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Lindsay Roy of the Scottish Labour Party wins the Glenrothes by–election despite concerns that his party may lose the seat to the Scottish National Party. | The result of the by-election is announced
Labour has won the Glenrothes by-election, comfortably holding off a challenge from the SNP.
Lindsay Roy was elected the new MP with a majority of 6,737 over the SNP's Peter Grant.
The Tories came third with 1,381 votes while the Lib Dems, who polled 947 votes, were squeezed to fourth.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown said victory in the Fife seat was a vote of confidence in the government's handling of the economic crisis.
The by-election was held after the death of sitting Labour MP John MacDougall.
The constituency borders the Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath seat held by Mr Brown, who visited Glenrothes several times during the by-election campaign.
Despite Labour's majority in Glenrothes in the 2005 UK election being cut from 10,664, the party pulled through to win with 19,946 votes to the SNP's 13,209. The new MP for Glenrothes praised Mr Brown.
Mr Roy, 59, who will quit as the rector of Kirkcaldy High School to take up his Westminster seat, said: "With Gordon Brown, Britain is strong. With Gordon Brown, Labour has won here in Glenrothes and central Fife."
The prime minister said: "What I have learned from this by-election is that people are prepared to support governments that will help people through the downturn and offer real help to people. "They are less willing to support people who have no idea about how to solve the problems we have got." Mr Grant, the leader of Fife Council, failed to repeat the Nationalists' success in the Glasgow East by-election in July, where his party won what was then one of Labour's safest seats.
He said: "We have seen the SNP vote in this constituency increase by almost 50% on what it was a few years ago."
Mr Grant stood by controversial home care charge increases brought in by his council, a big campaign issue.
BBC Scotland political correspondent Brian Taylor said: "Labour attacked the Nationalists day and daily over claims that the SNP-led administration in Fife Council had cut home care services for the most vulnerable.
"In vain did the SNP protest that this was driven by externally imposed exigencies, that they were doing nothing different from several other councils (including Labour ones) and that they had increased the budget in key areas of expenditure."
Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon conceded that the result was a "very disappointing" one for the SNP.
She told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "We ran a very good campaign, we fought hard and had an excellent candidate, and we are very disappointed not to have won the seat."
Ms Sturgeon dismissed any suggestion the SNP had taken victory in the seat for granted, and accused Labour of running a "relentlessly negative" by-election campaign that focused on a single local issue, home care charges.
Meanwhile, both the Tory candidate Maurice Golden and Liberal Democrat candidate Harry Wills lost their deposits.
"This was a victory for Lindsay Roy, not for Gordon Brown," said Mr Golden, adding: "The Alex Salmond bubble has well and truly burst."
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Tavish Scott said: "Alex Salmond predicted the SNP would win - he got it spectacularly wrong.
"Scottish politics has changed - the honeymoon is over."
A total of eight candidates contested Glenrothes, in which 36,219 constituents out of a possible 69,155 turned out to vote - 52.3%, compared with 56.1% in the 2005 General Election. | Government Job change - Election | November 2008 | ['(BBC News)'] |
Europe's "sat–nav" technology satellite, Giove–A, is launched as part of the Galileo positioning system with the goal of providing access to timing and location information independent of the United States' prevalent GPS system. | A new era in satellite navigation has begun with the launch of Giove-A. The 600kg spacecraft was lifted into orbit on a Soyuz rocket from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, at 1119 (0519GMT). Giove-A will demonstrate key technologies needed for Galileo, the 3.4bn-euro (£2.3bn; $4bn) sat-nav system Europe hopes to deploy by 2010.
The new network will give EU states guaranteed access to a space-borne precise timing and location service independent of the United States.
The perfect launch was a moment of celebration for the small British company, Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL), which had been given the prestigious task of building the demonstrator.
Europe's 'vanguard'
SSTL staff had gathered at their Guildford base to watch the lift-off on a TV link from Baikonur.
GIOVE-A DEMONSTRATOR
Mission will trial technologies for future Galileo satellites
Will transmit sat-nav signals to claim frequencies for Galileo
Has instruments to assess radiation in 23,222km orbit (1) Power demand of 660W through 4.54m-long arrays
(2) Butane propulsion system; tanks hold up to 50kg of fuel
(3) Payload has rubidium clocks and signal-generation units
(4) Antenna system to transmit signals for ground testing
The company put the spacecraft together in less than three years, a remarkably short timeframe for what is essentially an experimental platform.
"Three years ago I did a sketch of what I thought we could do. To go from that sketch to what we have now is amazing," recalled John Paffett, projects director with SSTL.
"It's not over yet - there's a lot of hard work to go ahead - but it's definitely a monumental occasion," he told the BBC News website.
Professor Sir Martin Sweeting, the CEO of SSTL, added: "This is going to be Europe's largest space project. As a relatively small company - we're an SME of 200 people, specialising in small and rapid-response spacecraft - to take the vanguard of such a large programme is quite an experience."
First signal
Giove-A will check out the in-orbit performance of two atomic clocks - critical to any sat-nav system - and a number of other components that will be incorporated into the 30 satellites of the fully fledged Galileo constellation. These spacecraft - four of which have already been ordered - are expected all to be in orbit by the end of 2010.
Giove-A also has the important job of securing the radio frequencies allocated to Galileo within the International Telecommunications Union. To do this, a sat-nav signal of the correct structure must be received on Earth by June 2006. The SSTL team believes it can complete this task within the first couple of weeks of flight.
Galileo is a joint venture between the European Union and the European Space Agency (Esa).
Once fully deployed, the new system should revolutionise the way we use precise timing and location signals delivered from space. "We are aiming to provide one-metre, worldwide accuracy through Galileo's 'open' service - this is not possible today without regional or local augmentation," said Esa's Galileo project manager, Javier Benedicto.
"With the use of three signals, we will have access to centimetre accuracies, and with these you will see many more services than you have today; and European industry is working to develop those applications."
Future growth
In few years' time, a small Galileo chip will be integrated in mobile phones, giving users the ability to pinpoint restaurants, hotels, movie theatres, hospitals or car parks. Galileo has been launched with one aim in mind - to further monitor and control EU citizens
Alan Glenister, Bushey Watford, UK
Galileo launch: Your views
Galileo will deliver the tools national governments need to introduce wide-scale road charging. The network will also underpin Europe's new air-traffic control system. The single European sky initiative will overhaul current technologies used to keep planes at safe separations, and allow pilots to fly their own routes and altitudes.
SSTL hopes a successful mission for Giove-A will bring more orders for sat-nav and other spacecraft.
"This is very good for our development," explained Max Meerman, a principal engineer with the company. "It's the biggest satellite we've done so far, it's got big deployable tracking-arrays that we haven't done before, and it cost 28m euros (£19m; $33m)."
Satellite navigation systems determine a position by measuring the distances to a number of known locations - the Galileo satellites
The distance to one satellite defines a sphere of possible solutions; the distances to four satellites defines a single, common area
The accuracy of the distance measurements determines how small the common area is and thus the accuracy of the final location
In practice, a receiver captures atomic-clock time signals sent from the satellites and converts them into the respective distances
The whole system is monitored from the ground to ensure satellite clocks do not drift and give out misleading timings | New achievements in aerospace | December 2005 | ['(BBC)'] |
The United States Senate approves Vivek Murthy's nomination as Surgeon General by a 51–43 vote. | With just enough votes to clear the required threshold, Dr. Vivek Murthy on Monday evening was confirmed by the Senate to become U.S. Surgeon General.
Under Senate rules, Murthy needed 51 votes to clear the procedural hurdle, and did so with 51 yeas to 43 nays. The final confirmation reflected the procedural vote's numbers.
Republicans have opposed Murthy's nomination because of his views on gun control and his politics, and they say at 37, he is too young and inexperienced to be Surgeon General.
Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyoming, a physician, who opposes the Murthy nomination said on the Senate floor today, "Americans deserve a surgeon general who has substantial experience in managing complex crises and delivering patient care. The American people deserve a surgeon general who has proven throughout his or her career that their main focus is a commitment to patients, not a commitment to politics. Dr. Murthy has time to learn, time to gain experience, and that may make him a fine surgeon general someday, but that day is not today." Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, also a physician, said earlier this year that he was concerned that Murthy's non-clinical experience stems from his position as the co-founder of Doctors for America, an offshoot of a pro-Obama campaign group that works closely with the liberal Center for American Progress and the president's advocacy group Organizing for America. Paul said more transparency is needed to reveal where the groups get their funding.
President Obama, for his part, hailed Congress's upper chamber for their decision, saying in a statement: "As 'America's Doctor,' Vivek will hit the ground running to make sure every American has the information they need to keep themselves and their families safe. He'll bring his lifetime of experience promoting public health to bear on priorities ranging from stopping new diseases to helping our kids grow up healthy and strong. "Vivek will also help us build on the progress we've made combatting Ebola, both in our country and at its source," he went on. "Combined with the crucial support for fighting Ebola included in the bill to fund our government next year, Vivek's confirmation makes us better positioned to save lives around the world and protect the American people here at home." | Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration | December 2014 | ['(CBS)'] |
A Hong Kong court acquits pro–democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai of criminal intimidation on a 2017 charge. This verdict comes after his high–profile arrest last month under the new national security law. | HONG KONG (Reuters) - A Hong Kong court declared media tycoon and pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai not guilty of criminal intimidation on Thursday, ending one several cases against him after his high-profile arrest last month under a new national security law.
HK media tycoon cleared of criminal intimidation
01:14
Thursday’s verdict was for a case that dates back to 2017 and was unrelated to his arrest. Lai, who is a key critic of Beijing, had used foul language when confronting a reporter from Oriental Daily News, a major competitor to Lai’s tabloid Apple Daily. Police however only charged him in February this year.
The mainland-born media magnate had pleaded not guilty.
Dressed in a light grey suit and green shirt, he smiled after the verdict was read out and shook hands with supporters who filled the courtroom.
His case comes after he was arrested for suspected collusion with foreign forces on August 10, making him the highest profile person to be arrested under the Beijing imposed law.
The 71-year-old had been a frequent visitor to Washington, where he met officials including U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to rally support for Hong Kong democracy, prompting Beijing to label him a “traitor”
After Lai’s August arrest around 200 police officers searched the office of his Apple Daily newspaper.
The national security law punishes anything China considers subversion, succession, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces with up to life in prison.
Critics say it crushes freedoms, while supporters say it will bring stability after prolonged anti-China, pro-democracy protests last year.
Lai’s pro-democratic Apple Daily has vied with pro-Beijing Oriental Daily for readership in the special administrative region. In 2014 Oriental Daily published a fake obituary of Lai, claiming that he had died of AIDS and many types of cancer.
Prosecutors in the case said Lai had intimidated the Oriental Daily reporter.
Lai’s lawyers said Lai had been followed by reporters for three years and his comments were not intended to harm the reporter but expressed his exasperation.
Lai is also facing separate court cases for illegal assembly relating to anti-government protests last year.
Reporting by Yanni Chow; writing by Farah Master; editing by Philippa Fletcher
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Arrest | September 2020 | ['(Reuters)'] |
A French animal rights activist is charged under counterterror legislation for praising the death of a butcher in a terror attack. | FOIX, France A French vegan activist was set to appear in court on Thursday for allegedly condoning terrorism after writing on social media that a butcher killed in an Islamist attack deserved his fate, a legal source told AFP.
The unusual case, being prosecuted under France’s tough anti-terror security laws, was to be heard in the town of Saint-Gaudens in southwest France.
Police in the region spotted a message overnight on Monday-Tuesday related to the killing of a butcher at the Super U supermarket in Trebes last week during an attack by a gunman claiming allegiance to the Islamic State group, the source said.
“So then, you are shocked that a murderer is killed by a terrorist,” wrote the vegan and activist for animal rights. “Not me. I’ve got zero compassion for him, there’s some justice in it.”
The message sparked instant criticism and complaints and the author later withdrew it, the legal source said, but prosecutors decided to press charges for condoning terrorism anyway. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | March 2018 | ['(The Times of Israel)'] |
Casey Anthony is sentenced to four years for lying to law enforcement regarding the death of her child Caylee in the U.S. state of Florida but after credit for time served will be released on July 17. | Just days ago Casey Anthony pondered the possibility of a death sentence. This morning she awakens to the reality that in days she will leave jail and attempt to rejoin society.
Orange-Osceola Chief Judge Belvin Perry sentenced Casey Anthony on Thursday on four counts of lying to law enforcement, giving her four years in jail but also credit for time already served dating back to 2008.
Considering her time incarcerated and other factors, such as good behavior, court officials said Anthony likely will be released from the Orange County Jail July 17.
Earlier Thursday, officials gave Wednesday as Anthony's release date. Jail officials recalculated the date after receiving the signed sentencing order in the afternoon.
She was fined $4,000, or $1,000 for each conviction. She also must pay $618 in other costs.
These fines are separate from the investigation and prosecution costs state prosecutors want Anthony to pay. Those costs will be handled during a later hearing in August, which she will not have to attend. Also, she will not be bound by the one-year probation stemming from her earlier guilty plea in a felony check-fraud case. That probation period expired Jan. 24, during her time in jail awaiting trial.
The four-year sentence imposed by Perry is the maximum the judge could set under the jury's decision. Unhappy followers of the case gathered outside the Orange County Courthouse on Thursday expressing their displeasure about her acquittal on a charge of first-degree murder in connection to her daughter Caylee's death.
"I feel she got away with murder, and it really irritates me," said Donna Marini, an Altamonte Springs woman who attended most of the trial proceedings.
Nearby, though, Casey Anthony supporters chanted for her release. One man stood with a sign asking: "Casey will you marry me?"
"I would date her," said the sign's holder, Tim Allen. "Everyone deserves a second chance."
Inside the courtroom, Anthony showed no reaction while Perry discussed her lies and imposed his sentence. Earlier, she arrived in Perry's courtroom appearing relaxed and happy. Her long hair hung over her shoulders. She beamed at her defense attorneys.
Demings respects jury decision
Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings released a statement later Thursday expressing his disappointment with the not-guilty verdict.
"For three long years, the citizens of Orange County, Florida sought justice in the murder of Caylee Marie Anthony," he wrote. "Essentially, that process concluded today with the sentencing of Casey Anthony only on charges associated with lying to law enforcement officers during the course of the investigation into the disappearance of her daughter, Caylee."
However, Demings said he respects the "findings of the jury because that is part of the criminal justice process." He urged residents to maintain "a peaceful resolve."
Anthony normally wore her long hair in a bun, but she let her hair down for court Thursday. She huddled with her attorneys Cheney Mason and Dorothy Clay Sims while smiling and stroking her hair before the hearing began.
Her smiles disappeared, though, as Perry handed down his sentence. Perry disagreed with one of Anthony's attorneys, who argued that Anthony's four convictions for lying to police should be consolidated into one count.
Assistant State Attorney Linda Drane Burdick argued that Anthony's lies were intended to lead law enforcement "on a wild goose chase."
Anthony had time to pause and reflect about the mistruths, Burdick said.
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Release | July 2011 | ['(Orlando Sentinel)'] |
In football, host nation France plays against Portugal for the 2016 UEFA European Championship at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis. Portugal wins 1–0 with an Éder goal in extra time. , | Last updated on 11 July 201611 July 2016.From the section Footballcomments701
Portugal overcame the early loss of captain Cristiano Ronaldo to beat hosts France in the Euro 2016 final and win their first major tournament thanks to substitute Eder's superb extra-time strike.
Real Madrid forward Ronaldo was carried off in tears in the 25th minute at Paris' Stade de France, eighteen minutes after injuring his knee in a clash with France's Dimitri Payet. France, the firm favourites, were unable to capitalise on Ronaldo's absence, although they almost won it at the end of normal time when substitute Andre-Pierre Gignac turned and hit the inside of the post.
Raphael Guerreiro hit the bar with a free-kick for Portugal after 108 minutes, but seconds later they were ahead when Eder fired a low, 25-yard drive past keeper Hugo Lloris.
Ronaldo, who had given his Portugal team-mates animated encouragement in the break before extra time, was offering as much tactical advice as coach Fernando Santos in chaotic closing moments - and he was reduced to tears once more at the final whistle before lifting the trophy that has eluded his country for so long.
Ronaldo has claimed the game's major prizes - such as the Champions League with Manchester United and Real Madrid - but a landmark victory with his country has always eluded him.
The greatest disappointment was when, as hosts of Euro 2004, Portugal were beaten 1-0 by rank outsiders Greece in the final at Lisbon's famous Stadium of Light.
Portugal also lost in the World Cup semi-finals in 2006, the quarter-finals at Euro 2008 and the semi-finals at Euro 2012 - and it looked like the curse would strike again when Ronaldo lay on the turf distraught after two attempts to play on through the pain.
What a contrasting image it was in the closing seconds of extra time as he virtually took charge of team affairs and light-heartedly bumped into coach Santos, before breaking down in tears when British referee Mark Clattenburg signalled full-time.
Ronaldo, with his knee heavily strapped, then hobbled up the steps to lift the Euro 2016 trophy and fill a gap in his glittering list of honours.
He was then centre stage in the subsequent celebrations, lying on the floor in front of his joyous team-mates.
The 31-year-old's night started and ended in tears, but this was a journey from agony to ecstasy - and his status as a Portuguese national hero was cemented even further.
Portugal may have been unspectacular winners of an unspectacular Euro 2016 - they won only one game in 90 minutes.
But this tough, resilient, organised team under coach Santos were justified in the wild celebrations that took place in front of their fans at Stade de France after the trophy presentation.
They finished third in their group, edged out of second place by Iceland's last-minute winner against Austria, a result that led to England's downfall in the last 16.
Portugal saw off the talented Croatia in extra time in the last 16, beat Poland on penalties in the quarter-finals and then ended the great Wales adventure with a 2-0 win in the semi-finals.
Every quality that kept them in contention - but never earned the plaudits - was on show here as they inflicted on France what Greece had inflicted on them at Euro 2004.
With goalkeeper Rui Patricio heroic and defenders Pepe and Jose Fonte outstanding, they frustrated France, growing in threat and strength as a largely tedious final ran on.
This was the greatest moment in Portugal's football history and the celebrations were worthy of the occasion.
France went into this Euro 2016 final backed by a tide of emotion and expectation after victory against World Cup holders Germany in Thursday's semi-final in Marseille.
Goalkeeper Lloris, one of France's senior figures, spoke of how Euro 2016 had helped the population "escape" the suffering of the Paris attacks in November, in which 130 people died and hundreds more were injured.
France's players have been dignified and carried that burden confidently to reach the final against Portugal, but there was to be no happy conclusion to this campaign as they failed to reproduce the form that beat Germany.
Perhaps that weight was finally too much for them here with the nation behind them. They were unable to take advantage of what should have been a huge lift to their hopes when Ronaldo went off - indeed his departure seemed to affect the hosts more than Portugal.
Gignac almost provided a dramatic winning goal in the final seconds of normal time, but in the final reckoning Didier Deschamps' side were unable to rise to the occasion and suffered the bitter disappointment of defeat in a major final in their own capital city.
The Stade de France was invaded by moths in the hours before kick-off, making life uncomfortable for fans, players and officials.
Floodlights were left on at the stadium the night before the game, attracting moths who were still there when the teams and supporters arrived.
France coach Deschamps, referee Clattenburg and his team, plus players in the warm-up were under siege, swatting them away while staff in the stadium used brushes to attempt to get rid of the insects.
And in an image that was seen around the world, a moth landed on Ronaldo's face as he sat in tears on the turf after succumbing to a knee injury only 25 minutes into the Euro 2016 final.
France boss Didier Deschamps: "The disappointment is there and it's immense. There are no words to describe this feeling.
"Clearly we had our chances but we weren't cool-headed enough. My players gave everything tonight but unfortunately we lacked what is essential. We have to try and digest this.
"There is no way of reducing their disappointment, but we must not forget the enthusiasm of millions of people which our run generated. It is hard to look at the positives now but there are many.
"We did not play with the brakes on but Portugal are good at stopping you from playing. They play as a unit. Without Cristiano Ronaldo they had one fewer attacking option.
"We didn't play a bad game. We went for it."
Portugal boss Fernando Santos: "First of all I'd like to thank God for being with us, my wife, my mother, my grandson. My father wherever he is, he's probably having a few beers.
"Cristiano Ronaldo is an amazing example. Today he tried to remain on the pitch. He was very strong in the locker room, he helped all of the boys, that's the definition of teamwork.
"We have a bright future but right now we need to celebrate."
Former England captain Alan Shearer, speaking on Match of the Day: "Portugal set their system up and said, 'this is how we'll play, come and try to break us down'. It was a brilliant goal to win it, he was big and strong. The finish was sublime."
Former England midfielder Danny Murphy, speaking on Match of the Day: "It's an amazing story for a team who weren't fancied before or during the tournament.
"Portugal have shown they possess character and quality. Tonight they didn't need Cristiano Ronaldo. People won't remember he didn't play much tonight, they'll remember he captained them to their first major trophy.
France 1998 World Cup winner Thierry Henry, speaking on Match of the Day: "It's a sad day. We have a lot of Portuguese in France. We'll hear about this for a looong time.
"You can only win a tournament as a team - perfect example, Ronaldo comes out and Portugal win it. It was like, 'let's do it for him'."
35: Portugal have won their first European Championship after 35 games at the tournament.
10: They are the 10th different nation to be European champions.
6: Eder is the sixth substitute to score in a European Championship final, along with Oliver Bierhoff, Sylvain Wiltord, David Trezeguet, Juan Mata and Fernando Torres.
3: Portugal become the first team in European Championship history to go to extra time three times in the same tournament.
80: They took until the 80th minute to register a shot on target, the longest wait for a team in a European Championship final.
Formation 4-1-3-2
Formation 4-2-3-1
Match ends, Portugal 1, France 0.
Second Half Extra Time ends, Portugal 1, France 0.
Rui Patrício (Portugal) is shown the yellow card.
Offside, France. Anthony Martial tries a through ball, but Paul Pogba is caught offside.
Attempt blocked. Anthony Martial (France) right footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked. Assisted by Paul Pogba with a headed pass.
Foul by Laurent Koscielny (France).
Eder (Portugal) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Corner, Portugal. Conceded by Bacary Sagna.
José Fonte (Portugal) is shown the yellow card.
Foul by Blaise Matuidi (France).
Nani (Portugal) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Delay over. They are ready to continue.
Delay in match Raphael Guerreiro (Portugal) because of an injury.
Paul Pogba (France) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Foul by Paul Pogba (France).
João Mário (Portugal) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Corner, France. Conceded by Pepe.
Paul Pogba (France) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by João Mário (Portugal).
Substitution, France. Anthony Martial replaces Moussa Sissoko.
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How to get into football - the most popular sport in the world, with clubs and facilities throughout the UK. | Sports Competition | July 2016 | ['(UEFA official)', '(BBC)', '(ABC News Australia)'] |
The death toll from the sinking of a ferry in Bangladesh rises to 110 with at least 61 others missing. | DHAKA, March 14 (Reuters) - A Bangladeshi ferry that sank after hitting an oil barge was salvaged on Wednesday along with scores of bodies, taking the toll from the country's latest ferry disaster to 110 with dozens of people missing, rescue workers and government officials said.
The Dhaka-bound MV Shariatpur-1, carrying more than 250 people, capsized early on Tuesday in the Meghna river, about 50 km (30 miles) south of the capital, Dhaka.
About 80 passengers managed to swim ashore or were picked up by boats soon after the accident, officials and media said.
Rescue vessels found the ferry in about 70 feet (20 metres) of water and managed to pull it to the river bank on Wednesday. Some victims floated up as the boat was raised.
"Bodies popped out one after another," said witness Abdul Barek.
Wailing relatives milled about on the bank as the ferry was dragged to shore.
The death toll stood at 35 on Tuesday and 75 more bodies were recovered on Wednesday, rescue officials said.
Senior district official Azizul Alam told reporters that according to information from relatives, at least 61 people were missing.
Overcrowded and unregulated ferries often run in to trouble on low-lying Bangladesh's extensive network of rivers and waterways. Hundreds of people are killed in accidents every year. (Reporting by Anis Ahmed and Serajul Quadir; Editing by Robert Birsel) | Shipwreck | March 2012 | ['(AP)'] |
A United States drone strike kills two alleged militants in the Kurram district of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. | A U.S. drone has killed two men riding a motorbike in Pakistan's northwest tribal region, officials said.
This is the first such attack in Pakistan under the administration of new U.S. President Donald Trump.
The attack occurred in the Sara Khwa area of the Kurram tribal district that lies along the border with Afghanistan. A security source told RFE/RL that the two were suspected militants, identified as Qari Abdullah and Qari Shakir. It is not clear which militant group they belonged to.
A second unnamed official confirmed the strike and the casualties.
"The drone came from Afghanistan and returned after firing two missiles on the motorbike," he said.
The previous U.S. drone attack took place in May 2016, killing the leader of the Afghan Taliban Mullah Akhtar Mansur in southwestern Balochistan province.
Drone strikes are extremely unpopular among many Pakistanis because they are seen as a violation of the country's sovereignty. However, leaked documents have shown that Pakistan and the United States have secretly colluded over some cases in the past.
| Armed Conflict | March 2017 | ['(Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)'] |
The European Parliament demands that Senegal turn over Hissène Habré to Belgium to be tried for his actions while he was President of Chad. Senegal is not expected to comply, as it already refused extradition demands from the African Union. The ATDPH has expressed its approval of the decision. | The European Parliament today called on Senegal to bring Hissène Habré to trial or extradite the former dictator of Chad to Belgium, where he is wanted to stand to trial. Habré's victims and their supporters cheered the European Parliament's decision.
Habré, who fled to Senegal in 1990 after an eight-year rule marked by widespread atrocities, was first indicted in 2000 in Senegal. After Senegalese courts ruled that he could not be tried there, Habré's victims pursued justice by turning to Belgium, which after a four-year probe indicted him in September 2005 on charges of crimes against humanity, war crimes and torture.
...
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | March 2006 | ['(AllAfrica)'] |
The U.S. state of Hawaii enacts a law permitting officials to ignore multiple attempts by the same person to view the birth certificate of President of the United States Barack Obama. | Hawaii has enacted a law allowing officials to ignore repetitive requests for US President Barack Obama's birth certificate.
The measure is aimed at "birthers", who claim Mr Obama was not born in the US and is thus ineligible to be president. State officials say birthers make dozens of requests every month for copies of Mr Obama's birth certificate. The new law was requested by Republican Governor Linda Lingle. Mr Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii in 1961. The law applies to any public records that are typically available to anyone who requests to inspect them. It also permits state officials to deny access to the records or to ignore the request if it duplicates an earlier request. State law already bars release of a certified birth certificate to anyone who does not have a tangible interest. Since the start of his run for the White House, Mr Obama has been hounded by rumours he was born not in Hawaii but in Kenya, his father's homeland; Indonesia, where he lived as a child; or elsewhere. The state of Hawaii has released a computer print-out of the birth certificate information and officials have vouched for its authenticity, but that has failed to satisfy the birthers. State officials have said they receive roughly 50 requests per month for the president's birth certificate, often from the same small group of people, and that processing the requests takes considerable time. What are these? | Government Policy Changes | May 2010 | ['(BBC)'] |
Former Afghanistan hostage Joshua Boyle makes another appearance in court along with his lawyers to set a trial date. | Joshua Boyle is escorted by authorities to a media availability at Toronto's Pearson International Airport on Friday, October 13, 2017. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
Former Afghanistan hostage Joshua Boyle will appear in court today along with his lawyers to set a trial date. Boyle who faces 19 criminal charges was released from jail ealier this month and his lawyer Lawrence Greenspon confirms he now wears an electronic bracelet. Under the release conditions, Boyle lives with his parents, Patrick and Linda, in Smiths Falls, Ont. -- effectively under house arrest -- and wear a GPS ankle bracelet that can track his movements.
Boyle and his parents were forced to post a $10,000 bond. Patrick and Linda will serve as sureties and one of them must accompany their son if he leaves the property.
Back in 2012, Boyle and his American wife, Caitlan Coleman, were taken hostage by a Taliban-linked group while on a backpacking trip in Afghanistan.
SInce then, the couple along with their three children lived in captivity and were freed by Pakistani forces in October 2017.
Boyle was arrested by Ottawa police in December and charged on New Years Day with offences including assault, sexual assault, unlawful confinement and causing someone to take a noxious substance.
The charges against Boyle relate to two alleged victims since his return to Canada, but a court order prohibits the publication of any details that might identify them or any witnesses. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | June 2018 | ['(Ottawa CTV News)'] |
The 2012 rugby league Super League was won by Leeds Rhinos who defeated Warrington Wolves 26–18 in the Old Trafford Grand Final. | Last updated on 6 October 20126 October 2012.From the section Rugby Leaguecomments136
Defending Super League champions Leeds repeated their Old Trafford magic to beat Warrington in the Grand Final and claim a record sixth title.
Rhinos skipper Kevin Sinfield's 14-point haul helped his team once again come from fifth place to triumph.
It was 14-14 at the break, man of the match Sinfield and Ben Jones-Bishop wiping out Richie Myler's lead, only for Joel Monaghan to respond for Wire. But second-half tries from Carl Ablett and Ryan Hall saw Leeds home.
Warrington centre Ryan Atkins was the first to score after the break, but the champions once again held their nerve on the rugby league season's biggest stage.
Super League
Challenge Cup final
Grand Final
Brett Hodgson kicked two of his three conversions and a penalty for the Challenge Cup holders, but it was not enough.
Saturday's game was a repeat of the Challenge Cup final in August, And, in their first Grand Final, the Wolves were hoping to become the first team since St Helens in 2006 to do the double.
But Leeds wrecked their old coach Tony Smith's hopes of becoming the first man to win the Super League with two different clubs.
Sinfield, who has led his side to all of their six titles, maintained his record with the boot in the play-offs, in which he has been successful with all his 21 kicks, to thoroughly deserve his second Harry Sunderland Trophy for man-of-the-match.
And former England captain Jamie Peacock, appearing in his 10th Grand Final, won his eighth winner's ring.
Whatever fans, coaches, players and pundits make of the play-off system, with Leeds winning it from fifth place in the table for a second year running, the Rhinos are the master exponents of it.
Brian McDermott has now led his side to the last four domestic finals, coupled with last year's win in the World Club Challenge, which the Rhinos will now contest in the new year, once again against Melbourne Storm.
With both sides back to full-strength, the omens were good, as was the weather on a sun-kissed evening in Manchester.
Amidst a wall of noise from the 70,676 Old Trafford crowd, Warrington kicked off and, after surviving a Leeds repeat set, drew first blood on three minutes.
Successive drives from Mickey Higham and Ben Westwood teed up a Lee Briers bomb that Leeds fumbled and, after Chrs Riley was held up, a quick release from the play-the-ball picked out Myler, who slipped through a gap to touch down, Hodgson converting.
Last season's final against St Helens had turned on a moment of magic by Rob Burrow, but it was a team effort rather than individual flair that hauled the Rhinos back into it this time.
With a score chalked off for a forward pass when Sinfield's sublime cut-out-ball tracked Hall out wide, they eventually scored the try their growing influence deserved through a well-worked move in the left corner on 18 minutes.
Sinfield's high-ball was tapped down to Ablett by Hall, only for the centre to be blocked.
But he offloaded to Sinfield, the man who had began the move, who stretched out an arm to ground his own converted score.
In his seventh final as captain, Sinfield then drilled his kick over for two points six minutes later when Westwood was penalised for interference to give Leeds the lead for the first time.
And, on 27 minutes, they punished further Wolves indiscipline with a second try.
Leeds worked the ball right and Danny McGuire's pass found Jones-Bishop, who held off the defence in the corner to record his 14th try of the campaign.
Warrington refused to buckle, turning round an eight-point deficit when Briers found the deadly Monaghan on the right to bring them within two after Hodgson's kick. And they pulled level when 2009 Man of Steel Hodgson was on target to level on the hooter.
The second period began in the same fashion as the first, with Smith's side making the brighter start.
Leeds full-back Hardaker spilled after a huge hit to turn over inside the 20, and Warrington worked the ball through Myler and Hodgson to feed Atkins who powered over in the left corner, Hodgson failing to convert.
But Wire's lead once again did not last a quarter of an hour, Ablett crashing onto Lunt's ball from dummy half to score following Kylie Leuluai's drive to level before Sinfield added the extra to put his side back in front at 20-18.
And it took a try of genuine quality to seal victory for the Rhinos.
Hall finished it in the left corner, but the build-up which took the play from left to right and back again involved sparkling handling from Kallum Watkins, Danny McGuire and Ablett.
Burrow's 40-20 late on bought breathing space as the time ticked away. And, when the hooter sounded, Leeds were left to celebrate another remarkable season of success in the blue and amber.
Leeds skipper Kevin Sinfield:
"We've been here before. We've been behind. When they scored first at the start, Jamie Jones-Buchanan said 'We've been here before fellas, we never score first'.
"But you just don't stop believing. Thankfully we found a way to win. We're getting good hidings throughout the year and things aren't going well but you stick with it.
"The club's special. Not just the players, not just the coaches, the backroom staff, our fans, our families."
Warrington coach Tony Smith:
"Kevin Sinfield is a terrific player. One of the best club players I have seen over here.
"He contributes in a massive way, not just in his performances on the field but off it.
"He's a steady thinker and steady hand, he does everything right and he is a real inspiration.
"I'm proud to have been associated with him and to have coached him."
Leeds coach Brian McDermott:
"The pressure on the players to come up with the goods is immense. To get in the play-offs, in every game we've played, there's been such an amount of pressure.
"We created history last year doing it from fifth. And we've had some games where we can't work out what they're trying to achieve.
"But they must be as proud as punch, because this has been an incredible victory. Every one of them, they're brilliant. They deserve a huge amount of credit. It's unbelievable working with them." | Sports Competition | October 2012 | ['(BBC)'] |
The Trump administration reverses its student visa policy, announced on July 6, to deport international students whose courses move fully online. The plan met stiff opposition. At least 59 universities and the attorneys general of 18 states sued to block this directive. Federal district judge Allison Burroughs dismisses the first case brought to court as moot because the federal government has agreed to rescind the policy. | WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump's administration agreed Tuesday to rescind its controversial rule barring international students from living in the USA while taking fall classes online, a sharp reversal after the White House faced a slew of lawsuits challenging the policy.
A Massachusetts judge announced the decision during a federal court hearing in a case filed last week by Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Judge Allison Burroughs said the universities' request for the court to block the rule was moot because the government agreed to rescind the policy.
Monday, 18 state attorneys general had sued the Department of Homeland Security over the rule, which would have forced foreign students to leave or face deportation if they were enrolled in only online classes this fall, when experts fear expanded outbreaks of COVID-19 cases.
The court said the Trump administration agreed to revert to a previous rule, implemented in March, when the coronavirus pandemic caused shutdowns across the country. Under that policy, international students were allowed to attend all classes online during the pandemic.
Some universities plan to offer classes entirely online this fall because of concerns that college campuses could create coronavirus hot spots and add to the country's caseload. The new rule,issued July 6 by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, would have been devastating for students and universities alike.
The Trump administration issued the tougher immigration policy as it seeks to push universities and K-12 schools to reopen in the fall despite soaring COVID-19 infections across the country.
School reopening plans have become political:Teachers fear for their safety.
Last week's shift enraged many educators and lawmakers, who said the policy threatened to upend careful planning by universities and the approximately 1 million foreign students who attend American colleges each year. Even as they celebrated the change, some higher education leaders struck back at the Trump administration.
"We will continue, during this unprecedented time of global pandemic, to be vigilant against efforts by the administration to harm international students or force universities into rushed and unreasonable decisions regarding in-person instruction," said Mary Sue Coleman, president of the Association of American Universities, a group of research universities.
The battle against the ICE rule brought together a large coalition of governments, colleges and businesses.
Led by Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, the states' lawsuit sought an injunction to stop the rule from taking effect while the matter was litigated. Healey filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, along with attorneys general from Colorado, Michigan and Wisconsin. Harvard and MIT filed a similar challenge last week, which was supported by several other universities.
