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Tens of thousands of people gather in Hong Kong to remember the victims of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. | Hong Kong (CNN) -- Thousands of people filled Hong Kong's Victoria Park on Saturday to mark the 22nd anniversary of the bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square.
The candlelight vigil comes after recent efforts by the Chinese government to quash would-be demonstrators from holding anti-government protests. About 26 people were arrested between February and March, according to a Hong Kong-based human rights group, when an anonymous group began an internet campaign calling for anti-government protests in China similar to ones that have taken hold in the Middle East.
In response to the campaign, authorities deployed heavy security along major thoroughfares, especially in Wangfujing, a busy shopping street in downtown Beijing that had been designated by the online group for protests. The government also tightened rules on foreign reporters, explicitly warning them that they risk detention, suspension of press cards and expulsion if they show up at planned demonstrations.
20 years on: Tiananmen remembered
Saturday's protest is an annual event organized by the Hong Kong Alliance, a pro-democracy group. Hong Kong police called it a "peaceful gathering."
Images of the demonstration showed a sea of flickering candles covering the length of the park. A little more than 22 years ago, students gathered in Tiananmen Square to memorialize the recently deceased Hu Yaobang. He was fired as Communist Party chief in 1987 by Deng Xiaoping for pushing policies deemed too soft toward "bourgeois-liberal ideas" and tolerating student protests.
The April 15 memorial quickly turned into a pro-democracy movement, and students held talks with the government and later a hunger strike in Tiananmen Square to press their cause. On June 4, 1989, Chinese troops in armored personnel carriers and tanks rumbled toward Tiananmen Square. The soldiers, on strict orders to clear the square of demonstrators, had forced their way through the city's main thoroughfare.
Along the way, they met fierce resistance from students and city residents who barricaded the streets, so they fired at them.
When the firing stopped, hundreds if not thousands of people lay maimed or dead.
Relatives of victims renew their hopes every year that Beijing's leaders will reverse the verdict that the protests were a counter-revolutionary rebellion that had to be put down. | Protest_Online Condemnation | June 2011 | ['(CNN)', '(Washington Post)', '(Japan Today)', '(Times of India)'] |
The President of Mali Amadou Toumani Toure resigns as part of a deal with coup leaders. | President Amadou Toumani Toure of Mali has formally resigned as part of a deal with coup leaders to end the crisis gripping the West African state.
International mediator Djibril Bassole, Burkina Faso's foreign minister, confirmed a letter of resignation had been submitted.
The resignation paves the way for the coup leaders to step aside and the parliamentary speaker to take over.
Mali has been grappling with a separatist uprising in the north.
It intensified after the coup by army officers on 22 March.
Mr Bassole, who represents the West African regional bloc Ecowas, met Mr Toure in the Malian capital, Bamako.
"We have just received the formal letter of resignation from President Amadou Toumani Toure," he told reporters.
"We will now contact the competent authorities so that the vacancy of the presidency would be established and so that they take the appropriate measures."
Under the agreement, the Malian parliamentary speaker, Dioncounda Traore, will take over as interim president and govern with a transitional administration until elections are held.
Once he has been sworn in, Mr Traore has 40 days to organise this poll, the deal stipulates.
Mr Traore, who has been in Burkina Faso since the coup was launched, said as he left for Bamako: "I am leaving for Mali with my heart full of hope.
"My country has known enormous difficulties, but I am leaving with the hope the people of Mali will come together to face this adversity head-on."
Ecowas has lifted sanctions it imposed after the coup and an amnesty has been agreed for the coup leaders.
The coup, led by Capt Amadou Sanogo, took place amid accusations from the army that the government had not done enough to supress the insurrection in the north.
Since the coup, key towns in northern Mali have fallen to Tuareg separatist rebels and their Islamist allies.
The Tuaregs have called for their newly-named territory of Azawad to be recognised as independent, although this has been rejected by the international community.
There are two main groups behind the rebellion: the secular National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) and Ansar Dine, an Islamist group.
The MNLA is made up partly of Tuaregs who had fought in Libya on the side of Col Muammar Gaddafi and returned to Mali after he was killed.
The latter has started to impose Sharia law in some towns.
Among the towns to have fallen to the Tuaregs is Timbuktu, the 1,000-year-old desert city which is now a Unesco World Heritage site.
Unesco warned that the fighting could damage Timbuktu's historic structures.
Human rights group Amnesty International has warned of a major humanitarian disaster in the wake of the rebellion.
Meanwhile, Ecowas is preparing a force of up to 3,000 soldiers which could be deployed to stop the rebel advance.
The Tuaregs, who inhabit the Sahara Desert in the north of Mali, as well as several neighbouring countries, have fought several rebellions over the years.
They complain they have been ignored by the authorities in Bamako.
| Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | April 2012 | ['(BBC)'] |
Thomas Lubanga, former leader of the Union of Congolese Patriots militia in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, becomes the first person arrested on behalf of, and then referred to the International Criminal Court for war crimes. | On 17 March 2006, in Kinshasa,Mr Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, a Congolese national and alleged founder and leader of the Union des Patriotes Congolais (UPC) was arrested and transferred to the International Criminal Court as part of the judicial proceedings under the Rome Statute (the “Statute”). Thomas Lubangais alleged to have committed war crimes as set out in article 8 of the Statute, committed in the territory of the Democratic Republic of the Congo since July 2002.
Pre-Trial Chamber I issued a sealed warrant of arrest against Mr Lubanga on 10 February 2006. The Chamber found that there were reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Lubanga had committed the following war crime: conscripting and enlisting children under the age of fifteen years and using them to participate actively in hostilities. The Chamber also requested that the Democratic Republic of the Congo arrest and surrender him to the Court. The Registrar notified the Congolese authorities of the decision on14 March 2006, as instructed by the Pre-Trial Chamber.
On 17 March 2006, Pre-Trial Chamber I unsealed the warrant of arrest against Mr Thomas Lubanga.
As provided under article 59 of the Statute, Mr Lubanga appeared before the competent judicial authority in Kinshasa. The Congolese authorities cooperated with the Court in the spirit of the Statute by promptly executing its request. The French Government agreed to cooperate with the Court and, for the purpose of executing the decision of Pre-Trial Chamber I, provided a military aircraft to transfer Mr Lubanga. MONUC also provided support to the operation.
Mr Lubanga is the first person to be arrested and transferred to the International Criminal Court since the entry into force of the Statute in July 2002. The Prosecutor of the Court initiated investigations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2004 after the Congolese Government referred the situation in that country to the Court.
The Court issued its first warrants of arrest in July 2005 in the situation in Uganda against five leaders of the Lord’s Resistance Army. Investigations are also ongoing in the situation in Darfur which was referred to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court by the United Nations Security Council on 31 March 2005. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | March 2006 | ['(ICC)'] |
A Nuremberg court issues an arrest warrant for former Argentine leader Jorge Rafael Videla, on suspicion of killing a German man. | A court in Germany has issued an arrest warrant for the former Argentine military leader, Jorge Rafael Videla, on suspicion of murdering a German man.
The case against the 84-year-old was abandoned in 2008 after an Argentine court rejected an extradition request. But prosecutors in Nuremberg reopened it last year after the body of Rolf Stawowiok, who vanished in the 1970s, was found with signs of bullet wounds. Tens of thousands of government critics were murdered during military rule. Videla, who ruled from 1976 to 1981, was sentenced to life in prison in 1985 of the murders of 66 people and the torture of 93 others. But he was imprisoned for only five years before President Carlos Menem granted him a pardon, together with other junta leaders. Videla briefly returned to prison in 1998 after being convicted of kidnapping children, but was soon transferred to house arrest due to health issues. Then last year, he was once again sent to prison after a court cancelled the 1990 pardon, ruling that it had been unconstitutional. Thomas Koch, a spokesman for the prosecutor's office in Nuremberg, said its investigation into the murders of several Germans during the so-called "Dirty War" had been abandoned due to a lack of evidence. "Now, however, the remains of one individual have been identified and we know that this person was murdered, which is why we could pick up the investigation once again," he told the Reuters news agency. Mr Koch said that Germany had issued an international arrest warrant for Videla, even though Argentina was unlikely to extradite him. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Arrest | January 2010 | ['(BBC)', '(Deutsche Welle)'] |
NASA's Dawn spacecraft enters orbit around the dwarf planet Ceres. | NASA's Dawn spacecraft has become the first mission to achieve orbit around a dwarf planet. The spacecraft was approximately 38,000 miles (61,000 kilometers) from Ceres when it was captured by the dwarf planet's gravity at about 4:39 a.m. PST (7:39 a.m. EST) Friday. Mission controllers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California received a signal from the spacecraft at 5:36 a.m. PST (8:36 a.m. EST) that Dawn was healthy and thrusting with its ion engine, the indicator Dawn had entered orbit as planned.
"Since its discovery in 1801, Ceres was known as a planet, then an asteroid and later a dwarf planet," said Marc Rayman, Dawn chief engineer and mission director at JPL. "Now, after a journey of 3.1 billion miles (4.9 billion kilometers) and 7.5 years, Dawn calls Ceres, home." In addition to being the first spacecraft to visit a dwarf planet, Dawn also has the distinction of being the first mission to orbit two extraterrestrial targets. From 2011 to 2012, the space-craft explored the giant asteroid Vesta, delivering new insights and thousands of images from that distant world. Ceres and Vesta are the two most massive residents of our solar system's main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The most recent images received from the spacecraft, taken on March 1, show Ceres as a crescent, mostly in shadow because the spacecraft's trajectory put it on a side of Ceres that faces away from the sun until mid-April. When Dawn emerges from Ceres' dark side, it will deliver ever-sharper images as it spirals to lower orbits around the planet. "We feel exhilarated," said Chris Russell, principal investigator of the Dawn mission at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). "We have much to do over the next year and a half, but we are now on station with ample reserves, and a robust plan to obtain our science objectives."
Dawn's mission is managed by JPL for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Dawn is a project of the directorate's Discovery Program, managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. UCLA is responsible for overall Dawn mission science. Orbital ATK Inc., in Dulles, Virginia, designed and built the spacecraft. The German Aerospace Center, Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Italian Space Agency and Italian National Astrophysical Institute are international partners on the mission team. For a complete list of mission participants, visit: | New achievements in aerospace | March 2015 | ['(AP)', '(JPL)', '(AP)'] |
Moldova asks the U.S. to extradite businessman Vladimir Plahotniuc after accusing him of "involvement in the theft of $1 billion from banks in 20142015". | CHISINAU (Reuters) - Moldova said on Tuesday it had asked the United States to extradite Vladimir Plahotniuc, a business tycoon charged in his native country with involvement in the theft of $1 billion from banks in 2014-2015.
Plahotniuc, one of Moldova’s richest people, was highly influential in politics, leading the Democratic Party and serving three times as a member of parliament, before moving to the United States last year after the party lost power in an election.
Last month, Prosecutor General Alexander Stoeanoglo said he had charged Plahotniuc with creation of an organised criminal group, extortion and fraud.
Representatives for Plahotniuc were unavailable for comment but his lawyers last year denied that he had been involved in an affair known locally as the “theft of the century”, in which the equivalent of an eighth of the impoverished country’s annual output was stolen from three of its largest banks.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said Plahotniuc’s actions undermined the rule of law and “severely compromised the independence of democratic institutions in Moldova”.
A U.S. Department of Justice spokeswoman declined to comment on the extradition request.
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | June 2020 | ['(Reuters)'] |
Over 100,000 people attend anti–Iraq War rally held in Washington, D.C. | Organisers said they were expecting 100,000 to turn out for the 11-hour rally, march and concert near the White House and Washington Monument.
Opinion polls show a majority in the US believe the war in Iraq is going badly and US troops should be brought home.
A few hundred supporters of President Bush's policy in Iraq also gathered in Washington for a counter protest.
Anti-war rallies were also being held in other cities across the US as well as in London, Paris and Rome but in many cases the numbers were down on protests in previous years.
Demonstrators travelled from far and wide for what organisers said was the largest rally in Washington since the start of the war.
They carried banners reading "Bring the Troops Home Now" and "Bush Lied, Thousands Died."
"We have to get involved," said Erika McCroskey, 27, who travelled from Des Moines in Iowa with her mother and sister, to take part in her first demonstration.
Another demonstrator, 60-year-old Paul Rutherford, said he was a Republican who still supported President Bush, except over the war.
"President Bush needs to admit he made a mistake in the war and bring the troops home, and let's move on," he was quoted by the Associated Press as saying.
Among those joining the protest was Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a fallen soldier in Iraq, whose protest outside President Bush's Texas ranch during the summer mobilised many anti-war supporters.
"We need a people's movement to end this war," she told the crowd. "We'll be the checks and balances on this out-of-control criminal government."
London was among a number of cities worldwide holding marches
President Bush appealed to Americans in a radio address last month to be patient.
"Our efforts in Iraq and the broader Middle East will require more time, more sacrifice and continued resolve," he said.
Meanwhile, anti-war rallies were also being held in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and in major cities across Europe.
British police said around 10,000 people took to the streets in London, although organisers put the figure at nearer 100,000.
A small rally was held in Paris, and in Rome dozens of demonstrators held up banners and peace flags outside the US Embassy. | Protest_Online Condemnation | September 2005 | ['(BBC)'] |
Candidate for the ruling party, National Council for the Defense of Democracy – Forces for the Defense of Democracy, and retired general Evariste Ndayishimiye wins the election with 68.72% of votes cast amid an election preceded by political violence including the arrest, torture and murder of opposition activists, according to a local human rights group. | NAIROBI (Reuters) - Burundi’s ruling party candidate, retired general Evariste Ndayishimiye, has won the presidential election with 69% of votes cast, the electoral commission said on Monday, after accusations of rigging by the leading opposition challenger.
Ruling party wins Burundi's presidential vote
00:42
The commission said opposition candidate Agathon Rwasa received 24% of votes. There was a turnout of 88%.
Commission chairman Pierre Claver Kazihise said the turnout was “massive” and the election was peaceful.
The May 20 vote to replace President Pierre Nkurunziza, however, was preceded by political violence including the arrest, torture and murder of opposition activists, according to a local rights group.
There was also controversy over holding the election during the coronavirus crisis.
Hundreds of Burundians were killed and hundreds of thousands fled into exile after unrest surrounding the last election in 2015, when the opposition accused Nkurunziza of violating a peace deal by standing for a third term.
Rwasa has previously said he will take his complaints to the constitutional court, though it is packed with the president’s allies.
Neither Rwasa nor Ndayishimiye were immediately available for comment. Their parties were also not available.
Five other candidates also stood in the polls, in which 5.11 million registered voters were eligible to participate.
Economic growth is at a standstill and political violence is common. Between January and March, Ligue Iteka, an exiled Burundian rights group, documented 67 killings, including 14 extrajudicial executions, and six disappearances.
There was no comment from the government, which has previously denied accusations of rights violations. | Government Job change - Election | May 2020 | ['(Reuters)'] |
Russian businessman Victor Bout is sentenced to 25 years in prison for smuggling weapons to the Colombian FARC guerilla movement. | In addition to his prison term, Judge Scheindlin sentenced Bout to five years of supervised release. She also ordered him to forfeit US $15 million and immediately pay a US $400 special assessment fee.The prosecutors had been calling for a life sentence for Bout. However, the judge said there was no proof he had been looking to deal with terrorist groups or kill Americans. She also said Bout had not been an active arms dealer since 2003.The 25-year imprisonment that Viktor Bout has been sentenced to is in connection with the third count – the acquisition and use of anti-aircraft weapons.Bout’s lawyers now have 14 calendar days to file an appeal. It may then take The Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit about one year to review it. The attorney has also requested that the judge keeps Viktor Bout in the tri-state area. The judge recommended that the businessman would remain in general population and not in a solitary confinement.Bout has told a judge at his New York sentencing on Thursday he is “not guilty” and the allegations against him are lies. Earlier, he called the trial “hypocritical” and an example of “double standards.”At one point during sentencing, which lasted for over an hour, the prosecutor said that Viktor Bout had agreed to sell weapons to kill Americans, to which Bout shouted out, "It's a lie!" He told the judge he "never intended to kill anyone" and said, "God knows this truth."Addressing the court for the first time and speaking through an interpreter, Bout said that he had never intended to kill anyone or sell arms to anyone and he said the truth was known to “those people” at which point he turned around and pointed at the DEA agents who had testified against him. That is according to RT correspondent Marina Portnaya, who attended the sentencing hearing.Bout also added that the people who brought the allegations against him would have to raise their children knowing the truth. He turned around and pointed at the agents again and said, "Let God forgive you. You will have to answer to him not to me."At the same time, Bout said he was grateful to those who treated him with respect in the US, as well as to his lawyer, Albert Dayan.Viktor Bout’s spouse, Alla Bout, said she expected this sentence and praised the judge.“I expected the sentence, because I believe the judge is very intelligent, very professional. It’s an acknowledgement of the invalidity of the accusations made by the prosecutors. I think if the judge was not constrained by the law, she would have chosen to close the case,” she told journalists outside the court building.On November 2, 2011, the former Soviet military officer was found guilty of all charges pressed against him. He was convicted of conspiracy to kill US nationals, including military officers and employees, conspiring to use anti-aircraft missiles and selling millions of dollars’ worth of weapons to the Colombian rebel group FARC. The Revolutionary Armed Force of Colombia is considered a terror group by the United States.Bout’s Russian lawyer Viktor Borobin said that the US justice system portrayed the businessman as an enemy of the American people. "He is being viewed not as a man who went wrong and not even as a transporter but as a man who allegedly traded arms designed to kill Americans," Burobin told Interfax news agency.In an interview with Voice of Russia Bout described himself as “a trophy” for the US.“I am like a hunted deer that they killed and now…want to take a picture like I’m some wild animal and now they caught me and they’re going to put me in their kitchen and show their kids and their grandkids and say, ‘Oh, we hunted that animal,’” he is quoted as saying. Borobin earlier said that Bout’s conviction would not be the end of the case. However, verdicts handed down by jury are rarely canceled in the US. After all appeal procedures are followed, Russia could ask the US to extradite Bout so he could serve his sentence there, he added.
US lawyer Douglas McNabb says America used every legal trick in the book to get its way in the Bout case.“The US government takes a very aggressive approach extraterritorially,” he told RT. “If someone is in London and wire-transfers a sum of money to an individual in Berlin, unbeknownst to them the money pings through Citibank in New York. That pinging, that touching of US jurisdiction is sufficient for the United States government to charge both of those individuals with money-laundering. They are both facing extradition proceedings.”When the American government decided they wanted Viktor Bout for whatever reason, McNabb went on to explain, they were able to “manufacture… the jurisdiction – not illegally.” With this form of entrapment, they were able “to pull Mr. Bout into the jurisdiction of the US court” and place him in extradition proceedings through Thailand’s legal system.“They had him extradited to the United States and thus we see the outcome of the jury decision,” Douglas McNabb continued.Alla Bout earlier told RT that nobody wanted her husband until the US authorities decided they did.“It was a long period of eight years, from 2001 to 2008, and had there been any proof that he was really involved in some kind of illegal activities, the UN, Russia and Interpol would have certainly known about it and would have done something,” she said. “But in reality, nobody did anything – nobody was really looking for Viktor… He wasn’t hiding. He was openly living in Russia under his real name.”
Viktor Bout was arrested in Thailand in 2008 on an arrest warrant issued by the American government and was extradited to the US in November 2010. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | April 2012 | ['(RT)'] |
Tampa, Florida police arrest Howell Emanuel Donaldson III and charge him with four counts of murder. |
Tampa police said Tuesday night they had arrested a 24-year-old man and that he would be charged with murder in four shooting deaths in the Seminole Heights neighborhood that had stoked fears of a serial killer in the area.
Howell Emanuel Donaldson III, 24, will be charged with four counts of first degree, premeditated murder in the killings of Benjamin Edward Mitchell, Monica Caridad Hoffa, Anthony Naiboa and Ronald Felton, Tampa police chief Brian Dugan said in a press conference Tuesday.
Donaldson wastaken into custody Tuesday afternoonat a McDonald's after another employee said he handed a gun to a manager, who then reached out to an officer in the building, CBS affiliate WTSP reports.
"When I think I found out there was a gun, and when we looked at his description, it was a little more than what we really had," Dugan said. "It just felt right. I kinda had a feeling that we were going to get a break."
Investigators are still determining Donaldson's connection to the neighborhood, Dugan said.
"We're not sure why he was in this neighborhood," he said. "We're not aware what he ties are and we don't know what his motive is. But there is a lot more to go."
CBS News correspondent Manuel Bojorquez reports that Donaldson is from the Tampa area, but also has connections to New York. The New York Police Department confirmed overnight that he was arrested in Manhattan in 2014, but they wouldn't say for what. He also attended Saint John's University in Queens.
Police have been searching for the person - or people - responsible for shooting and killing four in the Seminole Heights neighborhood since Oct. 9. Police have said the shootings happened within close proximity to one another, aren't robberies and could be the work of a serial killer.
Police had increased patrols in the neighborhood andreleased surveillance videosof a hooded suspect. In a security video taken moments after 22-year-old Benjamin Mitchell became the first victim on Oct. 9, the suspect is running from the scene.
"I've come up with four reasons why this person is running," Dugan said last month. "One, they may be late for dinner. Two, they're out exercising. Three, they heard gunshots. And number four, they just murdered Benjamin Mitchell."
Two days after Mitchell was shot, Monica Hoffa, 32, was gunned down. And on Oct. 19, Anthony Naiboa, 20, was shot after taking the wrong bus home from his new job. Police patrolling nearby heard the gunshots and rushed to the scene to find Naiboa dead.
Police found the body of Ronald Felton, 60, in the street on Nov. 14. Police said Felton had been walking across the street to meet someone when the gunman came up behind him and fired.
Seminole Heights is a working-class neighborhood northeast of downtown Tampa that's slowly becoming gentrified. Run-down homes sit next to renovated, historic bungalows, and trendy restaurants have sprung up near auto body shops.
Residents and business owners have said there are car burglaries and fights between kids, but nothing like this. The department has received more than 5,000 tips. Dugan says he's optimistic but acknowledged previous leads have led to nothing.
Donaldson's arrest happened during the kick off for the first annual "Light the Heights" event, WTSP reports.
