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The U.S. military says a sailor shot and killed two people at Joint Base Pearl HarborHickam, Hawaii, before killing himself. | Dec. 4 (UPI) -- A U.S. sailor opened fire at a military base in Hawaii Wednesday, killing two people and injuring a third before turning the weapon on himself, officials said.
Rear Admiral Robert Chadwich told reporters the shooting occurred at around 2:30 p.m. in the vicinity of the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard's Dry Dock 2 where the USS Columbia submarine was undergoing standard maintenance.
He said the gunman, who has been tentatively identified as an active-duty sailor assigned to the docked submarine, shot three people, two of whom died. The third, he said, was in stable condition at a local hospital.
The shooter was also killed from "an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound," Chadwick said.
"Obviously, our thoughts are with the victims of the families and everyone involved," Chadwick said. "I can say that we are mobilizing support services for naval shipyard personnel as well as everyone else who may be affected by this tragic event."
The motive for the shooting was under investigation and it was unclear if the victims were targeted, he said.
"Base security and Navy investigative services are currently investigating," the Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam said. "The names of the victims will not be released until the next of kin have been notified."
Located on the southern shore of Oahu island, the military base was put on lockdown right after the shooting began and was reopened about an hour and a half later, the base said via Twitter.
The incident occurred days before the 78th anniversary of the Japanese bombing of the U.S. military base at Pearl Harbor on Saturday when dozens of World War II veterans are scheduled to attend a ceremony. | Armed Conflict | December 2019 | ['(UPI)'] |
Voters in Cambodia go to the polls for a general election with the governing Cambodian People's Party led by Prime Minister Hun Sen claiming victory amidst opposition claims of widespread irregularities. | Polls have closed in Cambodia's parliamentary election, with PM Hun Sen, one of Asia's longest-serving leaders, seeking another term.
His Cambodia People's Party (CPP) faced an opposition led by Sam Rainsy - back from self-imposed exile after a royal pardon in July. Mr Rainsy himself was not eligible to stand, but his recent return has strengthened the opposition's campaign. More than nine million people were eligible to vote.
Polling stations closed at 15:00 local time (08:00 GMT), the National Election Committee (NEC) said, with results expected later in the day.
The CPP is widely expected to win.
The main opposition, the Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP), led by Mr Rainsy, said there had been widespread fraud, with some voters unable to find their names on electoral lists.
But the NEC insisted there had been no problem with the lists.
Mr Hun Sen, 60, was among the early voters, casting his ballot shortly after polls opened near his home in Takmau, south of the capital Phnom Penh.
He has been Cambodia's prime minister for nearly three decades and has expressed the desire to stay in power for another.
Mr Rainsy, 64, visited a polling station near his party's office in Phnom Penh where supporters greeted him enthusiastically.
"I am happy to see people flocking to vote," he said.
The CPP, which enjoys considerable support in the countryside, currently has 90 of the 123 seats in parliament and has been increasing its majority over the years. This is due in part to Mr Hun Sen being widely credited with achieving economic growth after the devastation caused by the Khmer Rouge regime in the 1970s, which was responsible for one of the worst mass killings of the 20th Century. The CNRP is aiming to win seats with the promise of political change.
The opposition is a merger between the Sam Rainsy Party and the Human Rights Party. In 2010 Mr Rainsy was sentenced in absentia to 11 years in prison, on a series of charges he says were politically motivated. Analysts believe that younger voters may help the opposition.
However, most of the country's media is controlled by the government. | Government Job change - Election | July 2013 | ['(BBC)', '(News Limited)'] |
The International Criminal Court will hear its first case, the allegations of war crimes during a civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo. | The session focused on the inquiry into war crimes allegedly committed in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The hearing is the first time the judges are to consider formally a specific war crimes investigation. The International Criminal Court (ICC) is the world's first permanent tribunal for trying cases involving genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The court came into existence nearly three years ago, despite strong opposition from the US. Washington says it fears its troops could become the target of politically motivated prosecutions.
Setting the tone
Judges at Tuesday's session discussed issues related to the protection of victims and witnesses and the preservation of evidence. The chief prosecutor, Luis Moreno Ocampo, opened the first official investigation last year into alleged mass killings, rapes and torture in DR Congo. Last week, he challenged the judges' authority to hold this hearing.
But they dismissed his objections to a request to hand over confidential documents, which he said would threaten the impartiality of the court.
The procedural hearing will be held in closed session with no members of the press or public allowed to attend.
It is expected that this so-called status conference will set the tone for hearings in other investigations, such as the ongoing inquiry into alleged atrocities in Uganda. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | March 2005 | ['(Daily Times)', '(BBC)'] |
Typhoon Hagupit , a strong tropical cyclone, makes landfall hitting the Philippines. | Typhoon Hagupit has made landfall in the town of Dolores in the eastern Philippines, the country's weather agency says.
The storm knocked out electricity and felled trees in the area, though no casualties have been reported. Over half a million have fled coastal villages in the past few days ahead of the storm's arrival.
The typhoon is on course for the city of Tacloban, where thousands were killed by Typhoon Haiyan a year ago.
It has weakened slightly but gusts are still peaking at 195km/h (120mph).
Thousands of passengers were left stranded after Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific cancelled more than 150 flights to the central and southern Philippines on Friday and Saturday, and sea travel services were suspended.
From Manila it took us 12 hours by car to reach Legazpi, a city in the south of Luzon island. Along the way in small towns we saw people stocking up on fuel, food and materials to fortify their homes.
In this popular tourist city on the coast, the streets are deserted. Officials say 75,000 people have already been evacuated. The typhoon is expected to cross the country further north of Tacloban on the island of Samar. This city could be feeling the full force of Typhoon Hagupit and many here are not taking any chances. Businesses are boarding up their windows and readying evacuation areas, as they prepare for the worst.
Officials said that there had been damage in Dolores. "There are many trees that have toppled, some of them on the highway", police spokesman Alex Robin told the Associated Press from Dolores.
"We are totally in the dark here. The only light comes from flashlights."
The BBC's Jonathan Head said the Philippines was experiencing one of its largest ever peacetime evacuations.
He said people were being moved to higher ground and into more solid buildings such as churches, schools and sports stadiums.
However, no-one is sure where the worst affected places will be because typhoons change direction and intensity, our correspondent adds.
President Benigno Aquino, who met disaster agency chiefs on Friday afternoon, has ordered food supplies to be sent to affected areas as well as troops and police to be deployed to prevent looting in the aftermath.
Local media reported Mr Aquino as saying there was "no indication" for now that Hagupit, would be as strong as Haiyan.
Haiyan - known as Yolanda in the Philippines - was the most powerful typhoon ever recorded over land. It tore through the central Philippines in November 2013, leaving more than 7,000 dead or missing.
Hagupit's huge diameter of 600km (370 miles) meant that about 50 million people, or half the nation's population, were living in vulnerable areas, Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman told AFP news agency.
Philippine weather authorities said that Hagupit, which means "smash" in Filipino, had weakened slightly, though it still had powerful gusts.
Schools and government offices are closed in some areas and there were long queues at shops and petrol stations as people stocked up on supplies.
In Tacloban, a city of 220,000 people, many have taken shelter in the sports stadium. "It's deja vu, but not the same as last year with Haiyan," local resident Mariano Tan Jr told the BBC.
"We're already prepared... we've stored basic commodities - water, rice, beans, fuel. We're also prepared in case of a power cut. "We intend to stay," he added. "We survived last year, we will do it again tomorrow. We will still stand our ground because no calamities can break us apart."
About 19,000 people from coastal villages are in 26 evacuation centres, Tacloban's disaster office spokesman Ilderando Bernadas told Reuters.
He said that number was expected to double as the authorities began forcing people to evacuate.
Tacloban's Deputy Mayor Jerry Yaokasin told the BBC's Newsday: "We haven't yet fully recovered from last year's super-typhoon Haiyan and here we go again.
"It's stirring up a lot of emotions in our hearts and bringing back so many painful memories of what happened during super typhoon Haiyan."
The US Navy's Joint Typhoon Warning Center had classified Hagupit as a super typhoon but downgraded it on Friday morning. It remains the strongest storm to hit the Philippines this year. The Philippines gives its own names to typhoons once they move into Philippine waters, rather than using the international storm-naming system.
Are you in the region? How are you preparing for typhoon Hagupit? | Hurricanes_Tornado_Storm_Blizzard | December 2014 | ['(Ruby)', '(BBC)'] |
British prime minister David Cameron's communications chief Andy Coulson resigns after feeling pressure over coverage of the News of the World phone hacking scandal. | The prime minister's communications chief Andy Coulson has resigned, blaming coverage of the News of the World phone hacking scandal.
Mr Coulson said coverage had "made it difficult for me to give the 110% needed in this role".
He faced pressure after claims about phone hacking while he was editor.
Mr Coulson quit as editor in 2007 saying he took ultimate responsibility for the scandal. He denied knowing phone hacking was taking place.
In a statement on Friday, he said it had been "a privilege and an honour to work for David Cameron for three-and-a-half years".
But he added: "Unfortunately, continued coverage of events connected to my old job at the News of the World has made it difficult for me to give the 110% needed in this role.
"I stand by what I've said about those events but when the spokesman needs a spokesman, it's time to move on."
He said he would leave within weeks and was proud of the work he had done.
In a statement Mr Cameron praised him as a "brilliant member of my team".
The prime minister said: "I am very sorry that Andy Coulson has decided to resign as my director of communications, although I understand that the continuing pressures on him and his family mean that he feels compelled to do so.
"Andy has told me that the focus on him was impeding his ability to do his job and was starting to prove a distraction for the government."
Asked if it raised questions about his own judgement, Mr Cameron said: "I don't think so at all because Andy Coulson resigned from News of the World when he found out what was happening, I feel that he has been punished twice for the same offence. "I choose to judge him by the work he's done for me, for the government and for the country and he has run the Downing Street press office in a professional and competent and good way."
Mr Coulson was editor of the News of the World in 2007 when its royal editor, Clive Goodman, was jailed for conspiracy to access phone messages. Private investigator Glenn Mulcaire was jailed for six months on the same charge.
Mr Coulson denied any knowledge of phone hacking but resigned saying, as editor, he took "ultimate responsibility". A Press Complaints Commission investigation in May 2007 found no evidence that he or anyone else at the paper had been aware of Goodman's activities.
That same month he became Mr Cameron's director of communications.
But pressure has recently mounted on Mr Coulson, amid renewed newspaper investigations into the scale of phone hacking at the Sunday tabloid. Mr Coulson himself was interviewed as a witness by police in November. In December, Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer said no new charges would be brought in the case, owing to a lack of admissible evidence.
But some public figures are taking civil legal action against the newspaper, and documents disclosed in those cases have led to new developments.
Earlier this month the News of the World suspended its news editor, Ian Edmondson, over allegations of phone hacking in 2005-6, thought to involve the actress Sienna Miller.
Asked about Mr Coulson's resignation, Labour leader Ed Miliband said: "We think he should have gone earlier, he has now done the right thing. I think there are questions about David Cameron's judgement about hanging on to him as long as he did." But other Labour MPs accused Mr Coulson of deliberately announcing his resignation on a busy news day - when former Labour PM Tony Blair is before the Iraq Inquiry, and in the aftermath of Alan Johnson's shock resignation as shadow chancellor.
In the Commons on Friday, former minister Denis MacShane demanded that the prime minister make a statement "rather than bury this news on a day when, frankly, there's an awful lot of other news taking place".
His colleague Tom Watson added: "It's a mark of the man that he would sneak out a statement on a Friday morning on a busy news day.
"Spin and obfuscation is all we get from Downing Street - we need to get to the truth."
A Downing Street source said it was "complete rubbish" to suggest they were trying to bury bad news: "We have knocked two very bad news stories of Labour's off the top of the bulletins."
BBC political editor Nick Robinson said he understood that Mr Coulson informed the prime minister on Wednesday evening of his wish to resign and they had arranged then for it to be announced on Friday. Profile: Andy Coulson | Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | January 2011 | ['(BBC)'] |
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al–Maliki visits Iran, where he is told to "get rid of America". | Iran has demonstrated its hold over the future of Iraqi politics, telling Nouri al-Maliki, the prime minister, to "get rid of America" as he arrived to ask Tehran's blessing for a second term in office.
Mr Maliki, who is on a tour of Middle Eastern capitals to drum up support for his bid to stay in power, had an audience with Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Two weeks ago, the Iranian leadership negotiated backing for Mr Maliki from the militant Shia grouping, the Sadrists, who had previously been deeply opposed to his candidacy. "The Iraqi nation is vigilant and aggressors cannot dominate this country again," Mr Khamenei told Mr Maliki, according to a statement put out by his office. "May God get rid of America in Iraq so that its people's problems are solved."
Mr Khamenei's aggressive stance, while seeming to give his blessing to Mr Maliki, whose secular Shia State of Law party came a close second in Iraqi elections in March, will alarm the Americans. They already face losing their influence after their troops pull out of Iraq next year – an outcome that would once have been unthinkable after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein and the loss of so many American lives. Now they risk seeing the creation of a government brokered by their greatest rivals in the region. Iran has not overtly backed Mr Maliki, but officials on Monday said he would be a "suitable" choice. He still needs the support of one of the three other remaining major factions in parliament to form an overall majority. The nationalist Iraqiya block, which has the support of the minority Sunni community and won most seats in the election, has said it cannot support Mr Maliki at any cost. Its leader, Ayad Allawi, is in talks with the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, another Shia faction that had been expected to join a State-of-Law led alliance. Mr Maliki is hoping to win the backing of the Kurdish parties, though they have said they will not join a government that does not include substantial Sunni backing. Nevertheless Mr Maliki is now favourite to win office, and Mr Allawi, who is close the Americans, showed his fury at seeming to be outmanoeuvred in television interviews on Sunday night. "I won't be begging Iran to agree upon my nomination," he told Al-Arabiya. He accused Iran of sponsoring terrorism and instability, referring to last week's visit to Lebanon by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. "We know that unfortunately Iran is trying to wreak havoc on the region, and trying to destabilise the region by destabilising Iraq, and destabilising Lebanon and destabilising the Palestinian issue," Mr Allawi told CNN. "And this is where unfortunately Iraq and the rest of the greater Mideast is falling victim to these terrorists, who are definitely Iran-financed and supported by various governments in the region."
Mr Allawi won 91 seats out of 325 in the election, two more than State of Law. Though himself Shia, he is thought to have the backing of neighbouring Sunni states such as Saudi Arabia, whose greatest fear is a rising Iran. They would regard it as a great betrayal of Washington stood aside and allowed Iraq to fall under the influence of Iran. President Bashar al-Asad of Syria, a key Iranian ally but also previously a supporter of Mr Allawi, visited Saudi Arabia at the weekend when a joint approach to Iraq is likely to have been discussed. The Iranian ambassador to Iraq, Hassan Danaeifar, dismissed Mr Allawi's comments. "These comments are old and these friends have made them so many times that nobody listens," he said. | Diplomatic Visit | October 2010 | ['(Telegraph)', '(CNN)'] |
Efforts begin in Solomon Islands to refloat a ship after an oil spill in what the government says will be a "very difficult operation." | Efforts will begin on Saturday in Solomon Islands to refloat a wrecked ship at the centre of an environmental disaster.
MV Solomon Trader oil spill on Rennell Island, Solomon Islands. Photo: The Australian High Commission Solomon Islands
Since early February, bulk carrier, Solomon Trader, has been wedged on a reef off Rennell Island, where it has spilled an estimated 100 tonnes of oil.
The spill happened near a protected marine area and poisoned local water supplies and fishing grounds, sparking an international outcry.
More than three months on, the Solomon Islands Disaster Management Office said the vessel will be refloated and towed from the reef.
Its director, Loti Yates, said the process, which is being led by a salvager contracted by the shipowner's insurer, will take around three days.
"It is a huge and very, very difficult operation," he said.
Mr Yates added that cleanup efforts which began in March are ongoing, with oil still coating the shoreline of the nearby and once pristine Kangava Bay.
He added that all oil onboard the ship had been removed but based on ship records there was an unknown amount missing.
"Maybe they evaporated, maybe they just sailed away or sunk into the bottom of the ocean. Not sure yet."
Mr Yates said investigations by the Solomon Islands government into the disaster had been obstructed by a missing data drive taken from the ship by its owner.
He said requests for the data - which is too big to transfer online - to be sent physically had gone unanswered for the past three weeks.
"We are sort of frustrated but we are still hoping that it will arrive."
Copyright © 2019, Radio New Zealand
An Australian academic and environmental management expert says the oil spill in Rennell was not just an accident but an inevitable outcome of a broken system.
Rennell Islanders in the Solomon Islands are relying on clean water shipments after a toxic oil spill near their home.
The UN's cultural body, UNESCO, says no oil from a disastrous spill in the Solomon Islands has reached a protected heritage site.
Solomon Islands will change its shipping laws after the recent disastrous oil spill near a marine reserve.
Transparency Solomon Islands says it's concerned about new mining licences to a company at the centre of an environmental disaster. | Environment Pollution | May 2019 | ['(Radio New Zealand)'] |
NASA's Kepler space observatory announces the discovery of three new planets in the Goldilocks zone capable of supporting life. | THE odds of us being alone just got a lot shorter: One of three new planets found in life-supporting orbits around distant stars may be the closest ‘Earth 2.0’ yet.
Astronomer Dr. Alan Duffy is on the search for exoplanets in our distant universe & explains how we'll find extraterrestrial life.
Life out there just got more likely ... Three new “just right” worlds have been confirmed as being found in habitable orbits, along with a further six contenders. Source: NASASource:AFP
THREE new planets, roughly the size of Earth, have been found in the ‘not too hot, not too cold — just right’ zone around their stars, significantly boosting the numbers of potentially habitable worlds.
And one of them may potentially be the most Earth-like yet discovered.
NASA’s Kepler mission early this morning made the announcement at a presentation marking the discovery of its 1000th exoplanet — the name given to worlds found orbiting stars other than our own. The results will soon be published in The Astrophysical Journal.
In addition to the three verified potentially habitable worlds, there are unconfirmed traces of a further six in orbits potentially capable of sustaining life.
EARTH 2.0: An earlier look at the search for habitable worlds
“With each new discovery of these small, possibly rocky worlds, our confidence strengthens in the determination of the true frequency of planets like Earth,” study co-author Doug Caldwell, SETI Institute Kepler scientist said in a statement. “The day is on the horizon when we’ll know how common temperate, rocky planets like Earth are.”
The three new worlds judged to be in the “Goldilocks zone” bring the total of potentially life-sustaining worlds to about 24 — eight of which have been found by Kepler. It’s a tally that has gradually been picking up pace since the first exoplanet was detected in 1992.
Caldwell: The day is on the horizon when we’ll know how common temperate, rocky planets like Earth are. #AAS22 pic.twitter.com/0ov9PPlNf7
The now technically-challenged Kepler telescope has had to undergo some emergency innovation and adaptation after experiencing difficulties a year ago, but it continues to produce results.
The latest figures reveal the telescope has continued to closely monitor some 150,000 stars for the telltale “wobble” in their light that could be the shadow of a passing planet.
More than 4000 such ‘wobbles’ have been determined by the Kepler team as potential planetary candidates. 1000 of these are now judged as certainties.
ALIEN LIFE: A matter of ‘WHEN’, not ‘IF’ When the results of other planet-hunting telescopes are included, space is starting to look somewhat crowded.
The NASA announcement states that two of these new worlds are believed to be made up of rock, like Earth.
“Each result from the planet-hunting Kepler mission’s treasure trove of data takes us another step closer to answering the question of whether we are alone in the Universe,” said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission.
Today, with the science community, Kepler marks its 1000th verified exoplanet! #AAS225 http://t.co/i5izdeuemW pic.twitter.com/qoihJ5TcyM
It’s not an easy task, given the immense distances involved.
To judge a planets potential for life, scientists must first determine if it is mad of gas, ice or rock. To do this they must find out both its size and weight. The resulting mass is a good indicator of a planet’s composition.
If its weight cannot be determined, size does provide some indication: Huge worlds are almost always gas. Tiny worlds (such as Earth) are almost always rock.
14 ‘DEATH STARS’ DETECTED: We’re in for several interstellar close-shaves
The Kepler announcement says two of the new validated planets, Kepler-438b and Kepler-442b, are less than 1.5 times the diameter of Earth. This means their gravity and potential atmospheres are likely to be within an acceptable range for life as we know it.
Kepler-438b, some 475 light-years away, is 12 per cent bigger than Earth and orbits its star once every 35.2 days. It’s getting about 40 per cent more heat than we do from its orange dwarf star. At this size, and in this location, this world appears to be the most likely candidate for a ‘habitable’ planet yet found.
Kepler-442b, 1,100 light-years away, is 33 per cent bigger than Earth and orbits its star once every 112 days. It is also one of the few worlds sitting in the narrow range of weight, size and orbital distance to make it ‘just right’ for life.
Two of the newly validated HZ exoplanets (438b and 442b) are small with high likelihood of a rocky composition. pic.twitter.com/HrglnQ1vGq
Both planets orbit stars much smaller and cooler than ours, meaning their fast orbits are still within a temperate region which can sustain liquid water.
Both stars are in the direction of the constellation Lyra.
Hubble has added 554 more ‘wobbles’ in starlight to the list of potential planets — bringing the total number of unconfirmed candidates to 4175.
SUPERNOVA SCARE: Can Eta Carinae kill us all?
Six of these candidates are reportedly showing signs of being between one and two times the size of Earth, and in warm, water-sustaining orbits around stars similar to our own. But further observations are needed before their presence, size and location can confirmed.
“Kepler collected data for four years — long enough that we can now tease out the Earth-size candidates in one Earth-year orbits”, said Fergal Mullally, a SETI Institute Kepler scientist.
“We’re closer than we’ve ever been to finding Earth twins around other sun-like stars. These are the planets we’re looking for”.
| New achievements in aerospace | January 2015 | ['(News Limited)'] |
The United States Senate confirms Jack Lew as the Secretary of the Treasury. | The U.S. Senate on Wednesday confirmed Jack Lew as President Barack Obama's new treasury secretary, putting the former White House chief of staff in the middle of a bitter political fight over the government's budget.
Senators backed Lew in a 71-26 vote, with the nominee capturing all of the chamber's 53 Democrats. Some Republicans had expressed misgivings about Lew's perks from previous employers Citigroup and New York University.
Lew's most pressing task will be to find a compromise to lessen the economic blow from $85 billion in government spending cuts that are set to kick in on Friday
Market recaps or government bailouts | Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration | February 2013 | ['(Fox Business)'] |
Newcastle United F.C. appoint Rafael Benítez as manager on a three–year deal after sacking Steve McClaren. | Rafa Benitez arrives at Newcastle United with a lucrative short term survival mission, but hopes it will turn into a rewarding long term project if he can keep the Magpies out of the Championship. Benitez has signed a three-year contract to replace Steve McClaren, who was finally put out of his misery in a telephone conversation with managing director Lee Charnley on Friday morning, at the same time as the Spaniard drove up from Liverpool to complete his paperwork. It was only the second time McClaren had spoken to Charnley since the abject 3-1 home defeat to Bournemouth last weekend, even though the club had been publicly searching for his replacement since Saturday night. Benitez’s arrival has excited supporters, who had given up hope of avoiding relegation if McClaren - who won just six out of his 28 matches – remained in charge. The new boss made an early impression on his players too, cancelling their scheduled day off in order to take an impromptu training session, just a few hours after posing for pictures upon his arrival on Tyneside. Significantly, Benitez has been appointed as manager – the first foreign one employed by Ashley - rather then head coach, but he will not stay around to see what level of control he has over recruitment if Newcastle are relegated. Telegraph Sport understands a clause has been inserted into the Spaniard’s contract allowing him to leave in the summer if he fails to keep the club in the top flight. If he does keep them up, it is thought a manager who will earn around £2m-a-year on Tyneside will also receive a large “survival” bonus from owner Mike Ashley. Confidence that Newcastle will avoid the drop has soared following the 55-year-old’s arrival and he will be in charge of the team when they face Leicester City on Monday night. Intriguingly, Benitez’s first home game will be against Sunderland, the team directly above them in the table, who are managed by his bitter rival Sam Allardyce. As someone used to competing for silverware, this is Benitez’s first relegation battle as a manager, which was something he was concerned about when first asked about the Newcastle job. For a man who was in charge of European giants Real Madrid two months ago, there is no appeal in the prospect of facing Rotherham and Preston in the Championship next season. It is already a stunning realignment for a manager who was working with the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and Sergio Ramos at the Bernabeu. He will now be expected to lead the likes of Paul Dummett, Yoan Gouffran and Steven Taylor to safety in the Premier League, with only ten games remaining. “I have the pleasure to confirm I have committed to a legendary English club, with the massive challenge of remaining part of the Premier League,” Benitez told Newcastle’s official website. "It will be a challenge not just for me and my staff but for the players, the Club and the fans. "All of us must push together in the same direction and with the same target in mind. This is the reason why I'm going to ask for your total support to successfully complete this task. "Personally, it means my return to the Premier League, closer to my home and my family. I can't be happier. "C'mon Toon Army! The club and I need your total involvement!" That last sentence caused much hilarity on social media, but his arrival will harness the power of the club’s fan base, which had become disillusioned – not for the first time under owner Mike Ashley – and devoid of passion in recent weeks. Credit must go to Charnley, who has helped persuade Ashley to rip up the management structure that has not given Newcastle’s managers control over recruitment, since 2008. It can only be hoped that the promises that were made to lure Benitez to Tyneside are kept, because he is unlikely to remain at the club if, in the next transfer window, they are not. “I am very pleased to welcome Rafa Benitez to the club,” said Charnley, who apologised for the way McClaren’s had been treated while he searched for his replacement in an earlier statement. “In Rafa we have, without doubt, secured the services of one of Europe's top managers. "He has managed some of the most successful teams at the very highest level of the game and we are proud to now have him as our manager.”
Newcastle swiftly confirmed that McClaren’s backroom staff, Paul Simpson, Alessandro Schoenmaker and Steve Black had also left the club. They have been replaced by Fabio Pecchia, Francisco de Miguel Moreno and Antonio Gomez Perez. However, Newcastle’s treatment of McClaren drew some criticism, with Gary Lineker tweeting: “Newcastle have finally put Steve McClaren out of his misery. The running of that great football club is beyond shambolic.”
McClaren, who has behaved with dignity in extremely testing circumstances this week, released a statement through the League Manager’s Association. “I appreciate any frustrations relating to the team’s results and the club subsequently finding itself in a battle to avoid relegation,” he said. “I remain confident, however, that we would have stayed in the Premier League with a view to building for next season. “Whilst there has been a lot of intense speculation surrounding my position in recent days, my sole priority has been to maintain my professionalism and carry on with my work to best prepare the team.”
Rafael Benitez has replaced Steve McClaren as manager of Newcastle, with the Spaniard signing a three-year contract with the struggling north-east club. Benitez, who was sacked as manager of Real Madrid earlier this season, has been handed the job of attempting to steer Newcastle to Barclays Premier League survival, with the club second-from-bottom heading into the weekend. He said in a statement released by the club: "I have the pleasure to confirm I have committed to a legendary English club, with the massive challenge of remaining part of the Premier League. "It will be a challenge not just for me and my staff but for the players, the club and the fans." Benitez's appointment followed swiftly on from the dismissal of McClaren, who was relieved of his duties on Friday morning. LIVE on #Periscope: Rafa Benítez's first Newcastle United training session. #NUFC https://t.co/PU2cLAToUJ
Rafa Benitez is currently taking an impromptu training session with his new Newcastle players. On their day off. For Rafa to achieve his one and only target and keep Newcastle up, he will have to answer a few questions - and fast. Can he get this expensively assembled attack scoring goals? Can he get the fans - so often so significant at St James' Park - on side? Can he hit the ground running fast enough to win the upcoming Sunderland and Norwich games? Meanwhile, Peter Schmeichel thinks Mike Ashley should have gone with Nigel Pearson. What makes Newcastle think that Rafa Benitez will get them out the predicament they're in? If I were them, I'd go for Nigel Pearson. Rafa has long since left St James' Park, telling reporters "I'll see you tomorrow". He will take training in the morning - the players are having a rest day today - and then he will be in the dugout on Monday night for the game against league leaders Leicester. And we'll get his first press conference before then. Considering only teams he has faced at least five times as a manager, Benitez's second favourite opponent is Sunderland. He has nine wins from ten against Newcastle's fierce rivals, and the only game he failed to win he had a beach ball to blame. Only 11 managers have won more than 50 per cent of their matches in the Premier League. Benitez has the ninth best record of them all, though it is worth noting that he has taken charge of many more games than most in the below list. via GIPHY
But will his tricks save Newcastle? So Rafa is in - and on the three-year deal we had expected - but nothing said of the reported clause in his contract that allows him to leave if Newcastle are relegated. Suppose we'll just have to wait and see with that one. The final line from Rafa Benitez's NUFC statement: it feels like the least likely Rafa sentence of all time ... pic.twitter.com/wbid0xmUdk
"I am very pleased to welcome Rafa Benitez to the club. In Rafa we have, without doubt, secured the services of one of Europe's top managers. "He has managed some of the most successful teams at the very highest level of the game and we are proud to now have him as our manager. "Our sole focus now is to give our full support to Rafa, his coaching team and the players in order to secure our status in the Premier League. "I would like to place on record my sincere thanks to Paul Simpson, Alessandro Schoenmaker and Steve Black for their service to the Club." "I have the pleasure to confirm I have committed to a legendary English club, with the massive challenge of remaining part of the Premier League. "It will be a challenge not just for me and my staff but for the players, the Club and the fans. "All of us must push together in the same direction and with the same target in mind. This is the reason why I'm going to ask for your total support to successfully complete this task. "Personally, it means my return to the Premier League, closer to my home and my family. I can't be happier. "C'mon Toon Army! The club and I need your total involvement!"
Earlier I questioned whether Rafa would stay if Newcastle were relegated; reports are now emerging that he will sign a three-year deal with the option to leave if the club go down. There's my answer. Not sure how that will sit with the fans - a manager who is ready to jump ship when it goes wrong. So Rafa is at St James' Park for talks with the club's hierarchy. The man who was in charge of Real Madrid and Cristiano Ronaldo as recently as January is set to take over the reins at Newcastle and this motley crew, who were humbled by Bournemouth just six days ago. Benitez #nufc pic.twitter.com/rGNV2GEl0X
Is there no stopping this man @LukeEdwardsTele He's everywhere. pic.twitter.com/aZZvyxbDT4
The current expectation is that Rafa will be in the dugout on Monday - giving him ten games to get Newcastle out of trouble:
Leicester (a), Sunderland (h), Norwich (a), Southampton (a), Swansea (h), Liverpool (a), Crystal Palace (h), Aston Villa (a), Tottenham (h)
Those Sunderland and Norwich games are absolutely massive. You can't expect much from the Leicester match, but after that, Rafa will need to hit the ground running. Our expert gives his thoughts on McClaren's ill-fated spell at St James' Park. "The most damning thing you can say about the decision to make him head coach last summer, is that no other Premier League club would have even put McClaren on their shortlist, after he had been sacked by Derby County, let alone given him the job." Twitter can't even spell his name properly
The Premier League is being left behind, right? The best players all go to La Liga, right? Well (most of) the best managers could well be in England next season. How about this for a line-up? Now everyone reckons it is only a matter of time before Rafa comes in. The question, for me, is does itreally make any sense? Benitez obviously loves a club with passionate fans that get behind him, but he has very little experience of managing situations as dire as Newcastle's at present and could easily take them down. He will back himself to better Sam Allardyce but the Sunderland boss has seen plenty of relegation battles before. Will Rafa stay if Newcastle go down? In the space of 18 months, Rafa Benitez could go from taking charge at Real Madrid to managing a Championship team against Burton Albion. ... of a new era:
Will it be ninth time lucky for Mike Ashley? I'm going to hand over to Alistair Tweedale now. There were some good times - the fightback from 4-0 down at home against Arsenal, the signing of Yohan Cabaye and Hatem Ben Arfa (at first), Papiss Cisse's hot streak and finishing fifth in 2012. But he was a prickly so and so and the fans soon tired of him. So enter in an astonishing feat of complacency/negligence last January:
Time for a fresh approach. Investment and a coach, not a manager, but one who was denied the executive title. So enter another messiah:
But Newcastle went down so commonsense prevailed for a while:
Until Ashley had second thoughts and plumped for:
First he inherited Big Sam:
Then, as a result of drinking with the Toon fans, he succumbed to trying to fulfil their wildest fantasies and appointed:
But put Dennis Wise above KK which meant it was never going to last. So once Keegan had walked, he went through the looking glass for:
And we enjoyed such choice bon mots as: "It is none of your f------ business. What the f--- are you going to do? You ain’t got the b---- to be a f------ manager. F------ day off. Do I want your opinion. Do I have to listen to you?" ... swells the ranks of European Cup-winning managers in the Premier League to three as he joins Louis van Gaal and Guus Hiddink. Ronnie Koeman won it as a player, of course. Well, I saw him win it but I'd better check with Big Sam first. Well, the derby will be awkward. Then again, it always is:
"Of course he can say he won the Champions League with Liverpool, which is something I never did. But it was nowt to do with him. I don't blame Benitez for claiming credit but as managers we know the truth. It's like when you make a substitution in desperation and it comes off. You get all the credit for your tactical brilliance when it's often just luck." Benitez when he heard this: "Do you know who Sam Allardyce is? Do you know how many trophies he has won? Well that's my answer. It is what happens when someone has a book to sell. His opinion does not have a lot of value." The former Newcastle captain says: "There's no point bringing in a coach and tying his hands. Benitez has to be given a big say on transfers. | Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration | March 2016 | ['(NUFC)', '(The Telegraph)'] |
A strong earthquake aftershock measured at 6.7 hits Nepal and northern India and causes further avalanches in the Himalayas. | By Reuters Published: 08:31 BST, 26 April 2015 | Updated: 08:31 BST, 26 April 2015 NEW DELHI/MUMBAI, April 26 (Reuters) - A strong earthquake aftershock struck India and Nepal on Sunday, shaking buildings in New Delhi and triggering an avalanche in the Himalayas.
The United States Geological Survey said the tremor was 6.7 magnitude, less than the 7.9 quake that struck the region on Saturday killing at least 1,900 people.
"Another one, we have an aftershock right now, oh shit," Indian mountaineer Arjun Vajpai told Reuters by telephone from advanced base camp on Mount Makalu, 20 km (12 miles) from Everest.
Screams and the sound of an avalanche could be heard over the phone line Vajpai was speaking on. At Everest base camp, Romanian climber Alex Gavan tweeted that the aftershock had set off three avalanches. (Reporting by Clara Ferreira in Mumbai and Frank Jack Daniel in New Delhi; Writing by Douglas Busvine; Editing by Nick Macfie) | Earthquakes | April 2015 | ['(Reuters via Daily Mail)'] |
Voters in the U.S. state of Indiana head to the polls to vote in Democratic and Republican presidential primaries. | Republican Ted Cruz makes a campaign stop at the Bravo Cafe Monday in Osceola, Ind. The Hoosier State might be Cruz's last chance to stop Donald Trump from getting the nomination.
Republican Ted Cruz makes a campaign stop at the Bravo Cafe Monday in Osceola, Ind. The Hoosier State might be Cruz's last chance to stop Donald Trump from getting the nomination.
Political attention turns to the Hoosier State on Tuesday night, where both the Indiana Republican and Democratic presidential primary contests could be especially consequential.
Ted Cruz needs a victory over Donald Trump to stop the latter's march to the GOP nomination, but he's trailing in polls. The Democratic contest is closer, with Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton running neck and neck.
There's an important Republican Senate primary to keep an eye on, too. Here are four things we'll be watching on Tuesday night:
1. How much will Donald Trump grow his delegate lead?
This could well be the last stand for the #NeverTrump forces. They've poured millions into the Hoosier State but may well still come up short in one of their last best hopes to scramble Trump's delegate math equations.
Even after both Cruz and John Kasich announced an unusual quasi-alliance last week (which quickly crumbled), where the Ohio governor would pull his resources from Indiana, the Texas senator hasn't ticked up. Most polls show Trump with a comfortable lead over Cruz — and anything other than a win right now for the billionaire real estate mogul would be seen as an upset.
As it stands now, Trump has 996 delegates to Cruz's 564, and the GOP front-runner needs just 42 percent of all the remaining delegates to get to the magic number of 1,237, according to an NPR analysis. If Trump sweeps all of Indiana's 57 delegates (30 allocated to the statewide winner, 27 awarded by congressional district winner), then he needs just 36 percent of the remaining delegates to get there. He can't get to the requisite majority before California on June 7, but the only hope for both Cruz and Kasich now hinges on a multiballot convention and wooing delegates as they become unbound round by round (more on that here).
2. What does Ted Cruz do next if he loses?
It hasn't been the easiest few days for Cruz. His unusual gamble of naming former rival Carly Fiorina as his would-be running mate hasn't exactly given him the momentum boost he needs. Former Speaker of the House John Boehner literally compared him to Lucifer. And that lukewarm endorsement from Indiana Gov. Mike Pence certainly wasn't the knockout punch he needed, either.
How frustrated is Cruz? Just watch this encounter he had with a steadfast Trump supporter on Monday in Indiana. Even as he calmly ticks off facts about Trump's background, the vocal protester is unmoved. In a way, it is a microcosm of the crazy GOP primary so far — even though Trump has been hit time and time again with negative stories and policy flip-flops, nothing has stuck to Teflon Trump.