Major U.S. technology companies and other businesses, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Google and Facebook, joined the legal fray Monday, arguing in court papers that the rule would have "serious adverse economic consequences."
"America’s future competitiveness depends on attracting and retaining talented international students," the companies argued.
International students benefit from studying and researching in the U.S., but they also help enrich it, said Martin Aragoneses, an economics graduate student at Harvard, who is from Spain. While he is "incredibly relieved and happy," he said, he and other international students plan to work against other policies that make it more difficult for foreigners to work in the U.S., such as the current suspension on temporary visas for foreign workers.
The ICE order on international students could have dealt a major economic blow to colleges and universities, as well as the communities surrounding them, because of the loss of tuition and other revenue from foreign students, who typically pay full price.
"Something to cheer about! ICE backing off new regulations for international students!!" tweeted Michael Roth, president of Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. "Now let's make the fall semester as potent and safe as possible."
"International students enrich the educational experience for all," added Eduardo Ochoa, president of California State University Monterey Bay. He took to Twitter to decry what would have been a "choice between sending them home or endangering the health of our community."
The new order will allow universities to reopen more quickly, said Terry Hartle, a senior vice president with the American Council on Education, which represents the nation's colleges. College leaders, Hartle said, will be able to think about what practices are best for all students. The order would have put so much attention on international students that broader questions about reopening could have been pushed to the side.
Nevertheless, Hartle said he expects a decline in international students this year, since some students may not be able to get a visa before the start of the fall semester due, for instance, to embassy and consulate closures from the pandemic.
The number of international students studying in the USA reached 1.1 million in the 2018-19 academic year, according to the Institute of International Education, and they make up 5.5% of the total U.S. higher education population.
International students contributed nearly $45 billion to the U.S. economy in 2018, according to data from the U.S. Department of Commerce. | Government Policy Changes | July 2020 | ['(BBC)', '(USA Today)'] |
A South Korean adviser says it is "impossible" for South Korea to purchase the THAAD missile complex since control of its operation would remain with the United States. The remarks come after United States president Donald Trump suggested that South Korea pay for the $1 billion system. | SEOUL (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump’s suggestion that Seoul pay for the THAAD advanced U.S. missile defense system would be an “impossible option,” a top foreign policy adviser to South Korean presidential frontrunner Moon Jae-in said on Friday.
Trump told Reuters in an interview on Thursday he wants South Korea to pay for the $1 billion Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system.
“Even if we purchase THAAD, its main operation would be in the hands of the United States,” said Kim Ki-jung, a foreign policy adviser to Moon and professor at Seoul’s Yonsei University.
“So purchasing it would be an impossible option. That was our topic when we were considering the options,” Kim said.
Moon is leading polls by a wide margin ahead of a May 9 election to replace impeached former President Park Geun-hye, whose government agreed last year to deploy THAAD.
Lee Ji-soo, a spokesman for Moon, said campaign officials were aware of the reported comments by Trump and deliberating his demand that South Korea pay for THAAD but added that there was no official comment from Moon’s camp yet.
Trump, in the interview as he prepared to mark 100 days in office on Saturday, also accused another ally, Saudi Arabia, of not paying enough for the U.S. defense umbrella.
Trump’s comments harked back to his populist campaign rhetoric and Bonnie Glaser, an Asia expert at Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies, said they betrayed a lack of strategic thinking.
“Trump’s remarks reflect his persistent desire for allies to pay more for their defense,” she said. “As far as their impact on South Korea’s election, they will likely boost support for Moon, and if he wins, it will make it harder for the U.S. to sustain a hardline policy against North Korea. So Trump’s remarks don’t seem very strategic to me.”
Trump’s comments provoked some consternation among Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. Congress.
Congressional aides noted the THAAD deployment came after years of discussions, in which South Korea took a great deal of convincing and then suffered economic retaliation from China.
“It just seems completely tone deaf ... That system isn’t just good for South Korea, it’s also good for us,” one aide said, adding that it would also defend U.S. troops in South Korea and deter North Korea from targeting U.S. territory.
The U.S. military started THAAD deployment in early March, despite strong opposition from China, which says the system’s radar can be used to spy into its territory. The deployment has also prompted a North Korean warning of retaliation.
South Korea said on Wednesday major elements of the system were moved into the planned site in Seonjgu in the south of the country and would be fully operational by the end of this year.
That system will have initial operational capability “very soon,” a Pentagon spokesman told reporters on Friday.
The Pentagon has called THAAD a “critical measure” to defend South Koreans and U.S. forces and the top U.S. commander in the Pacific, Admiral Harry Harris, said the system would be operational “in coming days.”
Seonjgu residents have protested, citing safety fears and its potential to be a wartime target.
The United States currently has six THAAD batteries worldwide and a former U.S. State Department official, who estimated the cost of each at about $1.2 billion, said Washington would not want to sell THAAD to Seoul.
“We want to retain THAAD in our arsenal, consistent with all other U.S. weapons systems deployed on the Korean peninsula. We own them. We retain them. We have the right to redeploy them,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
| Tear Up Agreement | April 2017 | ['(Reuters)'] |
Syrian Air Defense Force downs an American MQ-1 Predator surveillance drone operating in ISIL-free province of Latakia. |
Anonymously, US military
sources have confirmed that the country has lost contact with one
of its drones over Syria, after SANA news agency reported Syrian
government forces shot down a hostile drone in Latakia province.
Sources however did not reveal the cause of the incident.
At about 1740 GMT, US military controllers “lost contact with
a US MQ-1 Predator unarmed remotely piloted aircraft operating
over northwest Syria,” a US defense official said in an
email Tuesday. “At this time, we have no information to
corroborate press reports that the aircraft was shot down. We are
looking into the incident and will provide more details when
available.”
READ
MORE: Syrian air defenses bring down US surveillance drone
reports
US State Department’s spokeswoman said on Wednesday that there
was no “confirmation at this point.”
“I can confirm, as I’m sure you may have from the Pentagon,
and certainly they’d be the lead on this, that yesterday U.S.
military controllers lost contact with an unarmed
remotely-piloted aircraft operating over northwest Syria. The
Department of Defense is looking into the incident, will provide
more details when available,” Jen Psaki said.
“We, of course, reiterate our warning to the Assad regime not
to interfere with US aerial assets over Syria,” she added.
#Syria
| The wreckage of the #American
MQ-1C drone that was shot down by the Syrian Air Defense in
#Latakia
#pic.twitter.com/rOxXAxplRH
Philip the Arab (@IraqiSuryani) March
17, 2015
At the same time two US officials, speaking to Reuters,
acknowledged that the Predator drone was likely shot down,
although the investigation continues. A Syrian military source
told the publication that the drone has been brought down with a
“rocket.”
“The plane was American-made, was brought down coming from
the sea, and the Syrian air defense was the one that brought it
down,” the Syrian military source told Reuters.
Meanwhile another source told AFP that the drone was not
immediately identified as being American, but was shot down as
any hostile aircraft would be.
“As soon as it entered Syrian air space, we considered it to
be gathering security and military information on Syria's
territory,” the source in Damascus said. “The aircraft
entered areas where Daesh (ISIS) is not present.”
The fact that no Islamic State fighters are present in Latakia
was also confirmed by the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human
Rights. They say the drone was shot down in Al-Maqata, a village
near the provincial capital of Latakia.
“There are no opposition fighters or jihadist groups anywhere
in that area, but there is a large presence of regime
forces,” said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman.
In fact, the province is known to be the stronghold of a
stronghold of the Alawite minority in Syria and the Assad family.
Based on that, some Arabic sources speculated that the Predator
was carrying out recon for a possible assassination mission, and
was flying from Jordan, whose bases are being used by US allies
against ISIS.
The MQ-1 Predator is an unmanned aerial vehicle, which the US
army claims has gone missing, is used by the United States Air
Force and Central Intelligence Agency. While the Predator carries
cameras and other sensor equipment for surveillance mission, it’s
armed modifications can carry and fire AGM-114 Hellfire missiles,
as demonstrated during numerous combat missions in Afghanistan.
Last August, President Obama ordered “limited strikes”
against ISIS in order to protect American personnel in Iraq. One
month later, Obama announced he was broadening the military
campaign to “destroy” the Islamic State and prevent its
advance into neighboring territories, including Syria.
Since the start of the bombing campaign, US drones have
undertaken both surveillance and strike missions in Iraq and
Syria as part of Operation Inherent Resolve. If confirmed, the
incident would become the first downing of a US aircraft since
the beginning of the campaign.
Syria did not formally consent to the strikes on its territory,
claiming that operations without Damascus’s coordination is a
violation of sovereignty. “Any action of any kind without the
consent of the Syrian government would be an attack on
Syria,” said at the time the national reconciliation
minister, Ali Haidar.
“I think it is totally appropriate that the Syrian
governments shows its sovereignty over its airspace,” Antony
Hall, a professor at Lethbridge University told PressTV.
However the US authorities, who have long been demanding Assad’s
unconditional resignation, insist that his power is illegitimate,
thus claiming there was no need for military coordination with
Damascus.
RT News App | Armed Conflict | March 2015 | ['(RT)'] |
Simon Mann, a British mercenary who had been serving a 34–year prison sentence in Equatorial Guinea for his role in a failed coup d'etat, is given a presidential pardon. | (CNN) -- British mercenary Simon Mann, jailed last year for his part in plotting a coup in Equatorial Guinea, has been granted a presidential pardon, the country's Information Ministry said Tuesday.
The pardon was given on humanitarian grounds, taking into consideration Mann's health and age, his need to receive regular medical treatment and to be with his family, the ministry said.
Mann is allowed to leave the country immediately and is banned from returning, the ministry said.
A former British military officer, Mann was serving a 34-year sentence for his part in plotting the coup. He confessed during the trial last year that he tried to topple long-time ruler Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo -- but he denied being the plot's leader.
During the trial, Mann testified he was a "junior" in the organization which plotted to overthrow the tiny west African country's president in 2004, and that Lebanese businessman Eli Calil was the man in charge.
Mann is a former British army commando who was arrested in 2004 after a plane carrying him and about 60 mercenaries landed in Zimbabwe.
The government of Equatorial Guinea said the group was on its way to overthrow its president. Mann said at the time they were going to guard a diamond mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
A Zimbabwe court convicted Mann of trying to buy weapons illegally. He served four years in jail there before being extradited to Equatorial Guinea's capital of Malabo last year to face charges of leading an abortive coup.
Mann testified that his former friend Mark Thatcher -- the son of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher -- was a main partner in the plot.
Thatcher was arrested along with Mann in 2004, and he pleaded guilty in South Africa the following year to unwittingly bankrolling the plot. He escaped jail time by paying a fine.
Thatcher admitted giving $275,000 toward the charter of a helicopter, saying he thought was for commercial purposes and discovered only later it was to be used by mercenaries.
But Mann said Thatcher paid $350,000 for a helicopter and a plane which he knew would be used in the plot, and that he attended meetings about the plan with Calil in London.
Calil, Mann said, initially asked him to assassinate President Obiang and talked about the possibility of staging a guerrilla war. Mann testified he refused both requests, considering them unethical, but he did agree to help stage a coup.
Though he said Thatcher was a top figure in the plot, Mann testified that even Thatcher was under Calil in the group's hierarchy.
Mann emphasized that he was not the man in charge.
The announcement of Mann's pardon came on the eve of an official visit to Equatorial Guinea by South African President Jacob Zuma, the Information Ministry said.
Four others implicated with Mann in the coup plot were also granted presidential pardons. They are Nicolaas Servas du Toit, the main organizer for the coup plot in 2004, and Sergio Fernando Patricio Cardoso, Jose Passocas Domingos and Georges Olympic Nunez Alerson.
Du Toit was sentenced to 34 years in prison and the others were sentenced to 17 years. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Release | November 2009 | ['(The Guardian)', '(CNN)'] |
Police in Germany arrest a gunman, nicknamed Rambo due to his acts, who disarmed four policemen and escaped in the Black Forest five days before. | German police have arrested a suspected gunman nicknamed "Rambo" after a five-day manhunt in the Black Forest.
Yves Rausch, 31, is said to have fled into the forest near Oppenau, in south-west Germany, on Sunday after threatening four police officers and taking their pistols.
An elite unit, helicopters, thermal detectors and sniffer dogs had been deployed to find him. More than 2,530 officers were involved in the operation, police said.
The suspect was found hiding in a bush with four handguns placed in front of him and an axe in his lap, deputy regional police chief Juergen Rieger told reporters.
Mr Rausch was slightly injured in the operation, as was a police officer by the axe, Mr Rieger added. Neither needed hospital treatment. A postal worker gave police information which helped lead to his arrest.
"I am very relieved - I think a line can be drawn under a really extraordinary situation for our little town," Mayor Uwe Gaiser said, according to Associated Press.
Police were initially called over reports of a suspicious man hanging around a hut in forest near Oppenau on Sunday. They found Mr Rausch in a hut on the edge of the forest, and said he had first appeared co-operative before suddenly pulling out a pistol and disarming the four officers. He was wearing camouflage gear.
Media reports have nicknamed him "Rambo" after the fictional, violent Vietnam war veteran who goes on the run from US police.
Police say he had lived in the Oppenau area a long time and he is believed to know the forest well.
His mother said he was evicted from his rented flat last year. It is unclear if it is the same flat which Bild reported he had rented above a local inn last year, where he had set up a shooting range in his attic.
He had gone to stay at an aunt's home before finally making a home for himself in the forest, his mother added. She described him as a "woodsman", saying "he wanted to escape into nature, to be free".
According to his mother, he grew his own vegetables, used the hut as his home, and carved wooden gnomes which he hoped to sell.
His mother said she had had a coffee with him at a local market on 8 July and he had appeared "perfectly normal".
He has a lengthy criminal record. Ten years ago, he was handed a juvenile sentence of more than three years for shooting a woman with a crossbow. Last year, he was found in possession of child pornography while under investigation for possession of explosives.
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | July 2020 | ['(BBC)'] |
The bankrupt NPC International announces it will close 300 Pizza Hut locations. |
As many as 300 Pizza Hut restaurants will be permanently closing after the largest franchisee for Yum! Brands, the parent company for the fast food chain, filed for bankruptcy.
Pizza Hut also wrote that it would be reallocating its employees from the closed stores to “thriving locations across the business where possible.” (iStock)
NPC International Inc., which owns 1,227 Pizza Hut locations and nearly 400 Wendy’s locations, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on July 1, Louisville Business First reported.
According to the report, Yum! Brands and NPC International Inc. have agreed to close 300 underperforming restaurants.
"We have continued to work with NPC and its lenders to optimize NPC’s Pizza Hut restaurant footprint and strengthen the portfolio for the future, and today’s joint agreement to close up to 300 NPC Pizza Hut restaurants is an important step toward a healthier business," Pizza Hut said in a statement to Fox Business.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ON FOX BUSINESS
Pizza Hut also wrote that it would be reallocating its employees from the closed stores to “thriving locations across the business where possible.”
"Consistent with Pizza Hut’s previously announced transition to a more modern delivery, curbside and carryout-focused asset base, a substantial majority of the NPC Pizza Hut locations to be closed are dine-in locations," the statement read.
The specific locations closing have not yet been made public.
According to a second-quarter earnings report released by Yum! Brands, Pizza Hut off-premise channel generated “21% same-store sales growth when excluding closed Express units, or 16% same-store sales growth when including closed Express units.”
Worldwide system sales, excluding foreign currency translation, declined 10% for Pizza Hut.
| Organization Closed | August 2020 | ['(Fox Business)'] |
The Nobel Committee awards Swiss Jacques Dubochet, German Joachim Frank, and British Richard Henderson the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for developing cryo-electron microscopy for the high-resolution structural determination of biomolecules in a solution. | This year’s prize has been awarded for developing cryo-electron microscopy for the high resolution structure determination of biomolecules in solution Nicola Davis
Wed 4 Oct 2017 12.36 BST
First published on Wed 4 Oct 2017 10.00 BST
4 Oct 2017
12:36
There we have it, Crispr and lithium-ion batteries lose out to cryo-electron microscopy, a technique that has allowed scientists to study molecules in unprecedented resolution – an advance that could help with drug discovery and fundamental understanding of biological processes.
Congratulations to the three winners Jacques Dubochet, Joachim Frank and Richard Henderson.
You can read our news story on the prize here. An article delving further into the science behind the win will follow shortly.
4 Oct 2017
12:32
Today’s win underscores an important point, Venkatraman Ramakrishnan tells me.
“It shows the value of patiently supporting basic science for decades,” he says. But, he adds, what started in basic science has led to incredible revelations. “By the time it has got to this stage, it’s already being used by drug companies to do structures of important drug targets, and it is used to understand fundamental biology that can change medicine in the future- so it just goes to show you how all these things are linked.”
Updated
at 1.29pm BST
4 Oct 2017
12:21
It turns out not everyone is thrilled by today’s announcement: I didn't get the chemistry nobel. ?
4 Oct 2017
12:18
Those who contest that the winners have taken the prize for biochemistry, rather than chemistry, here’s a fun fact: 50 of those who have scooped the award actually work(ed) in biochemistry, making it the most common field for laureates of this prize.
4 Oct 2017
12:12
Here’s a description of the prize-winning work from the Nobel committee:
A picture is a key to understanding. Scientific breakthroughs often build upon the successful visualisation of objects invisible to the human eye. However, biochemical maps have long been filled with blank spaces because the available technology has had difficulty generating images of much of life’s molecular machinery. Cryo-electron microscopy changes all of this. Researchers can now freeze biomolecules mid-movement and visualise processes they have never previously seen, which is decisive for both the basic understanding of life’s chemistry and for the development of pharmaceuticals.
Electron microscopes were long believed to only be suitable for imaging dead matter, because the powerful electron beam destroys biological material. But in 1990, Richard Henderson succeeded in using an electron microscope to generate a three-dimensional image of a protein at atomic resolution. This breakthrough proved the technology’s potential. Joachim Frank made the technology generally applicable. Between 1975 and 1986 he developed an image processing method in which the electron microscope’s fuzzy twodimensional images are analysed and merged to reveal a sharp three-dimensional structure. Jacques Dubochet added water to electron microscopy. Liquid water evaporates in the electron microscope’s vacuum, which makes the biomolecules collapse. In the early 1980s, Dubochet succeeded in vitrifying water – he cooled water so rapidly that it solidified in its liquid form around a biological sample, allowing the biomolecules to retain their natural shape even in a vacuum.
Following these discoveries, the electron microscope’s every nut and bolt have been optimised. The desired atomic resolution was reached in 2013, and researchers can now routinely produce three-dimensional structures of biomolecules. In the past few years, scientific literature has been filled with images of everything from proteins that cause antibiotic resistance, to the surface of the Zika virus. Biochemistry is now facing an explosive development and is all set for an exciting future. Updated
at 12.13pm BST
4 Oct 2017
12:09
Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, president of the Royal Society, said he was delighted by the news. “There is no question – this is a very well deserved prize,” he said. Ramakrishnan shared the Nobel prize in chemistry in 2009.
Updated
at 12.14pm BST
4 Oct 2017
12:06
While this year’s laureates are worthy winners, they haven’t broken the record for age: the youngest chemistry laureate remains Frédéric Joliot, Marie Curie’s son-in-law, who shared the prize with his wife, Irene, in 1935. Joliot was 35.
4 Oct 2017
12:00
John Hardy, professor of neuroscience at University College London, said that cryo-electron microscopy has also proven valuable in unpicking the structure of the enzyme that produces amyloid proteins that are involved in Alzheimer’s disease. That, he adds, could aid the design of drugs to tackle the disease. “And as a biologist, I can say that the pictures are beautiful,” he said.
Updated
at 12.01pm BST
4 Oct 2017
11:56
Dr Carsten Sachse, of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory used to work with Richard Henderson at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge. He tells the Guardian that Henderson was an inspiring person to work with.
“He was really visionary, he saw it all coming. When I worked with him, that was a time when it was not clear how far the technology really would go, but he had it all worked out in his head,” said Sachse.
Updated
at 11.59am BST
4 Oct 2017
11:51
Reaction continues to come in. Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz, professor of mammalian development and stem cell biology at the University of Cambridge, said that she thought the win was wonderful. “A visual image is the essential component to understanding, often the first one to open our eyes – and so our minds – to a scientific breakthrough.”
Updated
at 11.53am BST
4 Oct 2017
11:41
Dame Athene Donald, professor of experimental physics at the University of Cambridge said that cryo-electron microscopy has made a huge difference, allowing biological molecules to be studied at extremely high resolution. “The only talk I remember from the first electron microscopy conference I attended during my PhD was by Nigel Unwin and Richard Henderson on purple membrane. It was stunning work. It’s a long time ago but it’s brilliant to see the developments finally be rewarded by this year’s award,” she said.
Updated
at 11.42am BST
4 Oct 2017
11:40
Joachim Frank tells the press conference that the coolest molecules he has seen using the technique of cryo-electron microscopy are ribosomes, the protein factories of cells. The technique, he says, has allowed scientists to explore the details of how amino acids are put together to form proteins.
Updated
at 11.41am BST
4 Oct 2017
11:31
Barry Fuller, professor in surgical sciences at University College London Medical School, said that it was important not to get confused by the “cryo” side of the work, and that it was not directly linked to efforts to preserve cells and tissues.
While the molecules are “frozen in time”, he noted, there is no ice or antifreeze involved – instead the technique uses ultra-ultrafast cooling.
“But to turn this on its head, understanding configurations and stability of biomolecules at cryogenic temperatures will always improve the efforts of cryobiolgy,” he said.
Updated
at 11.34am BST
4 Oct 2017
11:25
Turns out you’re unlikely to be able to use a cryo-electron microscope in your garden shed. The equipment is not only expensive, it is enormous – three or four times human height.
Updated
at 11.26am BST
4 Oct 2017
11:20
More reaction: Dame Carol Robinson, professor of chemistry at the Oxford University, described cryo-electron microscopy as “transformative” in allowing scientists to see new images of important biological molecules.
“I am personally very happy for Richard, who predicted this would be possible many years previously,” she said.
Updated
at 11.21am BST
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I think it should go to my dealer
Others think it more likely that Stanley Whittingham and John Goodenough might scoop the prize for their work on the lithium–ion battery.
"Which chemists should we consider? How about the chap behind the lithium-ion battery?"
"I dunno. Is he good enough?"
"Looks like it."
I have just been reading "A Crack in Creation' by Jennifer Doudna (mentioned above) and Samuel Sternberg, about CRISPR technology. It provides a remarkably cheap and easy way to edit genes - anyone can do their own genetic editing for £100 (but only on bacteria and yeasts). It holds a great deal of promise, but with potential for harm as well. I highly recommended the book.
I guess the Nobel committee are waiting for the court cases to be settled before they hand out a prize for CRISPR.
I heard a scientist interviewed on NPR last week (I came in in the middle of the interview and so missed his name) but he delineated exactly why extreme caution is warranted and why we need to pull back and consider which applications are justified and what the intended and unintended consequences will be, and he's one of those who helped create it and thinks the possibilities are astounding.
The problem is that the techniques used at the moment introduce random mutations at the same time. I have worked with a group that are generating a lot of mice using CRISPR and they have discovered quite a few without looking that hard.
If it were to be used on human embryos, the entire genome would need to be sequenced prior to implantation to check the integrity.
Well it won't be the May Johnson relationship.
Don't expect too many comments - we drained our science knowledge yesterday for the physics prize mentioning both Prof. Brian Cox & Prof. Stephen Hawking.
I hope they've got my number!
Well done for mentioning the crystallographer Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin, still the UK's only woman to pick up the chemistry Nobel.
She had a fascinating life, picking up the Lenin Peace Prize from Gorbachev and tutoring one Margaret Roberts at Oxford (apparently they got on in later life, despite their political differences).
(apparently they got on in later life, despite their political differences)
Chemistry: is it Boris and Tezza?
Well, I don't have anything meaningful to add but does anyone find it cute when cute girls say 'chemistry' with a 'cha' sound? I find it cute but I'm not sure if it's because attractive people can say anything and sound cute. Maybe we should do a scientific study on it?
If anyone said "cha-emistry" round me they'd get very short shrift, cuteness notwithstanding.
Oh electron microscopy. Fab.
Has Boots ever won?
No, but Superdrug got a "highly commended" a few years ago.
Congratulations to all involved.
It’s a clean sweep for men this year: nine out of nine have been won by male scientists.
Well, that's phalocentric male demagoguery for ya...only in the G....are they also white? heterosexual?
another bunch of white middle aged males from obscenely rich universities - what a surprise
Irrelevant. The prize is well-deserved in this case, in my opinion at least.
What's your point? You need a lot of money to do cryo-EM, this is the nature of the research. And Richard Henderson is not from obscenely rich university - he did his research in the Medical Research Council- LMB in Cambridge
funny how it's ok to talk about over representation of middle aged white men.About 22% of Nobel laureates are Jewish - any sarcastic, "surprise, surprise" type comments about this statistic?
Only the Swedes would go with wacky blue and yellow cartoons instead of a photo! But seriously, well done to the winners, we have come a long way in electron microscopy in the last 30 years!
We certainly have, and coincidentally 30 years ago was when I was a distinctly non- Nobel-worthy EM practitioner.
Aha an expert! In that purple blobby picture are we supposed to be seeing individual atoms and bonds on the extreme right hand side.
Yes- they get an electron density map from the cryo-TEM data, which in recent years (due to much more sensitive detector and better computation) has become accurate enough that you can then work out the structure that is within it for rather challenging structures.
So the picture depicts pre2012 electron density calculation on the left, modern electron density on the right, and the model of the atomic structure that fits in that density on the extreme right.
“Americans have done pretty well this year: seven of the nine science prizes have gone to researchers from the US. Jacques Dubochet, however, is from the University of Lausanne in Switzerland, while Richard Henderson is Scottish and works at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, UK.”Well yes, they have, thankfully Joachim Frank is German born, so despite his research affiliation this is a wonderful European co-operation.Given the U.S. Congress’ position on funding Zika research this is just too beautiful not to overlook
He has been in the US since 1975 and has done the vast majority of his research here.
Yes indeed, brilliant minds cooperating across the planet to create such an advance is wonderful. I was solely reacting to this neglected fact of birth; nature, nurture, focused imagination, & study, are fickle bedfellows providing extraordinary humans.I in no way meant to offend the American affiliations, just the irony of the Zika juxtaposition
"The noblest pleasure is the joy of understanding."
Cool!
11th Nobel Prize for the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge. What an achievement. I was there in 1997 when John Walker won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, and the tradition (they have a tradition!) is champagne in the canteen at 4pm. Joining him to celebrate were past winners from the lab like Max Perutz, Aaron Klug, Cesar Milstein and Fred Sanger had popped in to (he had retired but lived nearby)-also todays winner Richard Henderson was there of course too.An inspiring place for a young PhD student to be, and world-class institution of which the UK should cherish.
The government does cherish it. The LMB scientists have just received an offer for 1% pay rise this year.
Seeing three people from three countries collaborate on such ingenious work represents what is best in us. To hear that there may be applications for new medications for Alzheimer's is the kind of hopeful news those of us who have loved ones suffering from this awful disease need to hear. Congratulations to these men. Here's to collaboration, innovation, dedication, passion,and imagination. Here's a model to be celebrated and emulated.
#everydaysexism
#nobelssowhite
To slightly amend the theme from last year, if you've still got Stu Cantrill on the line, could you please let him know that we don't need to go get blotto this evening, but are very much overdue for a curry.
It's probably more efficient if I organise the details via a medium other than a newspaper. | Awards ceremony | October 2017 | ['(The Guardian)'] |
Typhoon Haima, the second tropical cyclone to hit the Philippines in less than a week, kills at least seven people and causes flooding, landslides, and power outages before heading out to sea. , , | At least four people have been killed in the Philippines as Super Typhoon Haima hit the country.
The storm, which brought sustained winds of up to 225km/h (140mph), made landfall over Cagayan in the north on Wednesday.
Nearly 100,000 people were evacuated from threatened areas as the storm approached.
There was widespread damage overnight, with homes destroyed and power lines brought down.
Authorities said two of those killed were buried in a landslide, and two others buried in a shanty town in a mountainous region. Experts had feared Haima could prove as destructive as the catastrophic super typhoon Haiyan, which claimed more than 7,350 lives in 2013.
The Philippines endures around 20 major storms every year, many of them deadly.
"I'm 60 years old, this is the strongest typhoon I have ever seen," village councillor Willie Cabalteja told news outlet the Associated Press. President Rodrigo Duterte, in Beijing on a state visit, had said he prayed the Philippines would be spared but that they were "ready".
"We only pray we be spared the destruction such as previous times. Everything has been deployed."
The storm was upgraded to a super typhoon just before it hit in Penablanca, a town in Cagayan province, around 23:00 local time (1500 GMT) on Wednesday.
On Thursday morning, there were reports of damage across a wide area. "Rice and corn plants as far as the eye can see are flattened," Villamor Visaya, a teacher in the northern city of Ilagan told the AFP.
"Many houses were destroyed. I saw one school building crushed under a large tree... it was as if our house was being pulled from its foundations."
Haima, known as Lawin locally, had a weather band 800km (500 miles) wide, and authorities had warned the public to expect fierce winds and storm surges up to five metres (16 feet) or higher. It is the second typhoon to hit the Philippines in a week, after Sarika struck on Sunday. At least one person was killed in that storm, and three people are still missing.
Haima is now moving out across the South China Sea towards Hong Kong and southern China. | Hurricanes_Tornado_Storm_Blizzard | October 2016 | ['(AP via The New York Times)', '(The Epoch Times)', '(BBC)'] |
Dr. Ashraf Marwan, who had been accused of being a senior Mossad agent operating in Egypt prior to the Yom Kippur War, is found dead below the balcony of his home in London; Scotland Yard investigates the "unexplained" death. , | Ashraf Marwan, the son-in-law of the former Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser and a suspected spy for Israel, has been found dead outside his central London flat in "unexplained" circumstances.
The well-connected financier is believed to have fallen from a fourth-floor balcony in Carlton House Terrace overlooking St James's Park.
A spokesman for Scotland Yard could not confirm the man's name but said: "The death is being treated as unexplained."
The 62-year-old grandfather died amid controversy about his role in the intelligence and business worlds. Mr Marwan, who had also been a member of former Egyptian president Anwar Sadat's inner circle, was suspected of tipping off the Israelis about the start of the Yom Kippur war in 1973.
He was a former shareholder in Chelsea football club and had a colourful list of associates. According to reports today these included Adnan Khashoggi, the arms dealer; Ken Bates, the former Chelsea chairman who now owns Leeds United; Mohamed Al Fayed, the owner of Harrods; and the Libyan leader, Colonel Muammar Gadafy.
Some politicians in Egypt have demanded an investigation into reports that Mr Marwan was a double agent for Israel.
Gad Shimron, a former officer with Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, turned military historian, told Reuters: "We know now, from testimony given by Israeli spymasters and made public years after the Yom Kippur war, that Marwan was the man who tipped off Mossad."
It was alleged in a book in 2004 that Mr Marwan gave Israel an early warning about the start of the war, but Israel's leaders ignored it and were caught by surprise when Egypt and Syria attacked.
It was reported that Mr Marwan first walked into the Israeli embassy in London in 1969 and volunteered to give information and was initially turned down, but later recruited by Mossad.
In the 1960s he worked as an assistant to Nasser and married his daughter Mona.
After Nasser's death in 1970 he became a political and security adviser to Sadat during his presidency.
Later in the 1970s Mr Marwan worked as head of Egypt's government-owned military industry complex. He retired and moved to Britain 25 years ago to work in business. | Famous Person - Death | June 2007 | ['(Haaretz)', '(Guardian)'] |
In motorsport, Danica Patrick becomes the first woman to win pole position at the Daytona 500 and the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. | DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Danica Patrick has made history before -- as a woman and a racer, in Indianapolis and Japan.
The spotlight is nothing new. But never has it been this bright before.
Patrick won the Daytona 500 pole Sunday, becoming the first woman to secure the top spot for any race in NASCAR's premier circuit. It's by far the biggest achievement of her stock-car career.
"I was brought up to be the fastest driver, not the fastest girl," she said. "That was instilled in me from very young, from the beginning. Then I feel like thriving in those moments, where the pressure's on, has also been a help for me. I also feel like I've been lucky in my career to be with good teams and have good people around me. I don't think any of it would have been possible without that.
"For those reasons, I've been lucky enough to make history, be the first woman to do many things. I really just hope that I don't stop doing that. We have a lot more history to make. We are excited to do it."
Her latest stamp in the history books came with a lap at 196.434 mph around Daytona International Speedway. Patrick went out eighth in the qualifying session, then had to wait about two hours as 37 fellow drivers tried to take her spot.
Only four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon even came close to knocking her off. Gordon was the only other driver who topped 196 mph in qualifying. He locked up the other guaranteed spot in next week's season-opening Daytona 500.
"It's great to be a part of history with Danica being on the pole," said Gordon, who joked that at least he was the fastest guy. "I think we all know how popular she is, what this will do for our sport. Congratulations to her. Proud to be on there with her."
The rest of the field will be set in duel qualifying races Thursday.
However the lineup unfolds, all drivers will line up behind Patrick's No. 10 Chevrolet SS.
And she knows her latest achievement will mean more public relations work.
The routine is nothing new for Patrick, who was the first woman to lead laps in the Indianapolis 500. She finished third in 2009, the highest finish in that illustrious race for a woman. And she became the only woman to win an IndyCar race when she did it in Japan in 2008.
Hardly anyone witnessed that victory.
Leading the field to the green flag in NASCAR's showcase event should be must-watch television.
"That's a huge accomplishment," team owner and fellow driver Tony Stewart said. "It's not like it's been 15 or 20 years she's been trying to do this. It's her second trip to Daytona here in a Cup car. She's made history in the sport. That's stuff that we're proud of being a part of with her. It's something she should have a huge amount of pride in.
"It's never been done. There's only one person that can be the first to do anything. Doesn't matter how many do it after you do, accomplish that same goal. The first one that does always has that little bit more significance to it because you were the first."
Even before her fast lap Sunday, Patrick was the talk of Speedweeks. Not only did she open up about her budding romance with fellow Sprint Cup rookie Ricky Stenhouse Jr., but she was considered the front-runner for the pole after leading practice sessions Saturday.
And she didn't disappoint.
She kept her car at or near the bottom of the famed track and gained ground on the straightaways, showing lots of power from a Hendrick Motorsports engine.
"It's easy to come down here in your first or second year as a driver and clip the apron trying to run too tight a line or do something and scrub speed off," Stewart said. "That's something she did an awesome job. Watching her lap, she runs so smooth. ... She did her job behind the wheel, for sure."
The result surely felt good for Patrick, especially considering the former IndyCar driver has mostly struggled in three NASCAR seasons. Her best finish in 10 Cup races is 17th, and she has one top-five in 58 starts in the second-tier Nationwide Series.
She raced part-time in 2010 and 2011 while still driving a full IndyCar slate. She switched solely to stock cars last season and finished 10th in the Nationwide standings.
She made the jump to Sprint Cup this season and will battle Stenhouse for Rookie of the Year honors.
Starting out front in an unpredictable, 500-mile race doesn't guarantee any sort of result, but securing the pole will put her in the limelight for at least the rest of the week.
She also won the pole at Daytona for last year's Nationwide race.
This is considerably bigger.
The previous highest female qualifier in a Cup race was Janet Guthrie. She started ninth at Bristol and Talladega in 1977.
"It's obviously a history-making event that will last a long, long time," Guthrie said, praising Patrick's feat. "It's a different era, of course. Different times. I can't imagine what I would do with a spotter or somebody telling me how to drive. It's rather a different sport now. Back then, there was a much greater difference from the front of the field to the back."
Guthrie received a lukewarm reception from fellow drivers back then.
Patrick was much more welcomed, undoubtedly because of her background and popularity.
She's comfortable being in the spotlight, evidenced by her racing career, her television commercials and her sudden openness about her personal life.
