER TWO ANGLES++: “I think it’s a good idea to tighten the vetting process But I also think it’s important to remember that some of our best sources in the war against radical Islamic terrorism are Muslims, both in this country and overseas.” SOUNDBITE: (English) Senator Mitch McConnell, Senate Majority Leader: “If they’re looking to tighten the vetting process, I mean, who would be against that? But I am opposed to religious tests. The courts are going to determine whether this is too broad.” SOUNDBITE: (English) Kellyanne Conway, US Presidential Counselor: “The judge in Brooklyn, the Obama appointee judge in Brooklyn, stay of order really doesn’t affect the executive order at all because the executive order is meant to be prospective. It’s preventing, not detaining.” SOUNDBITE: (English) Kellyanne Conway, US Presidential Counselor: “Let me make it very clear - these seven countries, what about the 46 majority Muslim countries that are not included? Right there, it totally undercuts this nonsense that this is a Muslim ban. This is a ban on travel, perspective travel from countries, trying to prevent terrorists in this country from countries that have a recent history of training and exporting and harboring terrorists.”
G.O.P. Leaders React to Trump's Order While Mr. Trump denied that his action focused on religion, the first iteration of his plan during his presidential campaign was framed as a temporary ban on all Muslim visitors.
As late as Sunday morning, he made clear that his concern was for Christian refugees, and part of his order gives preferential treatment to Christians who try to enter the United States from majority-Muslim nations.
In a Twitter post on Sunday morning, Mr. Trump deplored the killing of Christians in the Middle East without noting the killings of Muslims, who have been killed in vastly greater numbers in Iraq, Syria and elsewhere.
“Christians in the Middle East have been executed in large numbers,” he wrote. “We cannot allow this horror to continue!”His order, however, resulted in a second day of uncertainty at American airports. The American Civil Liberties Union said it was investigating reports that officials were not complying with court orders in New York, Boston, Seattle, Los Angeles and Chicago.
New York’s attorney general sent a letter to federal authorities demanding a list of all individuals detained at Kennedy International Airport. The Department of Homeland Security said on Sunday evening that it was “in compliance with judicial orders.”
Still, at Dulles International Airport outside Washington, even the arrival of four Democratic members of Congress did not prompt customs officers to acknowledge whether they were holding anyone or provide lawyers access to anyone detained.
The lawmakers arrived after 3 p.m. and were rebuffed by police officers when they tried to enter the Customs and Border Protection offices at the airport. Representative Gerry Connolly, Democrat of Virginia, said he was told to call the main office of the agency in Washington.
His staff got a legislative liaison from the customs service on the phone, and “they said we’ll put you in touch with the deputy commissioner,” Mr. Connolly said.
“I said that’s not acceptable,” he continued. “We want to talk to the person in charge of operations at Dulles Airport. That’s where the problem is, and that’s where the federal judicial ruling is applicable.”
The clash over the order provoked emotional responses. At a news conference, Senator Chuck Schumer, the Democratic minority leader from New York, choked up as he vowed to “claw, scrap and fight with every fiber of my being until these orders are overturned.”
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The mayors of New York, Chicago and Boston spoke out, as well. In Dallas, Mayor Mike Rawlings personally offered regrets to four released detainees at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport. “We have wished them welcome, and we have apologized from the depths of our heart,” he said. Chelsea Clinton joined a protest in New York.
The order roiled relations with America’s traditional allies in Europe and the Middle East. The spokesman for Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany said she “is convinced that the resolute fight against terrorism does not justify blanket suspicion on grounds of origin or belief.”
Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain, who met with Mr. Trump in Washington on Friday and has sought to forge a friendship with him, initially declined to comment on the policy on Saturday when pressed by reporters during a stop in Turkey.
But under pressure from opposition politicians, her spokesman later said the British government did “not agree with this kind of approach.”
The matter was especially sensitive in Muslim countries, and Mr. Trump spoke by telephone on Sunday with King Salman of Saudi Arabia and Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi. White House statements on the calls said they discussed the fight against terrorism but did not say whether they discussed the immigration order, which did not include their countries.
In Washington, protesters gathered by the thousands outside Mr. Trump’s front lawn to denounce his order and show solidarity with Muslim Americans.
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“Shame,” they chanted, hoisting homemade signs toward the executive mansion, where Mr. Trump was scheduled to host a private screening of the movie “Finding Dory.”
“No hate, no fear,” they added later. “Refugees are welcome here.”
Security fencing and reviewing stands still in place from the inauguration prevented the crowd from getting more than a couple hundred yards away from the building, but did not stop crowds from swelling through the afternoon, when protesters departed to march to Capitol Hill.
Some Republicans grew increasingly alarmed by the backlash to the order. “This executive order sends a signal, intended or not, that America does not want Muslims coming into our country,” Senators John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said in a statement. “That is why we fear this executive order may do more to help terrorist recruitment than improve our security.”
Some conservative donors also criticized the decision. Officials with the political network overseen by Charles G. and David H. Koch, the billionaire conservative activists, released a statement on Sunday criticizing Mr. Trump’s handling of the issue.
“We believe it is possible to keep Americans safe without excluding people who wish to come here to contribute and pursue a better life for their families,” said Brian Hooks, a chairman of the Kochs’ donor network. “The travel ban is the wrong approach and will likely be counterproductive.”
Senator Bob Corker, the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, said the order was “poorly implemented” and urged the president to “make appropriate revisions.” Other Republicans were more circumspect. Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican majority leader, said the issue would be decided by the courts.
Mr. Trump fired back at Mr. McCain and Mr. Graham on Twitter. “They are sadly weak on immigration,” he wrote. “Senators should focus their energies on ISIS, illegal immigration and border security instead of always looking to start World War III.”
| Government Policy Changes | January 2017 | ['(The New York Times)'] |
Czech Prime Minister Vladimír Špidla resigns after narrowly surviving a vote of no confidence. | His resignation came shortly after he narrowly survived a vote of confidence by his Social Democratic Party. More than 100 of Mr Spidla's opponents voted against him, but they failed by six votes to gain the three-fifths majority needed to remove him. The vote was called after a disastrous showing by the party in the European elections earlier this month. The Social Democrats won only two of 24 seats at stake.
'Pyrrhic victory'
Mr Spidla said after the party vote: "When it became apparent I did not have the support of my own party, I decided could not continue.
"I will inform the Cabinet of the resignation on Wednesday," he told a news conference.
Mr Spidla's announcement came after a day of dramatic twists and turns at the meeting of the Social Democrats central executive committee, the BBC's Rob Cameron in Prague reports. Mr Spidla survived the confidence vote, but it was a pyrrhic victory as more than half of the delegates still voted against him. That was enough to convince the prime minister he could no longer carry on, our correspondent adds. Political instability
The three-party coalition government led by the Social Democrats holds a fragile majority of one vote
in the lower chamber of Czech parliament. It is expected to resign en masse on Wednesday. What happens now depends on two men - President Vaclav Klaus, who must appoint a new prime minister, and Interior Minister Stanislav Gross, Mr Spidla's main opponent within the ruling Social Democrats, our correspondent says. Mr Gross is now likely to take over as party leader, our correspondent says.
Mr Gross favours a minority left-wing government with the support of one or more opposition parties. But critics say Mr Gross, who is 34, is too young for the job. All this indicates that a government could be hard to assemble, and the Czech Republic now enters a period of political instability, analysts say. | Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | June 2004 | ['(BBC)'] |
Iran's opposition says 200 people were arrested during protests in the capital Tehran yesterday. | Iran's opposition says more than 200 people were arrested on Tuesday while trying to protest in Tehran. Opposition websites said security services rounded up protesters in several locations in the capital and were helped by police in plain clothes. Another 40 people were said to have been detained in the city of Isfahan.
Opposition groups had called for rallies over the reported imprisonment of their leaders - Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi.
The two men had been placed under house arrest several weeks ago as authorities cracked down on protests staged in solidarity with the uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt and elsewhere.
Their families say that on Monday they were taken to prison, although the government denies this. Riot police and militia on motorcycles broke up attempts by a number of opposition supporters to protest in various parts of Tehran on Tuesday.
One website said eyewitnesses had reported 30 arrests on Felestin Street alone.
"Masked officers arrested men and women and put them into black vans and continued beating them even after they were put in the van," the Human Rights House of Iran reported. There has been no independent confirmation of the number of arrests. But the BBC has learned that Fakhrosadar Mohtashami, the wife of former minister Mostafa Tajzadeh, was one of those detained.
A relative told BBC Persian that Ms Mohtashami is being kept in Evin Prison and has not been allowed contact with her family for the time being.
No Iranian officials have acknowledged Tuesday's protests, and they were ignored by Iranian state media. Both Mr Mousavi and Mr Karroubi ran as opposition candidates in the disputed June 2009 presidential election. Mr Mousavi said he was the actual winner and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was only re-elected through a rigged vote.
Hundreds of thousands of opposition supporters then took part in marches that were crushed by the security forces.
| Protest_Online Condemnation | March 2011 | ['(BBC)'] |
Fiji prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama scraps plans to change the flag of Fiji as the feel-good factor envelops the Pacific nation following a first Olympic medal, a gold in men's rugby sevens. | Prime minister says cost of changing the flag, removing British colonial symbols, was too great and should be directed at cyclone recovery work
The Fijian government has announced it will not be progressing with plans to change the country’s flag - and the union jack will stay part of it.
Prime Minister JB Bainimarama said that the potential cost of a flag change would be redirected towards the ongoing recovery of Tropical Cyclone Winston, in which 43 Fijians died and tens of thousands were left homeless in February.
He also said he had been deeply moved to see Fijians rally around the flag as they celebrated the country’s recent gold medal at the Rio Olympics.
“While I remain convinced personally that we need to replace some of the flag’s colonial symbols with a genuinely indigenous expression of our present and our future, it has been apparent to the Government since February that the flag should not be changed for the foreseeable future,” he said in a statement.
“The cost of any flag change is better spent at the present time assisting Fijians back on their feet.”
Last February Bainimarama announced plans to change the flag which was first flown in 1970 when Fiji declared independence from Great Britain.
The current flag features the union jack along with a coat of arms with a lion holding a cacao pod, and the local symbols of sugarcane, coconuts, bananas and the Fiji dove surrounding the arms of the cross. One of Fiji’s opposition parties, the National Federation Party, said it was a waste of taxpayers money and there had been no public consultation to determine whether Fijians even wanted a flag change.
Since then there has been ongoing debate.
However the government’s refusal to hold a referendum to allow the public to vote on a flag change angered many - and today some Fijians took to twitter to express their annoyance about the Prime Minister’s flip flopping on the flag debate.
“So how much money has the Fiji Government wasted thus far in trying to convince us all that we needed to change...” said Lani Vakatale.
Bainimarama said he hoped Fijians would proudly display their flag to welcome the Fijian Rugby Sevens team on Sunday. | Government Policy Changes | August 2016 | ['(Guardian)'] |
The Bundestag approves a ban on burqas being worn by members of the German civil service. | In a late night sitting, the lower house of parliament has approved a raft of security measures and a draft ban on face veils. The ban would only apply to civil servants in Germany.
Germany's lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, on Thursday approved a draft law that would prevent civil servants, judges and soldiers from wearing Islamic full-face veils at work.
Germany's ruling coalition said in a statement said that a "religious or ideological covering of the face contradicts the neutrality required of state functionaries."
The law would also require women to show their face during identity checks.
The law still has to be approved by the upper house, the Bundesrat, before coming into effect.
"Integration also means that we should make clear and impart our values and where the boundaries lie of our tolerance towards other cultures," German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said. "The draft law we have agreed on makes an important contribution to that."
In the beginning, jeans were frowned upon in East Germany. "No entrance with jeans" was written at the doors to many clubs. And some students were actually sent home if they appeared in class wearing jeans. In the end, the regime had to give in and party leader Erich Honecker is said to have ordered a million Levi's in order to meet the demand in the country.
Until the 1920s, the fez was a common piece of headgear in Turkey. After the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the founding of Turkey, President Atatürk did not want to see the hat in public because it was considered a symbol of old times. In the 1930s, the fez almost completely disappeared. The ban still exists today, but is no longer enforced.
Nowadays it is an inseparable part of Scotland. But the kilt was banned for some time in the 18th century by the English. They didn't like that the Scots wore the traditional skirt as a sign of resistance and patriotism in ever burgeoning feuds with London. In 1747, the government introduced a kilt ban that lasted 37 years.
Still prohibited in Russia is underwear containing less than six percent cotton. That means lingerie made of lace, velvet or silk. The law has been in force for two years. The official reason is that high synthetic content is bad for people's health. More likely, however, is that the measure is meant to keep foreign imports out. Until then, most lingerie sold in Russia was made abroad.
At least in some places, wearing so-called hoodies is prohibited. For example, in the Bluewater shopping center in Kent. There you can still buy hoodies, but wearing them was forbidden 10 years ago. In the US, many schools already banned the hoodie from the classroom, and in the state of Oklahoma a Republican senator wanted to prohibit it completely.
If the law is passed, Germany would become the fifth European country to ban or partially ban the wearing of the burqa and niqab, after France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Bulgaria.
Austria and Norway are also working towards a ban.
The approval came after Chancellor Angela Merkel's December call for a ban on full-face Muslim veils "wherever legally possible". The new law fell short of demands by right-wing parties for a total ban in public places, as in France.
Merkel is facing a federal election in five months, with her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) losing some support to the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD).
In February, Merkel's Bavarian CSU sister party said it would ban the full-face veil in schools, universities, government workplaces and polling stations.
Package of security measures
During the same late night session, the Bundestag approved a package of security measures aimed at preventing extremist attacks.
New security measures includes the court-approved use of electronic ankle bracelets for people deemed a security threat. Another law is aimed at helping national and state police forces pool their data in a new integrated IT system.
A separate measure implemented European Union rules on the mandatory sharing and retention of data on flight passengers.