Campaigning Monday, Cruz vowed he is "absolutely" in it for the long haul. "I am in for the distance," Cruz told reporters. "As long as we have a viable path to victory, I am competing until the end."
But that viable path leaves him playing only defense, and it's a strategy that still is likely to fall short. Remember, Cruz (like Kasich a long time ago) is now mathematically eliminated from getting a majority of GOP delegates before the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. His only hope now is to block Trump from getting there too.
3. Can Bernie Sanders change the narrative?
The Democratic race is very close in Indiana, but even if the Vermont senator does get a win, it's unlikely to affect his surmounting delegate deficit against Clinton. The 83 delegates up for grabs will be distributed proportionally, but Sanders still trails the former secretary of state by 327 pledged delegates.
His campaign's new strategy is to sway superdelegates to his side, but that's a long shot if he trails Clinton in pledged delegates. According to NPR calculations, even if every superdelegate voted for the person who won his state's Democratic primary or caucuses, Clinton's superdelegate count would surpass Sanders' by more than 200. Her total delegate lead over Sanders would still be more than 500.
In a way, the 2016 contest could be a replay of sorts of the 2008 contest. Clinton narrowly eked out a win over then-Illinois Sen. Barack Obama. She was in closer striking distance to her top rival than Sanders is to her, but her last-ditch hope was also to flip enough superdelegates. That obviously didn't work out for her, and it most likely won't for Sanders, either.
Bottom line: Clinton can easily weather a loss in the Hoosier State. Sanders can't.
4. Will the Indiana Senate become a real worry for Republicans?
Don't forget there are important Senate contests happening, too! While the open race to succeed the retiring GOP Sen. Dan Coats didn't make our inaugural top 10 party takeover list, it's still important to watch the Republican Senate primary happening Tuesday night.
National Republicans would much prefer to have Rep. Todd Young, a more traditional party stalwart, as their nominee than fellow Rep. Marlin Stutzman, who has been a conservative rabble-rouser in the House.
They'll probably get their wish, but Young almost didn't make the ballot at all. Both Democrats and Stutzman tried to challenge his signatures and get him kicked off the ballot, and he only narrowly survived.
Early on, it looked like deep-pocketed conservative groups such as the Club for Growth might go in hard for Stutzman, but they haven't come to his rescue. Most recently, Stutzman has come under fire for paying his brother-in-law (who had no previous political experience) more than $170,000 from his campaign account.
This is a long-shot target for Democrats. They'll have former Rep. Baron Hill as their nominee, though they would have preferred former Sen. Evan Bayh. Obama carried this state in 2008 — and it could become a presidential battleground later. But until then, this isn't a top Democratic target or a Republican worry. | Government Job change - Election | May 2016 | ['(NPR)'] |
Amnesty International says "widespread torture" is taking place inside detention centres in Belarus, with more than 6,700 people detained since protests against Lukashenko broke out following the disputed presidential election result. Amnesty International says detainees described being stripped naked, beaten and threatened with rape. The BBC also reports evidence of torture, including at the Okrestina detention centre in Minsk. | Belarus's main opposition figure, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, has called for an end to violence against protesters, while urging more rallies this weekend.
Freed detainees have given details of beatings during days in custody that Amnesty International said suggested "widespread torture".
Detained for seven hours herself after Sunday's disputed presidential vote, Ms Tikhanovskaya has fled to Lithuania.
With the EU mulling new sanctions, Belarus promised to free all detainees.
Some 6,700 have been detained since protests erupted on Sunday evening. At least two people have died and many more have been wounded.
Belarus is seeing a sixth day of protests since the presidential vote, rejected by the EU and US as neither free nor fair. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has backed further sanctions "against those who violated democratic values or abused human rights".
Alexander Lukashenko, in power since 1994, was declared the victor by election authorities, but Ms Tikhanovskaya's supporters insist she won. Announcing final results on Friday, the Central Election Commission said Mr Lukashenko had won 80.1% of the vote and Ms Tikhanovskaya 10.12%, state media said.
In her first statement for days, the main opposition candidate said that where votes had been properly counted she had won support ranging from 60% to 70%, rather than the 10% given to her by the election committee.
Calling on mayors across Belarus to organise "peaceful mass gatherings" on Saturday and Sunday, Ms Tikhanovskaya said: "Belarusians will never want to live with the previous government again. The majority do not believe in his victory."
The BBC has spoken to several people, including teenagers, who have described being beaten.
"They beat people ferociously, with impunity, and they arrest anyone. We were forced to stand in the yard all night. We could hear women being beaten. I don't understand such cruelty," one man said as he showed the BBC his bruising.
In a statement on state television, Senate speaker Natalya Kochanova said the president had ordered an investigation into the mass detention of protesters, and that more than 1,000 had been freed.
All the remaining detainees were to be released on Friday morning, Deputy Interior Minister Alexander Barsukov said, while denying that prisoners had been abused. Released prisoners shared pictures showing their bruised and swollen bodies, including injuries to backs and buttocks that they alleged were caused by police.
Amnesty International said detainees described being stripped naked, beaten and threatened with rape.
"Former detainees told us that detention centres have become torture chambers, where protesters are forced to lie in the dirt while police kick and beat them with truncheons," said Marie Struthers, Amnesty International's director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
In audio shared by a BBC journalist, screams could be heard from inside the Okrestina detention centre in the capital Minsk.
Among the testimony to emerge from freed detainees, journalist Nikita Telizhenko published a harrowing account of three days inside prison for Russian news website Znak.com.
He described people lying on the floor of a detention centre, piled on top of each other, in a pool of blood and excrement. They were not allowed to use the toilet for hours on end or even change position. EU foreign ministers are meeting on Friday to consider possible sanctions on Belarus because of the crackdown. The bloc has imposed sanctions before but eased the measures several years ago when President Lukashenko released other detainees.
Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis said sanctions should be imposed "until free and transparent elections are held in Belarus with the participation of international observers". He said he had the support of Poland's Mateusz Morawiecki, who said he would put forward a "solidarity with Belarus" plan on Friday in the Polish parliament.
The EU has already dismissed the presidential vote as "neither free nor fair", an assessment backed by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Lithuania's president has said Mr Lukashenko is no longer Belarus's legitimate leader. Ahead of the emergency EU meeting, Belarus Interior Minister Yuri Karayev said he took responsibility for injuries suffered by bystanders, and wanted to apologise to "people who didn't mean to be there… bystanders, people who couldn't run away on time".
Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei said his country was ready for "constructive and objective" talks with other countries. Observers said that recent statements and the release of the prisoners indicated a more conciliatory approach from Belarus authorities.
Belarusians returned to the streets of several cities on Friday, for a sixth day of protests since Sunday's election. Footage broadcast by messaging app Nexta on Thursday night showed demonstrators chanting "get out".
In the western city of Grodno, workers massed outside a management office, demanding fresh elections, and car workers gathered in big numbers at the Maz plant in Minsk.
Several strikes have been reported at state-owned factories. Hundreds of employees were seen walking out at truck-maker Belaz in Zhodino to the north-east of the capital. Mr Lukashenko condemned "attempts to inflame workers", in remarks reported by Belta news agency on Friday.
Meanwhile, the head of Belarus's top football club, Bate Borisov, symbolically dumped his old police uniform in the bin. In an Instagram post, Mikhail Zaleuski said he could no longer bear to see the "impunity of people with batons and the lawlessness of power".
Protesters continued to form "solidarity chains" and held flowers in several cities to object to police brutality.
Opposition figure Maria Kolesnikova joined thousands of female protesters in Minsk on Thursday. She was one of three women who pooled their resources to spearhead the opposition. Ms Tikhanovskaya, 37, was a stay-at-home mother until she entered the race after her husband was arrested and blocked from registering for the vote. She then led big rallies during the election campaign.
| Protest_Online Condemnation | August 2020 | ['(CNN)', '(BBC)'] |
In tennis, Swiss Stan Wawrinka defeats Serbian Novak Djokovic in four sets to claim the 2016 US Open men's singles title. | That’s all for now. Thanks as always for following along with us. What a fortnight it’s been! Be sure to check Kevin Mitchell’s full match report below:
Updated
at 2.02am BST
12 Sep 2016
01:36
“One last thing,” Wawrinka says. “There are many more important things than tennis matches, I want to remember what happened 15 years ago.” The nod to 9/11 is warmly received by the New York crowd. And then Wawrinka is handed the trophy and lifts it high into the night. 12 Sep 2016
01:32
“I don’t know what’s happening right now,” says Wawrinka to open his victory remarks. He then speaks directly to Djokovic: “You’re a great person. A great champion. Because of you I am where am today.” “I think I played a lot of tennis this week,” he says. “I’m completely empty.” 12 Sep 2016
01:29
“You were the more courageous player in the decisive moments,” a gracious Djokovic says during the trophy ceremony. “He’s a great champion. He deserves to win this title, well done.”
He adds that he wasn’t certain he would play the US Open until two weeks before and is happy to have made the final. 12 Sep 2016
01:20
Fourth set: Djokovic 7-6, 4-6, 5-7, 3-6 Wawrinka
Djokovic wins the first two points on Wawrinka’s serve and the crowd is really buzzing now! Wawrinka hits a forehand winner for 15-30 then wins another quick point for 30-all. Now a Djokovic unforced error gives Wawrinka a championship point but he saves it for deuce. Wawrinka hits a forehand volley winner to set up another championship point. And this time Djokovic sends a backhand long and Wawrinka takes the title! 12 Sep 2016
01:14
Fourth set: *Djokovic 7-6, 4-6, 5-7, 3-5 Wawrinka (*denotes next server)
Djokovic wins the first point on a forehand winner but then double-faults for 15-all. Then he rattles off three quick points for the hold and Wawrinka will serve for the championship. Updated
at 1.20am BST
12 Sep 2016
01:11
Lots of chatter over Djokovic’s treatment. Here’s an email from Christine Herbert:
Djokovic losing, so its time for a medical time out. Sooooo predictable. Hope Stan can hold his rhythm. Shame how often Djoko gets away with this one. Watch him flow now. Updated
at 1.29am BST
12 Sep 2016
01:09
Fourth set: *Djokovic 7-6, 4-6, 5-7, 2-5 Wawrinka (*denotes next server)
Wawrinka holds at love against an obviously compromised Djokovic and he’s now four points from the title. Now Djokovic calls another medical timeout as the trainer is out to inspect the blister once again. Updated
at 1.13am BST
12 Sep 2016
01:05
Fourth set: Djokovic 7-6, 4-6, 5-7, 2-4 Wawrinka* (*denotes next server)
A lightning-quick Djokovic service game as he holds at love. Here’s Kevin Mitchell’s look at Djokovic trainer usage, which will no doubt loom as a major topic of conversation in the aftermath of today’s final. Updated
at 1.13am BST
12 Sep 2016
01:01
Fourth set: *Djokovic 7-6, 4-6, 5-7, 1-4 Wawrinka (*denotes next server)
Wawrinka crushes a 109mph ace down the middle for 30-love. He’s won 10 of 11 points on his serve this set. Djokovic pulls back for 30-all. And now he will after a break-point chance after winning a point at the net. Wawrinka saves it with a forehand volley winner – he’s now saved 12 of the 15 break points he’s faced today – but Wawrinka puts a backhand long and Djokovic will have another chance to break. Wawrinka saves it again, but a forehand winner down the line by Djokovic gives him a third chance for a break in this game. And Wawrinka saves it again when Djokovic makes an unforced error from the baseline. Then Wawinka rattles off two quick points for the marathon hold. Updated
at 1.13am BST
12 Sep 2016
00:54
Djokovic has been hobbling for a few games now. Turns out it due to a blister on his toe. He speaks to Wawrinka from his char: “Stan, sorry man. I couldn’t stand it.” A bit of gamesmanship here? Surely he could have called for the trainer during the previous changeover and not right before Wawrinka’s serve, interrupting the brilliant rhythm he’d found only three games from the title. 12 Sep 2016
00:51
Now the trainer is out to attend to Djokovic with Wawrinka due to serve. It’s not a changeover, mind. Wawrinka asking tournament referee Brian Earley to explain. “You can see the physio whenever you want?” he says, sarcastically. “Oh, it’s new!”
12 Sep 2016
00:48
Fourth set: Djokovic 7-6, 4-6, 5-6, 1-3 Wawrinka* (*denotes next server)
More pressure on Djokovic’s serve as he makes an unforced error to open the game but reponds with a 118mph ace for 15-all. Then he falls behind 15-30 on another unforced error, this one from the backhand side, before Wawrinka mishits a forehand for 30-all. And now Djokovic double-faults! Another break point for Wawrinka, who is six for nine on break chances today. This time Djokovic comes to net and ends a nine-stroke rally with an overhand smash winner. Deuce. The Djokovic hits a 120mph ace down the middle, but follows it with a double fault to return it to deuce. They trade points for a stretch before Djokovic finally forces Wawrinka into a backhand error for the hold. 12 Sep 2016
00:40
Fourth set: *Djokovic 7-6, 4-6, 5-6, 0-3 Wawrinka (*denotes next server)
Wawrinka forces Djokovic into an error and then crunches back-to-back aces out wide of 92mph and 105mph. From there a forehand winner gives Wawrinka the emphatic love hold to back up the break. 12 Sep 2016
00:39
Fourth set: Djokovic 7-6, 4-6, 5-6, 0-2 Wawrinka* (*denotes next server)
At 15-all, Djokovic hits a 107mph ace out wide, his fourth of the match and first since the opening set. But he makes an unforced error after an 18-stroke rally and then Wawrinka hits a backhand winner for 30-40. Another break-point chance for the Swiss and he wins it! Wawrinka has now converted six of nine break points compared to three of 14 for Djokovic. 12 Sep 2016
00:31
Fourth set: *Djokovic 7-6, 4-6, 5-7, 0-1 Wawrinka (*denotes next server)
Wawrinka forces Djokovic into a forehand error, then follows with his 12th and 13th backhand winners of the match for 40-love. Djokovic pulls one back but then sends a forehand long and Wawrinka has the comfortable hold. Updated
at 12.41am BST
12 Sep 2016
00:27
Third set: Djokovic 7-6, 4-6, 5-7 Wawrinka
Djokovic follows a 122mph service winner with another point for 30-all, but he makes an unforced error and then Wawrinka crushes a backhand winner for 30-all. The Swiss is two points from the set. Big serve from Djokovic that Wawrinka can’t return, but Wawrinka fights back for deuce. Now Djokovic misses a backhand long and Wawrinka has set point! The crowd roars and the chair umpire quiets them. Djokovic just misses on a cracking 121mph serve out wide and Wawrinka will have a look at his second effort – and he wins the point by forcing Djokovic into a backhand error from the baseline! Wawrinka is now one set away from taking out the defending champion and capturing a third grand slam title in as many years! 12 Sep 2016
00:20
Third set: *Djokovic 7-6, 4-6, 5-6 Wawrinka (*denotes next server)
Wawrinka holds from love-15 and 15-30 down winning three straight points. Djokovic now to serve to stay in the third set. 12 Sep 2016
00:14
Third set: Djokovic 7-6, 4-6, 5-5 Wawrinka* (*denotes next server)
Djokovic caps a love hold with a forehand winner and we’re still on serve in the third. 12 Sep 2016
00:09
Third set: *Djokovic 7-6, 4-6, 4-5 Wawrinka (*denotes next server)
Wawrinka forced Djokovic into an error then hits a pair of winners for 40-all. He mixes in his third double fault of the match and then Djokovic wins another point for 40-30. Now Wawrinka makes a forehand error from the baseline for deuce, but Djokovic nets a forehand and Wawrinka has game point again. Djokovic saves it and they trade points until Wawrinka finally escapes with the hold after a 12-point game, which matches the longest of the match. 12 Sep 2016
00:01
Third set: Djokovic 7-6, 4-6, 4-4 Wawrinka* (*denotes next server)
Two quick points for Djokovic followed by a third on a drop-shot winner to cap an 11-stroke rally for 40-love. Wawrinka pulls one back on a forehand winner, but Djokovic takes the next point and the hold. Wawrinka to serve at 4-all. 12 Sep 2016
23:57
Third set: *Djokovic 7-6, 4-6, 3-4 Wawrinka (*denotes next server)
From 30-all, Wawrinka crushes a 110mph ace out wide. He then forces Djokovic to mishit a backhand from the baseline to seal the hold. 12 Sep 2016
23:53
Third set: Djokovic 7-6, 4-6, 3-3 Wawrinka* (*denotes next server)
A stress-free hold for Djokovic, who’s now won three straight games after dropping three in a row. Meanwhile on the world feed, Luke Jensen comments on Wawrinka’s forearm tattoo (“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better.”). “It’s very German,” the former American pro says. Samuel Beckett weeps. Updated
at 12.40am BST
12 Sep 2016
23:46
Third set: *Djokovic 7-6, 4-6, 2-3 Wawrinka (*denotes next server)
A chance here for Djokovic as he fights back from 30-0 and 40-15 to force deuce with a couple of quick points. He nets a forehand from the baseline at the end of an 11-shot rally, but a pair of Wawarinka unforced errors off the backhand side give him a break-point chance, his fifth of the set. Wawrinka wipes it out with a big serve, but Djokovic earns a second opportunity for a break when Wawrinka blinks on a 16-stroke exchange. This time Wawrinka nets a forehand and Djokovic has broken! Back on level terms in the third set. 12 Sep 2016
23:37
Third set: Djokovic 7-6, 4-6, 1-3 Wawrinka* (*denotes next server)
The crowd swells as the players take their positions at the baselines. Wawrinka wins two quick points – he’s now won six straight on Djokovic’s serve – and the Serb is feeling the heat at love-30 already down a break. An unforced error by Wawrinka followed by a Djokovic overhand winner levels it at 30-all. Now Djokovic crushes a pair of big serves, neither of which Wawrinka can return, to pull out the hold from love-30 down. He’s finally on the board in this third set after 28 minutes. 12 Sep 2016
23:32
Third set: *Djokovic 7-6, 4-6, 0-3 Wawrinka (*denotes next server)
A fifth straight point for Wawrinka for 15-love, but then Wawrinka double-faults and nets a drop shot by the slimmest of margins to fall behind 15-30. A 121mph ace down the T – Wawrinka’s fifth of the match – levels it at 30-all but another unforced error gives Djokovic a chance to break right back at 30-40. Wawrinka saves it when Djokovic nets a backhand from the baseline, but he follows with a forehand winner at the net and a goregeous backhand passing shot as Djokovic comes to net at the end of a 17-stroke rally. A hold for Wawrinka to move halfway to pocketing the third set. 12 Sep 2016
23:25
Third set: Djokovic 7-6, 4-6, 0-2 Wawrinka* (*denotes next server)
Djokovic quickly moves ahead 30-love on his serve before Wawrinka pulls one back with that arresting one-handed backhand. Then Djokovic makes another backhand error for 30-all. Now Djokovic comes to net and Wawrinka passes him with a forehand for a break-point opportunity. And Djokovic misses on a backhand volley at the net! Wawrinka has the break and an early 2-love lead in the set! 12 Sep 2016
23:20
Third set: *Djokovic 7-6, 4-6, 0-1 Wawrinka (*denotes next server)
A positive start here for Djokovic as Wawrinka makes a pair of unforced errors from 15-all to gift-wrap a pair of break-point chances. Wawrinka saves the first with a big serve out wide that Djokovic can’t handle and the second with a backhand winner from the baseline that Djokovic challenges unsuccessfully. Wawrinka sets up game point with a big second serve that Djokovic can’t return but another unforced error returns it to deuce. Now Djokovic hits a forehand winner to set up a third break-point opportunity and Wawrinka saves again by forcing Djokovic into an error. He wins the next point for a game point then closes out the nervy hold with a 131mph ace out wide. 12 Sep 2016
23:10
Second set: Djokovic 7-6, 4-6
Djokovic falls behind love-15 and then 15-40 after Wawrinka caps a 20-shot rally with a forehand winner up the line that a sprinting Djokovic can’t reach in time. Two set points for Wawrinka coming up. Djokovic saves the first with a forehand volley winner at the end of a fantastic point, but then Djokovic sprays a forehand wide to give Wawrinka the second set in 47 minutes! It’s a best-of-three match for the US Open championship! Updated
at 11.26pm BST
12 Sep 2016
23:04
Second set: Djokovic 7-6, *4-5 Wawrinka (*denotes next server)
Wawrinka settles a 13-shot exchange with a cross-court forehand winner, then passes Djokovic with a backhand for 30-love. | Sports Competition | September 2016 | ['(The Guardian)'] |
Toronto police arrest over 600 people outside the G20 summit, with police using rubber bullets and tear gas on protestors. | Canadian police have arrested over 600 people in Toronto in a police crackdown on protests at the G20 summit. Riot police used batons, plastic bullets and tear gas for the first time in the city’s history. More than 19,000 security personnel were deployed in Toronto, and a nearly four-mile-long security wall was erected around the G20 summit site at the Toronto Convention Center. The security price tag for the summit is estimated at around $1 billion. Franklin Lopez of the Vancouver Media Co-op filed this report from the streets of Toronto. [includes rush transcript]
AMY GOODMAN: Canadian police have arrested nearly 600 people in Toronto in a police crackdown on protests at the G8/G20 summit. Riot police used batons, plastic bullets, tear gas for the first time in the Toronto’s history. President Obama and world leaders gathered in Toronto for the summit following the gathering at Huntsville for the G8 talks. More than 19,000 security personnel were deployed in Toronto, and a nearly four-mile-long security wall was erected around the G20 summit site at the Toronto Convention Center. The security price tag for the summit is estimated at around one billion dollars.
Thousands of activists in Toronto held marches and demonstrations in the days leading up to the summits. | Protest_Online Condemnation | June 2010 | ['(Democracy Now!)'] |
Police in Australia foil a major terror operation involving a suicide attack on a military base understood to be Holsworthy Barracks on Sydney's western outskirts. | The leaking of details of today's massive counter-terrorism operation that led to the arrest of four men and claims of a planned suicide attack on an Australian army base, is now subject to an investigation by Victoria's Office of Police Integrity (OPI).
The OPI has already started an immediate investigation into possible misconduct by law enforcement officers regarding the alleged leak of sensitive information over the terror raids.
Replay
A dramatic sweep across Melbourne early today has allegedly foiled the most serious terrorist attack on Australian soil in the nation’s history, the Australian Federal Police chief says.
But Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Simon Overland today said he was ‘‘extremely disappointed’’ that details of the operation were leaked to a newspaper before the raids were carried out.
He said copies of newspaper, which reported about the raids, were available on Melbourne streets at 1.30am, well before warrants were executed.
"This, in my view, represents an unacceptable risk to the operation, an unacceptable risk to my staff,’’ he said.
He said he and federal authorities would vigorously pursue leaks about the operation.
OPI director Michael Strong said his organisation had consulted Victoria Police and would receive full cooperation through its ethical standards department.
He said the OPI would not comment further ‘‘at this stage’’.
Four Australian citizens were arrested in the pre-dawn raids by 400 police targeting an alleged plot by Islamic extremists to engage in suicidal gun battles at military bases.
Late this morning police charged one of the suspects, a 25-year-old Glenroy man, with conspiring to preparing a terrorist act.
Police have confirmed they are also interviewing a fifth man, a 33-year-old, who is already in custody in relation to other matters.
Police will question several other people through the night after courts today granted applications to extend the interrogations by eight hours.
Acting AFP Commissioner Tony Negus said the alleged intention of the group was to gain entry to Australian Army barracks and kill as many people as they could.
"Police will allege that the men were planning to carry out a suicide terrorist attack on a defence establishment within Australia involving an armed assault with automatic weapons," he said.
Mr Negus alleged the group was planning "a sustained attack on military personnel until they themselves were killed."
The alleged plotters had links to groups affiliated with the Al Shabaab terrorist organisation in Somalia - some were of Somali descent, others Lebanese, Mr Negus said.
The investigation revealed some of the alleged plotters had travelled to Somalia to join in fighting there, he said.
The group had allegedly been "actively seeking a fatwa, or religious ruling, to justify its plan for a terrorist act in Australia," Mr Negus said.
Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Simon Overland said search warrants issued across Melbourne and at Colac in the state's south-west may take 24 hours to complete.
Mr Overland said police had been anxious to control the alleged threat during their investigation and the time had come to act.
‘‘I think it’s sufficient to say that we got to a point where we were satisfied it was appropriate to take some action, and that’s what we did,’’ Mr Overland said.
Mr Overland stressed the overwhelming number of Islamic people in Australia and Melbourne were valued members of the community, not terrorists.
He didn’t rule out further arrests in association with the raids, but said no-one had been apprehended overseas.
Mr Overland said the suspects had allegedly surveyed the Holsworthy army barracks in outer south-western Sydney.
There had also been ‘‘suspicious activity around other bases’’ which he was not prepared to identify.
Mr Overland said he was "extremely disappointed" by leaks that lead to reporting of the raids in The Australian newspaper.
"We will be vigorously pursuing the leak from my end and I expect that the federal authorities will be doing the same,'' Mr Overland said.
Copies of the newspaper were publicly available at 1.30am in Melbourne, well ahead of the raids, he said.
"This, in my view, represents an unacceptable risk to the operation, an unacceptable risk to my staff,'' Mr Overland said.
"It's a risk that I take extremely seriously and is cause for great concern.''
Early-morning raids across city
Victoria Police and the Australian Federal Police executed 19 search warrants at homes in Glenroy, Carlton, Meadow Heights, Roxburgh Park, Broadmeadows, Westmeadows, Preston, Epping and Colac about 4.30am.
More than 400 officers from the Australian Federal Police (AFP), Victoria Police, NSW Police, the NSW Crime Commission and Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) were involved in the operation.
All of the arrested were Australian citizens, including a man in the northern Melbourne suburb of Glenroy. | Armed Conflict | August 2009 | ['(Sky News)', '(The Age)', '(The Hindu)'] |
Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Miloevic, a University of Belgrade Faculty of Law graduate, opens his defence at the trial which accuses him of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes for his alleged role in the conflicts in which tens of thousands were killed. He maintains the charges are 'unscrupulous lies'. | Mr Milosevic, who is representing himself, was making his opening defence statement at his trial in The Hague. The trial resumed on Tuesday, after his poor health caused numerous delays.
Mr Milosevic faces charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes for his alleged role in the conflicts in which tens of thousands were killed.
He made a sweeping opening statement heavy on historical details - for which he was chided by presiding judge Patrick Robinson, who said he was taking up much time dealing with history.
The accusations against me are unscrupulous lies and a treacherous distortion of history
He portrayed the Serbs as the victims of a plan supported by the US and Europe to break up the former Yugoslavia, says the BBC's Geraldine Coughlan in The Hague.
"They supported a totalitarian chauvinist elite, terrorists, Islamic fundamentalists, neo-Nazis whose objective was an ethnically pure state, that is to say a state without any Serbs," he told the court.
The trial has now adjourned for the day, but judges granted Mr Milosevic an extra 90 minutes on Wednesday to finish summarising his case after he complained he had only been given four hours. Prosecutors were given three days to outline their case when the trial began in February 2002, he said.
Mr Milosevic blamed "the Nato pact" for the conflict in Kosovo, where the prosecution says Mr Milosevic was individually responsible for "the campaign of terror and violence directed at Kosovo Albanian civilians". MILOSEVIC TRIAL
Began Feb 2002
Milosevic faces more than 60 charges
Prosecutors' case rested Feb 2004
Court already heard from 295 witnesses
Timeline: Milosevic trial
Mr Milosevic compared events in Croatia at the start of the Balkan wars in 1991 to the "genocide of Serbs by Croatian fascists in 1941". He said tens of thousands of Serbs were killed or driven from their homes in Croatia before the Yugoslav army responded
For a long time, an "untruthful and distorted picture" about what happened in Yugoslavia had been given to the international public, Mr Milosevic said. "The accusations against me are unscrupulous lies and also a treacherous distortion of history."
He once again challenged the legality of the tribunal and of his trial.
Imposed lawyer?
On Wednesday, the three trial judges are to consider whether to impose a defence lawyer on him after he completes his opening statement, Reuters news agency reports.
The repeated delays caused by Mr Milosevic's ill health have prompted some to call for him to be forced to accept a lawyer - something he strongly rejects. He has suffered from high blood pressure, flu and heart problems since the trial opened, although he appeared to be in good form on Tuesday.
Mr Milosevic says he wants to call more than 1,600 witnesses in the 150 days allotted to his defence - including former US President Bill Clinton and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair - although it is unlikely they will appear, say correspondents. The first witnesses are not expected to be heard until next week. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | August 2004 | ['(BBC News)', '(Reuters)'] |
Chinese authorities arrest 21 people involved in the Ezubao online finance scheme accused of allegedly defrauding 900,000 people of 50bn yuan ($7.6bn; £5.3bn) in a Ponzi scheme. | Chinese authorities have arrested 21 people involved in an online finance scheme which is suspected of defrauding 900,000 investors of about 50bn yuan ($7.6bn; £5.3bn).
The 21 people worked for Ezubao, a peer-to-peer lender widely described in Chinese state media as a Ponzi scheme. Ezubao is believed to be China's largest such online financing business. State media said investigations had found more than 95% of the investment offerings on the site were fake. Chinese television broadcast apparent confessions by two former employees of the company, that was based in Anhui province. Ezubao was launched in 2014 by Ding Ning, the chairman of holding firm Yucheng Group. He was among those arrested, reports said. China's growing middle class has increasingly been attracted to online investment schemes as people seek to quickly increase their wealth. But authorities have been struggling to regulate the wealth management industry, estimated to be worth more than $2.5tn.
A Ponzi scheme is much like a pyramid scheme and is viewed as a fraudulent investment operation that offers unusually high returns on short term investments. Some of that money pays fake returns to other investors.
They are named after Boston fraudster Charles Ponzi who set up schemes in the US in the 1920s.
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Arrest | February 2016 | ['(BBC)'] |
The U.S. state of New Jersey suffers extensive flooding with Passaic County, Mercer County and Middlesex County worst affected. | Extensive flooding remained in some parts of New Jersey on Tuesday in the aftermath of Hurricane Irene. Passaic County in the northern part of the state and Mercer and Middlesex Counties in the central part were particularly hard-hit, with some streets under several feet of water.
Little Falls, Pompton Lakes and Wayne, all in Passaic County, are susceptible to flooding even in relatively minor storms because of their locations along four major rivers: the Passaic, the Pequannock, the Pompton and the Ramapo. As such, the local governments are well practiced in responding to floods, but the effects of Hurricane Irene were unusually severe, with record crests in some places. The Passaic River peaked at 14 feet, twice the height needed for a flood, according to The Record.
Cars were completely submerged and some houses flooded up to their roofs. Parts of Willowbrook Mall in Wayne were underwater, and the mall remained closed on Tuesday -- not that anyone could have gotten there through the flooded streets even if it had been open. Property damage, both to homes and to the furniture and valuables inside them, was catastrophic. Dave Anders, a longtime resident of Pompton Lakes, told CBS News that the flooding was the worst he had seen in 50 years.
Paterson, the third largest city in New Jersey, was also seriously affected, and parts of Bergen County saw flooding as well. Statewide, at least six people died as a result of the storm, and more than 250,000 homes and businesses remained without power on Tuesday.
Central New Jersey suffered major flooding from the Raritan River. New Jersey Transit restored service on most train lines on Tuesday, but the Northeast Corridor Line between New Brunswick and Trenton and the Amtrak line to Philadelphia remained suspended because of flooding in the Trenton station. Part of the Princeton Junction station was also underwater.
In addition to inundating homes and making streets impassable, the flooding created serious electrical hazards from downed and wet power lines. One house in Pompton Lakes exploded on Monday, possibly because of natural gas, but fortunately no one was inside at the time, CBS News reported.
The flooding was compounded because New Jersey has seen a lot of rain in August, and the ground was saturated in many places even before the hurricane hit. Rainfall from Irene was between 5 and 10 inches throughout the state.
David Robinson, the state climatologist, told Bloomberg Businessweek that Irene was on par with Hurricane Floyd in 1999, the Ash Wednesday Nor'easter of 1962 and the Great Atlantic Hurricane of 1944 in terms of the damage done in New Jersey. He said the flooding was as bad as that from Tropical Storm Doria in August 1971, and second only to the Great Flood of October 1903. | Floods | August 2011 | ['(International Business Times)'] |
Violent protests in Papua, Indonesia, kill at least 30 people. Most casualties are in Wamena, with deaths also reported in Jayapura. Victims reportedly receive stab and arrow wounds, and others die in fires as protestors torch government buildings. | At least 30 people have died after fresh unrest broke out in Indonesia’s restive Papua region on Monday, with some victims stabbed, shot with arrows or burned alive as protesters set fire to buildings during violent demonstrations.
The authorities warned the death toll may rise in Wamena city, which saw the bulk of the casualties after hundreds took to the streets and burned down a government office and other buildings in the worst day of bloodshed since huge protests over perceived racial discrimination broke out last month.
"Some were burned, some were hacked to death... some were trapped in fires," local military commander Chandra Dianto told AFP.
"(We're) going to scour the debris to look for more possible victims in shops and stalls that were set on fire," he added.
A soldier was stabbed to death and three civilians also died from rubber bullet wounds in further clashes in Jayapura, the provincial capital of Papua. Close to 70 people were wounded across the two protests.
The protests, which mainly involved high school students, were reportedly sparked by racist comments made by a teacher, but police have refuted this version of events as a “hoax.”
Videos posted by Veronica Koman, a human rights lawyer - but which could not be independently verified - showed panicked pupils scattering as the police dispersed the demonstrations. Shots could be heard in at least one video, although it was unclear what was fired.
In another post by the lawyer, a young male protester with a bloodied bandage on his head claimed he had been hit by a rubber bullet, struck with a rifle and kicked with boots.
Other unverified posts showed graphic pictures of what appeared to be gunshot injuries.
National police chief Tito Karnavian said that 22 of the deaths were economic migrants from other parts of Indonesia - among them motorbike taxi drivers, shop workers and restaurant waiters.
Migrants from Java, South Sulawesi and the Moluccas islands dominate the local economy to the annoyance of the indigenous Papuan population, who claim they are discriminated against. The migration began with programmes launched by government of the late President Suharto in the 1990s.
Papua and West Papua provinces, the resource-rich western part of the island of New Guinea, were formerly a Dutch colony that was incorporated into Indonesia after a widely criticised U.N.-backed referendum in 1969.
The region was gripped by violence in August, fuelled by renewed calls for self-rule and by anger over reports of racist slurs and tear gas used against Papuan students in the Indonesian city of Surabaya.
The students had been accused of desecrating the national flag. Their dormitory was surrounded by a baying mob and 43 students were arrested and later released without charge.
Many have since returned to Papua in fear, while others have spoken of intimidation, including an incident where a bag of snakes was thrown into their living quarters. The United Liberation Movement for West Papua, which is pushing for independence, described Monday's violence as a "massacre" and said that 17 Papuan high school students had been gunned down by Indonesian security forces. The claims of both sides could not be independently verified.
Meanwhile, thousands of residents, including young families, are said to have sought shelter in military, police and government buildings.
. | Protest_Online Condemnation | September 2019 | ['(The Telegraph)'] |
Dutch authorities expelled the Turkish Family minister Fatma Betül Sayan Kaya from Rotterdam, and escorted her to the German border. | Dutch riot police have clashed with protesters in Rotterdam, amid a diplomatic row that saw a Turkish minister escorted out of the country.
Water cannon and police on horseback were used to disperse about 1,000 people outside the Turkish consulate.
The minister was trying to win support among expatriates for a referendum on expanding Turkish presidential powers.
The Dutch government says such rallies would stoke tensions days before the Netherlands' general election.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stepped up the war of words on Sunday, telling a ceremony in Istanbul: "Holland! If you are sacrificing Turkish-Dutch relations for the sake of the elections on Wednesday, you will pay a price."
Fatma Betul Sayan Kaya, Turkey's family minister, had arrived by road on Saturday ahead of her planned rally.
However, she was denied entry to the consulate in Rotterdam and taken to the German border by police. Earlier, the Netherlands had barred Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu from entering the country by plane. He has now travelled to Metz in northern France to address a rally there on Sunday.
In a Facebook post, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said attempts to find a "reasonable solution" to the two countries' differences had proved "impossible", while dismissing Ms Kaya's arrival in Rotterdam as "irresponsible".
Ms Kaya said on Twitter: "The world must take a stance in the name of democracy against this fascist act! This behaviour against a female minister can never be accepted."
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on Sunday that Turkey would respond in the "harshest ways" to this "unacceptable behaviour".
Ms Kaya later flew back to Istanbul.
After arriving she said: "We were subjected to rude and rough treatment... Treating a female minister this way is very ugly."
Protests were held on Sunday outside the Dutch consulate in Istanbul, where the Netherlands' flag was replaced with a Turkish one.
Mr Erdogan on Saturday denounced the Dutch government as "Nazi remnants and fascists" for denying the rallies.
The BBC's Turkey correspondent, Mark Lowen, says that what began as a diplomatic row has turned into a full-blown bilateral crisis.
Reports say the owner of a venue in the Swedish capital, Stockholm, has now cancelled a pro-Erdogan rally on Sunday that was to have been attended by Turkey's agriculture minister. Sweden's foreign ministry said it was not involved in the decision.
Turkey is holding a referendum on 16 April on whether to turn from a parliamentary to a presidential republic, more akin to the United States.
If successful, it would give sweeping new powers to the president, allowing him or her to appoint ministers, prepare the budget, choose the majority of senior judges and enact certain laws by decree.
What's more, the president alone would be able to announce a state of emergency and dismiss parliament.
In order to get it passed, Mr Erdogan needs the votes of citizens living within Turkey and abroad. There are 5.5 million Turks living outside the country, with 1.4 million eligible voters in Germany alone - and the Yes campaign is keen to get them on side.