The holiday-themed effort to light every home with Christmas lights is the latest to brighten up the area with light as well as some holiday cheer.
"We have a goal of having every house in our neighborhood lit up to bring a positive light to our neighborhood," organizer Courtney Bumgarnar told WTSP. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | November 2017 | ['(CBS)'] |
Thai King Vajiralongkorn signed into law a new Constitution of Thailand that paves the way for democratic reforms while allowing the Royal Thai Army to retain its influential role in Thai politics. | The king of Thailand has signed a new constitution that paves the way for a return to democracy but still gives the army an influential role in politics.
King Maha Vajiralongkorn signed the document at a ceremony in Bangkok.
It constrains future elected governments with an appointed senate, and commits governments to follow the military's 20-year development plan.
The last constitution was abolished after the military seized power nearly three years ago. Critics claim the new document only allows for a partial, guided democracy.
It was approved by a referendum last August. Elections could now be held next year.
Thailand has had so many constitutions in its modern history - this is the 20th since 1932 - that many of them were introduced with little fanfare, reports the BBC's Jonathan Head in Bangkok.
But King Vajiralongkorn, who succeeded his father last year, signalled royal approval for the new charter by requesting an elaborate ceremony for its signing. The king had requested changes to the charter earlier this year that restore some significant areas of royal influence.
The edits remove a power that would have been granted to the constitutional court to call a meeting in the event of a political crisis.
A requirement that the king appoint a regent when he leaves the country was also removed. The king often spends time in Germany, where a son attends school.
The generals say they need to impose some limits on democratic practice in order to prevent the need for military coups in the future.
Thailand's military has a history of intervening in politics and has seized power 12 times since the end of the absolute monarchy - and the introduction of the first constitution - in 1932.
It has promised not to intervene after the next elections, which have been delayed many times. | Government Policy Changes | April 2017 | ['(BBC)'] |
President George W. Bush nominates Michael Mukasey to replace Alberto Gonzales as the next Attorney–General of the United States. | US President George W Bush has nominated a retired federal judge and law and order conservative to replace embattled Alberto Gonzales as US Attorney-General.
Mr Bush picked 66-year-old Michael Mukasey, who drew quick praise from both Democrats and Republicans, likely avoiding a bruising confirmation battle on Capitol Hill.
"Judge Mukasey is clear eyed about the threat our nation faces," Mr Bush said.
"It's vital that the position of Attorney-General be filled quickly, I urge the Senate to confirm Judge Mukasey promptly."
Mr Mukasey would replace Alberto Gonzales, who resigned last month after he became embroiled in controversy over the firings of nine federal prosecutors.
Mr Gonzales was also criticised for implementing Mr Bush's war on terrorism policies that some said impinged on civil liberties in the United States.
Mr Mukasey, an authority on national security issues, emerged as Mr Bush's choice after Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid said he would block another potential top nominee, former US Solicitor General Theodore Olson, as too partisan.
Democratic Senator Charles Schumer, who led the drive to force Mr Gonzales out, said Mr Mukasey had the potential to become a consensus nominee.
"While he is certainly conservative, Judge Mukasey seems to be the kind of nominee who would put rule of law first and show independence from the White House," he said.
"For sure, we'd want to ascertain his approach on such important and sensitive issues as wiretapping and the appointment of US attorneys but he is a lot better than some of the other names mentioned."
While on the federal bench in New York for nearly two decades, Mr Mukasey presided over a number of high-profile cases, including one in which a dozen people were tied to the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Centre.
-Reuters
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AEST = Australian Eastern Standard Time which is 10 hours ahead of GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) | Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration | September 2007 | ['(Reuters via ABC News Australia)'] |
The Constitutional Tribunal of Poland rules that abortions in cases of fetal defects are unconstitutional. Once the decision comes into effect, terminations will only be allowed in cases of rape or incest, or if the mother's health is at risk. Poland's abortion laws were already among the strictest in Europe. | Poland's abortion laws were already among the strictest in Europe but the Constitutional Tribunal's ruling will mean an almost total ban.
Once the decision comes into effect, terminations will only be allowed in cases of rape or incest, or if the mother's health is at risk.
Rights groups had urged the government not to increase restrictions.
The Council of Europe's commissioner for human rights said the day marked a "sad day for women's rights".
"Removing the basis for almost all legal abortions in Poland amounts to a ban and violates human rights," Dunja Mijatovic wrote on Twitter.
A legal challenge against the 1993 law permitting abortion in cases of severe foetal disabilities - which accounts for 98% of terminations carried out in Poland - was launched by MPs from the ruling nationalist Law and Justice party last year.
A majority of the court's judges were nominated by the same party.
Almost all legal abortions in Poland are performed on the grounds of foetal defects, so this ruling, which is final and binding, effectively bans pregnancy terminations. Poland is one of Europe's most strongly Catholic countries, but there was no public clamour for this. For years opinion polls said a clear majority of Poles opposed a more restrictive law. Bishops and lay Catholic groups pressured the governing Law and Justice party to impose a stricter law. The party supports traditional Catholic values but changing it was problematic. There was opposition both in parliament and on the streets. In 2016 an estimated 100,000 people, mostly women, protested to block an attempt to tighten the law. Late last year a group of governing party and far-right MPs decided to ask the court to decide the issue. This was convenient because a majority of the court's judges were nominated by Law and Justice. It would also avoid a stormy and emotional parliamentary debate and accompanying anger on the streets in those pre-Covid days. Now, with public gatherings limited to a maximum of 10 people in most major cities, opponents of this change will have to find other ways to show their anger. There were just over 1,000 legal pregnancy terminations in Poland last year. Compare that with this statistic: women's rights groups estimate between 80,000 and 120,000 Polish women a year seek an abortion abroad. Even women who qualify for a legal procedure often face challenges to having one: such is the stigma surrounding the issue. Malgorzata Szulecka, a lawyer for the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, told the BBC: "This is a totally unjustified decision that will lead to inhuman treatment of women."
Ahead of the ruling, Polish sexual and reproductive health and rights activist Antonina Lewandowska told the BBC that the defence of the 1993 law was based on UN rules outlawing torture.
"It's inhuman, it's despicable honestly to make anyone carry a pregnancy to term, especially if the foetus is malformed, and 98% of legal abortions carried out in Poland are due to foetal malformations," she said.
International human rights groups opposed the government's stance, with Amnesty International, the Center for Reproductive Rights and Human Rights Watch saying they would send independent monitors to the court.
"The Constitutional Tribunal's upcoming proceedings take place in the context of repeated government attacks on women's rights and efforts to roll back reproductive rights, as well as legal and policy changes that have undermined the independence of the judiciary and rule of law in Poland," they said in a joint statement.
| Government Policy Changes | October 2020 | ['(BBC)'] |
Thousands of protesters flood the streets of Algiers to protest the presidential election currently underway. As all five candidates have ties to ousted president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, protesters call the election a sham and demand that the military withdraw its influence from political life. | Extremely low turnout reported in presidential vote as demonstrators in Algiers say deep reforms needed before polls.
Algiers, Algeria – Polls have closed in Algeria where a contentious presidential election, boycotted by tens of thousdans of protesters nationwide and dismissed as a “sham,” was held.
Anti-riot police were deployed early on Thursday to block access to Maurice Audin Square and the iconic Grand Post office in central Algiers, the epicentre of the months-long protests demanding the departure of the old guard and an overhaul of the political system.
Voter turnout stood at 33 percent at 5pm local time (16:00 GMT), just two hours before polls closed, according to Algeria’s independent election monitoring authority. More than 24 million people are eligible to vote. More:
In a tense Algiers, demonstrators chanted slogans such as “There is no vote today,” Independence” and “No vote with the mafia” as they fought off attempts by security forces to disperse the crowds.
Describing the vote as a “charade”, Majid Belghout, a 54-year-old architect, dismissed the election as an “attempt by the old guard to regenerate itself”. “A free election can only take place in Algeria after a democratic process. We are only at the beginning of this process,” Belghout said, reiterating the protesters’ demand for sweeping reforms before any meaningful vote takes place.
“We are only at the beginning of this process,” he added. “It is not the time to vote, but it is the moment to move to a national democratic and independent debate. This is the only way to reach a consensus on Algeria’s future.”
In Kabylie, a northern mountainous region with a long history of government opposition, the demonstrations turned violent as some protesters entered a polling station in Tizi Ouzou, located 125km (78 miles) east of Algiers, tossing ballot papers into the air, according to local media. Unrest also erupted in Bouira, located some 100km (62 miles) east of Algiers, where protesters set the headquarters of the Algeria’s independent monitoring election authority on fire.
Preliminary results are expected from 23:00 GMT onwards, however, final results likely will not come until at least Friday.
Five candidates are running to replace former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who stepped down in April in the face of months-long protests, for a five-year term: former Prime Ministers Ali Benflis and Abdelamajid Tebboune; former Minister of Tourism Abdelakader Bengrina; former Minister of Culture Azzedine Mihoubi; and head of the el-Moutstakbal party Abdelaziz Belaid.
“Algerians today are aware that they need the massive popular legitimacy,” Mihoubi told reporters after casting his ballot.
“That’s why we are noticing since this morning thousands of Algerians going to polling stations, and this is the real answer to those who were doubting that this day won’t realise what people hoped for.”
But in Algiers, many of the polling stations were largely deserted. According to a vote observer, a municipal employee in his 40s, the ballot boxes were far from being full with envelopes. “The turnout is seemingly similar to the 2014 presidential election”, he said, referring to the vote five years ago that saw a turnout of 51.7 percent.
A voter in the capital described the election as the “sole solution” to resolve the country’s political impasse. “The overhaul of the leadership will come from the election, not from demonstrating”, said Mourad, a 31-year-old cook.
But critics say all five candidates are “part of the ruling establishment” and should be purged because of their ties to the unpopular former government.
Opponents of the vote say no election can be free or fair as long as the old guard remains in power and the military continues to be involved in political life.
Lieutenant General Ahmed Gaid Salah, who emerged as the country’s de facto leader following Bouteflika’s departure, maintained that the election is the only to break the country’s political deadlock, insisting the army high command will not back any candidate in the race.
Despite the candidates’ ties to Bouteflika, Mohamed, a 25-year-old waiter, cast a ballot out of fear the country could plunge into “chaos”. “The choice of candidates is poor but this is the only choice we have. The situation is extremely precarious. We can no longer afford to stay in this political turmoil. We need political stability.”
But Louiza, a 20-year-old French literature student protesting in Algiers, said she was boycotting the vote.
“We have all the reasons to take to the street today instead of going to a polling station: rising unemployment, rampant corruption, people being deprived of their civil and political rights,” she told Al Jazeera, draped in the country’s flag.
“The ruling elite has enriched itself at people’s expense and they want to continue to plunder the country’s wealth. You cannot accept it if you aspire to have a bright future in this country”, she said, while shouting “simlyia” (peaceful) towards the police.
In the crowd, many said that the government has turned a deaf ear to protesters’ demands.
“The authorities don’t see us as citizens. There is no consideration for the Algerian people, they are disdainful”, said Rachida, a 53-year-old public worker, who joined the sit-in in central Algiers with her sister and her niece. “They have batons, we have ideas. Despite their violence, we will remain peaceful, this is the main strength of this movement.”
Members of the leaderless movement also criticised officials’ comments against the anti-vote activists. Last week, Interior Minister Salah Eddine Dahmoune described the protesters who fiercely rejected the vote as “traitors” and “mercenaries”. “We are not conspirators, neither manipulated by foreign groups,” Said, a 60-year-old engineer, who held a sign reading “no to a forced election”, told Al Jazeera. “We have been taking the streets to honour the heritage of the millions of martyrs who gave their life to see an independent and democratic Algeria,” he said. “The administration has betrayed this heritage for far too long. Enough! Enough of the long-standing military rule.”
Turnout expected to be low with protesters saying election is designed to preserve the status quo.
Everything you need to know about Thursday’s presidential runoff.
Demonstrators want root-and-branch political reform and the departure of the country’s ruling elite.
| Protest_Online Condemnation | December 2019 | ['(Al Jazeera)'] |
Russian ballet dancer Pavel Dmitrichenko is convicted of organizing an acid attack on Sergei Filin, artistic director of the Bolshoi Theatre. | A Moscow court has jailed Bolshoi Ballet soloist Pavel Dmitrichenko for six years for organising an acid attack on the company's artistic director.
Two fellow defendants were jailed for 10 and four years.
Sulphuric acid was thrown at Bolshoi artistic director Sergei Filin outside his Moscow flat in January, badly damaging his eyesight.
Dmitrichenko had admitted he wanted Mr Filin "roughed up" but had denied wanting acid thrown into his face.
Investigators said Dmitrichenko had organised the attack because of a conflict with Mr Filin.
The case has revealed bitter rivalries and infighting at the Bolshoi, one of Russia's most famous ballet and opera companies.
When the sentence was announced, Dmitrichenko's mother covered her mouth, the Associated Press reports. The dancer's father said they had expected a less severe sentence.
Lawyers said they would appeal, the news agency added.
Dmitrichenko, 29, is due to serve his sentence in a high-security penal colony.
His fellow defendant Yuri Zarutsky, a former convict, admitted actually throwing the acid. He was sentenced to 10 years in a maximum-security penal colony.
The third man accused, Andrei Lipatov, drove Zarutsky to and from the scene of the attack. He was given four years in a high-security penal colony.
In addition to the prison sentences, Dmitrichenko and his fellow defendants were ordered to pay compensation of 3.5m roubles (64,300; $105,000; 77,650 euros) to Mr Filin, under a civil suit. "Their guilt in committing the crime has been established in full," judge Yelena Maximova said.
Zarutsky had argued that throwing acid in Filin's face was his own idea. Lipatov said he had not known where he was taking the other man.
Since the attack near his home in Moscow on 17 January, Mr Filin has had more than 20 operations to try to save his eyesight.
Following treatment in Germany, he returned to Moscow. Wearing dark glasses he gave evidence at the trial.
"The pain was immense and instant," he said of the attack. "It had been a beautiful winter night: silent, white, great drifts of snow falling upon snow. I began scooping up handfuls of it and pressing them into my eyes and cheeks to relieve the agony."
Mr Filin denied he had had any conflict with the dancer, whom he accused of seeking to damage his reputation before the attack through false allegations of affairs with ballerinas and favouritism.
Defence witnesses sought to portray Mr Filin as authoritarian while Dmitrichenko was portrayed as a champion of other performers who feared to speak out against the artistic director.
The Bolshoi has undergone a number of changes, appointing a new director, Vladimir Urin, who told the BBC in July that the company faced "difficult challenges".
On Monday, the sudden resignation of the Bolshoi's music director and chief conductor, Vasily Sinaisky, was announced without explanation.
Mr Sinaisky made no comment on his departure, according to Russian media. He had been due to conduct Verdi's opera Don Carlos, which is premiering at the theatre in two weeks.
In another development, the Bolshoi said it was not renewing the contract of an aide to Mr Filin, Dilyara Timergazina. Her contract expires at the end of this year. A source told Russian daily Izvestia that Mr Filin himself would no longer work for the company after his own contract expired in 2016.
Victor Hochhauser, who has promoted the Bolshoi in London for 50 years, told BBC News he was sure the Bolshoi under its new director would put the incident behind it.
"Jealousies are not unknown to me in dealing with other companies too, although this is outside the usual norm of jealousies that we know...," he added.
"This incident, tragic though it was, is not going to affect the artistic level of the company in my view." British ballet critic Ismene Brown said the episode had done considerable damage to the Bolshoi's reputation.
"It's given the impression of a scandalously run and ill-disciplined troupe of essentially internecine rivalries within the company, and also such a chaotic payment system that seems to depend too much on favours and favouritism," she said.
Dancers only get a relatively decent wage if they win roles, she said. But there have been allegations that roles are not always assigned on merit alone, with claims of bribery, sexual relationships and competing factions behind the scenes all playing a part.
"The most important thing that has to be tackled is this payment system," Mrs Brown said. "The new general director announced just yesterday [Monday] that there is going to be a trade union agreement with all the dancers. That is the best news possible that could come out of this saga. That old corrupt system from the Soviet time has got to be removed."
Another recent scandal, in which US dancer Joy Womack quit the company claiming she was asked for a $10,000 (6,000) bribe to dance a solo role, has added to the damage to the Bolshoi's reputation.
"The politicians will take this seriously," Mrs Brown said. "The Bolshoi is their biggest cultural export. It earns fortunes and unlimited prestige. It's now a 'dirty' company. That's got to be cleaned up."
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | December 2013 | ['(BBC)'] |
Acting U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration chief Chuck Rosenberg announces his resignation, effective Oct. 1, after more than two years in the position. | WASHINGTON – Acting Drug Enforcement Administration chief Chuck Rosenberg, appointed two years ago to bring stability to an agency riven by controversy, announced late Tuesday that he was stepping down, effective Oct. 1.
Rosenberg, a long-time Justice Department official who also served as a two-time U.S. attorney and a chief of staff to former FBI Director James Comey, was appointed slightly more than two years following a series of scandals that forced the ouster of embattled administrator Michele Leonhart.
"Almost two and half years ago, I wrote to express how grateful I was to join the DEA...to see up close your amazing work," Rosenberg wrote in a message to staffers. "I was proud to support your unique and vital mission and to tout your accomplishments everywhere I went. Now, during my last week, I write to thank you for your courage, integrity and devotion."
A holdover from the Obama administration, Rosenberg's departure was not unexpected. Rosenberg worked closely with Comey, the FBI director Trump abruptly fired in May. Rosenberg also once served as a counselor to former FBI Director Robert Mueller, who is now the special counsel directing the investigation into Russia's intervention in the 2016 election.
As the Trump administration ramps up its response to the opioid crisis and formulates a harder line policy on marijuana, it has been considering a slate of other potential nominees to fill the top DEA slot, including New Jersey State Police Superintendent Rick Fuentes.
Fuentes has discussed the job with top Justice officials, according to two people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to speak publicly.
A career New Jersey law enforcement official, Fuentes was appointed to lead the state police in 2003 and is the state's longest serving superintendent.
His candidacy also is supported by the Fraternal Order of Police, the nation's largest police union.
"Col. Fuentes is the consummate cop's cop," FOP President Chuck Canterbury wrote in a July 7 letter to President Trump, urging the superintendent's consideration. "He has earned the respect of his officers and local law enforcement officers throughout the state, as well as his federal counterparts."
Fuentes declined to comment.
Before Rosenberg's appointment by then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch, the DEA had been reeling from a series of scandals under Leonhart, who retired in wake of an internal Justice investigation found that agents participated in sex parties with prostitutes supplied by drug cartels in Colombia. | Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | September 2017 | ['(USA Today)'] |
Bradford West MP Naz Shah is suspended from the opposition Labour Party over comments she made on Facebook about Israel. | The Bradford West MP has been heavily criticised over the Facebook posts, including one suggesting Israel should be moved to the United States.
In a Commons statement she offered a "profound apology" for the posts, which were made before she became an MP.
Earlier party leader Jeremy Corbyn warned her about the "offensive and unacceptable" posts and David Cameron called for her suspension.
Labour said: "Jeremy Corbyn and Naz Shah have mutually agreed that she is administratively suspended from the Labour Party by the general secretary.
"Pending investigation, she is unable to take part in any party activity and the whip is removed."
Apologising in the Commons, Ms Shah, who had already quit as an unpaid aide to shadow chancellor John McDonnell, said: "Anti-Semitism is racism, full stop. As an MP I will do everything in my power to build relationships between Muslims, Jews and people of different faiths and none."
The announcement of her suspension came after pressure mounted on the MP, with Mr Cameron saying during Prime Minister's Questions it was "quite extraordinary" that Labour had not withdrawn the whip from her over what he suggested were "racist" comments.
Saying sorry three times didn't prevent Naz Shah's suspension.
Number 10 are taking credit - but one shadow cabinet member, Lisa Nandy, had already called for her suspension and I'm told other Labour figures had approached party officials privately to call for the same thing.
Ten days ago Labour's general secretary had reassured MPs those accused of anti-Semitism would be expelled or suspended.
Insiders say that once the Labour leader had decided to hand the matter to party officials, suspension - and an investigation - became inevitable.
Most Labour MPs recognise few members hold anti-Semitic views but that some high-profile cases have been toxic, and have been pressing their leadership to be more proactive in uncovering and rooting out unacceptable views.
And some on the party's right are keen to force a leader who has opposed "witch hunts" of party members to use disciplinary procedures to erect, however reluctantly, some walls to Labour's broad church - and to make clear that the views of some recent members and supporters aren't welcome. Minutes before PMQs, Mr Corbyn issued a statement, saying: "These are historic social media posts made before she was a member of parliament. Naz has issued a fulsome apology.
"She does not hold these views and accepts she was completely wrong to have made these posts. The Labour Party is implacably opposed to anti-Semitism and all forms of racism."
Labour MP Lisa Nandy had called for Ms Shah's suspension, while another Labour MP, Kate Hoey, told BBC Radio 4's The World at One she should resign "right away" from the Commons Home Affairs Committee, which is carrying out an inquiry into anti-Semitism.
Sabbiyah Pervez, BBC Look North
Naz Shah burst onto the political scene during the 2015 general election, where she ousted Respect MP George Galloway.
Her selection as a candidate proved controversial with divisions emerging in the local party. The candidate who was chosen first stood down four days later, before Ms Shah was imposed by the ruling National Executive Committee.
A bitter campaign followed, with Mr Galloway sparking anger by questioning Ms Shah's account of her forced marriage.
After her victory, she was celebrated locally and nationally for her unique background and life experiences.
Growing up in poverty in Bradford, Ms Shah and her family were abandoned by her father who eloped with a neighbour's teenage daughter. She has spoken openly about her experience of surviving a forced marriage and domestic violence.
In a Facebook post in 2014, Ms Shah shared a graphic showing an image of Israel's outline superimposed on a map of the US under the headline "Solution for Israel-Palestine conflict - relocate Israel into United States", with the comment "problem solved".
The post suggested the US has "plenty of land" to accommodate Israel as a 51st state, allowing Palestinians to "get their life and their land back".
It added Israeli people would be welcome and safe in the US, while the "transportation cost" would be less than three years' worth of Washington's support for Israeli defence spending.