Another measure meant physical attacks on police, emergency services and military personnel on duty would be punished with up to five years' jail. | Government Policy Changes | April 2017 | ['(Deutsche Welle)'] |
Longtime college and professional American football coach Chuck Fairbanks dies at the age of 79. | Chuck Fairbanks, who built successful football teams in college at the University of Oklahoma and in the National Football League with the New England Patriots but left each job under a cloud of disfavor, died on Tuesday in Scottsdale, Ariz. He was 79.
The cause was brain cancer, said Pete Moris, a spokesman for the University of Oklahoma athletic department.
Known as a savvy player evaluator, a shrewd recruiter and a practice-field taskmaster, Fairbanks went to Oklahoma as an assistant in 1966 and took over when his predecessor, Jim Mackenzie, died of a heart attack in April 1967 at 37.
In his first year, Fairbanks led the Sooners to a 10-1 record and the championship of the conference then known as the Big Eight. Though the team lost four games the next three seasons, it won the conference title again in 1968. In 1970 Fairbanks’s assistant, Barry Switzer, who would become his successor, prevailed on him to install the innovative wishbone offense.
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The wishbone, also called the triple option, is a run-heavy offense that relies on a crafty quarterback who as a play unfolds must decide whether to give the ball to a fullback plunging up the middle, keep the ball or pitch it wide to a running back. It took a season for the Sooners to perfect it, but in 1971, with quarterback Jack Mildren running the offense and the speedy running back Greg Pruitt slicing through defenses, they led the nation in scoring and yards gained, whipped Auburn in the Sugar Bowl and finished second in the polls. A national title eluded them when, in the 10th game of the season, they lost to league rival Nebraska, 35-31, in a wildly exciting contest often called “the game of the century.” Nebraska went undefeated and won the national championship.
After the 1972 season, during which Oklahoma was again 11-1 and again finished second in the polls (to Southern California), Fairbanks accepted a job as the coach and general manager of the Patriots. He left Sooners fans feeling betrayed, especially after the N.C.A.A. unearthed 14 rules violations at Oklahoma during Fairbanks’s tenure, including tampering with an academic transcript, and punished the university by ordering forfeits of games and rendering powerful Sooners teams ineligible for bowl games for two years.
With the Patriots, Fairbanks took a mess of a franchise, whose cumulative record from 1970 to ’72 was 11-31, and made it competitive.
He was among the first to use a 3-4 defense in the N.F.L. — three down linemen and four linebackers — which simplified reads for young linebackers and took advantage of their speed. He drafted shrewdly, including players who became stars, like Sam Cunningham and John Hannah, later the first Patriot to be elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. From 1973 to ’78, his Patriots teams went 46-40 in the regular season, including 31-13 with two playoff appearances (both losses) in his last three years. He was named the league’s coach of the year in 1976 by The Sporting News.
Once again, however, Fairbanks made a shady exit. During the 1978 regular season, with an unexpired contract with the Patriots, he secretly accepted a job back in the college ranks at the University of Colorado.
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When the Patriots’ owner, Billy Sullivan, learned of Fairbanks’s plans, which were presented as a fait accompli, he was enraged. He suspended Fairbanks for a game, reinstated him, and watched as the Patriots were eliminated from the playoffs.
The Patriots sued the university, the university sued the Patriots, and the affair was finally settled after a Colorado booster organization, also negotiating in secret, paid the Patriots $200,000 to release Fairbanks from his contract. Distaste was widespread.
“This is public business; it should be conducted in sunlight,” Gov. Richard D. Lamm said at the time. “I, like a lot of Coloradans, was upset reading the newspaper, thinking the citizens of this state were being treated like mushrooms — kept in the dark and a bunch of manure spread on us.”
Fairbanks’s tenure at Colorado was calamitous: in three seasons, the team went 7-26, including a humiliating 82-42 loss in 1980 — to Oklahoma — and was tainted by stories of off-the-field misdeeds by players, including two who were expelled for selling copies of an exam to an undercover police officer.
Charles Leo Fairbanks was born in Detroit on June 10, 1933, and played football at Michigan State. He began his coaching career at Ishpeming High School in Michigan, and he was an assistant at Arizona State and the University of Houston before landing at Oklahoma. He was married and had several children.
After Colorado, Fairbanks became the president and coach of the New Jersey Generals in the fledgling United States Football League. Before play started, he reflected on his peripatetic career in The New York Times.
“I left to satisfy myself, I guess, to see if I could be successful as a professional coach,” Fairbanks said about leaving Oklahoma for New England. “It was a challenge, another step up the ladder, maybe a matter of ego.”
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He went on: “The New England Patriots were really down at the time. We built them into a contending team. When I left, I got involved in an extended legal controversy. If I had known there would be as many problems, I probably wouldn’t have done it. Leaving Colorado was a pure business decision. It was a fine business opportunity for me that very few people in my profession have.”
The Generals performed poorly in their first season, 1983, and Fairbanks was dismissed. The league was disbanded after the 1985 season. | Famous Person - Death | April 2013 | ['(The New York Times)'] |
The United Kingdom Home Office is restructured with a new Ministry of Justice being formed to handle prisons, probation and the sentencing of offenders. | A new Justice Ministry has taken on responsibility for prisons, probation and sentencing from the Home Office. Critics say the split will compound the existing problems and create new ones.
But Mr Blair told MPs on that it was sensible to have one department controlling prisons, probation and courts, as other countries did.
The new Ministry of Justice, which starts operating from Wednesday, will take on responsibility for prisons, probation and sentencing, while the Home Office will keep responsibility for security, crime, drugs, counter-terrorism and ID cards.
'Last thing needed'
Mr Blair was responding to criticism from Tory leader David Cameron, who said: "The last thing a department in crisis needs is the huge distraction of a big reorganisation." In a reference to John Reid, who has said he will step down as home secretary when Mr Blair resigns, Mr Cameron added: "If splitting the Home Office is such a good idea - why isn't the home secretary hanging around to see it through?"
I believe it's right to take the prisons and probation out of the home office and into a new ministry of justice
Tony Blair
Mr Blair replied that a Tory proposal to have a separate counter terrorism Cabinet minister in the Home Office was "very foolish" and it was important to allow the Home Office to focus on fighting terrorism.
He added: "I believe it's right to take the prisons and probation out of the Home Office and into a new ministry of justice."
Judges have expressed concern that courts and prisons will share a budget and they may have to choose between losing staff or passing shorter sentences.
Judges' meeting
In a statement, the Lord Chief Justice Lord Phillips - the top judge in England and Wales - said "full agreement" had yet to be reached with the government. He said a special meeting of the Judges' Council would be staged next Tuesday to discuss the situation.
Bar Council chairman Geoffrey Vos QC also raised concerns, saying legal aid should be made a high priority and the funding of the judiciary must not depend "in any way on the crises affecting the prison system".
But Lord Falconer, who will head up the new Ministry of Justice, told the BBC it would mean a better justice system with less re-offending, better public protection and more effective sentencing.
HOME OFFICE SPLIT
Two ministries instead of one
Home Office to refocus on security, policing, counter-terrorism, immigration, borders and ID cards
Ministry of justice for courts, prisons, sentencing policy, probation
Who gets what in shake-up
"I believe it is the right thing to do," said Lord Falconer - who also retains his old role as Lord Chancellor.
"There are concerns about how the money will be split up between courts and prisons and we are discussing with the judges how safeguards can be put in place. "But that shouldn't detract from the sole purpose of doing it, which is to get better outcomes from the justice system in favour of the public." The changes come a year after Mr Reid took over as home secretary, saying the department was "not fit for purpose" following a series of controversies over immigration failures and the failure to consider more than 1,000 foreign prisoners for deportation. One of the issues facing the ministry will be prison overcrowding in England and Wales, where a record number of people - more than 80,300 - are being held.
The Ministry of Justice will have seven ministers - including the existing Department for Constitutional Affairs team, Gerry Sutcliffe who is transferring from the Home Office and a new post has been created for former Northern Ireland minister David Hanson.
The Home Office will have six ministers - the first time it has had fewer than the DCA. 17,029 pages were read in the last minute. | Organization Established | May 2007 | ['(UK Home Office)', '(BBC)'] |
The progovernment militia group of Ahlu Sunnah Waljama in Somalia claims to have killed at least 91 Islamist fighters and wounded 170 others in Thursday's fierce clashes. | The pro- government militia group of Ahlu Sunnah Waljama (ASW) in Somalia on Friday claimed they killed at least 91 Islamist fighters and wounded 170 others in Thursday's fierce clashes with rebel forces in Mogadishu.
The group which is allied to the Somali government said it also captured two vehicles loaded with weapons and ammunition supplies from the radical Islamist group of Al Shabaab opposed to the Somali government.
The fierce battles on Thursday left at least 20 civilians dead and almost 60 others injured after allied Somali government forces and the pro-government militias backed by African Union peacekeeping forces launched an early morning offensive on rebel positions in Mogadishu.
Sheikh Abdulah Abu Yusuf Al Qaadi, spokesman for the ASW said four of the dead Islamist fighters were senior commanders including foreigners fighting alongside Al Shabaab forces.
The hardline Islamist group has not so far commented on the ASW' s claims but Al Shabaab commanders have been saying they inflicted "heavy losses" on government and AU forces side.
Spokesman for Al Shabaab Ali Mohamoud Raageh, told local media that the group managed to destroy an AU armored vehicle as well as a bulldozer. The group distributed photos and video they said showed what they said were remains of destroyed AU vehicles and bodies of dead soldiers.
It is not possible to verify the claims of both sides who did not say anything about each side's own losses in the latest conflict.
Separately the two sides have been fighting over control of strategic towns in central Somalia region of Galgadud where fierce battles have been raging for the past week.
Reports from the central Somali town of Beledweyn say that Islamist fighters from Hezbul Islam group regained control of the important town, a trading hub near the Somali-Ethiopian border.
Pro-government forces had partly taken control of the city after fierce clashes with insurgent fighters in Beledweyn, provincial capital of Hiran region, 300 km north of Mogadishu. | Armed Conflict | June 2010 | ['(ASW)', '(China.org)'] |
Colum McCann wins the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, the world's richest literary award, for his novel Let the Great World Spin. | Irish author Colum McCann has won the International Impac Dublin Literary Award for his latest novel, Let The Great World Spin.
McCann's book was chosen from 10 shortlisted titles to win the world's most lucrative literary prize worth 100,000 euro (£88,000).
Judges praised the author's story of colliding cultures set in 1970s New York as a "remarkable literary work".
It beat 161 other titles nominated by 166 libraries worldwide.
McCann is the second Irish author to win the prize after Colm Toibin's success in 2006 for The Master.
Let The Great World Spin was the most popular choice of libraries worldwide, receiving 14 nominations from libraries in countries including Ireland, Germany, Greece, Norway, the US and Canada.
The novel explores the intertwining lives of a radical Irish monk in the Bronx, an Upper East Side bereaved housewife, a proud young woman suffering years of hardship, a drug-addled young artist and a prostitute and her daughter.
The judges described the book as "a genuinely 21st century novel that speaks to its time but is not enslaved by it".
"Its beguiling nature leaves the reader with as much uncertainty as we feel throughout our lives, but therein lies the power of fiction and of this book in particular," they said.
The prize is open to novels published in the preceding year, written in any language by authors of any nationality, provided the book has been published in, or translated into, English. Other finalists included Michael Crummey's Galore, The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver, The Vagrants by Yiyun Li and David Malouf's Ransom.
Also shortlisted were Little Bird of Heaven by Joyce Carol Oates, Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey, Colm Toibin's Brooklyn, Love and Summer by William Trevor and Evie Wyld's After the Fire, a Still, Small Voice.
Previous winners include last year's recipient, Gerbrand Bakker, for The Twin and 2009's winner Man Gone Down by Michael Thomas. | Awards ceremony | June 2011 | ['(The Irish Times)', '(BBC)'] |
The Eastern Route of the South–to–North Water Diversion Project, one of the world's largest water projects, has been delayed by about five years due to problems associated with water pollution, officials in east China's Shandong province. | Shandong's efforts to clean up clogged waterways prove futile The Eastern Route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project, one of the world's largest water projects, has been delayed by about five years due to problems associated with water pollution, officials in east China's Shandong province said on Friday.
Construction of the Eastern Route of the project, which aims to divert water from China's rainy south to its dry north, is now expected to be completed in 2013.
"Despite Shandong's efforts to clean up waterways, pollution still remains a major obstacle for the Eastern Route," Gao Guangyong, an official from the Jining environmental protection bureau, was quoted as saying in China Business News.
Construction of the Eastern Route, which will divert water from the Yangtze River in Jiangsu province to Tianjin municipality through Shandong, began in December 2002.
Related readings: Massive water diversion project put on fast track Construction on water diversion project to accelerate Environmental protection in water diversion project stressed China starts relocating thousands for water diversion
Paper mills, chemical plants, pharmaceutical factories and other polluting enterprises dot the areas surrounding major waterways in the province.
Since 2005, more than 350 energy intensive and polluting plants have been closed down in Jining, a city in the southwestern part of the province, which has almost 198 km of water tunnels. Yet, the water quality in the city's waterways is worse than Grade III, the national standard for drinking water.
Tai'an faces a similar problem, according to Sun Jianxiu, an official from Tai'an environmental protection bureau.
"Dawen River, Dongping Lake and Guangfu River still fall short when it comes to water quality," he said, adding that about 80 percent of the waterways are polluted. "And the pollution gets worse in dry seasons."
Sun said many of the wastewater treatment plants in the city are not functioning properly. Although some polluting enterprises have been closed down, the overall pollution level has surpassed the environmental capacity in the area -a result of rapid economic development, Sun said.
Increased shipping pollution has also contributed to the deteriorating quality of water.
Shandong provincial government recently made a 60-billion-yuan ($8.78 billion)budget for projects to protect the ecosystems along the major waterways in the next five to 10 years. The projects include restoring wetland, controlling agricultural pollution, water and soil conservation, and afforestation.