So a number of rallies have been planned for countries with large numbers of expat voters, including Germany, Austria and the Netherlands.
However, Mr Erdogan's supporters have found themselves blocked from holding these rallies.
Many of the countries have cited security concerns as the official reason. Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz said Mr Erdogan was not welcome to hold rallies as this could increase friction and hinder integration.
Mr Rutte said the Netherlands asked Turkey to desist as they feared "compromised public order and security".
The Dutch government is also facing a severe electoral challenge from the anti-Islam party of Geert Wilders in its election on Wednesday.
Many European nations have also expressed deep disquiet about Turkey's response to the July coup attempt and the country's perceived slide towards authoritarianism under President Erdogan.
Germany in particular has been critical of the mass arrests and purges that followed - with nearly 100,000 civil servants removed from their posts. | Government Policy Changes | March 2017 | ['(BBC)'] |
The Guatemalan Army is accused of abducting over 300 children during the 19601996 Civil War and selling them for adoption. | GUATEMALA CITY, Sept 10 (Reuters) - At least 333 children and probably thousands more were taken by Guatemalan security forces and sold abroad during the country's 36-year civil war, a government report said on Thursday.
Soldiers and police killed children's parents, lied about how they had been found and handed them to state-run homes for sale to adoptive parents in the United States and Europe, said the report, which was based on government archives.
The archives in the Guatemalan presidency's social welfare department show hundreds of children whose parents were killed by the army or who were forcefully taken from their families and were put up for adoption with false papers.
"Some of the people involved in organizing these adoptions made the process into a very lucrative business for themselves, and with that in mind they gave priority to international adoptions," Marco Tulio Alvarez, the report's author and the director of the archives, told a news conference.
By the end of the war in 1996, Guatemala was the second largest source of children adopted internationally after China, but numbers have dropped after the government tightened regulations in 2007.
Investigators studied 333 cases for this preliminary report into adoptions during some of the most violent years of the war, between 1977 and 1989, after the archive was opened by President Alvaro Colom last year.
Around 250,000 people, mostly indigenous Mayan Indians, died in the war between successive right-wing governments and leftist insurgents, which ended with the signing of UN-backed peace accords in 1996.
Human rights groups hope that dozens of people could be prosecuted based on the new report. There may be thousands more cases but little paperwork survives as proof.
Bernabe Gutierrez was 3 years old when his mother was killed by soldiers and his father fled to Mexico in 1980.
He and his three siblings were taken by a local pastor and then split up. Gutierrez and his sister remained in Guatemala and a brother was adopted in Italy. Gutierrez' youngest brother has never been found.
"(I'm) very sad, devastated, because it's unacceptable that armed men can come into a home and take the lives of defenseless people like they did," said Gutierrez, who has been reunited with some members of his family.
Experts are also working on digitalizing and making public a massive police archive of millions of documents that were discovered, covered in dust and bat droppings, in a warehouse on the outskirts of Guatemala City four years ago.
The huge paper trail contains everything from parking tickets to arrest warrants and could help prosecute former police officers who killed activists and union leaders during the civil war.
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | September 2009 | ['(CNN)', '(Reuters)'] |
Green Moon, trained by Robert Hickmott and ridden by Brett Prebble, wins the 2012 Emirates Melbourne Cup at Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, Australia. | Last updated on 6 November 20126 November 2012.From the section Horse Racing
Green Moon, trained in Australia by Robert Hickmott and ridden by Brett Prebble, has won the 152nd running of the Melbourne Cup at Flemington.
The 19-1 shot, formerly trained in Britain by Harry Dunlop, triumphed from Fiorente and Jakkalberry.
No British challenger has won the race, which attracts a crowd of more than 100,000, with Marco Botti's Jakkalberry the best of five hopefuls this time.
Mount Athos, for Luca Cumani, was a fast-finishing fifth in the £4m race.
Known as the "race that stops a nation", the first two home in the 2012 Melbourne Cup were trained in Australia, although both were once based in Britain.
The winner ran eight times for Berkshire-based Dunlop in 2009 and 2010 before moving down under while Fiorente - making his debut for Gai Waterhouse - began his career with Sir Michael Stoute and only left the Newmarket trainer in the summer.
Green Moon flashed past the long-time leader Glencadam Gold a furlong and a half from home in the two-mile handicap under an assured ride to win by a length.
Fiorente (30-1) stayed on for second with 80-1 chance Jakkalberry a further length-and-a-quarter back. Australian bottom weight Kelinni was fourth.
"If he sustained the journey, nothing was going to go with him," said Australian jockey Prebble, who is based in Hong Kong.
"I've had some great highs here, but you don't get any higher than reaching the pinnacle.
"It's very emotional and it's going to last for a long time."
It was a fourth Melbourne Cup win for owner Lloyd Williams, a former business partner of the late media tycoon Kerry Packer. The owner's son Nick received the trophy from the Duchess of Cornwall, who attended the races with the Prince of Wales.
Several of the leading contenders came from overseas but last year's winner Dunaden (14th) and and 2010 champion Americain (11th), both trained in France, were among the fancied runners to finish well behind in the 24-horse field.
Americain was ridden by dual Cup winner Damien Oliver, whose build-up to the event was clouded by an allegation he bet on a rival horse in a race two years ago.
The Australian jockey, who has denied the claim, was due to ride Green Moon on his last run but was replaced when the betting reports surfaced.
Red Cadeaux, trained by Harry Dunlop's older brother Ed, finished eighth while fellow British challengers My Quest For Peace and Cavalryman were 10th and 12th.
European trainers said their chances were hampered by the slowly-run race.
Newmarket-based Botti, trainer of third-placed Jakkalberry, said: "He ran a very good race, but he probably could have done with the pace being a bit quicker."
The winner Green Moon is a son of the 1999 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe victor Montjeu and the first seven horses were bred in Ireland.
Emirates Melbourne Cup finishing order:
1 Green Moon 19-1 2 Fiorente 30-1 3 Jakkalberry 80-1
4 Kelinni 5 Mount Athos 6 Glencadam Gold 7 Mourayan 8 Red Cadeaux 9 Precedence 10 My Quest For Peace 11 Americain 12 Cavalryman 13 Voila Ici 14 Dunaden 15 Niwot 16 Lights of Heaven 17 Winchester 18 Sanagas 19 Maluckyday 20 Galileo's Choice 21 Unusual Suspect 22 Zabeelionaire 23 Tac de Boistron 24 Ethiopia | Sports Competition | November 2012 | ['(BBC Sport)'] |
Nearly 8,000 people are evacuated from the town of Cherry Valley, California, United States, due to a growing wildfire. The Apple Fire has burned over 20,500 acres and is five percent contained. | PALM SPRINGS, Calif. — More than 2,000 firefighters and multiple aircraft battled the Apple Fire about 85 miles east of Los Angeles as it spread to more than 26,000 acres, sent smoke drifting to Arizona and threatened thousands of homes in Riverside and San Bernardino counties.
The blaze, centered near the town of Beaumont, began Friday evening as two smaller fires that eventually merged. The fire has been fed by low humidity, a slight breeze, thick vegetation and triple-digit temperatures.
The fire had scorched nearly 42 square miles, destroyed three structures and was only 7% contained on Monday. The U.S. Forest Service said the blaze was being battled by 2,296 firefighters and support personnel, including 32 hand-crews, 275 fire engines and 24 bulldozers. Multiple helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft were dropping water and fire retardant.
About 7,800 people from 2,600 residences had been ordered to evacuate. No injuries had been reported as of midday Sunday.
Further north, a fire near Reno, Nevada, also burned out of control on Monday. The North Fire, in Nevada near the California border, was at 6,300 acres with 10% containment, and evacuations remained in effect, according to Truckee Meadows Fire & Rescue.
The leading edge of smoke from the Apple Fire has pushed as far as the city of Globe, Arizona, roughly 400 miles away, according to the National Weather Service's Phoenix office. The main body of smoke was visible across south-central and southwest regions of the state.
Riverside County fire officials said the conflagration was caused by accident — a diesel vehicle that emitted burning carbon from its exhaust pipe.
Cal Fire Capt. Fernando Herrera said the fire was burning on two sides. The western edge was in the Forest Falls area in San Bernardino County, and the eastern flank was headed toward the Morongo Band of Mission Indians' reservation in Riverside County.
"It is steep terrain, rugged terrain," he said. "Access is limited. We can't really get to it on foot. We rely a lot on the aircraft to do the work during the day."
The only structures lost in the fire have been a single-family home and two outbuildings near Avenida Miravilla in Cherry Valley, officials said Saturday. Herrera said an assessment team would be looking for any other damaged structures where the fire had burned.
"It's so hot and it's so intense in some of these areas that haven't been mopped up that it's hard to get in to make an assessment," he said.
All ongoing evacuations orders remain in effect Monday.
Among those who had to flee were Rick and Rose Stewart, who live on Avenida Miravilla in Cherry Valley. Rose Stewart, 65, was home with her three granddaughters, ages 1, 4 and 8, when flames appeared in the canyon surrounding their home.
“Boy, the wind picked up and it moved,” she said. “At that moment, I was worried about the girls because they were really scared. They were like ‘I want to go home, I want to go home.’”
Their father soon arrived to pick them up. The canyon filled with flames and the heat destroyed a palm tree and fruits and vegetables in their backyard garden.
As flames approached, Rick Stewart, 67, hosed down his home from his backyard.
He soon turned the hose onto himself as fled his yard as the fire moved his way.
“I was terrified. You have no idea the amount of heat that came off that. Literally burning your face,” he said.
Stewart said he and his son joined firefighters who had gathered in a clearing near the home. Rose Stewart left, but Rick Stewart was determined to watch his home if it had to burn down.
The home survived: The Stewarts attribute that to a fire break they installed around their home as a precaution after years of surviving fires in the area.
The Apple Fire broke out amid an extended heat wave across the Inland Empire and in the Coachella Valley.
"Heat always makes a difference, as does wind and low humidity," said Battalion Chief Tim Adams of Anaheim Fire and Rescue.
Contributing: Chris Woodyard and Doyle Rice, USA TODAY; Maria Sestito and Brian Blueskye, Desert Sun; and City News Service. | Fire | August 2020 | ['(USA Today)'] |
In U.S. college women's basketball, Connecticut defeats SMU 88–48 for the Huskies' 91st straight win, breaking the school's own record for the longest winning streak in NCAA Division I basketball history for either sex. | Now Geno Auriemma and his UConn Huskies can focus on the real goal -- a return to Dallas to play for a fifth straight national championship.
UConn broke its own NCAA record with its 91st consecutive victory Saturday with an 88-48 romp over SMU after scoring the game's first 21 points.
"Even afterward, there's a feeling of accomplishment -- they feel like they've done something significant," Auriemma said. "But there isn't this over-the-top screaming and yelling as if we just won a national championship."
While the Huskies have stayed on an even keel, Auriemma told them the streak "was maybe more significant than winning a national championship.''
UConn (16-0, 4-0 American Athletic Conference) broke the record of 90 consecutive wins that Auriemma's team first held more than six years ago. UConn matched that mark with a 65-point rout of No. 20 South Florida last Tuesday.
"I'm not taking for granted at all this is one of the coolest things I've ever been a part of," Katie Lou Samuelson said. "Now we can really just focus each game at a time and not have to worry [about] anything if we're keeping it up or not."
The four-time defending national champion Huskies haven't lost a game since falling in overtime at sixth-ranked Stanford on Nov. 17, 2014.
Their first 90-game winning streak broke the Division I record of 88 straight wins by the UCLA men's basketball team and famed coach John Wooden. That UConn streak also started after a loss to Stanford, in the 2008 national semifinal game, and ended with another loss at Stanford on Dec. 30, 2010.
While the Huskies don't play Stanford in this regular season, they do have wins over second-ranked Baylor, third-ranked Maryland and sixth-ranked Notre Dame -- the latter two on the road.
Auriemma said his team's focus has been on getting in position for another national title shot.
"All of sudden you wake up one day, like today, and you realize that along that way, I can't believe we did this," he said. "It's a lot, 91 games is a lot."
Samuelson scored 28 points, one short of her career high, on 11-of-21 shooting with five 3-pointers. Napheesa Collier added 19 points and a career-high 16 rebounds for UConn, while Gabby Williams also had a double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds, along with six assists.
Alicia Froling, a junior from Australia, led SMU (10-7, 1-3) with 16 points and 12 rebounds.
"What a very, very good team," first-year SMU coach Travis Mays said. "I hear people say at the beginning of the year UConn was supposed to have a down year. ... That's a program that has championship pedigree, and the culture is there. You go there, they just plug you in and they keep on winning."
Big picture
UConn: With another NCAA record in hand, the real focus for the Huskies is getting back to Dallas in about 2 1/2 months for the Final Four and going for their 12th national championship. The national semifinal games are March 31 at the American Airlines Center, the home of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks, which is about 5 miles from the SMU campus.
SMU: The Lady Mustangs clearly were overwhelmed by UConn, but so are most other teams. But this game is no measure of the progress being made under Mays, who worked under three Hall of Fame coaches before his first head-coaching job. SMU went into the game with the league's best field goal defense (35.6 percent) while allowing 58 points a game, third among the 11 AAC teams.
Dominant numbers
UConn is 58-0 in American Athletic games in its four seasons since joining that league, plus nine more wins while sweeping through the conference tournament each of the past three seasons. ... SMU is 0-7 against UConn and had lost the first six by an average margin of 51 points. ... The Huskies have won 118 consecutive games against unranked opponents over the past five years, and they have won 293 of the past 294 such games.
Staying in Dallas
Before going to Tulsa for their next game, the Huskies are staying in Dallas. They will go to the Mavericks game on Sunday. After that, long-suffering Philadelphia Eagles fan Auriemma said his team "will be required to sit and root for the Packers against the Cowboys." He said anyone he sees smiling even "a little bit" about the Cowboys will be running sprints.
Up next
UConn goes for its 92nd consecutive victory at Tulsa on Tuesday night, then the Huskies go home to play Tulane on Jan. 22.
After three straight losses, SMU plays three of its next four games on the road. The Mustangs go to Cincinnati on Tuesday night. | Sports Competition | January 2017 | ['(AP via ESPN)'] |
2 Egyptian peacekeepers are killed and 3 are injured by gunmen near Edd alFursan, South Darfur. | The United Nations has voiced outrage after two peacekeepers serving with the joint African Union-UN force in Sudan's war-scarred Darfur region were killed and three others seriously wounded in an ambush earlier today.
The two Egyptian soldiers died after their convoy, carrying out a routine patrol, was attacked by about 20 unidentified armed gunmen who opened fire without warning in a remote area of South Darfur state, according to the mission (known as UNAMID).
The wounded soldiers have been airlifted to a UNAMID hospital in the state capital of Nyala and are reported to be in a stable condition.
The head of UNAMID and the AU-UN Joint Special Representative, Ibrahim Gambari, expressed outrage at what he described as a “cowardly attack” against the peacekeepers, who he noted are in Darfur which has been beset by conflict and large-scale humanitarian suffering since 2003 only to help restore peace and stability to the region.
“UNAMID remains undaunted and unwavering in its commitment to carrying out its mandate in the service of peace,” Mr. Gambari stressed.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in a statement issued by his spokesperson, called on the Sudanese Government to launch an immediate investigation into the incident and to identify, apprehend and bring the perpetrators to justice.
Kemal Saki, a spokesperson for UNAMID, told UN Radio that there is “no indication as to the identities nor the motives of the attackers.” He called on Sudanese authorities to identify, capture and bring to justice the attackers and any sponsors as soon as possible.
“There is absolutely no reason why our peacekeepers should have been attacked? This is a criminal act of violence that we are forcefully denouncing.”
Security Council members also condemned the attack “in the strongest terms” according to a statement read out on behalf of the 15-member panel by Ambassador Nawaf Salam of Lebanon, which holding the rotating presidency this month.
Mr. Salam said the Council extended its condolences to the families of the slain peacekeepers and to the Egyptian Government, and reiterated its full support for the work of the mission.
Today's attack took place about 11:30 a.m. near the village of Katila, which is about 85 kilometres south of the town of Edd al Fursan. The UNAMID convoy that was ambushed was comprised of three vehicles and 20 peacekeepers.
Last month four South African police advisers serving with UNAMID were abducted near Nyala by unknown gunmen but were later released unharmed.
Today's deaths take the number of UNAMID personnel killed as a result of hostile actions to 24 since the mission was established at the start of 2008 as a successor to an earlier AU force. An estimated 300,000 people have been killed and 2.7 million other Darfurians displaced since fighting erupted seven years ago.
The joint African Union-United Nations peacekeeping force in the conflict-affected Sudanese region of Darfur is nearing full capacity, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says in a new report in which he warns that the mission continues to lack crucial equipment required to enhance the capability of both its military and police units. | Armed Conflict | May 2010 | ['(BBC)', '(IOL)', '[permanent dead link]', '(The Warpington Post)', '(UN)'] |
A 6.8 magnitude earthquake hits Japan with a tsunami warning being issued in Niigata Prefecture, Honshū. At least eight people have been killed and over 700 injured. There was a fire in the Kashiwazaki–Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant as well as a small leak but not sufficient to damage the environment. , | An earthquake has struck central Japan, killing at least seven people, flattening buildings and triggering a fire at a nuclear power plant.
Hundreds of people were injured when the 6.8-magnitude tremor struck the Niigata area. The fire at the nuclear plant has been extinguished, and there was no release of radiation or damage to the reactors, officials said. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has flown to the affected region. He cut short a trip to the south-western city of Nagasaki, where he was campaigning ahead of forthcoming upper house elections. The seven deaths took place in the city of Kashiwazaki. Four women and three men - all in their 70s and 80s - died from injuries sustained in the earthquake, the National Police Agency said. City official Takashi Otsuka said about 2,000 people had been evacuated from their homes, while tens of thousands are reported to have no power or running water. Older buildings, many of them with wooden walls and heavy tile roofs, appear to have suffered the most damage in the earthquake, which also cracked roads and buckled bridges. The region has subsequently suffered several strong aftershocks. Clouds of black smoke poured from the Kashiwazaki nuclear plant, which automatically shut down during the quake. Motoyasu Tamaki, a Tokyo Electric Power Company official, said the fire had occurred in an electrical transformer. Hospital officials said about 300 people had been brought in for treatment of injuries including broken bones, cuts and bruises, they added. 'Violent shaking'
Masao Honma, a police officer in Kashiwazaki, described the moment the earthquake hit. "It was too strong to stand," he told Reuters news agency. "Some people got under tables, others immediately went outside." Resident Ritei Wakatsuki told the Associated Press news agency: "I was so scared - the violent shaking went on for 20 seconds. I almost fainted through fear of the shaking." Skyscrapers swayed in Tokyo, more than 200km (125 miles), from the earthquake's epicentre in the Sea of Japan. Earthquakes are common in Japan, which is situated in one of the world's most seismically active areas, and the country regularly holds safety drills. Three years ago, an earthquake in the same area left 65 people dead. In 1995, a magnitude 7.3 tremor hit the city of Kobe, killing more than 6,400 people. | Earthquakes | July 2007 | ['(BBC)', '(CNN)', '(AFP via Reuters)', '(Kyodo News)', '(AFP via ABC News Australia)'] |
Men in camouflage kill 50 in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia | BAHIR DAR, Ethiopia (Reuters) - Men in camouflage uniforms killed more than 50 people and injured 23 others in the Metakal zone of Ethiopia’s Benishangul-Gumuz region, the region’s peace and security bureau head Abera Bayeta told Reuters on Wednesday.
The attacks happened very early on Monday, he said.
“We are still investigating but we have our suspicion that those attackers might be the same people who were involved in the coup in Amhara region,” he said, referring to Saturday’s violence in the neighboring Amhara region which killed dozens of people.
Reporting by Dawit Endeshaw; Writing by Katharine Houreld; Editing by Hugh Lawson
| Armed Conflict | June 2019 | ['(Reuters)'] |
Iccho Itoh, Mayor of Nagasaki, Japan, dies after being shot in a suspected gangland killing on Tuesday. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe denounces the murder as unforgivable. | Mr Ito was shot in the back outside a train station on Tuesday evening, and died early on Wednesday in hospital.
"This murder, which took place in the middle of an election campaign, is a threat to democracy," said Mr Abe.
Police said they had arrested a man named Tetsuya Shiroo, who is alleged to be a member of one of Japan's leading criminal groups, the Yamaguchi-gumi.
Japanese media said the murder appeared to be linked to an alleged controversy over the city's handling of a traffic accident four years ago. The attack has shocked people in Japan - a nation which sees little gun crime and where handguns are strictly banned.
No forgiveness
"We are truly saddened by the passing of Mayor Ito," Nagasaki's Vice Mayor Nobuhiro Uchida said in a statement on Wednesday. "We could never forgive such a cowardly act and we feel strong indignation."
"It cannot be forgiven no matter what," Mr Abe added. "We have to show our strong determination to get rid of such violence."
Mr Ito was shot while out campaigning for re-election for a fourth term as mayor of the southern city - which is best known worldwide for being virtually flattened by a US atomic bomb in the closing days of World War II.
Paramedics treated him on the ground before he was taken to hospital in an ambulance. Doctors worked for several hours to keep him alive but he died at 0228 on Wednesday (1728 GMT Tuesday). One of the bullets had reached his heart, hospital officials said. Despite the fact that gun violence is rare in Japan, Nagasaki has seen attacks on politicians before.
Mr Ito's predecessor Hitoshi Motoshima was shot and seriously injured in 1990 by a right-wing extremist, after he said that Emperor Hirohito bore some responsibility for World War II. | Famous Person - Death | April 2007 | ['(Reuters)', '(BBC)'] |
The death toll following the tsunami caused by the Anak Krakatau volcano has risen to at least 429, according to Indonesia's disaster mitigation agency. Also, 1,459 people are injured, while 150 are still missing. | The death toll following the tsunami caused by the Anak Krakatau volcano in Indonesia has risen to at least 429, the disaster mitigation agency says.
On Saturday giant waves crashed into coastal towns on the islands of Sumatra and Java. It is thought that volcanic activity set off undersea landslides which in turn generated the killer waves.
About 150 people are still missing, while more than 16,000 have been displaced, the agency says. Coastal residents near the volcano have been warned to keep away from beaches amid fears it could trigger a new tsunami.
Anak Krakatau erupted again on Sunday, spewing ash and smoke.
Video shot from a charter plane captured the magnitude of the volcanic event in the Sunda Strait, between Sumatra and Java.
Rescue efforts are being hampered by blocked roads but heavy lifting equipment is being transported to badly hit areas to help search for victims. On Monday, a spokesman for the National Disaster Management Agency told a news conference that another tsunami was a possibility because of the continued volcanic eruptions of Anak Krakatau. "Recommendations from [the] Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysical Agency are that people should not carry out activities on the beach and stay away from the coast for a while," said spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho. Anak Krakatau, which emerged in 1927 from the caldera that was formed during the eruption of Krakatoa in 1883, has seen increased activity in recent months with people asked to avoid the area around its crater.
On Monday Mr Sutopo put out a series of tweets explaining why there was no early warning for this tsunami. He said that Indonesia's early warning system is set up to monitor earthquakes but not undersea landslides and volcanic eruptions, which can also generate deadly waves. But, he added, with 13% of the world's volcanoes in Indonesia alone, it was crucial for the country to develop such system.
He confirmed there was no tsunami advance warning system on the night of the disaster, adding that because of lack of funds, vandalism to the buoys and technical faults there had been no operational tsunami warning system since 2012. Geologist Raphaël Paris, whose 2012 study predicted the collapse of a flank of Anak Krakatau and a subsequent tsunami, said: "There is a big uncertainty on the stability of the volcanic cone now, and the probability for future collapses and tsunamis is perhaps non-negligible."
The tsunami struck at 21:30 local time (14:30 GMT) during a local holiday, with few of the warning signals that might have come had it been generated by an earthquake.
Seawater did not recede as it would with an earthquake tsunami. Experts say that even if there had been warning buoys near the volcano, there would have been minimal alert time.
The waves destroyed hundreds of buildings, sweeping away cars and uprooting trees in several popular tourist destinations, including the Tanjung Lesung beach resort, west Java.
Footage shared on social media showed a large wave crashing into a tent in the resort, in which popular Indonesian rock band Seventeen were performing. Members of the band were seen being swept away as the wave destroyed the stage.
By Jonathan Amos, BBC science correspondent
Everyone in the region will have been aware of Anak Krakatau, the volcano that emerged in the sea channel just less than 100 years ago. But its rumblings and eruptions have been described by local experts as relatively low-scale and semi-continuous. In other words, it's been part of the background. And yet it is well known that volcanoes have the capacity to generate big waves. The mechanism, as ever, is the displacement of a large volume of water.
The first satellite imagery returned after the event on Saturday points strongly to a collapse in the west-southwest flank of the volcano. This would have sent millions of tonnes of rocky debris into the sea, pushing out waves in all directions. Indonesia is prone to tsunamis because it lies on the Ring of Fire - the line of frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions that circles virtually the entire Pacific Rim.
In September, more than 2,000 people died when a powerful earthquake struck just off the central Indonesian island of Sulawesi, setting off a tsunami that engulfed the coastal city of Palu.
On 26 December 2004, a series of huge waves triggered by a powerful earthquake in the Indian Ocean killed about 228,000 people in 13 countries, mostly in Indonesia.
However, tsunamis caused by volcanic activity like this are less frequent.
| Volcano Eruption | December 2018 | ['(BBC)'] |
Trade unions in India hold a strike over plans to open up supermarkets to international competition. | Opposition parties and trade unions in India have staged a day-long strike over plans to open the country's retail sector to global supermarket chains.
Calcutta and Bangalore were virtually shut down, but the response in other parts of the country was mixed.
The reforms, which ministers say are needed to revive the economy, were formally introduced on Thursday.
But small shops fear they will be put out of business and many people are angry at recent fuel price rises.
Earlier in the week a key ally left the governing coalition in protest, although its majority in parliament is not at immediate risk.
The Congress-led government attempted to introduce the retail reforms last year, but backed down in the face of opposition.
Thursday's nationwide strike, called by the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), its allies and Communist parties, shut down schools, businesses and public transport in many cities.
TV channels showed protests taking place in the cities of Patna, Allahabad and Varanasi in northern India.
Most businesses were shut in the eastern city of Calcutta and public transport was disrupted, reports said.
The impact of the strike was near-total in the northern states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar where the ruling Samajwadi Party and the Janata Dal (United) parties supported the protest.
In the two states, protesters held noisy demonstrations where they burnt colourful effigies of PM Manmohan Singh and blocked railway tracks.
The southern state of Karnataka, which is governed by the BJP, was shut down in response to the strike call, with buses off the roads and schools, hotels and businesses closed. The state capital, Bangalore - home to hundreds of IT companies including multinationals like IBM and Microsoft - was completely shut down. "We have asked our employees to stay back at home. We will instead work on Saturday," an official of Infosys, one of India's leading software companies, said.
"The fear factor is the reason for the closure," a spokesperson for another multinational company told the BBC.
Much of the capital was operating normally on Thursday, BBC reporters said. There was a similar picture in the financial capital, Mumbai.
In Congress-ruled Kerala, where strikes are otherwise common, this time the opposition's call did not evoke much of a response. Buses were operating and colleges and schools were open. The BBC's Soutik Biswas in Delhi says this may well signal that politically-led mass protests over a single issue no longer have the ability to shut down the entire nation. It could also reflect the fact that the merits and demerits of such retail reforms are distant from ordinary members of the public, our correspondent says. The patchy turnout at the protests will be some comfort to the government, the BBC's Andrew North in Delhi says.
The government's "big bang" reforms are aimed at reviving a flagging economy, as well as avoiding the threat of a downgrade in India's credit rating.
But many small shops fear for the future. Delhi-based trader, Deepak Sethi, said shopkeepers would lose business if foreign supermarkets were allowed into India.
"These big companies can attract customers by selling at cost prices. That means people here are going to lose jobs. Shops like ours will be hit the most," Mr Sethi said.
"Multinational companies will destroy the economic and social fabric of the country and will adversely impact traders, transporters, farmers and other sections of retail trade," Praveen Khandelwal of the Confederation of All India Traders told AFP news agency.
The Trinamool Congress party, a key ally of the ruling coalition, has said it will pull out of the government and withdraw support in parliament. Its six ministers are to resign on Friday.
The government also announced a 14% rise in the price of diesel, which is heavily subsidised in India. That move has also prompted great anger across the country.
Under the government's proposal, global firms - such as Walmart and Tesco - will be able to buy up to a 51% stake in multi-brand retailers in India.
Multinational retailers already have outlets in India, but at present they can sell only to smaller retailers. This decision allows them to sell directly to Indian consumers.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said the reforms would "help strengthen our growth process and generate employment in these difficult times".
| Strike | September 2012 | ['(BBC)'] |
The United States Department of State withholds US$160 million in direct aid to Afghanistan, citing "Afghan Government corruption and financial mismanagement." | The State Department is withholding $160 million from Afghanistan, citing corruption and lack of transparency in Kabul over how the funds are used.
Citing “Afghan Government corruption and financial mismanagement,” the State Department said in a statement on Wednesday that it would return $100 million to the Treasury that was slated for a “large energy infrastructure project.”
It will also withhold $60 million in planned assistance over Kabul’s “failure to meet benchmarks for transparency and accountability” and cease funding the Afghan government’s Monitoring and Evaluation Committee, which develops and oversees anti-corruption efforts.
“Afghan government institutions and leaders must be transparent and accountable to the Afghan people. We stand against those who exploit their positions of power and influence to deprive the Afghan people of the benefits of foreign assistance and a more prosperous future,” the State Department said. “American taxpayers and the Afghan people can count on the United States to act when we see assistance funds misused.”
| Financial Aid | September 2019 | ['(The Hill)'] |
Paris Jackson, Michael Jackson's daughter, tries to commit suicide by cutting her wrists and overdosing on pills. | The Jackson family is sticking together. Following Paris Jackson's suicide attempt on Wednesday -- where pop legend Michael Jackson's daughter was rushed to the hospital after cutting her wrists and swallowing a bottle of pills -- her family is supporting her in any way they can.
PHOTOS: Michael Jackson and his kids
The 15-year-old was transferred to the Children's Hospital Los Angeles on Thursday, June 6, and a source tells Us Weekly exclusively that visitors have included grandmother Katherine Jackson, biological mother Debbie Rowe, brother Prince Michael Jackson and aunt LaToya Jackson. Grace Rwaramba, a former nanny, has also stopped by.
"Everyone has come together to support her: Katherine, Debbie, Grace came back, Latoya was there," the source tells Us. "Katherine and Debbie actually get along. They met a long time ago when Michael was alive and stayed in touch."
PHOTOS: Paris through the years
Paris' close relationship with Rowe, 56, had been a sore spot for the family before the incident. As Us reported on Thursday, the teen was having "massive" fights with brother Prince, who called her a "backstabber" for bonding with Rowe. ("Prince feels Paris is betraying their father by getting close to Debbie," the source explained).
But in the aftermath of the near-tragedy, Rowe has been getting closer to 16-year-old Prince.
PHOTOS: Michael Jackson's memorial
"This is a tragic thing but brought the whole family closer," the source says. "Debbie and Prince are bonding, everyone has come together. Debbie has really been making sure to look after him. So there is some good in this."
The scary situation also served as a wake-up call for Paris. "I don't think Paris will ever do this again. It scared the crap out of her," the source adds.
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Gwen Stefani, Miley Cyrus, and Emma Watson all get an F on this week's Fashion Offenders
Rob Kardashian drafts two of his siblings to model socks on today's Celebs Gone Social.
A baby! An engagement ring! Wonderwall Replay covers Jennifer Love Hewitt's big week of breaking news ...