Ms Shah added a note suggesting the plan might "save them some pocket money".
The post was brought to light by the Guido Fawkes website, which also highlighted a post in which she appeared to liken Israeli policies to those of Hitler.
In a statement, the MP said: "I made these posts at the height of the Gaza conflict in 2014, when emotions were running high around the Middle East conflict.
"But that is no excuse for the offence I have given, for which I unreservedly apologise."
She set out a more detailed apology in an article for Jewish News.
"The language I used was wrong," she wrote.
"It is hurtful. What's important is the impact these posts have had on other people. I understand that referring to Israel and Hitler as I did is deeply offensive to Jewish people for which I apologise."
The Board of Deputies of British Jews said the comments were "simply appalling", calling for an urgent meeting "for clarification of her views on Israel and the UK Jewish community".
MP Shah quits role over Israel post
Hardliner Raisi set to win Iran election
Vote-counting shows Ebrahim Raisi - Iran's top judge - has so far received 62% of the vote. | Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | April 2016 | ['(BBC)'] |
Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz resigns. He is the second high–profile minister to resign from the government this week, after Health Minister Łukasz Szumowski. | WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland has appointed Zbigniew Rau, the chair of the parliamentary foreign affairs committee, to the post of foreign minister, as Warsaw seeks to play a leading role in the EU response to a political crisis in neighbouring Belarus.
At a news conference on Thursday, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki also said that economist Adam Niedzielski, the head of the national health fund (NFZ), had been appointed health minister.
The appointments come at a crucial time for both ministries, as Poland grapples with rising daily coronavirus cases and seeks to push the EU to take an active diplomatic stance towards Belarus, a close Russian ally whose borders with Poland, Lithuania and Latvia are major NATO frontiers.
“Today both men are certainly mentally, intellectually and spiritually immersing themselves in the issues they will be responsible for,” Morawiecki said.
The appointments come two days after the departure of previous Health Minister Lukasz Szumowski, and hours after Jacek Czaputowicz resigned as foreign minister on Thursday morning.
Czaputowicz had signalled in July he may quit, as the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party announced it planned personnel changes in the government during a reshuffle in the autumn that could see the number of ministries reduced.
Thousands of people have demonstrated in Belarus against official election results that showed President Alexander Lukashenko re-elected in an Aug. 9 vote the opposition says was rigged. The EU has announced financial sanctions against Belarusian officials it blames for vote fraud.
Belarus has blamed the protests on foreign interference and said it is reinforcing its Western borders.
| Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | August 2020 | ['(Reuters)'] |
Voters in Mongolia go to the polls for the Mongolian legislative election, 2008. | Voting has ended in Mongolia's fifth general election since the economic and political liberalisation of 1990. Voter turnout was high after a long and gruelling campaign between the two main parties, the Democrats and the ruling Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party.
Both parties promised large public payouts from budget surpluses provided by the growing mining industry.
The 2004 election saw the two parties forced into a fragile coalition that produced three prime ministers.
New voting system
At a polling station in Ulan Bator's Sukhbaatar District, an election official announced an end to a long day of voting.
Election observers from half a dozen political parties carefully recorded the proceedings on video camera as the volunteers prepared to begin the process of counting ballots.
Voting at polling station number 23 went smoothly, the station master reported.
Indeed, there were no major problems reported at any of the country's nearly 2,000 polling stations.
The General Election Committee said that voter turnout was high.
Their latest figures reveal that 74% of registered voters cast a ballot.
With polling over, activists from the Democrats and the MPRP retreated to their respective offices to await the results.
But a new multi-mandate system of voting means that ballot counting will take longer than usual, because each ballot will have up to three circled names.
Although results have previously been known by the morning after an election, officials warn that this one might take several days to sort out. | Government Job change - Election | June 2008 | ['(BBC News)'] |
Strikes continue in the University of Puerto Rico because of university budget cuts from the Puerto Rico Oversight Board . | The University of Puerto Rico has been on a systematic indefinite strike since April 5. On that day the strike was approved and since then ten out of eleven (with the Medical Science campus holding a 72 hour strike in lieu) campuses have joined in this strike as a sign of unity. Students have said that the strike will only be lifted until the following conditions are met:
These conditions are critical to understanding why the university student body has decided on an indefinite strike instead of the individual and shorter strikes that each campus has made.
The University of Puerto Rico has been threatened by a budget cut suggested by the Oversight Board and enforced by the government. The students fear that the budget cuts will affect the university’s capacity to attend to student’s needs, to function at its full capacity and that it would mean the closing of campuses. Interim President Nivia Fernandez’s resignation has been solicited by student leaders due to her position in favoring the budget cuts. In February, then Interim President Celeste Freytes had asked as to how the Oversight Board had arrived at what was then a $300 million budget cut. Since then, there has been no answer as to what they are basing their budget cuts on.
There is also the matter of having tuition increased or having it exempted. 70% of the students are recipients of the Pell Grant, allowing them to attend the university at low or no cost. With Puerto Rico’s economy in crisis and a poverty rate of 46% it is important for many of these students, some being the first in their family, to attend a higher education institution as this will guarantee them a higher salary and more employment opportunities in and outside the archipelago. The auditing of the debt has been asked as a matter of transparency. As mentioned before, the budget cuts aren’t based on any study made by the Oversight Board. The government has insisted that the university do its part in paying the debt yet the students have asked that before doing so, they see where the borrowed money went.
The students of the University of Puerto Rico have decided to take a stance against the government’s attempt to cut education and to pay an unaudited debt as the people of Puerto Rico continue to live in possibly worsening conditions. Share:
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Darmy Cortés Serra is an undergraduate student at the University of Puerto Rico pursuing a degree in Linguistics and Communication. She is a Puerto Rican Affairs Correspondent at Pasquines. | Strike | April 2017 | ['(PROMESA)', '(Pasquines)'] |
A shooting occurs at a United States Navy recruiting office and a Navy operational support center in Chattanooga, Tennessee, killing four U.S. Marines and the gunman and wounding a police officer, a Marine Corps recruiter and a sailor who is listed in serious condition. , , | CHATTANOOGA The gunfire came in rapid bursts, too many shots to count, a witness said.
Rounds pierced the window of a military recruitment center, cracking the glass into a web.
At least four Marines were dead Thursday in what federal authorities are investigating as a possible act of terrorism.
This city was left mourning the loss of four service members and praying for the three others who officials say were wounded after the shootings at two separate locations.
Within hours, a picture began to emerge of the shooting suspect, a 24-year-old Kuwaiti-born electrical engineering graduate. The gunman also was killed.
"Lives have been lost from some faithful people who have been serving our country, and I think I join all Tennesseans in being both sickened and saddened by this," Gov. Bill Haslam said.
After traveling to Chattanooga, Haslam called Thursday "a horrible day for Chattanooga and a tragic day for all of Tennessee." On Friday morning, Haslam ordered flags at the state Capitol and state office buildings across the state to be flown at half-staff in honor of the fallen Marines.
Haslam was joined by Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke, who said during an evening news conference with the governor that he stayed in close contact with the White House throughout the day Thursday.
"Our hearts are breaking for the families of these Marines tonight," Berke said.
Authorities identified the gunman as Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez of Hixson, Tenn., though the spelling of his first name was in dispute, with federal officials and records giving at least four variations.
In addition to the Marines killed, three people whom sources identified as a Navy sailor, a Marine, and a police officer were reportedly wounded. The sailor was said to have been seriously hurt.
The names of the dead or wounded were not released Thursday.
Within hours of the bloodshed, law officers with guns drawn swarmed what was believed to be Abdulazeez's house, and two females were led away in handcuffs.
A dozen law enforcement vehicles, including a bomb squad truck and an open-sided Army green truck carrying armed men, rolled into the Colonial Shores neighborhood of Hixson, and police closed off streets and turned away people trying to reach their homes.
An armed guard prevented residents of Colonial Shores from returning to their homes Thursday. The quiet neighborhood and its shaded streets, along which parked Audi and Mercedes-Benz cars, are about 7 miles from one of the shooting sites.
The shooting suspect's family lived there about 15 years and did not bring attention to themselves, according to neighbor Dean McDaniel. One family member baby-sat for McDaniel's family and was always friendly, McDaniel said.
He said Abdulazeez "seemed like a good kid, quiet kid."
"I didn't find anything wrong with the kid," McDaniel said. "He just intermingled with the kids in the neighborhood."
It was unclear whether Abdulazeez was a U.S. or Kuwaiti citizen.
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga officials confirmed that Abdulazeez graduated in 2012 with a degree in electrical engineering. He also interned at the Tennessee Valley Authority, the agency confirmed. The Chattanooga Times Free Press posted a YouTube video of a man labeled "Mohammed Abdulazeez" in a mixed-martial arts fight, as well as a high school yearbook picture with the quote: "My name causes national security alerts. What does yours do?"
It's next to a picture of a smiling Abdulazeez.
Ryan Smith told the Times Free Press that he wrestled with Abdulazeez at Red Bank High School.
Smith said that Abdulazeez was very religious and that he would argue "back and forth" with the boys' high school wrestling coach during fasting rituals.
Mary Bridges, another high school classmate, remembers Abdulazeez as a tall, strong young man with short hair who was attractive but shy.
"I always thought of Muhammad as a very, a little shy, but I thought he was very sweet and friendly. It's shocking because I always viewed him as a very nice guy," Bridges said Thursday evening.
"He just, he was friendly, he carried himself well and you know, he was friends with a lot of people."
As they advanced in their high school careers, Bridges, now 24, said she and Abdulazeez shared more classes. She remembers him specifically from their time together in a dual enrollment English class their senior year. It was a tough course. She said students who did well could earn college credits through Chattanooga State Community College.
"He always had really great answers. I just always thought of him, it just came very naturally to him, school," Bridges said.
There were two shootings Thursday. They took place minutes apart, with the gunman stopping his car and spraying dozens of bullets first at a recruiting center for all branches of the military, then apparently driving to a Navy-Marine training center 7 miles away, authorities and witnesses said. The attacks were over within a half-hour.
The FBI took over the investigation.
Authorities would not say how the gunman died. FBI agent Ed Reinhold said the shooting suspect had "numerous weapons" but would not give details.
Reinhold said authorities were looking into whether it was domestic or international terrorism or "a simple criminal act." Another U.S. official said there was no indication Abdulazeez was on the radar of federal law enforcement before the shootings. The official was not authorized to discuss the case and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The U.S. National Counterterrorism Center is reporting no apparent nexus to terrorism has been uncovered in the investigation, but intelligence officials are monitoring the investigation closely. The Islamic State group has been encouraging extremists to carry out attacks in the U.S., and several such homegrown acts or plots have unfolded in recent months.
In Washington, President Barack Obama pledged a prompt and thorough investigation and said the White House had been in touch with the Pentagon to make sure military installations are being vigilant.
"It is a heartbreaking circumstance for these individuals who served our country with great valor to be killed in this fashion," he said.
The shootings began at the recruiting center on Old Lee Highway, where a shot rang out around 10:30 or 10:45 a.m., followed a few seconds later by more gunfire, said Sgt. 1st Class Robert Dodge, leader of Army recruiting at the center.
He and his comrades dropped to the ground and barricaded themselves in a safe place. Dodge estimated there were 30 to 50 shots fired. Doors and glass were damaged at the neighboring Air Force, Navy and Marine offices, he said.
Law enforcement officials told recruiters that the gunman stopped his car in front of the recruiting station, shot at the building and drove off, said Brian Lepley, a spokesman with the U.S. Army Recruiting Command in Fort Knox, Ky.
The recruiting center sits in a short strip mall, between a cellphone business and an Italian restaurant, with no apparent special security.
The gunman opened fire next at the Navy Operational Support Center and Marine Corps Reserve Center Chattanooga. All the dead were killed there.
The center is in an industrial area that includes a Coca-Cola bottling plant. The two entrances to the fenced facility have unmanned gates and concrete barriers that require approaching cars to slow down to drive around them.
Marilyn Hutcheson, who works at Binswanger Glass across the street, said she heard a barrage of gunfire around 11 a.m.
She ran inside, and she and other employees and a customer waited it out with the doors locked. The gunfire continued with occasional bursts for what she estimated was 20 minutes.
"I couldn't even begin to tell you how many," she said. "It was rapid-fire, like pow-pow-pow-pow-pow, so quickly. The next thing I knew, there were police cars coming from every direction." | Armed Conflict | July 2015 | ['(Reuters via MSN)', '(The Tennessean)', '(NBC News)', '(WRCB)', '(CNN)'] |
The APEC summit draws to a close with most leaders preparing to leave and the President of the United States George W. Bush having left. | The APEC summit in Sydney is drawing to a conclusion, with leaders working on their final statement.
Prime Minister John Howard began this second leaders' retreat today on a warm note.
"I'd like on your behalf to wish many happy returns of the day to the President of Indonesia," he said.
"It's lovely that you've been able to spend your birthday in Sydney, Bambang."
The talks, being held without the US President who flew home last night, are concentrating on trade and the future of the Doha round of negotiations.
Earlier Mr Howard and Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe issued joint statements on climate change and energy security.
Late yesterday the APEC leaders signed the so-called Sydney Declaration on climate change, including aspirational targets for improved energy efficiency and forest expansion.
Mr Howard has thanked Mr Abe for his support.
"It reflects the very close similarity of views between our two countries on these matters," he said.
"I record my appreciation for the strong support given by the Prime Minister in preparation of the Sydney Declaration."
Most APEC leaders will be flying out of Sydney this afternoon.
We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we live, learn, and work.
This service may include material from Agence France-Presse (AFP), APTN, Reuters, AAP, CNN and the BBC World Service which is copyright and cannot be reproduced.
AEST = Australian Eastern Standard Time which is 10 hours ahead of GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) | Diplomatic Visit | September 2007 | ['(ABC News Australia)'] |
Arkansas becomes the first U.S. state to ban transitional care for transgender minors after the Legislature overrides Governor Asa Hutchinson's veto of the bill. | Transition care for transgender minors will be outlawed in Arkansas after the state senate voted on Tuesday to override Governor Asa Hutchinson’s veto of HB1570, a move that sparked immediate vows for legal retaliation from civil rights groups. The bill, which effectively bans medical workers from providing hormone replacement therapy or gender-affirming surgeries to trans youth, was set to take effect after the senate successfully overrode the governor’s objections this week.
It’s the first law of its kind in the United States, a clear reflection of the anti-trans movement sweeping through conservative media outlets and states across the country. Republican-led legislatures have sought to restrict transgender athletes from participating in school sports, denying funding to entities providing medical services for transgender patients and more in recent months, even as Republicans like Mr Hutchinson describe such measures as “extreme”.
Advocates and coalitions of human rights groups have rebuked the Arkansas bill, otherwise called the “Save Adolescents From Experimentation (SAFE)” Act, and others like it, while noting the tangible impact such measures have on trans youth. A growing pool of scientific research has shown trans youth who receive access to transitionary care are less likely to self-harm or have thoughts of suicide.
Trans youth who do not receive transitional care are also more likely to report cases of depression compared to children under the age of 15 who are provided gender-affirming medical services like hormone blockers.
The ban was opposed by several medical and child welfare groups, including the American Academy of Pediatrics.
The measure’s sponsor referred to the procedures as experimentation and compared the restriction to other limits the state places on minors.
“They need to get to be 18 before they make those decisions,” Republican Rep. Robin Lundstrum said. Mr Hutchinson said the measure went too far in interfering with parents and physicians, and noted that it will cut off care for transgender youth already receiving treatment. Read more:
He said he would have signed the bill if it had focused only on gender confirming surgery, which currently isn’t performed on minors in the state.
“This is a sad day for Arkansas, but this fight is not over — and we’re in it for the long haul,” Holly Dickson, ACLU of Arkansas’ executive director, said in a statement.
The override, which needed only a simple majority, passed easily in both chambers, with House voting 72-25 in favor and the Senate 25-8.
| Government Policy Changes | April 2021 | ['(The Independent)'] |
An American pediatrician from Delaware state is indicted by video evidence on 471 felony counts in the alleged rape and sexual abuse of 103 children. | (CNN) -- A Delaware pediatrician has been indicted on 471 felony counts in the alleged sexual abuse of his patients, prosecutors announced Monday.
The Sussex County grand jury indictment accuses Dr. Earl Bradley, 56, who has had a practice in Lewes, Delaware, for more than 10 years, of victimizing 103 children -- all but one girls. The charges range from rape and sexual exploitation of a child to endangering child welfare and assault.
Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden told CNN Radio the indictment is based on "video and digital evidence" seized from Bradley's home and medical practice in December. Authorities have not ruled out additional charges, he added.
"The reality is that as a prosecutor, the rules prohibit me from telling you exactly how I feel -- and I'm feeling a great deal today," Biden said.
Bradley also has medical licenses in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Florida. Authorities have said they have contacted officials in those states.
He was initially arrested and charged in December.
Bradley's attorney, Eugene Maurer Jr., said he would base his client's defense on mental health.
"Most of the evidence in this case comes from videotapes -- it's kind of hard to argue with videotapes," Maurer said, adding, "The issue in this case is going to come down to his mental health at the time." | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | February 2010 | ['(CNN)', '(ABC)'] |
Pope Benedict XVI arrives in Mexico and is greeted by thousands in Guanajuato, Guanajuato, and is also greeted by President Felipe Calderón. | Pope Benedict XVI has arrived in Mexico, at the start of his first visit to Spanish-speaking Latin-America.
The Pope was greeted by thousands in central city of Guanajuato, and welcomed by President Felipe Calderon.
Mr Calderon said the visit had enormous importance as Mexico was suffering greatly from drug-related violence.
Before his arrival, the Pope said it was vital "to fight this evil" and urged the young to renounce drugs. After Mexico, he will travel to Cuba.
He said Marxism there was no longer working.
The Pope said the ideology no longer corresponded to reality and called for "new models" to be found.
He made it clear that "the Church is always on the side of freedom of thought and of religion".
Benedict was welcomed by cheering crowds at Guanajuato on Friday. Supporters at the airport chanted: "Benedict, brother, you are now Mexican!"
The pontiff then led a short blessing on a specially erected platform within the airport. But it was on the streets outside where Benedict was most eagerly awaited, the BBC's Will Grant in Mexico reports. All day under a hot sun, thousands of cheering followers - dressed in white and yellow T-shirts and waving flags - lined the route to the city of Leon to catch a glimpse of Benedict as he passed in the armour-plated Popemobile. Our correspondent says security is tight - with the federal police and military deployed in large numbers. The Pope is due to hold talks with President Calderon later on Saturday.
He will also spend time in the city of Silao, near Leon. On Sunday some 300,000 people are expected to attend Mass, and huge camp sites have been set up to give pilgrims somewhere to stay.
Earlier, while on route to Mexico, Pope Benedict told journalists: "I share Mexicans' joy and hope but also their anguish and grief," referring to the country's drug related violence, which has taken 50,000 lives in the past five years.
One Mexican supporter said: "With this wave of violence that we're living, not just in individual states but across the country, the Pope's visit could be a great source of comfort."
Some 88% of Mexicans - almost 100 million people - are Roman Catholic, and the Pope's predecessor, John Paul II, was a regular visitor to the country.
Our correspondent says Pope Benedict is not regarded with the same affection yet, but there is undoubtedly excitement about the visit among the faithful.
The Pope faces sensitive issues in Cuba.
This week the campaign group Amnesty International reported that life was getting harder for dissidents there. Earlier this month, activists were evicted from a church they had occupied in the capital, Havana, demanding an audience with the Pope.
In Havana, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said the government was open to opinions that differed from its own, in a reference to the Pope's comments that Marxism there was no longer working. | Diplomatic Visit | March 2012 | ['(BBC)'] |
Protesters attack the State Congress building in Mexico's Guerrero state setting alight five vehicles. | Demonstrators in Mexico have attacked the Guerrero state congress in new protests against the government's handling of the disappearance of 43 students in September.
Five vehicles were set alight outside the building in the state capital, Chilpancingo. The students disappeared in the nearby town of Iguala more than six weeks ago. Mexican officials say local gang members have confessed to killing the students and burning their bodies.
But remains found nearby have not yet been identified as the missing students.
The students' disappearance has led to weeks of violent protests across the country.
Wednesday's attack caused extensive damage to the Guerrero state congress building.
It came after protesters torched the education department's audit office in Chilpancingo during a demonstration called by the teachers' union. On Tuesday demonstrators attacked the regional headquarters of the ruling party (PRI) also in Chilpancingo.
The disappearance of the 43 trainee teachers and the links it has revealed between the local authorities and a gang calling itself Guerreros Unidos (United Warriors) have triggered mass protests.
Investigators said that municipal police officers confessed to seizing the students, who had been protesting in Iguala on 26 September, and later handing them over to the gang.
Iguala Mayor Jose Luis Abarca is under arrest on suspicion of ordering police to intercept the students. Iguala's police chief is still on the run. But residents say they suspect links between the gang and officials reach higher levels than that of the local town council.
Relatives of the missing are also angry about the way the search for the students has been conducted.
Tests carried out by the Guerrero state authorities suggested the bodies they contained were not those of the students.
But Mexico's Attorney-General Jesus Murillo Karam later said the initial tests may have been flawed.
On 28 October, experts searching the landfill site near the town of Cocula where gang members allegedly killed and burned the students found rubbish bags with human remains.
The charred remains have now been sent to a specialised laboratory in Innsbruck, Austria, for testing. Results are not expected for several weeks. | Protest_Online Condemnation | November 2014 | ['(BBC)'] |
Canadian Foreign Minister François-Philippe Champagne urges Iran to allow access to the flight recorders of the Ukrainian passenger plane that was shot down in January. | Canadian Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne on Wednesday urged Tehran to allow access to the black boxes from a Ukrainian passenger plane that was accidentally shot down over Iran in January.
“We do expect from Iran to give access to the black box without any further delay,” Francois-Philippe Champagne said during a press conference with his Ukrainian counterpart Vadym Prystaiko, while on a visit to the Ukrainian capital Kiev.
Iran has so far resisted handing over the black boxes from the Ukraine International Airlines flight that was downed by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards after mistaking it for a hostile target.
Canada has pressed Iran for a complete and independent investigation.
Many of the 176 who perished in the disaster were Iranians with dual citizenship. Canada had 57 citizens on board.