Last December, Vice-Premier Li Keqiang called for intensified efforts on pollution control and eco-environment protection in both the water source area and areas along the water diversion project.
Tailway police are tightening up their campaign against ticket hoarding and related problems.
China's top brands could be on the road to becoming global household names after the launch of the $4.5 trillion CAFTA market.
Marilyn Monroe is shown in this December 1961 photo taken in New York City in this photo released to Reuters February 5, 2010.
Paris Hilton seen filming a commercial for an Israeli Lottery in Midtown, New York City.
As China continues to open to the outside world, mixed marriage becomes more and more popular. | Environment Pollution | February 2010 | ['(China Daily)'] |
A court in France orders Rwandan genocide suspect Félicien Kabuga to be handed over to a United Nations tribunal for trial. Kabuga's lawyers said that their client would not receive a fair trial at a UN tribunal and that his health was too fragile to be transferred amidst the pandemic. However, French justice said his transfer is "not incompatible" with the decision. | PARIS (Reuters) - A French court ordered Rwandan genocide suspect Felicien Kabuga on Wednesday to be handed over to a United Nations tribunal for trial, rejecting arguments that he should be allowed to remain in France because of his health.
U.N. prosecutors accuse Kabuga of bankrolling and arming ethnic Hutu militias that killed 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus in Rwanda during a 100-day period in 1994. He is indicted for genocide and incitement to commit genocide, among other charges.
Kabuga, whose arrest in Paris in May ended a manhunt that lasted more than two decades, has called the charges lies.
A tea and coffee tycoon and one of Rwanda’s richest men before the genocide, Kabuga is accused of having created a fund that financed the Hutu militias and imported hundreds of thousands of machetes.
His lawyers say he would not receive a fair trial at the tribunal based in The Hague and in Arusha, Tanzania. They say he is 87 and his health is too frail for him to be transferred abroad, particularly during a dangerous pandemic.
But the court, which lists his age as 84, said his health was “not incompatible” with a transfer. Kabuga cannot appeal the transfer order, but his lawyers immediately challenged two further rulings on procedure, setting in train deliberations that will last at least two months.
Ahead of Wednesday’s hearing, Kabuga’s defence team had urged the U.N. tribunal’s chief prosecutor, Serge Brammertz, to leave the case with France’s judiciary. Risking Kabuga’s life jeopardised “discovering the truth”, they wrote in a letter.
The slow pace of international justice is a concern for survivors of the genocide, said Richard Gisagara, a lawyer representing an organisation of Rwandan expatriates in France: “We are worried that once again he will escape justice.”
Kabuga’s arrest has raised questions over how one of Rwanda’s most wanted men was able to live undetected in France since at least 2016. Gisagara said he had filed a complaint to initiate an investigation into who had aided him.
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | June 2020 | ['(Reuters)'] |
As many as 1,000,000 people march on the presidential Blue House in Seoul, South Korea, calling for the resignation of President Park Geun-hye amid an ongoing corruption scandal. It is the largest protest in South Korea since the protests against U.S. beef imports in 2008. | SEOUL — South Koreans from across the country and across generations peacefully took to the streets of the capital Saturday night, calling through songs, shouts and placards for the immediate resignation of their scandal-plagued president, Park Geun-hye.
With as many as 1 million people on the streets of Seoul, it was South Korea’s largest demonstration in more than a decade — no small feat in a country with a vibrant protest culture — and it increased the pressure on Park over a widening corruption and influence-peddling controversy.
Most analysts, however, do not expect her to heed calls to quit, especially as neither the opposition nor the ruling party — nor Ban Ki-moon, the U.N. secretary general and potential South Korean presidential candidate — are ready for a snap election.
Still, the message from Saturday’s candlelight protest was clear.
“I want her to step down. I want an end to her administration and for an entirely new one to come in,” said Lee Yu-jin, who had traveled for an hour to Seoul with her husband and 8-year-old daughter. “If the wrong leader is elected, this kind of thing can happen. I want my daughter to know that we can take action.”
[South Korean president offers to withdraw her prime minister nominee to quell scandal] The Park administration has been plunged into the worst crisis of its turbulent tenure after news emerged that Park had been taking advice on topics as diverse as North Korea and her wardrobe from a lifelong friend with no policy experience and links to a questionable cult.
The woman, Choi Soon-sil, has also been accused of using her relationship with Park to solicit $70 million in donations for foundations from big businesses such as Samsung, which she is accused of embezzling instead. Choi has been arrested and is being questioned by prosecutors, as are several of Park’s close aides.
Although South Korea is no stranger to corruption scandals, this one has infuriated people who think that democracy has been circumvented and wonder whether the country was being run by a “shadow president” with no experience. They are also angry that the institutions of government — from the prosecutor’s office to the presidential Blue House itself — not only did not intervene, but seemed to have helped Choi.
Many opposition lawmakers, and even some in the ruling Saenuri Party, are calling for Park to resign, triggering an election within 60 days. She has defied calls to step down, apparently wanting to stay until her term ends in February 2018.
But her efforts to quell the public fury through apologies and reshuffles have not worked. Her approval rating remains at 5 percent, Gallup Korea said Friday, a record low for any president.
[As a bizarre scandal unfolds, South Korea’s president depicts herself as lonely] For the third Saturday in a row, South Koreans turned out in central Seoul, demonstrating within earshot of the Blue House and calling on Park to step down.
Organizers said there were 1 million people at the protest, which had the atmosphere of a carnival. Police put the number at 260,000. Either way, it far surpassed the official estimate of 43,000 people who took part in the previous week’s protest, and also the 80,000 people who took to the streets in 2008 to protest the imports of U.S. beef during an outbreak of mad cow disease.
Tens of thousands of people had arrived by bus from the southern cities of Busan and Ulsan, and about 1,000 people from the southern island of Jeju flew into Seoul on 30 flights.
Student and women’s groups, together with labor and farmers unions, had organized rallies in the lead-up to the main demonstration, which featured singers and speeches but none of the violence that has plagued past protests.
There were families with children, including babies in strollers, and people using wheelchairs. Some people sat on mats on the street, waving candles and eating snacks, while others marched toward the Blue House singing a specially written song with the lyrics “Park Geun-hye must step down.”
“This incident has made us reflect on how we haven’t cared enough about politics and have not been keeping close enough watch on how the government is run,” said Kim Wan-kyu, a 34-year-old office worker who joined the demonstration with two friends.
[Here is everything you need to know about South Korea’s extraordinary presidential scandal] Jo Sung-eun, 31, joined the protests for the first time Saturday. “I came out in solidarity and in the hope Park will step down as soon as possible,” Jo said.
“She’s not the president for the people; she’s been the president for one person,” she said, referring to Choi.
Daniel Pinkston, a professor at Troy University’s campus in Seoul, said the Choi scandal had become a focal point for other grievances that were simmering in South Korea.
“The Choi Soon-sil case is like the last straw,” he said. “It has energized people to come out with all these wider grievances with labor relations, school fees, unemployment, economic inequality and insecurity.”
The president’s office was taking the protests seriously and listening to the public’s concerns, a spokesman said. Top aides to the president held meetings Saturday to discuss how to respond to the rally and were expected to convene again Sunday.
“As people are furious about scandal, we are carefully watching the situation and trying to figure out a way to deal with it,” an unnamed presidential official told the Yonhap News Agency.
Yoonjung Seo contributed to this report.
Read more: The South Korean political scandal started with a card game in Macau South Korean president says she’s willing to be investigated in corruption scandal Today’s coverage from Post correspondents around the world Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
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| Protest_Online Condemnation | November 2016 | ['(The Washington Post)', '(BBC)', '(Newsis)'] |
A fire breaks out on South Korean fishing vessel FV Dong Won 701 in the Port of Timaru, New Zealand. Ten fire crews and a tug are in attendance. At least three are hospitalised and the ship is evacuated. | Witnesses report hearing a loud bang when a fishing ship caught fire at the Timaru Port.
Ten fire crews and a tug boat are fighting the blaze at the front of the 81-metre Dong Won 701 fishing vessel docked next to the San Won building.
Fire and Emergency NZ southern communications shift manager Tim Reynolds said 10 fire crews including one from Christchurch were responding to the incident, which started about 9.25pm.
Do you know more? Email newstips@stuff.co.nz.
He said the ship, the Dong Won 701, was "well involved in flames", but all persons from the ship were accounted for.
? TIMARU PORT - Crews from Christchurch have been called to assist a ship on fire at the port of Timaru. Webcam view here:https://t.co/RZuQD6DcFi pic.twitter.com/jDOcxYNlvm
Reynolds said fire crews were still actively dealing with the fire as of 11.50pm, and had not confirmed it was contained yet.
He said the size of the response was due to the size of the fire, and he expected at least some of the crews would be there overnight.
A St John spokesman said three patients had been taken to Timaru Hospital with minor injuries. They were checked for smoke inhalation.
A police spokeswoman said emergency services were called to the fire about 9.25pm.
Police were there as "essentially a bit of crowd control on land", she said.
Soosie Lucas, who lives opposite the port, said there was a "loud bang" when the ship caught fire.
"It boomed all around the port, it was a big loud bang."
Lucas said "very thick and dense" smoke was spewing from the ship when the fire started, but it had been dampened down by the rain.
There was a traffic jam forming from people coming down to look at the fire, Lucas said.
An eyewitness said there was "a heavy emergency services presence", with at least five fire trucks, a command unit, and three ambulance on scene.
She said a crowd of people were looking on from behind the fence, despite the cold and rainy night.
The Dong Won 701 is a South Korean fishing vessel which arrived in port on Monday morning, and was due to leave on Tuesday. It was one of the boats involved in an employment court action in 2014 for paying crew below the minimum wage.
Its owned by Korean fishing company Dong Won Fisheries. Its website said it has over $150 million USD annual revenue, operates a seafood processing plant in China, and a specialised seafood processing company in called San Won in Timarua [sic], New Zealand. | Fire | April 2018 | ['(Stuff)', '(Radio New Zealand)'] |
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the President of Liberia, declares a state of emergency over the outbreak which has claimed the lives of 282 Liberian people so far. | Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has declared a state of emergency as the country grapples with an outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus.
Speaking on national television, she said some civil liberties might have to be suspended.
The Ebola outbreak has also hit Guinea, Sierra Leone and Nigeria, killing more than 930 people. World Health Organization (WHO) experts are meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, to discuss a response to the outbreak.
The two-day meeting is expected decide whether to declare a global health emergency.
Ebola, a viral haemorrhagic fever, is one of the deadliest diseases known to humans, with a fatality rate in this outbreak of between 50% and 60%. It is spread through contact with the bodily fluids of Ebola patients showing symptoms.
Already reports are reaching Monrovia that a military blockade is stopping people from western regions of Grand Cape Mount and Bomi, where Ebola is prevalent, from entering the capital.
These counties largely rely on Monrovia for their goods - and the blockade means that the cities of Robertsport and Tubmanburg are now cut off. One Tubmanburg resident phoned into a radio show to complain that rice, the national staple, was already in short supply in the market.
The head of the National Health Workers Association said while the state of emergency was necessary, people should have been given time to prepare. Fear has prompted hospital workers to abandon clinics - meaning many are now shut. President Sirleaf said this meant many diseases prevalent during the rainy season, such as malaria and typhoid, are going untreated and may lead to unnecessary and preventable deaths.
A WHO statement on Wednesday said 932 patients had died of the disease in West Africa so far, mostly in Liberia, where 282 have died.
Announcing a 90-day state of emergency, President Sirleaf said the government and people of Liberia required "extraordinary measures for the very survival of our state and for the protection of the lives of our people".
She said "ignorance and poverty, as well as entrenched religious and cultural practices, continue to exacerbate the spread of the disease". Observers say the Ebola crisis in Liberia has got worse because many people are keeping sick relatives at home instead of taking them to isolation centres.
Amid international concern, US President Barack Obama said the illness "can be controlled and contained very effectively if we use the right protocols".
"The countries affected are the first to admit that what's happened here is the public health systems have been overwhelmed. They weren't able to identify and then isolate cases quickly enough.
"As a consequence, it spread more rapidly than has been typical," he added.
Mr Obama said that the US was working with Europe and the WHO to provide resources to contain the epidemic.
In other developments:
Nigeria's Health Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu described the outbreak as a national emergency, adding that "everyone in the world is at risk" because of air travel.
In a surprise move, the WHO said on Wednesday it would convene a meeting of medical ethics specialists next week to decide whether to approve experimental treatment for Ebola. Some leading infectious disease experts have been calling for experimental treatments to be offered more widely to treat the disease.
The aim of the WHO's emergency committee meeting is to focus solely on how to respond to the Ebola outbreak.
If a public health emergency is declared, it could involve detailed plans to identify, isolate and treat cases, as well as impose travel restrictions on affected areas.
There is no cure or vaccine for Ebola - but patients have a better chance of survival if they receive early treatment.
Ebola has initial flu-like symptoms that can lead to external haemorrhaging from areas like eyes and gums, and internal bleeding which can lead to organ failure. | Disease Outbreaks | August 2014 | ['(BBC)'] |
A proposal to develop nuclear energy is discussed at an energy policy meeting held by Asean in Da Lat, Vietnam. | Vietnam has called on South East Asian nations to build nuclear power stations to meet rising energy demands.
The proposal came at an energy policy meeting held by the Asean group of countries in Dalat, Vietnam.
As economies in the region continue to grow, so too does the demand for stable, secure energy. Going nuclear is increasingly seen as an attractive option.
There is no operational nuclear power plant in South East Asia today.
But eight out of the ten countries that make up the Asean regional grouping have plans to add nuclear energy to their generating portfolios.
Now Vietnam has suggested that those plans be coordinated to develop a region-wide approach.
The move is likely to raise concerns over safety and the potential for nuclear proliferation.
South East Asia is one of the fastest growing economic areas in the world. But many, if not most, countries suffer periodic bouts of power cuts.
Some nations are looking to hydropower, building huge dams along the Mekong river. But these have angered local communities who complain that water flows and fish stocks have been affected.