A baby shower blitz on social media featuring Kim Kardashian and Jessica Simpson on today's Celebs Gone Social. | Famous Person - Death | June 2013 | ['(MSN Music Wonderwall)'] |
Due to flooding, residents are asked to evacuate the Australian town of St George, Queensland, and the body is found of a woman missing in Roma. | Updated 5 Feb 2012, 7:17pmSun 5 Feb 2012, 7:17pm
Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Mandatory evacuations have been ordered for the southern Queensland town of St George as authorities predict the Balonne River to peak at up to 15 metres in a record flood. The Bureau of Meteorology says the river is rising quickly and is likely to reach 14 metres by 9:00pm Monday evening and continue to rise throughout Tuesday, reaching a peak of up to 15 metres overnight on Tuesday. Residents are being told to leave town via the Moonie Highway before it is closed later this evening. For those without their own transport, buses will leave the St George Showgrounds at 5:00pm and 7:00pm and take residents to Dalby. There will be a community information session at 4.30pm at the St George Showgrounds. Air evacuation to Brisbane is being organised to ensure evacuations can continue after the Moonie Highway closes and an RAAF Hercules aircraft has already begun evacuating patients from the town's hospital. The patients are being transferred to Brisbane and the Gold Coast hospitals. Queensland Premier Anna Bligh flew into the town this morning and has met with local disaster coordinators. She has urged people to evacuate the town while they still can. "We really urge people if you can voluntarily evacuate now is the time to do it, while the Moonie Highway is open, while you can do it in an orderly fashion, while you can take your pets if you have any and if you need accommodation, evacution centres are being established in Dalby," she said. St George Mayor Donna Stewart says 20 homes were inundated when the town flooded in 2010 but she expects the damage will be worse this time. "These homes were outside the last levee bank and now they're inside it so there'll be quite a considerable number more and just how many I haven't got a figure for," she said. The town's publican Murray Strasek says quite a few people who have already opted to leave. "Especially families with little kids. Everybody is resigned to the fact that we're going to possibly get flooded and like I said it's only the mums with the babies and children who seem to be going at the moment," he said. Nationals Senator Barnaby Joyce lives in St George and says locals are struggling to deal with the third flood in two years. "They've just finished renovating their house... they've just got themselves back on their feet," he said. "At 14 metres it goes into the irrigation areas so we lose the cash flow, the business plan for the next year. And that puts immense pressure on many farms." The weather bureau says the flood will have an impact downstream, with concern for Diranbandi, but hydrologists say there will be no forecast until the extent of flooding is seen in St George. The road from Dirranbandi to St George, in southern inland Queensland, remains closed due to flooding on February 9, 2012. (Kerrin Binnie) (ABC News: Kerrin Binnie)
Floodwaters from the Balonne River remain near houses in St George, in Queensland's southern inland, on February 9, 2012. (ABC News: Kerrin Binnie) (ABC News: Kerrin Binnie)
Flood debris hangs off a power pole after the waters subsided in Mitchell, southern Queensland, on February 8, 2012. (David Iliffe) (ABC News: David Iliffe)
Major Paul Mackenzie (2nd right) and Captain Charles Mansfield (right) discuss the flood damage recovery plan with Mitchell Council representatives on February 8, 2012. The Army has been called in to help with the flood clean-up in the southern inland Queensland town. (Defence Force: LAC Benjamin Evans)
Thargomindah SES members Dan Gray and Andy Petty get ready to ferry Thargomindah local Jack Teelow across the Bulloo River on February 8, 2012. (Bulloo Shire)
The Maranoa River continues to flood north-west of St George, in southern Queensland, on February 8, 2012. The river normally flows between the two lines of trees at the top of the photo. (Kerrin Binnie) (ABC News: Kerrin Binnie)
Jim Scott's silt-covered 1961 Zephyr dries off after the massive flood swamped Mitchell, in southern Queensland, on February 7, 2012. (Bruce Atkinson) (ABC News: Bruce Atkinson)
Army vehicles stop outside Toowoomba on their way west to the flood-affected towns of Roma and Mitchell on February 8, 2012. (Bruce Atkinson) (ABC News: Bruce Atkinson)
A huge pile of mud-covered rubbish piles up outside Kyline Garland's Mitchell house on February 7, 2012. Devastating floods swept through the small southern Queensland town. (Bruce Atkinson) (ABC News: Bruce Atkinson)
A property near Moree, in northern NSW, is isolated by floodwaters on February 7, 2012. (AAP: Lukas Coch)
A resident of the flood-affected town of St George takes shelter in an evacuation centre in Dalby, Queensland. (AAP: Dan Peled)
Piles of flood-damaged, muddy household items sit outside Jim Scott's house on February 7, 2012, after floods devastated the southern Queensland town of Mitchell. (Bruce Atkinson) (ABC News: Bruce Atkinson)
The flooded Balonne River approaches the levee in the southern Queensland town of St George as the expected flood peak approaches on February 7, 2012. (Kerrin Binnie) (ABC News: Kerrin Binnie)
Mitchell residents survey the damage to a house on February 7, 2012, after floods inundated the southern Queensland town. (Bruce Atkinson) (ABC News: Bruce Atkinson)
Muddy debris covers a house that was inundated by floodwaters in Mitchell, southern Queensland, on February 7, 2012. (Bruce Atkinson) (ABC News: Bruce Atkinson)
Discarded furniture sits by the side of the road in Mitchell, southern Queensland, on February 6 2012, as the town recovered from devastating floods. (Bruce Atkinson) (ABC News: Bruce Atkinson)
SES and council workers monitor pumps at the levee gate at the New Bridge on the Warrego River, in the southern Queensland town of Charleville. (Audience submitted: Bec Lake)
Flood debris is strewn across the Maranoa Bridge on the road into Mitchell, southern Queensland, as repair works begin in the flood-devastated town on February 6, 2012. (Bruce Atkinson) (ABC News: Bruce Atkinson)
Warrant Officer Class 2 Steve Carter assists flood victims 29 miles south of Charleville, in southern Queensland, on February 6, 2012. (RAAF/AAP: LAC Benjamin Evans)
Floodwaters cover a swathe of land outside Charleville, southern Queensland, on February 6, 2012. (Alan MacDonald) (Andrew MacDonald)
Floodwaters from the Bolonne River inundate streets in St George on February 6, 2012. (Facebook: Queensland Police)
Workers survey the flood damage to a bridge on the Warrego Highway, west of Morven, on February 6, 2012. (Bruce Atkinson) (ABC News: Bruce Atkinson)
Floodwaters cover part of a road near a temporary levee in the southern Queensland town of St George on February 6, 2012. (Kerrin Binnie) (ABC News: Kerrin Binnie)
A local resident looks at the flooded Balonne River in St George, southern Queensland, on February 6, 2012. (Eliza Blue) (ABC News: Eliza Blue)
The Air Force evacuates the sick and elderly from the flood-hit Queensland town St George on Sunday February 5, 2012. (AAP: Dan Peled)
Residents wait to be evacuated from St George ahead of a record flood there on February 5, 2012. (AAP: Dan Peled)
Water swamps a property in Merah North, as floods sweep across northern NSW on February 5, 2012. (Shanna Rowlands) (Shanna Rowlands)
The sick and the elderly are being evacuated by a RAAF C-130 crew from the flood effected town of St George, Sunday, February 5, 2012. Residents in St George have been advised to evacuate the southern Queensland town immediately as the Balonne River continues to rise rapidly. (AAP: Dan Peled)
SES workers start the clean-up operation in Moree, northern NSW on February 5, 2012, after massive floods hit the town. (NSW SES)
An earth mover builds a levee to protect a house from the rising waters of the Balonne river as floods encroach on the town of St George, in southern Queensland, on February 5, 2012. (AAP: Dan Peled)
Sheep gather on an outpost of dry ground outside Moree, in northern NSW, as floods rise across the region on February 4, 2012. (NSW SES)
Locals and volunteers work to build a temporary levee in the southern Queensland town of Charleville as floodwaters rise on February 4, 2012. (Qld SES)
An SES flood boat ferries supplies to communities isolated by floods in regional New South Wales. (NSW SES North West Region)
The Balonne River floods over the road at St George on February 5, 2012. (AAP: Dan Peled)
The Balonne River in flood in St George on February 5, 2012. (www.twitter.com: @TheQldPremier)
Men in Charleville assemble a levee to hold back the flooding Warrego River, February 4, 2011. (State Emergency Service)
A boy shares a bench with two dogs as floodwaters rise in the southern Queensland town of St George on February 4, 2012. (ABC Contribute: brump69)
Queensland Premier Anna Bligh (right) and Charleville Mayor Mark O'Brien visit a levy bank as the town floods on February 4, 2012. (AAP: Mark Calleja)
A 4WD makes its way through floodwaters in Wee Waa in northern NSW on February 3, 2012. Read the story (Audience submitted: Shanna Rowlands)
A flood levee in Charleville in southern Queensland at 8:00am on Saturday, February 4, 2012. (Audience submitted: Luke Kleidon)
SES helps locals in Wee Waa (file photo). February 2012. (Photo: Shanna Rowlands)
Floodwater inundates large parts of Moree, in northern New South Wales, on February 3, 2012. (AAP: Wolter Peeters)
Roma residents are helped to safety as floodwaters rise rapidly in the southern Queensland town on February 3, 2012. (Stephanie Smail) (ABC News: Stephanie Smail)
The Warrego River floods the New Bridge over the Matilda Highway, just outside the southern Qld town of Charleville, on February 3, 2012. (Audience submitted: Karen Tully)
A man shows his children rising floodwaters in the northern NSW town of Moree on February 3, 2012. (NSW SES)
Emergency workers wade through floodwaters in Roma, southern Queensland, on February 3, 2012. (Stephanie Smail) (ABC News: Stephanie Smail)
Floodwaters surround a property near Moree in northern New South Wales on February 3, 2012. (AAP: Brian Harvey)
A man stands on a precarious ledge on the flooded Gravesend Road, near the northern New South Wales town of Moree on February 3, 2012. (Twitter: Jeremy Plicher)
Floodwaters flow down a street in Roma, southern Queensland, on February 3, 2012. (Stephanie Smail) (ABC News: Stephanie Smail)
A house begins to go under as floodwaters rise in the northern New South Wales town of Moree on February 3, 2012. (NSW SES)
Emergency workers stand in rising floodwaters in the southern Queensland town of Roma on February 3, 2012. (Stephanie Smail) (ABC News: Stephanie Smail)
Workers in the southern Queensland town of Charleville reinforce a flood barrier on February 3, 2012, as record flooding sweeps across the south of the state. (Qld SES)
Cattle swim through the Maranoa River to dry ground after being stranded by floodwaters near the south-west Queensland town of Mitchell on February 2, 2012. (Audience submitted: Margaret Maudsley)
Floodwaters cover Moree in northern NSW on February 3, 2012. (Twitter: @barryofarrell)
Sandbags line the outside of the Commonwealth Bank in Moree, northern New South Wales, ahead of expected flooding on February 2, 2012. (SES)
The swollen Warrego River at Charleville in south-west Queensland on at 9:00am (AEST) on February 3, 2012. (User submitted: Karen Tully)
Ants flee from floodwaters in Wee Waa in northern NSW on February 3, 2012. (Audience submitted: Shanna Rowlands)
Excavating equipment is partially submerged in a flooded quarry in Moree, north-west New South Wales, on February 2, 2012. (NSW SES)
Flooding in north-western NSW in February 2012. This pic is of the crossing 6km from Bellata on the Courada road towards Bellata/Narrabri. (ABC New England North West: Laurie Musgrave)
Floodwaters cover the golf course at Moree in northern NSW on February 2, 2012. (SES)
Water surges down Bradley's Gully, which runs through Charleville in south-west Queensland, on January 31, 2012. (Audience submitted: Karen Tully)
Residents in Mitchell in south-west Queensland watching the rising Maranoa River on February 2, 2012 say they have never seen it over the bridge before. (User submitted: Melanie McEvoy)
Floodwaters cover a road in North Bellingen after torrential rain on January 24, 2012. (Audience submitted: Alex Mann)
Residents wade out to a bench that has been swamped by the swollen Bellinger River at Bellingen in northern NSW on January 25, 2012. (AAP: Tracey Nearmy)
Further north, searchers have recovered the body of a woman who had been missing in floodwaters in Roma. The woman was reported missing on Friday after her car was swept off a causeway into floodwaters. Her body was found near the bridge at Arthur Street this afternoon. Bungil Creek in Roma has now dropped more than a metre and residents have begun cleaning up. About 208 people slept at evacuation centres in Roma after about 300 homes in the town were swamped. Maranoa Mayor Robert Loughnan says residents are trying to clean mud away before it dries. "It's quite awful. It's got a very strong fishy smell about it this year," he said. "We've had three consecutive years of major floods in Roma and it doesn't make it any better. "It doesn't seem fair to the people of Roma and of course the people of Mitchell who've had such an incredible impact." The Maranoa River at Mitchell has dropped about 30 centimetres from its peak of 10 metres but authorities say the town is a mess. Locals have told the ABC they are furious at the lack of help they have received from the State Government. One woman says 300 people slept on concrete in an evacuation centre and there were limited toilets. Meanwhile, flood levels are continuing to drop slowly in Charleville, where levees have so far held back the water. Further rises are not expected in the Warrego River but residents say they will not be able to relax until the water drops another metre. Mayor Mark O'Brien says the river is likely to remain above seven metres until at least tomorrow night. Charleville resident Neil was one of 600 people who stayed at the town's evacuation centre overnight and says floodwaters were not the only problem. "Where I was sleeping out in the back of my ute at the showgrounds last night I was nearly going tie myself in with a rope the mossies were that bad," he said. "They'd pick me up and take me out." *This map shows the weather situation in St George. Zoom out to see the situation in the rest of Queensland. Topics:
floods,
disasters-and-accidents,
st-george-4487,
qld,
charleville-4470,
mitchell-4465,
roma-4455
First posted 5 Feb 2012, 12:43pmSun 5 Feb 2012, 12:43pm
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Israeli police engage Palestinian protesters with tear gas and stun grenades near Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque in response to reports of planned incidents ahead of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. Protesters throw fireworks and small explosive devices from inside the Mosque. , | Police say they entered the site "to prevent riots". They were reported to have used tear gas and stun grenades, and were attacked with rocks and fireworks.
Similar clashes took place at the end of July.
Al-Aqsa is one of Islam's holiest sites and is in the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif site also revered by Jews.
The holy compound is a source of religious and political tension between Israel and the Palestinians. It is a frequent flashpoint for violence.
The clashes come hours before the start of the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah.
Police were quoted in the Israeli media as saying the Palestinian youths who had barricaded themselves into the mosque were planning disruption to prevent Jews visiting the site.
Security forces launched a surprise raid at around 06:45 (03:45 GMT) in the hope of opening the site as planned, Haaretz newspaper reports. The police said in a statement that masked youths within the mosque "threw stones and fireworks" and that pipe bombs had been found.
They denied reports from some witnesses that they had entered the mosque itself, saying that they had locked the doors to keep the youths inside.
An Israeli police spokesman said there had been no injuries, but according to some Palestinian witnesses several people were wounded.
There were reports of further clashes outside the compound, in Jerusalem's Old City, and Israeli police are now said to be patrolling its narrow alleyways.
One Palestinian woman, Khadijeh Khweis, told the AFP news agency that they had been prevented from entering al-Aqsa mosque.
"They were chasing us with (stun) grenades and it's been like that since the morning," she said.
"We could only pray in front of the doors (leading to the complex)."
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned what he called an "attack by the occupier's military and police against the al-Aqsa mosque and the aggression against the faithful who were there".
Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan said the site was now open to Jews wanting to visit for Rosh Hashanah, which begins at sunset on Sunday and continues until Tuesday evening.
And he warned that he was reconsidering what he called "the customary arrangements" of the site, saying it was "unthinkable" that Palestinians could make the area "their stronghold".
Tensions have been running high in the city since Israel Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon last week banned two Muslim groups which confront Jewish visitors to the compound.
Mr Yaalon said the groups were the main sources of tension and violence at the site and said banning them was necessary to public order.
| Armed Conflict | September 2015 | ['(AP via Washington Post)', '(BBC)'] |
In Sweden some 15,500 skiers compete in the 80th installment of Vasaloppet, the oldest and longest cross–country ski race in the world. Norwegian Anders Aukland wins. | MORA, Sweden (AP) -- Anders Aukland became the first Norwegian in 33 years to win the Vasaloppet cross-country ski marathon on Sunday.
Aukland, who became a father for the first time two days ago, covered the 90-kilometer (56-mile) classical-style race in 3 hours, 48 minutes, 42 seconds.
Raul Olle of Estonia, the winner four years ago, was runner-up by 12 seconds, and Aukland's brother Jorgen took third in 3:50.43.
Some 14,000 skiers started the 80th edition of the race at Salen, near the Norwegian border.
For many of them, it would take more than 10 hours to finish the grueling race. When Vasaloppet was held for the first time in 1922, all but two of the 119 starters finished the race.
Ole Ellefsater was the only other skier from Norway -- the world's all-time leading cross-country ski nation -- to win the Vasaloppet in 1971.
Vasaloppet is the oldest, longest and biggest cross country ski race in the world.
The course is based on a historical incident from nearly 500 years ago. In 1522, Gustav Vasa attempted to gather peasants for a revolt against the occupying Danes. Vasa fled when he got no support.
The people of Mora changed their minds and sent their two best skiers to bring Vasa back. They found him near the Norwegian border in Salen. He returned to lead the Swedes to independence, and was later proclaimed King Gustav Vasa. The Vasaloppet follows the same course from Salen to Mora. | Sports Competition | March 2004 | ['(Sports Illustrated)', '(Vasaloppet press release)'] |
A court in the United Kingdom sentences an 18–year–old man to 15 years in prison for attempted murder for throwing a six–year–old French boy off the roof of the Tate Modern art gallery in London in December. He was 17 at the time of the crime, and said he "wanted to be on the television news". The boy survived but suffered life–changing injuries. | A teenager who threw a six-year-old boy from a 10th floor balcony at London's Tate Modern has been jailed for at least 15 years.
Jonty Bravery, 18, of Northolt, planned an attack and targeted young children last August, the prosecution said.
The victim suffered a bleed to the brain, fractures to his spine and has been left with life-changing injuries.
At the Old Bailey, Mrs Justice McGowan said Bravery intended to kill and "almost killed that six-year-old boy".
"That little boy has suffered permanent and life-changing injury," the judge said in her sentencing remarks after Bravery had admitted attempted murder.
"You went to the viewing platform, looked around and spotted the victim and his family and went to the boy and threw him over the railing.
"The fear he must have experienced and the horror his parents felt are beyond imagination.
"What you did on the day of this offence proves you are a grave danger to the public. You planned this and appeared to revel in the notoriety."
On 4 August Bravery made his way to the Tate Modern's viewing balcony and the court heard CCTV footage showed him following young children and looking over railings.
Further video showed the victim - who had been visiting London from France - skipping ahead of his family along the platform towards Bravery.
Prosecutor Deanna Heer said: "The defendant scooped him up and, without any hesitation, carried him straight to the railings and threw him over."
The boy "fell head-first towards the ground", landing on a fifth-floor balcony below, she added.
The victim survived the 100ft (30m) fall, but suffered life-changing injuries including a bleed on the brain and multiple broken bones. He remains in a wheelchair. He was moved to a hospital in France in September but will require round-the-clock care support until at least 2022.
In mitigation Bravery's defence barrister Pippa McAtasney QC said at the time of the attack the teenager had been in the care of Hammersmith and Fulham Council.
The court heard Bravery had a history of lashing out at staff, but despite this he was allowed to leave home unsupervised for up to four hours at a time.
Ms McAtasney referenced a recording obtained by the BBC which revealed Bravery told carers about his plans to kill a year earlier.
She said letters from his parents revealed to the court that Bravery was diagnosed with autism and "is a loved child".
"Both parents strived to improve the quality of his life and a secured and managed environment for their son," she said.
"They had no inclination their son would commit such a shocking crime. Those responsible for his care never communicated the contents of the shocking, prophetic recording that was revealed through the media."
In a victim impact statement taken in February, the boy's parents described Bravery's actions as "unspeakable".
"Words cannot express the horror and fear his actions have brought up on us," the couple said. "Our son, who now, six months on, is wondering why he's in hospital.
"How can he not see in every stranger a potential 'villain' who could cause him immense pain and suffering?"
No members of the victim's or Bravery's family were present in court for the sentencing.
A Hammersmith and Fulham Council spokesman said a serious case review into Bravery's care was under way. For more London news follow on Facebook, on Twitter, on Instagram and subscribe to our YouTube channel. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | June 2020 | ['(Reuters)', '(BBC)', '(CNN)'] |
US actor Kevin McCarthy best known for his roles in Invasion of the Body Snatchers and Death of a Salesman dies. | Kevin McCarthy, who worked steadily on stage and in film for nearly seven decades, while never attaining the status of a star, died on Sept. 11 at the Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis, of natural causes. He was 96.
Mr. McCarthy's roles were countless. He played Biff Loman in the 1951 film of the Arthur Miller play Death of a Salesman, repeating a part he performed in the London premiere of the drama, and getting nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award. He was roughhewn sailor Mat Burke opposite Celeste Holm's Anna Christopherson in a 1952 Broadway revival of Anna Christie. And, he was part of the cast of Moss Hart's famous WWII-era morale booster Winged Victory in 1943.
But the actor is probably best known for two film roles. He played the lead of Miles Bennell, the family doctor in Don Siegel's low-budget 1956 sci-fi thriller "Invasion of the Body Snatchers," which became an unexpected cult classic of the genre. Two decades later, he took a cameo role in the 1978 remake of the film, in which humans are replaced by identical clones known as "pod people." And, he had a small role in the Miller-penned 1961 film "The Misfits," playing the man from which the Marilyn Monroe character has just become divorced—a man to whom Monroe says, "You're not going to make me feel sorry for you anymore."
Kevin McCarthy—the son of a wealthy Irish-Catholic father and a mother born of a Protestant father and a Jewish mother—was orphaned at the age of four when both his parents died in the flu epidemic of 1918. He was the brother of Mary McCarthy, who would grow up to become a famous novelist and critic. He was raised by their father's parents in Minneapolis, and later by an uncle and aunt, and then a variety of relatives. As a child, he was not told what had happened to his parents.
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Following high school, he attended the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, Washington, DC, in 1933, intending to enter into the diplomatic field. He also attended the University of Minnesota Minneapolis, MN, in 1936 and went to the Actors Studio in New York.
He made his Broadway debut in Abe Lincoln in Illinois in 1938. Many roles followed, including Flight to the West, Truckline Cafe, Joan of Lorraine, The Survivors, Bravo! and Winged Victory. The latter led to a small role in the film version. Soon after, he was appearing frequently in live television, including "Pulitzer Prize Playhouse," "The Gulf Playhouse" and "The Ford Theatre Hour." In the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, he found work in nearly every television drama going, everything from "The Rifleman" and "Columbo" to "Murder, She Wrote" and "Dynasty." He also had roles in two short-lived TV series: "The Survivors" with Lana Turner; and "Flamingo Road" with Morgan Fairchild.
His film roles were not showcases, by and large, but he carved a niche out in some of the horror films of the late '70s and early '80s, including "Piranha," "The Howling" and "Twilight Zone: The Movie."
Later stage roles included Cactus Flower, Happy Birthday, Wanda June, Poor Murderer and Alone Together. He performed the one-man show Give Em Hell, Harry, as Harry S. Truman, for more than 20 years. He also won an Obie Award for playing President Truman in another play, Harry Outside, in 1975. "Kevin McCarthy is superb as my father," Margaret Truman once said.
He is survived by five children from two marriages, the first to actress Augusta Dabney (the soap "Loving"), the second to Kate Crane.
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Save 45% on Noël Coward's Brief Encounter, the show the New York Times calls "captivating & ingenious!" | Famous Person - Death | September 2010 | ['(Playbill)'] |
Turkish authorities have ordered the arrest of 105 people working in information technology who were believed to have been involved in the attempted overthrow of the government last year, state-run Anadolu Agency reported on Tuesday. | ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish authorities have ordered the arrest of 105 people working in information technology on suspicion of involvement in an attempted military coup a year ago, state-run Anadolu news agency reported on Tuesday.
Over the last year, there has been a large number of police operations targeting people suspected of links to the U.S.-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara accuses of orchestrating the failed putsch on July 15.
In the latest operations focused on IT employees in both the private and public sectors, police have so far detained 52 people out of the 105 targeted by arrest warrants across eight provinces, including former staff from Turkey’s scientific research council TUBITAK and a telecommunications authority, Anadolu said.
It said the suspects were believed to be users of ByLock, an encrypted messaging app the government says was used by Gulen’s followers. Gulen has denied involvement in the attempted military takeover.
On Monday authorities issued arrest warrants for 72 university staff, including a former adviser to Turkey’s main opposition leader who staged a mass rally on Sunday to protest against a crackdown in the last year.
Last week police detained 10 people, including the local head of rights group Amnesty International at a meeting on an island near Istanbul. Their detentions were extended for another seven days on Tuesday, a source close to the matter said.
In total, about 50,000 people have been arrested and 150,000 state workers including teachers, judges and soldiers have been suspended under the emergency rule imposed in late July.
Rights groups and government critics say Turkey has been drifting toward authoritarianism for years, a process they say has accelerated since the coup bid and a referendum in April granting President Tayyip Erdogan sweeping new powers.
The government says the crackdown and constitutional changes are necessary to address security threats. More than 240 people were killed in last year’s coup attempt.
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Arrest | July 2017 | ['(Reuters)'] |
More than forty people die in the tornado outbreak of April 14–16, 2011, with North Carolina being the worst affected state. | WTVD, WRAL, WNCN, News14, WITN (CNN) -- Powerful storms that have ripped across the Southeast killed more than 40 people over the past three days, according to the National Weather Service and reports from several states.
A CNN meteorologist called the storms' impact on North Carolina "epic."
Among the worst-hit places was Bertie County, North Carolina, a rural area in the northeast part of the state. The weather service reported 14 deaths in the county. Zee Lamb, county manager, said there were 11 fatalities. Photo gallery: Damage from tornado outbreak
More than 50 people were taken to hospitals in Greenville, and between 50 and 70 homes were destroyed, Lamb said. "Reports are still incoming," Mike Sprayberry, deputy director of the North Carolina Division of Emergency Management, said Sunday morning.
The death toll across six states includes another nine in other parts of North Carolina; four in Virginia; seven in Alabama, two in Oklahoma, seven in Arkansas and one in Mississippi.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Storm Prediction Center said it received reports of at least 230 tornadoes across the region during the past three days, though some of those reports were likely sightings of the same twister.
Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell declared a state of emergency "to direct all possible resources towards responding to this event."
For North Carolina, "When the storm count is finalized, this will likely be an historic tornado outbreak," said CNN meteorologist Jacqui Jeras. "It is quite unusual to have this many supercell tornadoes of this intensity strike the area."
iReport: Drive-by look at Raleigh damage North Carolina normally gets about 19 tornadoes a year, according to the National Climatic Data Center. There are 90 preliminary reports of tornadoes in the state in the latest storm system. A single tornado often gets multiple reports, so it is not immediately clear how many there were, Jeras explained. "But regardless, this is an epic event."
The deaths in North Carolina included three people in Raleigh who were killed in mobile homes, the weather service said. In eastern North Carolina, two people died near Ammon, one was killed in the Bladenboro area and another died in the Benson and Black Creek area, the weather service said.
iReport photos: Damage in N.C. | More
North Carolina state Rep. Mike Stone reported two additional deaths in Lee County.
At Camp Lejeune, according to a news release, roughly a dozen homes were destroyed and as many as 120 were damaged following a series of tornadoes that touched down near a housing area Saturday evening.
One seriously injured child was taken to a nearby hospital, according to the statement. CNN affiliate WTVD broadcast images of damaged homes and vehicles in Smithfield, North Carolina, as local residents and emergency workers surveyed the damage.
Gov. Bev Perdue declared a state of emergency for the entire state, according to the North Carolina Division of Emergency Management.
"We've been assured we'll have whatever federal support we'll need," Perdue told reporters late Saturday.
The governor said that as of late Saturday, the number of storm-related power outages had dropped from 250,000 to 143,000.
In South Carolina, a tornado cut through Berkeley County, destroying a church and injuring six people, the weather service said.
Meanwhile, emergency crews in Georgia, Mississippi and Alabama worked to assess the damage after the storm system moved north through the Carolinas and up into southern Virginia.
iReport photos: Lightning strike in Alabama | More In Virginia, three Gloucester County residents died and 64 suffered injuries from the fast-moving storms Saturday, according to Bob Spieldenner, director of public affairs for the Virginia Department of Emergency Management.
A tornado also ripped the roof off a school in the county, felled trees that blocked multiple roads and severed power lines, leaving 9,300 people without electricity, according to Spieldenner.
In the Shenandoah Valley, in the western part of the state, a child died after being swept away in a flash flood, according to the National Weather Service. Spieldenner said authorities rescued another flood victim, but a third is missing.
The storms were the latest in a round of severe weather that has hit parts of the Midwest and South since Thursday.
They left a trail of downed trees and power lines, scattered cars and crushed homes as it moved east and then turned north.
CNN's Kara Devlin, Ben Smith, Greg Morrison, Stephanie Gallman, Anna Gonzalez and Georgette Knuckles contributed to this report. | Hurricanes_Tornado_Storm_Blizzard | April 2011 | ['(CNN)'] |
The Department of Justice announces that Robert Sanford, a retired firefighter from Boothwyn, Pennsylvania, has been arrested for allegedly throwing a fire extinguisher at Capitol Police officers during the storming of the Capitol. | Corrections and clarifications: This story has been updated to reflect that no official cause of death has been cited for U.S. Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick.
The Department of Justice charged a retired firefighter on Wednesday, accusing him of throwing a fire extinguisher at police officers during the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Robert Sanford of Boothwyn, Pennsylvania, faces four federal charges, including assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers while engaged in the performance of official duties and disorderly or disruptive conduct on Capitol grounds.
Video published by Storyful from the Capitol steps shows a man heaving a fire extinguisher from an elevated position toward a line of officers who were trying to hold back a mob of rioters.
Riot arrests:Here's the latest list of those who have been charged.
According to charging documents, the extinguisher thrown by the man in the video ricocheted and hit three officers in the head, two of whom were wearing helmets and one who was not.
The FBI received a tip from Sanford's friend, who identified the 55-year-old and said Sanford had confessed that the FBI was looking for him, according to the documents. The friend told the agency Sanford recently retired from the Chester Fire Department.
Video that day captured a man wearing a knit cap with the letters “CFD” on the front, and the person who alerted the FBI confirmed it was Sanford. In an interview, the person who tipped off the FBI said Sanford told him he was on the Capitol grounds that day.
The Wall Street Journal first reported Sanford’s arrest.
Officials told The Wall Street Journal that the extinguisher Sanford is accused of throwing is different from the one that allegedly killed officer Brian Sicknick. The Associated Press, citing unidentified sources, reported Sicknick may have been hit in the head by a fire extinguisher. But no official cause of death has been released, and U.S. Capitol Police have said only that he died “due to injuries sustained while on-duty” and provided no other details.
The charges in Sanford’s case are only the latest among dozens of cases stemming from the riot, in which five people died. The Department of Justice has arrested people from at least 18 states, and the FBI is working to identify more.
On Tuesday, Michael Sherwin, the acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, said the 170 subject files investigators had opened were just the “tip of the iceberg.” | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Arrest | January 2021 | ['(USA Today)'] |
Some, but not all, of Chicago's taxi drivers go on strike during the morning rush hour to protest a new set of city regulations that took effect. | Some but not all of Chicago's taxi drivers went on strike during the Monday morning rush hour to protest a new set of city regulations that took effect Monday. Some of the city's nearly 6,700 cabs weren't up and running, according to reports. There were no reports, however, of disruption to service across the city or to airports.
The group United Taxi Drivers Community Council said cabbies are upset over the new rules that limit drivers to a 12-hour work day and charge 30 percent more to lease cabs. They said they haven't received a fare increase in years and plan to strike every Monday until an increase is permitted. A fare hike has long been rumored to be considered and the City Council could hear the request toward the end of this summer. Until then the City Council approved a permanent $1 surcharge for fuel, and Mayor Rahm Emanuel said in a statement he believes the new regulations will result in "safer drivers, cleaner cabs and better options for patrons."
"Until those reforms are fully implemented, it is premature to talk about charging more for a ride." | Strike | July 2012 | ['(NBC Chicago)'] |
The Philippines immigration authority has ordered the deportation and blacklisting of an Australian nun who was investigated, under instruction from President Rodrigo Duterte, for her political activism. | The Philippine immigration authority has ordered the deportation and blacklisting of an Australian nun who was investigated, under instruction from President Rodrigo Duterte, for her political activism.
Sister Patricia Fox, 71, is to be deported because her presence in the country "poses a risk to public interest," and she has been accused of violating the terms of her missionary visa by venturing beyond her suburban community, Associated Press reported.
Fox has served as a missionary in the Philippines for 27 years, and is the coordinator of a congregation of nuns called Notre Dame de Sion. She has advocated for human rights and welfare in the country, and has joined in protests against Duterte and his government.
Fox's lawyers said in a statement seen by AP that they would appeal to fight "this kind of persecution."
"Helping the poor is not a risk to public interest, peace or order. In fact, the government must recognize her selfless service to the oppressed sectors of this society," her lawyers said in a statement.
In April, Duterte personally ordered an investigation into Fox's activities and claimed she was an an "undesirable foreigner." Fox was taken from her home and detained by immigration services for nearly 24 hours, Reuters said.
Fox has defended her activism, and refuted claims she engaged in anti-government displays.
"I haven't joined political rallies in terms of party politics, but I have been active in human rights issues," Fox has said.
Duterte has been particularly sensitive to criticism over issues regarding human rights in the country. Rights groups have said his bloody war on drugs has killed over 12,000 people, and calls have been made for the United Nations and the International Criminal Court to launch an investigation. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Investigate | July 2018 | ['(Business Insider)'] |
Muhammad Mian Soomro, hitherto Chairman of the Senate, is sworn in as interim Prime Minister. | ISLAMABAD - Senate Chairman Muhammadmian Soomro Friday took oath as Pakistan's prime minister of the caretaker cabinet, according to the state-run PTV.
President General Pervez Musharraf administered the oath at the Aiwan-e-Sadr presidential palace in the capital of Islamabad.
At the ceremony, Musharraf said that it was the smoothest government transition in Pakistan's history.
Mohammedmian Soomro was appointed as the caretaker prime minister after the National Assembly, lower house of the parliament, and the government led by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz was dissolved on the completion of the five-year term.
The oath taking ceremony was attended by outgoing Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, former ministers, services chiefs and top civil and military officials.
Mohammedmian Soomro, a former banker, was working as Senate chairman till his new assignment.
The 57-year-old Mohammedmian Soomro, a close confidant of Musharraf, is from a renowned political family of the southern Pakistani province of Sindh that has been active in public life since 1923. | Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration | November 2007 | ['(China Daily)'] |
Sri Lanka holds a parliamentary election. | She is unlikely to win a parliamentary majority, but her party says it is ready to form a minority government.
Election monitors declared the poll generally free and fair.
Sri Lanka has been in crisis since a bitter dispute over the peace process with Tamil rebels erupted between the president and PM Ranil Wickramasinghe.
In the results declared so far, President Kumaratunga's United People's Freedom Alliance has won 26 of the 50 seats so far declared.
ELECTION RESULTS
Total seats: 225
Seats declared: 50
Freedom Alliance: 26
UNP: 11
The United National Party (UNP) led by Prime Minister Wickramasinghe is trailing with 11 seats and about 35% of the total votes counted.
The BBC's Frances Harrison in Colombo says the UNP appears to have lost support in its traditional stronghold - Sinhalese villages bordering the northern conflict zone that voted overwhelmingly for him in the previous poll.
A spokesman for the president said it was prepared to form a government even if it failed to win a majority.
"We are emerging the largest single party and we will form the government," the spokesman, Harim Peiris, told AFP. President Kumaratunga may have to form a coalition government with smaller left-wing or religious parties opposing any federal solution to the conflict with the Tamil Tiger rebels.
Divided vote
Our correspondent adds that the results indicate that Sri Lankans are more polarised than ever before.
The Sinhalese-majority south appears to have rejected the prime minister's peace initiative, which critics said conceded to much to the Tamil Tiger rebels.
Tamil voters have strongly endorsed the Tamil National Alliance, which backs the rebels, giving it 90% of the votes counted in Jaffna.
However election monitors have called for a repoll saying voting in the north-ease was marred by "wide-spread rigging" and voter fraud.
Peaceful vote
Voting on Friday was free of violence although there were 250 complaints of intimidation or ballot stuffing during the polls, Elections Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake said.
This is not democracy, it is hypocrisy. Women are impersonating men and officials are turning a blind eye
Dharmalingam Sidhathan,Tamil politician
Sleepy day at the polls
But, he added: "Generally speaking, election laws were very well enforced."
A record 6,024 candidates representing 24 political parties and nearly 200 other groups took part in the election.
For the first time there were election monitors at every polling station in the country.
Turnout in the north of the island was reported to be particularly heavy as Tamils there took the opportunity to vote for the first time in a decade.
Although there were few reports of violence, Tamil parties opposing the Tamil National Alliance accused the Tigers of intimidation and malpractice.
The leader of the Eelam People's Democratic Party, Dharmalingam Sidhathan, said: "This is not a vote, it is a merry-go-round... Women are impersonating men and officials are turning a blind eye."
Sri Lankan voters highlight their dissatisfaction with the economy and politicians
In pictures
If there is a hung parliament the Tamil National Alliance, backed by the Tamil Tigers, may hold the balance of power.
For more than two years there has been rivalry between the president and the prime minister, who come from different political parties. President Kumaratunga called early elections, the third in four years, saying the ruling party had jeopardised national security in peace negotiations with the Tamil Tigers. In another complication, a Tamil Tigers commander, Colonel Karuna, broke away from the main faction last month saying he wanted to form his own administration in the east to prevent discrimination by northern Tamils. | Government Job change - Election | April 2004 | ['(BBC)', '(VOA)'] |
A 300-bed isolation ward has been set up in Islamabad for Chinese citizens returning to Pakistan after vacations. | ISLAMABAD: Isolation wards have been setup in Islamabad for the 300 Chinese nationals amid coronavirus threat, who are set to return to Pakistan in the current month of February, ARY News reported on Monday, citing sources.
Sources said, a Chinese company has setup two isolation wards for its employees returning from China to Pakistan amid coronavirus threat. The NIH has given clearance to the Chinese authorities in this context.
The employees, who will be brought back to Pakistan in phases, to be kept in the isolation wards for 14 days for monitoring to ensure that they are not infected of the deadly virus.
It may be noted that number of Chinese nationals, working in Pakistan on various development projects had left for their homeland on yearly vacations.
China, where the virus originated, has so far reported a total of 76,936 cases of the disease caused by the virus, known as Covid-19, including 2,442 deaths.
It may be noted that the Iranian health authorities have reported eight deaths in the country by the coronavirus outbreak that began from Chinas Wuhan city. A further 45 people have been tested positive for the virus in Iran.
The outbreak in Iran began in the city of Qom, an often-visited religious destination. The health ministry official Minou Mohrez warned it had since spread to several cities, including the capital, Tehran, official IRNA news agency said.
| Disease Outbreaks | February 2020 | ['(ARY News)'] |
A homemade bomb strikes a Kenyan military vehicle, killing 10. | NAIROBI (Reuters) - At least ten Kenyan police were killed when their vehicle struck a homemade bomb near the border with Somalia on Saturday, according to a police report seen by Reuters.
Police believe the device, for which no one immediately claimed responsibility, was planted by Islamist group Al Shabaab, the report said.
Police said in a separate statement that several officers had died, without specifying how many.
A similar explosion in June killed around a dozen police.
Reporting by Humphrey Malalo; Writing by Giulia Paravicini; Editing by John Stonestreet
. | Armed Conflict | October 2019 | ['(Reuters)'] |
A suicide bomber attacks a feast in Baghdad's Abu Ghraib district resulting in at least 21 deaths. | A suicide bomber has attacked a celebratory feast in Baghdad's western Abu Ghraib district, killing at least 25 people, according to police.
About 30 people are also reported to have been injured when the attacker detonated an explosive vest.
The explosion took place at the home of a tribal sheikh, attended by police and members of the Sunni "Awakening" group, which opposes al-Qaeda in Iraq.
The guests were celebrating the release of a local man from US detention.
The attack took place at around 2030 local time (1730 GMT), according to an interior ministry official.
Abu Ghraib is a mainly Sunni district between central Baghdad and Fallujah.
Al-Qaeda has warned that it will target members of Sunni Awakening groups, which have sprung up across Iraq and which are supported and financed by the US military.
Awakening groups first appeared in the western province of Anbar in 2006 when Sunni tribal leaders started to turn against Al-Qaeda. | Armed Conflict | August 2008 | ['(BBC News)'] |
The U.S. Department of Defense will make payments to families of victims of last week's U.S. airstrike that struck a Médecins Sans Frontières hospital in the Afghan city of Kunduz. At least 22 people were killed including 12 staff members and 10 patients, including three children. MSF says 33 people are still missing and presumed to have died in the fire. | Medical aid group Doctors Without Borders says 33 people are still missing several days after an attack on its hospital in the Afghan city of Kunduz, sparking fears the death toll could rise significantly.
A US air strike on the hospital killed 12 staff and 10 patients, prompting the medical aid agency, also known as Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), to close the centre and demand an independent international investigation.
The centre was seen as a lifeline in a war-battered region with scant medical care and which is once again on the frontline after a stunning Taliban operation.
"We are still in shock," said Guilhem Molinie, the head of MSF in Afghanistan.
"We lost many colleagues and at the moment it's clear that we don't want to take the risk for any of our staff."
MSF has set up a hotline in the hope of tracing the nine patients and 24 staff who are still unaccounted for.
"We cannot speculate on their whereabouts," it said in a statement.
It is possible, MSF added, that unidentified bodies remain in the hospital but that cannot be confirmed amid the ongoing insecurity in the area.
NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said defence ministers from the alliance had discussed the attack, which is the subject of three separate probes by the US military, NATO and Afghan officials.
"We addressed the situation in Kunduz, including the tragic loss of lives in the Doctors Without Borders hospital," he told a press conference.
"We underlined the importance of a full and thorough and transparent investigation. We need to have all the facts on the table."
AFP: Mandel
His comments came a day after US president Barack Obama apologised to the aid group and promised a full probe into the hospital attack.
Meanwhile the NATO chief said the alliance was preparing to "take decisions" on the future of its training and advisory mission in Afghanistan, which replaced the alliance's combat role in the country last year and is set to end in 2016.
The Taliban's recent capture of Kunduz has however badly shaken confidence in the Afghan government's ability to hold the militants off despite NATO support, leading to second thoughts.
"Later this year, we will decide on the troop levels and where they will be based," Mr Stoltenberg said.
"This will be done on the basis of a detailed security assessment which we expect in the coming weeks."
The US has also signalled its willingness to consider slowing its withdrawal from Afghanistan.