"I think when pressure's on and when the spotlight's on, I feel like it ultimately ends up becoming some of my better moments and my better races and better results," Patrick said. "I just understand that if you put the hard work in before you go out there that you can have a little peace and a little peace of mind knowing that you've done everything you can and just let it happen." | Sports Competition | February 2013 | ['(AP via ESPN)', '(CNN)'] |
Veteran Texas lawmaker Sylvester Turner edges out businessman Bill King by just over 4,000 votes in Houston's runoff mayoral election. Turner, a Democratic member of the Texas House of Representatives since 1989, took 51 percent of the vote. King conceded defeat and encouraged Houston citizens to support the incoming mayor. Turner succeeds Annise Parker who was not eligible to run for re-election. | (Reuters) - Veteran lawmaker Sylvester Turner edged out Republican businessman Bill King on Saturday to claim victory as the new mayor of Houston, the fourth most-populous U.S. city.
Turner, who sought to expand economic opportunities, faced King, who had pledged to fix city finances, in a runoff after a November election failed to produce a winner.
Turner, a powerful Democrat in the Republican-dominated state legislature, was elected to a two-year term in office of one of the fastest-growing major U.S. cities, whose fortunes are closely tied to an oil industry that is currently slumping due to low prices for crude.
With more than 210,000 votes cast, Turner claimed victory with 51 percent to 49 percent for King, who conceded defeat.
Turner praised his opponent “for making this a very competitive race and a very issued-oriented race.”
“It’s going to take all of us, working together, to make this a great city,” he said.
King encouraged the people of Houston to support the incoming mayor, adding that he had offered Turner his assistance in facing tough challenges.
“I look forward to talking with him in the weeks and months to come on how we all can work collectively,” Turner said.
The race had been a dead heat throughout the campaign, with the focus on a city deficit that looks set to expand, ballooning pension costs for city employees and a lag in services for the quickly growing population of 2.5 million people.
Turner, backed by public sector unions, supported the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO) which bans discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation, protections not guaranteed under Texas law.
HERO was rejected by voters in November after a campaign by opponents largely focused on concerns about the use of public bathrooms by transgender people.
King, a Republican lawyer and businessman, called himself “unapologetically moderate”. He said the HERO debate created unnecessary division.
Mayor Annise Parker, a Democrat and the first openly lesbian mayor of a major U.S. city, was prevented by term limits from seeking re-election.
The energy industry, which accounts for about 40 percent of Houston’s economy, has sent the fortunes of the city on a roller coaster ride for decades.
Since 1969, Houston has been one of the most successful major U.S. cities in terms of per capita personal income growth. Since about 2003, about 650,000 jobs have been created in the Houston area, according to the University of Houston. | Government Job change - Election | December 2015 | ['(Reuters)', '(KHOU)'] |
A Bratislava court acquits Slovak businessman Marián Kočner for ordering the murder of investigative journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kušnírová in February 2018. The court rules the lack of evidence to convict Kočner. | Slovak businessman Marian Kocner has been found innocent of charges that he ordered the murder of journalist Jan Kuciak. The 2018 killing shocked the country and toppled the government.
A Slovak court has acquitted Slovak businessman Marian Kocner in the murder of journalist Jan Kuciak, saying there wasn't enough evidence to convict him.The court also found co-defendant Alena Z. not guilty of involvement in organizing the murders owing to lack of evidence.
An accomplice of the killer who was at the murder scene and drove the escape vehicle was found guilty and sentenced to 25 years in prison.
State prosecutors have pledged to appeal the verdict acquitting the suspects.
Kocner had been suspected of ordering the murder of Kuciak, an investigative journalist who was shot dead in his house on February 21, 2018, along with his fiancee Martina Kusnirova. Both were 27 years old.
Kuciak had been investigating illegal activities carried out by Kocner and the latter's connection to the ruling party at the time, Smer SD.
The murder of the couple sent shock waves throughout Slovakia
The actual killer admitted to the crime in January and was sentenced to 23 years in jail in April. Another man was sentenced to 15 year's imprisonment last year for involvement in the murder.
DW's Barbara Wesel, who was at the court house near Bratislava for the verdict on Thursday, said it was a "tremendous blow" to relatives of the victims and those hoping for change in Slovakia.
The murders triggered massive protests calling for press freedom in Slovakia
The father of the murdered journalist, Jozef Kuciak, told reporters that the verdict had left him feeling paralyzed. "We can only hope that justice will win out in the end," he said.
Slovak President Zuzana Caputova said she was "shocked" by the verdict, saying she believed it would not stand up to an appeal at the Supreme Court.
Prime Minister Igor Matovic also wrote on Facebook that it was "obvious" that those behind the murder wanted to avoid justice. "We are sure that the two can expect a more just verdict," he said, referring to the two acquitted suspects.
The murder of Kuciak and his fiancee led to massive anti-corruption protests in Slovakia and the resignation of the country's premier at the time, Robert Fico.
Kocner has already received a 19-year sentence in a separate case, having been convicted of forging €69 million ($81.6 million) in promissory notes. He has appealed the sentence.
On Thursday, he was also given a fine of €5,000 for the illegal possession of weapons, after ammunition was found at his house amid investigations into the murder.
tj/sms (dpa, AFP, Reuters)
The murder of a journalist and his partner shocked Slovakia, sparked protests and helped lead to the toppling the government. The trial of a businessman charged with a role in the murders began Thursday.
Slovakian voters are widely expected to remove the center-left Smer party in Saturday's election. The election has been overshadowed by corruption allegations and the 2018 murder of a journalist.
A Slovak court has given a 15-year jail sentence to a man over his role in the murder of journalist Jan Kuciak. Five were charged in the case but four remain on trial. © 2021 Deutsche Welle | | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | September 2020 | ['(DW)'] |
The European Court of Human Rights rules that Khalid ElMasri, a German citizen, was an innocent victim of extraordinary rendition by the Central Intelligence Agency and orders Macedonia to pay him 60,000 after it arrested him and sent him to the CIA. CIA agents then transferred him to a detention facility in Afghanistan. | European Court of Human Rights rules that German citizen was an innocent victim of extraordinary rendition by US agents.
The European Court of Human Rights has ruled in favour of a German citizen, after finding he was an innocent victim of extraordinary rendition by the CIA.
Macedonia was ordered to pay Khaled el-Masri $78,000 on Thursday for arresting him and handing him over to the USin December 2003.
El-Masri spent five months in secret CIA jails for suspected links to armedIslamist groups.
The decisionis a victory forEl-Masri who has been trying in the US and Europe to get authorities to recognise him as a victim.
El-Masri, a German citizen of Lebanese origin, was arrested, held in isolation, questioned and ill-treated in a hotel in the Macedonian capital Skopje for 23 days, the court’s press service said.
Hewas then transferred to CIA agents who brought him to a detention facility in Afghanistan, where he was furtherbadly treated for over four months.
The European court, based in Strasbourg, France, ruled that El-Masri’s account was “established beyond reasonable doubt” and that Macedonia “had been responsible for his torture and ill-treatment both in the country itself and after his transfer to the US authorities in the context of an extra-judicial rendition”.
Macedonian authorities said they would not comment until they are formally notified of the ruling. The Macedonian government has denied involvement in kidnapping.
‘Milestone’
El-Masri claimed during the flight to Afghanistan, he was stripped, beaten and drugged.
His ordeal ended when he was eventually dumped on a road in Albania after theUS realised they had got the wrong man.
Though the case focused on Macedonia, it drew broader attention because of how sensitive the CIA extraordinary renditions were for Europe.
The operationsinvolved abducting and interrogating “terrorist” suspects without court sanction in the years following the September 11, 2001, attacks on the US, under former President George W Bush.
A 2007 Council of Europeinvestigation accused 14 European governments of permitting the CIA to run detention centres, or carry out rendition flights, between 2002 and 2005.
Amnesty International said the verdict was historic because “for the first time it holds a European state accountable for its involvement in the secret US-led programmes and is a milestone in the fight against impunity”.
“Macedonia is not alone,” it said, in a joint statement with the International Committee of Jurists.
. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | December 2012 | ['(Al Jazeera)', '(The Guardian)', '(ECHR)'] |
Violent clashes between police and protesters occur in central Hong Kong as protesters attempt to barricade a major road. | Pro-democracy demonstrators stood behind umbrellas as police advanced on their positions near government offices early Wednesday.
Protesters blocking a tunnel road.
A riot police officer reacts to pro-democracy demonstrators in the tunnel.
The clash started at around 3 a.m. on Wednesday and appeared to last less than half an hour.
Police officers pushing the protesters to Tamar Park to clear the main roads outside government headquarters.
Police officers seizing pro-democracy demonstrators outside the central government offices.
The police using pepper spray to scatter hundreds of demonstrators.
A demonstrator washing his face with water after being hit with pepper spray by the police.
The crackdown on Wednesday included the arrests of 45 protesters.
A pro-democracy demonstrator is taken away by police officers. Broadcast footage appeared to show police officers kicking the protester.
Wednesday’s clash was the worst between the police and protesters since September, when the police used tear gas against demonstrators.
By Keith Bradsher and Chris Buckley
HONG KONG — In the most intense confrontation since the early days of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests, hundreds of police officers used pepper spray in the early hours of Wednesday to scatter hundreds of demonstrators who had barricaded a harbor-front road overnight.
The conflict appeared to last less than half an hour, and the two sides settled into an uneasy standoff nearing dawn. But the crackdown, which the police said had included the arrests of 45 protesters, further escalated tensions in this Asian financial center as the authorities showed growing impatience with demonstrations that have choked traffic for more than two weeks. | Protest_Online Condemnation | October 2014 | ['(New York Times)'] |
Patriots quarterback Tom Brady wins his third MVP award at a Super Bowl and becomes the third quarterback to win four Super Bowls after Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw. | New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady has been named the Most Valuable Player of Super Bowl XLIX.
Brady completed 37 of 50 passes for 328 yards with four touchdowns and two interceptions in leading the Patriots to a 28-24 win over the Seattle Seahawks. The 37 completions set a Super Bowl record.
• The end of the Super Bowl had everyone flipping out
Brady is now a three-time Super Bowl MVP, also collecting the honor in 2001 and 2003. With Sunday's win, he joined Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw as the only quarterbacks to win four Super Bowls. Brady is 4-2 overall in the Super Bowl in his career.
The Patriots won the game after Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson was intercepted at the goal line with less than 25 seconds remaining. New England took the lead late in the fourth quarter after Brady threw a three-yard touchdown to Julian Edelman.
• Madden simulation accurately predicts Super Bowl XLIX score
Following Seattle's 43-8 win over the Broncos last season in Super Bowl XLVIII, linebacker Malcolm Smith was named MVP. You can see all previous Super Bowl MVPs here.
- Molly Geary
The Bills' plans to build a new stadium in Orchard Park are still pending approval, but their new home could be ready for games as early as 2025.
The two South American powers meet in the Copa América group stage on Friday, June 18th.
Bills wide receiver Cole Beasley explained why he's going unvaccinated after blasting the NFL and NFLPA on Thursday for this season's COVID-19 protocols.
There's no doubting the individual talent of England's stars, but there's a lack of purpose between them, and that was indeed the case again in a scoreless tie.
Wizards star Bradley Beal will be a first-time participant in the Tokyo Olympics, having previously been a finalist for the 2016 Rio Games.
There hasn't been a women's soccer tournament at the Olympics without the Brazilian veteran.
The Gold Cup contenders each revealed squads of up to 60 players, which will be trimmed down to 23, but there are still significant indications given by such sizable groups.
Shohei Ohtani is currently third in MLB with 19 homers and he will become the first Japanese-born player to compete in the Derby. | Awards ceremony | February 2015 | ['(Sports International)'] |
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives in Washington, D.C. for talks with President of the United States Barack Obama. | President Obama gave Mr Netanyahu a frosty reception at the White House during their last encounter in March.
They are expected to discuss a range of issues, including Iran's nuclear programme and efforts to start direct Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. The meeting comes a day after Israel confirmed it would allow more consumer goods into the Gaza Strip.
But it said materials such as steel, cement or certain fertilisers that could be used by Hamas militants would be barred or limited.
The White House, EU and Britain have welcomed the move as a "significant step" forward. But Hamas said it was worthless and the blockade should be fully lifted.
Last week, Mr Netanyahu said he believed that a main part of his talks in Washington would be "focused on how to start direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians right away".
The beginning of indirect negotiations in March was halted after Israeli municipal authorities approved plans for the construction of new homes in a settlement in East Jerusalem, which Palestinians want as the capital of a future state.
That announcement came as US Vice-President Joe Biden was on an official visit to Israel, and he condemned the decision.
When the Israeli PM last visited the White House in March, he was snubbed by President Obama, who refused even to allow a photo of their meeting to be released.
Both sides want the atmosphere this time to be much better, the BBC's Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen says.
He says Mr Obama and Mr Netanyahu will have plenty to talk about: what comes next in the gathering storm over Iran's nuclear programme; the changing strategic picture in the Middle East, epitomised by Turkey's public falling out with the Israelis over their deadly raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla; and how to establish a credible peace process with the Palestinians.
However, he adds that - unlike his predecessor - President Obama is prepared to accept that some of Israel's actions are part of the problem in the Middle East. This continues to create irritation - and nervousness - on the Israeli side.
The Palestinians broke off direct peace talks after Israel launched Operation Cast Lead in Gaza in late 2008.
The Israeli military said on Tuesday it would charge an army sniper with manslaughter for alleged actions during the 22-day offensive. It said in a statement there was evidence the staff sergeant opened fire as the victim walked with a group of people waving a white flag.
The operation, which Israel said aimed to stop cross-border Hamas rocket fire, left more than 1,300 Gazans dead, many of them civilians.
During his three-day US visit, Mr Netanyahu is also expected to travel to New York, where he will meet UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and address Jewish American leaders.
Mr Netanyahu cancelled his last visit to the White House, which had been scheduled for 1 June, to deal with the fallout from the Israeli raid on the Gaza-bound flotilla.
The 31 May operation, in which nine Turkish activists were killed, sparked mounting international pressure for Israel to ease its four-year blockade of the Palestinian territory.
During Tuesday's talks, Mr Obama is expected to press Mr Netanyahu to extend a 10-month Israeli moratorium, which ends in September, on the building of new settlements in the West Bank.
But analysts say such a move could strain Mr Netanyahu's coalition government, which includes a key far-right party.
Meanwhile, an Israeli human rights group, B'Tselem, says Israel's Jewish settlements have now taken over more than 40% of all the land in the occupied West Bank. The advocacy group's report says Israel "systematically violates" and reinterprets international, as well as its own laws, to take over private Palestinian land, thus undermining peace negotiations for a two-state solution. Advocates of Israel's settlement policy rejected the report as politically motivated.
| Diplomatic Talks _ Diplomatic_Negotiation_ Summit Meeting | July 2010 | ['(BBC News)', '(CNN)', '(Ynet)'] |
The Nigerian Army is deployed in Kano State after six people died in clashes during local elections. | Troops are patrolling key positions and have set up roadblocks. The army has urged people to remain calm and asked parents to control their children.
An army spokesman said 280 soldiers had been deployed with 220 held in reserve.
Violence broke out when the state opposition accused the governing party of rigging state polls.
Kano is one of the few states that is controlled by the national opposition, while Nigeria's ruling PDP is in opposition locally.
'Many arrests'
Voters in Kano cast ballots on Saturday for local constituency leaders. By Sunday PDP supporters had set up barricades and lit fires, destroying state property and burning down local government buildings.
Police say they arrested many people and recovered weapons including guns and machetes.
The army spokesman said it was helping the police to restore law and order.
The BBC's Alex Last in Lagos says although these were only local elections, political office in Nigeria means the prospect of considerable money and power, so political violence is never far away. | Armed Conflict | November 2007 | ['(BBC)'] |
Pope Benedict XVI is accused of failing to act in a case of the sexual abuse of 200 deaf boys. |
Pope Benedict XVI failed to act over complaints during the 1990s about a priest in the US who is thought to have abused some 200 deaf boys, victims say.
As head of the Vatican office dealing with sex abuses, the then Cardinal Ratzinger allegedly did not respond to letters from an archbishop on the case. A Church trial of the priest was halted after he wrote to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger pleading ill health. The Vatican newspaper said the claims were an "ignoble" smear attempt. The Holy See has been plagued in recent months by abuse cover-up claims in Europe, echoing a similar scandal that hit the Church in the US eight years ago. Hardly a day goes by without new allegations of sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests somewhere in the world being reported in the media.
The Pope's spokesman defended Benedict, saying the Vatican department which the future pontiff was in charge of had not been informed of these latest allegations until 1996 - 20 years after the priest's victims first informed the police.
But the Vatican's rather lame excuse for lack of any action is that canon law, as Church law is called, "does not envision automatic penalties".
The Catholic Church teaches that paedophilia is a grave sin, but the evidence is that accused priests were usually moved to another parish rather than punished.
While the Pope is now promoting a policy of zero tolerance to clerical abuse, the suspicion remains that for many years he failed to react to the damning evidence which arrived on his desk.
For more than 20 years before he was made pontiff, Cardinal Ratzinger led the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith - the Vatican office with responsibility, among other issues, for response to some child abuse cases. An archbishop wrote letters in 1996 to the Vatican watchdog led by Cardinal Ratzinger calling for disciplinary proceedings against Fr Lawrence Murphy, according to Church and Vatican documents. Fr Murphy was a popular priest who is believed to have molested some 200 boys at St John's School for the Deaf in St Francis, Wisconsin, between 1950 and 1974. A canonical trial authorised by Cardinal Ratzinger's deputy was halted after Fr Murphy wrote to the future pope asking that proceedings be stopped, despite objections from a second archbishop. The accused priest said in the letter that he was ill and wanted to live out the remainder of his time in the "dignity of my priesthood". Victims say Fr Murphy - who died in 1998 - assaulted boys while hearing their confessions, in his office, his car, at his mother's house and in their dormitory beds. He was quietly moved to the Diocese of Superior in northern Wisconsin in 1974, where he spent his last 24 years working freely with children in parishes and schools, according to one lawsuit. Lawsuits have been filed on behalf of five men alleging the Archdiocese of Milwaukee in Wisconsin did not take sufficient action against the priest.
At a news conference on Thursday in Milwaukee, one of the victims, Arthur Budzinski, said Fr Murphy had begun to assault him when he was 12. Neither the clerical authorities, nor the police had intervened when he reported it, the 61-year-old said. Mr Budzinski was asked through a sign language interpreter what he wanted to see happen now. "Ratzinger can have all of the colonels and lieutenants they want fall on the sword for him, but eventually he has to 'fess up," the interpreter said. Meanwhile, members of a group of clerical abuse victims who denounced Benedict's handling of the case in a news conference outside the Vatican were briefly detained by Italian police for not having a permit.
The Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano said there was no cover-up, denouncing the allegations as "clearly an ignoble attempt to strike at Pope Benedict and his closest aides at any cost". The Pope's official spokesman, Federico Lombardi, called it a "tragic case", but said there was no provision in Church law for automatic punishment. He noted that police did investigate the allegations at the time but did not press charges. The papal spokesman said the Murphy case had only reached the Vatican in 1996 - two decades after the Milwaukee diocese first learned of the allegations and two years before the priest died. The diocese was asked to take action by "restricting Father Murphy's public ministry and requiring that Father Murphy accept full responsibility for the gravity of his acts", he added. Last week the Pope issued an unprecedented letter to Ireland addressing the 16 years of clerical cover-up scandals. He has yet to comment on his handling of a child sex abuse case involving a German priest, which developed while Benedict was overseeing the Munich archdiocese. The Rev Peter Hullermann had been accused of abusing boys when the now Pope approved his 1980 transfer to Munich to receive psychological treatment for paedophilia. The disgraced priest was convicted in 1986 of abusing a youth, but stayed within the Church for another two decades. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | March 2010 | ['(BBC News)', '(Al Jazeera)', '(The Hindu)'] |
Gunmen attack Garissa University College in Kenya, killing at least 140 people and wounding 65 others. | Nairobi - Kenya's interior ministry says that more than 70 people were killed after Al-Shabaab militants stormed Garissa university on Thursday.
They also said that at least 79 people were injured.
Reuters reported that Kenya's interior minister, Joseph Nkaissery, told reporters in Garissa that about 500 out of 815 students were accounted for, while four Al-Shabaab fighters were killed and 90% of the threat eliminated. However, he cautioned that "the operation is ongoing, anything can happen".
9 people who were critically injured were airlifted from Garissa Airbase to Nairobi for treatment.
A curfew has been ordered between 18:30 to 06:30 for Tana River, Garissa, Wajir and Mandera until April 16.
| Armed Conflict | April 2015 | ['(BBC)', '(AP via News24)', '[permanent dead link]'] |
Romanian voters go to the polls to vote on the impeachment of the President of Romania, Traian Băsescu. | Mr Basescu was accused of violating the constitution and was suspended by parliament on 19 April.
He has been locked in a long-running power struggle with his former ally, Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu.
Data collected from 92% of polling stations showed 74% of people voted against impeaching the president.
Turnout was about 44%.
Despite the result, a major debate is likely on the future division of powers between parliament and president, says the BBC's Nick Thorpe in Bucharest.
Romanians explain how they voted in poll
In pictures
The president will still be facing his opponents in parliament, who also control the government. The president has called for them to resign, but legally he cannot force them to go, our correspondent says.
The voters had to decide between conflicting views of Mr Basescu - as a threat to democracy or a political hero pushing for renewal and good governance. 'Vote for justice'
Prime Minister Tariceanu, speaking after exit polls on Saturday evening, said the low turnout meant it was a victory without glory for the president.
Romanian press on the result
There were more than 18 million eligible voters, including two million Romanians living abroad.
"I voted for our own good, for justice," Iuliana, 70, a pensioner in Timisoara told the BBC. "Why shouldn't Traian Basescu be president? We voted for him once and now we elect him a second time."
The opposition Social Democratic Party (SDP), who initiated the impeachment process, describe Mr Basescu as dictatorial and corrupt, a failure who has never lived up to his constitutional duties. "I voted for the chance of a new beginning for all those who don't want scandal and chaos and who want to live in... a democratic Europe," said SDP head Mircea Geoana.
The president says his enemies are desperate to stop his anti-corruption drive, which has rattled what he calls "the economic mafia". Some analysts say only a general election could calm the situation, but the next poll is more than 18 months away. On Friday, Foreign Minister Adrian Cioroianu warned that Europe's patience with Romania had a limit and that after the referendum, politicians should stop fighting and get back to work. | Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | May 2007 | ['(BBC)'] |
Three people are arrested for their involvement in the killing of six Copts as they left a church in southern Egypt. | Egyptian police say they have arrested three suspects in a drive-by shooting that killed six Coptic Christians and one security official.
The shooting came as worshippers left a church in Naga Hamady, southern Egypt after a midnight mass on Coptic Christmas Eve on 7 January. On Thursday protesters clashed with police at the hospital in Naga Hamady. More than 1,000 Christians had gathered at the hospital to collect the bodies of six of the victims. The drive-by shooting is thought to be in revenge for the alleged rape of a 12-year-old Muslim girl by a Christian man. Following the reported rape in November there were five days of riots in the town, with Christian properties set on fire and damaged. The most serious cases are usually in poor, rural areas where the trigger is often a dispute over land or women, which spills over into sectarian violence. Whole communities can become involved.
Local authorities' handling of such cases is often criticised. Police are accused of delaying their response to reports of fighting and then simply arresting equal numbers of individuals from each faith. Sometimes criminal investigations are dropped in favour of informal reconciliation meetings.
Three people are reported to have pulled up outside the church in Naga Hamady on 7 January, killing at least six Coptic Christians and a security official and injuring 10 others, including two Muslim passers-by. The church's Bishop Kirollos said there had been threats in the days leading up to the Christmas Eve service - a reason he decided to end his Mass an hour earlier than normal. "For days, I had expected something to happen on Christmas Eve," he told the Associated Press. He said he left the church minutes before the attack. "A driving car swerved near me, so I took the back door," he said. "By the time I shook hands with someone at the gate, I heard the mayhem, lots of machine-gun shots." Witness Youssef Sidhom told the BBC that the attack shocked everyone, including police guarding the church. Harassment claims
Naga Hamady is 40 miles (64km) from Luxor, southern Egypt's biggest city. Coptic Christians - who make up 10% of Egypt's 80 million population - have complained of harassment and discrimination. Some Copts argue that previous attacks on them have gone unpunished or have resulted in light sentences. Most Christians in Egypt are Copts - Christians descended from the ancient Egyptians. Their church split from the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches in AD451 because of a theological dispute over the nature of Christ, but is now, on most issues, doctrinally similar to the Eastern Orthodox Church. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | January 2010 | ['(AFP)', '(BBC)'] |
Iran commutes several death sentences from stoning to hanging. | Iran appears to be quietly changing the sentences of Iranians awaiting death by stoning to hanging after international outcry following the case of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, a 43-year-old mother of two.
Mariam Ghorbanzadeh, 25, who was six months' pregnant and miscarried after being beaten up in Tabriz prison this week, was initially sentenced to death by stoning for adultery but her sentence has been commuted to hanging in a rapid judicial review. The decision is thought to have been driven by the Iranian authorities' desire to avoid further international condemnation over the barbaric punishment.
According to Iranian law, officials could not carry out her sentence while she was pregnant. Speaking to the Guardian, her lawyer, Houtan Kian, who represents Mohammadi Ashtiani and two other women kept in Tabriz prison convicted of adultery, said: "My fear is that Iran executes Mariam and those others whose cases have not attracted media attention."
Another of Kian's clients, Azar Bagheri, 19, was imprisoned at the age of 15 after her husband accused her of having an extramarital relationship. Bagheri was on death row for adultery but her sentence was commuted to 100 lashes after Mohammadi Ashtiani's story came to light. Although Bagheri's death penalty was handed down four years ago, the sentence could not be carried out until she was 18 years of old.
"All these women are convicted for adultery but Iran is trying to change their sentences after Sakineh's case has embarrassed them," Kian said.
On Wednesday night, Iran put Mohammadi Ashtiani on a state-run TV programme, in which she appeared to confess to adultery and involvement in murder and said she would sue her first lawyer, Mohammad Mostafaei, who has fled Iran after succeeding in highlighting her case and bringing it to international attention. Mostafaei, who crossed the Iran-Turkey border illegally, was arrested in Turkey on immigration charges but was later released and taken to Norway after EU diplomats intervened. Norway has since offered him asylum.
Mohammadi Ashtiani's appearance on TV, with a blurred face, shaky voice and holding a piece of paper in her hand, prompted an immediate reaction from Kian, who condemned the televised "confession" and said she was tortured for two days before agreeing to give the interview. Amnesty International called it "a complete mockery of the judiciary system in Iran".
Kian dismissed Iran's accusations that Sakineh had murdered, or was an accomplice to the murder, of her husband. He said the murderer – who Iran's judiciary admitted four years ago had actually killed her husband – was freed when Sakineh's children pardoned him. The programme also showed two of her relatives saying that Sakineh was an accomplice to murder. Last week, in an interview with the Guardian through an intermediary, Mohammadi Ashtiani said she was convicted of adultery and was acquitted of murder.
Iran is believed to have frozen all executions until the end of the holy month of Ramadan. At least 12 Iranian women and three men are awaiting execution by stoning.
This article was amended on 13 August 2010. The original said that a TV programme showed relatives saying that Sakineh was a murderer. This has been clarified. | Government Policy Changes | August 2010 | ['(The Guardian)'] |
Fulton County authorities charge a woman with arson in relation to an Atlanta Wendy's restaurant being burnt down the day after police killed Rayshard Brooks there after he fled when they tried to arrest him for DUI. The woman's lawyer said she was Brooks' girlfriend. , The New York Post 2) | The woman arrested for burning down an Atlanta Wendy’s as retribution for the police killing of Rayshard Brooks was his “girlfriend,” her lawyer confirmed Tuesday.
Brooks referred to Natalie White, 29, as his “girlfriend” during the June 12 traffic stop that preceded his death, bodycam footage shows.
White turned herself in Tuesday after a warrant was issued for her arrest.
“[White and Brooks] were close friends,” her attorney, Drew Findling, told The Post, confirming that she was the woman Brooks referred to in the bodycam video.
Brooks was married to Tomika Miller.
Findling declined to comment further on Brooks’ relationship with White “out of respect to the Brooks family who had a funeral today and is grieving the loss of Rayshard Brooks.” | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | June 2020 | ['(The New York Post)'] |
In a series of tweets, President Donald Trump acknowledges that he shared classified information with Russian envoys, contradicting earlier White House denials. | President Trump's national security adviser said Tuesday that the president's decision to reveal highly classified information during a meeting with Russian officials last week was "wholly appropriate" — the latest attempt by the White House to contain the explosive disclosure that Trump potentially jeopardized a crucial intelligence source on the Islamic State.
H.R. McMaster, the president's top security adviser, repeatedly described the president's actions in a press briefing just a day after a Washington Post story revealed that Trump had shared deeply sensitive information with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Ambassador Sergey Kislyak during an Oval Office meeting last week.
"In the context of that discussion, what the president discussed with the foreign minister was wholly appropriate to that conversation and is consistent with the routine sharing of information between the president and any leaders with whom he’s engaged," McMaster said. "It is wholly appropriate for the president to share whatever information he thinks is necessary to advance the security of the American people. That’s what he did."
McMaster refused to confirm whether the information the president shared with the Russians was highly classified. However, because the president has broad authority to declassify information, it is unlikely that his disclosures to the Russians were illegal — as they would have been had just about anyone else in government shared the same secrets. But the classified information he shared with a geopolitical foe was nonetheless explosive, having been provided by a critical U.S. partner through an intelligence-sharing arrangement considered so delicate that some details were withheld even from top allies and other government officials.
McMaster added that Trump made a spur-of-the-moment decision to share the information in the context of the conversation he was having with the Russian officials. He said that "the president wasn’t even aware of where this information came from" and had not been briefed on the source.
"I wanted to make clear to everybody that the president in no way compromised any sources or methods in the course of this conversation," the national security adviser said.
McMaster's pushback came just hours after Trump himself acknowledged Tuesday morning in a pair of tweets that he had indeed revealed highly classified information to Russia — a stunning confirmation of the Washington Post story and a move that seemed to contradict his own White House team after it scrambled to deny the report.
Trump's tweets tried to explain away the news, which emerged late Monday, that he had shared sensitive, “code-word” information with the Russian foreign minister and ambassador during the White House meeting last week.
Trump described his talks with the Russians as “an openly scheduled” meeting at the White House. In fact, the gathering was closed to all U.S. media, although a photographer for the Russian state-owned news agency was allowed into the Oval Office, prompting national security concerns.
Russia denies Trump shared classified details during Oval Office meeting
“As President I wanted to share with Russia (at an openly scheduled W.H. meeting) which I have the absolute right to do, facts pertaining to terrorism and airline flight safety,” Trump wrote Tuesday morning. “Humanitarian reasons, plus I want Russia to greatly step up their fight against ISIS & terrorism.”
Trump's tweets undercut his administration's frantic effort Monday night to contain the damaging report. The White House trotted out three senior administration officials — McMaster, deputy national security adviser Dina Powell and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson — to attack the reports, though they never quite said the initial report was incorrect. Instead, they insisted, as McMaster did again Tuesday, that the president had never revealed sensitive sources and methods.
The president's admission follows a familiar pattern. Last week, after firing FBI Director James B. Comey, the White House originally claimed that the president was acting in response to a memo provided by Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein.
But in an interview with NBC's Lester Holt, Trump later admitted that he had made the decision to fire Comey well before Rosenstein's memo, in part because he was frustrated by the director's investigation into possible collusion between his presidential campaign and the Russian government.
At the time, Trump was surprised by the almost universal bipartisan backlash to his decision, and he raged at his staff, threatening to shake up his already tumultuous West Wing. His communications team — Communications Director Mike Dubke and press secretary Sean Spicer — bore the brunt of the president's ire.
On Monday night, following the Washington Post story, the president again was frustrated with Dubke and Spicer, according to someone with knowledge of the situation.
But his decision Tuesday to undermine his own West Wing staff in a series of tweets is unlikely to help him bring stability to his chaotic administration, just days before he departs on a 10-day trip abroad.
In a later tweet, Trump returned to one of his favorite topics when accused of wrongdoing — leaks.
“I have been asking Director Comey & others, from the beginning of my administration, to find the LEAKERS in the intelligence community,” Trump wrote. | Diplomatic Talks _ Diplomatic_Negotiation_ Summit Meeting | May 2017 | ['(The Washington Post)'] |
Saddam Hussein's half–brother and former intelligence chief Barzan Ibrahim as well as the former chief judge of Iraq Awad Hamed al–Bandar are hanged before dawn. According to the video released by the Iraqi government, the head of Barzan Ibrahim was separated from the rest of his body. Although government officials call the beheading an accident, many Iraqi Sunnis still express umbrage toward the decapitation, accusing the Iraqi government of mutilating the body. | BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Two of Saddam Hussein's aides were hanged before dawn on Monday, the Iraqi government said, admitting that the head of his half-brother Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti was also ripped from his body during the execution.
On the defensive after international uproar over sectarian taunts during the illicitly filmed hanging of the ousted president two weeks ago, government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh insisted there was "no violation of procedure" during the executions of Barzan and former judge Awad Hamed al-Bander.
But defense lawyers and politicians from Saddam's once dominant Sunni Arab minority expressed fury at the fate of Barzan, Saddam's once feared intelligence chief, and there was also skepticism and condemnation of Iraq's Shi'ite-dominated government across the mostly Sunni-ruled Arab world.
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"The convicts were not subjected to any mistreatment," Dabbagh said describing the beheading by the rope as a rare mishap. "Their rights were not violated. There was no chanting."
Government adviser Bassam al-Husseini said the damage to the body was "an act of God". During his trial for crimes against humanity over the killings of 148 Shi'ites from Dujail, a witness said Barzan's agents put people in a meat grinder.
The treatment of corpses is a particularly sensitive issue in Muslim culture. Video footage of Saddam's body lying on a trolley showed what appeared to be a wound on his throat.
Hangmen gauge the length of rope needed to snap the neck of the condemned but not to create enough force to sever the head. | Famous Person - Death | January 2007 | ['(The Australian)', '(Reuters)', '(BBC)', '(CNN)'] |
Two Iraqi Army pilots are killed when their Mi-24 helicopter is shot down by ISIS over the city of Mosul. | ERBIL, Iraq (Reuters) - Two Iraqi army pilots were killed on Thursday when their helicopter was shot down over the city of Mosul by Islamic State, according to a military statement.
The helicopter was providing air support to Federal Police forces battling Islamic State fighters on the western side of Mosul, the statement said.
It is the first aircraft downed by Islamic State over Mosul since the start of the U.S.-backed offensive on the northern Iraqi city, in October.
Mosul is Islamic State’s last major city stronghold in Iraq. The hardline group seized the city nearly three years ago, declaring from one of its old mosques a “caliphate” that also spans parts of Syria.
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Islamic State’s news agency Amaq said the helicopter crashed in al-Ghabat, east of the Tigris river which runs through Mosul. The Iraqi military statement also located the crash on the eastern side, which was recaptured from the militants in January, after 100 days of fighting.
The insurgents are putting up stiff resistance in the remaining district under their control in northwestern Mosul and the densely populated Old City.
The militants are dug in surrounded by civilians, effectively using them as human shields and taking advantage of the narrow streets of the Old City that restrict the movements of the Iraqi forces and limit the use of artillery and air power.
| Armed Conflict | April 2017 | ['(Reuters)'] |
A 21-year-old man shoots and kills five people, including his parents and girlfriend, in two Louisiana parishes. The suspect fled to Virginia and was arrested the next day. | January 27, 2019 / 6:27 PM
/ CBS/AP
Shootings in Louisiana: What we know
New Orleans — Authorities in Louisiana said a 21-year-old accused of killing his parents and three others in two separate but related shootings Saturday has been arrested in Virginia after an overnight manhunt. Dakota Theriot, who faces charges of first-degree-murder, illegal use of weapons and home invasion, was captured Sunday in Richmond County, Virginia. The Ascension Parish Sheriff's Office announced Theriot's arrest in a Facebook post Sunday morning and said he will be brought back to Louisiana to face charges.