“We have questions and we expect Iran to provide answers,” Champagne said.
“I always say transparency is the best antidote to conspiracy, so we should demand from Iran in one voice, the international community, to provide access to these black boxes, to allow for transparency so that justice can be carried out.”
| Diplomatic Talks _ Diplomatic_Negotiation_ Summit Meeting | March 2020 | ['(Reuters)'] |
The two sides meet in the Vatican and discuss bilateral relations, ecclesial life and the future visit of Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin. The Vietnam — Holy See Joint Working Group first met in 2009. Vietnam, a Communist nation of 97 million, is 7% Catholic. | The Holy See and Vietnam are starting two days of talks in the Vatican on Wednesday, the Holy See’s Press office said on Tuesday
“As previously agreed, the Eighth Meeting of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam/Holy See Joint Working Group will be held in the Vatican from 21 to 22 August,” said a statement by the Director of the Holy See Press Office, Matteo Bruni.
He said, “The meeting is intended to develop and advance bilateral relations, focusing in particular on some aspects of the ecclesial life of the country as well as issues regarding the status and mission of the resident Papal Representative in Viet Nam and the visit of His Eminence Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, to take place in the near future.”
“The Vietnamese delegation will be led by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, H.E. Mr. To Anh Dung, and that of the Holy See by Rev. Msgr. Antoine Camilleri, under-secretary for Relations with States,” the statement said. | Diplomatic Talks _ Diplomatic_Negotiation_ Summit Meeting | August 2019 | ['(Vatican News)'] |
After long delays, voters in Gabon head to the polls for the first time since the controversial 2016 presidential election. | The controversial re-election of President Ali Bongo in August 2016 by just a few thousand votes led opposition leader Jean Ping to claim that victory had been stolen from him.
LIBREVILLE - Oil-rich Gabon, ruled by the same political dynasty for nearly half a century, votes Saturday in long-delayed legislative and municipal polls after a presidential election two years ago that was marred by deadly violence and allegations of fraud.
The controversial re-election of President Ali Bongo in August 2016 by just a few thousand votes led opposition leader Jean Ping to claim that victory had been stolen from him. Violence broke out and dozens of people were killed according to the opposition, but the government says only four died.
Ping's headquarters was bombed and the opposition also claimed that widespread human rights abuses were committed by armed militias that took to the streets. But ahead of this weekend's vote, pushed back three times since 2016, the campaign was low key. Posters dotted the capital Libreville asking the country's 680,000 voters to turn up to elect 143 new MPs as well as other local officials.
'TORN BY CRISIS'
Political divisions run deep in the equatorial African nation, ruled by Omar Bongo since 1967 and by his son Ali after Bongo's death in 2009.
And Gabon's oil-dependent economy has been hit by falling crude prices. "I am not sure that this election will ease tensions because since 2016, the country has been torn by a crisis that has divided families and changed the political scenario," said political expert Wilson Andre Ndombet.
The opposition, which rallied around Ping in 2016, is now fractured, easing the way for the ruling Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG) which too is facing party in-fighting.
Ping, a veteran diplomat who once headed the African Union Commission and held senior UN posts and describes himself as the elected president, has so far not commented on Saturday's election.
He was a stalwart in Omar Bongo's government. Some opposition parties have called for a boycott but the others are contesting the vote.
"There is no real opposition in Gabon," said Gabin Yalanzele from the ruling PDG.
A supporter of a party of an opposition figure who has now entered the government, said he was not given money to hand out to people who turned up for election rallies but added: "We simply offer free T-shirts or a meal."
"The party in power certainly has access to some facilities but there are opposition figures who are rich and who just stall the country's progress," said Chadi Moukarim, who is second on the list for a local seat in Libreville.
A Libreville resident, who identified himself as just Steven, said the ruling party and the opposition were "buying consciences" with T-shirts and other goodies.
"The electoral process has always been biased," said Ndombet, adding that "officials manning voting stations were bought" by the ruling party.
The government has said it will close the country's borders on polling day and ban alcohol sales on the eve of the vote and throughout Saturday. | Government Job change - Election | October 2018 | ['(EWN)'] |
Two men are sentenced to death for the murder of Tibetan religious leader Akong Rinpoche, his nephew and his driver in 2013. | BEIJING (Reuters) - China has sentenced two men to death for the 2013 killing of a prominent Tibetan religious leader, state media said, in what had been one of Tibet’s most closely watched murder cases.
Choje Akong Tulku Rinpoche, who lived in exile in Scotland and became a British citizen, was among the first spiritual leaders to teach Tibetan Buddhism to followers in the West.
He, his nephew and his driver were killed in the southwestern Chinese city of Chengdu in October 2013 over what police had said was a financial dispute.
One of those sentenced was Thubten Kunsal, who had been an artist at Akong Rinpoche’s monastery in Britain between 2002 and 2011, the Chengdu intermediate court said in a statement carried by the official Xinhua news agency on Sunday.
He and another man, Tsering Paljor, were given the death sentence for stabbing the three men to death in a confrontation at the monk’s Chengdu home over 2.7 million yuan ($410,000) in wages that Thubten Kunsal said he was owed.
A third man was given three years in prison for hiding the knives used in the killings.
Questions surrounding the murders had underscored the distrust that many Tibetans have of the Chinese government, which has ruled Tibet with an iron first since “peacefully liberating” it in 1950.
Analysts have said that among exiled Tibetans, there was a widespread assumption that there must have been a political plot behind the crime, though there was no evidence for that.
Thubten Kunsal and Tsering Paljor had admitted to involvement in the crime, according to earlier statements by their lawyer, but had argued the deaths were not intentional.
“The defendants’ methods were ruthless, the details extremely malicious, and the result extremely serious,” the court said in the statement.
Lawyers for the three men could not be reached after the sentencing, but the court said Thubten Kunsal and Tsering Paljor would appeal. The third man had not decided whether to appeal, it said.
The British Embassy in China said it was aware of the sentencing.
“The British government maintains its longstanding opposition to the death penalty, and has formally communicated this to the Chinese government during the course of the trial,” the embassy said in an email.
Akong Rinpoche was one of the few Tibetan religious leaders who succeeded at balancing the interests of the Chinese government and Tibetans, and he was revered by Tibetans in China for his work with charities and in promoting education.
The Samye Ling monastery, founded by Akong Rinpoche in Scotland, did not mention the case on its website and could not be reached immediately for comment.
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | February 2016 | ['(Reuters)'] |
Democratic Senator Tim Kaine, and the Governor of Indiana Mike Pence hold the first and only vice-presidential debate of the 2016 presidential election at Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia. | The vice presidential candidates from the two major parties in the US presidential election will face each other later in a debate for the first time.
Hillary Clinton's Democratic Party running-mate Tim Kaine will go head-to-head against Republican candidate Mike Pence at Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia.
Although both men are experienced politicians, neither has a significant national profile.
Tonight's debate will be a chance for them to appeal to independent and undecided voters.
Mr Pence is currently Governor of Indiana and was previously a congressman, while Mr Kaine is a Senator from Virginia, and was previously governor of that state.
Both men are descendants of Irish immigrants and have spoken frequently of their Irish heritage and have visited Ireland recently.
Mr Pence's family hailed from Co Clare and Co Sligo. Mr Kaine has traced his roots to Co Longford.
Immigration reform is likely to be one focus of the debate, which on the whole is expected to feature more policy details than the Clinton-Trump debate last week.
The debate begins at 2am Irish time.
Meanwhile, Mrs Clinton and Mr Trump will face each other again in St Louis, Missouri on Sunday.
Mr Trump is under fire after saying he "brilliantly used" US tax rules to his advantage in trying to limit the amount he paid in taxes. | Famous Person - Give a speech | October 2016 | ['(RTE)'] |
Russians troops leave west, but remain in Georgia. | A column of Russian armored vehicles moves on a road leading to Georgia's breakaway province of Abkhazia near Zugdidi, Georgia, Saturday, Sept. 13, 2008. Hundreds of Russian forces packed up and withdrew from positions Saturday in western Georgia, and a Georgian official said Russia had met a deadline for a partial pullout a month after the war between the two former Soviet republics. (AP Photo/Georgy Abdaladze)
By STEVE GUTTERMAN 2 days ago TBILISI, Georgia (AP) Russian soldiers and armored vehicles pulled back from positions deep in western Georgia on Saturday, meeting a closely watched withdrawal deadline a month after the war between the former Soviet republics.
A Georgian policeman was shot dead near the edge of a breakaway Moscow-backed province, adding to tensions in areas where Russian troops are supposed to cede control to unarmed European Union monitors within weeks.
Georgia's government, meanwhile, pressed its claim ethnic Georgians are being persecuted in South Ossetia, the separatist region at the heart of the war. Officials said Ossetian paramilitary fighters doused Georgians with kerosene and ordered them to leave their villages.
Starting before dawn, hundreds of Russian soldiers packed up their gear and abandoned earthen-walled bases they had set up on the outskirts of the Black Sea port of Poti and at three other locations in western Georgia that they had promised to leave by Monday.
"They have fulfilled the commitment" made in an agreement worked out by French President Nicolas Sarkozy last week, Georgian Security Council chief Alexander Lomaia told The Associated Press.
But Lomaia said that even with the departure of those 250 soldiers and 20 armored vehicles pulled, some 1,200 Russian soldiers still remained at 19 positions inside Georgia.
He stressed that Georgia like the European Union and the United States demands a full Russian withdrawal to prewar positions, in accordance with a cease-fire that Sarkozy brokered a month ago.
Russia is not willing to do that and is tightening its grip on the breakaway provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
Pushed by the West, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev promised last week to withdraw from the Poti positions and from posts ringing the two separatist regions within 10 days of the deployment of 200 EU monitors in buffer zones around the two areas. The EU monitors are supposed to be in place by Oct. 1.
But the Kremlin has announced plans to maintain 7,600 soldiers in Abkhazia and South Ossetia themselves and has formally recognized them as independent nations, deepening the worst crisis in Russia's rocky post-Cold War relations with the West.
Russia is also pushing to keep Western monitors outside South Ossetia and Abkhazia, saying the EU observers' job is to protect the two provinces against Georgian aggression. The U.S. and EU want observers inside the two regions, where they are concerned about allegations of abuses against ethnic Georgians.
Georgia made new charges Saturday, saying Ossetian fighters poured kerosene on several ethnic Georgians and ordered them out of their villages late Friday.
Georgian Deputy Foreign Minister Giga Bokeria said Ossetian paramilitaries first set fire to houses owned by ethnic Georgian in two South Ossetian villages, Koshka and Disevi.
"Then they poured kerosene on several residents of the villages and told them to leave," Bokeria told the AP.
He said a number of residents, possibly as many as 200, had left the villages and were traveling to Georgian-controlled territory.
The New York-based activist group Human Rights Watch also has accused Ossetians of engaging in systematic harassment of Georgian civilians since the war.
In recent weeks, AP reporters have seen homes burning in more than a half dozen ethnic Georgian villages in and around South Ossetia, as well as incidents of looting by armed men in at least one case as Russian troops stood by.
South Ossetian government spokeswoman Irina Gagloyeva called Georgia's latest allegation "a complete lie."
"With such messages, the Georgians are trying to justify their aggression against us," she said.
Georgian forces launched an attack targeting South Ossetia's capital Aug. 7. Russia's army swiftly intervened, driving off Georgian troops and then pushing deep into Georgia in a five-day war that killed hundreds of people and displaced nearly 192,000.
The presence of Russian troops deep inside Georgia more than a month after the fighting ended has deeply angered Georgians and been an enormous sore point between Russia and the West.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said his country wants good relations with the United States, saying "mutual interests outweigh some disagreements," according to the transcript of an interview with the French newspaper Le Figaro posted Saturday on his government's Web site.
But Putin said he didn't expect any thaw until the new U.S. administration takes office and, in his typically bullish fashion, said it would be up to Washington repair relations. "They spoiled them, let them improve them," he said.
An Associated Press Television News crew saw Russian soldiers lower the Russian tricolor flag and pack military trucks before dawn Saturday with blankets and other supplies at a post by a road leading to the secessionist Abkhazia region.
Russian units also left posts on the outskirts of Poti, one by a road into the city and another a few miles from Georgia's main port and devastated naval base, Interior Ministry official Shota Utiashvili said.
"Russian forces have withdrawn completely from Poti," he said.
The presence in Poti was particularly galling for Georgians because it is more than 100 miles from South Ossetia, where the war broke out and where most of the fighting occurred.
An AP photographer saw several small columns of Russian armored vehicles crossing a bridge leading toward Abkhazia and military trucks moving over another bridge at a different location.
In the tense belt of land along Abkhazia's administrative border, a Georgian policeman was killed by gunfire that came from the direction of a post where Abkhazian and Russian forces have been based, Utiashvili said.
The shooting came three days after an almost identical incident in which a Georgian policeman was killed by shots that Georgian authorities said came from the vicinity of a Russian checkpoint outside South Ossetia.
Georgian Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili said police officers at posts near the Russian-held territories around South Ossetia and Abkhazia would be replaced by Interior Ministry special forces to strengthen security.
That could increase tensions and might prompt Russia to argue that Georgia is violating the cease-fire's stipulation that Georgian troops return to their barracks, although the special forces are technically police.
Russia's withdrawal pledge is conditioned on Georgian observance of the cease-fire deal.
Associated Press writers Misha Dzhindzhikhashvili in Tbilisi, Georgia, and Yuras Karmanau in Moscow contributed to this report. | Armed Conflict | September 2008 | ['(AP via Google News)'] |
Washington Governor Jay Inslee declares a state of emergency as a winter storm that could bring up to 8 inches of snow begins to affect the state. | Follow NBC News SEATTLE — Residents of the Pacific Northwest took to neighborhood hills with skis, sleds or even just laundry baskets Saturday to celebrate an unusual dump of snow in a region more accustomed to winter rain.
Some areas received more than a foot of snow, and meteorologists say more is on the way early next week. Hundreds of flights were canceled in Seattle and Portland, and heavy snow drifts closed major highways in eastern Washington. Around 50,000 people lost power.
Residents cleared out grocery store shelves and left work early Friday afternoon as the storm arrived. More than a foot of snow was recorded by Saturday morning in some areas, including on the Olympic Peninsula, in the nation's latest bout of winter weather.
In Tacoma, hundreds of people turned out for a snowball fight in a park after someone who lives nearby suggested it on Facebook. They took cover behind picnic tables and used sleds as shields.
"This is a perfect morning to bundle up and play in the snow, but stay off the roads if possible," Gov. Jay Inslee wrote on Twitter.
Other parts of the country were also wrestling with difficult weather. Residents of Hawaii were bracing for coastal flooding amid extreme surf predictions.
In California, more than 120 visitors and staff members were rescued after being snowbound in a Sierra Nevada resort for five days.
Up to 7 feet of snow had trapped the guests and staff beginning Sunday at Montecito Sequoia Lodge in Kings Canyon National Park, U.S. Forest Service spokesman Alicia Embrey said.
Crews had to travel by snowmobile to get to the lodge in mountains east of Fresno. Heavy equipment and crews then cleared more than 20 fallen trees and 8 miles of deep snow on the road leading to the lodge to allow guests and staff to leave the property Thursday night.
Another winter storm was on the way to the region.
In Yosemite National Park, as many as 50 housing structures near Half Dome Village were damaged by trees toppled during a snowstorm earlier this week, displacing more than 160 employees who provide food, lodging and other services for visitors.
Elsewhere, more than 148,000 customers were without electricity in Michigan following days of freezing rain. The Consumers Energy utility said power would be restored by late Sunday.
In Seattle, officials urged people to stay off the roads as traffic slowed to a standstill in some places because of the snow.
"Doesn't matter where you're going, expect it to take a very. long. time," the Washington Department of Transportation said on Twitter.
Schools and colleges had canceled classes ahead of the storm expected to bring 6 to 8 inches of snow. Scores of flights were cancelled or delayed at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
Snowfall from Sunday and Monday lingered into the week as below-freezing temperatures gripped the area. A 59-year-old man died Thursday from exposure at a Seattle light rail station.
Additional shelter space opened by city and county officials was filling up. The city was focused on people who are willing to come inside, Will Lemke, spokesman for the Seattle Human Services Department, told the Seattle Times.
"This is an extreme weather event, and offering shelter is the most important thing we can do right now," he said.
Residents in Portland and Seattle, two cities where rain is more common than snow in the winter, emptied grocery store shelves and waited in long lines to buy shovels and de-icer.
Autumn Sang was at a mobbed grocery store in Tualatin, Oregon, on Friday stocking up for the coming storm for herself and her neighbor, who is disabled and doesn't have a car.
Sang said she had never seen the store so crowded. She grew up in southern Oregon, where snow is more common, and wasn't fazed by the forecast.
"I love it. I'm excited about it," she said of the snow. "I think that Portlanders, most of them are city people and they come from a lot of different places, so they're not so used to it. It's like, 'Use your brain! If you don't have to go out, don't go out.'" | Hurricanes_Tornado_Storm_Blizzard | February 2019 | ['(20\xa0cm)', '(NBC News)'] |
11,000 journalists and other employees of the BBC go on a 24–hour strike to protest over approximately 4,000 planned job cuts. TV and Radio news output has been the worst affected, with few new stories materialising and only a skeleton service being offered. (BBC strike Q&A) | Director general Mark Thompson is cutting 3,780 jobs at the corporation - almost one in five of its UK public service staff.
That involves 15% cuts across most departments - with some sections suffering greater losses and others less affected.
Mr Thompson has said the cuts are necessary to streamline the BBC and take it into a rapidly-changing hi-tech broadcasting environment.
The unions called the strike because the BBC did not rule out compulsory redundancies and said the corporation refused to enter into "meaningful negotiations".
The BBC will do its best to keep a seamless service going - which may involve more pre-recorded and repeat programmes.
When ITV staff went on strike last month, executives recorded "live" shows in advance and used external companies and studios to cover striking staff.
BBC media correspondent Nick Higham said live programmes would be particularly affected, especially news - which cannot be prepared in advance.
If the unions are correct in their estimate of about 11,000 members supporting the strike, then Radio 4's Today programme, BBC2's Newsnight, Radio Five Live, and possibly coverage of the Chelsea Flower Show will be affected.
Nick Higham also added that a Paris concert by Oasis which he understood Radio 1 was planning to broadcast could be hit.
About 5,000 of the BBC's 27,000-strong workforce are members of Bectu and another 3,500 are in the NUJ. A third union, Amicus, is also taking part.
The unions say "many thousands" of non-members could also walk out in sympathy.
Mr Thompson says he is trying to ensure there is still a strong BBC in five, 10 or 15 years time.
Savings are being made to meet targets set by the government in 1999 and convince current politicians the corporation is providing value for money.
It is better that the BBC makes the cuts rather than have an unhappy government come in and do it for them, he argues.
He also wants to make sure the BBC is not left behind in broadcasting developments on the internet, mobile phones, TV, radio - and any other new technology else that may arise.
And some money will go back into programmes. By 2008, £355m a year will be available and priorities include TV drama, comedy, music and "knowledge-building programmes".
The cuts will "rip the heart" out of the BBC, according to the National Union of Journalists (NUJ).
The NUJ has joined forces with the Broadcasting Entertainment Cinematograph and Theatre Union (Bectu) and manufacturing union Amicus for the campaign.
The unions called the strike ballot because the corporation could not rule out some compulsory redundancies - as well as voluntary redundancies and getting rid of staff on short-term contracts.
It was "the worst package of change ever seen at the BBC", the unions said. "We're not against an efficient, productive, BBC - but many of Thompson's proposals are going to make it worse, not better," Bectu said.
And the NUJ said remaining staff would have to work harder to maintain standards and the figures "simply do not add up".
"They are based on questionable assumptions and fail to take proper regard as to how money could be saved without axing jobs", it said. | Strike | May 2005 | ['(BBC)', '(Reuters UK)', '(Bloomberg)'] |
U.S. actress Halle Berry is granted a restraining order against a convicted felon arrested on her Hollywood Hills property on Monday. | Actress Halle Berry on Tuesday was granted a restraining order against a convicted felon arrested on her Hollywood Hills property Monday.
Officers arrested Richard A. Franco, an unemployed Los Angeles man in his mid-20s who described himself as a community college student.
According to court papers, Franco jumped Berry's wall three times in recent days and put her in fear of her life.
Oscar-winner Berry secured an order forbidding Franco from being near her, her daughter or her home after giving a detailed account in a court declaration of the days running up to Franco’s arrest Monday evening.
“He has terrorized me and my family in three consecutive incidents over last three days,” Berry stated in a court filing that led to the order by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Carol Goodson.
The incidents began Saturday. The actress was standing in her kitchen with her manager when she looked out to her gated backyard and was shocked to see a stranger approaching with something in his hand.
“She was in immediate fear as she saw him coming toward her and screamed 'There is a guy in my yard,' " according to a court filing.
Police from the threat management detail warned Berry’s staff that Franco had a history of "violence, theft and drugs offenses."
Berry's filing concluded: “This person has invaded and trampled upon the most fundamental sense of security I have. … I am extremely frightened of him and what he might do to me and those I love.” | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | July 2011 | ['(Los Angeles Times)'] |
An explosion at the AlAskari Mosque in Samarra, Iraq is reported to have destroyed two of its minarets. | Suspected al Qaeda militants on Wednesday blew up the minarets of a revered Shi’ite mosque in the Iraqi city of Samarra, target of a 2006 bomb attack that unleashed a tidal wave of sectarian violence.
Minarets destroyed on Iraq's Dome
02:03
Fearing renewed bloodshed, Iraq’s government imposed a three-day curfew in Baghdad as Shi’ite and Sunni political and religious leaders called on their followers to remain calm.
But police said gunmen blew up the Sunni Grand Mosque in Iskandariya, south of Baghdad, destroying it. A second was damaged in another blast and attackers set fire to a mosque in Baghdad’s Bayaa district. No injuries were reported.
A grim mood descended on the capital as people hurried home before the start of the curfew. The streets were largely empty apart from patrolling Iraqi police and soldiers.
Shi’ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and other Iraqi leaders met the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, and U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker, agreeing on political and military steps aimed at “promoting restraint,” U.S. officials said.