Renewable sources such as solar power are being promoted by environmentalists.
But nuclear offers the potential of large volume, and temptingly, Russia has offered to help build the power plants South East Asia might need. | Diplomatic Talks _ Diplomatic_Negotiation_ Summit Meeting | July 2010 | ['(BBC)'] |
NBA postpone Monday night’s matchup between Dallas Mavericks and New Orleans Pelicans, and Tuesday match between Boston Celtics and Chicago Bulls due to COVID-19 health protocols. | The N.B.A. has now postponed four games because of the virus, and said it would be meeting with its players’ union on Monday to discuss changes to health protocols.
By Sopan Deb
The N.B.A. cited its coronavirus health protocols in postponing two games on Monday, bringing the total number of games postponed for this reason to four.
The affected games were Monday night’s matchup between the Dallas Mavericks and the New Orleans Pelicans, and Tuesday’s Boston Celtics game against the Chicago Bulls. The league also said that it would be meeting with the N.B.A. players’ union on Monday “about modifying the league’s health and safety protocols.”
On Sunday, after the league postponed a game for the second time this season, an N.B.A. spokesman told The New York Times that there were “no plans to pause the season” and that the league had accounted for postponements when designing the schedule. Beyond the postponements, several teams have played short-handed when multiple or key players were out because of virus protocols.
With three games postponed in less than 24 hours, the N.B.A. is seeing an early but notable challenge to its attempt to finish its 72-game schedule, and it’s happening before the season is a month old. Over the summer, the N.B.A. did not report that any players had tested positive after clearing quarantine to enter its bubble on the Walt Disney World campus in Florida. Since play began this season, with no bubble and cross-country travel, there had been six reported cases through Wednesday.
That number should rise when the N.B.A. puts out its next weekly report. Philadelphia 76ers guard Seth Curry and Boston’s Jayson Tatum are reported to have tested positive in recent days. Subsequent contact tracing and injuries led to the Sixers using just seven players in a loss to the Nuggets on Saturday. The Celtics were scheduled to play the Miami Heat on Sunday, but the game was postponed after contact tracing left Miami without the minimum eight players required to compete.
But Boston was in poor shape as well: The team said on Sunday that seven players would not be available for the game as a result of the protocols, including their two stars, Tatum and Jaylen Brown. Multiple outlets reported that Tatum had tested positive for the coronavirus after playing the Washington Wizards on Friday night.
A league spokesman said the same issue — contact tracing — caused the latest postponements. Boston would not have had enough players to take the floor Tuesday, and Dallas, which is missing four players, was not cleared to resume team activities after closing its practice facility over the weekend.
According to the league’s protocols, players who test positive must isolate for at least 10 days, or test negative in two consecutive tests at least 24 hours apart. If a player could have been exposed to someone with the coronavirus, the league or team may mandate a quarantine after a risk assessment.
So far, five teams have been significantly affected by virus-related player absences: Boston, Dallas, Chicago, Miami and Philadelphia. The Sixers said Monday that they would be without five players for that night’s game against the Atlanta Hawks as a result of coronavirus protocols. On Saturday, in addition to those players, the Sixers were without Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons, their two best players. The team said they were dealing with injuries unrelated to the virus. Sixers Coach Doc Rivers said before Saturday’s game that he didn’t think his team should have to play with so few players, citing injury concerns.
The Heat said Monday evening that they would be without eight players, including their stars, Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo, for their Tuesday matchup against the Sixers.
The league has said that, because of the wide community spread of the virus, it expected cases and potential exposures among players. Commissioner Adam Silver also has said that he did not want N.B.A. players to “jump the line” to be vaccinated, meaning that teams’ missing players because of protocols may be the norm for the rest of the season.
Players and team staff members have agreed to a number of restrictions on their professional and private activities to help reduce infections, like not going to bars and clubs, or indoor social gatherings with 15 or more people. James Harden, the Houston Rockets star, was fined $50,000 by the league for attending an indoor party with more than 15 people on Dec. 21, the day before the season began.
Instead, the league has recommended that players take up “cycling, hiking, boating, golfing, frequenting parks or beaches, or like activities.”
But the latest wave of infections and contact tracing suggests more may need to be done. Before the season, Silver said at a news conference that the season could be paused if the league thought the protocols weren’t working, “meaning that not only did we have some cases of Covid but that we were witnessing spread either among teams or even possibly to another team, that would cause us to suspend the season.”
He added: “I think we are prepared for isolated cases. In fact, based on what we’ve seen in the preseason, based on watching other leagues operating outside the bubble, unfortunately it seems somewhat inevitable.” | Sports Competition | January 2021 | ['(The New York Times)'] |
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences board votes to suspend actor Bill Cosby and director Roman Polanski in accordance with the organization's standards of conduct. | Bill Cosby and Roman Polanski have been expelled from the US Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
The academy - which runs the Oscars - said this was done in accordance with its standards of conduct.
TV star Cosby was convicted of sexual assault last month. Oscar-winning director Polanski admitted unlawful sex with a 13-year-old girl in 1977.
Producer Harvey Weinstein was kicked out last year, following numerous allegations of sexual assault. Less than a year after the downfall of the producer the #MeToo movement is catching up with other men who abused their power, the BBC's James Cook in Los Angeles reports.
Neither Cosby nor Polanski have publicly reacted to the academy's decision.
Cosby's wife, Camille, described his conviction as "mob justice, not real justice".
"This tragedy must be undone not just for Bill Cosby, but for the country," she said.
The prestigious organisation made the announcement on Thursday - two days after its board members voted on the issue. In a statement, it said its board "has voted to expel actor Bill Cosby and director Roman Polanski from its membership in accordance with the organisation's Standards of Conduct". "The Board continues to encourage ethical standards that require members to uphold the Academy's values of respect for human dignity," it added. Only four people are known to have been expelled in its 91-year history.
The first was actor Carmine Caridi, who had his membership revoked in 2004 after he allegedly sent confidential film preview videos to a friend which ended up online.
On social media, many people have been asking what took the academy so long to take action against Polanski, who has been honoured in the decades since he admitted to statutory rape. The unlawful sex case against Polanski, now aged 84, has dragged on for more than 40 years.
Polanski admitted unlawful sex with Samantha Geimer, who was a minor in 1977, and served 42 days in prison, but later fled the US over concern that a plea bargain deal would be scrapped.
He has French and Polish citizenship, and has evaded various extradition attempts by US authorities. France - where he lives - does not extradite its own citizens. A Polish court also rejected a US request when he was filming in Krakow in 2015.
The Swiss authorities also turned down a US warrant in 2010, after placing Polanski under house arrest for nine months.
Last year, he was picked to head the jury at the Césars, the French equivalent of the Oscars.
He stepped down after the move sparked outrage. Last year, Ms Geimer told a US court she had forgiven Polanski and wanted to move on. But the court refused her plea. | Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | May 2018 | ['(BBC)'] |
Russia claims to have tested the world's most powerful vacuum bomb, nicknamed Father of All Bombs after the MOAB, with yield equivalent to a small nuclear weapon. Bomb's military name, place and time of the test are not revealed. Lenta.ru | "Test results of the new airborne weapon have shown that its efficiency and power is commensurate with a nuclear weapon," Alexander Rukshin, deputy head of Russia's armed force chief of staff, told Russian TV.
"You will now see it in action, the bomb which has no match in the world is being tested at a military site," the report said.
It showed a Tupolev Tu-160 strategic bomber dropping the bomb over a testing ground. A large explosion followed.
A vacuum bomb, or fuel-air explosive, causes widespread devastation.
As the bomb is dropped or fired, the first explosive charge bursts open the container at a predetermined height and disperses the fuel in a cloud that mixes with oxygen. A second charge ignites the cloud, which can engulf objects or buildings.
| Military Exercise | September 2007 | ['(ABC News Australia)', '(in Russian)'] |
The first results of the Liberian general election are due to be announced, with a runoff election likely in the presidential race between incumbent President and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and ex–diplomat Winston Tubman. | Votes are being counted in Liberia's second presidential election since a 14-year civil war ended in 2003. Election officials said Tuesday's vote went off peacefully, with no violence reported. President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who was first elected in 2005, is facing her strongest challenge from former diplomat Winston Tubman. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last week - a decision denounced by Mr Tubman and other candidates.
This is the first election Liberia's National Elections Commission has organised as the previous one was run by the UN.
Its chairman James Fromoyan said provisional results would be released on Thursday. "The commission is pleased that the process has unfolded in a quiet atmosphere," he said. African Union observer mission head Speciosa Wandira said she hoped the rival candidates would accept the result. "From what I see, there is no reason to worry," she said. African elections are often marred by allegations of rigging and violence after results are announced.
Some 8,000 UN peacekeepers have been deployed across Liberia to prevent any violence.
Sixteen candidates contested the poll, but the BBC's Jonathan Paye-Layleh in the capital, Monrovia, says it is expected to be a two-horse race between Mrs Sirleaf and Mr Tubman. His running mate is ex-football star George Weah, who was beaten by Mrs Sirleaf in the 2005 poll. Long queues formed at polling stations, with many people braving heavy rains to vote. President Sirleaf praised the voters for their patience and discipline.
"I feel so good for the Liberian people, they have demonstrated a certain level of political maturity."
Mr Tubman, running under the banner of the Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) party, told the BBC that turnout was "huge" - a sentiment backed by former Nigerian head of state Yakubu Gowon, who was observing the the election.
Mrs Sirleaf had said she would only seek a single term but explained her U-turn by saying she wanted to finish the work she had started.
Our correspondent says central Monrovia has been transformed since the end of the war, with roads paved and many new buildings.
While Mrs Sirleaf is well regarded by the international community, some analysts say she is less popular at home and predict a tight race, possibly going to a run-off.
Her challengers accuse her of not doing enough to improve the lives of ordinary people, who remain among the poorest in the world.
"One out of every three Liberians cannot feed themselves. They live in abject poverty. And they couldn't care less about the Nobel prize," said 60-year-old opposition candidate Charles Brumskine.
Mrs Sirleaf has also been criticised for backing former President Charles Taylor - currently on trial at The Hague for alleged war crimes - when he began his rebellion in 1989.
She has apologised and the pair later fell out but Liberia's Truth and Reconciliation Commission said she should be barred from holding public office.
Voters were also choosing members of the House of Senate and House of Representatives. Liberia is Africa's oldest republic - it was founded in 1847 by freed US slaves, hence its name.
| Government Job change - Election | October 2011 | ['(BBC)', '(VOA)'] |
Poland extradites Israeli citizen and suspected spy Uri Brodsky to Germany to face charges of being involved in the murder of Mahmoud alMabhouh in Dubai. | Poland has extradited to Germany a suspected Israeli agent wanted in connection with the killing of a Hamas commander in Dubai, officials say.
Uri Brodsky, an Israeli citizen, faces charges relating to the forging of a passport allegedly used in January by the killers of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh.
The UAE believes Israel's intelligence agency, Mossad, was involved, though Israel insists there is no proof.
Mr Brodsky was arrested in Poland in June on a warrant issued by Germany.
The warrant accused him of espionage, though the court that granted the extradition said he could only be prosecuted for alleged forgery of a German passport believed to have been used by one of the assassins. Dubai police have said they are 99% sure that members of Mossad were involved in the killing of Mabhouh, one of the founders of Hamas's military wing, who was found dead in a Dubai hotel on 20 January. Forged passports from several Western countries were used by the 30 suspects identified, leading to a series of diplomatic rows with Israel.
The UK, Irish Republic and Australia have all expelled Israeli diplomats. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | August 2010 | ['(BBC)', '(Daily Express)'] |
Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe fires prosecutor Johannes Tomana. | Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has sacked the country's chief prosecutor, Johannes Tomana, after a tribunal found him guilty of misconduct and incompetence.
Local media say he will now face trial for criminal abuse of office.
Mr Tomana was suspended back in February 2016.
His removal came after he dropped charges against two army officers accused of plotting to blow up a dairy belonging to Mr Mugabe's wife, Grace.
The two men were among four arrested outside the dairy farm, north of the capital, Harare.
They were found carrying ammonia and petrol bombs.
The men were initially charged with possession of weaponry for sabotage, and with money laundering for terrorism purposes. Charges of treason were added later.
The four were accused of hatching a plan to set up a militia base to the west of Harare, with the aim of unseating Mr Mugabe's government.
Mr Tomana was accused of obstructing the course of justice by releasing two of the suspects, which he denied.
In 2015, Mr Tomana was convicted of abuse of power after refusing to prosecute a lawmaker with Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF party for raping a child at gunpoint.
He was threatened with 30 days in prison over the matter, but eventually agreed to act.
The legislator, Munyaradzi Kereke, was later convicted of rape and imprisoned.
| Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | June 2017 | ['(BBC)'] |
Divers see bodies in the wreck of the MV Princess of the Stars off the coast of the Philippines, but no sign of survivors. | Philippine rescue divers have found "many bodies" inside the ferry that sank with more than 850 people on board, confirming the worst fears of desperate relatives.
Anxious and angry family members had been clinging to hope their loved ones might still be found alive inside the doomed Princess of the Stars, which capsized and sank Saturday when it got caught in the path of a typhoon.
But with blame flying over how the 24,000-tonne ferry was allowed to set sail with the storm looming, shaken rescue divers said they had discovered the worst when they finally entered the submerged ship on Tuesday.
"We saw 15 bodies trapped in one section of the ship," said coastguard diver Lieutenant Commander Inocencio Rosario.
"The bodies are floating inside," he said, adding that most of them were not wearing life jackets.
"Two men were on the bridge, wearing the Sulpicio Lines uniform. One was holding the radio. He must have been an officer," Rosario said.
Passage through the ship was hampered by fallen furniture, equipment and broken glass, he said, adding that they did not have enough underwater
flashlights or batteries to dive for long.
The vessel is sitting upside down on a coral reef off San Fernando, Sibuyan Island, with most of the bottom of its hull protruding from the water.