Authorities say Theriot first shot and killed three people — the woman believed to be his girlfriend, her brother and father — in Livingston Parish before taking her father's truck and driving to neighboring Ascension Parish where he shot and killed his parents.
Deputies with the Richmond County Sheriff's Office in Virginia said they received a request from a family member of Theriot's to check their residence. While the deputies were on site, Theriot arrived at the residence with a firearm pointed out the window of a vehicle, police said. The deputies sought cover and Theriot dropped the weapon upon command and was arrested, police said.
Ascension Parish Sheriff Bobby Webre told a news conference that deputies were called to a trailer in the city of Gonzales for a "domestic incident" on Saturday morning. Upon arrival, deputies found two people who had been shot but were still alive: Elizabeth and Keith Theriot, both 51. CBS affiliate WAFB-TV reports the couple was shot in the bedroom, authorities said.
Deputies were able to interview Keith Theriot before the couple was transported to a hospital in Baton Rouge, where they later died. From that interview, authorities identified Dakota Theriot, the couple's son, as "our prime suspect in this case," Webre said.
The sheriff said three other shooting deaths occurred Saturday in neighboring Livingston parishes, about 70 miles west of New Orleans. Livingston Parish Sheriff Jason Ard confirmed on Facebook that three deaths happened in his parish and identified the victims as Billy Ernest, 43; Tanner Ernest, 17; and Summer Ernest, 20.
There were two juveniles found at the scene, a 7-year-old and a 1-year-old, both of whom are safe, Ard said.
Ard said Summer Ernest and Dakota Theriot were in a relationship and that Theriot had been living with her family for a few weeks.
Webre said the three victims in Livingston were shot first, and he then shot his parents.
Theriot had been considered "armed and dangerous" and was last seen driving a stolen 2004 gray and silver Dodge Ram pickup.
Evelyn Ernest, the mother of Billy Ernst and grandmother of Tanner and Summer, told CBS News that Summer and the suspect were briefly in a romantic relationship. She said she met Theriot only once.
Theriot's parents were shot in their trailer on Saturday morning.
"The father was gravely injured at the time we found him and has since passed away," said Webre. But before he died, Webre said authorities were able to get a "dying declaration from him, and only enough information to let us know that it was his son that committed this act."
Webre had said there were indications that Theriot was traveling east and could have been in another state.
"We're going to work every lead. We're going to follow every tip," he said during the evening news conference.
Ard said Dakota Theriot was believed to be armed with at least one handgun.
"We do not have a motive. It is still undetermined," Ard said.
Crystal DeYoung, Billy Ernest's sister, told The Associated Press that she believes Theriot had just started dating her niece, Summer Ernest.
"My family met him last weekend at a birthday party and didn't get good vibes from him," DeYoung said. She said she wasn't sure how her niece and Theriot met, but that she believed the relationship was relatively new.
"My mom is a good judge of character and she just thought he was not good," DeYoung said of Theriot.
DeYoung said she skipped the birthday party and didn't meet Theriot herself. DeYoung said Summer and Tanner Ernest were two of Billy's three children. He was also raising his wife's children.
DeYoung said Theriot doesn't have a vehicle and she's not sure how he ended up at the Ernest home on Saturday, but after the killings, he took off in her brother's truck.
There were also two young children in the home at the time. DeYoung said a 7-year-old took the baby out of the house and went to a neighbor's.
DeYoung said her brother, niece and nephew were good people.
"They all had very good hearts. They trusted people too much," she said, as she began crying. "They all loved unconditionally."
Charlenne Bordelon lives near the house where the Ernests were killed. She told The Advocate newspaper that two young children from the house ran to her home. They were uninjured and asked for help after the shooting.
Bordelon said Theriot was the older daughter's boyfriend and that he'd recently moved in with the family but she did not know him.
Webre said Dakota had lived with his parents briefly but was asked to leave the residence and not return.
"I would not approach this vehicle. We feel no doubt that Dakota is going to be armed and dangerous, and we need to bring him to justice really quick," Webre said.
Webre said Dakota Theriot had some run-ins with law enforcement in other parishes that he described as misdemeanor-type incidents that did not include violence: "Certainly nothing of the magnitude that we've seen today."
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Arrest | January 2019 | ['(CBS News)', '(People)'] |
The United States decides to resume training Indonesian soldiers after 12 years. | JAKARTA -- The U.S. military said Thursday that it would resume relations with Indonesia's special forces, an elite group blamed for atrocities and repression during the country's dark years of authoritarianism.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, in a visit here, said the United States would end its 12-year prohibition on contacts and assistance to the Indonesian special forces after the Obama administration concluded that the unit had cleaned up its ranks and was sufficiently committed to human rights.
"These initial steps will take place within the limits of U.S. law and do not signal any lessening of the importance we place on human rights and accountability," Gates said after meeting with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. "Our ability to expand upon these initial steps will depend on continued implementation of reforms."
Although the Pentagon has been pressing for years to resume contacts with the Indonesian special forces, human-rights groups and some U.S. lawmakers have resisted, arguing that the unit has stymied efforts to hold current and former military leaders responsible for kidnappings, assassinations and other crimes.
"This decision is a stunning betrayal of the standards the U.S. has," said Sophie Richardson, Asia advocacy director for Human Rights Watch. She added that it would "have ramifications well beyond Indonesia, in effect telegraphing to abusive militaries worldwide that the Obama administration's human-rights standards are up for negotiation."
U.S. officials described the end of the ban as a key development in their attempts to develop closer ties with Indonesia, a country of 238 million people, most of them moderate Muslims, that has embraced democracy since emerging from decades of dictatorship in 1998.
Hopes that the two countries would build a special alliance soared after the 2008 election of President Obama, who lived in Indonesia as a child. But the relationship has taken longer than expected to flourish.
Obama has tried unsuccessfully to visit Jakarta ever since he took office. He has been forced to cancel trips twice at the last moment: once in March so he could push his health-care bill through Congress, and a second time in June so he could respond to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
The Indonesian special forces, known as Komando Pasukan Khusus, or Kopassus, have about 5,000 members but exert outsized influence on the Indonesian government. The president's brother-in-law is a former member, as are high-ranking members of the Indonesian military.
After months of negotiations with the Indonesians, U.S. defense officials said the White House and State Department had approved of the resumption of contacts with Kopassus just prior to Gates's arrival in Jakarta on Wednesday. The United States resumed regular ties with the remainder of Indonesia's military in 2005.
U.S. defense officials said Indonesia has cleansed Kopassus's ranks of individuals convicted of human-rights violations and has pledged to prosecute any future cases in civilian courts. They also said the special forces have professionalized their ranks over the past decade and that a new generation of officers with untainted reputations is now in charge.
"Clearly they had a dark past," said Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary, adding: "It's a different unit than its reputation suggests."
Pentagon officials said they would seek a gradual escalation of contacts with Kopassus, starting with simple staff talks and officer exchanges, but gave few details. There are no immediate plans, they said, to conduct operational training or deliver cash aid.
Under a 1997 law sponsored by Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), the United States is prohibited from contact with foreign military units that have a pattern of human-rights violations and have resisted efforts to hold abusers accountable, even for crimes committed long ago. The State Department also has a policy of vetting individual officers from foreign militaries before they are allowed to participate in U.S. training programs.
Kopassus served as a brutal arm of the military during long reign of Indonesian dictator Suharto, crushing communist sympathizers and repressing regime opponents in East Timor, Aceh and Papua. Suharto was deposed in 1998.
Indonesia has subsequently convicted about a dozen Kopassus officers for abuses during Suharto's rule. But advocacy groups noted that many have been allowed to return to duty, including some who have taken senior positions in the Indonesian military.
Among them is Lt. Gen. Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin, who as a senior Kopassus officer was blamed for the brutal treatment of pro-democracy protesters in Jakarta the late 1990s and activists in East Timor when the Indonesian territory voted for independence in 1999.
Sjamsoeddin no longer serves in the special forces but was appointed Indonesia's deputy defense minister in January 2009. The Indonesian government has said that he is innocent of wrongdoing. In September, however, the State Department refused to issue a visa to allow him to visit the United States. | Government Policy Changes | July 2010 | ['(BBC)', '(Bangkok Post)', '[permanent dead link]', '(The Sydney Morning Herald)', '(The Washington Post)'] |
An earthquake of 6.3 magnitude strikes the region of Canterbury in the South Island of New Zealand, disrupting communications to the area and closing Christchurch Airport. | Did you feel the quake?
Tell us your story, send us your photos and video.
There have been "multiple fatalities" after a shallow 6.3 magnitude earthquake in Christchurch this afternoon caused buildings to collapse, police have confirmed.
Police said fatalities had been reported at several locations and that two buses had been crushed by falling buildings.
Christchurch resident Jane Smith, who works in the central city, told the Herald a work colleague had just returned from helping rescue efforts after a building facade had collapsed on a bus on Colombo St.
"There's people dead. He was pulling them out of a bus. Colombo St is completely munted."
TV3 reported that a person had died in the Christchurch suburb of Sumner.
Police said there were reports of fires in buildings in the central city and of people being trapped.
Police said all available staff were helping with the rescue operation and the Defence Force had been called in to assist.
Triage centres have been established for the injured at Latimer Square in the central city, Spotlight Mall in Sydenham and Sanitarium in Papanui.
A Herald reporter said that emergency services were struggling to enter the central city and were having to manoeuvre slowly around gridlocked traffic.
Shallow quake GNS Science said today's quake was centred at Lyttelton at a depth of 5km at 12.51pm.
GNS said the earthquake would have caused more damage than the original 7.1 earthquake on September 4 because of its shallow depth.
Its data centre manager Kevin Fenaughty said residents said the quake's epicentre was located in the "worst possible location" for the city.
"It's a nightmare. A lot of people were just getting back on their feet after the original quake."
Another earthquake of 4.5 struck at 1.21pm, 10 km east of Diamond Harbour.
Streets flooded Herald reporter Jarrod Booker said the shake lasted approximately one minute and was extremely violent - rocking buildings back and forth.
He said people had left buildings and were out on the streets where tarmac had cracked and water mains had burst, causing extensive flooding.
Tuam Street had become a river as water poured from ruptures in the road and was impassable in places.
The whole central city was in grid lock as people tried to evacuate central businesses to check their homes, Jarrod Booker said.
Most traffic lights were out and cars were also having to negotiate around hordes of people on foot.
Jarrod Booker said that he could hear sirens but that it would be difficult for emergency services to access the city because of the gridlock.
"Even sitting in a car you can feel continual shaking on a smaller scale than the original quake," he said.
Some pedestrians were standing on the footpaths and staring into space, apparently in shock.
'Great confusion' Mayor Bob Parker said he was "thrown quite a distance" by the earthquake.
"That was, in the city central anyway, as violent as the one that happened on the 4th of September," he told Radio New Zealand.
Mr Parker said there were scenes of "great confusion" on the streets, also saying the roads were jammed as vehicles sought to get out of the central city.
"I know of injuries in my building and there are unconfirmed reports of serious injuries in the city."
Mr Parker did not know the extent of damage to the city's infrastructure, but advised people not to drink the water supply.
"We've been through this before this once, we now need to think we did at that time."
Buildings collapsed Jarrod Booker said Christchurch's historic cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament on Barbadoes Street had half collapsed, with the remaining part of the building filled with cracks.
There was huge damage to other older buildings with large amounts of debris falling to the ground, he said.
He said the carpark at the Christchurch Star had turned into a river with huge cracks and that the roads had risen in areas.
People were comforting people outside amid a general state of shock as they tried to absorb what had happened, he said.
Radio New Zealand reported widespread damage to the city centre, with a church on Durham St collapsed and concrete lifted by up to a metre.
TV3 reported the Provincial Chambers Building had collapsed and it was believed people were trapped inside.
A listener told Newstalk ZB that the Piko Wholefoods building on Kilmore Street near the city centre, which was hit in the September 4 earthquake, was now "practically non-existent".
The spire on the Christchurch Cathedral had also collapsed.
A man said he and 19 other colleagues are trapped in Christchurch's Forsyth Barr building on Colombo Street.
Gary Moore told NZPA workers were stuck on the 12th floor as the stairwell had collapsed. He was not sure if people were trapped on other floors.
People were in a state of shock but were not injured and he urged NZPA to let somebody know.
He described the first quake and the aftershocks as catastrophic.
"We watched the cathedral collapse out our window while we were holding onto the walls."
"Every aftershock sends us rushing under the desks. It's very unnerving but we can clearly see there are other priorities out the window. There has been a lot of damage and I guess people are attending to that before they come and get us," he said.
A Newstalk ZB reporter in Christchurch said liquefaction was spewing out of the ground at St Albans High School.
School children had to be removed from the fields with liquefaction also spewing from the tennis courts.
Civil Defence response Speaking to media at the Beehive's National Crisis Centre, Director of Civil Defence John Hamilton said a response plan was now being put together using all available national resources.
"That includes extra fire people, extra police personnel, assets from the Defence Forces. International offers of assistance are coming through from Australia in particular."
Mr Hamilton said the earthquake was a level three crisis - the highest for a localised event. Phone lines are down and calls are not being connected to emergency services. Telecom said it is working to understand which services have been affected by the earthquake and get these restored as soon as possible.
Flights into Christchurch have been put on hold while Christchurch Airport checks the state of its runway. So far, four international flights have been diverted to Wellington Airport.
Today's quake was shallower and closer to Christchurch than the original Darfield quake, which took place 30km west of the city at a depth of 33kms.
Civil Defence advice The Civil Defence has issued the following advisory:
Check yourself first for injuries and get first aid if necessary before helping injured or trapped persons.
Assess your home or workplace for damage. If the building appears unsafe get everyone out. Use the stairs, not an elevator and when outside, watch out for fallen power lines or broken gas lines. Stay out of damaged areas.
Look for and extinguish small fires if it is safe to do so. Fire is a significant hazard following earthquakes.
Listen to the radio for updated emergency information and instructions.
Do not overload phone lines with non-emergency calls.
Help people who require special assistance - infants, elderly people, those without transportation, families who may need additional help, people with disabilities, and the people who care for them.
Detailed safety advice will come from local authorities and emergency services in the area. People should act on it promptly. MCDEM, local civil defence authorities and scientific advisors are closely monitoring the situation. | Earthquakes | February 2011 | ['(New Zealand Herald)', '(Geo Net)', '(New Zealand Herald)'] |
Gunmen kill 15 people and injure five at a security checkpoint in Yala Province, Thailand. The attack is the most deadly in years. | BANGKOK (Reuters) - Suspected separatist insurgents stormed a security checkpoint in Thailand’s Muslim-majority south and killed at least 15 people, including a police officer and many village defense volunteers, security officials said on Wednesday.
15 dead in southern Thailand's worst attack in years
01:11
It was the worst single attack in years in a restive region where a long-running Muslim insurgency has killed thousands of people in a fight against central government rule in overwhelmingly Buddhist Thailand.
The attackers, in the province of Yala, also used explosives and scattered nails on roads to delay pursuers late on Tuesday night.
“This is likely the work of the insurgents,” Colonel Pramote Prom-in, a military regional security spokesman, told Reuters. “This is one of the biggest attack in recent times.”
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, as is common with such attacks in the region.
A decade-old separatist insurgency in predominantly Buddhist Thailand’s largely ethnic Malay-Muslim provinces of Yala, Pattani, and Narathiwat has killed nearly 7,000 people since 2004, says Deep South Watch, a group that monitors the violence.
Many of the dead at the checkpoint were members of the Village Defence Volunteers, a community-watch type organization, who were believed to be giving information to the local police and military.
“Normally the insurgents don’t hit these village volunteers because they are considered civilians, unless they crosses the line and become part of state apparatus,” Don Pathan, an expert on Thailand’s deep south, told Reuters.
The population of the provinces, which belonged to an independent Malay Muslim sultanate before Thailand annexed them in 1909, is 80 percent Muslim, while the rest of the country is overwhelmingly Buddhist.
Some rebel groups in the south have said they are fighting to establish an independent state.
Authorities arrested several suspects from the region in August over a series of small bombs detonated in Bangkok, the capital, although they have not directly blamed any insurgent group.
The main insurgency group, the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN), denied responsibility for the Bangkok bombings, which wounded four people.
In August, the group told Reuters it had held a secret preliminary meeting with the government, but any step toward a peace process appeared to wither after the deputy prime minister rejected a key demand for the release of prisoners.
Additional reporting by Panu Wongcha-um, and Panarat Thepgumpanat; Editing by Paul Tait, Clarence Fernandez and Alex Richardson
| Armed Conflict | November 2019 | ['(Reuters)', '(Bangkok Post)'] |
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer announces that the state will pay a $600 million settlement to Flint residents who were affected by lead contamination in the water, 80% of which will be distributed to families of children affected by the crisis. | DETROIT — Michigan will pay $600 million to children and families in Flint who were exposed to dangerous lead-contaminated drinking water in one of the nation's worst public health disasters, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced Thursday.
In a statement, Whitmer (D) apologized to residents for the "uncertainty and troubles" they have endured since 2014 and acknowledged that the healing "will take a long time."
"What happened in Flint should have never happened," she said, "and financial compensation with this settlement is just one of the many ways we can continue to show our support for the city of Flint and its families."
The settlement resolves a lengthy legal battle that began under her Republican predecessor, Rick Snyder, who was among the many public officials accused of ignoring or even denying the crisis in the poor, largely minority city of 95,000. The problems started almost immediately after Flint changed the source of its municipal water supply to save money, and they continued for nearly two years despite residents' increasing complaints and concerns.
Under the terms of the agreement, 80 percent of the monetary award will go to residents who were younger than 18 at the time of their exposure. More than half of that amount will go toward the children younger than 6 — whose age put them at greatest risk for lead poisoning and the physical damage and neurological problems that can result.
Between 18,000 and 20,000 children and adolescents lived in Flint during the water crisis, officials have estimated.
“The kids in Flint at every turn have been unnecessarily victimized by the circumstances of their life, poverty, a government that was dishonest with them,” said Corey M. Stern, the lead counsel for plaintiffs in the settlement, which encompasses multiple lawsuits and cases filed against the state.
“This is a crescendo moment,” he added, reflecting on the many obstacles that delayed justice. “To these kids, there’s been a hell of a lot of losses. And I don’t know of many wins . . . [but] this is a big win for them, and it’s beyond the money. It’s what it says.”
The remaining 20 percent of the payments will go to plaintiffs whose lawsuits pertained to other issues, such as property damage and loss of revenue.
Toxic lead, scared parents and simmering anger: A month inside a city without clean water
The deal follows 18 months of negotiations involving four attorneys acting on behalf of Flint residents and businesses, and court-appointed mediators overseen by U.S. District Judge Judith E. Levy. Talks escalated greatly in recent months amid the coronavirus pandemic.
According to Stern, the amounts awarded to each child will vary. The negotiating team constructed a grid with categories of claimants, with each category then broken into empirical levels of harm as determined by blood-lead tests and other data. The final total will depend on the number of children covered; before the announcement, 7,500 had legal representation.
“I do not think every kid should be treated equally, because not every kid is injured equally,” Stern said.
Florlisa Fowler, a mother of three who lives on Flint’s northeast side, learned of the agreement Wednesday evening through conversations and early news reports. As details emerged, some people were excited and energized, others dissatisfied. Fowler found herself on both sides.
“I was like, ‘Well, at least it’s something,’ ” she said Thursday. “And that’s kind of sad that we think that way because we’re worth so much more, but at least it gives some people hope.”
Even amid her skepticism, though, she felt relief. Her daughter was 12 at the time of the crisis, and tests detected lead poisoning. Now 17, the girl has cognitive issues as well as gastrointestinal problems that have been attributed to her lead exposure.
The debacle began when Flint stopped drawing its water from Lake Huron and switched to the Flint River. But state officials failed to ensure that corrosion-control treatments were added to the new water supply. Without them, rust, iron and lead leached from the city’s aging pipes and contaminated the drinking water of homes and businesses.
Residents started complaining of discolored and foul-smelling water and then worse — skin rashes after bathing — but their concerns were largely ignored.
Among some children tested in 2015 at a local hospital, the percentage with lead poisoning doubled after the switch in water sources. In some neighborhoods, it tripled. Rather than prompting immediate action, the test results were questioned, and the pediatrician who tried to highlight them was harshly criticized.
When the city and state finally responded, forced in part by the federal Environmental Protection Agency invoking its emergency powers, a massive effort got underway to distribute bottled water and water filters throughout Flint. Snyder told residents in a State of the State address that “government failed you at the federal, state and local level.”
‘If I could afford to leave, I would.’ In Flint, a water crisis with no end in sight.
Former lawmaker Phil Phelps (D) represented Flint at the height of the disaster and led legislative efforts to secure recovery funding for the city and accountability from state officials. On Thursday, he was struggling with a mix of emotions.
“There is no amount of money that’s going to be able to reverse the damage caused to the mental and physical health of Flint residents,” said Phelps, who worries legal fees will leave many children lacking.
Although officials have declared the crisis over and Flint’s drinking water no longer a health hazard, residents say they have little trust in what comes out of their taps. Most continue to use bottled water.
A criminal investigation by the Michigan attorney general’s office continues. Felony charges initially were filed against more than half a dozen local and state officials, but last year those were dismissed and the probe restarted.
Thursday’s announcement is just one facet of the city’s recovery. Since 2015, Flint has received tens of millions of dollars in state and federal funding to repair its devastated water system. More than 25,000 lead service lines have been removed and replaced to date. Roughly 5,000 more lines still need to be dug up.
And in her statement, Whitmer touted additional programs and aid. The state’s current budget allocated $120 million to water infrastructure investments aimed at cleaning up the city’s drinking water, and the upcoming budget will direct millions more to support various programs, including nutrition, health care and early childhood services.
Yet the financial settlement comes at a particularly timely moment as the country grapples with the impacts of systemic racism, exposed not just by the coronavirus pandemic but by the deaths of George Floyd and other African Americans during encounters with police.
“Flint is everything that people are out protesting about,” said Stern, who represents some 2,600 young plaintiffs there. “Flint is a microcosm of what our most underserved communities look like, and one of the reasons why the crisis reached the level it did was because people weren’t listening to the voices of those in Flint.”
Melissa Mays, a mother who became one of the most outspoken in demanding state compensation for the community, is feeling a measure of vindication.
“Today is day 2,309 since they switched our water and took away our clean water,” she noted Thursday. “So it’s a very, very long fight, and we have to keep telling ourselves we matter. This is what’s right.”
| Financial Aid | August 2020 | ['(The Washington Post)'] |
Voters in the Czech Republic go to the polls to elect new members of the Chamber of Deputies. | Czechs are voting in a two-day general election in which the favourite is a populist billionaire who has campaigned on an anti-establishment platform.
Andrej Babis, 63, is estimated to be worth $4 billion (£3bn) making him the country's second richest man.
His centrist ANO (Yes) party has a wide lead in the polls but is not expected to secure a majority.
Its current coalition partner, the centre-left Social Democrats (CSSD), is polling in second place.
Polls opened at 14:00 local time (12:00 GMT) and close at 22:00 (20:00 GMT). They will open again on Saturday morning and close in the afternoon.
Andrej Babis's party, which has campaigned on an anti-establishment, anti-EU and anti-corruption basis, is predicted to win the biggest share of the vote.
Far-right and far-left parties are also predicted to make gains.
This will put Mr Babis, who has faced numerous scandals including a fraud indictment and accusations he was a communist-era police agent, in pole position to become prime minister as part of a coalition.
If his party secures a majority, it is not known who Mr Babis will seek to form a government with.
Currently, Social Democrat Bohuslav Sobotka heads a coalition formed after a 2013 snap election. This was triggered by the fall of the centre-right government of Petr Necas over a spying, sex and bribery scandal earlier in the year.
In May, Mr Sobotka submitted his government's resignation because of a disagreement with Andrej Babis, who was serving as finance minister at the time.
He was unhappy about alleged unexplained business dealings involving Mr Babis.
| Government Job change - Election | October 2017 | ['(BBC News)'] |
At least 57 people are killed and others are missing after avalanches in Pakistan–controlled Kashmir over the last 24 hours, senior government officials say. In Indian–administered Kashmir, at least 10 are killed. | ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - At least 59 people were killed and many more were missing after avalanches in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir over the last 24 hours, senior government officials said on Tuesday.
Avalanches in Kashmir kill dozens
In neighbouring India, at least 10 people were killed after several avalanches hit the northern-part of Indian-administered Kashmir.
Two Pakistani officials said many villagers were still stranded by the avalanches in the Neelum Valley area following heavy rain that also triggered landslides. Many people were reported missing and feared dead as rescue efforts got under way, one of the officials said.
Rescuers had managed to extract more than 50 people from the snow and airlifted them out of the area for treatment. Authorities also scrambled to provide relief to local people with another spell of heavy snow expected on Friday.
At least 53 houses had been completely destroyed by avalanches in the Pakistani administered region known as Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), officials said.
“I have asked the National Disaster Management Authority, the military and all our federal ministers to immediately provide all humanitarian assistance on an emergency footing to the affected people in AJK,” Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan tweeted.
A senior Indian police official said five soldiers were among the 10 killed near the border between India and Pakistan.
The area is one of the world’s most militarily tense frontiers, where the neighbouring armies have confronted each other over disputed territory for decades. Kashmir has been divided between Indian and Pakistan since their independence in 1947.
In 2012, an avalanche engulfed a Pakistani army battalion headquarters near the Indian border, killing at least 124 soldiers and 11 civilians.
Meanwhile in western Pakistan, heavy snowfall in southwestern Balochistan destroyed several houses in the mountainous region, killing 17 people.
The disaster management authority declared an emergency in seven districts of the mineral-rich province and sought the army’s help for relief and rescue operations.
Key highways connecting Pakistan and Afghanistan were blocked due to heavy snow, forcing officials to suspend transportation of essential goods into Afghanistan.
Severe cold and heavy snow led to the death of 39 people in six provinces of Afghanistan in the past two weeks said Tamim Azimi, a spokesman for Afghanistan’s Natural Disaster Management Authority in Kabul.
“We are distributing emergency assistance, including cash to families of the victims,” said Azimi, adding that heavy rain and snow have hampered for rescuers. | Hurricanes_Tornado_Storm_Blizzard | January 2020 | ['(Reuters)'] |
Spanish film–maker Augusti Vila wins the main prize at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in the Czech Republic for his film The Mosquito Net. (People's Daily) | Spanish director Agusti Vila's film "The Mosquito Net" won the main prize at the Czech Republic's Karlovy Vary international film festival Saturday.
A jury led by US producer Ron Yerxa in the western Czech spa city picked Vila's film featuring Geraldine Chaplin in a silent role as the Grand Prix-Crystal Globe winner out of 12 movies.
Russian director Nikita Mikhalkov and Czech director Juraj Herz received Crystal Globes for "outstanding artistic contribution to world cinema" at the festival.
British actor Jude Law arrived in Karlovy Vary, about 130 kilometres (80 miles) west of Prague, earlier in the week to receive the Festival President's Award.
. | Awards ceremony | July 2010 | ['(BBC)', '(CBC News)', '(The Independent)'] |
Provisional data from the United Kingdom Meteorological Office shows that the 2007 British summer was the wettest on record with five areas of England on flood warning. | This summer appears to have been the wettest since rainfall records began in 1914, according to provisional data from the UK's Met Office.
Britain had 358.5mm of rain, just beating the 1956 record of 358.4mm.
The main reason for the high rainfall has been the unusually southerly position of the jet stream, a band of strong winds high in the atmosphere.
Following earlier floods in central and southern England, five areas of the country are still on flood alert.
This summer has been very wet and very disappointing for most
Keith Groves, Met Office
The record rainfall was driven by conditions in England, where the downpour surpassed all other recorded years by a substantial margin.
The record years for Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales respectively remain 1958, 1985 and 1927.
The figures are preliminary and may be revised at a later date.
Summer of disappointment
"These figures confirm what most people have already been thinking - this summer has been very wet and very disappointing for most," said Keith Groves, the Met Office's head of forecasting.
While it has been wet, the summer has been distinctly average in terms of temperature.
THE JETSTREAM
Ribbon of fast-moving air, 30,000ft above
Caused by a meeting of southern warm air and northern cold air
Its position has a large bearing on UK weather
Why is the summer so wet?
June, July and August saw a mean temperature of 14.1C, almost exactly the average for summers since the 1970s.
The jet stream, a ribbon of very strong winds about 10km up in the atmosphere which brings weather systems to the UK, has been much further south and stronger than usual this summer.
This has brought depressions across many parts of the country.
Environment Agency flood watch warnings are in force for north Devon, Christchurch harbour near Bournemouth, the Mersey estuary, north Norfolk, and the coast between Bristol and Exmoor. | Floods | August 2007 | ['(BBC)'] |
The BBC receives a record 110,994 complaints over their coverage of Prince Philip's death, mostly due to the extent of the coverage. | 110,000 people have complained, mostly about excess but also about Andrew, attire – and ease of complaining
The BBC’s wall-to-wall coverage of Prince Philip’s death has become the most complained-about moment in British television history, as viewers expressed their annoyance that shows such as EastEnders and MasterChef were replaced with royal tributes.
At least 110,994 people have contacted the BBC to express their displeasure at the decision to turn most of the corporation’s TV channels and radio stations over to rolling tributes to the Queen’s husband.
BBC One and BBC Two dedicated Friday evening’s programming to Philip, and their ratings fell as viewers switched off altogether, turned to streaming services or watched shows such as Gogglebox on Channel 4.
According to an internal BBC complaints log seen by the Guardian, an unprecedented level of viewer feedback was received over the weekend, meaning the coverage appears to have elicited one of the most negative reactions to BBC programmes ever seen.
One example comment from a member of the public included in the log said: “Coverage of this event took up the entire evening broadcast to the exclusion of all other topics, including the ongoing topic of the pandemic. Some coverage was justified, but not to this extent.”
Another said: “It was sad news Prince Philip [sic] died on Friday and I understand the BBC had to acknowledge the fact but on every single one of its channels? Why [not] just put it on one channel for those that want to listen to that drivel and the rest of us can have a bit of music.”
Within hours of Philip’s death the number of complaints about the coverage had become so large that the BBC set up a dedicated form in an attempt to streamline the process. This form was then taken down on Sunday, making it harder for people to register their displeasure.
The previous record for BBC complaints is believed to be the 63,000 objections to the 2005 decision to broadcast Jerry Springer: The Opera, following criticism from Christian groups.
The BBC declined to comment on the leaked weekend figures and said a formal announcement would be made as planned on Thursday.
Not all the complaints were about the extent of the BBC’s coverage. Almost 400 people wrote in to complain that Prince Andrew had featured despite his association with the late financier Jeffrey Epstein and refusal to answer questions posed by the FBI.
A further 233 people complained that BBC presenters were not wearing sufficiently respectful clothes, with viewers complaining that not all newsreaders were wearing black – an echo of the controversy over the burgundy tie worn by Peter Sissons when he announced the death of the Queen Mother in 2002.
And in a sign that the BBC is destined to be criticised by all sides, 116 people wrote to the corporation over the weekend to complain that it was making it too easy to complain about its coverage. | Protest_Online Condemnation | April 2021 | ['(The Guardian)'] |
Kosovo Police arrest Ikballe Berisha Huduti, the founder of a now defunct Islamic organization called Kur'ani, in Pristina following an order from the prosecution after she was accused of inciting terrorist acts for social media comments against the United States over the death of Qasem Soleimani. | PRISTINA (Reuters) - Kosovo police arrested a woman on Tuesday accused of inciting terrorist acts for social media comments against the United States over the killing of Iranian Commander Qassem Soleimani.
Police said that Ikballe Berisha Huduti, the founder of a now defunct pro-Islamic organization called Kur’ani, was arrested following an order from the prosecution and she will remain in detention for 48 hours awaiting a court decision.
Police said she was detained on charges of “incitement to commit a terrorist offence.”
Huduti wrote comments on her private Facebook page criticizing Washington after the U.S. forces killed Soleimani on Friday.
“By killing the master of the house you have killed all members of the family, then revenge is obligatory but it has no border,” Huduti wrote, according to Pristina media which had screenshots of her postings.
She deleted her messages and said on Facebook that her words were taken out of context by local media. She said in other postings she had praised U.S. democracy and U.S. support for Kosovo in 1999 when conflict erupted between ethnic Serbs and Albanians in the former Yugoslavia.
Showing a photo of her with the former hard-line leader of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, media in Kosovo have described Huduti as a strong supporter of the Iranian government. Her organization was closed by police in 2016. But she denied wrongdoing and there were never any charges against her.
Kosovo has been a strong supporter of the United States. When the Iranian general was killed, Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj said: “Kosovo stands firm in support of the U.S. in its right to self-defense.”
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Arrest | January 2020 | ['(Reuters)', '(The New York Times)'] |
Egyptian actor Omar Sharif dies at the age of 83 after suffering a heart attack. BBC | Actor Omar Sharif, best known for his roles in classic films Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago, has died aged 83.
Egypt-born Sharif won two Golden Globe awards and an Oscar nomination for his role as Sherif Ali in David Lean's 1962 epic Lawrence of Arabia.
He won a further Golden Globe three years later for Doctor Zhivago.
Earlier this year, his agent confirmed he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.
His agent Steve Kenis said: "He suffered a heart attack this afternoon in a hospital in Cairo."
Spanish actor Antonio Banderas, who appeared with Sharif in 1999 film The 13th Warrior, remembered him on Twitter as "one of the best".
"He was a great storyteller, a loyal friend and a wise spirit."
Born Michel Shalhoub in Alexandria in April 1932, Sharif started out in his family's lumber business before going to London to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (Rada).
He made his screen debut in the 1954 Egyptian film Siraa Fil-Wadi (The Blazing Sun) and rapidly became a star in his own country.
His big break came when David Lean cast him in Lawrence of Arabia, introducing the actor with a now-legendary shot of him riding a camel out of a shimmering heat haze towards the camera.
Peter O'Toole, who played TE Lawrence in the 1962 multiple Oscar-winner, considered Sharif's name ridiculous and insisted on calling him "Fred". The pair soon became fast friends.
In later life Sharif claimed to be baffled by the film's success, saying it had merely been shots of people on camels walking from one side of the screen to the other.
David Lean went on to cast Sharif in the title role of his next epic Doctor Zhivago, in which he played a physician caught up in the Russian Revolution.
The actor went through a daily routine of hair-straightening and skin-waxing in order to disguise his Egyptian looks and would later admit the film had left him close to a nervous breakdown.
Other notable roles came opposite Barbra Streisand in her first film Funny Girl and as Julie Andrews' lover in spy thriller The Tamarind Seed.
3
Golden Globes
1
Oscar nomination
1954 First film, Siraa Fil-Wadi (The Blazing Sun), is released 1955 Converts to Islam and changes name to Omar al-Sharif 1962 Stars as Sherif Ali in Lawrence of Arabia - his most famous role £750,000 Amount he is said to have lost in one night playing roulette He also got to play a series of real-life figures, among them Genghis Khan and the Argentine revolutionary Che Guevara.
After his initial stint in the spotlight, Sharif would come to be seen more frequently at the gaming tables than the Hollywood soundstage.
He became particularly successful at bridge and was ranked among the world's best players.
His film roles became increasingly sporadic, and those he did accept were in films he would later dismiss as "rubbish".
In the late 1990s Sharif began declining film offers, claiming he had lost his "self-respect and dignity".
One film he did accept was 2003 French drama Monsieur Ibraham, in which he appeared as a Muslim shopkeeper in Paris who adopts a Jewish boy.
The film won him the Cesar, the French equivalent of the Oscar, as well as some of his best reviews in decades.
Sharif suffered a public embarrassment in 2007 after punching a parking valet who refused to accept his European currency.