U.S. President George W. Bush called Maliki to offer his condolences over the attack, which he described as “barbarous,” and to urge Maliki to “turn this moment of tragedy into opportunity” by showing unity against militants.
U.S. military spokesman Brig. Gen. Kevin Bergner said Maliki had ordered the deployment of an extra Iraqi brigade to Samarra while investigators tried to establish how the bombers managed to stage an apparent repeat of the February 22, 2006, attack on the al-Askari mosque that collapsed its famed golden dome.
That bombing was a turning point for Iraq, lifting the lid on simmering tensions between Shi’ites and Sunni Arabs. The two sects are now locked in a cycle of violence that has killed tens of thousands and forced nearly 2 million to flee the country.
Iraq’s leaders have often voiced fears a repeat of the 2006 attack could trigger all-out sectarian civil war.
The U.S. State Department said Washington was concerned about the potential affect of Wednesday’s attack “among various groups within Iraq.” In a joint statement, Petraeus and Crocker called on Iraqis to “reject this call to violence.”
In a televised address, Maliki also blamed al Qaeda for the attack and called on Iraqis to unite. He said he had ordered the arrest of the policemen who had been guarding the mosque and his office said he had visited the scene.
Also on Wednesday, the U.S. military said it killed al-Qaeda in Iraq’s military leader for the city of Mosul, Kamal Jalil Bakr Uthman, who was known as Sa’id Hamza.
Sa’id Hamza, who planned suicide bombings in Mosul, was slain by troops when he apparently reached for a suicide vest after they entered his house on Tuesday during an operation targeting al-Qaeda in Iraq, U.S. Central Command said in a statement.
The attack on the Samarra mosque comes at a critical time in Iraqi politics. Maliki’s government is under growing pressure to move faster in passing key laws U.S. officials hope will draw Sunni Arabs closer into the political process and undermine the insurgency.
But there has been almost no progress and there are signs a major U.S.-Iraqi crackdown in Baghdad aimed at buying time for Maliki’s government is running out of steam. The number of death-squad killings has begun to rise in the city.
The political bloc of fiery anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, whose Mehdi Army militia is blamed for fueling the violence, urged its supporters to remain calm but said it was suspending its participation in parliament in protest.
There were no injuries reported in the attack on Samarra’s Golden Mosque, which demolished its two 36-metre- (118-foot) high golden minarets. It had been closed since 2006 due to disagreements between Shi’ites and Sunnis over its reconstruction.
The U.S. military, quoting police at the scene, said they were destroyed in near simultaneous explosions heard coming from inside the mosque compound. Bergner said it appeared some form of explosives had been used.
The Golden Mosque is one of the four major Shi’ite shrines in Iraq. Samarra, north of Baghdad, is a predominantly Sunni city. Other major sites are in the holy Shi’ite cities of Najaf and Kerbala and the Baghdad district of Kadhimiya, also mainly home to Shi’ites.
. | Armed Conflict | June 2007 | ['(Reuters Alertnet)', '(BBC)', '(Reuters)'] |
The death toll rises to 16 from this week's flash flood along the Utah – Arizona border in the United States. | At least 16 people were killed in Tuesday's flash floods. Rescuers hope to resume search efforts for three missing hikers on Wednesday.
September 16, 2015
Flash floods are common in the small polygamous town of Hildale, Utah, but the volume and pace of Monday's rain was a "100-year event,” said Brian McInerney, hydrologist with the National Weather Service in Salt Lake City.
The torrent of water killed 12 people in this small town that straddles the state’s border with Arizona, as floods swept them away in their cars.
"It was terrifying," said resident Virginia Black, who watched from her home as a van of 16 women and children was swept away by the water and tumbled over an embankment into a ravine, reports the Associated Press.
"They were getting washed away, and there was nothing I could do about it," she added.
Only three children and one adult in the van survived.
In Zion National Park, about 20 miles to the north, four people died and three more are still missing after being swept away by the floods that coursed through a narrow slot canyon, according to officials.
"It was an act from God," Hildale Mayor Phillip Barlow told the the Deseret News. "This is something we can't control ... It happened too fast."
The storm climax lasted about a half hour, pouring 1-1/2 inches of rain into a desert-like landscape with little vegetation and steep slopes.
The Associated Press described the flooding as “like a bucket of water being poured onto a rock — it slid right off and began running downstream, picking up sediment to create the forceful, muddy mess that rushed through the city.”
Hildale has fewer than 3,000 residents who are followers of the polygamous Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which is not affiliated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints based in Salt Lake City.
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The search for the missing hikers had been suspended because of flooding concerns, but searches are expected to resume Wednesday.
| Floods | September 2015 | ['(Christian Science Monitor)'] |
A police officer in Liverpool, England is hospitalised in a life threatening condition after undergoing a homophobic attack by a gang of twenty youths. | A gang of up to 20 youths attacked an off-duty trainee police officer outside a gay bar in Liverpool city centre.
James Parkes, 22, who is training with the Merseyside force, was out with friends when he was set upon by the gang on Stanley Street on Sunday night. Four boys from the Kirkdale area, one aged 17, two aged 15 and one 14, have been arrested on suspicion of assault. Mr Parkes is in hospital with multiple skull fractures and fractures of his eye-socket and cheek bone. He was leaving Superstar Boudoir, one the city's well-known gay bars, when he was attacked. 'Despicable crime'
His condition was described as "very critical". A spokesman for Merseyside Police said: "The officer, who is openly gay, was with his partner, another man and a woman when the incident took place. "From the language used by the offenders towards the officer we perceive it was a homophobic attack." One of Mr Parkes' companions was punched in the face. Mr Parkes was a police community support officer earlier this year. He began his initial 31 weeks training in May and is due to pass out in early 2010. High visibility patrols have been stepped up in the area and CCTV footage of the scene is being reviewed. Det Ch Insp Tim Keelan, leading the investigation, said: "Help us to catch those responsible for this despicable crime. "We are treating the assault as a homophobic hate crime and this incident shows there are still some people who have not learnt that crimes of this type are completely unacceptable." Stanley Street has been cordoned off while officers carry out forensic examinations. | Famous Person - Sick | October 2009 | ['(Sky News)', '(BBC)'] |
The UK's three main political parties reach an agreement on measures to regulate the British press. | A deal has been struck between the three main political parties on a new press regulation regime in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal.
An independent regulator will be set up by royal charter with powers to impose million pound fines on UK publishers and demand upfront apologies from them. Party leaders told MPs the charter would preserve press freedom and protect victims of press intrusion. Many of the major newspapers said they needed time to study the details.
Press reform campaign group Hacked Off has welcomed the deal.
It follows Lord Justice Leveson's inquiry into press ethics, which found that journalists had hacked thousands of phones. He called for a new, independent regulator backed by legislation designed to assess whether it is doing its job properly.
Prime Minister David Cameron said the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and Labour had agreed on a new system of "tough independent self-regulation that will deliver for victims and meet the principles set out in (Leveson's) report". He said a new system would ensure: The charter defines publishers as newspapers, magazines or websites containing news-related material.
But there was confusion over how the plans would extend to the rest of the internet - with one Downing Street aide telling the BBC it would not cover blogs such as Guido Fawkes' political commentary. While the charter is intended to cover organisations publishing in the UK, the Scottish government has asked Westminster to clarify the Scottish impact of plans for press regulation, which is a devolved matter.
Announcing the draft royal charter, Mr Cameron told MPs: "What happened to the Dowlers, to the McCanns, to Christopher Jeffries and to many other innocent people who've never sought the limelight was utterly despicable. "It is right that we put in place a new system of press regulation to ensure such appalling acts can never happen again. We should do this without any further delay."
Labour leader Ed Miliband said the agreement satisfied the demands of protection for victims and freedom of the press.
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said he hoped newspaper groups would see the logic of the deal and back it.
The charter will not be passed by MPs, but will need to be approved at the May meeting of the Queen's Privy Council - advisers to the Queen, mostly comprising senior politicians. Meanwhile, a clause in the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill, which will mean that the charter cannot be amended without a two-thirds majority in Parliament, was approved in the Lords on Tuesday evening. And a separate bill, the Crime and Courts Bill, will have amendments ensuring that newspapers who refused to join the new regulatory regime would be potentially liable for exemplary damages if a claim was upheld against them.
The three main parties differed over whether this amounted to bringing in a new law.
Mr Cameron said a press law had been avoided - although he conceded the clauses were "two very important but relatively small legislative changes" that needed to be made.
Mr Miliband said there was statute underpinning the charter, "which is actually protecting it from being changed".
BBC political editor Nick Robinson said the press had been informed over the days and months of wrangling, with key players being Telegraph's Lord Black, Associated Newspapers' Peter Wright, the editor of the Times John Witherow and the editor of the FT Lionel Barber. In a joint statement, the Mail and Telegraph groups, Northern and Shell, News International, the Newspaper Society and the Professional Publishers Association said the industry had not been represented in Sunday night's talks.
It said early drafts of the charter had contained "several deeply contentious issues" which had not been "resolved with the industry".
"We are not able to give any response on behalf of the industry to this afternoon's proposals until we have had time to study them," the statement concluded. The Sun and others have previously said they would accept everything recommended by Lord Justice Leveson - except statutory legislation. Evan Harris of campaign group Hacked Off was at the overnight talks with three other pressure group members. The group later said it believed the deal "can effectively deliver" Lord Justice Leveson's recommendations.
But the idea of a charter was criticised by free speech campaign group Index on Censorship. Chief executive Kirsty Hughes said the decision was a "sad day for press freedom in the UK".
She said: "Index is against the introduction of a royal charter that determines the details of establishing a press regulator in the UK - the involvement of politicians undermines the fundamental principle that the press holds politicians to account."
| Sign Agreement | March 2013 | ['(BBC)'] |
People in Uruguay vote for their next president and the members of the country's senate and Chamber of Representatives. | MONTEVIDEO (Reuters) - Uruguayans headed out to vote Sunday in the South American country’s general election, with the liberal coalition that has ruled for more than 14 years facing its toughest challenge yet from a resurgent conservative right.
The nation, famed for its beef exports and legal cannabis industry, will elect the president and vice president as well as members of both the upper and lower congressional chambers. Voting will go on until 19.30 local time (2230 GMT), with a close race expected.
There are 11 candidates in Uruguay´s presidential race in total. The front-runners - engineer and former mayor of the capital Montevideo, Daniel Martínez, 62, of the Broad Front ruling coalition and lawyer Luis Lacalle Pou, 46, of the right-leaning National Party - rounded off their campaigns on Wednesday with massive rallies.
If Pou takes the helm, the result could bring a further retreat in the region of the so-called Pink Tide of leftists that have included Bolivia´s Evo Morales and Venezuela´s Nicolas Maduro. However, in larger neighbor Argentina, a leftist victory for Alberto Fernandez over President Mauricio Macri is thought likely to rebalance the scales.
Ahead of the election, Martínez was polling at between 40% and 43%, while Lacalle was in second place with between 25% and 28%.
If no candidate gets over 50% of the vote, the two with the most votes will meet again on the last Sunday of November for a run-off. The third- and fourth-placed candidates have said they will lend their vote share to whoever runs against Martinez, potentially providing Pou with a boost in the second round.
Results are due from 9 p.m. local time on Sunday. | Government Job change - Election | October 2019 | ['(Reuters)'] |
A man accused by witnesses of domestic violence informs a New Zealand court that he and his wife were performing the Turkish kolbasti traditional dance at the time of the alleged incident in Hawera. | A Turkish migrant arrested in New Zealand for allegedly beating his wife says police failed to understand that the couple were simply engaging in a lively traditional dance.
When Allaetin Can, a kebab shop owner, appeared in court on Thursday, a judge adjourned the case and ordered police to watch a DVD of dancers performing the "kolbasti" then decide whether to drop the charge against him.
Officers were called after a passer-by reported seeing Mr Can hitting, kicking, and strangling his wife Elmas during a fracas in a car park outside their shop.
After Mr Can had entered a plea of not guilty to the charge of "male assaults female", defence counsel Greg Vosseler produced the DVD in evidence.
Outside the court, in the small North Island town of Hawera, Mr Can said later that he, his wife and their two teenage children had been celebrating an exceptionally profitable lunchtime shift in their High Street kebab shop.
Leaping around, their celebrations spilled out from the kitchen into the car park.
The frenetic dance, which originated in the 1930s, involves simulated fighting, with much arm throwing, slapping and wrestling moves that include headlocks.
"We are always dancing," Mr Can said.
"I'm happy to dance with my wife and my family. What's wrong with that?" "My wife was nervous and confused when police came," he told the Taranaki Daily News.
"Her English no good. If English was good, no case."
Kolbasti was born in the Black Sea port of Trabzon, in the northeast of Turkey, and has gained popularity across the country in the decades since.
The dance is said to have been devised by the city's drunks, who were regularly rounded up by nightly police patrols, and the lyrics include the words: "They came, they caught us, they beat us."
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | August 2010 | ['(BBC)', '(Canadian Press)', '(The New Zealand Herald)', '(The Daily Telegraph)', '(The Age)'] |
Russell Williams escalated to sexual assaults and culminated in the brutal sex killings of Cpl. Marie–France Comeau, 37, and Jessica Lloyd, 27. Canadian Air Force Colonel Russell Williams is sentenced to two consecutive life sentences for two murders, several sexual assaults and dozens of fetish burglaries. | A view of the Kingston Penitentiary in Kingston, Ont., on Thursday. Col. Russell Williams is to serve two concurrent life sentences for sadosexual crimes a judge says have no equal. (LARS HAGBERG / CP)Col. Russell Williams tortured, raped and murdered Marie-France Comeau, a 37-year-old military flight attendant under his command, and Jessica Lloyd, 27, who worked for a school bus company. Roxanne Lloyd speaks to the media Thursday outside the courthouse during Col. Russell Williams’s trial in Belleville, Ont. (LARS HAGBERG / CP)
THE UNPRECEDENTED, sadistic crimes of convicted sex killer Col. Russell Williams have earned him a place among the worst criminals Canada has ever seen, court heard Thursday as the final chapter in the shocking case drew to a close.
"The depths of the depravity demonstrated by Russell Williams had no equal," Justice Robert Scott of Ontario Superior Court said as he sentenced the once decorated officer to two concurrent life sentences with no possibility of parole for 25 years.
"One suspects that he has contained for most of his adult life sexual desires and fetishes. . . . Russell Williams will forever be remembered as a sadosexual serial killer."
Once destined for senior military command, the 47-year-old former airbase chief, who flew prime ministers on VIP flights, is now in Kingston Penitentiary, home to some of the country’s most notorious criminals — including killer Paul Bernardo.
Already branded "the devil" by the brother of one of his victims, Williams will go down as one of the worst killers in Canadian history, said prosecutor Lee Burgess.
"We can all think of a handful of names and everybody knows those names, and he’s now on that list," he said outside court.
The Crown didn’t seek dangerous offender status, however, saying it was "superfluous," given his life sentence and would only prolong the suffering of families.
Williams’s dark descent began with a string of disturbing fetish break-ins in 2007 that escalated to sexual assaults and culminated in the brutal sex killings of Cpl. Marie-France Comeau, 37, and Jessica Lloyd, 27.
He beat, bound and raped both women repeatedly — obsessively documenting each gruesome moment with videotape and photographs — before he killed them.
Those homemade movies, which include Comeau’s murder, weren’t played in court, but described in horrifying detail by prosecutors as family members and friends of the victims wept openly.
His fate sealed, Williams stood up Thursday and tearfully told the judge he was "indescribably ashamed" of what he’d done.
"I’ve committed despicable crimes, your honour. In the process, betraying my family, my friends and colleagues, and the Canadian Forces," he said, his voice breaking.
"I shall spend the rest of my life regretting, above all, that I’ve ended two vibrant, innocent and cherished lives."
But his tears failed to move the families of his victims or the investigators who helped put him behind bars.
"I think it was deserved. He should have been crying," said Andy Lloyd, Jessica’s brother.
"I was angry the whole time I was looking at him. I’ve been angry for a week."
It’s still unclear whether the sickening videos Williams made will be destroyed. Burgess said the matter is still being discussed with the families as they may prove "useful" if Williams ever applies for parole.
Det. Insp. Chris Nicholas, the lead investigator in the case, vowed the "videos will never be seen while I’m alive — to anybody."
Williams came under police suspicion last February after officers stopped him at a roadside canvass after Lloyd went missing. Officers noticed the distinctive tires on his Nissan Pathfinder, similar to the treads they’d found near Lloyd’s Belleville home.
He came in for questioning and eventually caved under Ontario Provincial Police Det. Sgt. Jim Smyth’s masterful interrogation techniques, a camera-obsessed rapist squirming under the unflinching eye of a police lens.
In his videotaped confession, Williams admitted he started breaking into homes in 2007 to steal underwear, some from girls as young as 11, which he wore while masturbating on their beds, his camera snapping away.
Those deeply disturbing images of a rising military star donning lacy lingerie and girl’s panties would pale in comparison to the horrific scenes that would be presented in a Belleville court over three gruelling days.
It heard how Williams attacked two women that lived near his cottage in Tweed. He bound their hands, stripped them naked and forced them to pose in pornographic photos that he kept on two hard drives hidden in the basement of his Ottawa home.
Last November, he broke into Comeau’s home in Brighton, using his authority as her commanding officer to find her address and schedule.
She was brutally beaten, bound, gagged and raped repeatedly before he suffocated her by covering her nose with duct tape.
Williams, who obsessively recorded all his crimes, paused only to readjust his camera, even reaching for it during the attack to get a close-up shot of the rape.
Two months later, he broke into the Belleville home of Lloyd, the daughter of a retired navy officer, who worked for a school bus company.
Williams tied her up and raped her over and over again for hours. Then he took her to his Tweed cottage where he repeated the torture, every gruesome step captured in photographs and on video.
Williams later admitted to police that he made Lloyd believe she was going home, before he struck her over the head with a flashlight and strangled her to death.
He left her body in his garage for four days while he resumed his military duties, then dumped it in a wooded area as Lloyd’s family and friends were frantically searching for her.
Williams, who is likely headed for solitary confinement, pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder, two counts each of sexual assault and forcible confinement, and 82 break and enters.
"He won’t see the light of day," said Andy Lloyd. "I don’t really care what stipulation he has on him. As long as he dies in jail, I’m happy."
The Canadian military, which has been rocked to its core by the stunning revelations, wasted no time in declaring he’ll be drummed out of its ranks and stripped of his medals.
"We still don’t understand the why, and this is something that troubles Canadians at large," Lt.-Gen. Andre Deschamps, chief of the air staff, said Thursday from CFB Trenton, the base Williams once commanded. Sources told The Canadian Press the federal government is considering court action to reduce the amount Williams can collect from his military pension. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | October 2010 | ['(CNN)', '(Chronicle Herald)'] |
U.S. President Barack Obama addresses an audience at College Green in Dublin, speaking of strong ties between the United States and Ireland. | A number of Irish artists including Jedward and Westlife played to an estimated 60,000 people at College Green in Dublin this evening.
The musicians entertained athe crowd ahead of a speech by US president Barack Obama.
Mundy, the Saw Doctors, the Coronas, Sharron Shannon and Imelda May also performed.
GAA commentator Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh introduced a number of prominent Irish sports stars to the crowd including boxer Katie Taylor, Republic of Ireland captain Robbie Keane, golfer Padraig Harrington and the Irish rugby team captain Brian O’Driscoll, who was carrying the Heineken Cup his Leinster team won in Cardiff on Saturday.
Actor Brendan Gleeson spoke of Ireland’s past and its present economic difficulties. “I am fed up looking at the ground, it is time to stand up,” he said to wild applause from mostly youthful crowd. Saoirse Ronan and Stephen Rea also addressed the crowd.
Earlier, gardaí closed access to the event with only those already in the queue being granted access.
There have been reports of pushing and shoving, a lack of gardaí and stewards at certain points and a crush near the top of the queue. There were also reports of people leaping over barricades. There are no reports of injuries.
People started queuing from last night at barriers at the junction of Parliament Street and Dame Street for access to the event.
First in the queue was Dubliner Adrian Kavanagh, who started queueing at 11pm last night. "I thought there would be a few hundred people here by the time I got there, but I was the only one," he said.
He was joined by Maeve Beecher from Cork who came by bus from Cork last night. "We got about two hours' sleep last night. We didn't want to be caught in a huge queue."
| Famous Person - Give a speech | May 2011 | ['(Xinhua)', '(The Belfast Telegraph)', '(The Irish Times)'] |
Family members of deceased de facto president of Chile Augusto Pinochet are arrested in Santiago on charges of embezzlement. | They are accused of illegally transferring $27m (13.2m) to foreign bank accounts during the general's time in power between 1973 and 1990. A judge ordered 17 other suspects to be held, including aides to Gen Pinochet.
Gen Pinochet died in December 2006 before he could stand trial on charges of corruption and human rights abuses.
More than 3,000 people were killed or "disappeared" during his military rule.
Pablo Rodriguez, the Pinochet family lawyer, said he was "astonished" by the decision, which he called "illegal and abusive".
He expressed confidence the ruling would be reversed on appeal.
Aides implicated
Gen Pinochet's 84-year-old widow, Lucia Hiriart, was taken to hospital with high blood pressure following her arrest.
However, Judge Carlos Cerda said there were "solid indications" the accused had "participated in the misuse of fiscal funds". No-one in Chile is above the law
Michelle BacheletChilean president
Judge Cerda is investigating a case in which Gen Pinochet allegedly hid funds with the help of Washington-based Riggs bank. Suspects include Gen Pinochet's former personal secretary, Monica Ananias, and his lawyer Gustavo Collao. At least three retired army generals - Jorge Ballerino, Guillermo Garin and Hector Letelier - were also charged. Chilean President Michelle Bachelet said she would await the court's decision "with calm".
"No-one in Chile is above the law," she said.
RIGGS CASE
2004 US probe into Riggs bank found Gen Pinochet held up to $8m in secret accounts there Accounts alleged to have been opened in names of his widow, children and associates
Further investigations found former ruler held some $27m in foreign accounts
Gen Pinochet charged with tax evasion and using false passports to open accounts abroad
His lawyers say fortune gained legally through savings, donations and accrued interest
In 2004 a US Senate investigation found hundreds of bank accounts in the name of Pinochet and his relatives at the bank. He was being investigated for tax evasion, fraud and embezzlement in relation to those funds.