At least three bodies were removed from the ship and placed in cadaver bags aboard a coast guard vessel, said an AFP reporter at the scene.
Philippine civil defence chief Anthony Golez said 57 people, some of whom made it onto lifeboats, survived the sinking - one of the worst maritime disasters in the country's history.
But many passengers reportedly had little time to react when the vessel, trapped when Typhoon Fengshen suddenly changed path, began tilting and then quickly capsized off the central island of Sibuyan.
The ferry reportedly developed engine trouble while trying to make it to safety.
There have been reports from local officials of dozens of survivors being found on nearby islands, but the coastguard said they had yet to confirm the accounts.
Vice-President Noli de Castro, who inspected the recovery operations on Tuesday, said they still hoped that survivors might be found in an air pocket inside the ship.
But he warned that rescue efforts would have to proceed slowly to avoid fuel leaking. Oil spill booms were seen being set up around the sunken vessel.
A US navy supply ship and a maritime patrol plane have joined the search, and the local military said the Americans had deployed an unmanned aerial vehicle to hunt for survivors.
The tragedy was the fourth for Sulpicio Lines since 1987, when the Dona Paz collided with a tanker and sank, killing more than 4,000 people.
The government slapped an immediate ban on Sulpicio's vessels from leaving port on Monday, though the company said it was still selling tickets because it had not been formally notified of the move.
Sulpicio is one of the largest ferry operators in the Philippines, where people are heavily dependent on ferries to get around the country's more than 7,000 islands.
"We are at a loss as to what really happened," vice president Sally Buaron said.
She said the captain, Florenio Marino, sent a distress call moments before giving the order to abandon ship.
"As long as there's small hope that there is an indication that people are still in the waters, we will continue to search," Golez said.
Another ship, the transport vessel Lake Paoay, went down in the same area during the storm on Saturday, leaving three dead and 17 missing.
Officials were trying to make sure they do not mix the survivors or casualties from the different vessels when accounting for those on the Princess
of the Stars.
President Gloria Arroyo on Monday ordered the coastguard to review sailing guidelines, especially those relating to typhoons.
Aside from the ferry disaster, possibly the worst in the Philippines in over 20 years, at least 155 people were killed, largely by drowning, in a torrent of floods in the south and centre of the archipelago, according to the Red Cross.
The sixth typhoon to hit the archipelago this year badly damaged the country's already shoddy infrastructure, washing away thousands of homes as well as roads and bridges.
| Shipwreck | June 2008 | ['(Reuters via The Age)'] |
The United States Trump administration and the government of Israel announce their plans to withdraw as members of UNESCO. , | The United States will withdraw from UNESCO at the end of next year, the State Department said Thursday, to stop accumulating unpaid dues and make a stand on what it said is anti-Israel bias at the U.N.’s educational, science and cultural organization.
In notifying UNESCO of the decision Thursday morning, the State Department said it would like to remain involved as a nonmember observer state. That will allow the United States to engage in debates and activities, though it will lose its right to vote on issues.
The withdrawal follows long-standing issues the U.S. has had with UNESCO and does not necessarily foreshadow a further retrenchment of U.S. engagement with the United Nations, where the Trump administration has been pushing to bring about structural and financial reforms.
“This is pragmatic, not a grander political signal,” said John McArthur, a fellow in the Global Economy and Development program at the Brookings Institution and an adviser to the United Nations Foundation.
The most immediate impact is that the U.S. will halt the arrears it has run up since it stopped funding the organization in 2011 to protest UNESCO’s admission of Palestine as a full member. By the end of this calendar year, the unpaid U.S. bill will amount to $550 million. With no sign that U.S. concerns would be addressed, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson decided to pull out after Dec. 31, 2018, when the unpaid balance will top $600 million.
State Department officials said they hope the withdrawal will help push UNESCO to make changes that would satisfy Washington so the U.S. can resume full membership.
“It sends a strong message that we need to see fundamental reform in the organization, and it raises everyone’s awareness about continued anti-Israel bias,” said one official, speaking on condition of anonymity under department ground rules.
The United States helped found the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization after World War II, but has been at odds with it in recent years. State Department officials cited a 2012 decision not to expel Syria from its human rights committee after the civil war in that country began, and repeated resolutions that refer to Israel as an occupying power.
Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., said the last straw was when UNESCO this summer designated the old city of Hebron in the West Bank, with its Tomb of the Patriarchs, a Palestinian World Heritage site.
Calling UNESCO’s politicization a “chronic embarrassment,” Haley added, “Just as we said in 1984 when President Reagan withdrew from UNESCO, U.S. taxpayers should no longer be on the hook to pay for policies that are hostile to our values and make a mockery of justice and common sense.”
Haley said the United States will evaluate all U.N. agencies “through the same lens.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the decision to leave UNESCO “brave” and “moral.” Other Israeli officials, from both left and right, also praised the decision. Netanyahu said he had instructed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to prepare for Israel’s withdrawal as well.
“UNESCO has become a theater of the absurd because, instead of preserving history, it distorts it,” he said in a statement.
Irina Bokova, director-general of UNESCO, expressed “profound regret” over the decision.
“At the time when the fight against violent extremism calls for renewed investment in education, in dialogue among cultures to prevent hatred, it is deeply regrettable that the United States should withdraw from the United Nations leading these issues,” she said in a statement, calling it a “loss for multilateralism.”
The withdrawal marks another decision by the Trump administration to distance itself from the international community.
“The continued retrenchment of the U.S. administration from active participation in international diplomacy efforts and dialogue is deeply concerning to the scientific community,” said Rush Holt, head of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
UNESCO is perhaps best known for the World Heritage program, which helps maintain major cultural sites around the globe. But it runs a wide range of international programs. It trains Afghan police officers how to read and write, and is the only U.N. agency that has a program to teach the history of the Holocaust.
The withdrawal decision comes as UNESCO members are voting on a replacement for Bokova. Qatar’s Hamad bin Abdulaziz al-Kawari is leading France’s Audrey Azoulay and Egyptian hopeful Moushira Khattab in the first voting rounds. Israeli officials and American Jewish groups have expressed concerns about Kawari for what they have said is a record of fostering anti-Semitism.
UNESCO was established to help promote global cooperation around the flow of ideas, culture and information. UNESCO’s mission includes programs to improve access to education, preserve cultural heritage, improve gender equality and promote scientific advances and freedom of expression.
After the 1984 withdrawal, for what was described as pro-Soviet Union bias, the U.S. didn’t rejoin until 2002 when the George W. Bush administration said it wanted to emphasize a message of international cooperation. “America will participate fully in its mission to advance human rights, tolerance and learning,” Bush said at the time.
Tensions have returned in recent years. Israel recalled its ambassador to the Paris-based organization last year after some governments supported a resolution that denounced Israel’s policies on religious sites in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
Bokova said the partnership between the United States and UNESCO “has never been so meaningful,” despite the withholding of U.S. funding.
“Together, we have worked to protect humanity’s shared cultural heritage in the face of terrorist attacks and to prevent violent extremism through education and media literacy,” she said.
She added: “The American poet, diplomat and Librarian of Congress, Archibald MacLeish, penned the lines that open UNESCO’s 1945 Constitution: ‘Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed.’ This vision has never been more relevant.”
| Withdraw from an Organization | October 2017 | ['(The Washington Post)', '(BBC)'] |
In Taiwan, thousands of mourners attend the funeral of reputed gangster Hsu Hai–ching. | Hsu Hai Ching, who died in April aged 93, was known as the "Ultimate Arbitrator" because of his skill in settling gangland disputes.
Members of the island's four major criminal gangs, sporting black shirts and tattoos, joined the procession.
Local media carried reports on Hsu's life, describing his rise from a Taipei market and his ties with politicians.
More than 100 police were deployed for the funeral but gang leaders promised there would be no trouble - calling it a "Peace Day of Gangs".
Taiwanese television said the island's main criminal organisations - Bamboo Union, Pine Union, Four Seas and the Heavenly Way Gang - had taken advantage of the event to show their strength.
Crime bosses from Japan's yakuza, Hong Kong and Macau also attended the funeral, according to news agency AFP.
Hsu is said to have started his illegal activities in a Taipei market and built close links with political figures during his time as a deputy of the Taipei city council.
"He was trusted by everybody. He was very fair in settling disputes," Kuo Wen-ching, a close aide to Hsu, told reporters. | Famous Person - Death | May 2005 | ['(TaiwanNews)', '(Taipei Times)', '(BBC)'] |
At least 63 members of the US military have died in the War in Afghanistan during July 2010 making it the deadliest month for US forces in the history of the war. | Three US troops died in blasts in Afghanistan, bringing the military death toll for July to at least 63 and surpassing the previous month's record as the deadliest for American forces in the nearly nine-year-old war.
The three died in two blasts in southern Afghanistan the day before, a Nato statement said today. No names or nationalities were given, but US officials said the three were Americans.
US and Nato commanders had warned that casualties would rise as the international military force ramped up the war against the Taliban, especially in the organisation's southern strongholds in Helmand and Kandahar provinces.
President Barack Obama ordered 30,000 US reinforcements to Afghanistan last December in an effort to turn back the resurgent Taliban.
British and Afghan troops launched an offensive today in the Sayedebad area of Helmand to try to deny insurgents a base from which to launch attacks in Nad Ali and Marjah, the British military said. Coalition and Afghan troops have sought to solidify control of Marjah after overrunning the poppy-farming community five months ago.
In Kabul, a crowd threw stones and set fire to a 4x4 car after a traffic accident today in which two Afghans were killed and two were injured, according to a traffic official, Abdul Saboor. The vehicles are associated with foreigners. Saboor said people from the 4x4 fled the scene.
The tally of 63 American deaths in July is based on military reports compiled by Associated Press. June had been the deadliest month for both the US and the overall Nato-led force; last month 104 international service members died, including 60 Americans.
The American deaths this month include Petty Officer 2nd Class Justin McNeley, from Kingman, Arizona, and Petty Officer 3rd Class Jarod Newlove, 25, from the Seattle area. The sailors went missing last week in Logar province south of Kabul, and the Taliban announced they were holding one. McNeley's body was recovered there on Sunday, and Newlove's body was pulled from a river Wednesday evening, officials said. The Taliban offered no explanation for Newlove's death, but Afghan officials speculated that he had died of wounds when the pair were ambushed by the Taliban.
The discovery of Newlove's body deepened the mystery of the men's disappearance nearly 60 miles from their base in Kabul. US authorities remained at a loss to explain what two junior enlisted men in noncombat jobs were doing driving alone in Logar, much of which is not under government control. Senior military officials in Washington said the sailors had not been assigned anywhere near where their bodies were found.
Samer Gul, chief of Logar's Charkh district, said the sailors, in a four-wheel drive armored SUV, were seen on Friday a week ago, by a guard working for the district chief's office. The guard tried to flag down the vehicle, carrying a driver and a passenger, but it kept going, Gul said. | Armed Conflict | July 2010 | ['(The Guardian)'] |
At least 56 people have been killed and more than a million forced from their homes as Typhoon Lekima hits eastern China. | China's largest video-streaming platform has apologised after it mistakenly said a typhoon had killed everyone in Shandong province - home to around 99 million people.
Tencent Video made the error in a push notification about Typhoon Lekima, sent to subscribers on Monday. It later corrected the death toll for the province to five.
The nationwide death toll from the typhoon had reached 56 by Wednesday, according to official media reports.
In its mistaken push notification on Monday, Tencent cited the Shandong Emergency Response Office as saying: "Typhoon Lekima has left the entire province dead, seven people are missing." The company later posted a statement expressing regret on Weibo, the Chinese social media platform, and blamed the error on "editorial mistakes". It apologised for any harm caused, and promised to review its work practices.
Tencent Video had 89 million subscribers at the start of 2019, according to a financial report released in May.
Typhoon Lekima hit eastern China in the early hours of Saturday, and swept through the provinces of Zhejiang, Shandong and Anhui over the weekend.
Around two million people were forced to leave their homes, China's Ministry of Emergency Management said, and more than 1,000 flights were cancelled.
State media said weekend rainfall levels in Shandong were the highest since records began in 1952.
Screenshots showing the Tencent message were widely shared on Weibo, where many were less than forgiving. "Where are your editorial standards? It's a major natural disaster situation, how could you get something like this wrong?" said one commenter. "Are you crazy Tencent? Sending out a [notification] like this has serious consequences," another posted.
Others made light of the error, however.
"I live in Shandong," said one commenter. "Tencent is really amazing, I didn't even know I died." Census data from 2016 showed that Shandong is home to 99.4 million residents. Chinese censor calls Tencent app 'vulgar'
One million evacuated as deadly typhoon hits China
Death toll rises as typhoon moves up China coast
Buildings swept away in China typhoon
| Hurricanes_Tornado_Storm_Blizzard | August 2019 | ['(BBC)'] |
The United States Department of State renews the contract of Blackwater Worldwide to provide security in Iraq despite a number of ongoing investigations. | Although it has been accused of tax fraud, improper use of force, arms trafficking and overbilling, the Blackwater firm will have its $1.2 billion contract for private security in Iraq renewed by the State Department, a spokesman confirmed Friday.
The one-year extension, worth an estimated $240 million, was requested by officials at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, two sources close to the arrangement tell ABC News.
Meanwhile, a grand jury, federal prosecutors and congressional investigators are probing a host of allegations against the company.
The grand jury is reportedly investigating whether Blackwater security guards used excessive force in killing 13 Iraqi civilians in a violent incident in central Baghdad last September. At the time, many speculated the incident would effectively end the firm's work for the State Department when its contract came up for renewal in May 2008.
Federal prosecutors are probing allegations that Blackwater personnel smuggled weapons, night-vision scopes and other sensitive material into Iraq. The firm has denied any involvement in such a scheme.
A congressional panel is investigating whether the company illegally dodged millions in taxes by misclassifying its employees as "independent contractors." The allegation, Blackwater spokeswoman Anne Tyrrell said at the time, was "incorrect."