AFP | Armed Conflict | October 2015 | ['(Doctors Without Borders)', '(Reuters)', '(NBC News)', '(AFP via ABC News)'] |
Superior Courts of California judge Larry Fidler declares the trial of record producer Phil Spector as a mistrial due to the inability of the jury to reach a verdict. | LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- A judge declared a mistrial in the murder case against music legend Phil Spector after a jury announced for the second time in eight days that it was hopelessly deadlocked. Phil Spector did not testify at his five-month murder trial. The jury said it was split 10-2.
The jury deliberated for 12 days, taking six ballots, but was unable to reach a unanimous verdict.
Jurors told Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler they were split 10-2, without indicating which way they were leaning. They added there was nothing Fidler could do to help them arrive at a unanimous verdict. Fidler discharged the nine men and three women, thanking them for their service. Watch what the jurors have to say »
Spector went on trial in April, charged with second-degree murder in the shooting death of B-movie queen Lana Clarkson after a night out in the clubs of Hollywood.
The judge told attorneys to return to his Los Angeles, California, courtroom on October 3 to discuss the next legal move. Spector, 67, did not take the witness stand at the trial.
Deliberations were arduous, entering the third week on Monday. Last week, jurors received new instructions on the law and were told to start over after the foreman declared the panel was deadlocked 7-5.
The jury's inability to reach a verdict capped a five-month trial that played like a Hollywood film noir classic -- with a twist of the bizarre.
A 6-foot-tall, blue-eyed blonde with a toothpaste commercial smile, Clarkson was known for her roles in "Barbarian Queen" and "Amazon Women on the Moon." But at 40 the parts were few and far between and she had taken a $9-an-hour job as a VIP hostess at the House of Blues in Hollywood.
Spector invented the "wall of sound" in the 1960s and worked with the Beatles, Ike and Tina Turner and other acts. Normally reclusive, Spector had spent a rare night out on the town, found Clarkson at the House of Blues at closing time and invited her home for a drink in the wee hours of February 3, 2003.
After initially turning him down, she agreed to accompany him, according to testimony.
Hours later, police were summoned to Spector's mansion in Alhambra, a suburb of Los Angeles. The diminutive music producer had wandered into the driveway in the predawn and told his Brazilian-born chauffeur, "I think I killed somebody," according to the driver's testimony.
Clarkson was found inside, slumped in a chair in the foyer. She had been shot in the mouth. A .38-caliber Colt Special revolver lay at her feet. It appeared someone had attempted to clean up the blood with a diaper found in the guest bathroom.
Spector's attorneys argued that Clarkson was depressed over a recent breakup, grabbed the gun and took her own life. But prosecution witnesses painted Spector as a gun-toting menace, with five women telling harrowing tales on the witness stand of the music producer threatening them with firearms. Spector's driver testified he heard a loud noise and saw the producer leave the home, pistol in hand, saying, "I think I killed somebody." At issue was whether Spector pulled the trigger -- or whether Clarkson did. In photos projected on a large screen, the gruesome crime scene resembled a set decorated for a horror film.
In all, 77 witnesses testified and more than 600 pieces of evidence were submitted. The evidence cart wheeled into the jury room was piled high with exhibits.
The jury even toured the scene of the alleged crime.
The experts' testimony differed widely on what the physical evidence showed.
Prosecutors pointed to the leopard print purse slung over Clarkson's shoulder as evidence she was trying to leave when she was shot.
The defense argued that blood-spatter evidence on the white women's jacket Spector wore showed he was standing too far away to place the gun in Clarkson's mouth.
Spector hired and fired a who's who of legal talent for his defense. High profile defense attorneys who have left the case include Leslie Abramson and Bruce Cutler.
He also changed hairstyles several times during the trial, and wore flamboyant clothing, including frock coats and pastel-colored ties and pocket handkerchiefs. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | September 2007 | ['(CNN)'] |
Residents of Galveston Island, Texas are advised that they can return home next Wednesday but there will be little or no services after Hurricane Ike destroyed much of the town. | (CNN) -- Residents of Galveston Island, Texas, who were evacuated before Hurricane Ike strafed the Texas Gulf coast can return to their homes Wednesday, but they will find few comforts, Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas said Saturday.
Workers remove debris from Luigi's Italian restaurant in the Strand District of Galveston, Texas, on Friday.
Galveston has little or no electricity, natural gas, water or sewer services. There are no medical facilities, there is limited cell phone coverage, and a curfew is in place from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. Violators risk a $2,000 fine, the mayor said in a statement.
Galveston took a direct hit from Ike when it barreled ashore September 13 as a Category 2 storm. Despite orders to evacuate, about 20,000 of Galveston's 60,000 residents opted to remain in their homes. Many of those who left went to shelters.
Thomas said residents can begin returning at 6 a.m. (7 a.m. ET) Wednesday. Residents and business owners must show photo identification verifying their address to guards manning checkpoints, she said.
"Very limited water, sewer, natural gas, and electric services have been restored to areas behind the seawall," the mayor said in a statement.
Residents of the heavily damaged west end of the island can assess their damages but must leave the area by 6 p.m., Thomas said.
"Water, sewer, natural gas, and electric services have not been restored to areas west of seawall. Therefore, sanitary living conditions are not available at this time," she said. | Hurricanes_Tornado_Storm_Blizzard | September 2008 | ['(CNN)'] |
A suicide bomber kills at least eight people at a political rally in Peshawar, Pakistan. | A suicide bomber has killed at least eight people at a political rally in the north-western Pakistani city of Peshawar, police say.
A senior provincial minister and anti-Taliban figure, Bashir Ahmad Bilour, was among those killed.
The blast happened at the house of a leader of the Awami National Party (ANP), which is part of the national governing coalition, local media said. The Pakistani Taliban said they carried out the attack.
The Taliban has repeatedly targeted members of the ANP, which holds power in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Provincial information minister and ANP member, Mian Iftikhar Hussain, condemned the attack.
"Terrorism has engulfed our whole society," he said. "They are targeting our bases, our mosques, our bazaars, public meetings and our security checkpoints."
Some 100 people had gathered in Peshawar for the meeting of the ANP, which is part of the Pakistan People's Party-led national coalition government.
Mr Bilour had delivered the keynote speech and was leaving when the attack occurred, Nazir Khan, a local Awami National Party leader, told Associated Press news agency.
"There was smoke and dust all around, and dead and wounded people were lying on the ground," he said.
Mr Bilour, 69, was severely wounded in the chest and stomach and died from his injuries in hospital.
A senior police official told Agence France-Presse that Mr Bilour's secretary and a policeman were among the dead, as well as other ANP officials.
At least 18 people were injured in the blast, hospital and police officials said.
| Armed Conflict | December 2012 | ['(BBC)'] |
The death toll from clashes between rebels loyal to George Athor and the army in Southern Sudan rises to 100. | More than 100 people are now said to have died in fighting in south Sudan after rebels attacked the army, officials say.
Earlier reports said this week's fighting had killed 16 people.
Some 39 of those killed were civilians, a south Sudan army spokesman said.
The clashes between fighters loyal to George Athor and south Sudan's army come as the region prepare for independence from the north following last month's referendum.
Some 99% of people voted to secede from the north, according to official results announced this week.
The UN refugee agency says it expects some 800,000 people to move from north to south Sudan this year.
The UNHCR said this would put pressure on the already fragile situation in the south, which is insecure and lacks basic services. Mr Athor took up arms last year, alleging fraud in state elections, but signed a ceasefire last month just before the historic vote.
Twenty members of Southern Sudan's security forces were killed, along with 30 rebels, taking the new death toll to 105, southern army spokesman Philip Aguer said.
During the clashes, two army trucks were blown up by land mines near the town of Fangak in Jonglei state, he said.
He said Mr Athor's men attacked on Wednesday afternoon and clashes continued on Thursday.
Jonglei is the south's most populous state.
When Mr Athor took up arms last April, the south accused him of being used by the north to stir up trouble and derail the referendum - charges denied at the time by northern officials.
He agreed to the ceasefire deal with the SPLA days before the referendum vote began - although he did not attend the signing ceremony in person.
Mr Athor has blamed the SPLA for attacking his forces, but said that he was open to new talks.
"If the other side is willing, we can continue talks but if they are not willing, then I would say this is the end of the peace agreement between us and them," he told the Reuters news agency via satellite phone on Thursday.
The BBC's Peter Martell in the southern capital, Juba, says the fighting is another sign of the challenges the south faces in bringing its people together and improving security.
The week-long referendum vote itself passed off peacefully, but tension remains high in parts of the oil-rich area which straddles the north and south. Fifty-four people were killed over the weekend in fighting in Southern Sudan's Upper Nile state.
Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir has promised to accept the outcome of the referendum. On Wednesday, Sudan's UN ambassador hinted that the International Criminal Court arrest warrant for Mr Bashir should be withdrawn as a "reward" for him accepting the south's independence.
Mr Bashir is accused of links to war crimes in a separate conflict in the western region of Darfur.
Southern Sudan is to become the world's newest independent state on 9 July.
| Armed Conflict | February 2011 | ['(BBC)'] |
A bailout plan is submitted two hours before the midnight deadline. The plan would raise a retirement age to 67 and cut pensions by 15% for those retiring at 62. | Pensioners wait outside the main gate of the national bank of Greece in Athens on July 9 to withdraw money; the maximum allowed is about $132.
Sobered by reports that Eurozone partners were ready to let Greece fall out of the common currency club, the Greek government Thursday delivered a new package of economic reforms to its creditors that capitulated to lenders’ demands for raising taxes and the retirement age.
The leftist leadership of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras had just two weeks ago drawn “red lines” around pensions and state workers’ salaries to shield them from deeper spending cuts demanded by the lenders, a bold rejection that was endorsed by a healthy majority of Greek voters in a referendum Sunday.
But faced with imminent collapse of the country’s banking system and the specter of economic catastrophe and social unrest, the populist government was reported by Greek media to have yielded on the sticking points that led to collapse of previous talks on a new rescue plan. The proposals were delivered two hours before Thursday’s midnight deadline, the iEfimerida news site reported.
“The government is doing all that it can to reach an immediate deal and end this cycle of uncertainty,” said government spokesman Gabriel Sakellarides. “We are optimistic that a deal will be reached.”
The Tsipras Cabinet endorsed the new plan Thursday evening, reversing its earlier insistence that pensioners be spared any further hardship. The new reform package would push the retirement age to 67 and cut pensions by 15% for those who choose to retire at 62, which those with 40 years or more in government service are eligible to do.
The government also plans to withhold more tax from state salaries and pensions and to deduct a 6% healthcare premium from retirees’ checks, Mega TV and other Greek media reported.
The program of spending cuts and tax increases is aimed at securing at least an additional $55 billion from the creditors to keep the economy afloat for the next two years. In exchange, the government also pledges to boost the value-added tax on restaurant bills to 23% from 13% and end the special tax exemptions for Greek island businesses. The reforms are predicted to generate at least $13.2 billion in revenue over the next two years to service the country’s debt from $270 billion in two previous bailouts.
On Wednesday, the Greek government sent a letter to the European Stability Mechanism, a fund set up since the country first sought bailout funds in 2010, requesting immediate assistance because of the fragility of the banking system and a clear shortage of cash. The letter did not give specifics but said that the government would immediately begin to implement budget reforms as early as Monday.
Greece has been in an economic free fall since Tsipras last week called a snap referendum on the austerity measures demanded as a condition for new talks with the creditors on a third bailout. Banks have been closed and capital controls have been imposed for nearly two weeks, paralyzing the economy. Greeks cannot withdraw more than $66 a day from ATMs, and pensioners without ATM cards are allotted about $132 a week. Banks will remain closed through Monday, the Economy Ministry said.
Greeks rejoiced when a 61% majority in Sunday’s vote rejected more austerity measures. However, the excitement dissipated as the reality began to sink in: If the government fails to secure new rescue loans by Sunday’s European Union summit, the spigot of assistance will be turned off and banks will run out of cash.
The apparent concessions by Athens were probably aided by a growing recognition among the creditors and Eurozone colleagues that Greece’s debt, more than 175% of GDP, is unmanageable and needs to be reduced or rescheduled for payment over a longer period. There is also discussion on the lenders’ side of ensuring that interest rates remain low to prevent the debt burden from growing further.
The Greek reform plan will have “to be matched by an equally realistic proposal on debt sustainability from the creditors,” European Council President Donald Tusk said Thursday. “Only then will we have a win-win situation. Otherwise, we will continue the lethargic dance we have been dancing for the past five months.”
Meanwhile, European Commission President Jean-Claude Junker acknowledged that a scenario that sees Greece exiting the euro has been prepared in detail. A Reuters poll of economists Thursday showed that 55% of respondents expected such an exit.
After Sunday’s referendum, the European Central Bank said it would not increase liquidity assistance, weakening the already struggling Greek banking system. Jens Weidmann, a German commissioner with the bank, observed in a speech Thursday that it has “no mandate to safeguard the solvency of [national] banks and governments” and that it was a wise move by the bank to cut off emergency cash infusions to Greece so that they are no longer being used to finance capital flight.
Fearful of a banking collapse, Greek depositors had been withdrawing their savings at a rate that would have exhausted the nation’s euro supply without the emergency infusions, and may still do so if an agreement between Athens and its creditors isn’t forthcoming in the next few days.
| Government Policy Changes | July 2015 | ['(LA Times)', '(Money Control)'] |
Footage shows Alexander Lukashenko departing a military helicopter outside the Independence Palace in Minsk, brandishing an assault rifle and wearing a bullet-proof vest. He then greeted a cordon of security forces guarding the palace. He was accompanied by his son Nikolai Lukashenko. In another video, Lukashenko can be heard saying "They’ve run away like rats", while observing a protest in his helicopter. | Defiant protesters have flooded central Minsk again in a sign that even a threat to use the army was not enough to quell the uprising against Belarus’s authoritarian president, Alexander Lukashenko.
The vast square outside the parliament was turned into a sea of red and white by protesters waving the traditional Belarusian flag adopted by the protest movement and chanting “resign!” and “put Lukashenko in a police van!”. Unofficial estimates put the crowd at 150,000 people or more.
Later in the evening, as protesters marched across the city, a helicopter flew low over one part of the crowd toward Lukashenko’s working residence.
Footage later released on a social media channel close to Lukashenko’s press service showed the president, clad all in black and holding a rifle, observing the protests from inside the helicopter. “They’ve run away like rats,” he said, as he ordered the pilot to move closer.
Shortly after landing at his working residence, he ventured outside to congratulate a cordon of riot police, who applauded Lukashenko. One of them could be heard to say “We are with you to the end”.
We saw a helicopter fly over protesters about an hour ago. Turns out inside was a black-clad Lukashenko carrying a rifle
Protests have been ongoing for two weeks, since Lukashenko declared victory in an election widely believed to have been rigged against the united opposition candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya and a subsequent brutal crackdown by riot police.
After a huge rally last Sunday, Lukashenko has attempted to regain control by addressing carefully assembled crowds of his own supporters and threatening protesters with more violence, painting them as puppets of nefarious foreign backers.
Before this Sunday’s rally, the defence minister, Viktor Khrenin, released a threatening video address, claiming protesters were defacing second world war memorials and highlighting the use of the red and white protest flag in the past by some Nazi collaboration forces.
“We cannot calmly look on at how people are going to these places to hold rallies, with the same flags under which fascists organised the murders of Belarusians, Russians, Jews and others,” said Khrenin.
“We cannot allow this, and I categorically warn that if order and calm is disturbed in these places, you will not be dealing with the police, but the army.”
At 2pm, the appointed protest hour, there was a sinister atmosphere around Independence Square. A few thousand protesters had arrived and were being addressed by an ominous voice through loudspeakers, telling them their gathering was illegal and they should disperse.
Authorities closed down central metro stations and implemented checks on roads into Minsk to keep the numbers down. In many of the streets around the square, army trucks stood packed with riot police, the outlines of their shields bulging through the dark green tarpaulin. The overcast weather added to the sense of foreboding.
But then columns of people began to arrive, and they kept arriving, until the cavernous expanse of the square was filled with red and white flags. The crowd stretched back far down the broad Independence Avenue that leads to it. Cheers, whistles, and chants filled the air, many of them personally directed at Lukashenko.
The last week has shown that peaceful protest may not be enough to unseat Lukashenko, but while people continue to come out in such numbers, it is hard to see how they can be tackled using brute force either, and with each new protest the authoritarian leader’s legitimacy fades further.
Imported Russian television and propaganda advisers are pushing the line that the protesters are inspired by Nazi ideals or are intent on causing ruin to the country, but people who look out of their windows instead of at the television set will see a very different picture: an expanse of smiling faces, young and old, peacefully but firmly demanding political change.
After rallying outside parliament, columns of protesters made their way to a huge expanse of land outside a second world war memorial, where last week’s large rally was held. Soldiers had cordoned off the memorial with barbed wire and barricades, and the two sides stood off against each other. Thousands of protesters streamed past the soldiers, some of them shouting “shame!” and others imploring them to join the protests. Lukashenko visited a military range in western Belarus on Saturday and suggested Nato troops were preparing to invade, reiterating that he had put the army on full combat alert. “The fatherland is in danger,” he said.
Nato put out a statement denying any military buildup on the border with Belarus. “As we have already made clear, Nato poses no threat to Belarus or any other country and has no military buildup in the region. Our posture is strictly defensive,” said Oana Lungescu, the alliance’s spokeswoman.
Lukashenko has publicly asked Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, to intervene with military help to restore order. Putin has so far refrained from direct intervention, but he held a meeting of his security council on Friday to discuss events in the country. A change of tone in Russian television coverage of the protests suggests that the Kremlin has decided to back Lukashenko for now.
Born in August 1954 in Kopys, Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko has served as president of Belarus since the establishment of the office in July 1994. On his initial election, Lukashenko set about establishing an effective dictatorship, sustained by shamelessly rigged elections.
Over the years, Lukashenko has offered his people a sort of Soviet-lite system that prizes tractor production and grain harvests over innovation and political freedoms, and the key part of his political offer has always been political and economic stability.
Lukashenko tried to push this line again into the run-up to 2020’s disputed presidential vote, painting Belarus as an island of stability in a world buffeted by economic crises, political unrest and coronavirus. But the scale of discontent has shown that for many Belarusians, this messaging will no longer work.
The 2020 elections have been described as the deepest crisis he has faced in his career, and in order to secure his supposedly crushing victory, Lukashenko required what appears to be some of the most brazen vote-rigging in recent European history. He appears to have subsequently forced his main opponent, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, into exile.
After the election, in a congratulatory message, Vladimir Putin urged Lukashenko to consider further economic and legal integration with Russia, which the opposition has warned would undermine Belarus’s sovereignty.
The Russian foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, said on Sunday that it was impossible to prove Lukashenko did not win the election and accused the opposition leaders of wanting bloodshed in the country, despite all of them repeatedly saying they are only calling for peaceful protest.
Maria Kolesnikova, a member of Tikhanovskaya’s team who has remained in Belarus, said over the weekend that whatever happened with the protests, the processes now under way could not be reversed.
“I am certain that the desire of Belarusians to be heard will not weaken, maybe it will just take on different forms. But the popular resistance that has started can’t just be put down with force,” she said. | Protest_Online Condemnation | August 2020 | ['(The Guardian)'] |
Tropical storm warnings are issued for western Cuba and the northwestern Bahamas, and tropical storm warnings are announced for coastal South Florida in the U.S., as a strengthening Tropical Storm Philippe treks north-northeast with maximum sustained winds at 35 mph . |
Tropical Depression Eighteen has developed in the northwestern Caribbean, and it is expected to contribute to heavy rain in South Florida this weekend and provide an injection of moisture to an East Coast storm system early next week.
Data from an Air Force Reserve Reconnaissance aircraft found that this system had formed into a tropical depression Saturday morning.
Tropical storm warnings have been issued for the Cuban provinces of Isla de la Juventud, La Habana, Ciudad de la Habana, Matanzas, Cienfuegos, and Villa Clara and for the northwestern Bahamas. Tropical storm conditions are expected within these areas within the next on Saturday.
A tropical storm watch has been issued for portions of southeastern Florida, the Upper Florida Keys and the central Bahamas. The strongest winds are expected to remain to the east of its center, but a slight deviation in its track or an increase in the size of the wind field could bring tropical-storm force winds to the areas in the watch.
Conditions are conducive for additional development, and there is a chance that this tropical depression may become a tropical storm later this weekend. If this system becomes a tropical storm, it will attain the name "Philippe."
Ocean temperatures continue to run 1 to 3 degrees above average, or in the mid-80s, across the majority of the Caribbean Sea, which is plenty supportive for tropical growth and development.
Land interaction and increasing wind shear, however, should hinder any quick intensification. Slow intensification is expected.
Tropical Depression Eighteen is expected to track northeastward and cross western and central Cuba on Saturday afternoon, and move through the northwestern Bahamas Sunday morning.
In the near-term, will bring the threat of heavy rain over the Cayman Islands and portions of Cuba Saturday. The downpours could eventually lead to flooding and mudslides.
Four to eight inches of rainfall is likely in the Cayman Islands, western and central Cuba and the northern Bahamas, with isolated totals as high as 10 inches through Sunday.
The main impact from this system in southern Florida at this time appears to be heavy rainfall Saturday into early Sunday. Some gusty winds are also possible, particularly in the coastal waters.
Up to four inches of rain is possible in southern Florida, with isolated totals up to six inches. Localized flash flooding is possible, especially in urban areas such as Miami and West Palm Beach.
This has prompted the National Weather Service to issued flood watches for much of southeastern Florida into early Sunday morning.
There is also the risk of a few tornadoes in far South Florida and the Florida Keys midday Saturday into the evening.
The moisture from Tropical Depression Eighteen will first get drawn north and then northeastward by a southward dip in the jet stream that will sweep through the central and eastern states late this week into the weekend.
By Sunday, the area of enhanced moisture associated with Tropical Depression Eighteen will be in the western Atlantic Ocean, just off the southeast U.S. coastline.
This moisture will then get pulled into a storm system advancing through the eastern states, providing additional fuel for heavy rain in parts of the mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions Sunday into Monday. The heavy rain may cause some flooding problems in the Northeast region.
For more on this story, click the link below.
(MORE: Powerful Coastal Storm Could Bring Damaging Winds, Flooding Rainfall to the Northeast Starting This Weekend)
You'll note in the chart below that there is a strong clustering of dots in the southwestern and northwestern Caribbean Sea. This is a hotbed of tropical origins that we'll be watching through the end of October and into November.
As the season begins to wind down, the warmest waters – 80 degrees and above – in the Atlantic Basin will recede to the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico and far western Atlantic while wind shear and dry air generally increase across the basin.
November sees one more tropical storm or hurricane, on average, according to the National Hurricane Center. More than 7 percent of the season's activity is yet to come in terms of average Accumulated Cyclone Energy (ACE), a metric used to measure wind energy produced by tropical cyclones.
These cyclones typically move northeastward from the Caribbean or western Atlantic ahead of sweeping cold fronts from North America. These systems can threaten Florida, Cuba, the Bahamas and Bermuda, but can occasionally threaten areas closer to the U.S. East Coast, especially in October and early November.
We recognize our responsibility to use data and technology for good. Take control of your data. | Hurricanes_Tornado_Storm_Blizzard | October 2017 | ['(55 km/h)', '(The Weather Channel)', '(National Hurricane Center)'] |
Three Turkish Army soldiers are killed and 10 others wounded in an attack in Syria's al-Bab District; however, there are conflicting reports on who carried out the attack. The Turkish military says the soldiers were targeted in an airstrike by a Syrian warplane, while the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports an ISIL suicide bomber was responsible. | Three Turkish soldiers have been killed and 10 wounded in an attack in Syria, but reports differ about what happened. Turkey's military said the soldiers had been targeted in a Syrian government air strike on Thursday, during an offensive by Turkish-backed rebels against so-called Islamic State.
However, a Syrian monitoring group said the deaths were caused by a suicide bomb attack on Wednesday claimed by IS.
Meanwhile a member of the US military has died while fighting against IS.
The soldier, who has not been named, died from wounds caused by an improvised explosive device in Ayn Issa, north of the IS stronghold Raqqa.
Officials gave no other information. It is not clear whether this was linked to the deaths of the Turkish soldiers.
Syria's military has not yet commented on the fate of the Turkish soldiers.
It would be the first time Turkish soldiers have been killed by Syrian government forces in the offensive, which Damascus has denounced as a "flagrant violation of Syrian sovereignty".
Dubbed Operation Euphrates Shield, the offensive was launched three months ago with the aim of pushing IS militants away from the Turkish border.
The Turkish government also wants to contain US-backed Syrian Kurdish Popular Protection Units (YPG) militia, which it says is an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in Turkey.
So far, the rebels have driven IS militants out of more than 1,800 sq km (694 sq miles) of territory, according to the Turkish military, and recaptured the key border town of Jarablus and the symbolically important village of Dabiq.
They are now besieging the town of al-Bab, the last IS stronghold in Aleppo province.
The Turkish military statement said the soldiers who were killed were deployed in northern Syria when they were targeted at about 03:30 (00:30 GMT) in an air strike that it "assessed to have been carried out by Syrian regime forces".
It did not give an exact location, but the state-run Anadolu news agency reported that it was close to al-Bab.
The dead and injured soldiers, one of whom was said to be in a critical condition, were taken to hospitals in the southern Turkish provinces of Kilis and Gaziantep.
Later on Thursday, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights disputed the Turkish military's account, saying the soldiers had been killed an IS suicide bombing on Wednesday near the village of Waqqah, north-west of al-Bab.
IS also issued a statement saying it had carried out a suicide bombing on a Turkish army position near Waqqah on Wednesday evening that caused an unspecified number of casualties.
Its self-styled news agency, Amaq, released video footage of the attack showing an explosives-filled armoured vehicle driving towards the frontline and then exploding.
The three deaths mean that at least 15 Turkish soldiers have been killed since Operation Euphrates Shield began, according to AFP news agency. Most died in clashes with IS, but one was killed in an attack blamed on the YPG. | Armed Conflict | November 2016 | ['(BBC)', '(Reuters via Yahoo! News)'] |
Sudanese rebels claim that a government aircraft has bombed areas in Darfur over the weekend in contravention of the ceasefire. | They said three villages had been hit over the weekend. African Union troops are investigating the claims.
The Sudanese government has denied the reports, which come days after President Omar al-Bashir vowed to adhere to a UN peace plan.
More than 200,000 people have died and 2.5m have fled their homes in Darfur.
A rebel commander, Abdallah Banda, from the rebel Justice and Equality Movement, said three villages had been destroyed by Sudanese aircraft in north Darfur.
He did not say how many people had died.
The Sudanese army denied the allegation.
"We never bombard civilians anywhere," a military spokesman told the Associated Press news agency.
Earlier this month a UN envoy said President Bashir was fully committed to a UN plan to send a hybrid UN and African peacekeeping force to Darfur.
A peace agreement was signed last May between the government and one leading rebel group but violence has continued, with rival rebels refusing to sign. Some 7,000 African Union troops already on the ground have not been able to stop the violence - mostly blamed on pro-government Arab militias.
The Darfur conflict began in 2003 after a rebel group began attacking government targets, saying the region was being neglected by Khartoum. | Armed Conflict | January 2007 | ['(BBC)'] |
Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimović scores four goals in a friendly match against England, with his last coming from a 30–metre bicycle kick. | LONDON — Zlatan Ibrahimovic illuminated a low-key night of international friendlies on Wednesday, scoring an audacious overhead kick from 30 yards to cap his four-goal display in Sweden's 4-2 win over England.
Ibrahimovic's one-man show in Stockholm — featuring what both his opponents and pundits hailed as one of the greatest goals seen in recent years — overshadowed two high-profile matches between fierce European rivals, with the Netherlands and Germany drawing 0-0 and France coming from behind to beat Italy 2-1 away.
The prolific Lionel Messi was kept scoreless as Argentina was held 0-0 in Saudi Arabia while Portugal, missing the injured Cristiano Ronaldo, surprisingly drew 2-2 in Gabon.
It was left to another of the world's leading strikers to take the plaudits, with Ibrahimovic's acrobatic strike with his back to goal described by England captain Steven Gerrard — who made his 100th international appearance — as "one of the best goals I've ever seen live."
"When I saw the goalkeeper was out I tried to put it against the goal, and luckily it went in," Ibrahimovic said. "It's both luck and skill."
The enigmatic Ibrahimovic punished England with a stand-out all-round performance to mark the opening of Sweden's new national stadium, the Friends Arena.
After poking Sweden ahead in the 20th minute from close range, the Paris Saint-Germain striker made it 2-2 by chesting down Anders Svensson's lofted pass and volleying home past Joe Hart.
Ibrahimovic's skimming free kick from 35 yards somehow beat Hart before the Sweden captain caused more embarrassment for the goalkeeper by capping the victory in stoppage time in memorable style.
Hart's weak headed clearance was latched onto by Ibrahimovic, who span and produced a bicycle kick that looped over the goalkeeper and two defenders into an empty net from well outside the area and from an angle.
The stadium erupted as Ibrahimovic wheeled away in delight with his shirt off, having become the first player to score four times in a match against England.
"I don't know if you're going to see another one like that in your life," Sweden coach Erik Hamren said.
England's goals came from Danny Welbeck and debutant Steven Caulker in a four-minute span before halftime, with Hodgson also giving a first start to 17-year-old Liverpool prodigy Raheem Sterling.
It was the second straight match that Sweden had scored four goals — on the first occasion, it came from 4-0 down to draw 4-4 with Germany in a World Cup qualifier last month.
The Germans kept a clean sheet on Wednesday in a dull stalemate with the Netherlands in Amsterdam, with both countries electing to start with fringe players because of injury or illness. With this round of friendlies coming in between two weekends of domestic play in Europe's leagues, most of the teams didn't have their first-choice lineups out.
Germany was looking to claim a third win over its bitter rival in 12 months but Marco Reus missed a chance to clinch victory for the visitors in injury time.
"We played very well against one of the best teams in Europe," Germany coach Joachim Loew said.
Italy slipped to its sixth consecutive friendly defeat when Bafetimbi Gomis struck in the 67th minute from Patrice Evra's pass.
"We achieved a great result here in Italy, against the runners-up in Europe, a side with a lot of quality, even though they lacked some key players today," France coach Didier Deschamps said.
Stephen El Shaarawy gave Italy the lead in Parma in the 35th with his first international goal, only for Mathieu Valbuena to equalize two minutes later thanks to a superb solo goal.
The in-form Luis Suarez scored in the second half to cap Uruguay's 3-1 win in Poland but South American rival Argentina lacked a cutting edge in Saudi Arabia, with Messi failing in his bid to set an outright record for the most goals for the country in a calendar year.
Messi shares the record with Gabriel Batistuta with 12 goals.
"We didn't play a good match, from the beginning we didn't do the things we needed to do," Messi said. "We basically gave away the first half, and in the second we played a little bit better, but not much."
Ronaldo was absent with an eye injury as Portugal came from a goal down to go ahead through goals by Pizzi and Hugo Almeida. Andre Biyogo Poko buried a 70th-minute penalty to earn a committed Gabon a draw against the world's No. 4-ranked team. | Sports Competition | November 2012 | ['(The Irish Times)', '(The Guardian)', '(JOE)', '(New York Daily News)'] |
Hurricane Zeta makes landfall near Cocodrie, Louisiana, as a Category 2 hurricane with sustained winds of 110 mph. In the process, it sets a new record for being the fifth named storm to make landfall in Louisiana in a single season, the previous record being four. | The storm, responsible for at least one death, was upgraded to a Category 2 hurricane before making landfall.
Hurricane Zeta Soaks Southeastern Louisiana
NEW ORLEANS — Hurricane Zeta lashed the Louisiana coast on Wednesday with heavy rainfall and powerful winds that officials feared could pulverize parts of New Orleans as the storm made landfall with Category 2 strength.
“It’s coming fast, it’s coming strong,” Mayor LaToya Cantrell warned residents. She acknowledged that several storms had New Orleans in their projected paths this season only to shift before landfall, but this time, she said, the city would take a hit.
Hurricane Zeta is expected to make landfall in the United States Wednesday.
| Hurricanes_Tornado_Storm_Blizzard | October 2020 | ['(The New York Times)'] |
Suspected Islamist insurgents kill 11 people in southern Thailand. | Suspected Muslim militants have shot dead 11 people including three paramilitary rangers in a single day of bloodshed in Thailand's insurgency-plagued deep south, police said on Tuesday.
The rangers were ambushed while travelling in a pick-up truck on Monday in Pattani province in the Muslim-majority border region, where an eight-year conflict has claimed thousands of lives.
On the same day, four Buddhist rubber tappers died on their way to work in two separate gun attacks in Pattani, while a pair of Muslim men were killed in a drive-by shooting in neighbouring Yala province, police said.
Two vegetable vendors were also shot dead in Songkhla province, which had been relatively untouched by the violence until a number of attacks this year, including a series of car bombs in April that left 15 people dead.
A complex insurgency calling for greater autonomy has plagued Thailand's far south near the border with Malaysia since 2004, claiming more than 5,300 lives, both Buddhist and Muslim, with near daily bomb or gun attacks.
The authorities said in August they were holding informal peace talks with some Muslim insurgent groups, in an apparent policy reversal that followed a spike in attacks.
“Some militant groups don't want a peaceful solution so they look for an opportunity to terrorise people,” southern army spokesman Colonel Pramote Prom-in told AFP on Tuesday.
“We're trying to find measures to prevent this kind of violence but still haven't succeeded,” he added.
The militants are not thought to be part of a global jihad movement but are rebelling against a history of perceived discrimination against ethnic Malay Muslims by successive Thai governments and alleged rights abuses by the army. - AFP | Armed Conflict | October 2012 | ['(IOL)'] |
Yemeni military forces backed by Houthi militants reportedly destroy a Saudi warship off the coast of Yemen in the strategic Bab-el-Mandeb strait. | The warship was wrecked off the Southwestern coast of Yemen, in the Bab al-Mandab Strait, which connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden.
Other Saudi battleships fled the area following the attack.
The sunken ship had repeatedly fired rockets on residential areas in Ta'iz province, inflicting casualties and destruction there.
Earlier, the Yemeni forces attacked a Saudi military base in the kingdom's province of Jizan, killing a soldier in retaliation for Riyadh's aggression against their nation. The Saudi Interior Ministry has confirmed the death of the trooper.
Saudi Arabia has been striking Yemen for 197 days now to restore power to Hadi, a close ally of Riyadh. The Saudi-led aggression has so far killed at least 6,481 Yemenis, including hundreds of women and children.
Hadi stepped down in January and refused to reconsider the decision despite calls by Ansarullah revolutionaries of the Houthi movement.
Despite Riyadh’s claims that it is bombing the positions of the Ansarullah fighters, Saudi warplanes are flattening residential areas and civilian infrastructures. | Armed Conflict | October 2015 | ['(Press TV)', '(Fars News)', '(Independent)'] |
Militias loyal to the internationally-recognised Government of National Accord launch a counterattack on Libyan National Army troops in the southern outskirts of Tripoli. | MISURATA, Libya A renegade militia seeking to storm its way into Libya’s capital battled for control of the international airport Saturday in a showdown that threatened to spill into bloody urban combat in the streets of Tripoli.
Fighters loyal to warlord Khalifa Hifter said they had overrun the airport, on the southern edge of the city. But forces for Libya’s U.N.-backed government mounted a counterattack aided by reinforcements flowing into the city and it was unclear which side held the airfield by nightfall.
The airport has been closed since it suffered widespread damage during battles between rival groups in 2014. But it would be a symbolic blow to the government if the site fell to Hifter, who could use it as a key staging ground for further advances.
Hifter’s militia is aligned with a separate administration based in eastern Libya. The country, rich in oil and gas reserves, has been split into rival regions for years as the United Nations and others try to hammer out a peace deal and set a road map for elections.
Hifter’s offensive could usher in the most significant escalation of violence since the toppling of Libyan dictator Moammar Gaddafi in 2011. Hifter was a general in Gaddafi’s army, but he defected and spent years living in Northern Virginia. He returned to Libya to take part in the revolution against Gaddafi’s rule.
Hundreds of truckloads of fighters from different militias left the city of Misurata on Saturday, heading to Tripoli to help fend off Hifter’s forces, said militia sources and residents of Misurata, about 120 miles east of the capital.
Many Misurata residents and the city’s militias despise Hifter and view him as another dictator in the making. Militias from other pro-government cities such as Zintan also moved into Tripoli, according to photos posted on social media.
Who is Khalifa Hifter and why is he marching on Tripoli?
In Misurata, a radio station sent out a rallying cry to listeners: “Everyone who owns a gun please go to Tripoli right away to fight for your country against Hifter.”
Fayez Sarraj, chairman of the Presidential Council of Libya, said Hifter rejected concessions offered “to avoid bloodshed.”
“We were stabbed in the back,” he said in televised comments, the Associated Press reported.
Tripoli is a city accustomed to eruptions of militia violence. In some neighborhoods, life remained typical Saturday, with people shopping and going to work or school, said residents reached by phone.
“The city is normal,” said Jamal Mustafa, 35, an employee at a Libyan overseas investment firm. “People are shopping and going out and doing their routines.”
But in neighborhoods closer to the fighting, residents were preparing for the worst. Many stayed inside their homes as heavily armed militia vehicles steadily drove through to the front line.
Jamal Ramadan, 42, whose house is less than three miles from the old airport, decided to flee.
“We could hear heavy shelling and gunshots,” said the taxi driver and father of three children, ages 3 to 6. “My wife told me she was to afraid to stay. So we got a few clothes and left. We are not going to gamble our lives on this.”
They drove about 90 miles to stay with his wife’s relatives.