His immunity from prosecution was stripped in 2000, sparking years of legal wrangling to try to bring him to trial for alleged human rights abuses and tax fraud. His lawyers said he was unable to defend himself for health reasons. In 2006, Gen Pinochet died of a heart attack aged 91 while under house arrest. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | October 2007 | ['(BBC)'] |
A moderate earthquake of 5.6 magnitude strikes 9 miles northeast of San Jose, California. | OAKLAND, California (Reuters) - A magnitude 5.6 earthquake struck in a rural area about 9 miles northeast of San Jose, California, Silicon Valley’s biggest city, on Tuesday night, causing minor damage.
A magnitude 5.6 earthquake struck in a rural area about 9 miles northeast of San Jose, California, Silicon Valley's biggest city, on Tuesday night, the U.S. Geological Survey said. REUTERS/Graphic
The earthquake was felt across the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond just before 8:05 p.m. (11:00 p.m. EDT on Tuesday).
There were no immediate reports of major damage but the San Jose Mercury News Web site reported phone service failed in a part of Palo Alto, home to Hewlett-Packard computer company and Stanford University.
It said the quake caused minor damage and residents poured out of apartments in downtown San Jose to survey the damage. San Jose in the 10th most populous U.S. city.
“It was pretty significant. you could actually hear the rumbling of the ground. It was a good shake,” said Nick Muyo, a spokesman for the San Jose Police Department.
Asked about damage, he said he knew of “nothing other than things tipping off cabinets and dressers.”
The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake occurred on the Calaveras Fault, located east of the San Andreas Fault along which some of the most destructive earthquakes in California have struck -- including one in 1906 which, together with a subsequent fire, destroyed much of San Francisco.
Residents of San Francisco, 50 miles north of San Jose, and Stockton, the same distance to the east, reported feeling Tuesday’s quake.
Jeff Brown, a spokesman for video game publisher Electronic Arts Inc based in Redwood Shores, 25 miles north of San Jose, said: “There’s no damage but a couple people are there and they said the curtains banged against the windows and the building creaked. They definitely felt it.”
The quake occurred at a depth of 5.7 miles, according to the USGS.
Additional reporting by Adam Tanner and Scott Hillis
| Earthquakes | October 2007 | ['(Reuters)'] |
Two Reuters journalists jailed in Myanmar are sentenced to seven years in prison for violating the Official Secrets Act, prompting international condemnation. The pair was investigating reports of mass graves at the village of Inn Din when they were arrested in Yangon for attempting to obtain classified documents, which they contend were used as bait to entrap them. | Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo arrested in December after reporting on massacre of Rohingya Muslims First published on Mon 3 Sep 2018 05.10 BST
Two Reuters journalists arrested in Myanmar while investigating a massacre of Rohingya Muslims have been found guilty of breaching the country’s Official Secrets Act and sentenced to seven years in prison.
Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, are being held in prison in Yangon after being arrested in December, in a landmark case that has prompted international outrage and been seen as a test of progress towards democracy in the south-east Asian country. In his ruling, judge Ye Lwin said the men “tried many times to get their hands on secret documents and pass them to others. They did not behave like normal journalists.”
As he was led to a police van in handcuffs, Wa Lone said: “I have no fear. I have not done anything wrong … I believe in justice, democracy and freedom.” Kyaw Soe Oo hugged his wife while she was sobbing and held her until police took him away.
Reuters condemned the verdict as “a major step backwards” for Myanmar.
“Today is a sad day for Myanmar, Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, and the press everywhere,” the Reuters’ editor-in-chief, Stephen J Adler, said in a statement. Adler called for Myanmar to review the decision urgently.
The defence lawyer Khin Maung Zaw said the verdict was “bad for our country” and that he would “take any option to get their immediate release”.
Press freedom advocates, the United Nations, the European Union and countries including the US, Canada and Australia had called for the men to be acquitted.
The journalists were looking into the deaths of 10 Rohingyaat the hands of soldiers and Buddhist villagers in Inn Din, a village in the north of Rakhine state. After being invited to a dinner by officers, they were detained.
Prosecutors accused the men of obtaining secret state documents, in breach of the Official Secrets Act. The journalists said they were framed by police who gave them the documents during the dinner, and that they were targeted for their reporting. Kyaw Soe Oo said that while being investigated he was deprived of sleep, forced to kneel for hours and had a black hood placed over his head.
One prosecution witness said under cross-examination that he had written the location of the arrest on his hand so he would not forget it while he was testifying. Another admitted that he burned his notes of the arrest.
Concerned by what was widely seen as a draconian attack by Myanmar authorities on the free press, dozens of journalists and activists marched in Yangon on Sunday in support of the men.
The verdict was condemned by human rights activists, the UN, the US and Britain.
Knut Ostby, the UN resident and humanitarian coordinator in Myanmar, said he was disappointed by the court’s decision. “Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo should be allowed to return to their families and continue their work as journalists,” he said.
The US ambassador to Myanmar, Scot Marciel, said the decision was “deeply troubling”. Dan Chugg, Britain’s ambassador to Myanmar, said he was extremely disappointed by the verdict.
Brad Adams, the Asia director for Human Rights Watch, described the convictions as outrageous, adding: “These sentences mark a new low for press freedom and further backsliding on rights under Aung San Suu Kyi’s government.”
The verdict comes during a time of intense international scrutiny on Myanmar authorities following a damning UN report about the military’s treatment of the Rohingya, which it said amounted to ethnic cleansing. More than 700,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar to bordering Bangladesh over the past year after a campaign of violence by the military. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | September 2018 | ['(The Guardian)'] |
In golf, Shane Lowry of Ireland wins the year's final men's major at Portrush, Northern Ireland by 6 shots over England's Tommy Fleetwood. | PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland -- Shane Lowry made the 68 years between Open Championships in Northern Ireland worth the wait.
The silver claret jug is staying on the Emerald Isle.
Lowry, the 32-year-old Irishman with stout nerves and a soft touch around the greens, endured the worst weather of the week and the Sunday pressure of a sellout crowd cheering him along to win The Open by six shots at Royal Portrush.
Even as the rain stopped, the tears began flowing.
"I can't believe this is me standing here," Lowry said as he cradled golf's oldest trophy. "I can't believe this is mine."
It was never really in doubt.
Lowry closed with a 1-over 72, the first time since 1996 the Open champion was over par in the final round, and it was no less impressive. More difficult than the rain was wind strong enough to break an umbrella. Lowry began making bogeys in the middle of the round without losing ground. No one from the last 12 groups broke par.
And no one got closer than three shots all day of Lowry, who finished at 15-under 269.
Thousands of fans who filled these links off the North Atlantic began to celebrate when Lowry, after his fourth bogey in seven holes, rolled in an 8-foot birdie putt on the 15th hole to stretch his lead to six with three holes to play.
Lowry's smile got wider with every hole coming in.
When his approach to the 18th was just on the fringe, he stretched out his arms, hugging caddie Bo Martin. The loudest cheer of a raucous week was for a tap-in par that made Lowry a major champion.
"He's done brilliantly," Lee Westwood said after grinding out a 73 to tie for fourth. "All the chasers would have wanted tough conditions and he's clearly played brilliantly to be on the score he has, under the pressure he's under."
Tommy Fleetwood had to settle for his second runner-up finish in a major. He missed a 10-foot birdie putt on the opening hole that would have cut the deficit to two, and he missed a 5-footer for par on the third hole. His hopes ended with a double bogey from the bunker and the rough, and he closed with a 74.
Tony Finau shot 71 to finish alone in third, though he was never closer than seven shots. Brooks Koepka, going for his fourth major in the last seven, began the final round seven shots behind and opened with four straight bogeys. He shot 74 and tied for fourth.
Royal Portrush last hosted The Open in 1951, the only time it had been outside Scotland and England. It pinned hopes at the start of the week on Rory McIlroy, who missed the cut by one shot. It celebrated Darren Clarke hitting the first tee shot Thursday. The other Ulstersman, Portrush native Graeme McDowell, basked in the loudest cheers he has heard this side of the Ryder Cup when he walked up the 18th green on Sunday.
And then along came Lowry, who teamed with McIlroy to bring Irish golf a European Amateur title in 2007, and who won the Irish Open as an amateur 10 years ago. He joins Padraig Harrington as Irishmen to win majors, while McIlroy, McDowell, Clarke and Fred Daly are major champions from Northern Ireland.
"Everyone knows we're all one country when it comes to golf," Lowry said.
It was one big group hug when it ended, starting with his wife and daughter, and his parents. Harrington and McDowell were among those waiting behind the 18th green to share in the celebration, along with Koepka and his caddie, Ricky Elliott, once a promising amateur who grew up at Royal Portrush.
"I didn't feel great out there. It was probably the most uncomfortable I've ever felt on a golf course," Lowry said. "You're out there trying to win an Open in your home country, and it's just incredibly difficult."
It showed early when Lowry pulled his tee shot into the rough, hit into a deep bunker well short of the green and had to make an 8-foot putt just to escape with bogey. The wind was picking up and it was relentless for so much of the day. Lowry made his move on the more forgiving start, with three birdies in a four-hole stretch through the par-5 seventh that boosted his lead to six.
Everyone except Fleetwood fell back.
With Sunday's win at Royal Portrush, Shane Lowry is now the sixth Irishman to win a golf major.
J.B. Holmes, who shared the 36-hole lead with Lowry until falling back Saturday, really went the wrong direction. He hit his first tee shot out-of-bounds. And it only got worse. He made one birdie and shot 87, the highest final-round score at The Open since Lew Taylor also shot 87 at Muirfield in 1966, according to ESPN Stats & Information. Holmes finished tied for 67th.
Lowry's lead was four shots when he saved par from a bunker left of the par-3 13th. Even on his bogey at the hole, he added to his lead when Fleetwood hit a poor shot from the fairway bunker into the rough, couldn't get to the green and three-putted for a double bogey.
"I never really got close enough, and Shane played great," Fleetwood said. "The conditions were horrendous. It was Shane's time, Shane's tournament."
Lowry shared it with his family who paved the way, the players who inspired him. And after he was introduced as "champion golfer of the year," he shared it with thousands of people he didn't even know, all of them crammed along the hillocks and swales, along the edge of the ocean, and who sat in the horseshoe-shaped grandstands under umbrellas waiting for the Irishman to arrive. | Sports Competition | July 2019 | ['(ESPN)'] |
British singer Susan Boyle reveals she has Asperger syndrome. | The star, who shot to fame after appearing on Britain's Got Talent in 2009, had spent years believing she suffered slight brain damage at birth.
In an interview with The Observer newspaper she told of her relief at finally getting a "clearer understanding" of her condition.
But she vowed: "It will not make any difference to my life."
Asperger's is a form of autism which typically means people with the condition struggle with their emotions and have difficulty in social situations, often unable to pick up on non-verbal cues.
Boyle, 52, revealed she was misdiagnosed after complications at birth.
She said: "It was the wrong diagnosis when I was a kid.
"I was told I had brain damage. I always knew it was an unfair label. Now I have a clearer understanding of what's wrong and I feel relieved and a bit more relaxed about myself."
The singer has gone on to become one of the best-selling British female artists and recently had a cameo role in the festive film The Christmas Candle.
Last year a musical based on her life toured cities in the UK and Republic of Ireland and she has also said a film about her rise to fame is being planned.
Boyle said of her recently diagnosed condition: "It will not make any difference to my life. It's just a condition that I have to live with and work through.
"I think people will treat me better because they will have a much greater understanding of who I am and why I do the things I do."
| Famous Person - Sick | December 2013 | ['(BBC)'] |
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah confirms that the drone aircraft shot down over Israel's Negev Desert on 6 October belonged to the organization and was supplied by Iran. | Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah says unmanned reconnaissance aircraft was designed in Iran and assembled in Lebanon.
The leader of the Lebanesemovement Hezbollah has said that his organisationlaunched an Iranian-built drone that was shot down in Israeli airspace last week.
“A sophisticated reconnaissance aircraft was sent from Lebanese territory … and travelled hundreds of kilometres over the sea before crossing enemy lines and into occupied Palestine,” Hassan Nasrallah said on television on Thursday.
He said the drone had overflown sensitive sites in Israel.
“Possession of such an aerial capacity is a first in the history of any resistance movement in Lebanon and the region,” he said.
“It’s not the first time [that a drone was sent] and it will not be the last. We can reach all the zones” of Israel, said Nasrallah, referring to a less sophisticated drone sent by Hezbollah duringLebanon’s 2006conflict withIsrael.
He said the drone was “Iranian built and assembled in Lebanon”, and was refered to as “Ayoub”.
Netanyahu statement
Nasrallah’s announcement came shortly after Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu accused Hezbollah of launching the previously unidentified drone.
“We are acting with determination to protect our borders… as we prevented last weekend an attempt by Hezbollah,” Netanyahu office quoted him as saying. “We shall continue to act aggressively against all threats.”
Nasrallah echoed the Israeli prime minister’s sentiment.
“Israel is breaking the law and invading our space all the time. They should get used to us invading their space,” he said in his televised speech.
He alleged that Israel had violated Lebanese airspace 20,468 times since August 2006.
Israeli air force jets on Saturday shot down the unarmed drone over southern Israel’s Negev desert after it entered the country’s airspace from the Mediterranean Sea.
Denial of Syrian involvement
Nasrallah also denied reports that his group was aiding Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government to put down the uprising against it.
“We did not fight alongside the regime until now. The regime did not ask us to do so and also who says that doing so is in Lebanon’s interest?” he said.
Hezbollah’s opponents have accused it of sending fighters into Syria.
Last month, the US Treasury sanctioned Nasrallah for helping Assad crush anti-government protests, as well as two other members for the group’s “terrorist activities” in general.
Nasrallah said that there were some Hezbollah supporters who lived on the Syrian side of the Lebanese-Syrian border who had decided to protect themselves from “mercenaries attacking their villages”.
He said that this action was undertaken by them as individuals.
“It was their choice. We can’t stop the Lebanese that fled from Syria, like we can’t stop them from staying and protecting their homes,” said Nasrallah. | Armed Conflict | October 2012 | ['(Reuters)', '(Al Jazeera)'] |
Foreign Minister of Israel Avigdor Liberman states at a meeting with Israeli ambassadors that "classic diplomacy" is "not helpful" and that the right diplomacy is to say things "as is" due to the WikiLeaks website. Lieberman also attacks comments by the Foreign Minister of Turkey. | Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said during a meeting with Israeli ambassadors on Sunday that in the WikiLeaks era classic diplomacy is not helpful. He added the leaks prove the right diplomacy is to say things "as is".
Lieberman attacked Turkish Foreign Minister who said on Saturday that Israel would have delayed its aid to his country. "I heard all of the Turkish minister's lies. I want to remind him that we flew aid delegations to Turkey during the earthquake, and if God forbid a national disaster was to occur in the county – we would fly there, no political questions asked, just to save lives." (Boaz Fyler) | Famous Person - Give a speech | December 2010 | ['(Ynetnews)'] |
Heavy floods hit Switzerland, Austria and Germany forcing thousands of people to abandon their homes. | Worst affected is Romania where at least seven elderly people were killed overnight, bringing deaths there to 25.
At least 11 people are reported dead or missing in Switzerland, Austria and Germany where emergency services are struggling to restore basic services. Thousands of people have been forced to abandon their homes in recent days. Many are still unable to return.
The elderly Romanians were swept away by swollen rivers , AFP news agency reported. Floods inundated about 1,400 houses in central parts of the country.
Elsewhere in Europe:
It will get worse before it gets better
Franz MaerkiSwiss official
Your flood experiences
Your pictures: Alpine floods
Helicopter rescue
At least four people have died and two are missing in Switzerland, where floods have affected an area stretching from the Bernese Alps to St Gallen in the north-east.
Many Alpine valleys in Bavaria and Austria have also been under water.
Reader's before and after images of a swollen river, Switzerland
Enlarge Image
More than 1,000 Swiss have been evacuated, along with hundreds more in Austria and Germany.
In the Swiss capital Bern, the River Aare burst its banks flooding parts of the historic old town.
Parts of the resorts of Lucerne and Interlaken were also flooded. Many popular mountain holiday villages have been completely cut off.
The authorities were using helicopters to rescue people from roofs and balconies as rising waters and strong currents made the use of boats risky.
Mudslides have blocked roads and railway tracks.
And the forecast was not good.
"It will get worse before it gets better," police spokesman Franz Maerki said.
Shock
In Austria, floods caused chaos in the west of the country, leaving three people dead and one missing.
But rain stopped overnight and an interior ministry spokesman said: "The worst is over."
About 17,000 firefighters helped by soldiers are involved in the rescue and repair work.
Lechtal Valley in Tirol and the Kleinwalsertal Valley in Vorarlberg have been particularly badly affected.
Water rose up to five metres outside the house of Ernst Cavegn.
"I grew up in this house. My parents built it when I was three years old, and now everything is destroyed," the Associated Press news agency quoted him as saying. "My wife is in shock. She won't say a word." | Floods | August 2005 | ['(BBC)'] |
India test fires two short range missiles, the Dhanush and Prithvi II. | BHUBANESWAR (India) - INDIA successfully tested two short-range nuclear-capable missiles from two sites off its eastern coast on Saturday, a defence ministry official said.
India, which tested nuclear weapons in 1998, has developed a series of nuclear and conventional missile systems as part of a programme begun in 1983.
Saturday's first test was the launch of the Dhanush, which has a range of 350 kilometres (220 miles) and was fired from a naval ship in the Bay of Bengal off the shores of the state of Orissa.
The second missile was the Prithvi (Earth)-II, launched from Chandipur-on-Sea Integrated Test Range, 200 kilometres northeast of Bhubaneswar, the capital of Orissa.
'The tests were successful and met all the mission objectives,' S.P.Dash, director of the Integrated Test Range, told AFP. -- AFP | Military Exercise | March 2010 | ['(The Hindu)', '(Xinhua)', '(Straits Times)'] |
Two British VICE News journalists, Jake Hanrahan and Philip Pendlebury, arrested on 28 August in Diyarbakir Province in southeastern Turkey on terror charges, are released while their colleague, translator Mohammed Ismael Rasool, remains in custody. , | Two British VICE News journalists arrested in Turkey on terrorism charges were released Thursday, but their local translator remains in custody.
Correspondent Jake Hanrahan and cameraman Philip Pendlebury, as well as their Turkey-based Iraqi translator Mohammed Ismael Rasool were detained by Turkish authorities last Thursday, reports al-Jazeera.
On Monday, the three were charged in a Turkish court for “deliberately aiding an armed organization.”
One of the lawyers representing the trio, Ahmet Ay, told al-Jazeera that the “legal process” for Rasool was ongoing. Hanrahan and Pendlebury were released in the southern province of Adana.
They were reportedly filming clashes between police and supporters of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Diyarbakir province when they were arrested in front of their hotel.
The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office released a statement Thursday saying the two journalists were set to be deported from Turkey.
“Two British journalists arrested in Diyarbakr on Aug. 27 have now been transferred to a Migration Department Deportation Centre in Adana. Our consular officials in Turkey are liaising with the Turkish authorities and in contact with the journalists and their lawyer,” the statement read.
VICE News said it had received confirmation of the release but called on the Turkish government to free Rasool.
“While we are grateful that they have been freed, we are deeply worried by reports that our other VICE News colleague, Mohammad Ismael Rasool, has had his appeal rejected by the Turkish government,” it said in a statement.
“Rasool is an experienced journalist and translator who has worked extensively across the Middle East with VICE News, Associated Press and Al-Jazeera. We call on the Turkish authorities for a swift end to this unjust detainment and to grant his immediate release.” | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | September 2015 | ['(Turkish Weekly)', '(Time)'] |
The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China opens its fifth plenary session in Beijing to discuss the country's next five–year economic and social development plan. | BEIJING - The 17th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) opened its fifth plenary session in Beijing Friday to discuss the nation's next five-year development plan.
The four-day meeting will review proposals for the country's 12th five-year program (2011-2015) on national economic and social development.
It would be a time of difficult issues for deepening the reform and opening-up process while accelerating the transformation of the nation's economic development pattern, said the announcement.
Analysts say the fifth plenary session, which ends Monday, is of great importance as committee members are expected to analyze domestic and international situations and set the guidelines, goals, tasks and key measures for the next five years.
They will also review China's economic and social development over the past five years.
A draft version of the proposals for the 12th five-year program has been offered to some delegates of the CPC's 17th National Congress and organizations outside the Party.
The document was further revised based on their suggestions.
Sources with the CPC said the proposals, accumulated from throughout the Party and other organizations, would become a guideline document for China's continued reform and opening-up process as well as socialist modernization. | Diplomatic Talks _ Diplomatic_Negotiation_ Summit Meeting | October 2010 | ['(Al Jazeera)', '(China Daily)'] |
U.S. President Donald Trump announces that he is replacing David Shulkin as Secretary of Veterans Affairs and will nominate Ronny Jackson, who is currently the President's Physician, to fill the position. | WASHINGTON – Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin is being replaced, President Trump tweeted Wednesday, ending weeks of speculation and uncertainty about his fate.
Trump said he is nominating Navy Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson, official physician for the president and his predecessor, Barack Obama, to be the next VA secretary.
"I am thankful for Dr. David Shulkin's service to our country and to our great VETERANS!" the president tweeted.
He said Robert Wilkie, an undersecretary at the Pentagon, will take over the agency as acting secretary.
Shulkin had been locked for months in a power struggle with a group of Trump political appointees among his senior staff.
Shulkin had pledged the VA would not be privatized on his watch but would provide veterans expanded opportunities to get private sector care. The Trump appointees want a more comprehensive overhaul and to give veterans more access to VA-funded care in the private sector.
Trump had praised the Cabinet secretary several weeks ago for doing a “great” and “incredible” job leading the charge to fulfill his pledges to improve the VA.
Shulkin himself provided the critical opening that led to his downfall. After touting Trump's campaign pledges to increase accountability at the VA, he balked at the results of an investigation released last month that found he and his staff committed ethics violations in planning and taking a European trip last year.