And a State Department investigation in 2005 found Blackwater sometimes double-billed employees' time, resulting in "duplication of profit."
Blackwater has more than 850 personnel in Iraq under contract to the U.S. government in Iraq. | Sign Agreement | April 2008 | ['(ABC News)'] |
The Boston Bruins defeat the Vancouver Canucks 5–2 to force the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals into a seventh game. | BOSTON - The Boston Bruins [team stats] put Roberto Luongo and the Stanley Cup back on the shelf.
After another home scoring spree against Vancouver’s wildly inconsistent goalie Monday night, the Bruins are making one last trip west for the big finish to these dramatic Stanley Cup finals.
Brad Marchand, Milan Lucic and Andrew Ference scored in the first 8:35 to chase Luongo from his second straight game in Boston, and the Bruins emphatically evened the finals with a 5-2 victory in Game 6, sending the series to a decisive Game 7 in Vancouver on Wednesday night.
For the sixth time in the last 10 seasons, the finals have been stretched to their limit. The home team hasn’t lost in this series, with Vancouver winning three one-goal games and Boston posting three blowout victories.
"I’m proud of the guys," said Mark Recchi, who had three assists. "We had our backs to the wall, we’ve been resilient all year, and we came out and had a great first period and did what we had to do tonight, and it comes down to Game 7. It’s one game now."
League MVP Henrik Sedin scored his first point of the finals with a late power-play goal for the Canucks, who flopped in their first attempt to win their franchise’s first championship. Maxim Lapierre also scored in the third period for the Canucks, who will get one last try at a Rogers Arena filled with worried Vancouverites hoping their maddening team can come through.
Tim Thomas made 36 saves for the Bruins, giving up two third-period goals while burnishing his credentials for the Conn Smythe Trophy as Boston moved one win away from its first championship since 1972.
"He’s been in his zone through the whole playoffs," Boston coach Claude Julien said. "You can barely count on one hand the bad goals he’s given up in the whole playoffs. We all know that teams that have won the Stanley Cup have had unbelievable goaltending. We feel like we’ve got that."
Thomas has given up just eight goals in six games in a virtuoso performance in the finals - but the spotlight in Game 6 was trained squarely on the other net.
After Luongo led Vancouver to the brink of a title with a stellar performance in a 1-0 victory Friday, the Canucks hoped to celebrate in Boston. The Bruins canceled that Garden party with yet another stunning barrage of goals against Luongo, who was ventilated for 15 goals in just over 4˝ periods in Boston.
"You can’t hang your head and feel sorry for yourself," Luongo said. "That’s the worst thing I could do. ... I had a good feeling all day. Before the series started, I said I enjoyed playing in this building. Just got to move on right now. Got to believe in myself, right?"
Boston even set a finals record with four goals in 4:14 while chasing Luongo and welcoming his backup, Cory Schneider, with a quick goal from Michael Ryder.
Vancouver coach Alain Vigneault wasted no time confirming Luongo will start Game 7 in Vancouver, where he already has two shutouts in the series.
"I don’t have to say anything to him," Vigneault said. "He’s a profesional. His preparation is beyond reproach, and he’s going to be ready for Game 7. ... It happened. There’s nothing we can do about it. We’ve already turned the page on that, and we’re going back home."
The Bruins are one win away from their Original Six franchise’s first championship since 1972. Boston has lost its last five trips to the finals since, never even reaching a seventh game - but the Bruins can hang another banner in the Garden rafters with one road win.
And the Bruins have ample experience in Game 7. They’ve already played two in these playoffs, beating Montreal in the first round and Tampa Bay in the Eastern Conference finals - but both of those games were at home, where Boston finished the postseason with 10 wins in its last 11 games. | Sports Competition | June 2011 | ['(AP via Boston Herald)'] |
Alaskan Senator Ted Stevens is found guilty on all seven counts of lying on United States Senate financial documents. | WASHINGTON (AP) — Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens has been convicted of lying about free home renovations and other gifts he received from a wealthy oil contractor.
The Senate's longest-serving Republican, Stevens was found guilty on all seven counts of making false statements on Senate financial documents.
The verdict throws the upcoming election into disarray. Stevens is fighting off a challenge from Democrat Mark Begich and must now either drop out or continue campaigning as a convicted felon.
The trial hinged on the testimony of Stevens' longtime friend, who testified that his employees dramatically remodeled the senator's home.
Stevens faces up to five years in prison on each count but, under federal sentencing guidelines, will likely receive much less prison time, if any.
The jury has been beset by problems since deliberations began Wednesday. Courthouse spokesman Sheldon Snook said the panel sent a note Monday. Attorneys for both sides were called back to court Monday for a reading of the note.
Court officials were also testing the jury microphone, which is normally reserved for the reading of verdicts.
The ambiguity of the note's description, though, apparently leaves open the possibility that jurors have been unable to reach a unanimous verdict. If so, the judge likely would send them back to continue deliberating.
In a tight election year, the verdict has the potential to alter the nation's political landscape. The Senate's longest-serving Republican is fending off an aggressive Democratic challenger. If Stevens is convicted, it would hurt his chance of keeping a seat he's held for generations. And it could push Democrats toward a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate.
Stevens is charged with lying on Senate financial forms about $250,000 in home renovations and other gifts he received from an oil contractor.
Stevens spent three days on the witness stand, vehemently denying that allegation. He said his wife, Catherine, paid every bill they received.
Stevens faces up to five years in prison on each count, but under federal sentencing guidelines, he would likely receive much less prison time, if any.
Stevens' trial hinged on the testimony of Bill Allen, the senator's longtime drinking and fishing buddy. Allen, the founder of VECO, testified that he never billed his friend for the extensive work on the house and that Stevens knew he was getting a deal.
Stevens is a legendary figure in Alaska, where he has wielded political influence since before statehood. His knack for steering billions of dollars in federal money to his home state has drawn praise from his constituents and consternation from budget hawks. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | October 2008 | ['(AP via Google News)'] |
Pussy Riot activist Pyotr Verzilov states on Twitter that he is recovering after spending two weeks at Charité in the intensive care unit from a suspected poisoning. | Updated on: September 25, 2018 / 12:57 PM
/ CBS/AP
MOSCOW -- A member of the Russian protest group Pussy Riot said he is recovering after spending two weeks in intensive care from a suspected poisoning. Pyotr Verzilov tweeted Tuesday that he only fully regained consciousness three days ago after being in a "black hole" for the previous 12 days.
He added he was "spending days in the great company of wonderful poisons."
Verzilov, who also has Canadian citizenship, has been at Berlin's Charite hospital since arriving from Moscow, where he was previously treated. Dr. Kai-Uwe Eckardt, who heads the hospital's intensive care department, said last week he expected Verzilov to make a full recovery and hopefully suffer no permanent damage.
In a statement issued last week, Pussy Riot member Nadia Tolokonnikova said Verzilov was "dizzy and confused." "He remembers his friends and relatives, but he does not understand that he's in Germany, that he's in a hospital and there are doctors around him, not prison wardens. 'Are you the director of the prison?', Peter asked yesterday to the head of the hospital," according to Tolokonnikova.
German doctors treating Verzilov said last week that reports he was poisoned are "highly plausible," but stressed they can't say how this might have occurred or who was responsible.
Tolokonnikova told The Associated Press that Verzilov could have been poisoned because of his investigation into the killing of Russian journalists in the Central African Republic. The journalists were killed in an ambush in July while investigating a Russian military contractor and Russia's interests in the African country's mining industry. Verzilov was among four Pussy Riot protesters who barged onto the field during the soccer World Cup final in Moscow in July. They ran onto the pitch at Luzhniki Stadium dressed as police officers during the second half of the match between France and Croatia. They used the protest to call for the release of political prisoners in Russia and for more open political competition.
The members of the punk protest collective were handed 15 day jail sentences for their stunt. A Russian court sentenced them after finding them guilty of violating the law on behavior of sports events spectators. They were also banned from attending sports events for three years.
First published on September 25, 2018 / 12:16 PM
© 2018 | Famous Person - Recovered | September 2018 | ['(CBS News)'] |
The New South Wales Police Force arrests 11 climate-change activists who attach themselves to coal-loading equipment at Carrington in Newcastle, New South Wales. | Police have made 11 arrests after climate change activists attached themselves to coal loading equipment at a Newcastle coal terminal this morning.
The activists, from a group called People for Climate Action Now, used chains and locks to fasten themselves by the neck to four coal reclaimers at the Carrington coal terminal.
This follows a similar action in Victoria yesterday, when protesters broke into the Loy Yang power station and locked themselves to coal conveyor belts, disrupting power generation for seven hours.
Police were called to the Carrington terminal at 8am today, after reports that eight protesters had jumped over a fence to enter the terminal, a police spokeswoman said.
"Several protesters chained themselves by the neck to a coal loader ... [and] a number of others have been arrested," she said.
A spokeswoman for the activists, Nicky Ison, said 20 activists entered the premises this morning but only five chained themselves to coal loading equipment.
All five were under the age of 23, and four were women, she said.
"They are locked on to the coal reclaimers, which take the coal from stockpiles and move it on to ships," Ms Ison said.
Those arrested included the five who were chained to the coal loaders, she said.
The activists were protesting against the "lack of action ... against climate change" by world leaders gathered for this week's Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation summit, she said.
Carrington coal terminal was targeted because it was one of the world's largest coal ports, she said.
"We are here to protest [against] the Bush and Howard climate change agenda, which will see no real action on climate change, no binding emissions target and will push a coal and nuclear agenda," she said.
Ms Ison said she was "definitely inspired" by yesterday's protests in Victoria but said the two protests were not "co-ordinated together".
Management at Port Waratah Coal Services, which operates the Carrington coal terminal, described the protest as "grossly irresponsible".
"We respect the right to protest, but also warn that trespassing at dangerous industrial sites presents obvious risks to the safety and lives of protesters, PWCS employees and police," PWCS general manager Graham Davidson said. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Arrest | September 2007 | ['(Sydney Morning Herald)'] |
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and U.S. President Donald Trump hold a joint press conference at the White House. Merkel states she believes that there can be a bilateral trade deal between the European Union and the United States. | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday she could see negotiating a bilateral trade deal between the European Union and the United States, saying the World Trade Organization has been unable to deliver multilateral agreements.
“We want trade that is in line with the multilateral trading system of (the) WTO, but we also acknowledge that for many, many years (the) WTO has not been able to bring about international agreements,” she said at a joint news conference with U.S. President Donald Trump.
“So, I could well envisage such (bilateral) negotiations with the United States,” she added.
Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Writing by Tim Ahmann; Editing by Steve Orlofsky
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
| Diplomatic Talks _ Diplomatic_Negotiation_ Summit Meeting | April 2018 | ['(Reuters)', '(UPI)'] |
Voters in Spain go to the polls for a general election, with the centre–right Popular Party winning a parliamentary majority. | Spain's centre-right Popular Party (PP) has won a resounding victory in a parliamentary election dominated by the country's deep debt crisis.
With almost all the votes counted, the PP, led by Mariano Rajoy, is assured of a clear majority in the lower chamber.
The Socialist Party, which has governed Spain since 2004, has admitted defeat.
Mr Rajoy, who is expected to tackle the country's debts amid slow growth and high unemployment, said he was aware of the "magnitude of the task ahead".
He told supporters there would be "no miracle" to restore Spain to financial health, and that the country must unite to win back respect in Europe.
"Forty-six million Spaniards are going to wage a battle against the crisis," said the 56-year-old PP leader.
The PP won about 44% of the votes and the Socialists 29% in Sunday's election, according to near-complete official results.
The PP is expected to take about 186 of the 350 seats in the lower house. As the results were announced, jubilant, flag-waving supporters danced outside party headquarters in central Madrid.
Socialist Party spokesman Jose Blanco congratulated the PP on its victory.
The BBC's Sarah Rainsford in Madrid says the right is headed for its biggest win since the end of the Franco dictatorship in 1975.
Parliament is expected to meet next month to confirm Mr Rajoy as the new prime minister.
The new government will have little time to show results and people are bracing themselves for a new wave of spending cuts, our correspondent adds.
Over the past week, borrowing rates have risen to the 7% level which is regarded as unsustainable. Unemployment stands at five million.
Miguel Arias, the Popular Party's campaign co-ordinator, said Spain was "going to make all the sacrifices".
"We have been living as a very rich country," he told BBC News.
"People are used to a very high level of public services and it takes time to them to acknowledge the realisation that we now are a poor country, that we have lots of debts and in order to pay them back we must reduce public expenditure and then we must recover the confidence of the markets." Outgoing Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero was not standing again at this election.
His successor as party leader, Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba, has accused Mr Rajoy of planning severe cuts to health and education.
"Spain is at a historic crossroads," he told reporters in Madrid.
Correspondents say many are angry with the Socialists for allowing the economy to deteriorate and then for introducing tough austerity measures.
Spain's is the third Eurozone government in as many weeks whose fall has been attributed to the debt crisis.
The socialists in Greece and Silvio Berlusconi's Italian conservatives have also been swept from power.
Earlier this year, the governments of debt-stricken Ireland and Portugal also fell.
| Government Job change - Election | November 2011 | ['(AP via MSNBC)', '(BBC)'] |
A 7.8 magnitude earthquake strikes off the coast of Makira in the Solomon Islands, causing infrastructure damage, yet no casualties have been reported in the hours following the quake. | Residents in Solomon Islands were hit by powerful aftershocks following a magnitude-7.8 earthquake which struck 130 kilometres from the capital Honiara.
Authorities are starting to receive reports of damage from the earthquake, with police saying they had been told 35 houses were damaged on the island of Makira, including the police barracks at the provincial capital Kirakira.
The quake triggered widespread tsunami warnings across the Pacific, before the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre (PTWC) said the threat had largely passed.
Most of the buildings damaged were reportedly traditional-style houses. As yet, there are no confirmed reports of casualties.
Edith Hanuagi
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said Australia was ready to provide any support once requested.