“We don’t want Hifter to come,” said Mustafa. “Anyone who wants to rule the country like Gaddafi is unacceptable.”
Human Rights Watch on Saturday raised concerns about possible abuses if fighting escalated inside the capital. Activists accuse Hifter’s fighters of committing numerous human rights violations, including summary executions, indiscriminate attacks on civilians and arbitrary detentions.
Pro-government militias also have a track record of abuses against civilians, the watchdog group said.
“Whenever rival armed forces clash in Libyan cities, it’s civilians who suffer the most,” Sarah Leah Whitson, the group’s Middle East and North Africa director, said in a statement. “All sides need to abide by the laws and minimize civilian harm.”
Earlier Saturday, government warplanes targeted Hifter’s militiamen in attempts to stop their push toward Tripoli. The planes bombed positions of his self-described Libyan National Army south of Tripoli, prompting the warlord to declare that his forces would shoot down any aircraft flying over western Libya, local media reported. Tripoli residents on social media described hearing fighter jets passing over the city.
Saturday’s aerial assault came a day after Hifter’s forces were stopped from advancing in Tripoli at a strategic checkpoint and about 100 of his fighters were captured by pro-government militias, local media reports said.
But by Saturday, Hifter’s forces appeared to have regrouped. Their media office said on its Facebook page that they had not only seized control of the airport but also had captured another enclave, Wadi el-Rabeia, south of the capital.
There was no immediate response from the Tripoli government nor the militias that back it.
On Thursday, Hifter ordered his forces to seize control of Tripoli following their takeover of Gharyan, a town about 60 miles south of the capital. U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres personally intervened in a bid to stop the fighting but failed Friday to persuade Hifter to halt his offensive.
Hifter’s attempted power grab also risked setting off a fresh wave of people heading toward Libya’s borders or attempting to reach Europe over dangerous sea routes in the Mediterranean. Fearing a spillover of refugees, neighboring Tunisia has tightened control over its border.
Also of concern is that a power vacuum and more insecurity could allow an Islamic State affiliate that once ruled the city of Sirte to regroup.
The United Nations, the United States and other governments, including France and the United Arab Emirates, which supports Hifter, have all demanded that he pull back his forces. On Saturday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called for restraint from all sides at a news conference in Cairo.
Any escalation in fighting threatens to torpedo a U.N.-sponsored reconciliation conference to forge a path forward for elections, scheduled for next weekend.
But Saturday, Ghassan Salamé, the U.N. special envoy to Libya, said the conference would go forward as planned, declaring that it was a year in the making and that the world body would not quickly give up its political work.
After meeting with the Tripoli government’s president, Sarraj, Salamé said in a tweet, “I want to reassure the Libyans that the UN will not leave them by themselves & will stay in Libya, working toward a political solution, silencing the guns & a peaceful political understanding btwn the various parties.”
Raghavan reported from Cairo.
| Armed Conflict | April 2019 | ['(The Washington Post)'] |
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Gordon Brown holds an emergency COBRA cabinet meeting to discuss an outbreak of foot and mouth disease on a farm in Surrey, England. The foot and mouth strain has been identified as a rare strain used at the nearby Institute for Animal Health at Pirbright. | LONDON (Reuters) - Britain tried to contain an outbreak of highly infectious foot and mouth on Saturday, culling cattle at a farm outside London to prevent a repeat of the ruinous damage caused by the disease six years ago.
The Environment Ministry said the strain of the virus found in infected cattle in the county of Surrey, southwest of London, was one not recently found in animals.
It is most similar to strains used in international diagnostic laboratories and in vaccine production, including at the Pirbright site shared by the Institute of Animal Health (IAH) and Merial Animal Health Ltd, a pharmaceutical company, the Ministry said in a statement.
The Pirbright site is a few miles (km) from the infected area and is used to test foot and mouth samples.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown broke off his holiday to return to London and chair an emergency meeting of senior ministers.
The European Commission said it had banned all live animal exports from Britain, as well as meat and dairy products from the infected area. Further restrictions could be brought in after EU veterinary experts meet on Wednesday.
The United States, which already has restrictions on imports of cattle and sheep from Britain due to other health scares, said it would also ban imports of pork and pork products.
Keen to avoid a repeat of the governments much-criticized response to the 2001 crisis, Brown said officials would work day and night to stem the outbreak identified on Friday.
Authorities set up a protection zone round the infected farm that included the Pirbright site.
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Movement of all pigs, sheep and cattle throughout the country was banned as a further precautionary measure.
Britains chief veterinarian said earlier the exact strain of foot and mouth was still being identified by scientists and that it was too early to say if the disease could be contained to one farm. She said reports of other foot and mouth infections were being investigated but would not say how many or where.
Its only 24 hours into foot and mouth disease 2007 -- it is far too soon to say what the possible extent of the spread of this virus may be, Debby Reynolds told a news conference.
Despite the precautions, Ireland announced it was banning the import of British meat, livestock and non-pasteurized milk, and said it would not export live animals to Britain either.
Depending on how long the EU and U.S. bans remain in place, the impact on British agriculture could be profound. Industry experts said British exports of livestock and meat were worth about 15 million pounds ($30 million) a week.
In the 2001 outbreak more than six million animals were slaughtered, many of them burned on huge bonfires.
The cost to agriculture and rural tourism of that weeks-long outbreak was estimated at 8.5 billion pounds ($17 billion) and Browns predecessor, Tony Blair, was strongly criticized for his governments handling of the problem.
On Saturday, workers from the agriculture department wearing protective suits, gloves and masks were seen herding the infected cattle towards a pen where they were slaughtered.
The disease, which can travel on the wind and on farming equipment, causes high fevers and blisters in cloven-hoofed animals and often leads to death. It is very rarely transferred to humans and is not regarded as a public health threat.
Experts said Britain was better placed now to deal with the outbreak than it had been in 2001.
Weve got the administrative structures, weve got the infrastructure and weve got the scientific capability, leading microbiologist Hugh Pennington told the BBC. Lessons have been learned and Im confident well do much, much better this time.
With memories still fresh of the long-term damage caused by the outbreak six years ago, the farming industry backed the governments action.
People have to understand that last time the delay occurred caused the further spread, National Farmers Union president Peter Kendall said.
Going through short-term inconvenience now is a price worth paying if we can keep this to a single location.
| Disease Outbreaks | August 2007 | ['(Reuters)', '(BBC)'] |
The presidents of China and Taiwan are scheduled to meet in Singapore on November 7th, the first such meeting since the Chinese Communist Revolution. | Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou will meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Singapore on Saturday - the first ever meeting between leaders of the two sides.
Both said the talks would focus on relations across the Taiwan Straits.
China claims sovereignty over Taiwan and views the island as a breakaway province which will one day be reunited with the mainland.
But ties have improved since President Ma took office in 2008.
The Chinese government threatens to use military force against Taiwan if it ever attempts to gain outright independence.
Taiwanese spokesman Chen Yi-hsin said President Ma's aim was "to promote peace cross the Taiwan Strait and maintain status quo". | Diplomatic Talks _ Diplomatic_Negotiation_ Summit Meeting | November 2015 | ['(New York Times)', '(BBC)'] |
A ceremony is held in Norway to award the Nobel Peace Prize to Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo in absentia. | OSLO (Reuters) - Jailed Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in a ceremony where he was represented by an empty chair and he dedicated it from prison to the “lost souls” of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown.
China dissident awarded Nobel prize
01:39
China called the award in Oslo a “political farce.”
President Barack Obama, a Peace Prize laureate last year, called for the prompt release of 54-year-old Liu, who was jailed last year for 11 years for subversion.
In Beijing, police stepped up patrols at key points on Friday, including Tiananmen Square, where witnesses say hundreds or thousands were killed when troops crushed reform protests, and Liu’s apartment where his wife is believed to be under house arrest. Authorities tightened a clampdown on dissidents.
There were no signs of trouble in Beijing where memories of Tiananmen have faded for many as China has risen as a global economic and political power while guarding the Communist Party’s tight hold on society.
Instead of awarding the Nobel medal and citation to Liu, it was simply placed on his chair in the ceremony in Oslo’s City Hall as the audience cheered. A large portrait of the laureate, bespectacled and smiling, hung nearby.
Norwegian actress Liv Ullmann read out an address made by Liu, who was closely involved in Tiananmen and more recently helped found the reform group Charter 08, to a court during his trial for subversion in December 2009.
“I, filled with optimism, look forward to the advent of a future, free China,” the address said.
“For there is no force that can put an end to the human quest for freedom, and China will in the end become a nation ruled by law, where human rights reign supreme.”
“Hatred can rot away at a person’s intelligence and conscience. (The) enemy mentality will poison the spirit of a nation, incite cruel mortal struggles, destroy a society’s tolerance and humanity, and hinder a nation’s progress toward freedom and democracy.”
It was the first time that a laureate under detention had not been formally represented since Nazi Germany barred pacifist Carl von Ossietzky from attending in 1935. Several jailed or detained laureates since had been represented by family but China did not allow anyone near Liu to travel to Oslo.
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The thousand guests in city hall rose to a standing ovation when Norwegian Nobel committee chairman Thorbjoern Jagland called for Liu’s release.
“Liu has told his wife that he would like this year’s Peace Prize to be dedicated to ‘the lost souls from the 4th of June.’ It is a pleasure for us to fulfill his wish,” Jagland said.
An economically strong China with full civil rights would benefit the world but without them would be in “danger of social and economic crises... with negative consequences for us all,” Jagland said.
“We can to a certain degree say that China with its 1.3 billion people is carrying mankind’s fate on its shoulders.”
China appeared to have blocked Western news websites, including the BBC and CNN, and state media made no mention of the ceremony, aside from a statement condemning the prize.
Liu’s fame overseas was lost on many residents in Beijing, where lives of millions have radically changed since the 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protesters. .
“Everything is different now since the revolt of 1989. People’s ideas have changed. China has changed,” said businesswoman Ma Junpeng. “People like Liu are irrelevant.”
With the clampdown forcing dissidents to remain in China, about 150 Liu-supporters living abroad traveled to Oslo to take part in the gala for their colleague and hero.
“Liu is the soul of China. I know that deep down, the people of China don’t agree with this regime,” said Flavie Zhang, 45, who now lives in France. “I was in tears during the ceremony.”
About 40 anti-Liu protesters staged a counter-demonstration in Oslo carrying signs: “Liu is a criminal,” “Peace Prize to China” and “No meddling in China’s internal affairs.”
At one point some anti-Liu protestors shoved rivals carrying “Free Liu Xiaobo” signs, then bashed one of the signs to pieces.
“I feel threatened and understand why many Chinese people feel they cannot come out and express their support,” said Mandy Kan, 36, a Hong Kong native who lectures at Oxford University.
Xiu Hua, a researcher who left China in the 1980s, said she regretted the altercation but added, “The Nobel committee totally misunderstands China.”
The day’s events were capped by a torch-light parade, where about 600 people congregated at the Grand Hotel where Liu’s face was projected onto the building’s wall, beside the balcony where Obama and his wife Michele waved to crowds a year ago.
The Peace award, as often in the past, has stirred international diplomatic conflict, with China accusing the Committee of representing the interests of arrogant Western nations who seek to impose their ideas on an unreceptive world.
“The facts fully show that the Nobel Prize Committee’s decision does not represent the majority of the world’s people, especially the will of most developing countries. Prejudice and lies will not stand,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry said.
China, drawing on its growing economic clout in the world, has mounted what the Committee calls an unprecedented campaign to encourage countries to boycott the ceremony.
China declared that the “vast majority” of nations would boycott but the Norwegian award committee said two-thirds of those invited would attend.
Among the countries not attending were Russia, Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Pakistan, Serbia, Iraq, Vietnam, Iran, Afghanistan, Egypt, Sudan, Cuba, Morocco and Algeria.
Obama, who won the Nobel Peace Prize last year, said the values Liu represented were universal.
“We respect China’s extraordinary accomplishment in lifting millions out of poverty, and believe that human rights include the dignity that comes with freedom from want. But Mr. Liu reminds us that human dignity also depends upon the advance of democracy, open society, and the rule of law,” he said.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed 402-1 a bill calling on China to release Liu.
| Awards ceremony | December 2010 | ['(Reuters)', '(Al Jazeera)', '(BBC)'] |
Colorado Springs, Colorado, agrees to pay people who were sent to jail because they couldn't afford to pay fines for minor offenses like panhandling and jaywalking. The city will pay $125 for each day the person spent behind bars, an estimated total of $103,000 for the 66 people identified. In 1971, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that people cannot be jailed if they do not have the money to pay. | COLORADO SPRINGS — People too poor to pay fines will no longer work off their debts by sitting in Colorado Springs jail cells, and the city will pay thousands to those who were wrongly locked up.
That’s thanks to the ACLU of Colorado, who in October accused Colorado’s second-largest city of running modern-day debtors prisons, a practice declared unconstitutional by the Colorado and United States Supreme Courts.
In Colorado Springs, it worked like this: When the court fined someone for violating a minor, non-jailable city ordinance, the court converted the fine into a jail sentence when the defendant didn’t pay.
The state’s ACLU chapter had spent a month or so investigating last year and found hundreds of cases where defendants had their fines converted to jail sentences; the majority of them were for non-jailable offenses.
The accusation last fall stung city officials and the top judge at the municipal courthouse. City officials said they took the allegations seriously and would look into it.
Two months later, Colorado Springs officials drove to Denver to meet with the ACLU in person to discuss the issue. Following the meeting, neither side explained in detail what they’d discussed, but they put out similar-sounding statements about working together toward a resolution.
In March, the Colorado Springs City Council officially put a stop to the practice of converting fines to jail time.
Now this.
Today, the ACLU held a news conference in the Springs where the civil liberties group announced it had settled with city officials over the matter. The city agreed to stop its practice and will compensate those already affected by it to the tune of $100,000, divided among those who had been wrongly jailed.
One victim, Shawn Hardman, who goes by the nickname Q-tip, will receive roughly $11,000 for being wrongly jailed for panhandling.
“We asked the City to stop this unconstitutional practice, to repeal the ordinance that arguably authorized it, and to set up a fund to compensate defendants who had been sentenced to jail for non-jailable offenses,” Mark Silverstein, the ACLU of Colorado’s legal director, said in a statement. “The City Attorney’s Office, to its credit, promptly agreed and worked collaboratively with the ACLU of Colorado to reach the finalized settlement agreement that we are proudly announcing today.”
Asked if Colorado Springs was running debtors prisons, Mayor John Suthers, the state’s former Republican attorney general, told NPR, “You could say that in the sense that people were getting jail time for offenses that should only carry a fine.”
Later, during a Thursday afternoon news conference in downtown Colorado Springs, the mayor said he was “absolutely” sorry about those who landed in a jail cell when they shouldn’t have.
“I’m a law-and-order guy, I always have been and always will be,” said Suthers, who is also a former U.S. attorney. “So to the extent that the system doesn’t follow the law and someone suffers a consequence that’s a bad thing and I feel bad about that.”
Asked by The Colorado Independent if there had been any consequences for city employees, he said, “No, I don’t think so other than … the mayor appoints the judges and I did not re-appoint a couple of judges.” Asked if jail-in-lieu-of-fines rulings by those un-retained judges factored into his decisions, he said, “I think my desire to further professionalize the municipal court over time is an important factor moving forward.”
Those who were wrongly jailed in Colorado Springs are eligible for $125 for each day they spent in the slammer. They could also sue the city. The city and the ACLU are still looking for about 65 others who are owed money, but since they’re homeless they’ve been hard to find.
As NPR reported: “The next time one of these men or women gets picked up by police in Colorado Springs, they might find out they’ve got some money coming to them.”
Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers apologizes for the city running modern day debtors prisons, as uncovered by the ACLU | Government Policy Changes | May 2016 | ['(AP via The Washington Post)', '(The Colorado Independent)'] |
A proPalestinian activist Vittorio Arrigoni is kidnapped in the Gaza Strip by an Islamic Salafite group with threats to execute him within hours. , | An Italian pro-Palestinian activist has been found dead in the Hamas-governed Gaza Strip hours after being abducted.
Vittorio Arrigoni, 36, was seized on Thursday by a radical group that has been in conflict with Hamas and is seeking the release of its leader.
Police said he was found hanged in a Gaza City house after receiving a tip-off. Two people have been arrested.
Italy denounced the "barbaric murder", calling it an "act of vile and senseless violence".
Mr Arrigoni was the first foreigner kidnapped in Gaza since BBC journalist Alan Johnston was abducted in 2007.
Friends of the activist gathered outside the hospital where his body had been taken on Friday morning.
"He came from across the world, left his country and family and his entire life and came here to break the siege, and we kill him? Why?" asked one of his friends.
Italian diplomats have been in touch with Israel regarding the transfer of the body from the Gaza Strip, possibly on Sunday, an Israeli official has told the BBC.
Vittorio Arrigoni was seized by Salafist radicals, an Islamist movement itself that considers Hamas as too moderate, BBC Gaza correspondent Jon Donnison says.
The Salafists had threatened to execute Mr Arrigoni by 1400 GMT on Friday unless several prisoners, including their leader, Sheikh Abu Walid al-Maqdasi, were released. Sheikh Maqdasi was arrested by Hamas police last month in Gaza City.
In a video posted on YouTube, Mr Arrigoni appeared to have been beaten and his eyes were covered with thick black tape.
A caption on the video read: "The Italian hostage entered our land only to spread corruption." The video called Italy "the infidel state".
It is not clear why Mr Arrigoni was killed before the given deadline, but the Hamas interior ministry said he had died soon after being abducted.
Ministry spokesman Ehab al-Ghussein said he was killed "in an awful way".
Mr Ghussein told reporters that the security forces had been led to the house in Gaza City by one of the men involved.
He described the killing as a "heinous crime which has nothing to do with our values, our religion, our customs and traditions", and vowed to hunt down and bring to justice others who were involved.
In Rome, the Italian foreign ministry expressed "its deep horror over the barbaric murder".
Mr Arrigoni was a member of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) and had been in Gaza for several years. Huwaida Arraf, a co-founder of the ISM, said he was very well-known in the territory and had a "dynamic, humanitarian personality".
"I even thought that whoever has him is going to see his humanity and just let him go, so when I heard what happened to him I was totally shocked," she told the AFP news agency.
Inge Neefs of ISM Gaza says that there are now four ISM foreign activists in the Gaza Strip.
Ms Neefs told the BBC that they intended to stay as most Palestinians do not support the extremists who kidnapped Mr Arrigoni and they should not be blamed for it.
Hamas had been credited with eliminating the threat of kidnapping in Gaza until his abduction. Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit has been held in Gaza since June 2006. He was captured in a raid into Israel by Hamas and other militant groups. Timeline: Alan Johnston abduction
BBC's Johnston describes relief
Hamas seeks to gain from release
Who are Hamas?
| Armed Conflict | April 2011 | ['(BBC)', '(Israel National News)', '(Antara)'] |
Neo–Nazi National Democratic Party of Germany politician Stefan Jagsch is elected as the mayor of Altenstadt–Waldsiedlung in Altenstadt, Hesse, after running unopposed, prompting condemnations from Germany's political leaders, including SPD General Secretary Lars Klingbeil. Norbert Szilasko, a member of the council who voted Jagsch into office says, "We voted for him due to the fact we have nobody else". | Leaders from across Germany’s political spectrum have condemned the election of a member of the country’s neo-fascist, ultranationalist NPD political party as the head of a town council in the state of Hesse.
Stefan Jagsch, who ran unopposed, was elected unanimously as the head of the Altenstadt municipality, 30 kilometres from Frankfurt.
He was voted in by the seven-member board which included representatives of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s CDU party, as well as members of the centre-left SPD and the liberal FDP.
SPD General Secretary Lars Klingbell tweeted on Saturday evening that the decision was “incomprehensible and impossible to justify”, while his CDU counterpart Paul Ziemiak said on Sunday that the election was “unacceptable” and needed to be corrected.
Werner Zientz, a CDU representative in the council, said that the board “had not taken the process very seriously”, while a joint statement from regional CDU representatives said the party was “horrified” and “shocked” at the decision.
Not all CDU representatives however are upset with the decision. Norbert Szilasko, a member of the council who voted in favour of Mr Jagsch’s appointment, told the Hessenschau news network that the non-partisan council based the vote on the new representative’s skills rather than his political views.
“(We voted for him) due to the fact we have nobody else, particularly no younger people who are familiar with computers and who can send emails,” Mr Szilasko said.
The council has indicated that it will meet again to discuss which direction it should take, while Mr Jagsch promised legal action should his appointment be rescinded.
The NPD is widely criticised in Germany for its open support of Neo-Nazi rhetoric and connections with white nationalist groups, with the Constitutional Court in 2017 ruling that the party’s “political concept was contrary to the democratic order embodied in the German Constitution”.
Mr Jagsch himself has previously been criticised for social media posts comparing migration with genocide and his use of the Nazi-era term ‘Lügenpresse’ (lying press).
Mr Jagsch made news in 2016 when he was given first aid from a group of Syrian refugees after a car accident left him seriously injured.
| Government Job change - Election | September 2019 | ['(NPD)', '(The Telegraph)'] |
The ban given following the Togo national football team attack ahead of the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations in Angola is lifted with immediate effect as confirmed by the Confederation of African Football at a meeting in Cairo. | Togo will compete in the next African Cup of Nations in 2012 after having their ban lifted with immediate effect.
The decision to reinstate Togo was confirmed, as expected, by the Confederation of African Football (Caf) executive at a meeting in Cairo, Egypt. Caf banned Togo after the Hawks pulled out of the 2010 Nations Cup in Angola following a deadly attack on their bus. Caf were furious that the decision to leave the tournament was taken not by the team but their government in Lome. The Togolese were then suspended and excluded from the next two Nations Cup tournaments in 2012 and 2014. But Togo appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, with Fifa president Sepp Blatter subsequently stepping in to mediate. A statement on the Caf website read: "The Executive Committee of the African Confederation of Football in its meeting held in Cairo on Friday, at the request of President Issa Hayatou decided to lift the suspension preventing Togo from playing in the upcoming Cup of Nations. "Following the lifting of the sanction, Togo is now reintegrated in the preliminaries of the African Cup of Nations 2012." Togo have been placed in qualifying Group K, with Tunisia, Botswana, Chad and Malawi. The winners of groups A to J automatically go through, along with the two best-placed runners-up from those groups. The top two teams in Togo's pool, group K, will qualify. | Sports Competition | May 2010 | ['(CAF)', '(AFP)', '(BBC)', '(The Daily Telegraph)'] |
The death toll of the Japanese Encephalitis outbreak in Uttar Pradesh has reached an official number of 650, with estimates of aid agencies about double this number. , , . | GORAKHPUR, India -- Kiran Kumari had been sick for more than a week. Now, lying on her back in a sweltering, overcrowded hospital ward, the skinny 11-year-old with the copper-streaked hair had lapsed into unconsciousness and could no longer breathe on her own. So her father was breathing for her.
Sitting on the edge of her thin mattress, his face a taut mask of exhaustion, the destitute farmworker rhythmically squeezed a football-sized plastic ventilator with his callused hands, forcing air into her lungs with every pump.
Such life-saving duties are normally left to professionals, but in this case, there were not enough to go around. Over the last two months, hospitals in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh have been overwhelmed by Japanese encephalitis, a viral infection that has sickened more than 2,000 children and killed nearly 600, making it one of the deadliest outbreaks of the disease on record in India.
In this city at the heart of the epidemic, the main government hospital resembles a war zone, with desperately ill children crowded two or even three to a bed, family members camped in filthy corridors, and weary medical staff struggling to keep pace with about 30 new cases a day. Japanese encephalitis kills nearly 30 percent of its victims, mostly children younger than 15, and leaves many of the rest with permanent neurological damage.
The toll is all the more heartbreaking because the disease can be prevented by several vaccines, including one made in India and another, more effective version developed in the 1970s in China, where mass vaccinations have largely contained the virus.
In that regard, the latest outbreak shows how bureaucratic inertia, skewed priorities and what some health experts say is a nationalistic aversion to importing medicines are undercutting efforts to improve India's shaky public health system, to the detriment of its poorest citizens.
Last week in its annual human development report, the United Nations faulted India for falling behind on key public health goals, noting that its infant mortality rate is now higher than that of Bangladesh. One in 11 Indian children dies before the age of 5.
"It's a lot of politics in vaccine," complained Komal Prasad Kushwaha, a senior pediatrician at the hospital who has watched in frustration as the death toll from Japanese encephalitis in India has climbed steadily over the last two decades. "We have been crying for vaccine since very long. If vaccine is available for all children in the community, Japanese encephalitis will certainly be controlled."
Health officials in Uttar Pradesh have said they are trying to contain the epidemic by spraying against mosquitoes, which typically acquire the virus from pigs before passing it on to humans. Over the longer term, they are trying to shift pig farms, which can act as reservoirs for the disease, away from crowded villages.
The Indian health minister, Anbumani Ramadoss, has said he wants to remove barriers to the import of Japanese encephalitis vaccines in time to begin mass vaccinations in high-risk areas by April, before the disease makes its seasonal reappearance. Ramadoss and his aides did not respond to phone messages and two faxed requests for comment.
Japanese encephalitis occurs across wide areas in Asia, where about 50,000 cases -- and 15,000 deaths -- are reported annually, according to the World Health Organization, although the number of cases is thought to be vastly underreported. In India, the virus is concentrated in eastern Uttar Pradesh, the country's most populous state and one of its poorest, as well as the states of Andhra Pradesh and Assam.
In some respects, India should be well-equipped to contain the threat. Its cutting-edge pharmaceutical industry supplies life-saving medicines -- including measles vaccine and anti-retroviral drugs used to fight AIDS -- to much of the developing world; a government research institute has made a Japanese encephalitis vaccine for years. | Disease Outbreaks | September 2005 | ['(BBC)', '(China Daily)', '(Washington Post)'] |
Oulu District Court hands down the last sentences concerning the cases involving eight foreign-born men who abused the same girl victim. | Oulu District Court on Friday handed down its last rulings in a string of sexual crimes committed in the northern city last year by foreign-born men. Eight men were convicted of raping and abusing the same female victim.
The girl was aged 12-13 at the time of the assaults, which mostly took place in the summer and autumn of 2018.
All eight men were sentenced to prison, the last two on Friday.
They were Qayssar Mohsin Sbahi Aldhulaiei, 26, and Abdo Ibrahim Ahmed, 33.
Aldhulaiei was sentenced to four years in prison for aggravated rape, aggravated sexual abuse of a child and assault.
Ahmed was sentenced to four years and two months for aggravated rape, aggravated sexual abuse of a child and possession of child pornography. He was found to be in possession of a video showing an unidentified child, who was not the same as the victim in the eight cases. His crimes took place in 2017 and 2018.
The two men were each ordered to pay the victim 23,000 euros in damages.
They denied being guilty of sexual crimes. One claimed that he thought the victim was 17 and a half years old, but the court did not find this believable.
Prosecutors say that the eight cases followed similar patterns, but that not all of the perpetrators knew each other.
The men contacted the girl via various social media channels and lured her to apartments or hotels, where they individually inflicted sexual violence on her and forced her into various acts.
Prosecutors point out that even attempting to lure a child for sexual purposes and sending sexually-tinged messages to a child are crimes and may be harmful to the victim.
Of the eight perpetrators, the longest prison term went to Hassan Mohamud Mohamed, 38, who was sentenced earlier this week to four and a half years in prison for aggravated sexual abuse of a child and aggravated rape in 2017 and 2018.
The trials have been going on since April, with sentencing beginning in May. The first five convicts were sentenced to 2-4 years imprisonment, along with fines ranging from just over 8,000 euros to 23,000 euros each.
Oulu police say that all eight came to Finland as refugees or asylum seekers. Some have already been granted refugee status or Finnish citizenship, while others' applications are still pending.
The prosecutor says that so far six of those convicted have expressed dissatisfaction with their sentences and that some have already filed appeals.
Terttu Utriainen, a professor emeritus of criminal law from the University of Lapland, says that in general these sentences have been tougher than in the past.
"Previously suspended sentences have usually been handed down for sexual crimes. Apparently the penalisation practices are becoming tougher," she told Yle.
Utriainen notes that a convict with no previous criminal record is usually released after serving half of his or her prison term.
"And convicts who do not hold Finnish citizenship can be deported when they have carried out their sentences," she adds.
The climate demonstration that has blocked Helsinki’s main thoroughfare since Thursday continued into a second day.
Tampere's transport board says people with strollers don't get a free tram ride after all.
Efforts to fight climate change have improved overall air quality over the past 30 years, but many cities still do not meet European standards.
Over half of Finland's population has received at least one vaccine dose, while less than 14 percent are fully vaccinated. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | July 2019 | ['(Yle)'] |
An earthquake of 6.3 magnitude shakes the Aegean Sea, causing one death. Many houses were damaged in Plomari, Greece, and some collapsed. | ATHENS, Greece (AP) — An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.2 badly damaged scores of homes on the eastern Greek island of Lesbos Monday, killing one woman and injuring at least 10 people. It was also felt in western Turkey, including in Istanbul, and on neighboring islands.
Lesbos mayor Spyros Galinos and the fire service said the woman was found dead in the southern village of Vrisa that was worst-hit by the quake, which had its epicenter under the sea.
“Most houses in Vrisa have suffered severe damage,” Galinos said, adding that afflicted residents were being relocated to temporary housing set up in a football field in a nearby village.
At least 10 people were injured in the village, many of whose roads were blocked by rubble.
Local authorities and the fire service said there were no reports of other people trapped or missing.
Earlier, rescuers pulled out an elderly couple alive from their damaged home in Vrisa.
According to Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management, the epicenter was at a shallow depth of seven kilometers (four miles). At least 25 aftershocks were recorded following the initial quake at 3:28 p.m. (1228 GMT).
The tremor was also felt in densely populated Istanbul and the western Turkish province of Izmir, but no injuries were reported there.
The governor of Greece’s north Aegean region told state-run ERT television that “we’re using all the resources we have to help the people in southern Lesbos.”
“The army is also helping, and will provide tents for people remaining outside their homes,” Christiana Kalogirou said. “They will be able to stay in sports facilities.”
Lesbos authorities said homes were also damaged in the village of Plomari and some roads were closed. No severe damage was reported on nearby islands.
“We are advising residents in affected areas of Lesbos to remain outdoors until buildings can be inspected,” senior seismologist Efthimios Lekkas said.
Earthquakes are frequent in Greece and Turkey, which are on active fault lines. Two devastating earthquakes hit northwestern Turkey in 1999, killing around 18,000 people. Experts in both countries said more aftershocks are to be expected.
In Turkey, 61-year old Ayse Selvi felt the tremors in her summer home in Karaburun near the quake’s epicenter.
“My God, all the picture frames fell on the ground and I have no idea how I ran out,” she said. “I’m scared to go inside now.”
There was no reported damage or injuries at refugee camps on Lesbos or the nearby island of Chios. Both islands saw a major influx of migrants leaving from Turkey in 2015, and about 8,000 remain in limbo in Lesbos and Chios as they await news on their asylum applications. | Earthquakes | June 2017 | ['(AP)'] |
Xi Jinping, the President of China, travels to India to improve trade links and attempt to resolve decades old disputes over borders. | China's President Xi Jinping has begun his first official visit to India for talks expected to focus on improving trade and boosting Chinese investment.
He is expected to pledge billions of dollars in investment, including plans for Chinese-funded industrial parks.
President Xi's plane landed in Gujarat, home state of India's PM Narendra Modi, who has also vowed to deepen ties. China is one of India's top trading partners but they vie for regional influence and dispute their border.
Mr Xi's visit comes amid unconfirmed reports in the Indian media of a new face-off on the border.
The reports said Indian troops had spotted their Chinese counterparts trying to construct a temporary road into Indian territory across the Line of Actual Control (the de facto boundary) in the Ladakh region. Despite the continuing tensions, trade between India and China has reached close to $70bn (£43bn) a year, although India's trade deficit has climbed to more than $40bn from $1bn in 2001-2002.
Mr Xi flew in from Sri Lanka. He was greeted at Ahmedabad airport by Gujarat government officials and inspected a guard of honour. He was then received at his hotel by Mr Modi, and in the evening was due to attend a banquet in his honour coinciding with Mr Modi's 64th birthday.
Mr Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat for more than a decade before leading his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to a landslide win in May.
He is well known to the Chinese, after making five trips to China while in charge of Gujarat, and has said he would like to replicate China's manufacturing prowess in India. During his three-day visit, Mr Xi is due to travel to Delhi to hold official talks with Mr Modi and meet other Indian leaders.
Writing in The Hindu newspaper ahead of his visit, Mr Xi said he appreciated Mr Modi's comment that "China and India are two bodies, one spirit".
"The combination of the 'world's factory' and the 'world's back office' will produce the most competitive production base and the most attractive consumer market," he wrote.
Indian media reports say China is expected to pledge funds to help India's creaky railway, manufacturing and infrastructure projects during Mr Xi's visit.
Earlier this month, Mr Modi's five-day trip to Japan was seen as an attempt by the two democracies to balance the rising weight of China across Asia.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged to raise public and private investment and financing from Japan to $33.6bn within five years, and Delhi and Tokyo set a target to double Japan's direct investment in India in that period from some $2bn last year.
Correspondents say Mr Xi is expected to pledge investments matching or exceeding Japan's - a sign, they say, of how Mr Modi has been able to leverage the rivalry between China and Japan to maximise gains for India. The Chinese leader's visit is also being billed as a chance to reset often troubled relations between the world's two most populous countries, who disagree over the demarcation of several Himalayan border areas and fought a brief war in 1962.
Tensions over the issue still flare up from time to time and numerous rounds of border talks have been unsuccessful.
Relations have also been dogged over the years by China's backing for India's neighbour Pakistan.
| Diplomatic Talks _ Diplomatic_Negotiation_ Summit Meeting | September 2014 | ['(BBC)'] |
The United Kingdom and Switzerland sign a trade continuity agreement to maintain current trade relations post-Brexit. |
Britain has signed a trade continuity agreement with Switzerland to avoid disruption for thousands of businesses post-Brexit, less than 50 days before the UK is due to leave the EU.
The Department for International Trade said the agreement would maintain UK-Swiss trade under the preferential terms currently available to both countries through an EU free trade deal.
It comes as ministers rush to ensure the continuity of about 40 free trade deals held by the EU covering more than 70 countries, which Britain currently has access to via EU membership but will lose after Brexit.
Ministers have conceded in private meetings with business leaders that they will not be able to replace all of the deals before the Brexit deadline on 29 March, meaning a large proportion of UK exports could shift to World Trade Organization rules. This would mean higher border tariffs and extra costs for companies in Britain and abroad.
Japan has sought to extract hefty concessions from Britain before Brexit, while talks with many nations have been delayed by the lack of clarity over Britain’s future trading relationship with the EU.
The trade between Britain and the countries and regions covered by the EU free trade agreements amounts to about 14% of all UK goods imports and exports each year, worth as much as £117bn in 2017.
Signing the Swiss trade continuity deal will enable ministers to declare that progress is being made, but deals with major trading partners including Canada, South Korea and Japan remain to be signed.
Britain has agreed mutual recognition trade deals with Australia and New Zealand, as well as trade continuity agreements with Switzerland, Chile, the Faroe Islands and the eastern and southern Africa trading bloc.
Liam Fox, the international trade secretary, who signed the Swiss accord in Berne on Monday with a Swiss federal councillor, Guy Parmelin, said the deal was of “huge economic importance” to Britain and would benefit 15,000 UK exporters.
“Not only will this help to support jobs throughout the UK but it will also be a solid foundation for us to build an even stronger trading relationship with Switzerland as we leave the EU,” Fox said.
The deal simplifies trade and allows businesses in both countries to continue trading freely after Brexit without any additional tariffs, as is currently the case as part of EU membership.
A spokesperson for the Department for International Trade said: “Our priority is to avoid disruption to our global trading relationships as we leave the European Union and we are seeking continuity for existing free trade agreements.” | Sign Agreement | February 2019 | ['(The Guardian)'] |
An ABC News crew are carjacked and threatened with decapitations by pro-Mubarak supporters. | ABC producer Brian Hartman was threatened with beheading by a group of men, as he reported:
Just escaped after being carjacked at a checkpoint and driven to a compound where men surrounded the car and threatened to behead us.
In a longer report, ABC recounted what happened:
Producer Brian Hartman, cameraman Akram Abi-hanna and two other ABC News employees were surrounded on a crowded road that leads from Cairo’s airport to the city’s downtown area.
While ABC News and other press agencies had been taking precautions to avoid volatile situations, the road to the airport had been a secure route until today. One of their two vehicles was carrying cameras and transmission equipment strapped to the roof, indicating they were foreign journalists.
Hartman says it was only through the appeal of Abi-hanna, who is Lebanese and a veteran ABC cameraman, that they were saved from being killed or severely beaten.
“We thought we were goners,” Hartman said later. “We absolutely thought we were doomed.” Hartman and his team are just some of the many journalists being threatened, detained or beaten by pro-government supporters or security forces. | Armed Conflict | February 2011 | ['(The Guardian)', '(The Hollywood Reporter)', '(The Huffington Post)'] |
The United States Senate confirms Loretta Lynch as the Attorney General of the United States. Lynch will be the first African–American woman to hold the position. | WASHINGTON — After one of the nation’s most protracted cabinet-level confirmation delays, the Senate Thursday approved Loretta E. Lynch to be attorney general. She is the first African-American woman to hold the position.
Ms. Lynch, the United States attorney for the Eastern District of New York, was confirmed 56 to 43, with 10 Republicans voting for her.
| Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration | April 2015 | ['(New York Times)'] |
Three bombings targeting police and military kill at least 12 people and wound 219 in southeast Turkey. | At least 12 people have been killed and 219 wounded in three bomb attacks in Turkey's southeast.