The actor pleaded no contest to misdemeanour battery and was ordered to take an anger management course.
Sharif spent much of his later years in Cairo and at the Royal Moncean Hotel in Paris, though he occasionally travelled to Hull to support his favourite football team, Hull City.
The actor, who was introduced to the Tigers by his Doctor Zhivago co-star Sir Tom Courtenay, was given an honorary degree by the University of Hull in 2010 as a reward for his loyalty.
Earlier this year his agent confirmed he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease after his son Tarek gave an interview in which he discussed his father's deteriorating condition.
"He still knows he's a famous actor," Tarek El-Sharif told Spain's El Mundo newspaper. "He remembers, for example, [he was in] Doctor Zhivago but he's forgotten when it was filmed."
Following the announcement of Sharif's death, his grandson Omar Sharif Jr posted a picture of him on Facebook with the simple caption: "I love you."
He later offered thanks "for the global outpouring of prayers and support" his family had received, adding: "I will miss my grandfather dearly."
Obituary: Omar Sharif
A life in film
One Covid vaccine dose cuts hospital risk by 75%
But the number of Delta variant cases recorded in the UK has risen by 79% in a week, figures show. | Famous Person - Death | July 2015 | [] |
A fire inside an intensive care unit for COVID–19 patients at a hospital in Obour, Egypt, kills seven people and injures five others. | Egyptian police say that a fire at an intensive care unit at private hospital has killed at least seven COVID-19 patients
CAIRO -- An intensive care unit at an Egyptian hospital caught fire on Saturday, killing seven coronavirus patients, officials said.
Local police said the blaze erupted at a private hospital in Obour, an outlying district of the greater Cairo area.
The fire injured at least five others. The injured and other patients were evacuated to nearby hospitals, the police said.
Firefighters were able to put out the blaze, the cause of which police and prosecutors are investigating.
The state-run al-Ahram daily reported that an initial investigation blamed an electric short-circuit for the fire.
A similar blaze erupted at the coronavirus ward of a private hospital in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria in June, leaving seven patients dead and one injured. There was another fire in May in a coronavirus isolation center in Cairo that didn't cause any casualties.
Egypt has seen a surge in the confirmed cases of the virus, forcing the government to reopen most of its hospitals designated to treat and isolate COVID-19 patients after the first wave of the pandemic subsided.
The Health Ministry reported its highest daily number of confirmed cases on Friday at 1,113, along with 49 deaths.
The new numbers have brought the county’s official tally to more than 130,126 cases, including at least 7,309 deaths.
However, the actual numbers of cases in Egypt, the Arab world’s most populous county with over 100 million people, are thought to be far higher, in part due to limited testing. | Fire | December 2020 | ['(ABC News)'] |
At least 17 people are killed in a fire at a shoe factory in the Vietnamese city of Hai Phong. | At least 17 people have been killed in a fire at a shoe factory in northern Vietnam, police and local media say.
Some 21 other people were injured in the blaze at the plant in the port city of Hai Phong, reports say.
Local media quoted a survivor, Bui Thi Them, as saying sparks from a welding machine had ignited the roof of the building.
Burning material fell from the roof, blocking the exit, Mr Them said, trapping the victims inside.
"The fireball blocked the factory's main entrance and there is no exit on the back," Mr Them told the Thanh Nien newspaper, AFP news agency reported. "Many people in the middle of the factory which was engulfed with fire and smoke could not escape and were burned to death."
Ten of those killed were women, the Associated Press new agency said.
Thanh Nien was quoted as saying six people, including the factory owner, her husband and a welder, have been detained over the incident.
| Fire | July 2011 | ['(BBC)'] |
12 people including 9 children are killed when a Syrian army helicopter strikes a refugees camp south of Damascus. | Twelve civilians, including nine children, were killed in an air raid in a displaced persons camp south of Damascus
Syrian army helicopter fire killed nine children in a camp for displaced civilians near the Jordanian border on Wednesday, a monitoring group said.
They were among 12 civilians killed in the air raid on the camp near the village of Shajara, south of Damascus, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The youngest of those killed was a girl aged just four, the Britain-based group said, adding that seven people were also wounded, three of them women.
"The victims were all civilians, people who had fled the violence in other parts of Daraa province," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.
The air raid comes amid escalating violence in Daraa province, where rebels have been advancing in recent months, according to activists.
Nearly half of Syria's population has fled their homes since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad's rule erupted in March 2011.
More than three million have found refuge abroad.
But around six million more are displaced inside Syria, with many living in terrible conditions in camps along the borders.
On Tuesday night, Syrian government aircraft also bombarded several rebel-held areas of Aleppo province in the north, keeping up an aerial offensive that has killed some 2,000 people, including more than 500 children, since January, according to the Observatory.
The army fired two surface-to-surface missiles at the Waar district of Homs, the only area of the central city still under opposition control, activists reported.
Rebels pulled out of the Old City of Homs under a UN-brokered deal in May, after spending two years under army siege.
The missile fire came as negotiations for a truce in Waar on the outskirts of Syria's third city stalled despite hopes raised by the May agreement.
The Observatory meanwhile expressed concern over the fate of 145 Syrian Kurdish children kidnapped late last month by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the same feared militantgroup which has spearheaded the seizure of a swathe of neighbouring Iraq over the past week.
"Residents and some of the students' families in the town of Ain al-Arab told the Observatory they are very worried that ISIL may forcibly recruit the children and make them carry out suicide attacks using vehicles or explosive belts," the Observatory said.
The town, known as Kobani in Kurdish, lies on the central part of Syria's northern border with Turkey and is one of three mainly Kurdish areas of Syria where Kurdish leaders want to establish an autonomous region.
But Kurdish militia have faced repeated attack by ISIL, particularly in the mainly Kurdish northeast, where the militantshave their own ambitions to link up with their fellow fighters in Iraq. | Armed Conflict | June 2014 | ['(Middle East Eye)'] |
Andry Rajoelina is inaugurated as President of Madagascar. | Madagascar's Andry Rajoelina, who ousted President Marc Ravalomanana this week, has been installed formally as leader of the Indian Ocean island.
Tens of thousands of his supporters attended the ceremony at a sports arena in the capital, Antananarivo, but it was boycotted by many diplomats. On Friday, the US cut off non-humanitarian aid to Madagascar and the African Union suspended its membership. Madagascar's highest court this week approved the handover of power. "The ambassadors to the US, France, Germany and the European Union have told us they won't be attending," an aide to the deposed Mr Ravalomanana told Reuters new agency before Saturday's ceremony. About 2,000 of the former president's supporters reportedly held a counter-rally at Antananarivo's Democracy Square. The BBC's Christina Corbett in Antananarivo says widespread condemnation of Mr Rajoelina's military-backed rise to power has not deterred him from throwing a lavish inauguration ceremony. Aides close to Mr Rajoelina say they are not concerned by the string of international denouncements that has followed the former president's removal. Mr Rajoelina, a 34-year-old ex-disc jockey, has suspended parliament and set up two transitional bodies to run the Indian Ocean island. Questions over legality
Amid questions over the legality of his rise to power, Africa's youngest and newest leader is calling himself "president of the transitional authority", while his government reportedly called Saturday's ceremony an "installation", rather than a "swearing-in". The former Antananarivo mayor, who has never stood for national office, has promised elections within 18 to 24 months, but foreign powers have called for polls sooner.
Mr Rajoelina wants to change the constitution, which at present bars him from contesting presidential elections, as he is six years too young, although the Constitutional Court has already endorsed him as national leader. Washington called the takeover a "coup" while Norway also cut aid to Madagascar, where 70% of government spending comes from overseas funds. The EU has added its voice to the chorus of condemnation and the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) has threatened sanctions against Madagascar. Roindefo Monja, prime minister in Mr Rajoelina's transitional administration, said on Friday the new government stood by its actions. "The people demanded liberty and the military rallied to the popular movement, but it did not seize power... We are confident the international community will understand," he said. There is still no word on the whereabouts of Mr Ravalomanana, whose re-election to a second term in 2006 could not save him from being ousted. He quit after weeks of deadly street protests amid the power struggle and handed power to the military, which then named his bitter enemy Mr Rajoelina as leader. | Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration | March 2009 | ['(BBC)'] |
South Korea President Moon Jae-in says that President Donald Trump asked the country to send medical equipment to the United States to help fight the coronavirus. | SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea said it will send medical equipment to the United States to fight the coronavirus if it has any spare after an urgent request from U.S. President Donald Trump in which he promised to help Korean firms gain U.S. government approval.
The news, which sent shares in South Korean manufacturers of test kits for the virus rocketing higher, highlights the diverging paths the two countries have taken since both discovered their first coronavirus cases on the same day.
After a big early outbreak, South Korea rolled out widespread testing within days, swiftly launching an aggressive programme to isolate confirmed cases and trace their contacts.
It won praise for slowing the spread of the disease with comparatively little disruption and just 125 deaths, and has brought the number of new infections per day to below 100 for the past 13 straight days.
The United States did little testing initially, and has been shutting parts of the country en masse, with fast-growing outbreaks in a number of states and thousands of new cases per day.
In a 23 minute phone call, Trump told President Moon Jae-in he would help Korean producers obtain approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for their equipment, South Koreas Blue House office said in a statement late on Tuesday.
Moon told Trump that South Korea will provide as much support as possible, if there is spare medical equipment in Korea.
Shares of test kit manufacturer Seegene Inc jumped as much as 27% while SugenTech Inc climbed as much as 23% compared to a 4.5% rise for the benchmark KOSPI index.
| Disease Outbreaks | March 2020 | ['(Reuters)'] |
A plane carrying 11 tourists crashes in the Maasai Mara game reserve in southwestern Kenya, killing at least four people and injuring up to three others. | Two Kenyan pilots and two German tourists have been killed in a plane crash in Kenya's Masai Mara national park, Kenyan police said.
The aircraft was carrying 11 passengers, including five Germans, four Americans and two Czechs, the AFP news agency said.
Three other passengers were seriously injured, police said.
Propeller planes are often used to take tourists to the Masai Mara, one of Africa's most popular attractions.
A team from the Flying Doctors Service had been sent to the site and three critically injured passengers had been flown to the capital Nairobi, the AFP news agency said.
An official said the plane had crashed soon after taking off from the Ngerede airstrip close to midday.
The plane was a light aircraft owned by Mombasa Air Safari, according to Kenya's Daily Nation newspaper. | Air crash | August 2012 | ['(BBC)'] |
22 workers are trapped in a gold mine in Qixia, east China's Shandong province after an explosion tore through the mine at 2 p.m. Xinhua News South China Morning Post | JINAN, Jan. 13 (Xinhua) -- Rescuers have drilled 420 meters to approach 22 workers trapped underground after an explosion ripped through a gold mine under construction in east China's Shandong Province, local authorities said on Wednesday.
Li Bo, vice mayor of Yantai City, said at a press briefing that rescuers are cleaning up debris and obstacles. They are also trying to improve the ventilation in the mine shaft. As of 5 p.m., the air and temperature in the mine became normal.
The accident took place at 2 p.m. on Sunday at a gold mine in Qixia, administrated by Yantai City. The local government did not receive an accident report from the mining company until Monday evening.
Li said that according to regulations, mining firms are obliged to report accidents within one hour after they occur. Delayed reporting is "illegal and intolerable."
The gold mine is owned by Shandong Wucailong Investment Co. Ltd., a local company in Qixia.
Li said those responsible for the incident have been identified and will be investigated and severely punished per the law and regulations.
The rescue is continuing with large machinery such as drilling machines at the site. Through a drilled channel, rescuers had to enter the mine through a lift cage, filled with toxic gas after the explosion.
The blast is believed to have happened about 240 meters away from the entrance. The 22 workers were working more than 600 meters away from there. | Mine Collapses | January 2021 | [] |
Three people are killed in clashes between police and Muslim Brotherhood supporters across Egypt. | Three people have been killed in fresh clashes between police and Muslim Brotherhood supporters across Egypt.
The deaths were reported in Cairo, southern Minya province and the Nile Delta. Some 265 Muslim Brotherhood supporters have been arrested, the interior ministry said. Authorities have cracked down on the Brotherhood since July, when Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, who belongs to the group, was deposed by the army.
The movement was formally designated a terrorist organisation on Wednesday.
A student was killed in clashes between Islamist students and opponents in Cairo on Thursday night.
As Friday prayers ended, riot police tried to stop Mr Morsi's supporters holding protest rallies. A man was killed in clashes in the city of Samalut in Minya, while an 18-year-old Muslim Brotherhood supporter was shot dead amid violent confrontations in the Nile Delta city of Damietta, police said. The interior ministry said a third person was killed in Cairo, without giving further details.
At the Islamic Al Azhar University, in Cairo's Nasr City district, police fired tear gas as demonstrators protesting over the death of the student hurled stones. Al Azhar, one of the main centres of Sunni Muslim learning, has been the scene of repeated clashes between Islamist students and police in recent months.
There was also violence between police and Muslim Brotherhood supporters in several other parts of the capital.
A security official said protesters set fire to police cars in Cairo and in Minya. Clashes were also reported in the Suez Canal city of Ismailiya. The interior ministry said several police officers were hurt.
The Brotherhood, which had been banned since September from all activity, was declared a terrorist group this week following a suicide bombing of a police headquarters in Nile Delta.
The government said the movement was behind the attack - a charge it strongly denied.
It is the latest measure taken against the group, which is being targeted by the military-backed interim government. Thousands of Brotherhood members, including its leadership, have been arrested and many put on trial.
Members were rounded up on Thursday after a bomb hit a bus in Cairo, injuring five people.
US Secretary of State John Kerry called his Egyptian counterpart to "express concern" about the recent waves of arrests and called for an "inclusive political process", State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.
| Armed Conflict | December 2013 | ['(BBC)'] |
Following the withdrawal of troops, U.S. F-15s bomb a CJTFOIR ammunition depot bunker at the Lafarge cement factory in Aleppo Governorate, Syria, to prevent the munitions and other equipment from being used by Turkish-led forces or Syrian government forces. | By Barbara Starr and Ryan Browne, CNN
Updated 2329 GMT (0729 HKT) October 16, 2019 Washington (CNN)Two US Air Force F-15 jets conducted an airstrike targeting an American munitions storage bunker at a US base in Syria Wednesday in order to prevent the munitions and other equipment from falling into the hands of armed groups, two US defense officials told CNN. For California Residents OnlyPursuant to the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) | Armed Conflict | October 2019 | ['(CNN)', '(The Independent)'] |
South Sudan invites Sudan to discuss outstanding issues next month between the two countries that nearly resulted in a war. | Khartoum - South Sudan on Thursday invited its “brother”, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, to an April summit to resolve outstanding issues that have pushed the two countries to the brink of war.
“We delivered the message to President Bashir and he welcomed it. He expressed his readiness to visit Juba,” the south's top negotiator, Pagan Amum, said in a statement to reporters at the cabinet offices in Sudan's capital.
Amum, who arrived with a delegation of ministers, said South Sudan President Salva Kiir had invited his “brother president” to the April 3 summit “with the aim of solving the pending issues between the two states”.
It would be Bashir's first visit to the south since it separated last year following a referendum.
After months of failed negotiations, a dispute over oil fees and mutual accusations of backing rebels on each other's territory, Amum last week said relations had turned positive after the latest African Union-led talks in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
At those meetings, the two sides reached agreements on safeguarding the status of each other's citizens and demarcating the oil-rich border.
When South Sudan gained its independence it took about three-quarters of Sudanese oil production with it, but it has no facilities to export the crude.
At the heart of their dispute has been disagreement over how much Juba should pay to use the northern pipeline and port.
The new nation shut crude production in late January after accusing Sudan of “stealing” its oil.
But Amum said last week that Sudan has agreed to pay for the oil it had taken, while South Sudan would hand over months of unpaid transit fees, although further negotiations were still needed.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has warned that the crisis between Sudan and South Sudan was a major threat to regional peace and security.
Tensions peaked in late February and early March when Khartoum threatened retaliation after accusing the south of backing a rebel attack in the disputed border area of Jau.
Air strikes followed on an oil field in the south's Unity State, an attack Juba blamed on Khartoum's forces.
“They really came to the brink of war... but they realised that the international community would not support them,” an analyst told reporters.
However, some friction remains.
On the eve of the South Sudanese visit, Mohammed Atta, the head of Sudan's intelligence service, alleged that rebels supported by South Sudan attacked the oil centre of Heglig in South Kordofan state.
He was quoted by the Sudan Media Centre, which is close to the security apparatus.
“I think it's propaganda,” responded Arnu Ngutulu Lodi, of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), which has been battling government troops for several months in South Kordofan. “Nobody told me we have an operation going on.”
Lodi said Sudanese Antonov and MiG aircraft bombed the rebel-held town of Kauda on Thursday but the ordnance fell on empty land and only killed a cow.
“Only it created fear among the civilians,” he said.
Sudan's army spokesperson could not be reached.
The UN's Ban welcomed the planned summit and said the agreements on borders and citizenship were “an important step forward and an encouraging manifestation of both parties' spirit of co-operation and partnership”.
Amum spoke in Khartoum before the two delegations headed into meetings aimed largely at preparation for the summit. | Diplomatic Talks _ Diplomatic_Negotiation_ Summit Meeting | March 2012 | ['(IOL)'] |
In Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, near Commonwealth Stadium, a man drives into a police officer and then stabs the officer. The suspect fled the scene and was later arrested that night following a police pursuit, where four pedestrians were hit by the suspect in a rental truck. Police are investigating the incident as an act of terrorism. , | A manhunt was underway when a suspect was spotted driving a U-Haul and a police chase ensued Edmonton police released disturbing video footage Sunday morning showing the first in a chain of events they are now investigating as an “act of terrorism.”
The video shows a white Chevrolet Malibu driving directly through a road barricade at an intersection near Commonwealth Stadium, hitting a police officer who goes flying through the air before he is then attacked.
The stabbing of a police officer and a subsequent high-speed chase where several pedestrians were run down is being investigated as an act of terrorism, Edmonton Police Chief Rod Knecht said at a 3 a.m. news conference.
Knecht, standing side by side with representatives of the RCMP, said based on evidence at the scene, and the actions of the suspect “it was determined that these incidents are being investigated as acts of terrorism under section 83.2 of the Criminal Code.”
Knecht also confirmed that an ISIS flag was discovered in the vehicle the suspect was driving when he rammed the police car, then stabbed the police officer and that the flag is part of the investigation.
The attack began on the officer who was manning a routine Edmonton Eskimos game-day blockade by himself southwest of Commonwealth Stadium at 107A Avenue and 92 Street. The officer was outside his vehicle, which had its lights flashing to improve visibility.
At around 8:15 p.m., a man driving a white Chevrolet Malibu crashed into the barricades set up to keep pedestrians separated from vehicles.
The vehicle struck the officer “sending him flying through the air 15 feet before colliding with the officer’s cruiser” at high speed.
The suspect, believed to be 30 years old, then got out of his vehicle and attacked the officer with a knife. The officer was stabbed multiple times before the suspect fled on foot northbound on 92 Street.
The officer was transported to hospital and the chief said he is not in critical condition.
Immediately after the incident, Knecht said information about the registered owner of the vehicle was broadcast to patrol officers across the city.
A manhunt was underway when before midnight a suspect was pulled over at a police checkstop on Wayne Gretzky Drive and 112 Avenue driving a U-Haul truck. When the officer asked to see a driver’s licence, he recognized the name as being similar to that of the registered owner of the Malibu used in the earlier attack. The suspect fled the scene with at least a dozen police vehicles in pursuit.
A high-speed chase ensued with the suspect racing west down Jasper Avenue into the downtown, where Knecht said the suspect “deliberately tried to hit pedestrians in crosswalks and alleys” at two areas along the route. Four pedestrians were struck and were subsequently transported to hospital. There is no information on their condition.
Shortly after the pedestrians were run down, the suspect’s vehicle overturned on 100 Avenue just south of Jasper Avenue “due to police interaction,” said Knecht.
The driver was arrested and is now in police custody.
Witnesses who saw the chase and pedestrians being struck described the scene as chaotic.
Just before midnight Kim Anderson was waiting for her bus when she saw the U-Haul hit pedestrians near Jasper Avenue and 107 Street.
“There were people flying and everything,” she said. “I’m shocked I just see people flying.”
At the Matrix Hotel on 100 Avenue and 106 Street, right across from where the truck overturned,Natalie Pon was at a wedding.
She said guests heard loud bangs like gunshots. Staff kept them away from the windows as the situation unfolded.
When she snapped a photo of the U-Haul there was a “huge hole” in the windshield of the truck. But she didn’t see a suspect.
“We caught wind this was happening outside, so we saw it after the fact.”
Pat Hannigan said he was across the street when he saw the truck flip over. “They (police) were pulling him out of the windshield, then handcuffed him,” he said.
Brian McNeill was sitting on the back of a pickup truck when he saw the U-Haul going about 80 km/h, chased by 14 to 20 police vehicles.
“Holy shit, this is too fast,” he thought as he watched vehicles driving west on Jasper Avenue.
He says the truck hit two pedestrians and disappeared. Then he said he heard what he believed was a gunshot.
McNeill questioned why a high-speed chase was allowed to happen in the downtown. “That should have never happened,” he said.
Knecht addressed those concerns at the news conference, saying the seriousness of the crime dictated why the chase continued.
The chief also said police had no forewarning of the attack and they believe the suspect acted alone. However Knecht also cautioned that “the investigation is in the early stages, and we are urging Edmontonians to be vigilant and aware of their surroundings.”
“Contact police if you see anything suspicious or hear anything suspicious,” he said.
Several hours after the officer was attacked, the white sedan with a damaged front end sat between two police vehicles near a darkened grocery store adjacent to a Crown Liquor store. The trunk on the sedan was open and the scene was bordered by yellow police tape.
A police hat and what appeared to be a yellow police vest lay on the ground near the car.
A heavy police presence had blanketed Edmonton’s inner city after the initial incident as the manhunt ramped up.
Police were stopping vehicles and peering inside with flashlights throughout the area.
Officers were also seen stopping traffic on the High Level Bridge as well as maintaining a presence on the Walterdale Bridge.
One complication, although it appeared to transpire without incident, was the thousands of fans exiting Commonwealth Stadium after the Eskimos game very near the first crime scene. But traffic was diverted and remained orderly.
Knecht will provide a further update at 3 p.m.
| Armed Conflict | September 2017 | ['(Edmonton Journal)', '(Reuters)'] |
The International Olympic Committee lifts its ban on Iraqi athletes participating in the Beijing Olympics following assurances from the Government of Iraq about the independence of the Iraqi Olympic Committee. | LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — The International Olympic Committee says Iraq can take part in Beijing Games, lifting its previous ban.
IOC officials say they have reversed an earlier decision because the government has pledged to ensure the independence of its national Olympic committee.
The decision follows last-minute talks Tuesday between Iraqi officials and the IOC in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Iraq is expected to send two athletes to Beijing. Five others lost their chance to go when the final date to select competitors for archery, judo, rowing and weightlifting passed last week. | Government Policy Changes | July 2008 | ['(AP via Google News)'] |
The Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors say the number of people killed this week in Sudan is at least 100, and that 40 bodies were pulled from the River Nile at Khartoum on Tuesday. Members of the Rapid Support Forces have reportedly been roaming the streets attacking civilians as it pushes deeper into Khartoum. | Forty bodies have been pulled from the River Nile in the Sudanese capital Khartoum following a violent crackdown on pro-democracy protests, opposition activists said on Wednesday.
Doctors linked to the opposition said the bodies were among 100 people believed killed since security forces attacked a protest camp on Monday.
Reports said a feared paramilitary group was attacking civilians.
Sudan's ruling Transitional Military Council (TMC) vowed to investigate.
Residents in Khartoum told the BBC they were living in fear as members of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) roamed the streets. The paramilitary unit - formerly known as the Janjaweed militia - gained notoriety in the Darfur conflict in western Sudan in 2003.
"Forty bodies of our noble martyrs were recovered from the river Nile yesterday," the Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors said in a Facebook post.
An official from the group told the BBC that they had witnessed and verified the bodies in hospitals and that the death toll now stood at 100. A former security officer quoted by Channel 4's Sudanese journalist Yousra Elbagir said that some of those thrown into the Nile had been beaten or shot to death and others hacked to death with machetes.
"It was a massacre," the unnamed source said.
On Wednesday, the head of Sudan's Transitional Military Council (TMC), General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, apologised for the loss of life and called for resumed negotiations - reversing a statement the previous day in which he said dialogue was over. But a Sudanese alliance of protestors and opposition groups rejected the invitation. One of its leading members said the TMC could not be trusted. The deputy head of the TMC defended the violent suppression, claiming that the protesters had been infiltrated by rogue elements and drug dealers.
"We will not allow chaos, we will not allow chaos and we will not go back on our convictions. There is no way back. We must impose the respect of the country by law," said Mohammed Hamadan - also known as Hemedti.
Demonstrators had been occupying the square in front of the military headquarters since 6 April, days before President Omar al-Bashir was overthrown after 30 years in power.
Their representatives had been negotiating with the TMC and agreed a three-year transition that would culminate in elections. But on Monday, forces swept in and opened fire on unarmed protesters in the square.
On Tuesday, Gen Burhan announced that negotiations with protesters were over, all previous agreements were cancelled, and elections would be held within nine months. Demonstrators had demanded a longer period to guarantee fair elections and to dismantle the political network associated with the former government.
International condemnation of the crackdown was swift and on Wednesday Gen Burhan made another televised speech in which he said the TMC was willing to resume negotiations.
Protesters had called for the Islamic festival of Eid al-Fitr, marked on Tuesday and Wednesday this week, to be celebrated in the streets, as a gesture of defiance against the military.
But much of Khartoum is under lockdown. Witnesses said protesters had retreated to residential areas where they were building barricades and burning tyres.
Sudan's military has faced international condemnation for its attack, but there were clear signs this was likely to happen. The country has been driven backwards by a military elite intent on holding on to power.
The TMC has scrapped agreements reached with the opposition Forces of Freedom and Change (FFC), saying this will speed up the transition to democratic elections. That plan is likely a fiction.
The military also enjoys another advantage. In an age of international division, the notion of an "international community" pressuring the regime is fantasy. Sudan's crisis has exposed the reality of international politics - that force can have its way, without consequence, if the killers and torturers represent a valuable asset to other powers.
It is impossible to say whether the FFC can come back as a street-driven force. What will not change - in fact what has been deepened - is the alienation of people from their rulers.
Protest organisers, the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA), accused the TMC of carrying out "a massacre" and urged its pro-democracy supporters to continue protesting peacefully.
"We have reached the point where we can't even step out of our homes because we are scared to be beaten or to be shot by the security forces," one Khartoum resident told the BBC.
Another resident, who also asked not to be named, said he was pulled from his car by members of the Janjaweed and beaten on his head and back.
A pharmacist who spoke to the BBC from Khartoum said RSF troops were shutting down hospitals to prevent civilians receiving treatment. "They kicked us out from two hospitals that were giving aid to the injured and the victims of the gunshots," he said. "It's an order from the military council to shut down those hospitals because we were giving aid for the citizens."
A woman, identified only as Sulaima, told the BBC that troops from the Rapid Support Forces were "all over Khartoum".
"They're surrounding neighbourhoods, they're threatening people. They're also using live ammunition. They're everywhere. We're not feeling safe and we don't have trust in the security forces. It's complete chaos."
Large numbers of heavily armed troops were also reported on the streets of Omdurman, Sudan's second-largest city, just across the River Nile from Khartoum.
| Armed Conflict | June 2019 | ['(BBC)'] |
Australian Schapelle Corby has been found guilty by a Bali court of importing a narcotic into Indonesia. She has appealed the AU$13,875 fine and the 20–year jail sentence. | Rosleigh Rose consoles her daughter Schapelle after the verdict. (ABC TV) Schapelle Corby has been found guilty by a Bali court of importing a narcotic into Indonesia, sentenced to 20 years in jail and fined $13,875.
Judge Linton Sirait said Corby had "legally and convincingly carried out a crime". As the verdict was read, Corby lost her composure, slapping her head with her hands, sobbing in disbelief. Corby's legal team has already indicated it will appeal. Prosecutors in the case say they will appeal the sentence, saying it is too lenient.
Her mother stood and screamed at the judges. Police were forced to restrain her. As soon as the judge read the verdict, Corby's mother shouted at the panel: "Liar, liar. Honey, we are going to take you home." Corby turned to her mother and pleaded with her to calm down. "Mum, stop, it's okay," Corby cried, holding her hand up in the air in a motion for her mother to stop yelling. The three judges stood and left the courthouse, leaving the chaos behind. Corby rushed to embrace her mother, surrounded by police and court officials who seemed reluctant to break the strong hold between them. She hugged her father and mother after the verdict, smiling weakly and repeatedly reassuring them: "It's okay, it's okay". Corby's sister Mercedes Blake added: "She is innocent. This is not fair." Glenn Jeffers, a supporter of Corby, appealed to Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to spare Corby from prison. "She is definitely a victim," he told reporters outside the court. Corby's Indonesian lawyer Lily Lubis says she doubts whether Corby will be able to withstand 20 years in a Balinese jail.
"I believe my client is, our client is innocent. She's not deserving of this," she said.
"I'm sure it's very hard. It is very hard. I don't think she can survive."
Immediately after the sentencing, Corby's lawyers filed an appeal. Erwin Siregar, one of Corby's Indonesian counsel, criticised the verdict as "unfair". "Testimony made by all witnesses presented by the defendant were pushed aside," he said. Prosecutor Ida Bagus Wiswantanu says he believes the judge had erred and should have given Corby a life sentence.
Professor Tim Lindsey, an Indonesian law specialist, has told Channel Nine an appeal to the High Court and the Supreme Court is inevitable.
"If anything, a sentence of only 20 years is relatively light," he said.
The 27-year-old beauty therapy student, from Queensland's Gold Coast, was accused of smuggling 4.1 kilograms of marijuana into Bali last October.
The judge's verdict on two other charges has not yet been handed down. Prime Minister John Howard has urged Australians to accept the Corby verdict and understand that other countries will resent Australia telling them how to run their justice system.
"I think the entire nation feels for this girl," he said.
"You can't help but feel for her but we have to respect the justice system of other countries.
"I do ask the Australian people to accept and understand that when Australians go abroad they are subject to the justice system of the countries they visit."
Her case has generated fanatical support in Australia, where polls show most people were convinced of her innocence. Her trial, which could have resulted in a death sentence, has been front page news for months. The verdict was greeted with despair on the Gold Coast, where friends and supporters had gathered at the Tugun Surf Club to watch the decision. One of Corby's relatives, Lyn Leck says they will start working on a new petition to try to secure her freedom.
"We'll just keep fighting," she said.
"More signatures, a million this time. Not 60,000, a million, we'll just keep fighting." Corby has been held in prison in Denpasar since her arrest.
She had repeatedly argued the drugs found by airport officials in her bag were not hers.
Her lawyers insisted many people could have put the drugs into their client's bodyboard bag along the way from Brisbane to Bali, especially because it was not locked.
Corby changed planes in Sydney and her defence team has said she was the victim of a drug ring running narcotics from Brisbane to Sydney.
It said for some reason, the drugs were not removed from her bag in Sydney. Timeline: Schapelle Corby's trial
Key dates in the arrest and trial of Schapelle Corby.
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | May 2005 | ['(ABC News)', '(Jakarta Post)'] |
Voters in Croatia go to the polls for a parliamentary election with the conservative Croatian Democratic Union taking an early lead. | ZAGREB, Croatia — The conservative Croatian Democratic Union won the most seats in parliamentary elections held in Croatia on Sunday, but the country looked set for long negotiations among potential coalition partners after voters once again declined to return a clear governing majority.
With all of the votes counted, the party, known as H.D.Z., had 61 seats, pushing the Social Democrats into second place with 54. But it was still short of a majority in the 151-seat Parliament, even with the support of the center-right Most party, or Bridge, whose 13 seats make it a likely kingmaker.
| Government Job change - Election | September 2016 | ['(The New York Times)'] |
Ryongchon disaster: at least 154 people are killed and over 1200 are injured, according to the Red Cross, in a massive explosion after a train carrying explosives came in contact with live electrical wires in Ryongchon, North Korea. 1850 homes were destroyed and thousands more damaged. | The incident reportedly happened nine hours after North Korean leader Kim Jong-il passed through the station on his way home from a visit to Beijing. Mr Kim had been in China to discuss North Korea's nuclear programme.
South Korea's Yonhap news agency said the North Korean authorities had declared a state of emergency in the area and cut off all international telephone lines, apparently to stop news of the accident spreading.
'Bombardment'
The trains, carrying petrol and liquefied gas, crashed at about 1300 local time (0400 GMT), Yonhap said.
The reports were based on information from unnamed Chinese sources near the border with North Korea, said news agencies.
It was not possible to obtain independent confirmation of the number of casualties. North Korea is notoriously secretive and rarely reports its own accidents.
World's worst rail disasters
"The station was destroyed as if hit by a bombardment and debris flew high into the sky," Yonhap quoted its sources as saying.
The BBC's Kevin Kim in the South Korean capital, Seoul, says there are various theories about the explosion, including speculation that it may have been an assassination attempt against the North Korean leader.
However, he says this has been dismissed by the South Korean authorities, who believe it was an accident.
Emergency
Our correspondent says another theory is that the liquefied petroleum gas carried in one of the trains was a gift from China to North Korea after Mr Kim's visit to Beijing.
WORLD'S WORST TRAIN DISASTERS
April 2004: Ryongchon, N Korea - up to 3,000 reported dead after two trains collide and explode in a station
February 2004: Neyshabur, Iran - at least 300 killed when a runaway train explodes
June 2002: Dodoma region, Tanzania - at least 200 killed when passenger train collides with goods train
Feb 2002: Egypt - 300 killed in fire on train travelling to Cairo
June 1989: Ufa, Russia - More than 400 killed in gas explosion under two trains
Aug 1995: Uttar Pradesh, India - 300 killed in train collision
June 1981: Bihar, India - 800 killed when cyclone blows train into river
The Yonhap agency quoted a South Korean defence ministry official as confirming that the explosion had taken place.
But a Chinese railway worker at the Dandong border crossing, contacted by Reuters news agency, said he had not heard of a blast and had seen no signs of any emergency effort under way. A BBC East Asia reporter, Andrew Wood, says the explosion would no doubt be another blow to North Korea's spluttering communist economy.
The country is short of energy, food and cash. Hundreds of thousands of people, perhaps millions, are believed to have died in famines in recent years. | Train collisions | April 2004 | ['(BBC)', '(BBC)', '(NYT)'] |
A fire at Camden Market in London, England forces the evacuation of residents. The London Ambulance Service reports no casualties. | The fire was reportedly centred on Camden Canal Market, to the east of Chalk Farm Road.
Police closed off several roads and the Hawley Arms pub, near the source of the fire, suffered severe damage.
London Fire Brigade has said the blaze is being brought under control and there are no reports of casualties.
LFB station manager Guy Foster said the fire was centred around Camden Canal Market, where a number of market stalls had caught fire.
It's very sad. It's a well-known party area
Billy Reeves
Eyewitness accounts of blazeIn pictures: Camden fire
He said the train line between Camden Road and Kentish Town West had been shut down.
Residents have also been evacuated from some houses and flats.
Firefighters were alerted at about 7.20pm on Saturday to the blaze which has reportedly consumed part of the Hawley Arms, a popular Camden pub which is frequented by celebrities including singer Amy Winehouse.
There were unconfirmed reports that some people were trapped, but London Fire Brigade spokesman Nick Comery said he had heard nothing to support that.
He told BBC News 24: "It's an ongoing job and we are doing our best to bring it under control and to stop it spreading.
"It involves currently some market storage properties, shops and dwellings.
"It is a large area that is involved. It is a severe fire, there is a lot of smoke going up into the sky."
BBC News reporter James Cooke said the fire appeared to have broken out in a row of shops. Revellers from local pubs and bars were moved away from the danger area, where flames were leaping up to 30ft in the air.