He blasted the VA inspector general’s findings that he improperly accepted Wimbledon tickets and airfare for his wife during the 10-day junket. He refused to accept the determination that his chief of staff misled ethics officials to get clearance for his wife's airfare, suggesting that her email had been hacked. Shulkin later expressed regret and repaid the cost of the tickets and airfare. He also complained that the appointees were targeting and undermining him.
His response left many lawmakers, veterans groups and others who might have come to his defense in a tough spot, and they remained largely silent for days after the investigation report's release Feb. 14. By the time they did speak out, it may have been too late.
Two days after the report's release, the White House unilaterally installed a new VA chief of staff, Peter O’Rourke, who was a member of Trump’s transition team and an ally of the Trump appointees. VA spokesman Curt Cashour said “additional personnel accountability actions” were possible.
The White House never removed that cloud over Shulkin's future. Spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said that Trump supported the work Shulkin did as secretary but that the situation was "under review."
Shulkin made it roughly 13 months in Trump's Cabinet. He was appointed by Obama as undersecretary for health at the VA in July 2015.
During his tenure, he directed increased transparency efforts, including a new website revealing wait times for VA care and quality comparisons to the private sector. Shulkin upped accountability efforts, swiftly removing hospital directors when problems with care were revealed, including in Manchester, N.H., and Washington. He set up a data-tracking center at headquarters in an effort to intervene before problems became crises.
He fulfilled some of Trump's campaign promises on veterans' issues, overseeing the creation of a 24-hour White House hotline for veteran complaints and an Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Office, which drew praise for its early efforts.
Shulkin ordered the rewriting of decades-old policies on hiring and reporting poor medical care providers to authorities after USA TODAY revealed massive lapses in hiring guidelines and in reporting substandard practitioners to state licensing boards and a national database created to stop them from crossing state lines to escape their pasts and potentially harm other patients.
Shulkin had been working with Congress to pass landmark legislation that would expand — if moderately — veterans' access to private sector care, and the measure was poised to pass the Senate before the power struggle between Shulkin and Trump appointees erupted into public view.
He ordered plans for the largest restructuring of the VA in more than 20 years after the VA inspector general uncovered failures at the Washington VA medical center that had festered for years under VA officials at local, regional and national levels who knew about them but didn't fix them.
The fate of the legislation and reorganization after Shulkin’s departure is uncertain.
The chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, Rep. Phil Roe, R-Tenn., said he thinks Shulkin did a "fantastic job, and I hate to see him go.
"That said, I respect President Trump’s decision, support the president’s agenda and remain willing to work with anyone committed to doing the right thing on behalf of our nation’s veterans," Roe said. “I am in the process of reaching out to Dr. Jackson, and I look forward to building a strong relationship with him also.”
| Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration | March 2018 | ['(USA Today)'] |
Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte threatens to suspend the country's habeas corpus "if forced to" by what he says the worsening lawlessness in the country. He mentioned in the same speech, the alleged widespread illegal drug trade in the country, the rebellion in Mindanao, and the worsening campaign against the militant Maute group. | President Rodrigo Duterte warned on Friday night that he may be forced to suspend the writ of habeas corpus if lawlessness in the country escalates, but he quickly added that he would not declare martial law.
Mr. Duterte made the statement in a speech after mentioning the rebellion in Mindanao, the worsening battle with the Maute group, and the alleged widespread illegal drug operations in the country. The Maute gang is a self-styled group of militants based in Lanao del Sur blamed for a September bombing that left 15 dead in Davao city.
“If lawlessness becomes widespread, I might be forced to—I don’t want to do it, I don’t want to. It’s just my warning to them. I don’t want it because it’s not good,” Mr. Duterte said in a mix of Filipino and English in a speech at an event to honor his mother’s humanitarian efforts.
“But if you force my hand into it, I will declare the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus, not martial law. I have no political plans,” he added.
Warrantless arrests
The suspension of the writ of habeas corpus would essentially allow warrantless arrests. The writ, if granted by the court, requires the state to produce the body of a person in custody.
The Constitution states that the President may suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus in case of invasion or rebellion, when the public safety requires it, for a period not exceeding 60 days.
The late dictator Ferdinand Marcos suspended the writ in 1971 to suppress what he said was violence blamed on communist insurgents. Thousands were arrested or went missing during the two-decade Marcos regime, which was ended by the 1986 Edsa People Power Revolution.
Mr. Duterte said he might be left with no other remedy because he could not just issue an order. He would have to build a case one by one against suspects and once he declares the suspension of the writ, he said he would have them subsequently picked up.
“I will bring them to Samal, and put a hole in the middle so that it would sink and take them with it. They should choose,” he warned.
According to Mr. Duterte, he would declare the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus “if you don’t give me a choice and you box me in a corner and I find myself helpless.”
He stressed that the suspension of the writ was in the Constitution to protect the Republic of the Philippines.
“I can be ordered by the Supreme Court to stop it but there are things that they cannot, and maybe, I will not, stop. Whatever, I will tell them I will finish this first, then I can go to jail,” he added.
Prior to his warning, Mr. Duterte spoke extensively about the government’s campaign against illegal drugs, which he justified and which he said would continue throughout his term as long as there were drug lords and drug pushers on the streets.
The bloody campaign has left more than 4,000 suspected drug dealers and addicts dead, either slain in police operations or by unknown vigilante groups.
Perspective
Mr. Duterte noted that there were those who viewed the campaign as terrible, but this depended on one’s perspective.
“Mine is self-defense in defense of the helpless children who are not in a position to really weigh things. It is in defense of a race. It is in defense of my fellowmen,” he said.
Evidence of the social disfunction and the crimes that illegal drug use can cause are widespread, he maintained.
Narcopolitics is now a real problem in the country, indicating that drug lords supposedly wield extensive influence in the government, he said.
He noted that the number of drug users in the country could be about 4 million by the end of the year. He also repeated earlier figures that some 6,000 policemen were involved in the drug trade, as well as some 4,000 local officials, one or two congressmen, and four governors.
He said that even if he wanted to kill all those involved in drugs, he could not do so because he would run out of time.
Mr. Duterte also blamed Sen. Leila de Lima, a former justice secretary who is also one of his most vocal critics, for the expansion of the drug trade in the country.
“And whether she pretends to be what she is not, De Lima opened the portals of narcopolitics that started in the national penitentiary,” he said, referring to the extensive drug trade reportedly controlled by jailed drug operations.
The Philippines is currently under a state of national emergency on account of lawless violence in Mindanao, following the Davao bombing. This meant that troops, along with police forces, can be deployed to public areas and conduct searches. The declaration directs state security forces to suppress lawless violence in Mindanao and prevent this from spreading to the rest of the country.
| Government Policy Changes | November 2016 | ['(Philippine Daily Inquirer)'] |
Acting United States Secretary of Defense Patrick M. Shanahan authorizes the deployment of approximately 1,000 additional U.S. troops to the Middle East region "for defensive purposes to address air, naval and ground-based threats" amid increased tensions with Iran. The move comes four days after two oil tankers were attacked in the Gulf of Oman incident. | Updated on: June 18, 2019 / 5:19 AM
/ CBS News
The U.S. is sending 1,000 additional troops to the Middle East as tensions with Iran continue to rise after recent attacks on two oil tankers, which the U.S. says were carried out by Iranian forces.
Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan announced the new troop deployment in a statement Monday, saying U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) requested the forces "for defensive purposes to address air, naval and ground-based threats in the Middle East."
"The recent Iranian attacks validate the reliable, credible intelligence we have received on hostile behavior by Iranian forces and their proxy groups that threaten United States personnel and interests across the region," Shanahan said. "The United States does not seek conflict with Iran. The action today is being taken to ensure the safety and welfare of our military personnel working throughout the region and to protect our national interests."
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued a statement saying, "This deeply concerning decision may escalate the situation with Iran and risk serious miscalculations on either side. Diplomacy is needed to defuse tensions, therefore America must continue to consult with our allies so that we do not make the region less safe."
The move comes just days after the attacks on the oil tankers in one of the world's most important shipping routes, which the U.S. says were carried out by Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Last week, the Pentagonreleased footage purporting to show an Iranian vessel affixing an unexploded mine to one of the ships. On Monday, the military released new photos of the aftermath, including an image showing a gaping hole in the side of one of the tankers.
On Sunday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told "Face the Nation" the administration was considering a "full range" of options to counter Iranian aggression, including a possible military strike. Pompeo traveled on Monday to Florida to meet with officials from CENTCOM, which oversees military operations in the Middle East.
The Iranian government has denied involvement in the attacks. The country's atomic agency said Monday it was increasing its production of uranium and will surpass the limit allowed under the 2015 nuclear deal within 10 days. President Trump announced he was withdrawing the U.S. from that accord in 2018.
In late May, President Trump ordered 1,500 troops deployed to the region, following earlier coordinated attacks on four oil tankers. | Armed Conflict | June 2019 | ['(NBC News)', '(CBS News)'] |
Jovan Belcher, a linebacker for the Kansas City Chiefs American football team kills himself at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri, United States, after reportedly killing his girlfriend. | American media reported that the 25 year-old was involved in an earlier shooting a few miles away. He was named by local police as Jovan Belcher, a linebacker for the Kansas Chiefs, who was born in New York but had been playing for the team since 2009. The club confirmed that "an incident" had occurred at the Arrowhead stadium on Saturday morning. Kansas City police spokesman Darin Snapp told AP news agency that authorities were told early on Saturday morning that a woman had been shot, five miles away from the Arrowhead complex. The woman was believed to be his girlfriend. Upon arriving, Mr Snapp said that police witnessed a black male in a car with a handgun to his head talking to two Chiefs officials. Police then heard a gunshot. American football player Javon Belcher (Getty Images) | Famous Person - Death | December 2012 | ['(The Telegraph)'] |
Pope Benedict XVI completes his last day of work before he starts his retirement. | He was speaking on his final day in office at the Vatican to his cardinals, one of whom will be elected next month to replace him. Benedict, 85, will leave for the papal retreat at Castel Gandolfo, near Rome, later on Thursday.
His deputy, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, will have temporary charge of the world's 1.2 billion Roman Catholics.
In his public farewell speech on Wednesday, Benedict hinted at Vatican infighting.
His decision to resign has been openly criticised by Australia's top Catholic, Cardinal George Pell, who questioned his leadership skills.
The Church has been beset by scandals over sexual abuse by priests and leaked confidential documents revealing internal corruption and feuding.
An estimated 150,000 people packed into St Peter's Square on Wednesday to hear Pope Benedict, resigning at 85 after seven years in office.
The long-time theologian is expected eventually to retire to a monastery on a hill inside Vatican City, with officials saying he will not be able intervene publicly in the papacy of his successor, though he may offer advice.
His successor must focus on reforming the Vatican bureaucracy, which has often been overly hesitant to react to the various crises which have arisen during Benedict's papacy, the BBC's David Willey reports from the Vatican.
Pope Benedict received cardinals for a farewell ceremony on Thursday morning, warmly embracing Cardinal Angelo Sodano, who passed on best wishes on behalf of those gathered.
"Among you there is also the future pope to whom I promise my unconditional obedience and reverence," the pontiff told those assembled.
"The Church is a living being," he added, but it "also remains always the same".
He is later due to say goodbye to his staff before being taken to a helipad for the 15-minute flight to Castel Gandolfo.
The residence, 15 miles (24km) south-east of the Italian capital, is the traditional summer home of the popes.
At 20:00 local time (19:00 GMT), Benedict will cease to be pope, a moment which will be marked symbolically when the Swiss Guards at the gate of Castel Gandolfo march off for their return to the Vatican. The German pontiff, who was born Joseph Ratzinger, will continue to be known as Benedict XVI, with the new title of "pope emeritus".
In his retirement, he will wear a simple white cassock rather than his papal clothes and swap his famous red shoes - the colour is symbolic of the blood of the early Christian martyrs - for brown.
His "Fisherman's Ring", the special signet ring which contains the Pope's name and is impressed to validate certain official documents, is expected to be destroyed along with the lead seal of the pontificate.
Addressing the crowd in St Peter's Square on Wednesday, Pope Benedict thanked believers for respecting his decision to retire and said he was standing down for the good of the Church.
"There were moments of joy and light but also moments that were not easy," he told the crowd.
"There were moments, as there were throughout the history of the Church, when the seas were rough and the wind blew against us and it seemed that the Lord was sleeping."
Speaking from Rome, Cardinal Pell told a TV channel that while Benedict was a "brilliant teacher", "government wasn't his strong point".
"I think I prefer somebody who can lead the Church and pull it together a bit," he told the Seven Network. The first resignation of a pope since the Middle Ages, he suggested, had set a worrying precedent for the Church: "People who, for example, might disagree with a future pope will mount a campaign to get him to resign."
Cardinal Pell, 71, is among the 115 cardinal-electors (those younger than 80 years old) eligible to vote for the new pope, and theoretically could be chosen himself, though he has played down the possibility. From 4 March, the cardinals will meet for talks at which they will set a date for the start of the secret election, or conclave.
A two-thirds-plus-one vote majority is required. Sixty-seven of the electors were appointed by Benedict XVI, and the remainder by his predecessor John Paul II.
About half the cardinal-electors (60) are European - 21 of them Italian - and many have worked for the administrative body of the Church, the Curia, in Rome.
| Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | February 2013 | ['(BBC)', '(The Telegraph)'] |
Guinea's military leader Captain Moussa Dadis Camara bans all "subversive" gatherings and demonstrations in the aftermath of opposition protests. | Guinea's military leader has banned all "subversive" gatherings days after soldiers opened fire at a mass rally, killing a large number of people.
In a televised address, Captain Moussa Dadis Camara said troublemakers would be "severely punished". He also announced two days of national mourning and pledged to investigate the violence some of which he blamed on "uncontrollable" elements in the army. Rumours that Capt Camara intends to run for president sparked Monday's protest. He took power in a bloodless coup late last year and promised to step down after overseeing a transition back to civilian rule. But recently he has refused to rule out his candidacy in an election he has scheduled for January next year. 'Fomenting trouble'
The BBC's Alhassan Sillah in the capital, Conakry, says Capt Camara now appears to be handing out the stick and the carrot at the same time. He is promising to support those who were injured in the violence, while at the same time accusing opposition politicians of fomenting trouble. Capt Camara said the nation would be in mourning on Thursday and Friday, when flags would be flown at half mast and solemn music played on national radio stations. But he warned: "Any gathering from whatever side and nature and with subversive character is banned until further notice. "I am calling on all the religious authorities, opinion leaders, political party leaders, organisations of the civil society, and the media to refrain from statements and activities that are capable of disturbing public order. "Troublemakers and their sponsors will be severely punished." Rape allegations
Local activists say at least 157 people were killed when soldiers fired directly at protesters, though government officials put the death toll at 57. Eyewitnesses told rights groups that soldiers raped women in the streets and ran protesters through with bayonets. One Conakry resident told the BBC's Network Africa programme that gunshots could still be heard overnight on Tuesday. And rights groups told the AFP news agency that soldiers were continuing to abuse civilians throughout Tuesday. There has been worldwide condemnation of the violence, with the UN urging the authorities to show restraint, and regional economic bloc Ecowas reportedly threatening sanctions. France says it will suspend military co-operation with its former colony. But analysts say international bodies have little leverage as Guinea is a resource-rich, wealthy nation enjoying heavy investment from foreign mining firms. Africa analyst Paul Melly told the BBC that Guinea's former ruler, Lansana Conte, survived years of aid suspension from the EU without caving in to demands for political reform. | Government Policy Changes | September 2009 | ['(BBC)', '(Associated Press)'] |
The National Junior College Athletic Association cancels the remainder of all winter seasons, plus the spring seasons, for all sports. | The National Junior College Athletic Association announced this afternoon the cancellation of all upcoming basketball championships and spring sports competition, effective immediately, in response to the coronavirus outbreak.
The NJCAA stated in a release it is following the recent recommendations made by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and that it was a difficult decision to cancel spring sports as well as the upcoming Division I and Division II national basketball tournaments.
“In light of the progressive evolvement of the COVID-19 situation, the NJCAA has decided to end all competition for the remainder of the academic year,” Dr. Christopher Parker, NJCAA president and CEO, said in the release.
“As an association, the NJCAA exhausted all possible avenues to potentially postpone competition for both upcoming basketball championships and spring sport competition. We believe following the recommendations of the CDC is in the best interest of our member colleges and our student-athletes.”
The NJCAA Division II women’s and men’s national basketball tourneys were originally scheduled for this week in Port Huron and Danbury, Ill., respectively. Late last week, the NJCAA announced it would be postponing the national tourneys until April 20, leaving a glimmer of hope the basketball events could still be staged, but the door closed on that this afternoon.
Macomb Community College (32-0) and Mid-Michigan College (28-3) were seeded third and 11th, respectively, for the NJCAA Division II women’s basketball nationals to be played at SC4 Fieldhouse in Port Huron.
On the men’s side, Muskegon Community College (26-4) and Schoolcraft College (28-3) were seeded third and fifth, respectively, for the NJCAA Division II nationals to be played at Mary Miller Center in Danville, Ill.
“I feel terrible for our student-athletes but understand this is bigger than just us,” Marty McDermott, the dean of college services and athletic director at Muskegon Community College, said in an MCC release.
According to the NJCAA, no spring sports student-athlete who has enrolled at a member college in 2020 will be charged with a year of participation. The NJCAA will explore the opportunity to expand allowed letters of intent for spring sports for both the 2020-21 and 2021-22 academic years under the recommendation of the NJCAA Eligibility Committee.
Additionally, on- and off-campus recruiting for all sports will be halted until April 15 with further evaluation to be assessed at that point in time.
NJCAA members in Michigan competing in the Michigan Community College Athletic Association’s Eastern Conference include Alpena, Delta College, Henry Ford College, Macomb, Mott, Oakland, Schoolcraft College, St. Clair County and Wayne County.
NJCAA members from the state competing in the MCCAA Western Conference include Glen Oaks, Grand Rapids, Jackson College, Kalamazoo Valley, Kellogg, Lake Michigan College, Lansing, Mid Michigan College and Muskegon. Ancilla College in Plymouth, Ind., also competes in the MCCAA Western Conference.
Read more:
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Whitmer urges Michigan residents to slow the spread of coronavirus by following new guidelines
Note to readers: if you purchase something through one of our affiliate links we may earn a commission. | Sports Competition | March 2020 | ['(MLive.com)'] |
Indonesian police shoot dead a suspected member of Jemaah Islamiyah, wound three people and arrest others in an anti–terrorist raid. | Using information from those arrested, officers went to a nearby house Wednesday and seized automatic weapons, ammunition and explosive materials, according to an intelligence officer outside the property who showed reporters photographs of the hoard.
The officer spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of angering his superiors.
The operation that led to the death of the militant took place late Tuesday on a busy street in Yogyakarta, a city on Java island, said police spokesman Sisno Adiwinoto in a text message sent by cellphone to reporters.
He said the suspects were believed to be from the network of Abu Dujana, referring to an Afghan-trained militant believed to be the current head of Jemaah Islamiyah, which has been blamed for four major bombings against Western targets in Indonesia since 2002.
He did not say how many people were arrested, but local media reports said up to four people were being questioned.
Local police chief Hari Anwar said the suspects were riding motorbikes when police shot them. No other details were immediately available.
Indonesia has arrested almost 300 suspected militants since 2002, but authorities say several other key terrorists remain on the run in the country, including Abu Dujana and Malaysian militant Noordin Top. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Arrest | March 2007 | ['(AP via USA Today)'] |
The trial begins of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Russian oil tycoon on charges of tax evasion and fraud; the proceedings are later adjourned. | The Moscow court adjourned proceedings to give a member of the defence legal team time to recover from eye surgery. There was no immediate word on when the trial of the ex-boss of oil giant Yukos and a business partner would resume.
The defence argues that Mr Khodorkovsky is being pursued for political reasons, something the Kremlin denies, and says it expects him to be convicted. Mr Khodorkovsky, thought to be Russia's richest man, was arrested last October and has been in prison ever since. I personally do not see any other scenario apart from bankruptcy.
Stephen DashevskyAton oil analyst
Supporters say he was arrested because he had funded opposition parties and indicated his interest in closer personal involvement in Russian politics. This, say analysts, broke a tacit agreement with the Kremlin to stay out of politics and avoid investigation of his business affairs. Mr Khodorkovsky is a leading figure among the so-called oligarchs - the super-rich business community that grew fat from the sale of state assets at knockdown prices in the 1990s.
President Vladimir Putin has denied that Mr Khodorkovsky is being punished for his political activities and for his failure to toe the Kremlin line.
'Show trial'
Mr Khodorkovsky is being tried alongside a key business partner, Platon Lebedev. If convicted, the men could face up to a decade in prison.
"They are going to be found guilty. We know the outcome," said a member of Mr Khodorkovsky's legal team, Robert Amsterdam. "It is a show trial to help the government expropriate Yukos."
Unfairly targeted? He has a few supporters who think so
Another of Mr Khodorkovsky's lawyers criticised the lack of an "open proceeding". The courtroom provided room for 30 spectators while only 10 reporters were admitted to observe the trial, AFP news agency said.
Mr Khodorkovsky and Mr Lebedev were seated in a cage, as is the custom for defendants in Russia, the report said.
Lawyers for Mr Lebedev asked the court to release him from custody on medical grounds, Russian media reported. Lawyers for Mr Khodorkovsky have also asked the court to allow him home for the duration of the trial. Attack on Yukos
Yukos, the oil giant from which Mr Khodorkovsky was forced to step down, is also under threat. It could face bankruptcy because of a 99bn roubles (1.9bn; $3.4bn) tax claim relating to unpaid taxes during 2000.
A Moscow court will rule on Friday on whether or not the bill must be paid immediately.
If it rules in favour of the taxation ministry, which wants the money right away, then Yukos may go under since another court has frozen the oil giant's assets.
Mr Khodorkovsky remains the biggest shareholder of Yukos, but his estimated wealth of $15.2bn, according to Forbes magazine, could be rapidly eroded if Yukos goes bankrupt.
Worthless shares?
Mr Khodorkovsky's supporters say the tax claim is part of the assault by the state on the oil giant and its owners.
Since his arrest, Mr Khodorkovsky and Yukos have attempted to draw a line between the two of them, hoping to limit the impact on the company of legal action against Mr Khodorkovsky personally. The tax ministry's action against the company suggests this has failed, analysts say.