Blasts at police stations in Van and Elazig killed four police officers and two civilians, reports said.
Five soldiers and a village guard died when their vehicle was targeted in Bitlis province.
Turkish officials blamed the Kurdish militant group, the PKK, for the attacks, which took place outside Kurdish majority areas in the region.
"Our fight against terror will never cease," said President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The PKK has carried a series of bombings targeting the police in the largely Kurdish south-east since a ceasefire with the government broke down last year.
Last week, PKK commander Cemil Bayik threatened increased attacks against police in Turkish cities.
Television footage showed plumes of smoke rising above the destroyed police building in Elazig. The force of the blast blew out nearby cars, uprooted trees and left a large crater outside the building.
The bombing in Van struck near a hall where a wedding party was in progression, sending the bride and groom and their guests fleeing in panic, AFP news agency reported.
At least eight people were killed in two attacks on police vehicles in nearby Diyarbakir and Kiziltepe last week.
Since last month's failed coup in Turkey, there has been much talk of national unity.
But this has not included the pro-Kurdish political party which the Turkish authorities say supports the PKK, reports the BBC's Turkey correspondent Mark Lowen. The pro-Kurdish HDP denies any link to the militants.
More than 180 PKK militants had been killed and 3,000 detained since the coup bid, Mr Erdogan said. | Armed Conflict | August 2016 | ['(BBC)'] |
Prime Minister of Australia Kevin Rudd steps down after his leadership is contested following considerable drops in popularity in polls in recent months. Julia Gillard becomes Australia's first female Prime Minister. | Julia Gillard wasted no time in making her mark after taking over as the nation's first woman Prime Minister from a teary Kevin Rudd today.
She was sworn in as Australia's 27th Prime Minister by the country's first female Governor-General, Quentin Bryce, at Government House in Canberra this afternoon.
Ms Gillard was greeted with a kiss by her partner Tim Mathieson as she entered the room for the swearing-in.
She then took her place at the House of Representatives despatch box as Prime Minister.
New Prime Minister Julia Gillard and her deputy, Wayne Swan, walk the corridors of Canberra.
Ms Gillard said she had accepted her new role because she believed a good government was losing its way.
She said would immediately cancel the government's multi-million advertising war with the miners over the super profits tax.
Soon after, BHP announced it was suspending its advertising campaign against the tax and welcomed Ms Gillard's initiative.
She said she was "very honoured" to become Australia's first female prime minister after Kevin Rudd stood down at a caucus meeting this morning.
A smiling Kevin Rudd arrives for the spill vote.
Ms Gillard, not Mr Rudd, will now decide when to lead her party into the next election.
She will have talks with Mr Rudd about his future but speculation is mounting the former leader will be given the job of foreign minister.
Against expectations Mr Rudd decided to stay in parliament and recontest his seat of Griffith at the next election.
Current foreign minister Stephen Smith could easily step into Ms Gillard’s portfolios of education and workplace relations - ministries he’s handled before - allowing Mr Rudd to indulge his passion for international affairs.
A lot of them [Labor MPs] are going to sell their souls [and] put the knife in the back of a Labor Prime Minister in his first term
An emotional Mr Rudd addressed the media, saying he was proud of his achievements, but not of blubbing.
Opposition leader Tony Abbott said Labor might have a new leader, but its policies were the same.
Just a year ago, Mr Rudd rivalled Bob Hawke as Australia's most popular leader. But he now joins Mr Hawke as the only other Labor prime minister dumped by his party.
Mr Rudd had decided to fight to the death after refusing to step aside last night for Ms Gillard.
Ms Gillard, however, was believed to have had the numbers before going into this morning's ballot, which was not held. She also had the backing of the powerful Australian Workers Union.
A series of policy failures, poor polls and the decision to go to war with the mining industry have all contributed to Mr Rudd's plunging fortunes among his colleagues.
The Coalition feared a change to Ms Gillard. Although she bears responsibility for many of the government's poor decisions, including shelving the emissions trading scheme and the school buildings program, she will be harder to beat than Mr Rudd.
The push to oust Mr Rudd was driven by the Right factions in Victoria and South Australia.
The entire national Right, including the NSW Right and its kingmaker Mark Arbib, had last night swung behind Ms Gillard, as had the Victorian Left, led by Kim Carr, who installed Mr Rudd.
The hard Left was left doing the numbers for Mr Rudd.
After a three-hour crisis meeting in his office last night with Ms Gillard and the veteran fixer John Faulkner, Mr Rudd held a media conference and said he would fight.
"I was elected by the people of Australia as the Prime Minister of Australia," he said.
"I was elected to do a job and I intend doing that job."
But he had acknowledged that he was abandoned by most of the factional powerbrokers.
Mr Rudd had attempted to salvage votes by promising to bring a speedy conclusion to the mining tax saga and initiate a timetable to implement an emissions trading scheme.
After being pressured to take a hard line against asylum seekers, he baulked, saying he would not engage in a race to the right.
The push to oust Mr Rudd was led by the Victorian senator David Feeney, Victorian MP Bill Shorten and South Australian senator Don Farrell, all right-wing heavyweights.
Sources said they met Ms Gillard yesterday afternoon in an attempt to persuade her to stand.
She was reluctant.
But Agriculture Minister Tony Burke and Senator Arbib met Ms Gillard separately to urge her to move.
Senator Arbib and Ms Gillard were instrumental in forcing the government to abandon the emissions trading scheme, which was the catalyst for the government's slide in the polls.
The move against Mr Rudd was sparked by a report in yesterday's Herald that Mr Rudd had used his chief of staff, Alister Jordan, to sound out the backbench over the past month on the level of support for him. This followed a Herald/Nielsen poll which showed the government would lose if an election were held then.
But Mr Rudd's action was regarded as a sign that he did not trust the repeated assurances by Ms Gillard that she would not stand. | Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | June 2010 | ['(SMH)'] |
Brazil prison officials report at least 42 prisoners are found strangled to death in four separate jails in the state of Amazonas. Yesterday, 15 prisoners were killed in a fight between rival prison gangs at a facility near the Amazonas capital Manaus. | Some of the inmates were stabbed with sharpened toothbrushes, while others had been strangled, Brazil's Colonel Almeida said, adding that an investigation has been opened to determine the cause of the fight
Sao Paulo: Clashes between inmates have killed 15 people at a jail in Amazonas state in northern Brazil, the regional prison authority said.
The clashes broke out around 11.00 am (local time) on Sunday during visiting hours at the facility, located some 28 kilometres from state capital Manaus. "It was a fight between the inmates. There had never been deaths during the visits," Colonel Marcos Vinicius Almeida told a news conference.
Representational image. Reuters
Some of the inmates were stabbed with sharpened toothbrushes, while others had been strangled, Almeida said, adding that an investigation has been opened to determine the cause of the fight.
He emphasised that authorities had reacted within minutes to the Sunday violence, preventing a potentially worse result.
The same facility was the scene of a prison rebellion that lasted almost 20 hours and left 56 people dead in January 2017.
Brazil has the world's third-largest prison population, with 726,712 inmates as of June 2016, according to official statistics. The population is double the capacity of the nation's prisons, which in the same year was estimated to be 368,049 inmates.
Along with severe overcrowding, Brazil's prisons are plagued by gang violence, while riots and breakout attempts are not uncommon.
In September, heavily armed men detonated explosives outside the gate of a prison in northeastern Brazil and then shot their way inside, killing a policeman and releasing 92 inmates, about half of whom were later recaptured.
In April 2018, a military-style battle erupted between guards and prisoners aided by outside associates, leaving 21 people dead at a prison in Belem, near the Amazon rainforest.
The attackers, in that case, tried to blow up a wall to help the would-be escapees. One policeman was killed alongside 20 prisoners and their associates.
In January 2017, Brazilian police had to launch a massive manhunt after 184 inmates escaped from two prisons in Amazonas state following a gruesome 17-hour bloodbath between rival gangs that left 56 prisoners dead, many beheaded.
Brazil's prisons are home to the leaders of several drug trafficking organizations, and the crisis in the country's penitentiaries has had a ripple effect.
Earlier this year, a wave of about 80 attacks on public buildings, banks, buses and gas stations was blamed on newly announced measures to tighten control of prisons. | Riot | May 2019 | ['(Reuters)', '(Firstpost)'] |
83 prisoners die as a fire breaks out in a prison in Santiago, Chile. | Fire engulfed a prison in the Chilean capital, Santiago, early today, killing more than 80 inmates and critically injuring 14 others, prison officials said.
The incident is the deadliest in the history of the country's prison system.
Officials said the fire was triggered during an early-morning fight between inmates in one of the crowded prison's five towers. Television footage showed part of the San Miguel prison in flames, with black smoke billowing from the building.
Relatives of the inmates gathered outside the prison, imploring police to let them in to help with rescue efforts.
Some threw rocks at police inside the prison perimeter, while others climbed on to the prison fence, their arms outstretched towards the burning building.
"Rusio Victor, wave a white T-shirt, Daddy," shouted seven-year-old Yadira Lopez, appealing to her father to signal that he was alive.
Luis Masferrer, the director of the national prison police, said: "This reflects the precarious state of Chile's prison system, which we have been denouncing and working to rectify since we took over [in March].
"Overcrowding is a factor that will have to be analysed in determining the causes of this terrible incident."
The justice minister, Felipe Bulnes, said the prison housed 1,960 inmates, nearly twice the 1,100 capacity.
The Bio Bio radio station reported that about 200 inmates were evacuated into a jail yard because of the fire. | Fire | December 2010 | ['(The Guardian)', '(The Straits Times)'] |
Peter Gloystein, financial minister for the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, resigns from his posts after he was photographed pouring a bottle of wine over a homeless man | In an incident that was sold by German newspapers as evidence of the disrespect some politicians have for the unemployed, the deputy leader of the German state of Bremen poured sparkling wine over the head of a homeless man in an apparent joke that went wrong and which led to his eventual resignation. Peter Gloystein of the centre-right Christian Democrat Union (CDU) was caught on camera pouring a magnum of wine over the head of stunned Bremen local Udo Ölschläger at the launch of German wine week on Wednesday evening. Gloystein, Bremen state economy and culture minister, said late on Thursday he deeply regretted the incident and apologised to his victim. He said he had "misinterpreted" the situation but did not explain what he meant. The Bremen culture ministry confirmed later that Gloystein had resigned from his various posts.
Contrary to popular cliche, beer in Germany doesn't come out of the kitchen faucet. In fact, it's going into fewer glasses these days. Germans are drinking less of the sudsy stuff and brewers are getting alarmed. (April 23, 2005) | Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | May 2005 | ['(Deutsche Welle)', '(SBS)', '(BBC)'] |
After getting postponed a week before, the 2020 Summer Olympics has been rescheduled to July 23, 2021. | Next year’s Tokyo Olympics will now officially open on 23 July 2021 – 364 days later than planned – in order to give organisers the time needed to prepare after the disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The decision was confirmed by the International Olympic Committee following a conference call between its president, Thomas Bach, and the international sports federations on Monday. Bach gave them one choice of a new date – 23 July to 8 August – before asking the federations for a show of support, which was unanimous.
The IOC said rescheduling the games to next July would help other major events. “These new dates give the health authorities and all involved in the organisation of the Games the maximum time to deal with the constantly changing landscape and the disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic,” the statement read.
“The new dates, exactly one year after those originally planned for 2020, also have the added benefit that any disruption that the postponement will cause to the international sports calendar can be kept to a minimum. Additionally, they will provide sufficient time to finish the qualification process. The same heat mitigation measures as planned for 2020 will be implemented.”
Bach promised that the IOC and the Tokyo organisers would “master this unprecedented challenge”. “Humankind currently finds itself in a dark tunnel. These Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 can be a light at the end of this tunnel,” he added.
The move, which was widely expected after last week’s decision to postpone the Games, means the 2021 swimming championships are likely to move to 2022.
World Athletics responded to the news by immediately confirming it planned to move the Eugene 2021 world championships by a year. “Everyone needs to be flexible and compromise and to that end we are now working with the organisers of the World Athletics Championships in Oregon on new dates in 2022,” it said. “We are also in discussions with the Commonwealth Games Federation and the European Championships.
“We would like to thank our Oregon 21 Organising Committee for their collaboration and willingness to explore all options.”
A summer 2021 Games also had the backing of the US broadcaster NBC, whose rights fees make up more of the IOC’s income than any other body. The move also frees up the top NBA, football and golf players to compete.
But a July date means that the Olympics will take place during the hottest time of the Japanese summer – a longstanding worry that has already led to the Olympic marathon being moved to Sapporo in the north of the country. It was these concerns that led to some sports, including swimming, equestrianism and triathlon to moot a “Cherry Blossom” Games in the spring of 2021 instead.
Tokyo organisers have confirmed that tickets for this year’s Games will remain valid in 2021 but a full refund would be given to anyone who could no longer attend. They also confirmed that the Paralympics will be rescheduled from 24 August to 5 September.
“The consensus was that staging the rescheduled Games during the summer vacation in Japan would be preferable,” Tokyo 2020’s organising committee president, Yoshiro Mori, said. “In terms of transport, arranging volunteers and the provision of tickets for those in Japan and overseas, as well as allowing for the Covid-19 situation, we think that it would be better to reschedule the Games to one year later than planned, in the summer of 2021.”
Japan is officially spending $12.6bn to organise the Olympics although an audit bureau of the Japanese government says the costs are twice that much. Muto has admitted that rescheduling the Olympics will add significant extra costs – with most putting it between $2bn and $4bn – with the expenses being largely borne by the government.
Meanwhile, the British & Irish Lions have played down concerns over next year’s tour of South Africa clashing with the rescheduled Olympics with evening kick-offs for the three-Test series against the Springboks ensuring no crossover with major events at the Games.
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Eighteen Britons are arrested on the Greek island of Crete, following the murder of a male tourist and a violent confrontation between tourists and local police. | Eighteen young British men have been arrested in connection with the fatal stabbing of another British man on the Greek island of Crete.
Reports say the victim was 20 years old and was outside a bar in the coastal resort town of Malia when he was stabbed.
A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We can confirm the death of a British national in Malia, Greece, on 23 July.
"We stand ready to provide consular assistance to the family."
Eyewitnesses told Greek police a violent altercation took place in the early hours of Tuesday morning involving at least 30 British men, according to Athens-based newspaper Kathimerini.
The Foreign Office spokesman said: "We are aware of the arrests of a number of British nationals.... We are in touch with the local authorities and stand ready to provide consular assistance."
In recent years Malia has outgrown holiday resorts such as Ayia Napa and Laganas and is particularly popular among young British tourists.
It was the setting for the 2011 film The Inbetweeners Movie, featuring four teenage boys on their first foreign holiday without their parents.
Earlier this year British ambassador John Kittmer visited the resort to launch the Holiday Hangover campaign to raise awareness of problems that could arise while on holiday and to promote responsible behaviour.
The Foreign Office says about two million British tourists visit Greece every year. About half the cases it becomes involved there in concern young tourists on holiday in the resorts of Malia, Laganas, Kavos, Kardamena or Faliraki.
| Riot | July 2013 | ['(BBC)'] |
Italian film producer Dino De Laurentiis (Serpico, Death Wish) dies in Los Angeles, California ending a movie career that spanned seven decades in both the United States and Italy. | Nov. 11, 2010— -- Famed Italian film producer Dino De Laurentiis has died in Los Angeles, ending a movie career that spanned seven decades. He was 91.
Many of his hundreds of movies were big productions. Some were big spectacles, such as the remake of "King Kong" in 1976 and "Conan the Barbarian" in 1982, starring a pre-gubernatorial Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Some had big villains, including Anthony Hopkins, who had the lead role in the chilling 2001 film "Hannibal." In the course of 70 years, many of his films were wildly successful, including "Serpico," "Three Days of the Condor" and "Blue Velvet."
The producer was born Agostino de Laurentiis in a town near Naples, Italy, Aug. 8, 1919, and grew up selling pasta made by his father. He worked on some the most notable Italian films that emerged as an artistic force after World War II.
In collaboration with Frederico Fellini, De Laurentiis produced "La Strada," starring Anthony Quinn and winning an Oscar in 1957. After he and business partner Carlo Ponti produced several Italian films together, he struck out on his own in the 1960s building a studio that eventually collapsed financially.
DeLaurentiis moved to the United States in the 1970s and began to churn out films from his studio in North Carolina. They included "Death Wish," "The Shootist" and "Ragtime."
His themes were eclectic, ranging from Ingmar Bergman's "The Serpent's Egg" to the science fiction flick, "Flash Gordon," to the horror film, "Halloween II."
He also had some flops. "King of the Gypsies" and "Hurricane" are two that were panned by critics. Despite the popularity of his films, De Laurentiis struggled with failing box office numbers and soaring production expenses. He opened and closed several studios in rapid succession, trying to find financing for his film projects.
But he never quit. De Laurentiis continued to be a prolific producer through the turn of the century with six movies in the seven years between 2000 and 2007.
He was presented with the Irving Thalberg Award in 2001 by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, which is given to "a creative producer whose body of work reflects a consistently high quality of motion picture production." | Famous Person - Death | November 2010 | ['(ABC News America)'] |
Cattle raiders believed to be led by David Yau Yau attack villages in Jonglei state, leaving at least 78 dead. | Some 78 people have been killed and scores wounded in an attack on villages in South Sudan's Jonglei state, the local MP has told the BBC. The attackers were believed to be members of David Yau Yau's rebel group, said MP Deng Dau.
Jonglei is badly affected by ethnic rivalries and disputes over land and cattle ownership.
More than 1,500 people are estimated to have been killed in the area since South Sudan's independence in 2011.
Tens of thousands have also been left homeless by the fighting. South Sudan Information Minister Micheal Makuie told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme that security forces have been deployed to capture the rebels. Air surveillance is also being carried out to "detect their line of movement", he added. Army spokesman Col Philip Aguer told the BBC at least two villages had been burned during Sunday's attack in Jonglei's Twic East County.
Mr Dau, who has just visited the scene, said the attackers wore green uniforms and had used heavy weapons including mortars.
The attack left 78 people dead and 88 wounded, he said, adding that 24 people, many of them children, had been abducted. The UN mission in South Sudan said more than 30 people had been flown to the nearest towns for medical treatment.
Thousands of cattle were stolen during the attack, the acting governor of Jonglei, Hussein Maar, said, in comments carried by the Associated Press news agency. South Sudan is awash with small arms after decades of conflict against Khartoum's rule. Khartoum gave it independence in 2011 following talks brokered by the US and regional countries. Cattle lie at the heart of life for many communities in the country which has hardly any banks - they are used as a form of wealth, to pay dowries and as a source of food in the lean season. A single cow can be worth hundreds of dollars depending on its colouring. | Armed Conflict | October 2013 | ['(BBC)'] |
UK based Internet blogger Bilal Zaheer Ahmad is sentenced to 12 years imprisonment after admitting using his blog to solicit the murder of MPs who voted for the Iraq War. | An internet blogger has been jailed for 12 years after admitting soliciting the murder of MPs who had voted in favour of the Iraq War.
Bilal Zaheer Ahmad, 23, from Wolverhampton, was also sentenced for other terrorism offences.
Prosecutors at Bristol Crown Court said Ahmad had used a website called revolutionmuslim.com to encourage others to attack MPs.
The website has since been closed down by the authorities in the US.
Sentencing Ahmad, the judge, Mr Justice Royce, described him as a "viper in our midst" and said he was "willing to go as far as possible to strike at the heart of our system". The judge told him: "Whatever our views on the Iraq War, we are a democracy.
"You purport to be a British citizen, but what you stand for is totally alien to what we stand for in our country."
Ahmad, an IT graduate from Dunstall Hill who holds both British and Pakistani passports, pleaded guilty to using the website to encourage the murder of MPs who he claimed had supported the 2003 invasion.
In his web posting on the Islamic extremist website, he advised readers on the site's message board how to find out constituency surgery details and provided a link to an online shopping site selling knives.
He also had in his possession electronic copies of books called '39 ways to serve and participate in jihad' and 'Zaad-e-Mujahid: Essential provisions of a mujahadid'. His messages came a day after the conviction of a Muslim woman, Roshonara Choudhry, for the attempted murder of Labour MP Stephen Timms.
Choudhry stabbed Mr Timms, the Labour member for East Ham, in the stomach at a surgery meeting. Ahmad praised her attack and said it should inspire others to follow suit.
The day before Choudhry was sentenced, Ahmad posted on Facebook: "This sister has put us men to shame. We should be doing this." Two days later, he posted on the Metro newspaper website: "I think Timms got let off lightly, in comparison to the countless civilians that have been killed as a direct result of the war he voted for.
"Roshonara Choudhry is a heroine. Free Roshonara Choudhry and give her a medal for justice."
When he was arrested, Ahmad told officers: "I shouldn't have let my emotions get away from me. It was completely irrational. It was tongue-in-cheek, I'm not in a cell or anything like that."
Prosecutor Mark Dennis QC said: "He claimed that the posting of the entry had in effect been a spur of the moment act, done partly as an emotional response to recent events, partly out of 'insolence' and partly as an 'ironic gesture'." The court heard that Ahmad first became radicalised as a teenager and was an active contributor to several extremist websites.
Imran Khan, defending, said Ahmad had fallen in with members of Islamist movement al-Muhajiroun when aged 16 at college because he felt excluded from mainstream society.
He said Ahmad's growing interest in Islam had been at odds with the non-religious upbringing of his parents.
"This is not the case of a man indoctrinating but of a man who has been indoctrinated by others," Mr Khan said.
"It was wrong, it was perverted and he now absolves himself from it completely. He was a follower and not a leader."
The head of West Midlands Counter Terrorism Unit, Det Ch Supt Kenny Bell, said it was a "challenging investigation" because Ahmad was posting on foreign-based websites, and international cooperation was key in securing the conviction. "Online extremism is an area of counter terrorism policing that we are increasingly focussed on. "We need to protect vulnerable individuals from being urged to commit serious crimes by extremists and radicalisers who are exploiting the internet. We can and will track offenders down."
As well as being jailed for 12 years, Ahmad was ordered to serve an additional five years' extended period on licence. The other terror offences included one for intent to stir up religious hatred and three counts of collecting information likely to be of use to a terrorist. UN calls for end of arms sales to Myanmar
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | July 2011 | ['(BBC)'] |
The Obama administration through federal prosecutors announces corruption charges against nine defendants, including a former close aide to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, over their roles in alleged bribery and fraud schemes tied to the awarding of large state contracts and other activities. | NEW YORK (Reuters) - Federal and state prosecutors on Thursday announced charges against 10 men, including two onetime senior advisers to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, in corruption and fraud cases involving state contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
The charges followed a federal investigation into Buffalo Billion, a signature $1 billion economic development project of Cuomo aimed at revitalizing the area around the city of Buffalo, once an upstate industrial powerhouse.
Joseph Percoco, a former executive deputy secretary to the governor; Alain Kaloyeros, president of the State University of New York’s Polytechnic Institute; and six others were charged in a criminal complaint filed in federal court in Manhattan.
Todd Howe, a lobbyist and an ex-adviser to Cuomo when he led the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, pleaded guilty to federal charges and is cooperating. Richard Morvillo, his lawyer, said Howe “will testify truthfully if called upon.”
Prosecutors said in one scheme, Percoco, whom they called Cuomo’s “right-hand-man,” sought $315,000 in bribes in exchange for offering help to two of Howe’s corporate clients, an energy company and a Syracuse real estate developer.
In an overlapping scheme, they said, Kaloyeros, who oversaw a grant application process for Buffalo Billion and similar programs, and Howe, whom he hired to help develop projects, conspired to rig bids for contracts favoring two developers.
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced separate state charges against Kaloyeros and a real estate executive, Joseph Nicolla, over alleged bid-rigging involving three multimillion-dollar contracts.
The cases were the latest to focus on Albany, New York’s capital, following last year’s convictions of the leaders of the state legislature’s two houses, Democrat Sheldon Silver and Republican Dean Skelos.
“Today’s complaint shines a light on yet another sordid side of the show-me-the-money culture that has so plagued the government,” Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said.
Cuomo was not accused of wrongdoing. In a statement, Cuomo said he was “saddened and profoundly disappointed” by the allegations involving Percoco, who previously worked for and was a close friend of Cuomo’s late father, former Governor Mario Cuomo.
“Like my father before me, I believe public integrity is paramount,” Cuomo said. “This sort of breach, if true, should be and will be punished.”
Percoco, 47, and Kaloyeros, 60, self-surrendered on Thursday morning and were later granted bail at a court hearing. In response to the charges, SUNY suspended Kaloyeros without pay.
Barry Bohrer, Percoco’s lawyer, called the prosecution “an overreach of classic proportions.” Kaloyeros’ lawyer, Michael Miller, said his client was innocent. Nicolla’s company, Columbia Development, did not respond to a request for comment.
Some of the bribes paid to Percoco were arranged by Peter Galbraith Kelly, a senior vice president at Competitive Power Ventures, which obtained a $100 million contract that would help finance a $900 million power plant, prosecutors said.
In the Buffalo Billion-related scheme, prosecutors said Howe received bribes from Syracuse’s COR Development Co, run by Steven Aiello and Joseph Gerardi, and Buffalo’s LPCiminelli, run by Louis Ciminelli, Michael Laipple and Kevin Schuler.
Prosecutors said executives at both companies were major donors to Cuomo’s election campaigns, with COR becoming its top upstate donor after ramping up contributions beginning in December 2011.
Daniel Gitner, Kelly’s lawyer, said his client was innocent. Lawyers for Aiello, Gerardi, Ciminelli, Laipple and Schuler either declined comment or did not respond to requests for comment. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | September 2016 | ['(Reuters)'] |
The US State Department says it may withhold aid to Uzbekistan unless the Uzbek government agrees to an international inquiry about the unrest in Andijan. The official death toll has risen to 187. | The United Nations said earlier this week that grave human rights abuses were committed in the May 13 events. Officials here say the Uzbek government faces the likelihood of cuts in direct U.S. aid if it is not responsive to calls for a transparent inquiry into the Andijon events, though they are downplaying reports there could be an early confrontation with Tashkent authorities over the issue.
The United States and others in the international community including the European Union and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) have pressed for an international probe of the events in Andijon, where hundreds of Uzbek civilians were reported killed by security forces.
The Uzbek government of President Islam Karimov has resisted the pressure, and the Washington Post reported Wednesday the Bush administration was preparing what it described as a last-ditch warning to Tashkent authorities to accept the inquiry, or face the prospect of political upheaval.
At a news briefing, acting State Department Spokesman Thomas Casey said the United States has been making its concerns known to Uzbek authorities at the highest levels and will continue to do so, though he said he was unaware of any pending change in U.S. policy or tactics.
At the same time, however, the spokesman raised the prospect of reductions in direct U.S. aid to the Uzbek government for a second straight year, if the Bush administration cannot certify to Congress that it has met conditions on protecting human rights.
"We do have a certification process in place for our bilateral assistance to Uzbekistan," said Mr. Casey. "Last year, we made determination that Uzbekistan had not made sufficient progress on the criteria for that certification to allow the full amount of aid to move forward. There's no decision that has been taken on that this year. But obviously how the government of Uzbekistan responds to this issue is certainly a factor in that decision-making."
About one-third of the nearly $60 million in U.S. aid allocated to Uzbekistan this year has been held back pending a certification to Congress on human rights.
A State Department official who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity said it would be hard to conceive of the full aid amount being delivered unless there is some resolution to the impasse over an Andijon investigation.
The Bush administration withheld several million dollars in direct aid to Uzbek agencies last year, prompting what the official said were some minor human rights gestures from the Karimov government. Much of the money, largely for military training and credits, was re-directed to non-governmental organizations.
A United Nations report issued earlier this week and citing eyewitness testimony, said grave human rights abuses were committed in Andijon when Uzbek security forces fired indiscriminately on crowds of demonstrators, killing hundreds.
The U.N. report also called for an international investigation, which Mr. Karimov has firmly opposed. Spokesman Casey said that having a transparent inquiry and accountability for what occurred is not just something the international community wants, but also in the interest of Uzbekistan's future stability, prosperity and relations with the rest of the world.
The United States and Uzbekistan have cooperated closely in the war on terrorism, with U.S. forces having use of an Uzbek airbase at Karshi-Khanabad to support operations in Afghanistan.
The Washington Post Wednesday suggested a split within the administration, with defense officials stressing the need to retain access to the base, and the State Department advocating a harder line on Uzbek human rights.
The senior official who spoke here however said upholding democracy and human rights, and U.S. security interests in Uzbekistan are not incompatible. He said neither the State Department nor the Pentagon wants to see an Uzbekistan subject to political upheaval and turmoil. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Investigate | July 2005 | ['(BBC)', '(Baku Today)', '(Reuters AlertNet)', '(Eurasianet)'] |
An 18-year-old protestor is shot in the chest by police and taken to hospital for surgery during clashes between pro-democracy protesters and the police in Hong Kong on National Day of the People's Republic of China. Video footage shows the police officer shooting the protester as the protester tries to hit his arm with a metal pipe. This is the first reported injury from a live round. | An activist involved in anti-government protests in Hong Kong has been shot in the chest by police during a clash.
The incident came as thousands of people demonstrated in defiance of a protest ban for the 70th anniversary of Communist rule in China.
Though people have been shot by rubber bullets in previous protests, this is the first injury from a live round.
In the Chinese capital Beijing, 15,000 soldiers paraded with advanced military hardware to mark the anniversary.
Nearly four months of protests in Hong Kong have challenged Chinese President Xi Jinping's vision of national unity.
Earlier, the Chinese flag was raised at a special ceremony in the territory. Security was tight and the 12,000 invited guests watched the event on a live video feed from inside a conference centre. On what is being described by protesters as a "day of grief", people took to the streets in central Hong Kong and at least six other districts, blocking roads in some areas.
At least 66 people were injured during the clashes, as police fired tear gas and protesters threw petrol bombs. Two people were in a critical condition and two others were seriously injured, the Hospital Authority said.
According to local media, at least 180 people were arrested.
The man, who is aged 18, has been undergoing surgery and his condition is not known. Police say he was hit "near his left shoulder".
A video shows the injured man lying on the ground, saying: "Send me to hospital. My chest is hurting, I need to go to hospital."
Video of the shooting shows a police officer opening fire with a revolver at a man swinging what appears to be a metal pole, as a group of protesters confront riot police.
Police say their officers were attacked and the policeman who opened fire did so as he "felt his life was under serious threat". "He fired a round at the assailant to save his own life and his colleagues' lives," Senior Supt Yolanda Yu Hoi-kwan was quoted as saying by the South China Morning Post.
Investigations will be conducted into the shooting and an allegation of assault against the young man, police chief Stephen Lo was quoted as saying by the South China Morning Post. In addition to the bullet fired at the young man, five other live rounds were fired at various locations on Tuesday, police say.
"Our national day is supposed to be a day to celebrate and be happy," said the police chief.
"But unfortunately some rioters chose to do all this all these sorts of criminal damages, arsons, wounding, assaulting police officers, and various [other] behaviours. Which are more or less equivalent to a riot offence."
UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab called for restraint and de-escalation in the former British territory, saying: "Whilst there is no excuse for violence, the use of live ammunition is disproportionate and only risks inflaming the situation."
Police tried to disperse the protesters - some of whom were armed with petrol bombs, projectiles or poles - with tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannon, the latter spraying blue dye to make it easier to identify them later.
In response to heavy-handed policing, some protesters have become increasingly confrontational, BBC Newsnight international editor Gabriel Gatehouse reports from Hong Kong. "If I get shot in the head and I die, it's okay," one radical told him. "This might raise the awareness of society." "This is not a protest anymore. This is turning into urban warfare."International editor @ggatehouse is in Hong Kong, where an activist has been shot by police in the first live round shooting in four months of unrest https://t.co/qHgagOUZDm[Tap to expand]#Newsnight pic.twitter.com/n6v9krdsbA
At least 15 metro stations and numerous shopping centres in the city were closed, and some 6,000 officers were deployed in the territory.
Tessa Wong, BBC News, Hong Kong Protests in Hong Kong by now follow a familiar rhythm - peaceful mass marches which then slide into violence. What stood out today however was the swiftness with which the violence exploded.
Across many parts of Hong Kong, protesters fought pitched battles with police, with one clash culminating in a young man getting shot by a live round. Authorities appeared to show a new determination to put down the protests as quickly as possible on China's National Day, perhaps to save face, but it inevitably only angered the protesters even more. On the streets of Hong Kong Island's dense downtown, from Admiralty to Causeway Bay, protesters played cat and mouse with police, setting a trail of fires in their wake. Police relentlessly attempted to box them in by sending water cannon and elite forces down main roads, while smaller teams charged up side streets. But at times the tactics on both sides made little sense and threatened to spin out of control. Petrol and smoke bombs alike were sometimes hurled inexpertly, seriously endangering reporters and passers-by. In Admiralty, I saw protesters armed just with umbrellas repeatedly attempting to charge up an escalator to an overhead bridge where riot police were stationed. After shouting warnings, police let loose a barrage of tear gas directly at the protesters, shot at extremely close range. Then in Wan Chai, protesters decided to set a bonfire right in front of a petrol station that was sandwiched between residential blocks - it was quickly put out. Dusk settled; the mayhem continued. I'd started the day with a peaceful, festive mass march that began in Causeway Bay, and hours later found myself right back where I'd started, this time dodging fires and running from police, following that Hong Kong protest rhythm to its inevitable bitter end.
Hong Kong has been a part of China since 1997 but has its own system of law and government - known as One Country Two Systems.
In recent years, there has been increasing opposition to what has been seen as the growing influence of Beijing on Hong Kong's society and politics.
Hong Kong always sees anti-Beijing protests on 1 October, and this year they were expected to be larger than ever, because of the months of unrest triggered by proposed changes to the extradition law.
The changes would have made it possible for China to extradite people to the mainland from Hong Kong, something opponents felt put Hong Kongers at risk of persecution in unfair trials.
For nearly four months, protesters have taken to the streets - at times reported to be in the millions.
The proposed changes to the extradition law have officially been scrapped but that has failed to quell the unrest, which has now evolved into an existential battle over Hong Kong's future.
Speaking from a podium in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, President Xi said no force could stop China's onward march.
Dressed in a Mao suit, he watched the parade which featured some military hardware on show for the first time. The highly choreographed event presented an image of national unity and gave no hint at the difficulties faced by China's Communist leaders during the last seven decades, or their current problems.
| Riot | October 2019 | ['(BBC)'] |
Barcelona's star Lionel Messi scores twice against Real Betis, his 85th and 86th goals in a calendar year, breaking the record created by German legend Gerd Müller in 1972. | Last updated on 10 December 201210 December 2012.From the section Footballcomments575
Barcelona's Lionel Messi has set the record for most goals in a calendar year by scoring his 86th goal of 2012.
The 25-year-old Argentine overhauled Gerd Mueller's tally of 85 - set in 1972 - to create a new benchmark which includes goals for club and country.
Messi broke the record with two goals in a 2-1 win over Real Betis on Sunday.
He fired in an angled shot after 16 minutes to equal the record, before adding a second with a low drive in the 25th minute to reach the new mark.
Three-time World Player of the Year Messi's attempt to break German Mueller's record looked set to falter after he was carried off on a stretcher during Barcelona's Champions League group game draw with Benfica on Wednesday.
The forward feared he had seen the "last ball I'd touch for a long time because of the pain" but the injury to his left knee was not as bad as he thought and he started against Betis.
Messi's path to the record has included 74 goals for Barcelona and 12 for Argentina in 66 games.
He still has two league matches and one King's Cup tie to add to his tally before the end of the year. "I always say the same, it's nice for what it means but the victory is more important as it maintains our lead over the other teams," Messi told Spanish TV station Canal Plus afterwards.
"My goal when the year began was to try to achieve everything again, with the team, in the league, the (King's) Cup, the Champions League."
Mueller scored 72 for Bayern Munich and 13 for West Germany when he set the previous benchmark in 1972 and was 27 at the time.
Messi is now favourite to claim a fourth Fifa World Player of the Year award after making the three-man shortlist which also includes Barcelona team-mate Andres Iniesta and Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo.
"Messi will be the player to win the most Ballons d'Or in history," said former Barcelona player and manager Johan Cruyff.
"He will win five, six, seven. He is incomparable. He's in a different league."
Barcelona's current staff also lauded Messi, with manager Tito Vilanova highlighting his all-round game.
"He is still young and gives us so much, even tonight he helped us out defensively when we needed it," said Vilanova. "His record this year is absolutely brutal. Let's enjoy the moment and not focus on how many goals he might score in the future."
Sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta says Messi's talent is hard to measure.
"I think his records will be valued more in the future, it's one more for now but he makes it seem so easy it's hard to measure his talent," said Zubizarreta, who spent eight years as goalkeeper at the Nou Camp.
"It's a team game and he needs his team-mates to help him."
Messi is already Barcelona's all-time record goalscorer but was equal with Cesar Rodriguez on 192 at the top of the club's leading league scoring list before his goals against Betis moved him clear at the top of that as well. | Break historical records | December 2012 | ['(85 goals)', '(ESPN)', '(Goal.com)', '(BBC)', '(Reuters)'] |
Weeks after the First Lady of Lesotho Maesiah Thabane was arrested and charged with the killing of former First Lady Lipolelo Thabane, it is announced that current Prime Minister of Lesotho Tom Thabane will also be charged with the murder in the upcoming hours. He also announced he will be stepping down at the end of July citing old age. | MASERU (Reuters) - Lesotho’s Prime Minister Thomas Thabane will be charged with the murder of his late wife, the deputy police commissioner said on Thursday, the latest twist in a love triangle murder case that has stunned the southern African highland kingdom.