Conservative mayoral candidate Boris Johnson said: "This will come as a terrible blow to their livelihoods and the area generally. My thoughts are with the traders, local residents and the emergency services who are, as usual, performing brilliantly under pressure."
London Ambulance Service said it has ambulances and a hazardous response team at the scene.
Seth Owuadey, 48, who lives in Kentish Town, was in a bar opposite the Hawley Arms and saw the first flames as they grew stronger.
Firefighters concentrated much of their effort on the Hawley Arms pub
"A fire engine arrived but it took about 40 minutes for more to come, even though by then the flames were the height of a house.
"We thought it started in the Hawley Arms, but it started in an alleyway behind there."
Moira Smith, 46, also of Kentish Town, saw the flames out of the window of her home "and the next minute, it was on the news".
Sitting on a bar stool in the middle of the road at the edge of the cordon in Chalk Farm Road, she said: "You could tell it was serious. The smoke was black.
"I'm just shocked by it all. Please God, there'll be no casualties."
The markets area is a major tourist attraction attracting up to 300,000 visitors each weekend to its six open-air and indoor markets and vibrant mix of bars, clubs, shops and restaurants. | Fire | February 2008 | ['(BBC News)'] |
Voters in Ukraine go to the polls for the first round of voting in the presidential election amidst ongoing violence in the east of the country with exit polls indicating that businessman Petro Poroshenko is headed for victory. , | Novgorodskoe: As Ukrainians vote for a new leader today, the four or five thousand people who live in this one-factory town are unlikely to turn out in big numbers to help fill an office that local separatist leaders describe as the president of a ‘‘neighbouring state’’.
But the reasons they gave were more nuanced than the "we want to join Russia" battle cry of the separatist movement that wants to follow the lead of Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula, which has been annexed by Moscow.
Deserted: A polling station in the east Ukrainian town of Novgorodskoe.Credit:Kate Geraghty
According to Ukrainian opinion polls, not the most reliable barometers of sentiment, the confectionary and chocolate billionaire Petro Poroshenko is alone in the field of 21 candidates in commanding double-digit support – about 40 per cent. If he falls short of 50 per cent, he will face a run-off ballot, possibly against former Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko.
Both candidates have little or no support in the east, leaving analysts divided on whether Sunday’s vote, expected to be peaceful in all but this economically strategic swathe of the country adjoining Russia, will defuse the crisis or ramp it to new levels of bloodshed and disruption.
Historian: Retired general engineer Viktor Kovalev at the phenol factory where he worked.Credit:Kate Geraghty
On Saturday there were skirmishes across the districts of Donetsk and Luhansk, which voted "yes" overwhelmingly in a secessionist referendum on May 11, causing electoral officials to hedge on where locals could vote – maybe in all the usual places, but possibly behind security cordons at the airport and the city stadium in Donetsk; and maybe on the factory floor at enterprises where the country’s richest man employs 300,000 locals in Donetsk and at Mariupol, to the south.
At Slaviansk, the one city under full rebel control, there were reports of heavy fighting on Saturday night and low expectations that voting would proceed Sunday. Elsewhere, ballot papers were being delivered under armed guard – despite repeated separatist warnings that the ballot will be disrupted and voters detained.
In Donetsk, the regional centre, there were reports of balaclava-wearing militiamen seizing ballot boxes from prospective polling places and carting them away to be destroyed.
Elsewhere, election offices have been attacked and officials shot at or abducted. At Bilovodsk, north of Luhansk, local election chief Vladimir Nesmiyanov told reporters he could not deliver voting materials to 86 out of 197 polling stations. He had been warned that separatists were ‘‘waiting for him,’’ if he tried.
Lonely: A man walks past Novgorodskoe polling station.Credit:Kate Geraghty
Here in Novgorodskoe, a 40-minute drive north-east from Donetsk, five see-through Perspex boxes stood sentinel next to a row of voting booths that were curtained in the national colours – sky blue and canola yellow – at an ornate 1950s hall.
Pausing as she weeded her garden, Lybov Surovets said there was no way she would go near the polling station – ‘‘I’m too afraid to, because people say gunmen will be there too’’. At the town bus station, two men who declined to identify themselves said they would vote if the booths opened, but they did not know who to vote for. And nearby, a 75-year-old woman who sheltered behind big sunglasses, declared: ‘‘There’s no one we want to vote for – so we won’t.’’
Novgorodskoe has been spared from the blood lust and barricades. But in their quiet way, the locals have been responsible for quite a bit of destruction – the town’s factory produces phenols and for decades has been a key supplier to Moscow’s munitions industry.
‘‘In the West, many say that we are criminals – and this is not far from the truth,’’ observed a local wag, before outlining a shakedown that took place in the 1990s.
That was when regional gangster factions went to war. A good many were gunned down, with some of the bodies being disappeared in a lake of acid waste at the back of this town. The survivors donned suits and called themselves businessmen or politicians. Among them, he points out, was Viktor Yanukovych, the former president whose ouster in February lit the fuse for the crisis – he had been jailed twice in the past. Their government-owned factory was part of the spoils in that war – ending up today as a tiny part of the business empire of that very rich businessman whose factories are expected to become polling places, Rinat Akhmetov.
The town’s self-appointed historian Viktor Kovalev enjoys telling visitors the literal translation of its name – New York. And he explains the local politics – the town’s 85-plus per cent vote in the secession referendum was more a swipe at the Kiev government than a wish to join Russia.
So would they vote in Sunday’s presidential ballot? He shrugged his shoulders.
After sitting on his hands for months, the factory owner Akhmetov had taken to urging his huge labour force to stand against the secessionists.
‘‘But maybe he’s too late,’’ says Kovalev. ‘‘Things might have turned out differently if he had acted earlier. He says he wants to talk to the separatists, but they don’t want to talk to him.’’
Like the front-running presidential candidate Petro Poroshenko, Akhmetov is one of a handful of so-called oligarchs who carved up Ukraine’s government-owned industries on the collapse of the Soviet Union. That means still having to do business with Moscow – which is presumed to be the reason for Akhmetov’s late entry to the crisis.
And these days, he doesn’t hold back. ‘‘If some of you believe that [the separatists] are leading us to success, this is a mistake,’’ he said in a televised statement this week. ‘‘They are leading to collapse, poverty and hunger.’’
After the referendum he ordered his workers to take to the streets of the southern city of Mariupol, to wrest back control of public buildings occupied by the separatists, who he has taken to denouncing as "savages".
Urging people to vote, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk on Saturday declared with customary confidence: ‘‘I would like to assure our compatriots in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, who will be prevented from coming to the polling stations by the war waged against Ukraine: The criminals don’t have much time left to terrorise your land.’’ Meanwhile a conference of separatists in Donetsk was pushing the boundaries for their new state, to be called Novorossiya, or new Russia, well beyond the two districts that voted in the secession referendum. A declaration issued by the meeting called for much of the east of the country to break away, including the oblasts or districts of Odessa, Nikolaev, Dnepropetrovsk, Zaptorozhye, Kharkov, Kherson, Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
That’s a problem – this crisis is reaching a point of developing a life of its own. | Government Job change - Election | May 2014 | ['(Sydney Morning Herald)', '(Washington Post)'] |
The remaining three London bombing suspects have been arrested after raids in the UK and Italy. | Roads were sealed off in west London as dozens of police, many armed and some in gas masks, surrounded properties.
Two men held in north Kensington were filmed by a witness stripped to the waist after police raided a flat.
Another suspect for the failed Tube and bus bombings has been arrested in Rome. The fourth suspect was detained in Birmingham on Wednesday.
Friday's raids saw armed police surround flats at Peabody Buildings, in Dalgarno Gardens, north Kensington.
Bare-chested
One of those arrested there identified himself as Ibrahim Muktar Said, 27, wanted for the attempt to bomb a number 26 bus in Shoreditch, east London, eight days ago.
A second man said his name was Ramzi Mohamed, suspected of the attempted Oval Tube bombing, police said.
Osman Hussain had been staying with his brother
Footage taken by a resident showed the suspects standing bare-chested on a balcony outside a flat.
They had been asked to surrender to police, but failed to do so, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke, of the Metropolitan Police, said.
"Specialist tactics" were then used, he said. Eyewitnesses had earlier talked of seeing officers wearing gas masks.
The suspect arrested in Rome, who was named as Somali-born UK citizen Hussain Osman, 27, will be questioned over the bomb attempt at Shepherd's Bush station.
He had been staying with his brother, who was also taken into custody, Italian officials said.
Also on Friday, UK police arrested a third man in Notting Hill, west London, and two women at the city's Liverpool Street station.
The as yet unnamed man, arrested in Tavistock Crescent, is said by police to be of significant interest in relation to the events of 21 July.
The suspect detained last Wednesday in Birmingham was Yassin Hassan Omar, 24, who is being questioned over a bomb attempt on the Tube near Warren Street.
'I'm scared'
One man was arrested following the Notting Hill raid
BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner said police may have been able to make their arrests following tip-offs from the public or informants; electronic interception; or the questioning of people who were already in custody.
"I understand that the questioning of those people they have in custody was very productive," he said. Our correspondent added that following Friday's arrests, the immediate priority for police was to establish if there were any further bomb plots.
Also, officers would want to know if there were any explosives lying around in warehouses and who these detainees knew.
Mr Clarke later confirmed to reporters that the Met would be seeking the return to Britain from Italy of Mr Osman.
However, it is not yet clear if he will face any charges in Italy.
Mr Clarke added that the public "must not be complacent" that the threat of attacks had disappeared in the wake of the arrests.
"The threat remains and is very real," he said.
Detectives believe there may also have been a fifth would-be bomber on 21 July, after a device was found on Saturday in a rucksack at Little Wormwood Scrubs, near Friday's operation.
Scotland Yard described Friday as their "best day yet" since 21 July.
Eyewitnesses to the raids in north Kensington say they heard three sounds like shots and a large explosion as officers wearing gas masks entered one of the properties.
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We were all locked in the office and told not to go near the windows
Rob Villa, London
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A police source later said no shots had been fired and that explosions reported by witnesses were the sounds of officers blowing off the door to a flat on the Peabody Buildings estate.
In Dalgarno Gardens, officers were continually shouting at someone in a flat to come out. They were addressing him as "Muhammad", eyewitnesses said.
The police asked him: "What is the problem? Why can't you come out?
"Take your clothes off. Exit the building. Do you understand?"
One resident told BBC News 24 she was inside a block of flats on the estate at the time.
"They were shouting to him that he needed to come out with his arms up, in just his underwear. 'Almighty bang'
"He was saying to them: 'How do I know when I come out, that you're not going to shoot me? I'm scared'." Police assured him he would not get shot as long as he followed instructions, she said, and that they knew he was not a risk to the officers or the public.
Officers told other residents on the 350-property estate to "get inside now".
Chris Stokes told BBC News: "We got told to move out of the way by armed police and within about five minutes we heard three gunshots go off behind the block of flats at Tavistock Crescent."
Allan Sneddon, who lives nearby, told BBC News: "There was this almighty bang... big enough to shake the ground."
RAIDS IN WEST LONDON
Dalgarno Gdns: Police surround flat on Peabody Estate and urge man to come out. Two arrests made | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Arrest | July 2005 | ['(BBC)'] |
An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.0 hits Greece and Turkey, with an epicentre in the Aegean Sea. Flooding and destruction of houses is reported in Samos, where two people have died, and Izmir, where 20 people have died and 786 injured. | A powerful earthquake has struck off Turkey's Aegean coast and north of the Greek island of Samos, destroying homes and killing at least 22 people.
The 7.0 magnitude tremor was centred off Turkey's Izmir province, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said.
Turkey put the magnitude lower, at 6.6, saying 20 people had died and 786 were injured in the province of Izmir. On Samos, two teenagers were killed.
The shallow tremor triggered a mini-tsunami that flooded Izmir and Samos. The authorities in Izmir, the provincial capital, are now setting up a tent area to house about 2,000 people overnight, amid fears that more buildings could collapse.
The authorities said that 70 people had been rescued from under the rubble. Rescuers continued to dig through concrete blocks after darkness fell, hoping to find more survivors.
The USGS said the quake - which was felt as far away as Athens and Istanbul - struck at a depth of 10km (six miles), although Turkish officials said it was 16km below ground.
Turkey and Greece both sit on fault lines and earthquakes are common.
In Izmir, Turkey's third largest city with the population of nearly three million, many people were seen running out into the streets in panic and fear after the quake struck. At least 20 buildings collapsed.
Videos have been posted on social media appearing to show the moment one multi-storey building went down, the BBC's Orla Guerin in Istanbul reports. Other footage shows local people scrambling over rubble looking for survivors.
There were reports of flooding in the city after the sea level rose, and some fishermen are said to be missing.
"It was a really strong shaker almost enough to knock you off your feet. Running out of the house with my children was like a drunken wobble," Chris Bedford, a retired British teacher who lives in Urla, west of Izmir, told the BBC.
One of the 20 confirmed victims drowned, the Turkish emergencies agency said.
Yasar Keles, an official in Sigacik, near Izmir, told BBC Turkish that a person died after their wheelchair was hit and overturned by the rising water.
Officials later said that 70 people had been rescued from under the rubble. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the government would help those affected by the quake "with all the means available to our state".
In Greece, two teenagers were killed when a wall collapsed on Samos. Eight people were injured across the island. A mini-tsunami flooded the port of Samos and a number of buildings were damaged. Greek officials put the magnitude of the tremor at 6.7.
"We felt it very strongly," local journalist Manos Stefanakis told the BBC, adding that smaller aftershocks were continuing.
He said it was the biggest tremor to have hit the island since 1904.
Fareid Atta, another Samos-based journalist, told the BBC that the damage was "quite extensive along the seafront" of the island's main town.
"Many businesses will be going under after this," he said.
Residents were urged to stay outdoors and keep away from coastal areas. About 45,000 people live on Samos.
Jude Wiggins, co-ordinator at women's centre for refugees in Samos
The building began to shake in our centre so we ran out. Soon the roads began to flood.
We were scared there would be a tsunami so we ran up the hill.
I was in the kitchen. The washing machine was going and I thought it was just doing that thing when it shakes and moves around at first. But the fridge was moving.
I ran out. Women were running everywhere. For a lot of the women it's quite traumatic as they've come from places like Syria and it could have felt like they were being bombed or something.
At some point everybody started to run. People were panicking. Our house is not safe to stay in as there are a lot of cracks.
For the people in the camps, they've lost everything in their own countries, they lost everything again in a fire and now lots of them have lost the tents they were sleeping in.
Reports said Friday's quake was also felt on the Greek island of Crete.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said he called Mr Erdogan "to offer my condolences for the tragic loss of life from the earthquake that struck both our countries".
"Whatever our differences, these are times when our people need to stand together," Mr Mitsotakis wrote in a tweet.
Mr Erdogan later responded, also by posting a tweet. "I offer my condolences to all of Greece on behalf of myself and the Turkish people," he wrote.
"Turkey, too, is always ready to help Greece heal its wounds. That two neighbours show solidarity in difficult times is more valuable than many things in life," he added. Relations between Greece and Turkey have been particularly strained in recent months by a dispute relating to control of territorial waters in the Mediterranean and the resources beneath them.
In January more than 30 people were killed and more than 1,600 injured when an earthquake struck Sivrice in Turkey's eastern Elazig province.
In July 2019, the Greek capital Athens was hit by a tremor that knocked out power to large parts of the city.
A powerful quake that struck the Turkish city of Izmit, near Istanbul, in 1999 killed about 17,000 people.
| Earthquakes | October 2020 | ['(BBC)'] |
The new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Theresa May begins forming her ministry following the end of the Second Cameron ministry. The former Mayor of London Boris Johnson is appointed Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Philip Hammond is appointed as Chancellor of the Exchequer, Amber Rudd is appointed Home Secretary filling Theresa May's former position, Liam Fox is appointed as Secretary of State for International Trade and David Davis is appointed as minister for the newly created Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union. | Theresa May is forming her new government after becoming Conservative prime minister. She is continuing to announce her full cabinet - but here's what we know so far. The list will be updated as new appointments are made. Campaigned to Remain in the European Union The former home secretary, 59, becomes the UK's second female prime minister in the wake of David Cameron's resignation after the EU referendum. She had previously served in the Home Office for more than six years. Theresa May: Full profile
How does May's cabinet compare to Cameron's? Campaigned to Leave the EU
Boris Johnson succeeds Philip Hammond at the Foreign Office. The former London mayor headed the campaign for the UK to leave the European Union. He did not previously have a ministerial appointment in Mr Cameron's government but accepted an invitation to attend political cabinet. He was not running any department. Mr Johnson, 52, may be one of the best known politicians in the country but the move to foreign secretary is a big step up from his previous role. Read how the world has reacted. Leave campaigner
David Davis has been appointed to the new cabinet position of secretary of state for exiting the European Union - or "Brexit secretary". A veteran Eurosceptic, he has previously held the positions of Conservative party chairman and shadow deputy prime minister. Between 2003 and 2008, he was the shadow home secretary under both Michael Howard and David Cameron. Mr Davis, 67, lost to David Cameron in the 2005 Tory leadership contest. Details about the new Brexit department are still emerging, but it is likely to take the lead in negotiating Britain's departure from the EU and unpicking the thousands of pages of EU rules written into UK law. Theresa May is reported to have ordered civil servants to find a building for the new department. Leave campaigner
Liam Fox, 54, has taken on another newly created position as secretary of state for international trade. He was made secretary of state for defence in 2010 but resigned in 2011 over allegations he had given a close friend, lobbyist Adam Werritty, access to the Ministry of Defence and allowed him to join official trips overseas. Like Mr Davis he is a Eurosceptic who voted to leave the EU and he also stood unsuccessfully for the Conservative Party leadership in 2005. He stood again in the latest race to be leader but was eliminated in the first ballot after winning the support of just 16 MPs. Remain campaigner
The appointment to chief whip is a big step up for Gavin Williamson, according to BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg. David Cameron's former parliamentary private secretary, he also served as parliamentary private secretary to transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin. The 40-year-old from North Yorkshire was elected MP for South Staffordshire in 2010. As chief whip, he will attend Cabinet meetings. Remain campaigner
Karen Bradley takes over from the deposed John Whittingdale as Culture, Media and Sport Secretary. She had been working with Theresa May as a Home Office minister since 2014. She was first elected MP for Staffordshire Moorlands in May 2010. Her appointment comes two months after Mr Whittingdale and the BBC agreed a major overhaul of the corporation. Read more about her appointment here. Leave campaigner
Andrea Leadsom, the Conservative leadership candidate who dramatically pulled out of the race, is the new Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Secretary. The prominent Brexit backer is promoted from energy minister to a cabinet role which will see her take responsibility for a farming industry as it faces the end of European Union subsidies. She will also have to fashion a post-Brexit fisheries policy. Green campaigners will be watching carefully to see what happens to environment regulations in areas including wildlife habitats, air pollution and water quality, currently governed by rules from Europe. Mrs Leadsom's public reason for withdrawing from the leadership race was to allow a rapid transition at the top, and give the economy certainty in the aftermath of the Brexit vote. But our political editor Laura Kuenssberg says her friends were saying she was alarmed by the level of scrutiny given to her comments on motherhood reported in the Times. Read more on Mrs Leadsom's motivations for stepping aside here. Baroness Evans of Bowes Park becomes leader of the House of Lords at 40, in her first ministerial role since being ennobled by David Cameron in 2014. She attended London's Henrietta Barnett School and Cambridge University before becoming deputy director of the Conservative research department, deputy director of the Policy Exchange think-tank and chief operating officer of the New Schools Network - the organisation which ran Michael Gove's free schools programme. Remain campaigner
Damian Green is appointed the new Work and Pensions Secretary, taking over from Stephen Crabb, who earlier resigned. Mr Green served as an Immigration Minister and Justice Secretary in the coalition government but has been on the backbenches since 2014. Leave campaigner
Priti Patel is the new International Development Secretary, a promotion from her role as employment minister which she's held for just a year. Ms Patel became MP for Witham in 2010 and joined the front bench as a Treasury minister in 2014. She is no stranger to controversy, having previously advocated bringing back the death penalty and was accused of "divide and rule politics" during the referendum campaign for claiming that "biased" immigration policy prevents curry chefs from outside the EU from working in the UK. On her appointment, she immediately faced calls to guarantee the UK's legal commitment to spending 0.7% of GDP on overseas aid. Remain campaigner
Greg Clark is secretary of state of a newly-created ministry of business, energy and industrial strategy. His appointment spells the end for a department which put climate change at the top of the agenda. Just eight years after it was created by then-prime minister Gordon Brown, the Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc) is being merged into Mr Clark's new department and losing the "climate change" part of its name. Environmentalists immediately expressed concern that the reshaping of departments showed the government was downgrading climate change as a priority. But Richard Black, director of the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU), said Mr Clark's move was "an excellent appointment", saying he "understands climate change, and has written influential papers on the benefits of Britain developing a low-carbon economy". Remain campaigner
James Brokenshire, who has been working with Theresa May at the Home Office - where he was immigration minister - has been made Northern Ireland Secretary. He takes over from Theresa Villiers, who resigned from the cabinet having been offered another role but saying it was not one "which I felt I could take on". Before entering parliament Mr Brokenshire was a partner at a large international law firm. From 2011 to 2015, he served as security minister at the Home Office with responsibility for domestic national security and counter terrorism. This included supporting the home secretary with oversight of the work of MI5 and the national police counter-terrorism network. His responsibilities also included the government's counter-terrorism strategy and he was part of the prime minister's "extremism taskforce". He also led negotiations with the Jordanian government to secure the deportation of the radical cleric Abu Qatada. Read more on his appointment here. Remain campaigner
David Lidington, former Europe Minister, is promoted to Leader of the House. He had been Europe Minister since 2010 but moves across to a post involving the smooth running of the Commons. The Cambridge history graduate and father-of-four has been MP for Aylesbury since 1992. He previously worked for BP and mining firm Rio Tinto. Campaigned to Remain in the EU
Philip Hammond has been named chancellor of the exchequer. He was foreign secretary under David Cameron from 2014 to 2016, having previously served as defence secretary and transport secretary. He replaces George Osborne. Mr Hammond, 60, is seen at Westminster as the ultimate safe pair of hands. Sometimes mocked as "box office Phil" for what some see as his dull delivery, he forged a reputation in the shadow Treasury team as the Tories' public spending "axeman". He was seen as a Eurosceptic who spoke of withdrawal if the EU were not reformed, but was a Remain campaigner in the referendum. He now has the job of steering Britain's economy through the choppy post-Brexit waters. Read what Mr Hammond has to say on his first day in the job. Remain campaigner
Amber Rudd has been made home secretary, filling the vacancy left by Mrs May. Ms Rudd was formerly energy and climate change secretary, a position she held for just one year. During the campaign for Remain in the EU referendum, she warned in a TV debate that she would not trust the new Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson to drive her home at the end of a night out. The former investment banker, venture capitalist, and financial journalist, aged 52, decided to enter politics in her 40s in order to get "a grip on her life". She quickly joined the fast track to the top after being elected to Parliament as MP for Hastings and Rye. She was seen as a protege of then Chancellor George Osborne, serving as his parliamentary private secretary before being promoted to junior minister at the Energy and Climate Change department in 2014. Remain campaigner
Liz Truss moves from her role as secretary for environment, food and rural affairs to replace Michael Gove as justice secretary. A qualified management accountant, she became MP for South West Norfolk in 2010 and was appointed education minister in 2012. She was brought up in Yorkshire and attended Roundhay, a comprehensive school in Leeds, and went on to read philosophy, politics and economics at Merton College, Oxford. Socially liberal, the 40-year-old was a founder member of the free enterprise group of Conservative MPs arguing for more deregulation of the economy. Remain campaigner
Justine Greening has said she is "absolutely delighted" to be made the new education secretary, taking over from Nicky Morgan. She was also appointed minister for women and equalities. Her new department will also take on higher and further education, skills and apprenticeships. Ms Greening leaves her international development secretary post, which she was promoted to in October 2011. MP for Putney since 2005, she became economic secretary to the Treasury after the 2010 election, succeeding Philip Hammond as transport secretary after he was promoted to defence secretary. At London's Pride day on 25 June, two days after the Brexit vote, the 47-year-old announced in a tweet she was in a same-sex relationship, saying "I campaigned for Stronger In but sometimes you're better off out!". Read more about what's awaiting Ms Greening at the education department. Leave campaigner
Chris Grayling, Theresa May's leadership campaign chief, has been appointed transport secretary. He was formerly Leader of the House. The most pressing jobs in his in-tray include dealing with the travel chaos caused by Southern Rail's disrupted services, the expansion of airport capacity in south-east England and high speed rail link, HS2. He's got some experience in this department, having served as shadow transport secretary from December 2005 to 2007. The Brexiteer had a surprisingly low-key, restrained referendum, largely refraining from "blue-on-blue" attacks. He was also one of the few Vote Leave spokesmen to share a platform with former UKIP leader Nigel Farage. Remain campaigner
Patrick McLoughlin leaves his role as transport secretary to become Conservative Party chairman and chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. An MP since 1986, the former miner also served as chief whip, after being appointed to the role in David Cameron's first cabinet. As transport secretary, he was in charge of several large-scale projects including Crossrail and HS2. The 58-year-old said he was "very pleased indeed" with his new role. Remain campaigner
Sajid Javid is moved sideways from business secretary to secretary of the department for communities and local government. Mr Javid, considered a protege of former chancellor George Osborne's, held the culture secretary position before being appointed to the business role last year and is a former managing director of Deutsche Bank. The 46-year-old University of Exeter graduate stood on a "joint ticket" with Stephen Crabb for the leadership election, hoping to be chancellor if Mr Crabb had become PM. Remain campaigner
Michael Fallon has kept his job at the Ministry of Defence - a position the 64-year-old has held since 2014. He was Conservative MP for Darlington from 1983 to 1992 - initially during Margaret Thatcher's time in Downing Street - and after leaving Parliament, he was later re-elected as MP for Sevenoaks in 1997. A former Conservative Party deputy chairman, he has previously served as energy and business minister, and before that secretary of state for business and enterprise. Seen as a safe pair of hands in Westminster, he described himself as a "pretty reluctant Remainer" after the EU referendum. Remain campaigner
Despite earlier speculation, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt remains in his post. The 49-year-old was appointed culture secretary in David Cameron's first coalition government, a role he held for two years - including while London played host to the 2012 Olympic Games. He took over the health portfolio following a cabinet reshuffle in 2012, and described the appointment as the "biggest privilege of my life". Most recently, Mr Hunt has been locked in a battle with the British Medical Association over a new contract for junior doctors, which has led to a series of strikes. Remain campaigner
David Mundell will continue as Secretary of State for Scotland. Mr Mundell, the only Scottish Conservative MP, said his focus was now on "ensuring Scotland gets the best possible deal out of the EU negotiations". Former prime minister David Cameron first appointed Mr Mundell to the post when he held his Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale seat for the third consecutive election in 2015. Remain campaigner
May's cabinet: Who's in and who's out? Alun Cairns, MP for the Vale of Glamorgan, remains in his cabinet role as secretary of state for Wales. He was appointed to the post just four months ago so there was little surprise that he will retain his position. The 45-year-old, who was born in Swansea and is a graduate of the University of Wales, Newport, was elected as MP for the Vale of Glamorgan in 2010. He worked in banking for a decade before his election to the Welsh Assembly. Remain campaigner
George Osborne has been fired as chancellor. He had been in the Treasury since 2010 - throughout David Cameron's tenure in Downing Street. He had also been first secretary of state since May 2015. | Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration | July 2016 | ['(BBC)'] |
Garrison Keillor, the former host of A Prairie Home Companion, is fired from Minnesota Public Radio after the public broadcaster discloses that it had become aware of allegations of "inappropriate behavior with an individual who worked with him". | Garrison Keillor, one of the nation’s most lauded humorists, was fired Wednesday by Minnesota Public Radio over allegations of “inappropriate behavior” that occurred while he was in charge of “A Prairie Home Companion,” his long-running variety show heard nationwide by millions every week.
Keillor, 75, who retired from the show last year and did not respond to a request for comment, denied any wrongdoing but described what he believed to be the allegation against him in an email to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.
“I put my hand on a woman’s bare back,” he wrote. “I meant to pat her back after she told me about her unhappiness and her shirt was open and my hand went up it about six inches. She recoiled. I apologized. I sent her an email of apology later and she replied that she had forgiven me and not to think about it. We were friends. We continued to be friendly right up until her lawyer called.”
Minnesota Public Radio did not immediately confirm whether this allegation was the reason for his firing and declined to give additional details on the accusation in question, including whether it was sexual in nature. The news broke hours after another enduring broadcaster, "Today" show host Matt Lauer, was fired by NBC for "inappropriate sexual behavior."
“Minnesota Public Radio is terminating its contracts with Garrison Keillor and his private media companies after recently learning of allegations of his inappropriate behavior with an individual who worked with him,” said Angie Andresen, communications director for the station.
Keillor spent his career creating and tending to a fictional place called Lake Wobegon, “the little town that time forgot and the decades cannot improve.” His radio show, “A Prairie Home Companion,” launched in 1974, stitched together old-timey jingles for fictional brands of biscuits and acoustic performances by guest musicians. But the heart of the show was Keillor’s storytelling — a slow, artfully rambling monologue about a stoic heartland community.
By the 1980s, Keillor had won a Peabody, and the show was one of public radio’s biggest cash cows — as popular as public-radio juggernauts “Car Talk” and “Marketplace,” and capable of matching the audience of the Saturday TV baseball Game of the Week.
[‘Today’ show host Matt Lauer fired after claims of ‘inappropriate sexual behavior’]
Keillor was shy, wry and unreadable in many ways, but his grave persona created an American enterprise as familiar and cozy as a hearth.
His program, despite its sense of place, was a road show, with a tractor-trailer full of sets and props and a traveling crew of stagehands, producers and performers who spent long hours together in college auditoriums, civic centers and hotel rooms.
Keillor has been married three times. One of his long-term girlfriends worked with him on the show. But three longtime members of the show’s staff, who asked not to be named because they don’t know the details of the new accusation, said that Keillor’s shrinking demeanor and social awkwardness were a far more powerful part of his personality than any forwardness around women.
“The guy screams ‘fatherly,’ ” one longtime female staffer said. “He was awkward and fascinating and lovely.”
On the road, Keillor kept mainly to himself, holed up in his hotel room to write his weekly monologue. Writers would join him to work over material, but those encounters were often stilted and quiet, the co-workers said.
In 1994, Keillor addressed the National Press Club and defended Bill Clinton against a battery of accusations, calling him a “soulful man” who “got himself elected without scaring people.” Keillor warned that society should try “not to make the world so fine and good that you and I can’t enjoy living in it.”
He added in his hangdog baritone: “A world in which there is no sexual harassment at all, is a world in which there will not be any flirtation. A world without thieves at all will not have entrepreneurs.” Twenty-three years later — amid a reckoning of workplace behavior that has felled politicians, TV anchors and Hollywood heavies — a viewer is left to wonder: Was Keillor being straight, or satirical?
In 1998 Keillor wrote “Wobegon Boy,” a novel about a radio host who is wrongly accused of sexual harassment and fired by his station.
On Tuesday, the day before his firing, The Washington Post published his opinion piece ridiculing the idea that Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) should resign over allegations of sexual harassment.
Calls for Franken’s head are “pure absurdity,” Keillor wrote, “and the atrocity it leads to is a code of public deadliness.”
Keillor, an avowed Democrat, last year became a weekly columnist for The Washington Post News Service and Syndicate — meaning he was a contract writer, not an employee with a desk in the newsroom. Many of his columns took mournful aim at President Trump, who “would have enjoyed the 17th century,” when “the idea of privileged sexual aggression was common in high places.”
[Violence. Threats. Begging. Harvey Weinstein’s 30-year pattern of abuse in Hollywood.]
Richard Aldacushion, general manager and editorial director of The Washington Post News Service and Syndicate, said there was no revision of its relationship with Keillor as of late Wednesday. The organization “takes the allegations against columnist Garrison Keillor seriously and is seeking more information about them,” the syndicate told its clients Wednesday.
In his email to the Star-Tribune, Keillor shared other thoughts. “If I had a dollar for every woman who asked to take a selfie with me and who slipped an arm around me and let it drift down below the beltline, I’d have at least a hundred dollars,” he wrote. “So this is poetic irony of a high order. But I’m just fine. I had a good long run and am grateful for it and for everything else.”
Minnesota Public Radio said it has retained an outside law firm to conduct an “independent investigation” into the allegations. The station will stop distributing and broadcasting “The Writer’s Almanac,” a show Keillor still produced after retiring from “A Prairie Home Companion.” The latter show, which will be renamed, has been hosted by Chris Thile since Keillor’s retirement.
In 1998, when "Prairie Home" was on 433 stations and in the ears of 2.5 million listeners, a Washington Post reporter spent a week with the show to write a profile of Keillor. One day, after rehearsal, the host gathered his cast in his hotel room for water and appetizers.
“Care for a social moment?” he asked.
The group stood around awkwardly for a few minutes, and at one point they all tried to speak in the voices of a variety of animals — whale, walrus, horse, bird — which provided a chance to exhale and chuckle. But after a short time, Keillor brought the social moment to an end.
“I might write something new,” he said, which was the invitation for his guests to file out of the room. | Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | November 2017 | ['(The Washington Post)'] |
Prosecutors in Sweden reopen the rape allegation investigation against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Swedish prosecutors mention their intent to seek extradition of Assange from the United Kingdom after he has served his 50–week prison sentence for skipping bail. | The Swedish authorities announced on Monday that they would reopen an investigation into a rape allegation against Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder, who is serving a prison term in Britain for jumping bail as the United States seeks his extradition over accusations that he tried to assist in a huge breach of classified data.
The United States has already begun trying to extradite Mr. Assange, an effort that was expected to be prolonged and complex even before the announcement in Stockholm on Monday.
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | May 2019 | ['(BBC)', '(The New York Times)', '(Associated Press)'] |
Three dinosaur species—Australovenator wintonensis, Wintonotitan wattsi and Diamantinasaurus matildae—are discovered in Australia. | The dinosaur discovery is "a major breakthrough"
Australian palaeontologists say they have discovered three new dinosaur species after examining fossils dug up in Queensland.
Writing in the journal PLoS One, they describe one of the creatures as a fearsome predator with three large slashing claws on each hand. The other two were herbivores: one a tall giraffe-like creature, the other of stocky build like a hippopotamus. The fossils date back nearly 100 million years. They were found in rocks known as the Winton Formation. The dinosaurs have names relating to Australia's famous folk ballad Waltzing Matilda. The carnivore, which has the scientific classification Australovenator wintonensis, has therefore been dubbed "Banjo" after Andrew Barton "Banjo" Patterson, who composed the song in Winton in 1885. Queensland Museum palaeontologist Scott Hucknell said the creature would have been a terrifying prospect. "The cheetah of his time, Banjo was light and agile. He could run down most prey with ease over open ground," he told reporters.
The two plant-eating, four-legged sauropod species are new types of titanosaurs - the largest animals ever to walk the Earth. "Clancy" (scientific name: Witonotitan wattsi) was a tall slender animal, while Matilda (Diamantinasaurus matildae) was more stocky and hippo-like. Banjo and Matilda - possibly predator and his prey - were found buried together in a 98-million-year-old billabong, or stagnant pond.
The findings have been published in the public access journal Public Library of Science One (PLoS One), and were announced by Queensland Premier Anna Bligh at the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum of Natural History in Winton. She said the discoveries were a major breakthrough in the scientific understanding of prehistoric life in Australia. Museum Victoria palaeontologist John Long described the fossils as "amazing". The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper quoted him as saying that the creatures put Australia back on the international map of big dinosaur discoveries for the first time since 1981, when the unearthing of Muttaburrasaurus, a large four-legged herbivore that could rear up on two legs, was announced. The new species will be part of the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum of Natural History under construction in Winton. It should be completed in 2015. What are these? | New archeological discoveries | July 2009 | ['(BBC)', '(Sydney Morning Herald)'] |
The Democratic Rally wins the legislative election. | A ultra-right party has won seats for the first time in Cyprus following parliamentary elections on Sunday (22 May).