"The Australian Government has in place pre-positioned supplies for shelter, water, sanitation, food," Ms Bishop said.
"If they're required we can work with the local authorities and with the government of Solomon Islands to provide that."
Authorities are still waiting to hear from a helicopter sent to Makira to survey the island.
Kirakira resident Edith Haunagi, said there was some damage when the quake struck.
"Everybody got up from their beds and everybody ran out from their houses and at the same time everybody moved up to the hillside while it was still shaking, a few of the houses here fell this morning.," Ms Haunagi said.
"Two of the buildings here in Kirakira fell right down to the ground and most of the things in the shops were damaged and people were scared.
"They were running here and there trying to find their kids."
Ms Haunagi said she had contacted people on the southern side of the island, closest to the quake.
"They have said there was a sea rise this morning after the earthquake and a few houses were damaged," she said.
A tsunami can be triggered by any event that disrupts the sea floor in some way. So, what exactly are they and how are they monitored?
"People ran up to the hillside. There were no reports of deaths but there were reports of damage to properties and buildings that were close to the beach." The PTWC said local government agencies would continue to monitor any potential threat.
The monitoring body had said tsunami waves of between one and three metres above the tide level were possible along some coasts of Solomon Islands, while waves of between 0.3 and one metre were forecast for some coasts of Papua New Guinea.
The quake struck at 4:38am AEDT at a depth of roughly 48 kilometres, USGS said — it was initially reported to be of magnitude-8.0.
Loti Yates from the National Disaster Management Office in the capital Honiara told Radio Australia's Pacific Beat program there had been reports of houses collapsing due to the quake.
"Already there [is] information coming in from Makira as well as parts of Solomon Islands not within the tsunami threat area, [that] confirm some dwellings, houses etc have been collapsed due to the shake," he said.
The ABC's decision to end Radio Australia's shortwave service has raised questions about who will fill the void.
Mr Yates said poor communication infrastructure had made it hard to assess the immediate impact in Makira.
"[One community] that has been in touch with us said they are calling from up the hills, which is good, they activated their own emergency plans and know what to do, so we are happy.
"The warning has been issued ... at this stage, communication difficulties are hampering our ability to get clear information."
He told the Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation there had been reports of landslides in Temotu and Makira provinces.
Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation journalist Georgina Kekea said locals in Honiara had taken to higher ground as a precaution. "People here have been woken up by the earthquake, so it's been quite a hectic morning for us," Ms Kekea said.
"Just people running with their belongings, with their kids and all that to the main road, [trying] to get away as far from the coast as possible in fear of a tsunami."
Australian authorities said there was no risk to its coastlines, while the New Zealand Civil Defence office said it had cancelled the country's tsunami threat.
| Earthquakes | December 2016 | ['(ABC News)'] |
Haiti's presidential run–off candidates are named. They are former First Lady Mirlande Manigat and popular singer Michel Martelly. | Haiti's presidential run-off will be between former First Lady Mirlande Manigat and popular singer Michel Martelly, election officials say.
The ruling, which came after a night of deliberations, means that government-backed candidate Jude Celestin is out of the 20 March run-off.
Initial results from November's first round put Mr Celestin through, sparking days of unrest in the Caribbean nation.
International monitors said there had been widespread fraud in his favour. Under sustained international pressure, the ruling party, Inite, withdrew Mr Celestin from the race, but the candidate himself has been refusing to confirm that he will not take part. The second round was supposed to take place last month, but was postponed because of the dispute.
There have been calls, including from some of the other defeated candidates, that the election should be scrapped and a new one held.
Haiti's electoral commission made the long-awaited announcement about the run-off on Thursday. The commission earlier confirmed that Mrs Manigat had won the first round of the election held on 28 November.
However, until Thursday's ruling preliminary results had given Mr Celestin a narrow lead over Mr Martelly, triggering protests by Mr Martelly's supporters who complained of vote-rigging. Incumbent President Rene Preval then had to call in a team of international monitors who found widespread fraud in Mr Celestin's favour and recommended that he withdraw. Mr Preval's mandate formally ends on 7 February but he has parliamentary approval to stay in office until 14 May. The recent political uncertainty has added to Haiti's problems as it tries to recover from last year's devastating earthquake as well as a cholera outbreak.
On Wednesday, banks, shops and schools around the country closed early to allow people to go home amid fears of further unrest.
So far there have been no reports of any violence.
The situation in the country has also been complicated by last month's surprise return from exile of former leader Jean-Claude Duvalier. Baby Doc, as he is widely known, now faces corruption and human rights abuse charges relating to his 1971-86 rule. He has denied any wrongdoing.
In another development, the government has now said it is ready to issue former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide a passport, opening the way for his possible return. Mr Aristide, the first democratically elected president of Haiti, was ousted seven years ago and has been living in exile in South Africa. His party, Fanmi Lavalas, was barred from standing in the latest presidential and legislative elections, allegedly due to technical errors in its application forms. | Government Job change - Election | February 2011 | ['(BBC)', '(Reuters)'] |
A Camair-Co plane is fired upon while attempting to land at Bamenda Airport, but the pilot manages to safely land the plane with no casualties reported. | A Cameroon Airlines passenger plane came under fire while approaching an airport in the country’s restive English-speaking region on Sunday.
The aircraft was preparing to land in Bamenda airport in Cameroon’s Northwest Region when it was attacked by gunmen.
The pilot managed to land the plane safely and there were no casualties, the airline said in a statement. “Thanks to the bravery of the captain, the aircraft was able to land smoothly despite the impact on its fuselage,” it said. Cameroon Airlines is assessing the damage to the plane.
Separatist insurgents in the English-speaking west of Cameroon have been fighting the army since 2017, seeking to establish a breakaway state called Ambazonia. | Armed Conflict | December 2019 | ['(RT)'] |
The Swedish Foreign Ministry summons the Chinese ambassador after the Chinese government sentences bookseller and Swedish citizen Gui Minhai to ten years in prison for espionage. | STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Sweden’s foreign ministry on Tuesday summoned China’s ambassador to Sweden to demand the release Chinese-born Swedish citizen Gui Minhai, a day after he was sentenced to 10 years in jail on charges of illegally providing intelligence to foreigners.
“We have summoned China’s ambassador to our cabinet secretary and again demanded the release of, and consular access to, our citizen,” a foreign ministry spokesman told Reuters.
Gui, a bookseller previously based in Hong Kong who sold books critical of China’s political leadership, was detained by mainland police in 2018.
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | February 2020 | ['(Reuters)'] |
Pakistan announces that it would ban Chinese app TikTok after it did not take down "immoral and indecent" content on the platform. The government kept the door open for a return of TikTok, saying "it is open for engagement" and would review its decision if TikTok develops a mechanism to moderate this content. | ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan blocked the Chinese social media app TikTok, saying the company failed to fully comply with the instructions to develop an effective mechanism to control unlawful content.
In a statement, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority said Friday that it took the step after receiving complaints against “immoral and indecent” content on the video-sharing platform.
The PTA said that keeping in view the complaints and nature of the content being consistently posted on TikTok, the company was issued a final notice and given considerable time to respond and comply with instructions and guidelines. But TikTok “failed to fully comply with PTA’s instructions,” after which the authority decided to ban it in Pakistan. Shortly after the ban, the app began to show a blank interface with no text or images loading. Pakistan has close relations with China.
The telecommunication authority kept the door open for a return of TikTok, saying “it is open for engagement” and would review its decision if TikTok develops a mechanism to moderate the content.
It has been a target of several complaints and court petitions calling for its ban in Pakistan. In July, PTA said it had issued a “final warning” to TikTok to remove “obscene and immoral content.” Pakistani TikTok celebrity Hareem Shah, who has over four million followers on the app, said the government’s reasons for the ban on the popular Chinese video-sharing platform were “unfounded”.
“This talk of it being a platform for ‘indecent/immoral content’ is completely unfounded,” she said speaking with the press in the city of Karachi.
She added that such government actions could lead to further encroachment on creative liberties in the country.
“It is a very good app for entertainment. It showcases the talent of the youth of Pakistan in front of the whole world,” she said of TikTok. The video-sharing app, which is owned by China’s ByteDance, is the third-most downloaded app over the past year after WhatsApp and Facebook and has been downloaded almost 39 million times in Pakistan. | Government Policy Changes | October 2020 | ['(AP)'] |
A highway is closed and power is shut off in parts of Helmand Province amidst brutal fighting in which 71 Taliban fighters have been killed and the deputy shadow governor of Helmand, Mawlawi Ghafoor, has been arrested. The governor's office says that Ghafoor was recently released as part of peace negotiations. | At least "71 Taliban" were killed fighting in Nawa and Nahr-e-Saraj districts of Helmand province, said Tariq Arian, a spokesman for the Ministry of Interior (MoI), on Monday.
However, Arian did not provide further details about the possible Afghan security forces casualties in the clashes.
Also on Monday, a power substation in Helmand was damaged in ongoing fighting in the province, cutting electric power to Kandahar and Helmand, said the provincial head of DABS, Wahidullah Alizai.
Alizai said employees of the substation have been taken captive by the Taliban.
On Sunday night, A military operation involving commandos and air support was carried out in various parts of Helmand province, including the Babaji area and Nad Ali district, said the provincial governor's office.
A member of the provincial council of Helmand said that a number of the security checkpoints around Lashkargah city, capital of the province, have fallen to the Taliban.
The Taliban's designated deputy governor for Helmand, Mawlawi Ghafoor, who reportedly led the recent fighting against govt forces in the province, was arrested by security forces in Nahr-e- Saraj district on Sunday evening, said the Helmand governor's office.
The Helmand governor's office said that Mawlawi Ghafoor was among those prisoners recently released by the Afghan govt as part of the peace process.
On Sunday, heavy clashes occurred on the outskirts of Lashkargah, resulting in the fall of city police district 4 to the Taliban, according a member of the provincial council. Local officials, however, said it was a tactical retreat.
The head of Helmand's provincial council, Ataullah Afghan, said that some parts of Highway 601that connects Lashkargah with Kandahar provincealso fell to militants.
The highway has remained closed to traffic for the last three days following clashes, according to officials and TOLOnews’ Abdullah Hamim.
Other areas that have witnessed clashes between the Afghan forces and the Taliban over the last three days include the Chah Anjir area of Lashkargah and Nad Ali district.
This comes amid the ongoing peace negotiations in Doha. Violence has increased recently amid calls by Afghan and foreign officials for an immediate reduction in violence in the country.
The Taliban's designated deputy governor for Helmand, who reportedly led the recent fighting against government forces in Helmand, was arrested.
At least "71 Taliban" were killed fighting in Nawa and Nahr-e-Saraj districts of Helmand province, said Tariq Arian, a spokesman for the Ministry of Interior (MoI), on Monday.
However, Arian did not provide further details about the possible Afghan security forces casualties in the clashes.
Also on Monday, a power substation in Helmand was damaged in ongoing fighting in the province, cutting electric power to Kandahar and Helmand, said the provincial head of DABS, Wahidullah Alizai.
Alizai said employees of the substation have been taken captive by the Taliban.
On Sunday night, A military operation involving commandos and air support was carried out in various parts of Helmand province, including the Babaji area and Nad Ali district, said the provincial governor's office.
A member of the provincial council of Helmand said that a number of the security checkpoints around Lashkargah city, capital of the province, have fallen to the Taliban.
The Taliban's designated deputy governor for Helmand, Mawlawi Ghafoor, who reportedly led the recent fighting against govt forces in the province, was arrested by security forces in Nahr-e- Saraj district on Sunday evening, said the Helmand governor's office.
The Helmand governor's office said that Mawlawi Ghafoor was among those prisoners recently released by the Afghan govt as part of the peace process.
On Sunday, heavy clashes occurred on the outskirts of Lashkargah, resulting in the fall of city police district 4 to the Taliban, according a member of the provincial council. Local officials, however, said it was a tactical retreat.
The head of Helmand's provincial council, Ataullah Afghan, said that some parts of Highway 601that connects Lashkargah with Kandahar provincealso fell to militants.
The highway has remained closed to traffic for the last three days following clashes, according to officials and TOLOnews’ Abdullah Hamim.
Other areas that have witnessed clashes between the Afghan forces and the Taliban over the last three days include the Chah Anjir area of Lashkargah and Nad Ali district.
This comes amid the ongoing peace negotiations in Doha. Violence has increased recently amid calls by Afghan and foreign officials for an immediate reduction in violence in the country.
. | Armed Conflict | October 2020 | ['(TOLO News)'] |
A C-130 water bomber crashes in southern New South Wales, Australia, while helping control a bushfire. Three American firefighters are killed. | Three US crew members were killed when their Large Air Tanker crashed while fighting a bushfire in southern NSW.
Early Thursday afternoon, the NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) said it had "lost contact" with a Lockheed C-130 Hercules being used in water bombing operations in the Snowy Monaro area.
Firefighters, emergency services and military personnel launched a search and rescue operation and located the wreckage.
However, RFS Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said all the crew members were "tragically" killed.
"[The aircraft] impacted heavily with the ground and initial reports are that there was a large fireball associated with the impact of the plane as it hit the ground," he said.
Commissioner Fitzsimmons said there was no indication on what caused the accident, but the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) was working to determine what happened.
The C-130 was contracted through North American aerial firefighting company Coulson Aviation (USA).
AAP Image: Dan Himbrechts
The company has grounded their Large Air Tankers fleet as a precaution and as "a mark of respect".
The grounding of the water bombers by Coulson Aviation will have an immediate impact on aerial firefighting capacity, Commissioner Fitzsimmons said, but he understood their decision.
As an investigation into the crash begins, here's what we know about the waterbomber and previous incidents involving the same model.
"It's absolutely warranted and I support them 100 per cent," he said.
"They are very mindful of the emotional and psychological effect that such a tragedy will have on the rest of their workforce, not just here in Australia but in North America or Canada."
Commissioner Fitzsimmons said all three occupants on the plane were American firefighters, and he extended his deepest sympathies to their families.