The 80-year-old Thabane took to the radio to announce that he would step down at the end of July, but he did not mention the case.
He instead cited old age as a reason for quitting as premier of the tiny, mountainous territory encircled by South Africa and which has a long history of political instability.
Thabane had been under mounting pressure over the death of former first lady Lipolelo, who was shot dead in June 2017 near her home in the capital Maseru two days before he took office.
The prime minister’s current wife, Maesaiah Thabane, was detained this month and charged with ordering the murder, but is currently out on bail.
“The prime minister is going to be charged with the murder. The police are preparing directives and he will probably be charged tomorrow,” Deputy Commissioner of Police Paseka Mokete told Reuters by telephone.
Both she and Thomas, who married two months after Lipolelo’s killing, have denied any involvement in her death.
His spokesman Relebohile Moyeye said by telephone that he could not comment because he had not yet seen the police charges.
Police say that Maesaiah, 42, hired eight assassins to kill the former first lady but that she was not present at the shooting.
Lipolelo, then 58, and Thabane were going through an acrimonious divorce at the time. An unknown assailant shot her dead in her car.
The prime minister’s resignation comes days after his party’s executive council called for him to step down immediately.
“I have served my country diligently,” Thabane said on state radio.
“I’ve worked for a peaceful and stable Lesotho. Today ... at my age, I have lost most of my energy ... I hereby retire as prime minister with effect from the end of July.”
Thabane is set to appear in court on the murder charges on Friday, the deputy commissioner said, adding that the charge sheet had already been prepared but that Thabane’s lawyers had requested an extra day.
“I think it’s high time he goes (from office) but I don’t know why it’s taking so long. He has to go for the sake of the nation,” Malineo Stoffels, a 30-year-old businesswoman who sells grilled meat and rice from a food van, said after listening to the announcement on a taxi radio in Maseru.
“Everyone is talking about us (Lesotho), the economy has gone down,” she said. “It has to end”.
Reporting by Tim Cocks; Editing by Hugh Lawson
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | February 2020 | ['(Reuters)'] |
Syrian forces enter the cities of Homs and Tafas, where anti-government demonstrations were taking place. | Syrian security forces have moved into parts of the city of Homs, a centre of the nationwide protests against President Bashar al-Assad.
There were reports of heavy shooting in the city - rights groups said a 12-year-old boy had died.
State media said several "armed saboteurs" had been killed or wounded, arrests made and quantities of arms and ammunition seized.
Police operations are also continuing in Baniyas and Deraa.
The Sana state news agency reported that 10 civilian workers travelling to Homs from Lebanon had been killed in an ambush by an armed gang. Some 15 people were shot dead in Homs on Friday as they staged demonstrations after weekly prayers.
The authorities say 11 soldiers and police were also killed, blaming "armed terrorist groups" for the violence.
On Sunday night, troops and police moved into Homs with tanks, said Syrian state TV, confirming reports from activists and residents.
Heavy machine-gun fire and shelling were heard on the streets. Activists said a 12-year-old boy was killed but the circumstances of his death were not clear.
Electricity and communications to the city of one million people were cut before the operation began - a technique which the security forces have used before in other cities.
Foreign journalists are banned from entering Syria, so reports are difficult to independently verify.
In the coastal city of Baniyas, activists say six people were shot dead on Friday night and at least 200 people - including a 10-year-old boy - arrested.
"It appears to be designed to punish his parents," said Rami Abdul-Rahman, director of the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
He told reporters that snipers had taken up position on rooftops in the southern districts.
In Deraa, the southern city where the unrest began in March, residents also remain cut off from the rest of the country.
Scores of people have been killed in Deraa during a 10-day security operation.
Meanwhile, the authorities have filed charges against prominent opposition politician Riad Seif. Mr Seif, who suffers from cancer, was arrested on Friday accused of staging a protest without a permit.
Across Syria, demonstrators have been calling for greater political rights and personal freedoms. Some are calling for the downfall of the regime.
The unrest in Syria poses the most serious challenge to Mr Assad since he succeeded his father, Hafez, in 2000.
On Friday, the US said the violence against protesters was "deplorable" and pledged a "strong international response" against Syria's government if Damascus does not end its brutal crackdown. More than 500 people are thought to have been killed since mid-March.
A mobile phone snapshot, reportedly taken in Qamishli on 29 April, shows protesters carrying banners written in Arabic and Kurdish demanding democracy.
Razan, who is a resident of Damascus, tells the BBC about violence and protests around Syria.
This unverified video seems to show a peaceful protest in Talbisah. Moments into the footage, tanks fire on unarmed civilians. Wyre Davis reports.
Residents of Deraa walk past a burnt-out building. It follows shelling by troops in what human rights groups say was an intensified crackdown on protests in recent weeks.
Syrian army vehicles were photographed near Homs and broadcast on the Syrian opposition internet channel Sham SNN on 11 May.
. | Protest_Online Condemnation | May 2011 | ['(BBC)', '(Al Jazeera)'] |
2007 United Kingdom letter bombs: A letter bomb, the third in as many days, has injured a woman working at the main DVLA centre in south Wales. Today's attack follows two others, at other road transport agencies in the UK. . | The attack, at 0923 GMT, is the third of its kind on motoring-related companies this week.
A Berkshire accountancy firm was hit on Tuesday, and the London congestion charge operator Capita on Monday.
Police are also investigating a letter bomb which injured a man at his home in Folkestone, Kent, on Saturday.
The specialist National Domestic Extremism Unit is trying to establish whether there is any connection between the three attacks on offices and the letter bomb received by the 53-year-old man, who suffered minor injuries. The woman injured in the post room of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency was involved in "a small letter-type explosion", South Wales Police said.
Morriston Hospital, where the woman was taken, said in a statement she was in a stable condition.
Are they trying to draw attention to a cause, are they or is he or is she just a very disgruntled motorist?
Peter Power, former senior officer at Scotland Yard
"She is undergoing treatment at the present time and has been assessed by a consultant," the statement said.
A cordon has been put in place around the scene of the DVLA blast and access roads have been closed.
But police said the building and surrounding areas had not been evacuated so far.
Investigation
On Tuesday a package exploded at the Berkshire offices of an accountancy firm linked to Speed Check Services, based in Camberley, Surrey, the provider of digital speed cameras to the police.
MAIL-BOMB LOCATIONS
1 Forensic Science Service, Chelmsley Wood - 18 Jan 20072 Orchid Cellmark, Abingdon, Oxon - 18 Jan 20073 LGC Forensics, Culham, nr Abingdon - 18 Jan 20074 Private house, Folkestone, Kent - 3 Feb 20075 Capita, London - 5 Feb 20076 Vantis, Wokingham, Berks - 6 Feb 20077 DVLA, Swansea - 7 Feb 2007
Incidents in more detail
That followed a letter bomb attack the day before at the central London offices of Capita.
Peter Power, a former senior officer at Scotland Yard, told the BBC the police would be looking at whether a "disgruntled" motorist could be behind the attacks.
"I've got no doubt whatsoever that the police are desperately trying to think about who the perpetrators might be," he said. "Are they trying to draw attention to a cause, are they or is he or is she just a very disgruntled motorist? So there is some connection and the police I'm sure will be trying to find that out."
Nigel Humphries, from the Association of British Drivers, told BBC Radio Five Live he was "appalled" by the apparent bombing campaign.
He added: "In fact, it makes us feel a bit guilty that we haven't campaigned hard enough on the legitimate front against the things that we oppose, to do with criminalising and bullying motorists and because of our failure to campaign hard enough, somebody's had to resort to this."
'Worrying'
Home Secretary John Reid described the incidents as "worrying".
But he added: "It is important we allow police to get on with their investigation without undue speculation."
The Public and Commercial Services Union, which represents workers at the DVLA, has called for an urgent security review following the incident.
Jeff Evans, the union's senior officer for Wales, said: "We now want a proper risk assessment on the position at DVLA offices across the country."
In a separate incident on Wednesday, a controlled explosion was carried out on a package found on a road in Havant, Hampshire. Police said they were not linking this with the other four letter bombs. | Armed Conflict | February 2007 | ['(BBC)', '(BBC)', '(BBC)'] |
A fire breaks out at the Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral in Paris, resulting in the collapse of its roof and spire and considerable damage to the building's interior. | Paris fire officials saved the city’s iconic Notre Dame de Paris cathedral from total destruction Monday after a massive fire engulfed the 865-year-old Catholic church. >> Read more trending news
Fire officials said the building's basic structure was saved, BBC News reported, but the historic church suffered extensive damage. Before it was put out, the blaze destroyed the 315-foot spire on top of the medieval Gothic cathedral and spread to one of the building's landmark towers. The moment #NotreDame’s spire fell pic.twitter.com/XUcr6Iob0b
Here are the latest updates:
Update 3:10 p.m. EDT April 17: Officials with the Paris prosecutor's office said Wednesday that the investigation into the cause of Monday's fire is in its early stages, but that so far it's uncovered no indications that the fire was a criminal act, The Associated Press reported. Police have questioned about 40 people as part of the probe, according to the AP, including employees of companies involved in the church’s restoration and security personnel. Update 10 a.m. EDT April 17: Walt Disney Company CEO and Chairman Robert Iger said the company plans to donate $5 million to help restore Notre Dame after the historic cathedral was devastated by a fire Monday. In a message posted Wednesday on Twitter, Iger called Notre Dame "a beacon of faith, hope & beauty, inspiring we and reverence." Disney used the historic cathedral as the setting of 1996's animated film "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," based on the 1831 Victor Hugo novel of the same name. Update 9:35 a.m. EDT April 17: Paris firefighters told reporters Wednesday that the structure that supports the Notre Dame's famed "rose" stained-glass windows is at risk after Monday's fire, The Associated Press reported. “There is a risk for the gables that are no longer supported by the frame,” firefighter spokesman Gabriel Plus said. Sixty firefighters remained at Notre Dame on Wednesday, Plus said according to French broadcaster BFM TV. Authorities continued to monitor the structure for any remaining hot spots. Officials said Tuesday that they expected to monitor the building’s stability for at least 48 hours after firefighters put out the blaze. Authorities to continue to investigate the cause off the fire, which officials believe was accidental. Update 7:14 a.m. EDT April 17: Nearly $1 billion has been pledged to help rebuild Notre Dame Cathedral, The Associated Press reported. Stephane Bern told French news outlets €880 million, or $995 million in U.S. funds, have been raised so far and the French government is creating an office just to deal with big money donations, the AP reported. Some of the money has come from big donors like Apple and owners of Chanel and Dior, but also money has been pledged by people from cities and small towns around the world. A large crane and wood planks were delivered to the site Wednesday morning as firefighters look at the damage to the cathedral and shore up what is left after the church's spire fell and the roof was destroyed, the AP reported. Some restoration experts are questioning French President Emmanuel Macron’s 5-year deadline to get Notre Dame repaired after Monday’s fire, saying it could take up to five years just to secure the structure. “It’s a fundamental step, and very complex, because it’s difficult to send workers into a monument whose vaulted ceilings are swollen with water,” Pierluigi Pericolo said. “The end of the fire doesn’t mean the edifice is totally saved. The stone can deteriorate when it is exposed to high temperatures and change its mineral composition and fracture inside.”
Despite the 5-year deadline, which coincides with Paris’ hosting of the Olympics in 2024, the cathedral’s rector said he will close Notre Dame for up to six years. Bishop Patrick Chauvet said "a segment of the cathedral has been very weakened," but the AP reported he didn't specify which part. There will be an international architects’ competition to find someone to rebuild the cathedral’s spire. The announcement was made after a special cabinet meeting held by Macron. The competition will be "giving Notre Dame a spire adapted to technologies and challenges of our times," Edouard Philippe, the prime minister of France, said, according to the AP. Update 6:45 p.m. EDT April 16: A fundraising effort to help rebuild the fire-damaged Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, which was almost destroyed by an inferno Monday, raised more than $700 million in just one night, according to news reports, as some of France's wealthiest families and businesses pledged millions in donations. French President Emmanuel Macron announced an ambitious timeline on Tuesday for rebuilding the cultural landmark and World Heritage site. “We will rebuild Notre Dame Cathedral, even more beautiful, and I hope that it will be completed within 5 years,” Macon said. Reconstruction experts told news agencies it could realistically take 10 to 15 years to finish rebuilding it. The cathedral’s interior eaves, which held up the roof and were referred to as “The Forest,” were made of large timber beams from giant oak, chestnut and other trees that don’t exist in France anymore. Update 3:10 p.m. EDT April 16: Indiana's University of Notre Dame pledged $100,000 to help renovate Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris after a fire caused heavy damage to the historic church's spire and roof. The Rev. John Jenkins, the university’s president, announced the planned donation Tuesday. He said the bells of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart on the University of Notre Dame campus would also toll 50 times at 6 p.m. local time Tuesday, each ring representing the 50 Hail Marys of the rosary. “We are deeply saddened to see the damage to the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, a church whose exquisite Gothic architecture has for centuries raised hearts and minds to God,” Jenkins said Tuesday in a statement. “We join in prayer with the faithful of the cathedral and all of France as they begin the work of rebuilding.”
Update 2:15 p.m. EDT April 16: French President Emmanuel Macron praised firefighters for their work tamping down Monday's blaze at Notre Dame Cathedral and vowed again to rebuild in an address given Tuesday. “Throughout our history we have built towns, ports (and) churches,” Macron said. “Many have been burned due to revolutions, wars -- due to mankind. Each time we have rebuilt them.”
He said he shares the sorrow and hope of the French people. “I deeply believe that we are going to change this disaster and work together and reflect deeply on what has happened, what we are and what we can do,” Macron said. “Long live the republic and long live France.”
Update 12:25 p.m. EDT April 16: President Donald Trump offered condolences to French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday, one day after a fire ravaged the historic Notre Dame Cathedral. “The United States stands with French citizens, the city of Paris and the millions of visitors from around the world who have sought solace in that iconic structure,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Tuesday in a statement. “The cathedral has served as a spiritual home for almost a millennium, and we are saddened to witness the damage to this architectural masterpiece. Notre Dame will continue to serve as a symbol of France, including its freedom of religion and democracy. France is the oldest ally of the United States, and we remember with grateful hearts the tolling of Notre Dame’s bells on September 12, 2001, in solemn recognition of the tragic September 11th attacks on American soil. Those bells will sound again. “We stand with France today and offer our assistance in the rehabilitation of this irreplaceable symbol of Western civilization. Vive la France!”
Update 11:55 a.m. EDT April 16: Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo toured the damage left after a fire sparked at Notre Dame, downing the historic cathedral's spire and charring the building. "It's a desolate scene," Hidalgo said in a Twitter post after visiting the church. "Restoration is a huge challenge, but we're determined to meet it." Update 11:15 a.m. EDT April 16: Police and fire officials said Tuesday they will spend the next 48 hours assessing the safety of Notre Dame Cathedral after a fire damaged the building Monday. "We have identified some vulnerabilities in the structure ... notably in the vault and the north transept pinion that needs securing," Laurent Nunez, a junior interior minister, said Tuesday, according to The Guardian. The newspaper reported architects had identified three holes in the structure caused by Monday's fire in the locations of the spire, the transept and the vault of the north transept. French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said Tuesday that reconstructing the building will take "days (and) months," CNN reported. Authorities believe Monday’s fire was accidental, but officials have launched an investigation to determine its exact cause. Update 10:30 a.m. EDT April 16: French cosmetics group L'Oreal, its majority shareholder, the Bettencourt Meyers family, and the Bettencourt Schuller foundation pledged to donate 200 million euros ($226 million) to help restore Notre Dame, according to a report from Reuters. In a tweet Tuesday, Apple CEO Tim Cook said the technology company he heads will also donate to help rebuild the cathedral after it was ravaged by flames Monday. “We are heartbroken for the French people and those around the world for whom Notre Dame is a symbol of hope,” Cook wrote. “Apple will be donating to the rebuilding efforts to help restore Notre Dame’s precious heritage for future generations.”
Update 9:10 a.m. EDT April 16: In a message sent Tuesday to Paris Archbishop Michel Aupetit, Pope Francis praised the work of firefighters who fought Monday's blaze at Notre Dame, "the architectural jewel of a collective memory," and offered prayers that the cathedral would be restored. “This disaster has seriously damaged a historic building. But I am aware that it has also affected a national symbol dear to the hearts of Parisians and French in the diversity of their beliefs,” Francis wrote. “Notre-Dame is the architectural jewel of a collective memory, the gathering place for many major events, the witness of the faith and prayer of Catholics in the city.”
He noted that the fire was particularly devastating given that it came during Holy Week, the somber days leading up to Easter during which Christians commemorate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Workers continued Tuesday to move relics and artwork held at the cathedral. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo thanked crews for their work to save the Notre Dame and shared a short video Tuesday of workers moving items that were sheltered as the fire burned overnight. The works will be taken to Paris City Hall and then to the Louvre museum for safekeeping, CNN reported. Update 8:30 a.m. EDT April 16: The Archbishop of Paris told France's BFM TV that Notre Dame's three "rose" stained-glass windows were safe after a fire ravaged the cathedral Monday. The windows are the centerpiece of Notre Dame's collection of stained-glass windows. According to CNN, they date back to the 13th century. Update 8:04 a.m. EDT April 16: Paris prosecutor Remy Heintz said officials still believe that Monday's blaze was accidental and have not found any evidence of arson, The Associated Press reported Tuesday. Meanwhile, Paris Deputy Mayor Emmanuel Gregoire said the cathedral’s massive organ survived the fire. Video also circulated on social media showing the interior of the cathedral following the fire. Update 4:08 a.m. EDT April 16: A Paris Fire Brigade spokesman told reporters Tuesday morning that "the entire fire is out." Authorities are "surveying the movement of the structures and extinguishing smoldering residues," Gabriel Plus said, according to The Associated Press. Update 3:32 a.m. EDT April 16: Another French billionaire has pledged a massive donation for Notre Dame's reconstruction. According to The Associated Press, Bernard Arnault, chairman and CEO of LVMH, said he and his company will donate 200 million euros – or about $226 million – toward the efforts to rebuild following Monday's devastating fire. Meanwhile, the Paris Fire Brigade tweeted Tuesday morning that “the structure of the cathedral is saved and the main works of art have been safeguarded.”
Officials said more than 400 firefighters fought the blaze for more than nine hours. Two police officers and one firefighter were “slightly wounded,” the Fire Brigade tweeted. >> See the tweets here
Update 10:45 p.m. EDT April 15: As French President Emmanuel Macron vowed to rebuild the fire-ravaged Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, French billionaire François-Henri Pinault pledged the equivalent of $113 million toward that goal, according to Axios and other news outlets. French billionaire François-Henri Pinault has pledged €100 million (US$113 million) toward rebuilding the fire-ravaged Paris landmark Notre Dame Cathedralhttps://t.co/F8yhFCYxun
Pinault is the CEO of the French luxury group Kering and Rennes soccer club. He said he planned to provide the funding through Artemis, his family's investment firm, according to AFP. Update 8:45 p.m. EDT April 15: The fire at the Notre Dame Cathedral is now under control, Paris police officials told reporters late Monday. The blaze burned for hours and destroyed a significant part of the historic building, but it was not a total loss, according to fire officials. The cause of the fire, which is under investigation, may be linked to the renovation of the spire, which collapsed as it caught fire, according to The Associated Press. French President Emmanuel Macron has pledged to rebuild the landmark. “This Notre-Dame cathedral, we will rebuild it. All together. It's part of our French destiny. I commit myself: tomorrow a national subscription will be launched, and well beyond our borders,” he said in a social media post Monday evening. Also earlier Monday, former President Barack Obama posted a photo of his family visiting Notre Dame and lighting a candle in the famous cathedral. “Notre Dame is one of the world’s great treasures, and we’re thinking of the people of France in your time of grief. It’s in our nature to mourn when we see history lost – but it’s also in our nature to rebuild for tomorrow, as strong as we can,” Obama said. Notre Dame is one of the world’s great treasures, and we’re thinking of the people of France in your time of grief. It’s in our nature to mourn when we see history lost – but it’s also in our nature to rebuild for tomorrow, as strong as we can. pic.twitter.com/SpMEvv1BzB
Update 7:15 pm EDT April 15: Paris officials have launched an investigation into how the huge fire that nearly destroyed the Notre Dame Cathedral on Monday first started. The building was undergoing renovations and CNN reported the blaze, which spread quickly, may have started in an attic at the church. While hundreds of fire crews were able to prevent the total destruction of one of Europe’s, if not the world’s, greatest landmarks, the devastation to the building was massive. The first pictures of the ruination inside shows just how extensive the damage was. As the inferno raged through the structure, witnesses gathered on the streets around the beloved cathedral and sang hymns, viral video from the scene showed. The cultural treasure drew some 13 million visitors a year, according to Paris officials. The church would have been filled with the faithful this week as the Catholic church celebrates Easter Holy Week, which marks the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Update 6:30 p.m. EDT April 15: Paris firefighters managed to save some of the priceless treasures inside Notre Dame Cathedral as a massive fire engulfed the historic Catholic church Monday. The rector of Notre Dame, Patrick Jacquin, told local reporters that the Crown of Thorns, one of the holiest relics owned by the Catholic church, and the Tunic of St Louis have both been recovered, the BBC reported. Jesus Christ was crucified with wearing a Crown of Thorns, which some have equated with the Crown Jewels. "The relic, originally from Jerusalem, was first housed in France in the nearby Sainte-Chapelle, built in Paris by King Louis IX especially for it in the 13th century," the Independent reported. While the authenticity of the crown at Notre Dame cannot be verified with complete certainty, it has been documented as dating back to the fourth century. Update: 6:00 p.m. EDT April 15: French President Emmanuel Macron is pledging to rebuild Notre Dame Cathedral, one of the world's greatest landmarks, and is asking for international donations to help in the reconstruction, according to news reports. Earlier Monday night Paris time, Macron, who visited the site of the fire for several hours, said the massive inferno and burning of such a world treasure is taking an emotional toll on the city, especially because it happened during one of the most important weeks of the year for Catholics. “Great emotion for the whole nation. Our thoughts go out to all Catholics and to the French people. Like all of my fellow citizens, I am sad to see this part of us burn tonight,” Macron said. Update 5:30 p.m. EDT April 15: Paris firefighters managed to save the basic structure of the Notre Dame cathedral and its iconic towers, but the interior was mostly destroyed, according to news reports and reporters on the scene. A view of the fire from above shows the magnitude of the destruction. A photographer captured the exact moment the spire toppled over. Notre-Dame's spire collapses due to fire https://t.co/FTHBwOWSMB pic.twitter.com/x3wCLzLztp
Update 5:00 p.m. Firefighters in Paris have saved the iconic Notre Dame Cathedral from total destruction, according to city officials. UPDATE: The structure of Notre-Dame has been saved from total destruction - French firefighting official https://t.co/KhNWorzLOi pic.twitter.com/DXlS7jB8Fl
Reuters is reporting the mayor of Paris said firefighters are optimistic they can save the cathedral’s two main towers. Update 4:45 p.m. EDT April 15: As hundreds of firefighters battle the blaze at Paris' Notre Dame Cathedral, the city's fire chief said it's unclear if crews will be able to prevent the fire from spreading and causing more destruction, according to The Associated Press. “We are not sure we are capable of stopping the spreading” to Notre Dame’s second tower and belfry,” Fire Chief Jean-Claude Gallet said outside the legendary cathedral. The church’s 315-foot spire collapsed earlier. | Fire | April 2019 | ['(AJC)', '(BBC)'] |
The death toll from the storms reaches 290 with 194 dead in Alabama. | Alabama Tornadoes: Freak Weather Assault April 28, 2011— -- The death toll approached 300 tonight from the tornadoes and thunderstorms that tore through the South Wednesday night and early today.
NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, estimated there were 173 tornadoes Wednesday, a new record for a single storm system in modern times.
President Obama called the loss of life "heartbreaking," and promised those affected by the storms the full support of the federal government.
"We can't control when or where a terrible storm may strike, but we can control how we respond to it," Obama said during a press conference today at the White House. "I want every American that's been affected by this disaster to know the federal government will do everything we can to help you recover and we will stand with you as you rebuild."
The twisters rampaged through cities like Tuscaloosa, Ala., forced a pair of nuclear plants to go off line, left thousands homeless and more than a million people without power.
NOAA said it was the worst tornado outbreak since 1974, when storms killed 315 people. The deadliest tornado outbreak on record was on March 18, 1925, when 695 people died.
"In a matter of hours, these deadly tornadoes ... took mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, friends and neighbors, even entire communities," Obama said.
Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal toured the tornado area this morning and said, "It's hard to imagine nature can be this devastating."
The governor said it was a remarkably wide swath of twisters and noted there were multiple tornadoes in some areas.
The majority of the deaths reported so far have been in Alabama, where at least 195 people were killed. Mississippi recorded 32 fatalities, Tennessee had 33, Georgia at least 10, and Virginia had eight.
Hundreds more were injured. Of the 134 patients brought to the University of Alabama hospital in Birmingham, 40 were major trauma injuries, the hospital said.
Loring Rue, M.D., chief of trauma surgery at UAB Hospital, said 134 patients came through the E.R.; 40 were major trauma injuries and 23 were admitted to intensive care units. In addition,10 surgical procedures were performed.
"The injuries were remarkable," Rue said, adding that people who were in the comfort of their homes when the tornado struck were brought in with injuries doctors normally see in high-speed motor-vehicle accidents
Greg Carbin, warning coordination meteorologist at the National Weather Service, said the area can expect mild weather for the next few days but he could not predict whether more killer tornadoes were on their way.
"May is usually the most active tornado month," Carbin said. "Will it maintain the activity of April? We just cannot say."
President Obama called Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley to express condolences over the deaths in his state and the White House announced that the president will stop in Alabama Friday to tour the wreckage while on his way to Cape Canaveral for the launch of the space shuttle Endeavour.
Possibly the hardest-hit area was Tuscaloosa, where at least 32 people died. Early estimates indicated that the tornado that hit Tuscaloosa could have been on the ground for 176 miles, with winds between 167 and 200 mph.
The city was stunned by the devastation that not only hit homes and commercial areas, but also destroyed much of the city's public works infrastructure -- including the city's emergency management administration headquarters.
"We are critically short of men, material and equipment," Mayor Walter Maddox said at a news conference today.
The mayor asked people to stay off the streets and conserve water, and for gawkers to stay away. He said "sightseers" are only getting in the way of emergency crews.
"This is going to be a very, very long process" of cleaning up and rebuilding, he said. "During this time we ask for patience and we ask for prayers."
About 2,000 Alabama National guard soldiers have been activated to help with search and rescue.
"There is some massive devastation out there," Gov. Bentley said. "We have some people that are hurting."
Two nuclear power plants in Browns Ferry, Ala., had to be shut down after the storm damaged its transmission system. Emergency generators kicked in to cool down the reactors safely.
In Ringgold, Ga., near the Tennessee border, officials shut down major roads leading into the city because of what Catoosa County Sheriff Phil Summers said was "downed power lines, broken gas lines and looting."
"There are lots of spectators and we are not allowing access inside of Ringgold at this time," the sheriff said.
Summers said he saw the tornado in the air just before it touched down.
"It was something that I've never seen before except on TV. And like they say, there's a moment of silence and then you see the devastation," he said.
The sheriff said the tornado was in Ringgold for about five minutes and it continued into Tennessee. Five people died and police are looking for others whose homes were so badly damaged that "only foundations are left," Summer said.
Christopher England at the University of Alabama ran up to the roof of his building to videotape a devastating tornado as it hit Tuscaloosa.
"We just saw this massive huge mile wide tornado and we didn't know where it was going. We didn't know if it was coming towards us or away from us or what," he said.
One of the victims was an off-duty police officer in northern Mississippi who died while shielding his daughter from a falling tree on a camping trip. She wasn't hurt.
ABC News Radio, Michael S. James, Mike Marusarz, Jessica Hopper and the Associated Press contributed to this report. | Hurricanes_Tornado_Storm_Blizzard | April 2011 | ['(New York Times)', '(ABC News)'] |
The Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs detains Ziyavudin Magomedov, his brother Magomed Magomedov, and the chief executive of the Summa Group on charges of embezzlement of public funds and criminal association. A Moscow court orders Ziyavudin Magomedov, one of the richest Russians, to remain in pre-trial custody until May 30. , | MOSCOW, March 31 (Reuters) - A Moscow court ordered on Saturday that Ziyavudin Magomedov, co-owner of Russia’s Summa group, remain in pre-trial custody until May 30 over suspected embezzlement case.
Magomedov, one of Russia’s richest men, has denied the charges against him. (Reporting by Polina Nikolskaya Writing by Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber Editing by Larry King)
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Arrest | March 2018 | ['(TASS)', '(Reuters)'] |
Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania of Georgia dies of gas poisoning. Zhvania was found dead by security guards, an apparent victim of carbon monoxide exposure. | Zurab Zhvania, 41, was found dead in an apartment in Tbilisi, apparently poisoned by gas from a faulty heater.
Police have launched an inquiry, but the interior minister said no foul play was suspected and described the incident as a tragic accident.
"I am taking responsibility for leading the executive," Mr Saakashvili said.
"I am ordering the government to return to work," he added.
Mr Saakashvili has seven days to nominate a new prime minister to parliament.
Mr Zhvania was once an ally of ex-President Eduard Shevardnadze.
But he turned against him and played a prominent role in the 2003 Rose Revolution that ousted Mr Shevardnadze.
Suspicion
Officials say security guards found the prime minister's body after breaking into a flat owned by friends early on Thursday.
Mr Zhvania had gone to the Tbilisi flat of another Georgian official, Raul Usupov, at about midnight local time (2100 GMT) on Wednesday.
Georgia will stand firm, and I hope I will stand firm because it is firmness that we need the most at present
Mikhail Saakashvili,Georgian President
Obituary: Zurab Zhvania
Security guards became suspicious when the prime minister failed to answer his phone for several hours.
They broke in at around 0400 to find Mr Zhvania dead in an armchair and Mr Usupov dead in the kitchen. Giorgi Janashia, the Georgian state prosecutor, said technical experts reported that an Iranian-made gas heater in the flat had not been installed properly and there was no ventilation "which may have caused the fatal gas leak".
He told Georgian radio that blood tests had been sent for analysis, but the bodies of the men showed signs of carbon monoxide poisoning.
But one Georgian MP, Amiran Shalamberidze, has raised suspicions about the death.
He said the accident followed days after a car bomb in Gori, near the border with South Ossetia - one of the breakaway regions with which Mr Zhvania had been trying to negotiate a deal.
"There is the impression that that these tragic facts didn't occur by chance but were the results of interference from the side of certain outside forces," Mr Shalamberidze was quoted as saying by the Itar-Tass news agency.
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov condemned the comments.
'Great patriot'
Mr Saakashvili held an emergency government meeting on Thursday, which was shown live on Georgian television.
"Georgia has lost a great patriot whose entire life was devoted to tireless and selfless service to our country. I have lost my closest friend, most trusted adviser and greatest ally," Mr Saakashvili said, addressing his ministers. "I hope you will stand firm, Georgia will stand firm, and I hope I will stand firm because it is firmness that we need the most at present." Mr Saakashvili said his thoughts were with "Zurab's wife Nino, his mother Irma and his three most beautiful children".
Thousands of people are expected to turn out for Mr Zhvania's funeral which is due to be held on Sunday.
Another Rose Revolution leader, parliamentary speaker Nino Burjanadze, cut short her visit to Italy and is returning to Georgia. | Famous Person - Death | February 2005 | ['(Civil Georgia)', '(Reuters)', '(Interfax)', '(BBC)'] |
Protests in France turn violent as protesters clash with police, injuring over 20 police officers and resulting in over 120 arrests nationwide. The protests are against a labour law being proposed in the National Assembly, saying it will reduce rights and deepen job insecurity for youth. | Two dozen police injured and more than 120 arrests during night of demonstrations nationwide against watering-down of worker rights
Two dozen French police officers have been injured, three of them seriously, as violence flared in mass protests across the country against a hotly contested labour reform bill.
Security forces in Paris responded with tear gas as masked youths threw bottles and cobblestones, leaving three policemen with serious injuries, said the interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, adding that 24 police were injured overall.
Clashes between police and protesters also erupted in the cities of Nantes, Lyon, Marseille and Toulouse, with 124 people arrested nationwide, Cazeneuve said.
The French prime minister, Manuel Valls, said the “irresponsible minority” would be brought to justice.
In Paris, security forces fired tear gas and stun grenades early on Friday to disperse hundreds of people who had refused to leave Place de la Republique after a night-time rally.
Police gradually pushed the protesters back into adjacent streets, with several arrested.
Two buses and two scooters were torched a few hundreds metres from the site.
The clashes came as at least 170,000 workers and students took to streets nationwide on Thursday in a new push for the withdrawal of the proposed labour law.
“We have always condemned violence,” said Jean-Claude Mailly of the Force Ouvriere trade union, arguing that the violence occurred “outside of the protests”.
William Martinet, leader of the biggest student union, the UNEF, condemned the rioters but also denounced a “disproportionate use of force by the police”.
The demonstrations as well as work stoppages, notably in the aviation and public transport sectors, were the latest actions in a wave of protests that began two months ago and has proved a major headache for the government.
Opponents of the labour reform, billed as an effort to reduce chronic unemployment, which stands at 10%, say it will threaten cherished rights and deepen job insecurity for young people.
“Be Young and Shut Up!” read one banner at a protest in south-western Toulouse, highlighting the frustration of youths facing an unemployment rate of 25%.
The unions and student organisations plan to pile on the pressure with further protests on Sunday to mark the May Day labour holiday, as well as next Tuesday, when parliament begins debating the bill.
Christophe Sirugue, the Socialist lawmaker who is presenting the bill to parliament after it was reviewed in committee, said on Thursday that several points still needed “clarification” but he expected the bill to pass.
Among the remaining issues are measures to make it easier to lay off workers in lean times, and whether employers should still be allowed to shed workers if conditions are depressed in their overseas operations and not just in France.
Another was a proposed surtax on short-term contracts aimed at getting employers to hire more people on permanent contracts, Sirugue told reporters.
Young people have been at the forefront of the protest movement, with many young workers stuck on short-term contracts or internships while hoping to secure a permanent job.
Protests against the reform kicked off on 9 March, culminating in massive demonstrations on 31 March that brought 390,000 people on to the streets, according to an official count. Organisers put the number at 1.2 million.
The CGT union said Thursday’s marches and rallies drew half a million people.
The protests spawned a new youth-led movement called Nuit Debout (Up All Night), which has seen advocates of a broad spectrum of causes gather in city squares at night for the past four weeks to demand change, though attendance has been dwindling in recent days. With little more than a year left in his mandate, France’s deeply unpopular President François Hollande has been banking on the labour reform as a standout initiative with which to defend his record.
But in the face of the protests his Socialist government has watered down the labour reforms – only to anger bosses while failing to assuage workers. | Protest_Online Condemnation | April 2016 | ['(The Guardian)'] |
The FARC orders all its fighters to observe a ceasefire from midnight local time . | A ceasefire has come into effect in Colombia between the main leftist rebel group and the government, ending one of the world's longest insurgencies. The ceasefire at midnight local time (05:00 GMT Monday) came after four years of peace talks in Cuba between the Farc and the government.
The final agreement on ending the 52-year-old war will be signed next month.
Farc leader Rodrigo Londono, known as Timoleon Jimenez or Timochenko, gave the order to stop firing.
"Never again will parents be burying their sons and daughters killed in the war,'' Timochenko told journalists. "All rivalries and grudges will remain in the past," he said. Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos signed a decree earlier to halt military operations against the Farc, also from midnight.
"One of the country's most painful chapters" was coming to an end, he said in a tweet on Sunday, calling the ceasefire a "historic step". Crucial milestone: Analysis by Will Grant, BBC News, Havana
In one sense, the Farc's announcement of a total ceasefire is purely procedural. In another, it is a historic moment towards a lasting peace. It is procedural in that the bilateral ceasefire had already been agreed and there has in effect been a truce on the ground for several months. But the definitive ceasefire was supposed to come into force the day after the final peace agreement was signed by President Santos and the leader of the Farc, Timoleon Jimenez - an event expected in Cartagena at the end of September. This moves that forward in a gesture of goodwill on both sides. It is historic in that - finally - it brings to an end more than 50 years of conflict which left an estimated 260,000 people dead and millions internally displaced. These milestones are crucial for the Colombian peace process. Perhaps more important is what comes next: a popular vote on the agreement in early October. That will decide the fate of the years of negotiation in Havana and, in the process, the political futures of both President Santos and the Farc.
A peace agreement was announced on Wednesday in Havana, at the peace talks.
Farc fighters will ratify the accord in September and a Colombian popular vote on the agreement will follow on 2 October.
Under the terms of the agreement, the Farc (the Spanish acronym for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) will give up its armed struggle and join the legal political process.
In March Colombia announced the start of peace negotiations with the second largest rebel group, the National Liberation Army (ELN), but the rebels have yet to meet the government's precondition of releasing all of their hostages and stop all kidnapping. 1964: Set up as armed wing of Communist Party
2002: At its height, with an army of 20,000 fighters controlling up to a third of the country
2008: The group's worst year, when it suffered a series of bitter defeats
2012: Start of peace talks in Havana
2016: Definitive ceasefire
Are you in Colombia? Can the ceasefire be maintained? | Sign Agreement | August 2016 | ['(Monday 1 a.m. EDT)', '(BBC)'] |
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