The National Popular Front (ELAM), which styles itself after the Greek neo-nazi Golden Dawn party, now has two seats after winning 3.7 percent of the votes.In 2011, the nationalist party won just over 1 percent.
Reuters quoted Golden Dawn leader Nikos Mihaloliakos in Athens as saying that "for the first time, Cyprus will get nationalists in its parliament".
The most recent election marks broader discontent with government policies after the financial meltdown in 2013, and, in part, on moves to reunite the island before the end of the year.
Voter turnout hit historic lows with 67.3 percent. Cyprus, along with other EU states like Belgium, Greece and Luxembourg, imposes compulsory voting.
The ruling conservative Democratic Rally (DISY) still managed the most seats with 30.6 percent followed by the Communist AKEL with 25.6 percent. But DISY will now have 18 seats, down from 20, in Cyprus’s 56-seat chamber. AKEL will have 15 down from 19.
Other larger groups like the centrist Democratic Party DIKO and the Socialist EDEK also sustained losses.
The DISY loss may make it more difficult for president Nicos Anastasiades to end the feud between the Greek and Turk Cypriots. Cyprus had split in two after Turkish troops occupied the northern third of the island in 1974.
In a joint statement released last week, Anastasiades and his Turkish counterpart Mustafa Akinci had vowed to reach an agreement before the end of the year. A reunified Cyprus would pave the way for Turkey's bid to one day join the European Union.
The election results are largely attributed to the handling of the financial crisis imposed by the International Monetary Fund and the European Union.
The island nation had requested a bailout after its banking sector was drained of cash follow huge losses on Greek loans. The sector was some seven times larger than the size of Cypriot economy.
The conditions of the bailout were also sharpened following the banking sector's dubious ties to Russian and Ukrainian oligarchs and wider allegations of money laundering. Some 40 percent of the €68 billion in Cypriot banks in 2013 was Russian held.
Cyprus was also the first ever eurozone country to impose temporary capital controls after banks had been shut down for a week.
Almost 60 percent of one Cypriot bank's clients are "high risk" and almost a third of all depositors' records contain errors, a leaked report says.
MEPs pledged that the parliament will request an expedited procedure at the European Court of Justice, to speed up deliberations, and urged the EU Commission not to wait for the ruling and take action.
The symbolic move is an attempt to buttress against right-wing governments' increased scapegoating of LGBTI people, particularly in Poland and Hungary.
Efforts to shut down government-critical media go beyond Hungary and Poland, but current EU law means there is little the European Commission can do about it.
In the EU, women earn 14.1 percent less than men across the bloc - even though they have had the right to equal pay since 1957. The gender pension gap is at 30 percent.
The debate over Fidesz had become an unbearable political burden on EPP - but it also represented a core dilemma for many centre-right, mainstream parties struggling to deal with their populist challengers.
European Democracy Consulting study said continued low numbers, or "even just a feeling of lasting under-representation", will lead to frustration and impact EU governance.
| Government Job change - Election | May 2016 | ['(Daily Sabah)', '(TASS)', '(EU Observer)'] |
Former New York congressman Anthony Weiner is released from a halfway house in the Bronx, completing his 21–month federal prison sentence for illicit online contact with a 15–year–old girl. | Former Rep. Anthony Weiner left a New York City halfway house on Tuesday after completing his prison sentence for illicit online contact with a 15-year-old girl.
“It’s good to be out,” the disgraced former congressman said, according to the New York Post. “I hope to be able to live a life of integrity and service. I’m glad this chapter of my life is behind me.”
Weiner, 54, was ordered in April to register as a sex offender as he neared the end of a 21-month prison sentence. The judge designated Weiner a Level 1 offender under the state’s version of what’s known as Megan’s Law, meaning that he is thought to have a low risk of reoffending.
Weiner, a once-rising star in the Democratic Party who served in Congress for nearly 12 years, had been living in the halfway house since February after serving most of his sentence at a prison in Massachusetts. He still faces three years of court supervision.
Weiner pleaded guilty in May 2017 to transferring obscene material to a minor.
Prosecutors said he had a series of sexually explicit Skype and Snapchat exchanges with a North Carolina high school student and encouraged the teen to strip naked and touch herself sexually.
At his sentencing, Weiner said he’d been a “very sick man for a very long time” and said he had a sex addiction.
Weiner’s lawyer said the former lawmaker likely exchanged thousands of messages with hundreds of women over the years and was communicating with up to 19 women when he encountered the teenager.
It wasn’t the first time Weiner had been caught acting inappropriately.
After sending a lewd picture of himself to a college student in 2011, Weiner claimed his account had been hacked, then admitted online interactions with at least six other women while married to top Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin.
Weiner resigned from Congress, only to try for a political comeback with a run for New York City mayor in 2013. Then came the revelation that Weiner had used the alias “Carlos Danger” to send explicit photos to at least one woman after resigning from Congress.
Weiner received less than 5% of the Democratic primary vote.
Abedin filed for divorce from Weiner in 2017. But the two, who have a young son together, later agreed to discontinue the case in order to negotiate their separation privately.
The investigation into Weiner’s contact with the 15-year-old roiled the 2016 presidential campaign because emails Clinton had sent to Abedin were found on a laptop computer FBI agents seized from him. That led then-FBI Director James B. Comey to announce just days before the election that that agency was reopening its investigation into Clinton’s use of a private email server while secretary of State.
Days later, Comey said nothing in the new emails changed his view that Clinton could not be charged with a crime.
Nevertheless, Clinton felt damage was done and said Comey shared blame for her loss to Donald Trump.
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | May 2019 | ['(Los Angeles Times)', '(New York Post)'] |
Antonio Guterres, a Portuguese Catholic politician will be the next Secretary–General of the United Nations beginning January 1, 2017. He served as prime minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002. | Even before a new president takes office in the United States there will have been another major shift on the global stage. On January 1, a new United Nations secretary-general, António Guterres, will replace Ban Ki-moon, who steps down after a decade in office. António Guterres is the first secretary-general from a member-country of the European Union and the first from Portugal. Upon learning that he had been chosen by the five permanent members of the Security Council, Mr. Guterres described his feelings in two words: “gratitude and humility.” These are words not commonly heard around UN halls. However, Mr. Guterres is no ordinary person. The selection process Article 97 of the Charter of the United Nations simply states that the secretary-general “shall be the chief administrative officer of the Organization” with a five-year term, and that he can be re-elected for one more term. The office-holder is supposed to be independent, impartial, and respect integrity. To communicate effectively, he or she must be fluent in English and French, the two UN working languages. A secretary-general cannot be a citizen of any of the five countries that are permanent members of the Security Council but, as per the Charter, the secretary-general is selected by those five permanent members. After an individual is nominated, the recommendation goes to the General Assembly for a vote when the GA convenes for its annual meeting in the fall. The search for a secretary-general took nearly a year. For the first time there was an open and transparent process, orchestrated by then-President of the General Assembly Mogens Lykketoft of Denmark. Member states were able to propose candidates who then would issue their “vision statement” for the UN. Candidates were vetted on several occasions. Geography and gender The United Nations has had eight secretaries-general: three from Europe (Norway, Sweden, Austria); two from Asia (Burma, South Korea); two from Africa (Egypt, Ghana); and one from Latin America (Peru). Six of the eight served two terms. Dag Hammarskjold died in a somewhat mysterious plane crash while on a mission to Africa. Three of the first four were Europeans, and two Africans in a row were chosen prior to Ban Ki-moon. The UN likes to promote geographical diversity as well as gender equality and women’s empowerment. As for geography, there has been no S-G from “down under”—from Australia or New Zealand—none from Eastern Europe, and only one from Latin America. A large and vociferous feminist contingent started a website and lobbied heavily for a woman to be chosen. In 2016, there were 13 candidates vying for the job, six men and seven women. Nine were from countries that were once part of the Soviet empire or Yugoslavia. Eastern European nations insisted that it was “their turn” at the top job, although there is no formal system of rotation in choosing the secretary-general. Five candidates were from former Yugoslav republics; four came from countries that were once members of the Communist Bloc (Bulgaria, with two female candidates, Moldova, and the Slovak Republic). Helen Clark, former prime minister of New Zealand and administrator of the United Nations Development Program, comes from the Oceania-Pacific Islands region, which has also never produced a secretary-general. Two candidates hailed from Latin America. António Guterres was the first from Southern Europe. During the summer and early fall, there were six straw polls taken among the 15 members of the Security Council. Voters expressed their preferences by voting “encourage,” “discourage,” or “no opinion.” António Guterres came out on top in all of them, securing 11 to 13 encourage votes in each round. No other candidate came as close. Four dropped out due to very low scores. In the final poll on October 5, António Guterres emerged triumphant, obtaining approval of the five permanent members (the United States, the United Kingdom, France, China, and Russia) as well as the 10 rotating members. The following day he was formally nominated by the Security Council by acclamation. On October 13, Mr. Guterres was approved by the full General Assembly, also by acclamation. António Guterres, prime minister António Guterres brings a wealth of relevant experience to his new job. Born in Lisbon in 1949, he is an engineer by profession, taught for a few years and co-founded a Catholic social organization to work with the poor. He spent 17 years in parliament and served two terms as prime minister of Portugal (1995-2002). He was elected in October 1995, and re-elected four years later, but resigned before the conclusion of his second mandate given that his party had suffered major losses in local elections in late 2001. He was and is a member of the Socialist Party, but definitely from its right-wing, which can best be compared with German social democracy. During his time in office, Mr. Guterres faced the personal loss of his wife to cancer, which left him with a 22-year-old son and a 13-year-old daughter. Despite challenges, he presided over several major accomplishments. The most significant was Portugal’s commitment to European unity and pursuit of economic policies to qualify for the euro. On January 1, 1999 Portugal became one of 11 countries that adopted the common currency. Portugal also experienced its first turn at the rotating presidency of the European Union for the six-month period commencing January 1, 2000, an important responsibility involving planning and executing all the administrative activities of the EU membership. Under Prime Minister Guterres, Portugal established the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (Comunidade dos Países de Lingua Portuguesa, or CPLP) in 1997, bringing together the eight Portuguese-language countries scattered over four continents into a commonwealth-like organization to promote cultural ties, trade, and friendly relations among members. A major hurdle was East Timor (also referred to as Timor-Leste) which had been invaded by Indonesia after independence in 1975. In 1999, Mr. Guterres used his diplomatic skills to bring in UN peacekeepers to end a long war. Once peace was restored, the country joined the CPLP in 2002. Mr. Guterres also maintains close ties with the former Portuguese province of Goa in India, given that his second wife was born there. Mr. Guterres had to face profound moral issues too. During his first term, some leftist members of the Socialist party proposed Portugal’s first referendum to liberalize abortion. The prime minister opposed it on moral and religious grounds and declared he would vote against it. To be binding the referendum had to be approved by a majority of voters and a majority of registered voters had to participate. The referendum was held on June 28, 1998 and failed both due to the low turnout of 32 percent and a 51 percent negative vote. Liberalized abortion came later under the administration of José Sócrates, also a Socialist. Another referendum took place on February 11, 2007. This time one condition was met. Not enough voters turned out (44 percent) but a majority (59 percent) of voters were in favor. Although invalid, Sócrates ignored the results and backed the introduction of a law in parliament. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees After spending a few years with Socialist International following his resignation as prime minister, Mr. Guterres was appointed United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and served in that capacity for ten-and-a-half years, until December 2015. When he assumed his post there were about 38 million refugees. When he left, there were more than 65 million, more than half of whom were from Syria, Afghanistan, and Somalia. Despite the magnitude of the problem, he provided a strong voice for the destitute displaced by conflict and persecution. Mr. Guterres was able to trim a bloated bureaucracy inherited at UNHCR headquarters in Geneva while expanding the organization’s ability to respond to emergencies and amplify care. In addition, he introduced a needs-based budgeting process that proved to be more efficient and effective. Upon his departure, UNHCR had more than 10,000 employees, 87 percent of whom were deployed in the field, and an operating budget exceeding $5 billion, funded almost entirely by voluntary contributions. Secretary-General António Guterres: Victory and expectations “What has happened to the ‘dignity and worth of the human person’?” Those words were spoken by Mr. Guterres in his acceptance speech on October 13 before the General Assembly. For some years human dignity has taken a battering around the world and at the UN in particular, especially when it comes to defenseless and voiceless nascent human beings. Less than a week after his election, Mr. Guterres met with delegates in a General Assembly plenary meeting on October 19. In a brief opening statement, Mr. Guterres said he was there “to listen and to learn” and “begin a dialogue.” Mr. Guterres held up a copy of the UN Charter, indicating he was going to be guided by its contents. He stated that in making appointments his decisions would be based on three pillars: competence and integrity, gender parity, and regional diversity, while turning the UN into a “champion of transparency.” Numerous delegates made their concerns known, either urging this or that action or asking the incoming secretary-general about his priorities for the UN. Mr. Guterres responded to all the statements, directly addressing the salient points raised by each delegate. The replies came in English, French, and Spanish, respecting the language in which each delegate had spoken. Several comments and responses stood out. Replying to the delegate of the Philippines, Mr. Guterres said the UN needs to be “resilient and relevant” while acting with “passion and compassion.” In response to the Syrian delegate’s concern over his beleaguered country, Mr. Guterres simply stated “my heart is broken.” He praised the “generosity” of countries that shelter countless refugees such as Lebanon, Jordan, and Turkey. The Algerian delegate provided a moment of levity. After solemnly telling Mr. Guterres, “We want and expect a lot from you,” he said that due to his election a lot of people were trying to learn Portuguese. He then delivered a short congratulatory message in flawless Portuguese, added a thank you in Korean to Ban Ki-moon, and offered an apology to the translators who only translate “official languages.” It was the Palestinian delegate who remarked that Mr. Guterres was, “the right man for an impossible job,” while the Canadian ambassador added: “Your appointment brings a lot of hope.” If you value the news and views Catholic World Report provides, please consider donating to support our efforts. Your
| Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration | December 2016 | ['(Catholic World Report)'] |
Ferrero SpA is cleared of allegations of fraud relating to the supply of hazelnuts. |
Confectioner Ferrero has been cleared of allegations of fraud relating to the supply of hazelnuts.
The case arose after two banks lent 22.8m euros ($40.4m; 24.5m) to a Turkish firm that was the world's biggest hazelnut supplier at the time. The firm, Baskan Gida, used the money to buy hazelnuts, but then transferred them to a second company, which meant the banks did not get their money back. The banks had alleged that Ferrero had been involved in the switch. 'Enormously expensive'
But the judge Mr Justice Briggs did not agree with the case, which was brought by Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi and KBC Bank, and cleared Ferrero, the company behind Ferrero Rocher chocolates as well as Nutella spread and Tic-tacs. Mr Briggs handed down a 272-page judgment describing the trial as being "very long and no doubt enormously expensive". The judge ruled that another defendant, Shabbir Abidali, had been involved in the conspiracy. There will be another hearing at the end of the month to decide how much Mr Abidali will have to pay, although the judge said he would not be liable for the full 22.8m euros. The hearing will also decide who will have to pay the costs of the case. High costs
The case has been going on for seven years and has been in court for a total of 84 days since October, so the costs are expected to be greater than the 22.8m euros the banks lost in the first place. A parallel trial going on Italy recently estimated that Ferrer's total costs, including the trial in London, could be around 11m euros. The banks and Mr Abidali will also have to decide whether they want to appeal against the judgement.
The judge decided that three Ferrero witnesses - Antonio Do, Rosa Brunet and Alessio Casale - had all deliberately lied to the court. Mr Brunet has now retired and the other two are still working for Ferrero. Mr Briggs decided that they had lied about certain aspects of Ferrero's relationship with Baskan Gida, to protect the reputation of Ferrero, but he decided that did not mean that Ferrero had been trying to defraud the banks. But the company defended its employees. "Ferrero remains of the view that all of its personnel acted properly and with integrity throughout," said its solicitor Andrew Howell of Barlow Lyde & Gilbert. The judge also said that Mr Abidali was "not an honest man", having created and backdated documents "which were plainly designed to give a false and misleading impression". Mr Abidali's solicitors, Steptoe & Johnson, said: "Our client's position is that he has acted honestly and in good faith throughout." As for the members of the Baskan family in Turkey that owned Baskan Gida, the judge ruled that they had indeed successfully defrauded the banks. They were named as defendants in the case, but did not turn up at any of the proceedings and the judge concluded that they had probably not managed to make enough money out of the fraud to be worth pursuing through the Turkish legal system. "Even if a judgment in these proceedings could be enforced against them in Turkey, it is unlikely that any of them are worth powder and shot," he said. What are these? | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | June 2009 | ['(BBC)', '(The Times)'] |
Israel evicts Jewish settlers from Hebron. A dozen religious members of the Israeli Army refuse to participate and are sentenced for up to a month in a military jail. | Israel has plunged into a bitter debate over the source of authority for many of its soldiers after a group of troops refused orders to evacuate hardline Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank.
The four-hour operation early on Tuesday in the flashpoint town of Hebron sparked fiery rhetoric over the future of the Jewish state's army after a dozen religious soldiers decided to listen to their parents and rabbis, instead of their commanding officers, and refused to participate.
Media warned such subordination was becoming a trend, military leaders slammed it as unacceptable, the religious right hailed it as a sign of things to come, and the secular left warned it could paralyse the army.
When they were given the order on Monday to back up police forces removing the Hebron settlers, dozens of mostly religious soldiers in the Kfir regiment called their parents and rabbis for advice.
Some were told they had to follow the orders, others were advised to take sick leave to avoid insubordination, but two company commanders and 10 soldiers refused outright to carry out the orders.
The 12 were later slapped with sentences in military jail of up to a month, but not before the incident quickly reached the press, raising a storm of debate.
"The ideological refusal to carry out military orders to evacuate settlers is no longer a marginal phenomenon," warned the liberal Haaretz daily.
"More rabbis are directing their students to refuse evacuation orders, more right-wing public figures are supporting the refusals, and more religious soldiers feel that they have the public and family backing to refuse."
Defence Minister Ehud Barak, Israel's most decorated soldier who regained the post in mid-June, warned that refusing orders undermined the strength of a state where military service is compulsory for both men and women.
"Any state that wishes to live can have only one army. Soldiers are given orders from their company and regiment commanders only and not from any other person, as respectable as he may be," he told reporters.
But supporters of the troops hailed them as heroes and warned that Israel had not seen the last of such insubordination.
"I am happy with what my son has done," Avner Cohen, the son of Sergeant Haim Cohen who was among those sentenced to 28 days in military prison, told public radio.
"He is paying the price for the outrageous removal of Jews anywhere in the land of Israel," said Mr Cohen, whose family had lived in a settlement in Gaza until the 2005 pullout of settlers and troops after 38 years of occupation.
"The army's duty is to protect Israel's citizens and not to expel Jews," he said.
Aryeh Eldad, a lawmaker of the far-right National Union Party, said that Monday's incident "was a message to the government that if they try to harness the army for expelling Jews, they will remain with no army."
The two families removed for squatting illegally in Hebron were just one of more than 100 wildcat settlement outposts in the occupied West Bank, and the problems encountered with their removal could repeat themselves if Israel decides to carry through on its promise to remove the settlements.
Many religous soldiers in Israel - whose military service sometimes combines studies at a yeshiva religious school - identify themselves with right-wing national religious ideology and themselves live in settlements.
Although there are no figures on their exact number, they form the backbone of many elite combat units. During the 2005 Gaza pullout, a number of them refused to follow orders to forcibly remove the settlers who refused to leave.
"The Jewish bible is above the laws of the state of Israel," Rabbi Yishai Babed of the Judea and Samaria, as the West Bank is known in Israel, rabbis council told AFP.
"Expelling people from their homes contradicts the Bible and therefore the morality overrides any military orders," he told AFP.
The chief rabbi of the Israeli army yeshivas, David Stav, rejected such claims.
"To say that the soldiers' orders contradicted the halakha (Jewish biblical law) goes too far," he told AFP. "If this were the case, the army would have to be dismantled immediately."
MP Avshalom Vilan of the left-wing Meretz party warned that politicising the army from any side of the political spectrum risked paralysing it.
-AFP
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AEST = Australian Eastern Standard Time which is 10 hours ahead of GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | August 2007 | ['(AFP via ABC News Australia)'] |
United States President Donald Trump, together with Senators Tom Cotton and David Perdue, unveils the RAISE Act, a plan that would, if passed, reduce legal immigration to the U.S. by half each year, and implement a "merit-based system" prioritizing skilled workers, instead of the current family-based chain migration system. , | President Trump on Wednesday endorsed a new bill in the Senate aimed at slashing legal immigration levels in half over a decade, a potentially profound change to policies that have been in place for more than half a century.
Trump appeared with Republican Sens. Tom Cotton (Ark.) and David Perdue (Ga.) at the White House to unveil a modified version of a bill the senators first introduced in February to create a “merit-based” immigration system that would put a greater emphasis on the job skills of foreigners over their ties to family in the United States.
The legislation seeks to reduce the annual distribution of green cards awarding permanent legal residence to just over 500,000 from more than 1 million. Trump promised on the campaign trail to take a harder line on immigration, arguing that the growth in new arrivals had harmed job opportunities for American workers.
Fact Checker: President Trump’s claim that illegal immigration went up under past administrations
“Among those who have been hit hardest in recent years are immigrants and minority workers competing for jobs against brand-new arrivals,” said Trump, flanked by the senators in the Roosevelt Room. “It has not been fair to our people, our citizens and our workers.”
The bill faces dim prospects in the Senate, where Republicans hold a narrow majority and would have difficulty reaching 60 votes to fend off a filibuster. But the president’s event came as the White House sought to move past a major political defeat on repealing the Affordable Care Act by pivoting to issues that resonate with Trump’s core supporters.
Meanwhile, the Justice Department has begun laying the groundwork to potentially bring legal challenges against universities over admissions policies that could be deemed to discriminate against white students.
Trump’s critics accused the administration of pursuing policies that would harm immigrants and racial minority groups.
“This offensive plan . . . is nothing but a series of nativist talking points and regurgitated campaign rhetoric that completely fails to move our nation forward toward real reform,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said in a statement.
Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, predicted that the bill would not go far in Congress and called it “red meat to Donald Trump’s base.”
Trump had met twice previously at the White House with Cotton and Perdue to discuss the details of their legislation, which is titled the Reforming American Immigration for Strong Employment (Raise) Act. Their proposal calls for reductions to family-based immigration programs, cutting off avenues for the siblings and adult children of U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents to apply for green cards. Minor children and spouses would still be able to apply.
The bill would create a point system based on factors such as English ability, education levels and job skills to rank applicants for the 140,000 employment-based green cards distributed annually.
In addition, the senators propose to cap annual refugee admissions at 50,000 and to end a visa diversity lottery that has awarded 50,000 green cards a year, mostly to applicants from African nations.
Cotton said that while some might view the current immigration system as a “symbol of America’s virtue and generosity,” he sees it “as a symbol we’re not committed to working-class Americans and we need to change that.”
The number of legal immigrants has grown rapidly since 1965, when lawmakers eased restrictionist laws that had been in place for four decades that largely shut down immigration from Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe.
Trump’s chief policy aide, Stephen Miller, argued that the system has grown unwieldy, flooding the country with low-skilled workers who drive down wages for Americans of all racial backgrounds, including other immigrants who are already here.
Miller sparred with a reporter Wednesday at the daily White House briefing over the symbolism of the Statue of Liberty. He argued that the famous poem by Emma Lazarus was “added later” and thus did not define the U.S. immigration system as offering protection to the “poor” and “huddled masses.”
“If you look at the history of immigration, it actually ebbed and flowed,” Miller said. “There were periods of large waves followed by periods of less immigration.”
The legislation was quickly denounced by congressional Democrats, including the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and immigrant rights groups. It is also likely to face resistance from some business leaders and moderate Republicans in states with large immigrant populations.
Opponents of the bill said that immigrants help boost the economy and that studies have shown they commit crimes at lower levels than do native-born Americans.
“This is just a fundamental restructuring of our immigration system which has huge implications for the future,” said Kevin Appleby, the senior director of international migration policy for the Center for Migration Studies. “This is part of a broader strategy by this administration to rid the country of low-skilled immigrants they don’t favor in favor of immigrants in their image.”
Perdue and Cotton said their proposal is modeled after “merit-based” immigration systems in Canada and Australia that also use point systems. But those countries admit more than twice the number of immigrants to their countries as the United States does now when judged as a percentage of overall population levels.
“Just because you have a PhD doesn’t mean you’re necessarily more valuable to the U.S. economy,” said Stuart Anderson, executive director of the National Foundation for American Policy. “The best indication of whether a person is employable is if someone wants to hire them.”
Alex Nowrasteh, an immigration policy analyst at the Cato Institute, wrote that the bill “would do nothing to boost skilled immigration and it will only increase the proportion of employment-based green cards by cutting other green cards. Saying otherwise is grossly deceptive marketing.”
Cuts to legal immigration levels, including some of the same groups targeted in the Cotton-Perdue bill, were included in a comprehensive immigration bill in 2013 that was backed by President Barack Obama and approved on a bipartisan basis in the Senate.
But that bill, which died in the GOP-controlled House, would have offered a path to citizenship to an estimated 8 million immigrants living in the country illegally and cleared a green-card waiting list of 4 million foreigners.
Groups that favor stricter immigration policies hailed the legislation as a step in the right direction. Roy Beck, president of NumbersUSA, said the Raise Act “will do more than any other action to fulfill President Trump’s promises as a candidate to create an immigration system that puts the interests of American workers first.”
John Wagner contributed to this report.
The most important news stories of the day, curated by Post editors and delivered every morning. | Government Policy Changes | August 2017 | ['(The Washington Post)', '(NPR)'] |
More than one million anti–abortion protesters march through Madrid in one of the largest demonstrations since 2003 and 2004 anti–war protests. | MADRID (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of anti-abortion campaigners protesting against a proposal to change Spanish abortion laws marched though Madrid on Saturday in one of the largest demonstrations since anti-war protests in 2003 and 2004.
“We have clearly beaten attendence at our previous marches; over 900 coaches with demonstrators have come to take part ... I think we have met our target for a million people,” organiser and chairwoman of parents’ association Cofapa Mercedes Coloma, said.
There was no independent assessment of the crowd’s size.
Under the slogan of “Every Life Counts,” the march has been called by Spanish anti-abortion groups to challenge a Socialist government proposal to allow abortion up to the 14th week of gestation of the foetus.
“We invite all 48 million Spaniards, regardless of the political party they belong to, whether they wear a cassock or practice their religion in a Synagogue or a Mosque,” Benigno Blanco, Chairman of Catholic coalition, the Family Forum, said.
Spain’s government has said that current Spanish law allowing abortions only in cases of rape, foetal damage or danger to the physical or mental health of the mother unfairly brands women who wish to abort and their doctors as criminals.
One of the most potentially divisive elements of the bill for Spain’s traditionally Catholic electorate is the proposal to allow 16-year-olds to terminate pregnancies without parental consent, which even sectors of the Socialist vote have opposed.
| Protest_Online Condemnation | October 2009 | ['(The Australian)', '(Reuters India)'] |
Voting is delayed in Nigeria for a week, hours before polling was due to start because of violent incidents in the lead up to the election. | Nigeria has delayed its presidential and parliamentary elections for a week, in a dramatic night-time move.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (Inec) made the announcement just five hours before the polls were due to open on Saturday.
"Proceeding with the election as scheduled is no longer feasible," commission chairman Mahmood Yakubu said, citing logistical issues. The two main candidates have asked people to remain calm and be patient.
Mr Yakubu said the difficult decision to postpone was needed to ensure a free and fair vote.
The presidential and parliamentary votes have been rescheduled for Saturday 23 February.
Governorship, state assembly and federal area council elections have been rescheduled until Saturday 9 March.
The announcement came after an emergency meeting at the Inec headquarters in the capital, Abuja.
Nigeria's two main political parties, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the People's Democratic Party (PDP), swiftly condemned the move and accused each other of trying to manipulate the vote.
President Muhammadu Buhari, of the APC party, urged calm and appealed to Nigerians to "refrain from civil disorder and remain peaceful, patriotic and united to ensure that no force or conspiracy derail our democratic development".
His main rival Atiku Abubakar has called for calm over the next seven days saying: "I'm appealing to Nigerians to please come out and vote and I'm asking them to be patient about it."
Voters have reacted with a mixture of anger, frustration and resignation.
Responses to Inec's tweet about the postponement were brutal with one man calling it "the height of incompetence".
The height of incompetence! You waited till 3am nigerian time to break a news as crucial as this? After 3 whole years which you had to plan. What a Joke!
Another described Inec as "a huge disgrace".
You had 4 years and more than enough financing and you give us this.The INEC of today is a huge disgrace and one of the institutions that'd need to be repositioned once a new govt takes over.I never had faith in this current INEC Chair and he just justified my reservations.
Many had made long journeys to vote. In the northern town of Daura, Musa Abubakar, who had travelled 550km (342 miles) from Abuja to take part in the election, told the BBC that he "couldn't believe" what had happened.
Hajiya Sa'adatu said she was "greatly disappointed" to learn of the delay when she came out to cast her vote in the northern city of Kano.
But others have been saying that the postponement should mean that everything goes smoothly next week.
Michael Momodu, in Delta state south-east Nigeria, said that he still believed that "the right things will take place" and that "God will deliver".
Election chief Mahmood Yakubu said the decision was made following a "careful review" of the election "operational plan", adding that there was a "determination to conduct free, fair and credible elections". He said the delay was necessary to give the commission time to address vital issues and "maintain the quality of our elections", but did not provide further details. Breaking News: The #NigeriaDecides2019 Elections now to hold on; 23rd February, 2019 for Presidential and National Assembly while the Governorship, State House of Assembly and the FCT Area Council Elections is to hold on 9th March, 2019. In the past two weeks several Inec offices have been set alight, with thousands of electronic smart card readers and voter cards destroyed.
There have also been claims of shortages of election material in some of the country's 36 states. | Government Job change - Election | February 2019 | ['(BBC)'] |
The Gippsland GA8 Airvan is grounded in Australia, New Zealand and the European Union following a fatal crash on July 14. | Nine people died last Sunday when a Gippsland GA8 Airvan plane carrying them for a parachute jump crashed in northern Sweden soon after taking off. Photo / File Twenty-one New Zealand planes - which are used globally for skydiving and scenic flights - have been banned from flying out of fear they may not be safe.
Today Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) director Graeme Harris suspended the airworthiness certificates of all 21 Gippsland GA8 Airvan aircraft currently operating in New Zealand saying he had "sufficient concerns about the safety of these aircraft".
It's a direct response to the crash that killed nine people when a GA8 Airvan plane carrying them for a parachute jump crashed in northern Sweden soon after taking off.
Harris told the Herald until more was known about the cause of the Sweden crash the suspension would remain in place.
"We do not take these steps lightly but when there is a reasonable doubt about the safety of an aircraft, the flying public, operators and pilots of the affected aircraft in New Zealand must be satisfied that the CAA will act with their safety as a priority.
"While I regret any inconvenience this grounding will cause and acknowledge its significant commercial impact; I simply cannot compromise when I have information that indicates any unacceptable risk," he said.
Harris said he had been in contact with his Australian counterpart at CASA (Civil Aviation Safety Authority) as the GA8 was Australian manufactured and they were the designated state of design and manufacture.
"I understand that CASA has sent a technical specialist to Sweden to gain first hand insight into the progress of the crash investigation.
"Based on information coming out of the initial investigation into the crash it appears the aeroplane, at 4000 meters altitude, suffered structural failure, but, at this time, the root cause of the accident cannot be confirmed," Harris said.
The grounding of the New Zealand planes is effective immediately and will be reviewed as further information becomes available from Sweden and Australia. | Air crash | July 2019 | ['(The Guardian)', '(New Zealand Herald)'] |
A car bomb explodes outside the President of Somalia's compound in Mogadishu claiming at least ten people's lives. Al Shabaab has claimed responsibility for the attack. | By Reuters Published: 14:50 BST, 30 August 2016 | Updated: 14:50 BST, 30 August 2016 By Abdi Sheikh and Feisal Omar
MOGADISHU, Aug 30 (Reuters) - At least 10 people, including soldiers and civilians, were killed in Somalia's capital Mogadishu on Tuesday when a car bomb claimed by al Shabaab exploded outside the Presidential Palace and also damaged two nearby hotels, an official said.
Information Minister Mohamed Abdi Hayir told state radio that a meeting of security officials was under way inside one of the hotels, the SYL, at the time of blast and that one minister and some state radio journalists were injured in the attack.
The hotel is frequented by government officials and police said it believed the facility was the likely target.
The SYL and another hospitality facility, both located near the Presidential Palace, were partially destroyed by the blast, Major Mohamed Ali, a police officer, told Reuters.
"The blast killed 10 (people) including soldiers and civilians and 30 others were wounded," Ali said.
Gunfire could be heard after the blast and a huge cloud of smoke rose above the palace, outside which were the remnants of the car and splattered blood, according to a Reuters witness.
Al Shabaab's Radio Andaluz said the Islamist group was behind the attack and their military operations spokesman, Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, said the attack had killed 15 soldiers and "injured many others including a lawmaker".
Seeking to impose its own harsh form of Islam, al Shabaab, wants to topple the Western backed government in Mogadishu and also push out the 22,000-strong African Union mandated AMISOM peace keeping force backing it.
The group was pushed out of Mogadishu by AMISOM in 2011 but have remained a serious threat, launching frequent attacks aimed at overthrowing the government.
The militants have claimed responsibility for several explosions in Mogadishu, including a car bomb and gun attack last week at a popular beach restaurant in the capital that killed 10 people.
In a separate incident, al Shabaab fighters attacked military bases housing government and African Union troops south west of the capital Mogadishu late on Monday, police and the group said on Tuesday.
Military officer Major Bile Farah said a soldier and two al Shabaab fighters were killed in the attack in K-50 and Muri in Lower Shabelle region.
Abu Musab told Reuters the group's fighters had killed 10 soldiers and commandeered a vehicle from the Somali government soldiers in the Monday attack. (Writing by George Obulutsa and Elias Biryabarema; Editing by Alison Williams) | Armed Conflict | August 2016 | ['(Daily Mail)'] |
The Kyrgyzstan Interior Ministry and Tajikistan both report that the situation at the border is stable and calm. Both countries also agree to withdraw troops from the border. However, an unexploded air missile is discovered at a house in Batken, Kyrgyzstan, near the border. | Both sides have reported calm on the Kyrgyz-Tajik border as a day-old cease-fire appeared to be holding and more than 40 people were being mourned from some of the worst clashes in decades on their disputed frontier.
A joint Kyrgyz-Tajik military commission reported finding an unexploded rocket embedded in a residence in the area as the group inspected the scene of 24 hours of intense violence on April 28-29.
Kyrgyzstan is observing two days of official mourning for 34 people who died in Batken Province. One hundred and seventy-eight more were reported injured on the Kyrgyz side, seven of them still in grave condition.
Some 30,000 Kyrgyz villagers were reportedly evacuated from their homes.
Fifteen people were thought to have been killed on the Tajik side and 90 more injured, according to RFE/RL's Tajik Service, although Tajik authorities did not disclose casualty figures.
The Kyrgyz Interior Ministry said in a statement on May 2 that "the situation in all districts and villages of Batken Province on the Kyrgyz-Tajik border is stable and calm."
The violence followed a dispute over the installation of surveillance cameras at a water-distribution point near Tajikistan's Vorukh exclave, drawing in security forces from both countries.
Kyrgyz security officials at one point accused Tajik forces of using MI-24 helicopter gunships to shoot at Kyrgyz villages.
Kyrgyz reports say about 100 structures, including dozens of homes, three border checkpoints, a medical center, a police station, and two schools, were damaged.
The heads of national security for the post-Soviet, Central Asian neighbors agreed to the pullback during a crisis meeting on May 1.