"Our hearts are with all those that are suffering in what is the loss of three remarkable, well respected, crew that have invested so many decades of their life into firefighting," he said.
The RFS said the aircraft was engaged in "routine" water bombing activities at the time of the crash.
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Flight tracking website Flightradar24 showed the flight path for the C-130 suddenly stopping south of Canberra.
According to its flight data, the aircraft departed RAAF Base Richmond, in western Sydney, about 12:05pm.
However, soon after 2pm the aircraft stopped in an area called Peak View, north-east of Cooma.
The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) said the aircraft was brought into Australia in August, 2019 and that it had all the safety approvals required before operating in Australia.
The aviation authority said it had reached out to its US counterpart, the Federal Aviation Authority, about the incident.
CASA said it would "not be taking any action which will affect aerial firefighting operations".
Coulson Aviation said it would be sending a team to Australia as soon as possible.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the crew members onboard," it said in a statement.
In 2017, the NSW Government invested $38 million over four years for three Large Air Tankers to be used in firefighting efforts.
The aircraft are capable of dumping more than 15,000 litres of water or fire retardant at a time.
The death of the three crew members brings the number of firefighters killed during this bushfire season to eight.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian expressed her gratitude to the victims for putting the lives and properties of others before their own safety.
"Today demonstrates the fire season is far from over," she said.
"Today is a reminder of how every single person who is defending life and property is at risk."
The crash occurred as an emergency blaze was burning towards Adaminaby, in the Snowy Monaro region, which has since been downgraded.
A massive grass fire also forced Canberra Airport to cancel all incoming and outgoing flights.
Federal Emergency Management Minister David Littleproud described the crash as an "enormous tragedy" that would rock the firefighting community.
Mr Littleproud said the Government would work to repatriate their bodies to their families as soon as possible.
"The Australian Government and the Australian people feel that tragedy and that grief with them and their families, as they go through this grief and this mourning," he said.
"And we will make sure that whatever needs to be done is done."
Facebook: Jonathan Ariaratnam
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AEST = Australian Eastern Standard Time which is 10 hours ahead of GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) | Air crash | January 2020 | ['(ABC News)'] |
Mexican Federal Police say suspected cartel leader José Antonio Acosta Hernández, who was arrested on Friday, has confessed to ordering the murder of 1,500 people in the country's northern state of Chihuahua. | Police in Mexico say a suspected cartel leader they arrested on Friday has confessed to ordering the murder of 1,500 people in northern Chihuahua state. Jose Antonio Acosta Hernandez, 33, is also suspected of masterminding the attack on a US consulate worker and her husband in Ciudad Juarez last year. Officials say Mr Acosta Hernandez is a key figure in the Juarez cartel. Juarez is Mexico's most violent city, with more than 3,000 murders in 2010.
The suspect, who is better known as El Diego, is accused of being the leader of the La Linea gang, whose members work as hired killers for the Juarez cartel. The cartel controls some of the main drug smuggling routes from Ciudad Juarez into the United States. Police believe El Diego was also behind a car bomb attack which killed four people in the border city, the first such attack in Mexico's spiralling drug-related violence.
Head of Mexico's federal police anti-drug unit Ramon Pequeno said Mr Acosta Hernandez had also admitted to ordering the killing of 15 people, most of them teenagers, at a party in Ciudad Juarez last year. The Mexican government had offered 15m Mexican pesos ($1,275,000; £778,000) for information leading to his arrest. US prosecutors said they wanted to try him in the case of the 2010 killing of US consulate employee Lesley Enriquez, her American husband Arthur Redelfs, and the husband of another consular worker, Jorge Alberto Salcedo. They were shot dead in their car after leaving a social event in the city. Ms Enriquez, 35, was four months pregnant when she died. The couple's seven-month-old daughter survived the attack and was found crying in the back seat. Mr Salcedo was killed in a near-simultaneous drive-by shooting as he drove away from the same event. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Arrest | July 2011 | ['(BBC)'] |
Governor of Khabarovsk Krai Sergey Furgal is arrested by Russian police over a series of murders of several businessmen in 2004 and 2005 in his region, according to the Investigative Committee of Russia. | The governor is accused of being involved in the murders of several businessmen in his region and the surrounding area.
A provincial governor in Russia has been arrested on suspicion of involvement in a string of murders.
Sergei Furgal, the governor of the eastern Khabarovsk region, which borders China, was taken from his home in the region and flown to Moscow.
Furgal is accused of being involved in the murders of several businessmen in 2004 and 2005, according to the Investigative Committee of Russia - the country's top criminal investigation agency.
The governor denies the charges, according to the Tass news agency.
Russian President Vladmir Putin will personally review the case against Furgal and decide whether or not to allow him to continue his duties as Khabarovsk governor, as per Russian law.
Four of Furgal's alleged accomplices were also arrested, according to the Investigative Committee.
Footage of the arrest shown on Russian TV appears to show agents removing the 50-year-old from his car before searching him and bundling him into another vehicle, surrounded by guards in military uniforms.
In 2018, Furgal defeated a Kremlin-backed rival for the governorship and had previously served as a national politician for ten years for the Liberal-Democratic Party.
Vladimir Zhirinovsky, his party's leader, criticised the Investigative Committee, saying it did not need to place Furgal in handcuffs, while hailing him as "the best governor the region ever had".
Alexander Khinshtein, the head of the information and communications committee in Russia's lower house of parliament, said that law enforcement had been aware of Furgal's suspected crimes for some time, adding on Twitter: "I'm not surprised about his arrest. I'm surprised that it happened so late." | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | July 2020 | ['(Sky News)'] |
The Scottish National Party wins an absolute majority in the Scottish elections with a referendum on independence likely. , | The Scottish National Party are preparing for a second term in government in Edinburgh, but this time with an overall majority. SNP leader Alex Salmond said his party's majority win at Holyrood was "a victory for a society and a nation". The party is expected to hold a referendum on Scottish independence towards the end of its term.
With all results in, the SNP had 69 seats, Labour 37, the Tories 15, the Lib Dems five, and others three.
During an address in Edinburgh, Mr Salmond said: "I'll govern for all of the ambitions for Scotland and all the people who imagine that we can live in a better land.
"This party, the Scottish party, the national party, carries your hope. We shall carry it carefully and make the nation proud."
The new intake of MSPs will meet for the first time in the Scottish Parliament on Wednesday.
SNP Finance Minister John Swinney said the party would "assert the Scottish position" in Westminster "in a courteous and effective way" but David Cameron "must understand that we go into those discussions with a much stronger mandate than we have done in the past". "That's why the UK government must pay attention to what the Scottish government is saying," he said.
The SNP took key seats in Labour heartlands and the Liberal Democrat vote also collapsed.
The SNP now has a clear majority of four in the 129-seat Scottish Parliament, enough votes to hold an independence referendum. The Greens returned two MSPs to Holyrood and independent Margo Macdonald was also back.
Labour leader Iain Gray announced he would stand down from the job in the autumn.
Mr Salmond, whose party formed a minority government after the 2007 elections, described the unfolding Holyrood election results as "historic".
Prime Minister David Cameron also offered his congratulations to the SNP leader for an "emphatic win". Among its successes, the SNP won all 10 first-past-the-post seats in the North East and still managed to pick up an additional regional list seat after amassing more than 140,000 votes.
Labour big hitters, including finance spokesman Andy Kerr and former minister Tom McCabe, lost to the SNP in the party's West of Scotland heartland, while, in Glasgow, the SNP won the Anniesland seat with a majority of just seven votes. Mr Gray said he had spoken to Mr Salmond early on Friday to congratulate him on his victory.
He continued: "Labour has lost many talented representatives, and it seems very likely that Labour's new and returning MSPs will play their part in the democratic process in the Scottish Parliament from opposition, but will do so with gusto.
"Labour's MSPs will work constructively with the new Scottish government to create jobs and tackle unemployment wherever we can."
Professor John Curtice of Strathclyde University indicated that Labour appeared to have had its poorest performance in Scotland for at least 80 years. He added it was fairly clear that the party's campaign had "badly misfired" and "badly missed its target".
Mr Gray was only narrowly re-elected as MSP for East Lothian with a majority of 151 votes, while his Lib Dem counterpart, Tavish Scott, also held on to his seat, despite losing 20% of his constituency vote in Shetland.
Scottish Tory leader Annabel Goldie returned to Holyrood on the west of Scotland list. Mr Salmond, who won in Aberdeenshire East with about 64% of the vote, said: "Firstly, I think it demonstrates that Scotland has outgrown negative campaigning.
"I hope after this result we'll see an end to negativity and scaremongering in Scottish politics - no more insults to the intelligence of the Scottish people."
Referring to an SNP forerunner, the National Party of Scotland, he added: "Some 70 years and more later, the SNP can finally say that we have lived up to that accolade as the national party of Scotland.
"We have reached out to every community across this country."
Mr Cameron said he would campaign to keep the UK together, as he congratulated Mr Salmond.
He said: "I passionately believe in our United Kingdom, so I congratulate Alex Salmond on his emphatic win, but I will do everything obviously as British prime minister to work with the first minister of Scotland, as I always do, and treat the Scottish people and the Scottish government with the respect they deserve. "But on the issue of the United Kingdom, if they want to hold a referendum, I will campaign to keep our United Kingdom together, with every single fibre that I have."
The electorate in Scotland - like those throughout the UK - also voted in the referendum on whether the alternative vote should be used for Westminster elections.
The result, which came in at about 1940 BST on Friday, recorded a "no" to the change.
Figures released by the Electoral Commission showed that Scotland recorded the highest turnout of voters - 50.7% - for the referendum in the UK.
Other key moments of the Scottish elections include:
With many deposits lost, Mr Scott said his party's problems were down to the coalition government at Westminster. He said: "What we need to recognise is that the UK coalition did cause our vote to either stay at home or move straight to the SNP.
"People are not happy about us being in the UK coalition and that is what we need to look at and understand." Jackie Baillie, who was re-elected as Labour MSP for Dumbarton, said Labour's defeat in Scotland was "quite considerable". Ms Baillie said it could not have been predicted and was reminiscent of the party's general election defeat in 1983.
"I think we need to pause and reflect and take time to consider what this actually means. There is a complexity here that needs to be understood," she added.
Miss Goldie said the Conservatives were "in good heart" and felt they had got a positive message over to voters.
She added: "We have enjoyed the campaign enormously and certainly the Conservatives have seen evidence that their support is holding firm." | Government Job change - Election | May 2011 | ['(STV)', '(BBC)'] |
The United Nations Security Council approves aid deliveries to northwest Syria through one border crossing with Turkey, a day after its authorization for the six-year-long humanitarian operation ended. Russia and China abstain today on this week's fifth attempt to approve this help. | NEW YORK (Reuters) - The United Nations Security Council on Saturday approved aid deliveries to Syria through one border crossing from Turkey, a day after its authorization for the six-year-long humanitarian operation ended, leaving millions of Syrian civilians in limbo.
The United Nations describes the aid delivered from Turkey as a “lifeline” for Syrians in the country’s northwest. The 15-member council had been deadlocked, with most members pitted against Syrian allies Russia and China, which abstained on Saturday in the council’s fifth vote this week on the issue.
Veto-powers Russia and China wanted to halve the approved Turkey border crossings to one, arguing that the northwest of Syria can be reached from within the country. They also wanted to include language that Western diplomats said blamed unilateral sanctions on Syria for the humanitarian crisis.
German U.N. Ambassador Christoph Heusgen told his Chinese and Russian counterparts to report back to their capitals that he had asked: “How those people who gave the instructions to cut off the aid of 500,000 children ... are ready to look into the mirror tomorrow.”
Council members had also been split on whether to renew authorization for six months or one year. The short resolution finally adopted on Saturday, which was drafted by Germany and Belgium, simply authorized one crossing for one year.
“Russia is consistently in favor of humanitarian deliveries to Syria with full respect of the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and with coordination of its legal government. This issue should not be politicized,” deputy Russian U.N. envoy Dmitry Polyanskiy said after the vote.
Twelve members voted in favor, while the Dominican Republic also abstained. The successful vote came after two failed votes on Russian proposals and two vetoes by Russia and China of resolutions drafted by Germany and Belgium.
Acting British U.N. Ambassador Jonathan Allen said after the vote that the loss of aid access through Bab al-Salaam border crossing would deprive “1.3 million people in northwest Syria of cross-border humanitarian assistance that they rely on.”
Germany and Belgium said in a joint statement after the vote: “One border crossing is not enough, but no border crossings would have left the fate of an entire region in question.”
When the Security Council first authorized the cross-border aid operation into Syria in 2014 it also included access from Jordan and Iraq. Those crossings were cut in January due to opposition by Russia and China.
China’s U.N. Ambassador Zhang Jun said China always had reservations about the delivery of cross-border aid, but given the current situation in Syria it does not object to retaining it “at this stage.” Though he added that “it should adjusted accordingly in light of the developments on the ground.”
Russia has vetoed 16 council resolutions related to Syria since Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad cracked down on protesters in 2011, leading to civil war. For many of those votes, Moscow has been backed in the council by China.
Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Leslie Adler and Daniel Wallis
| Financial Aid | July 2020 | ['(Reuters)'] |
The LIGO Scientific Collaboration experiment announces the first direct observation of gravitational waves. , , | A team of scientists announced on Thursday that they had heard and recorded the sound of two black holes colliding a billion light-years away, a fleeting chirp that fulfilled the last prediction of Einstein’s general theory of relativity.
That faint rising tone, physicists say, is the first direct evidence of gravitational waves, the ripples in the fabric of space-time that Einstein predicted a century ago. It completes his vision of a universe in which space and time are interwoven and dynamic, able to stretch, shrink and jiggle. And it is a ringing confirmation of the nature of black holes, the bottomless gravitational pits from which not even light can escape, which were the most foreboding (and unwelcome) part of his theory.
| New wonders in nature | February 2016 | ['(Nature)', '(Guardian)', '(New York Times)', '(APS Journals)'] |
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