The meeting of the Tajik and Kyrgyz delegations followed a telephone conversation between Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov and his Tajik counterpart, Emomali Rahmon.
The European Union, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and Russia have all urged both sides to respect the cease-fire agreement.
Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan both host Russian military bases.
Human Rights Watch has urged an immediate investigation to hold either side responsible for laws-of-war violations against civilians.
Like many other border areas in Central Asia, almost half of the 970-kilometer-long Kyrgyz-Tajik border has not been demarcated, leading to tensions for the past 30 years.
RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Serviceis an award-winning, multimedia source of independent news and informed debate, covering major stories and underreported topics, including women, minority rights, high-level corruption, and religious radicalism.
RFE/RL’s Tajik Service is a trusted source of local news, attractingaudiences with compelling reporting on issues not otherwise covered by Tajikistan’s state-run media. | Armed Conflict | May 2021 | ['(Rferl.org)', '(Prensa Latina)', '(Kabar)'] |
A fire in a textile mill in Chittagong, Bangladesh, kills 51 people and injures over 100. | Soldiers were brought in to take over rescue work from firefighters after the fire reduced the building to rubble.
Two officials involved in running the mill in the south-eastern port city of Chittagong have been arrested and are being questioned, police said.
At least 500 workers were inside the mill when the fire broke out. Officials are trying to establish the cause.
Bangladeshi Prime Minister Khaleda Zia on Friday visited the scene of the fire and a hospital where the injured were being treated.
Officials said she had ordered a thorough investigation into the fire, and asked the authorities to compensate the families of those killed and help rehabilitate the injured.
'Worst ever'
Dozens of garment workers and human rights activists marched through the capital, Dhaka, demanding better safety in factories and proper compensation for the victims, the BBC's Waliur Rahman in Dhaka says.
Mill workers marched in Dhaka to demand improved factory safety
The blaze has been described by officials as the country's worst ever factory fire, he adds.
Most of the survivors had to jump from windows as the only exit from the factory was reportedly locked when the fire broke out late on Thursday, a fire department official, Rashidul Islam Majumder, told the BBC.
No representatives of the KTS Textile Mills were available for comment.
Police said one of those arrested was a director of the textile firm.
Short circuit
The death toll rose to 52 on Friday, as rescue workers recovered more bodies from the debris.
Most of the victims were women, who were trapped by the flames or suffocated from smoke inhalation.
Initial reports suggested that the fire might have been caused by an electrical short circuit.
"The main gate was locked when we heard a loud noise followed by fire and an electricity cut," a factory worker told a Bangladesh television station.
"Some neighbours cut open the window grilles to help us out of the factory," he added.
Poor record
Rescuers said the fire had spread quickly through the building because of stacks of yarn piled up on the floors.
Rescuers said the blaze was Bangladesh's worst industry fire
The explosion of a boiler escalated the blaze, witnesses said.
A doctor at a local hospital told AFP that 25 people were in a critical condition.
Textiles make up about 85% of Bangladesh's exports, earning the country some $6bn (£3.4bn) annually.
However, the industry has been plagued by accidents due to poor safety standards.
In 2000, at least 48 workers died when a locked fire exit left them trapped in a burning factory near the capital, Dhaka.
Last April, more than 60 people died when an illegally-constructed garment factory collapsed. | Fire | February 2006 | ['(BBC)'] |
Multiple mortars hit Mogadishu Airport, wounding at least six people. Al-Shabaab claims responsibility for the attack. | Seven people were wounded after a mortar attack by al-Shabab militants hit the area around Mogadishu airport on Sunday, Somali witnesses and officials say
The mortars landed on the heavily-guarded Halane area of the airport that houses the African Union and United Nations Mission in Somalia.
Witnesses told VOA Somali that six mortars were fired at the vicinity just after 1pm local time.
The al-Shabab militant group claimed responsibility for the attack.
The Special Representative of the U.N. Secretary-General for Somalia, James Swan, confirmed that the mortars landed inside the U.N. and AMISOM facilities.
“I am appalled by this blatant act of terrorism against our personnel, who work together with the Somali people on humanitarian, peace building, and development issues,” Swan said in a statement. “There is no justification for such despicable acts of violence, and the United Nations remains determined to support Somalia on its path to peace, stability and development."
Al-Shabab uses mobile vehicles that transport mortars from one location to another. The mortars are then dissembled immediately after being fired and hidden in the bush or in a car, according to security sources.
Al-Shabab attacked the same facility with mortars earlier this year injuring two United Nations staff members and a contractor.
The attack on Sunday comes a day before Somalia marks the deadliest terrorist attack in Somalia and in Africa.
October 14 is the second anniversary of the truck bomb in Mogadishu that killed 587 people and injured hundreds of others. | Armed Conflict | October 2019 | ['(VOA News)', '(Reuters)'] |
Anti–government red shirt protesters return to the streets in Thailand. | BANGKOK, Nov 19 -- Thailand's anti-government 'Red Shirt' United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) movement gathered in Bangkok Friday to mark the six-month anniversary of the forced ending by state security forces of the group's protest against the government at Ratchaprasong intersection.
Somyot Preuksakasemsuk, head of the Red Shirt faction called the 'May 24 Group,' key organiser of the event said the Ratchaprasong intersection gathering will begin at 5pm.
Ratchaprasong, a prime Bangkok commercial area, was the central venue of the anti-government protests last April-May.
Mr Somyot said that today the Red Shirt activists will wear black outfits and gather first at the Bangkok Remand Prison, demanding that the Red Shirt protesters still being detained on charges of violating the emergency decree be released.
The protesters will then proceed to the headquarters of the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) at the Chaeng Wattana Government Complex in the afternoon and complete their rally at Ratchaprasong intersection.
Mr Somyot said he expected some 10,000 supporters to join the rally. The demonstration will be peaceful, he said.
Key protest leader Jatuporn Prompan, outspoken MP from the Opposition Puea Thai Party, will also join the event at Ratchaprasong.
Pol Maj-Gen Saroj Promcharoen, chief of Metropolitan Police Division 2 said the police have deployed two companies of forces to provide security for the demonstrators which expected to turn out around 1,000 people.
Metro police deputy chief Pol Maj-Gen Kririn Inkaew this morning inspected Ratchaprasong intersection and said that seven or eight companies of police will be deployed to ensure safety.
He warned motorists to avoid the area at Ratchaprasong as traffic will gradually build up in afternoon.
The UDD planned to end their activities at 8pm.
The Red Shirt rally in downtown Bangkok ended May 19 after the Red Shirt leaders announced the end of the more than ten-week long protest and surrendered to police as the army personnel sealed off their protest area. Most key protest leaders remain in detention under terrorism charges and their bail has been rejected as the court cited their possible flight to avoid prosecution.
Only Mr Jatuporn, who is an MP for the Puea Thai Party, was granted bail as he has parliamentary immunity.
Eighty-nine persons, both security personnel and protesters, were killed and more than 1,900 were injured in several clashes between the troops and the UDD members during April and May. (MCOT online news) | Protest_Online Condemnation | November 2010 | ['(Reuters)', '(Thai News Agency)'] |
4 people are confirmed killed in Friday's Super Puma L2 crash near Sumburgh Airport in the Shetland Islands. Operation of the helicopter model is globally suspended. | They were Duncan Munro, 46, from Bishop Auckland, Sarah Darnley, 45, from Elgin, Gary McCrossan, 59, from Inverness, and George Allison, 57, from Winchester.
Three of the four bodies have been recovered. Police Scotland confirmed 14 others were rescued.
The Super Puma L2 helicopter crashed two miles west of Sumburgh Airport at about 18:20 BST on Friday.
An investigation into the cause of the tragedy is under way.
RNLI rescue co-ordinator Jim Nicolson said the helicopter - carrying workers from an oil rig - apparently suffered a "catastrophic loss of power".
He said it appeared the aircraft had "suddenly dropped into the sea without any opportunity to make a controlled landing".
Amanda Smith, whose son Sam was on the helicopter, told Sky News it suddenly lost power and those on board had "no time to brace".
"He was by the window so he was able to escape that way as it rolled over," she said.
"He said he had come off better than a lot of people, [those] were his words."
Michael Bull, whose son Samuel was rescued, said: "We understand he was on his way back from a rig and the helicopter lost power suddenly and immediately ditched into the water.
"He managed to escape straight away because he was right by an exit and I understand soon afterwards that the helicopter turned over."
A total of 18 people were on board the helicopter.
The 14 survivors, including the two crew members, were taken to Gilbert Bain Hospital in Lerwick for treatment.
Police Scotland said five were discharged a short time later and nine were detained overnight either for observation or suffering from exposure.
The ditched helicopter was found broken into several pieces up against rocks.
Boats, including a ferry and a cargo ship, joined lifeboat crews from Lerwick and Aith and helicopters from the coastguard, RAF Lossiemouth and two Bond rescue helicopters to search for survivors.
The AS332 L2 helicopter, carrying passengers and crew from the Borgsten Dolphin oil rig in the North Sea, was operated by CHC for Total, taking people to and from oil and gas installations.
A CHC spokesman said: "The aircraft was on approach to Sumburgh Airport at approximately 6.20pm when contact was lost with air traffic control."
In a later statement, the company said the cause of the incident was unknown but Super Puma L2 flights would be suspended worldwide.
"Also, in deference to the incident and the investigation, we are suspending all flights [on] Saturday by our UK operations," the company added.
Bond Offshore Helicopters also said it would not be operating any of its Super Puma aircraft fleet, with the exception of its Jigsaw rescue aircraft which would be available for life at risk missions.
Oil firm Total confirmed that the three men and one woman who died all worked for contract organisations. Stork Technical Services confirmed one its employees, Gary McCrossan, was one of those who had died.
Mike Mann, a senior vice president at the firm, said: "Our heartfelt condolences go out to Gary's family and to all of those affected by this tragedy. We are doing all we can to assist the family at this difficult time."
Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond paid tribute to the "brave and hard-working" people involved in the rescue effort.
He added: "Our thoughts at this difficult time are with the families, friends and colleagues of those who lost their lives in this tragic incident."
Oil & Gas UK's chief executive, Malcolm Webb, also offered his condolences, and said the incident had emphasised the importance of safety training.
"All offshore helicopter pilots undergo extensive training to prepare them for emergency situations and all passengers undergo regular helicopter evacuation training," he said. He added that helicopter safety remained a focus for the industry, and any lessons that could be learned would be shared across the industry. Last year, Super Puma helicopters crashed in two incidents, one off Aberdeen and another off Shetland, but these involved the EC 225 variety of the aircraft.
All passengers and crew were rescued in both incidents which were found to have been caused by gearbox problems.
Super Puma EC 225s were grounded following the crashes but were given the go-ahead to resume flying again earlier this month.
Bob Crow, general secretary of offshore union RMT, said there was a lack of workforce confidence in the Super Puma type aircraft, and unions had been working with the industry to address their members' concerns.
| Air crash | August 2013 | ['(BBC)'] |
A lorry and a bus collide in Guyhirn, Cambridgeshire, UK. Two people are killed and twelve are injured, five seriously. | Two men died when a double-decker bus and a lorry were involved in a crash on the A47 in Cambridgeshire.
Twelve other people were injured in the crash at about 07:30 BST on Thorney Road, Guyhirn.
The driver of a First Eastern Counties bus, in his 50s, died, along with a passenger in his 70s.
The collision, on a stretch of road with a 60mph speed limit, involved a Bretts Transport lorry near the entrance to its depot.
Police said the bus "collided into the lorry". The lorry driver was not hurt.
A Bretts spokesman said: "At this stage we are giving the emergency services our full support and co-operation."
First Eastern Counties managing director Steve Wickers said: "Two people have lost their lives in this incident, one being a driver based in our King's Lynn depot.
"I am shocked and saddened by what has happened. Our thoughts are with the families of the deceased and we will be providing as much support to them as we can through this difficult time."
Cambridgeshire Police said five people were seriously injured and seven had minor injuries.
Police said those who were seriously hurt had a combination of broken bones and head injuries, including brain injuries.
The East of England Ambulance Service said the casualties had been transferred to Peterborough City Hospital and Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King's Lynn.
Insp Jamie Langwith, of the county's roads policing unit, said: "What we do know is that they have a coming together where the HGV has pulled out of the yard and the bus has collided into the side of it."
The East of England Ambulance Service sent seven ambulance crews, three ambulance officers, two rapid response vehicles, and a Hazardous Area Response Team to the scene on Tuesday morning.
Highways England confirmed the road had reopened shortly after 17:30 BST.
| Road Crash | June 2018 | ['(BBC)'] |
French riot police detain 278 migrants in Calais in an operation to dismantle the "jungle" camp. | CALAIS (France) - RIOT police on Tuesday detained 278 migrants in a dawn raid on a makeshift camp known as 'the jungle' in northern France, a top state official said.
Nearly half of the detained migrants identified themselves as minors and were to be taken to a nearby shelter as part of an operation to close down the camp used by foreigners trying to gain passage to Britain.
Prefect Pierre de Bousquet de Florian told a news conference that the operation took two hours and that police would now move in to tear down shacks and tents set up in the scrubland in the Channel port of Calais.
Thousands of mainly male migrants, from Afghanistan, Iraq and other troubled nations, have headed to Calais in the past decade to try to jump on a ferry or a train crossing the Channel tunnel to Britain.
The government announced last week it planned to shut down 'the jungle' which it says has become a haven for people-smuggling gangs and a no-go zone for locals, with appalling sanitary conditions.
Human rights groups however warn the move is futile and that migrants will continue to be drawn to Calais en route to Britain to find work and a better life. -- AFP | Armed Conflict | September 2009 | ['(France 24)', '(BBC)', '(Straits Times)'] |
Salem Labyedh resigns as Tunisia's Education Minister following last week's assassination of Mohamed Brahmi. | Tunisia's Education Minister Salem Labyedh has resigned following last week's assassination of opposition MP Mohamed Brahmi, the prime minister's office has said. The secular politician's decision came amid growing pressure from opposition groups on the Islamist-led government to step down. He is the first minister to quit the fractious coalition since the killing. The government blamed Salafist hardliners for Mr Brahmi's murder. Tunisia is the birthplace of the Arab Spring, but it has been in turmoil since the overthrow of long-serving ruler President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in 2011.
The BBC's Sihem Hassaini in Tunis says the resignation of Mr Labyedh is a major blow to the government, led by the Islamist Ennahda party.
Mr Labyedh, an independent, joined the government in March following the assassination of another leftwing politician Chokri Belaid.
It would not be surprising if more ministers quit, as the government comes under pressure to create a new unity government, our reporter in Tunis adds. On Tuesday, Interior Minister Lotfi Ben Jeddou raised the possibility of resigning following the killing of at least eight soldiers by suspected al-Qaeda-linked militants near the Algerian border. A junior secular party in the coalition, Ettakatol, has also warned it will withdraw from the Constituent Assembly (CA) if a new unity government is not formed. The CA is weeks away from drafting a new constitution that will be put to a referendum. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Ali Larayedh said the government would fulfil its mandate and hold elections in December.
A roadside bomb exploded on Wednesday south of Tunis as a police patrol passed, but no injuries or damage were reported, Reuters news agency reports. "We are facing two choices. Either we confront terrorism together, or we will distract the army and security forces with political battles that are much less dangerous than terrorism," said Noureddine Bhiri, the prime minister's spokesman. Africa Today podcasts
Setback for EU in legal fight with AstraZeneca
But the drug-maker faces hefty fines if it fails to supply doses of Covid-19 vaccine over the summer. | Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | July 2013 | ['(BBC)'] |
Louie Sanchez and Marvin Norwood are sentenced to eight years in prison for the 2011 beating of Bryan Stow. | Two men charged in the beating of SF Giants fan Bryan Stow pleaded guilty Thursday and accepted plea deals. Stephanie Chuang reports.
Two men charged in the beating of a San Francisco Giants fan pleaded guilty Thursday and accepted plea deals in the March 2011 opening day attack at Dodger Stadium before family members delivered emotional statements about how the attack changed their lives.
Louie Sanchez, 31, pleaded guilty to a felony count of mayhem and was sentenced to eight years in prison for the attack on Bay Area paramedic and father of two Bryan Stow. Marvin Norwood, 32, pleaded guilty to assault by means likely to produce great bodily injury and was sentenced to four years behind bars, but prosecutors said he will "walk out of here immediately" because of time served.
As part of the plea agreement, all other charges against the men were dropped. Both men had originally been charged with mayhem, assault by means likely to produce great bodily injury and battery with serious bodily injury.
"The years that you spend in prison is what you cretins deserve," said David Stow.
Stow, 45, suffered serious injuries, including brain damage, in the parking lot assault and receives medical care at home. The family has posted updates on Stow's condition on Support4BryanStow, including a Feb. 14 post in which they said, "We recently shaved Bryan’s head and it was shocking to see the damage to his skull. Seeing him stare at himself in the mirror was heartbreaking. Watching him touch the shunt that protrudes on the right side of his skull, the slightly sunken in left side and all the deep scars was heartbreaking."
Thursday's hearing in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom included victim-impact statements from Stow's family. Stow's father called the sentence "insignificant compared to what Bryan must endure."
"I envy those people who can forgive others who commit crimes against their loved ones," said Stow sister Bonnie Stow. "I'm not one of those people."
The judge also addressed Sanchez --- who appeared to smile as the judge spoke -- and Norwood, seated in blue jumpsuits at a table in front of the bench. "Rarely, do I comment, but this is the kind of case that demands it," said Judge George Lomeli. "Even now, with your smirks, you show no remorse.
"Not only did you blindside Mr. Stow, you continued to hit him on the head and kick him in the head. You're complete cowards."
The reported plea agreement is the latest twist in a case that led to criticism of stadium parking lot security measures and then-Dodgers owner Frank McCourt. More than seven months after the attack and after a series of decisions by Major League Baseball that went against him, McCourt was forced to sell the team to Lakers great Magic Johnson and his Guggenheim Baseball Management partners.
The investigation included a re-examining of clues after the arrest of a parolee who was later released. The Los Angeles Police Department's Robbery-Homicide Division was eventually brought in after the exoneration of Giovanni Ramirez, once called the "prime suspect" in Stow's beating.
The investigation then turned to Norwood and Sanchez. Witnesses testified during the preliminary phase that Sanchez was intoxicated and looking for a fight with Stow, seated nearby, and at least one other fan during the rivalry game. After the game, Stow and his friends encountered Sanchez and Norwood twice in the Dodger Stadium parking lot, according to court documents.
In an Opposition to Bail Reduction filed in August 2011, prosecutors outlined their version of events on the night of the attack. Sanchez attacked Stow from behind and Norwood joined in the attack, authorities said.
MORE: Giants Go to Bat for Bryan Stow
The attack included what one Stow friend described as "full wind-up" kicks to Stow's head after he was knocked to the ground.
Norwood was characterized as the "lesser of two evils" as prosecutors explained why he did not receive the same sentence as Sanchez, considered the primary aggressor.
The witnesses could not positively identify either defendant as an attacker, something defense attorneys said weakened the case against Sanchez and Norwood. But identification is not an issue because both defendants made statements that connect them to the beating, according to prosecutors.
The Stow family is expected to move forward with a civil lawsuit, scheduled for trial in May, against the Dodgers and McCourt over security measures. The family and supporters called for civility among fans after the attack, a cause joined by the Dodgers and Giants organizations.
The judge also brought up fan safety concerns during the sentencing hearing. "You are the biggest nightmare for individuals that attend public events, such as sporting events or concerts," Lomeli he said.
In a statement, the Dodgers said the team is “pleased that the culpable parties have finally accepted responsibility for their actions.”
Citing the pending civil case, the team declined further comment.
The last time Stow was seen in public was when he and his family were invited to the last game of the Giants’ season back in September. Fans gave him a standing ovation when they saw him on the Jumbotron.
NBC Bay Area reached out to the Giants for comment, but the team declined to comment. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | February 2014 | ['(NBC)'] |
After a juggler is shot dead by a Carabinero, several protests are held in Panguipulli, southern Chile. The protests escalate into riots and several buildings, including the city hall, are burned. | Protesters were outraged by the killing, which was recorded on video. Ten public offices burned to the ground, leaving a city of almost 34,000 practically without public services.
SANTIAGO, Chile — Demonstrators angered by the fatal police shooting of a popular street juggler set several public buildings ablaze in southern Chile Friday night, leaving a city of almost 34,000 people practically without public services.
Ten public offices in the city of Panguipulli burned to the ground, including the municipal government building, the post office, the civil registry, a local court and a water management company, the authorities said. | Protest_Online Condemnation | February 2021 | ['(The New York Times)'] |
Tribal leaders in Pakistan issue a statement vowing action against the United States after yesterday's botched U.S. drone attack which killed more than 40 civilians, mainly elders and police at an open-air meeting, the deadliest such attack by the United States on Pakistan since 2006. | Tribal leaders in the Pakistani region of North Waziristan have vowed revenge against the US after drones killed more than 40 people near the Afghan border.
"We are a people who wait 100 years to exact revenge. We never forgive our enemy," the elders said in a statement.
Thursday's attack has caused fury - most of the dead were tribal elders and police attending an open-air meeting.
Observers say anger over the botched drone raid may help Pakistan delay an assault on the Taliban in Waziristan. The Pakistani military has so far resisted US pressure for such an assault. It is already fighting militants in a number of other parts of the country's north-west.
The BBC's M Ilyas Khan in Islamabad says Thursday's casualties will also add to pressure from Islamabad on the US to scale back drone strikes which regularly target Waziristan. The area is an al-Qaeda and Taliban stronghold and a launch pad for frequent attacks on US-led forces in Afghanistan.
But the strikes are hugely unpopular in Pakistan. The latest one comes at a time of rising tension after the CIA contractor Raymond Davis was acquitted of murdering two men in Lahore.
Thursday's drone strike is thought to have killed more civilians than any other such attack since 2006.
Officials say two drones were involved. One missile was fired at a car carrying suspected militants. Three more missiles were then fired at the moving vehicle, hitting it and the nearby tribal meeting, or jirga.
At least four militants in the vehicles were killed, local officials said. Most of the rest who died were elders, local traders and members of the tribal police. "The world should try and find out how many of the 40-odd people killed in the drone attack were members of al-Qaeda," the elders said in their statement following the attack near North Waziristan's regional capital, Miranshah.
"It was just a jirga being held under local customs in which the prominent elders of Datta Khel sub-division, and common people were participating to resolve a dispute.
"But the Americans did not spare our elders even.
One of the elders, Malik Faridullah Wazir Khan, said he reached the scene 30 minutes after the missiles hit - four of his relatives were killed.
"The area was completely covered in blood," he told the BBC.
"There were no bodies, only body parts - hands, legs and eyes scattered around. I could not recognise anyone. People carried away the body parts in shopping bags and clothing or with bits of wood, whatever they could find."
He said 44 people died at the scene, including 13 children - one as young as seven. On Thursday, Pakistan's army chief condemned the raid by US unmanned drones in unusually strong terms, calling it "intolerable... and in complete violation of human rights".
The Pakistani military often makes statements regretting the loss of life in such incidents, but rarely criticises the attacks themselves.
Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, however, said such "acts of violence" make it harder to fight terrorism. Drone strikes have stoked anti-US feeling in Pakistan. The US embassy in Islamabad and consulates in Lahore, Karachi and Peshawar were all closed on Friday for security reasons following Thursday's attack and the release of Mr Davis. The US does not routinely confirm that it has launched drone operations, but analysts say only American forces have the capacity to deploy such aircraft in the region.
The Pakistani authorities deny secretly supporting drone attacks. Many militants, some of them senior, have been killed in the raids, but hundreds of civilians have also died.
Pakistan has troops stationed in North Waziristan but has resisted US calls for a wider operation there. The region is a stronghold of militants fighting US-led forces in Afghanistan.
Many analysts believe at some point Pakistan's military will have to move in - if not for America's sake, then for Pakistan's. Militants attacking targets inside Pakistan also find sanctuary in North Waziristan.
| Armed Conflict | March 2011 | ['(BBC)'] |
Visa Inc. purchases financial technology firm Plaid for US$5.3 billion, after it and Mastercard each invested US$250 million into the company last year. | (Reuters) - Visa Inc said on Monday it agreed to buy privately held software startup Plaid Inc in a $5.3 billion deal that will boost the payments giant’s access to the booming financial technology space.
The transaction highlights how traditional financial firms are willing to pay top dollar to acquire businesses which have established strong positions servicing the digital and cashless economy.
Plaid’s technology lets people link their bank accounts to mobile apps such as Venmo, Acorns and Chime, with the San Francisco-based firm saying its systems have been used by one in four people with a U.S. bank account.
The $5.3 billion price given in Monday’s statement is double what Plaid was reportedly valued at during its last fundraising, when it took a $250 million Series C round that was announced in December 2018.
It was later revealed by Plaid that both Visa and rival Mastercard Inc were investors in that round.
“Plaid is a leader in the fast growing fintech world,” Visa Chairman and CEO Al Kelly said in Monday’s statement.
“The acquisition, combined with our many fintech efforts already underway, will position Visa to deliver even more value for developers, financial institutions and consumers.”
Founded in 2013 and currently connecting with over 11,000 financial institutions across the United States, Canada and Europe, Plaid will be able to use the acquisition to leverage Visa’s global brand in expanding its own business, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Visa expects the deal to close in the next three to six months and benefit its adjusted earnings per share at the end of the third year.
Visa said it will fund the deal using cash on hand as well as debt that will be issued at a later date. The acquisition would not impact upon Visa’s previously announced stock buyback or dividend plans.
Visa and Plaid respectively used Lazard and Goldman Sachs as their financial advisors.
Reporting by David French and Krystal Hu in New York and Saumya Sibi Joseph and Ankit Ajmera in Bengaluru; Editing by Amy Caren Daniel and Christopher Cushing
| Organization Merge | January 2020 | ['(Reuters)'] |
Thousands of ex–soldiers are rioting in the People's Republic of China in the cities of Baotou, Wuhan, and Baoji, breaking into cars, destroying classrooms, and setting fires. The riot is the largest protest since the 1989 Tiananmen Square protest. | (BEIJING) — Thousands of demobilized Chinese soldiers rioted last week at training centers in at least three cities in an extremely rare series of coordinated demonstrations, a human rights group said Tuesday.
Former troops smashed classrooms, overturned cars and set fires to protest their poor living conditions, the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy reported.
At least 20 people were injured and five arrested when riot police moved in to quell the disturbances, which started on the afternoon of Sept. 3, it said.
The center said about 2,000 ex-soldiers took part in the riots in the cities of Baotou, Wuhan, and Baoji, spread over a 775-mile stretch of eastern China. Reports posted on the Internet along with video clips appearing to show some of the violence said the disturbances were even more widespread, but gave few details.
The reported protests, which authorities refused to confirm, were notable for their level of coordination, something not seen on a nationwide scale since the 1989 pro-democracy demonstrations in Beijing and several other cities.
They also follow a string of recent campus unrest by students angered by poor living conditions or administrative changes that reduced the value of their diplomas.
However, they were the first incidents reported involving former soldiers, who are usually deferential and loyal to the communist regime.
Demobilized soldiers are frequently rewarded for their service with government jobs, and 6,000 of them were sent to 12 different railway schools in July for two years of training, the reports said.
However, they were angered by run-down dormitories, bad but expensive food and a lack of study materials, according to the center and Internet reports.
Dorm rooms did not have electrical outlets and students were charged 75 cents each time they charged their mobile phones, the reports said.
The reports said classes have been suspended and police moved in to patrol.
Phones at the Baotou school rang unanswered, while officials who answered at the Baoji and Wuhan schools refused to comment on the reports or further identify themselves. The Railways Ministry that runs the schools did not immediately reply to faxed questions. | Protest_Online Condemnation | September 2007 | ['(TIME)'] |
More than 270,000 people in the US city of Chicago, Illinois, are left without power due to thunder storms with some reports of funnel clouds. , | Though no official tornadoes developed, several funnel clouds were reported throughout northeastern Illinois, including Naperville, Grayslake and Sugar Grove. Tornado sirens sounded throughout the western suburbs.
The storm left 271,407 Commonwealth Edison customers without power, said company spokesman Tony Hernandez. In Chicago, 62,085 customers were in the dark.
The northern suburbs were hit the hardest, where 151,783 customers lost power, Hernandez said. In the south suburbs, about 47,500 customers are without power, while the western suburbs have about 10,000 customers in the dark.
At O'Hare International Airport, about 340 flights were canceled by 9 p.m. as heavy rains pounded the facility. Several planes stood on the tarmac. Inside the terminal, gates were evacuated and travelers headed for the underground connecting tunnel between concourses B and C.
On the city's south side, thousands of baseball fans were stuck outdoors as rain pummeled U.S. Cellular Field, which was hosting the BP Crosstown Cup. The game was delayed in the sixth inning at about 9 p.m., but groundskeepers weren't able to pull the tarps out onto the field because of the fierce winds. On the rails, several Metra trains were delayed. Travelers should check MetraRail.com for updated information. The Chicago Transit Authority seemed to easily weather the storm, with no significant issues or delays reported.
Damage reports throughout the area included a countless number of trees down, including a large tree on Route 53 just north of Roosevelt Road. In Bolingbrook, the walls of aluminum structures were blown in. Several inches of standing water was reported in Marseilles. A chance for rain and storms persists through the week. A reprieve is on the way Friday, according to the National Weather Service. But don't expect summer heat just yet. Temperatures hover around 70 through the weekend.
| Hurricanes_Tornado_Storm_Blizzard | June 2011 | ['(Chicago Tribune)', '(NBC Chicago)'] |
Police report the hostage siege is over at the Eagles of Death Metal concert at the Bataclan theatre in the 11th arrondissement. Approximately 100 people are dead in the Bataclan. , | By Dominic Patten, Erik Pedersen UPDATED Saturday, 6:15PM: The terrorist rampage that left at least 129 dead and hundreds injured in Paris was carried out by at least 10 conspirators including suicide bombers that split into three teams and spread out across the city Friday evening, French officials said Saturday. Icons of French culture the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre were shut down along with cinemas and special film events, and public gatherings in the city have been banned until Thursday. As shaken as the city is, many people lit candles and placed flowers at makeshift memorials in neighborhoods hit hardest by the attacks. “We are facing an act of war organized by an army of terrorist jihadists that had already organized and planned attacks in the past,” French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said Saturday evening. “Five attacks have been thwarted since this summer. But we have always said that there is no such thing as zero risk. We have always said that France could face new terrorist attacks.”
Six of Friday’s attackers blew themselves up and a seventh was killed by police. Multiple suspects have been arrested in Paris and in Belgium, and another man previously picked up in Germany may be connected to the attacks. Paris Chief Prosecutor Francois Molins said the assault appeared to involve a multinational team with links to the Middle East, Belgium and possibly Germany as well as home-grown French roots. Molins confirmed that one of the dead attackers had been identified as a 29-year-old Frenchman who had a criminal record, but had never spent time in jail. Greek officials said one and perhaps two of the assailants had passed through Greece from Turkey alongside Syrian refugees fleeing violence in their homeland. UPDATED Saturday, 6:30 AM: The Islamic State released a statement early today claiming responsibility for the Paris attacks that left a reported 129 dead at six separate sites. Calling France a “capital of prostitution and obscenity,” the statement said, “Let France and those who walk in its path know that they will remain on the top of the list of targets of the Islamic State.” The encrypted claim was published in Arabic, English and French on the Islamic State’s Telegram account and then re-transmitted by the group’s supporters on Twitter. Around the world, from Sydney, Australia to New York City, the French Tricolor illuminated iconic sites to demonstrate sympathy and solidarity with the French people. Vigils are being planned as well, with two in New York City preparing for this afternoon and evening — one in Union Square and another near the French embassy on Fifth Avenue, according to local news reports. UPDATED, Saturday 14 November, 02.32 AM: French President Francois Hollande has labelled the terror attacks in Paris “an act of war” organized by the Islamic State, and vowed that France “will be merciless toward the barbarians of Islamic State group.”
Speaking at a televised press conference, Hollande issued a strong address to a mourning nation, saying the attacks were “committed by a terrorist army, the Islamic State group, a jihadist army, against France, against the values that we defend everywhere in the world, against what we are: a free country that means something to the whole planet.”
His address was covered live by the majority of the international media, including Sky News, the BBC and CNN. He has declared three days of national mourning and put the country’s security on the highest level of alert. Also on Saturday, a video purportedly released by Islamic State, released through Islamic State’s propaganda arm, vowed that, “As long as you keep bombing you will not live in peace. You will even fear traveling to the market.” France is part of the international coalition, including the U.S., UK and a number of Arab countries, targeting IS in Syria and Iraq, where the fanatical terrorists have suffered a number of strategic losses in recent days. UPDATED, 8:16 PM: A source tells Deadline that all the Eagles of Death Metal band members are safe and in the process of returning to the U.S.
WRITETHRU, 7:51 PM: At least 120 people and as many as 160 were killed in a series of coordinated terrorist attacks in Paris on Friday, including at least 100 in a packed concert hall. Coming 10 months after a dozen people were killed at the offices of satire magazine Charlie Hebdo, It was the deadliest violence in the French capital since World War II. Reports on the number of casualties vary, but French police have confirmed at least 120 dead and more than 200 wounded. A half-dozen separate incidents rocked Paris, including multiple bombs that detonated outside the Stade de France, where the country’s national soccer team was playing against Germany. President François Hollande was at the game but was evacuated. In a televised address later, he called the attacks “a terrible trauma for France” and declared a state of emergency in the country and ordered its borders sealed. Authorities said 1,500 extra soldiers have been deployed in Paris. Paris’ chief prosecutor said there were at least seven attackers, and police believe all of them were killed. President Obama called the carnage “a heartbreaking situation.” “This is an attack of all of humanity and the universal values that we share,” he said in a televised address. “We stand prepared to provide whatever assistance the government and people of France need to respond. France is our oldest ally … and we want to be very clear that we stand together with them in the fight against terrorism and extremism.” He did not take questions from reporters. Most of the victims of Friday’s violence were attending a sold-out concert by Southern California rock band Eagles of Death Metal at Le Bataclan. Police said multiple gunmen and three suicide bombers attacked the venue, and reports say hostages and were being shot one by one with automatic weapons. Police said that French SWAT teams ultimately stormed the 1,500-capacity venue, and three of the attackers blew themselves up with suicide vests. Michael Dorio, brother of the band’s drummer Julian Dorio, told CNN that his brother told him the group was performing and stopped playing when they heard gunshots and “hit the deck and went backstage and exited as fast as they could.” There has been no official comment from the group, and the latest posting on its social media pages said, “We are currently trying to determine the safety and whereabouts of all our band and crew.”
Rock band U2 said tonight that it has canceled its planned concert Saturday at AccorHotels Arena that HBO was planning to film and air as a special later Saturday in the U.S. Elsewhere in the City of Lights, the Live Earth concert — a 24-hour event organized by Al Gore’s Climate Reality that included such superstar acts as Elton John, Pharrell, Neil Young and Duran Duran — was ended after word of the attacks spread. “Out of solidarity with the French people and the City of Paris, we have decided to suspend our broadcast,” the group said in a statement. American cable news networks were quick to cut to live coverage of the tragedy by about 1:20 PM PT. When word of the attacks first broke, MSNBC tossed to Brian Williams, per NBC News’ stated plan to have him anchor the cable news network during big breaking news events. “Kate and I are both struggling with high school French recall,” Williams said as MSNBC’s pickup of a French TV station showed the banner: “Prise D’Otages En Cours Au Bataclan.”
At 1:39 PM, George Stephanopoulos broke in with ABC coverage of the attacks for about two minutes. ABC came back again just after the top of the hour. At 1:47 PM, NBC went live with coverage hosted by Lester Holt. Fox local also broke in for special report from Fox News’ Shep Smith on the cable news net, and CBS had a Scott Pelley-hosted special report. Later in the evening, CBS News had a special 1-hour telecast – the only one of the networks to extend its nightly broadcast. | Riot | November 2015 | ['(The Daily Beast)', '(Deadline)'] |
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