"I personally do not see any other scenario apart from bankruptcy," said Aton brokerage's oil analyst Stephen Dashevsky.
"The fate of Yukos and its key shareholders is now in the government's hands," an Aton research note said.
"The company's apparently imminent bankruptcy makes any analysis [of Yukos' operating prospects] largely meaningless at this point. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | June 2004 | ['(VOA)', '(BBC)'] |
The storm reaches New York City with 370,000 people having been evacuated from low-lying areas. | Hurricane Irene has torn into New York, hammering Manhattan's skyscrapers with fierce winds and threatening to flood the financial district after killing at least nine people along the US east coast.
The first hurricane to hit the Big Apple for a generation swept in overnight local time, accompanied by lightning, reports of tornados and deafening rainfall.
Wind strength grew steadily and was forecast to cross the 80km/h mark before dawn, then up to a peak of 130km/h.
The city resembled a ghost town after 370,000 people were told to evacuate flood-prone areas, including near Wall Street and at Coney Island, and mass transport was shut down.
Tourists walk through Times Square as Hurricane Irene arrives in New York.Credit:Reuters
Subway trains, buses and the famous Staten Island ferry all closed on Saturday, as did all nearby airports, paralysing the nation's biggest city.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg told a press conference that running from the storm was no longer possible.
"At this point, if you haven't evacuated, our suggestion is you stay where you are," he said.
"Nature is a lot stronger than the rest of us."
A police car passes the wreckage of an apartment block in Newport News, Virginia, where an 11-year-old boy died when a tree fell on the building.Credit:Reuters
Irene made US landfall at 8am Saturday [10pm Saturday AEST] at Cape Lookout, North Carolina, near a chain of barrier islands and quickly proved deadly.
At least nine people have died - in car accidents, by heart attack and by falling trees - in North Carolina, Virginia and Florida.
A man drives a car through a flooded street in New Bern, North Carolina.Credit:AP
The youngest victim, an 11-year-old boy, died when a tree crashed through his apartment building in Newport News, Virginia.
On its passage up the coast, Irene knocked out power supplies for well over a million people, triggered the cancellation of more than 8000 flights, and forced nearly two million people to evacuate, half of them in New Jersey.
Waves pound a fishing pier in Nags Head, North Carolina.Credit:AFP
Officials in New York said the biggest danger was from flooding caused not just because of tropical-style rainfall, but a surge of wind-driven seawater pushing up from the Atlantic, especially at high tide early on Sunday.
City areas at risk of being swamped included parts of the financial district in Manhattan and low-lying beach resorts in Brooklyn and Queens and on nearby Long Island. Boat owners scrambled to get their craft ashore and officials across New Jersey and New York pleaded with residents to keep off beaches.
Officials say Manhattan's skyscrapers are not at risk of serious damage, but warn that power outages might strand residents without light, water or elevators.
The disruption took on an international character after the area's three big airports - John F. Kennedy International Airport, LaGuardia and Newark - were ordered to stop all flights at 10pm local time.
The flightaware.com website, which tracks airport arrivals and departures, estimated that 8337 flights would be cancelled during the weekend, mainly US domestic trips. It warned that the figure would rise.
President Barack Obama, who cut short his summer holiday, visited the Federal Emergency Management Agency's operations centre in Washington, where he said the east coast was in for a "long 72 hours".
Some 65 million people live in the urban corridor from Washington north to Boston, and experts have said the damage could cost anything up to $US12 billion ($A11.5 billion) to restore.
"This is going to be a very serious storm, no matter what the track is, no matter how much it weakens. This is a life threatening storm to people here," Bloomberg said.
Irene's approach stirred painful memories of Hurricane Katrina, which smashed into the southern Gulf Coast in 2005, stranding thousands of people in New Orleans and overwhelming poorly-prepared local and federal authorities.
Hurricanes are rare in the north-eastern United States - the last major hurricane to hit New York was Gloria in 1985 - but this time authorities say they are ready.
The US military said up to 101,000 National Guard soldiers were available if needed and designated military bases in three states as staging areas. | Hurricanes_Tornado_Storm_Blizzard | August 2011 | ['(AFP via Sydney Morning Herald)'] |
Muslim separatists in southern Thailand kill four soldiers in an attack on an army base. | NARATHIWAT, Jan 20 - Insurgents carried out a surprise attack on an army unit in Narathiwat's Rangae district Wednesday night, killing four soldiers--including an army company commander--and wounding six others.
The attack occurred just two days after the government extended its emergency decree in the three southernmost provinces of Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala, and only hours after Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban and Army chief Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha returned to Bangkok from a day-long visit in Pattani.
At least 40 men armed with military weapons assaulted on the Ror 15121 army outpost in Ban Marue Botok at 8pm last night, well after dark and during the camp’s evening meal.
The attackers initially attacked the rear of the unit, and government soldiers returned fire, with the exchange of gunfire lasting up to half an hour.
The unit called for reinforcements, but the attackers had spread spikes on nearby roads and felled trees to block arrival of reinforcements. An army helicopter carried more troops to the site, and carried out the dead and wounded to the nearest hospitals after the attackers fled.
The departing insurgents carried off many weapons, including American-made M16s and set fire to army housing inside the base.
Three soldiers including base commander Capt Krit Khampirayan were killed and six others were wounded.
Two wounded soldiers were in critical condition, while the other four were under close watch of the medical team.
Four army units were ordered to pursue the attackers, and it was believed they would not be able to go too far.
ISRA Institute of the Thai Press Development Foundation quoted a senior military official at the Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) Region 4 saying that the suspected insurgents were believed to have planned well for the attack.
The officer said 80 soldiers were at supper, not on full alert, so the unit was not prepared for an attack. It was believed that some of the attackers were wounded in the fierce gun battle.
The military authorities believed that the attackers mobilised forces from several areas as they have fewer members due to effective proactive government operations. An Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) Region 4 spokesman on Thursday morning said some 40 attackers raided the unit from the rear, and the gun battle continued for 20-30 minutes, when the insurgents disengaged. He confirmed that four soldiers were killed and seven injured in the attack.
Narathiwat-based special task forces and a special force of the 46th Ranger unit launched a joint operation to track the attackers.
In the meantime, military authorities were inspecting how many weapons were stolen from the unit, and considering the possibility of information being passed from an informer inside the camp.
The spokesman said it was unclear whether any government soldier had tipped off the insurgents.
Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban sent condolences to the families of the slain soldiers. He believed the insurgents assembled and planned the attack at Budo Mountain.
Meanwhile, Army chief Gen Prayuth expressed sorrow for the loss of the lives of the four soldiers and those who were wounded in the attack. He said it was an attempt of the insurgents to strike fear among local residents.
The army chief ordered troops and helicopters to comb the mountain to locate the attackers.
“Violence could not solve the problem in the southern provinces,” he said, asserting that the incident would not affect the plan to revoke the emergency decree in other areas.
In Narathiwat, Fourth Army Area commander Lt-Gen Udomchai Thammasarorat and Narathiwat Deputy Governor Detrat Simsiri on Thursday morning led officials to visit the wounded soldiers in hospital.
Gen Udomchai said it was unfortunate for the loss of lives of soldiers stationed in the area. He said the soldiers were often tipped off about any possible attack but this time the attack took place when they were off guard, with only a few soldiers were on duty at the front of the unit.
He said the attackers were believed to come from Pattani's Mayo district and planned to attack in the district of Rangae. As for the guns that were stolen from the unit, Gen Udomchai said the authorities were inspecting for more details. (MCOT online news) | Armed Conflict | January 2011 | ['(BBC)', '(Thai News Agency)'] |
52 people are injured following a collision between a car and a coach on the A11 in the English county of Suffolk. | Nine people have been taken to hospital and 43 described as "walking wounded" after a collision between a car and a coach on the A11 in Suffolk.
The crash happened near Elveden at 13:25 BST and led to the road being shut between the A1101 and B1106.
One person in the car was critically injured and another "seriously" hurt. Police said 48 people, mostly teenagers, were on the coach. The road was re-opened just after 20:00 BST.
Suffolk Police said it was treating the crash as a major incident.
An ambulance spokeswoman said: "Nine patients have been taken to Addenbrooke's, West Suffolk and Norfolk and Norwich hospitals and 43 patients described as walking wounded."
Diversions have been put in place while the emergency services remain at the site.
Police said five people injured on the coach had been taken to hospital with minor injuries.
The occupants of the Mercedes car were taken to Addenbrooke's Hospital | Road Crash | July 2012 | ['(BBC)'] |
Greg Norman, Australian former world number one champion of the 1986 and 1993 Open Championships, tests positive for COVID-19 and is hospitalized in the United States due to having symptoms. | Last updated on 26 December 202026 December 2020.From the section Golf
Former world number one Greg Norman is in hospital in the United States with coronavirus symptoms.
The 65-year-old Australian tested negative on Tuesday but said on Thursday he had a mild fever, cough, aches and pains and a headache.
The 1986 and 1993 Open champion then posted a picture of himself on social media from his Florida hospital bed.
"This sums it all up. My Christmas Day," he said, adding that he wanted to "get this [virus] behind us".
Norman spent more than 300 weeks at the top of the world rankings and was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2001.
He competed in last week's PNC Championship in Orlando with his son, Greg Jr, finishing in a share of ninth.
His son confirmed that he and his wife had tested positive for Covid-19 and were isolating at home.
England's Ian Poulter was among those who sent messages to Norman, wishing him a "speedy recovery".
Louis Theroux chats to the controversial comedian about his life on and off screen
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From hitting a few balls on the range or a quick nine holes, to the full 18 and tournaments - how to get into golf. | Famous Person - Sick | December 2020 | ['(BBC)'] |
At least 12 people, including 10 children, are killed in a bus crash in Siberia, Russia. | A Russian city is in mourning after a traffic accident killed 12 people, including 10 members of a children's acrobatics team.
Police say at least 19 other people were injured when a bus carrying 34 passengers, including 27 children, collided with a truck and two other vehicles on a road in northwestern Siberia on December 4. The children were returning to their hometown of Nefteyugansk from a competition in the city of Khanty-Mansiisk.
On December 5, authorities in Nefteyugansk announced a three-day mourning period
Russia's Investigative Committee said an investigation was launched on suspicion of "violation of traffic regulations leading to multiple deaths."
It said requests for arrest warrants for the drivers of the bus and the truck had been filed with prosecutors. Both drivers survived. | Road Crash | December 2016 | ['(RFERL)'] |
A court in Kazakhstan orders the early release of Mukhtar Dzhakishev, the former CEO of state nuclear firm Kazatomprom, who had been sentenced to 14 years in prison for corruption in 2010. Upon his release he will have served more than 11 years in prison. | ALMATY (Reuters) - A court in Kazakhstan on Tuesday set free former state nuclear firm chief executive Mukhtar Dzhakishev, whose conviction on corruption charges in 2010 many government critics called politically motivated.
Dzhakishev has served about 11 years of his 14-year sentence and his family and supporters - who broadcast live from the court hearing in the city of Semey on Tuesday - have urged his release on health grounds.
Dzhakishev, who had led Kazatomprom through a period of rapid growth in the early 2000s, ended up in prison shortly after his friend Mukhtar Ablyazov fell out with then-president Nursultan Nazarbayev and fled the oil-rich nations, accusing its government of illegally seizing his assets.
The government of Kazakhstan, in turn, accused both Ablyazov and Dzhakishev of embezzlement in separate criminal cases.
Ablyazov now lives in France while his Kazakhstan-based political movement routinely stages public protests against Nazarbayev and his protege and successor, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.
Reporting by Olzhas Auyezov; Editing by Kim Coghill
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Release | March 2020 | ['(Reuters)'] |
One hundred thousand people march in Rome, the capital of Italy, to protest the austerity measures of the new government, demanding a new policy focus on the creation of jobs. | About 100,000 protesters, led by trade unionists, have rallied in the Italian capital Rome against the policies of the new coalition government.
Wielding red flags and placards, they urged the centre-left Prime Minister, Enrico Letta, to scrap austerity measures and focus on job creation.
Public trust in his fragile coalition with the centre-right is dropping, opinion polls suggest.
The country is experiencing its longest recession in more than 40 years.
National debt is now about 127% of annual economic output, second only to Greece in the eurozone. Unemployment is at a record high of 11.5% - 38% for the under-25s.
Before taking office, Mr Letta vowed to make job creation his priority, but critics are unhappy that he has focused on property tax reform.
The issues of social justice and poverty came up when German Chancellor Angela Merkel had talks with the new Pope at the Vatican on Saturday. Organised by the metalworkers' union FIOM and the CGIL union, Saturday's peaceful march and rally drew supporters from across the country. "We ask the government to change [former Prime Minister Mario] Monti's and [former Prime Minister Mario Silvio] Berlusconi's politics," said Maurizio Landini, leader of the FIOM.
"If they don't change, as the country asked for with its vote, we are going nowhere."
One of the protesters, Enzo Bernardis, told Reuters news agency: "We hope that this government will finally start listening to us because we are losing our patience."
Soon after being appointed, Mr Letta met other eurozone leaders to convey growing public unrest over austerity measures in Italy.
But the new prime minister has to maintain a delicate balance between the policies of his own supporters and those of the centre-right, led by Mr Berlusconi.
Italy's coalition was only formed after two months of post-election deadlock.
Among the demonstrators in Rome were radical leftists.
A controversial poster depicted Chancellor Merkel, who is seen as typifying austerity, in mock-Nazi uniform. On Thursday, the Pope said in a speech that the global economic crisis had made life worse for millions in rich and poor countries. Speaking after her private meeting with the pontiff, Mrs Merkel told reporters: "Crises have blown up because the rules of the social market have not been observed... It is true that economies are there to serve people and that has by no means always been the case in recent years."
Mrs Merkel said she and Pope Francis had spoken mainly about globalisation, the European Union and the role of Europe in the world.
"Pope Francis made it clear that we need a strong, fair Europe and I found the message very encouraging," she added.
While she is not a Catholic herself, Mrs Merkel, the daughter of a Lutheran minister, leads a party with a strong Catholic component.
| Protest_Online Condemnation | May 2013 | ['(BBC)'] |
Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye is shot and injured during a protest against rising food and oil prices in the capital Kampala; tear gas is also fired by police to disperse protesters. | KAMPALA, Uganda, Apr 14 - Gunshots rocked the Ugandan village of Kasangati Thursday morning, after police stopped opposition leader Kizza Besigye from walking to his office in Kampala.
Also in neighbouring Gayaza town teargas canisters were fired at protestors. The chaos is reportedly spreading to Uganda’s capital Kampala.
Kizza Besigye, leader of Uganda’s largest opposition party Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), has been involved in a ‘walk2work’ protest this week and was briefly detained on Monday.
“We do this to show solidarity,” Besigye told Radio Netherlands Worldwide (RNW) on Wednesday during an interview in Kampala.
“Solidarity with the suffering members of our society, who are already walking to work in their tens of thousands. They are forced to walk long distances everyday to go and work because people can no longer afford public transport.”
Uganda is experiencing an inflation of over ten percent, while food and fuel prices have jumped even more in recent months. In February, Mr Besigye lost a presidential vote to Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni for the third time in a row. The opposition leader already predicted chaos during his interview with RNW. “We have been having an explosive situation in this country,” Mr Besigye said. “Sooner or later it will explode. The basis of that is that we have a regime that lost its legitimacy to govern long time ago.”
Walk to Kampala
An upbeat Mr Besigye welcomed a handful of journalists at 06:30 at his home this morning, setting off his march towards Kampala. Within minutes, dozens of people followed the politician and just after stretching the legs for one kilometre, police stopped him. In the chaos, Mr Besigye ended up in a ditch next to the newly built road. There was a two-hour stand-off, during which both heavily armed police as well as Mr Besigyes’ supporters rose by the hundreds.
Soon after trucks with water cannons moved in and the crowd was dispersed by shooting in the air. Canisters of tear gas exploded all around. Pupils who walked by got sick from the gas, as did several protestors. A choking man was rushed away by a Red Cross ambulance. While rubber bullets and tear gas from the police were answered with stones thrown by protestors, Mr Besigye remained in the ditch where the stand-off continued. The Besigye group used handkerchiefs to cover their mouth and eyes.
Government to blame
According to the opposition parties, the government's overspending is the reason for Uganda’s current high inflation. They blame the government of taking money from the national reserves during the recent election campaign.
Mr Besigye, once President Museveni’s ally and personal doctor during the war that brought the current regime to power, claims President Museveni can only stay in power by the means of force. “If you are governing according to the will of the people you don’t need all these troops and armored vehicles in your city,” Mr Besigye said.
“Especially if you claim that you won an election by almost 70 percent of the vote, why would you be panicking about a Kizza Besigye who might be walking from his village to the office?” | Protest_Online Condemnation | April 2011 | ['(BBC)', '(Capital FM Kenya)'] |
In Burundi, former rebel group Hutu Forces for the Defence of Democracy wins 75 out of 129 seats in municipal elections | Bujumbura — Partial results of communal elections in Burundi showed a former rebel
group in the lead, with an estimated 72 percent of registered voters taking
part in Friday's elections despite incidents of fraud and violence.
The Conseil National pour la defense de la democratie-Forces nationales
pour la défense de la démocratie (CNDD-FDD) "largely won the communal
elections", Paul Ngarambe, the chairman of the national electoral commission
said on Saturday on national television.
However, he said the commission could not publish results officially
until all the results were in.
According to estimates made by local reporters and various provincial
electoral commissions, CNDD-FDD won in all but three of the country's 17
provinces. The Front pour la democratie au Burundi (FRODEBU) came second in
many areas, followed by the Union pour le progress national (UPRONA).
At a news conference on Sunday, CNDD-FDD spokesman Ramadhani Karenga
said his party's victory was a source of "pride for all Burundians", as it
was a sign that democracy was taking root in the country.
Voting, however, was cancelled in 31 polling centres in six of 129
communes in the provinces of Bubanza and Bujumbura Rural, in some cases
because of grenade attacks and gunfire.
The Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in Burundi,
Carolyn McAskie, said the poll would be held again on Tuesday in all areas
where voting was cancelled.
She added that UN peacekeepers and government defence forces would team
up to provide security "so we will be able to reassure the people in those
communes that they can come out and vote".
Army spokesman Maj Adolphe Manirakiza blamed the poll violence on the
rebel Forces nationales de liberation (FNL), although its leader, Agathon
Rwasa, has agreed to a ceasefire and was due to hold further peace talks
with the government on Monday in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania's commercial
capital.
Voters should nevertheless be watchful, Manirakiza said.
"Trouble-makers do not need to be in big numbers," he said.
[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United | Government Job change - Election | June 2005 | ['(AllAfrica)', '(Reuters AlertNet)', '(BBC)'] |
Stewart-Haas Racing's Kevin Harvick wins The Real Heroes 400 at Darlington Raceway, his 50th career Cup series victory. The race took place behind closed doors. | After a 10-week hiatus, NASCAR returned to real-life racing Sunday – without fans for the first time in the sport’s history due to the COVID-19 pandemic – as Kevin Harvick held off Alex Bowman to win the Real Heroes 400 at Darlington Raceway.
It was Harvick’s 50th career Cup win, his first win of the season and his first since at Texas last fall. It was also his second career win at the 1.366-mile paperclip-sized facility known as the “Track Too Tough To Tame.”
“I just want to thank everybody from NASCAR and all the teams for letting us do what we do,” Harvick told Fox Sports. “Then we won the race and it’s dead silent out here. We miss the fans.
“It’s a pretty big honor to win 50 races in this deal and I just have to thank all my team guys and everybody for what they’re doing. … We’re bringing home the trophy. It doesn’t seem real (that he’s won 50 races).”
Harvick leaves Darlington No. 1 in the Cup point standings — the same position he has been in since the last Cup race more than two months ago.
“Man, I’m excited,” Harvick said. “It is weird because there’s nobody up there (in the stands). … I’m speechless.”
Harvick ties NASCAR Hall of Famers Ned Jarrett and Junior Johnson with 50 career Cup wins, leaving all three in a tie for 12th place on the sport’s all-time wins list.
Bowman signed a one-year contract extension with Hendrick Motorsports on Saturday.
“It was a lot of fun to race a guy like Kevin at a place like Darlington,” Bowman said. “It sucks to finish second, but it’s really good to restart the season this way with a strong car off the truck. We just needed a little bit more … and just came up a little bit short.”
Kurt Busch finished third in the 293-lap, 400.5-mile race, followed by Chase Elliott and Denny Hamlin.
“I’m the happiest guy in the world, I got to drive 200 mph today, passing cars, felt the energy of the race car and just to be out here and to have a job,” said Busch, who earned his 13th top-10 career finish in 25 Cup races at Darlington. “I miss the race fans, we didn’t have you here, but I felt you through the (TV) cameras.”
Two other notable finishers were Matt Kenseth (10th) in his first Cup race since the 2018 season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, and Ryan Newman (15th), in his first race back since a horrific crash in the season-opening Daytona 500.
The last Cup race prior to the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted the race season was March 8 at Phoenix Raceway (Joey Logano was the winner).
Brad Keselowski earned the pole by blind draw, while Bowman was alongside on the front row.
With no practice or qualifying, it didn’t take long for the first incident of the race to occur as Ricky Stenhouse Jr. made contact with Corey LaJoie’s car on Lap 1.
Stenhouse’s car bounced off LaJoie’s car, hit the wall on the backstretch, sustaining heavy damage and subsequently breaking into flames from the rear of his No. 47 car. Stenhouse finished last in the 40-car field.
Two other notables knocked out were race leader Jimmie Johnson (finished 38th) on the final lap of Stage 1, while eventual Stage 1 winner William Byron wrecked on Lap 110 but following repairs was able to resume (finished 35th).
Kyle Busch’s drew the fourth starting position but because his No. 18 Toyota failed in the first two pre-race inspections, he was forced to start at the back of the 40-car pack. Due to an unscheduled late pit stop, Busch trailed off to finish 26th.
Only about 900 essential personnel were allowed onto the grounds, including drivers, team members, NASCAR officials including CEO Jim France, safety personnel, TV production people, media and others.
All competitors and team members had to pass a health screening before entering the track, abide by social distancing guidelines and wear a mask at all times at the track.
“Our drivers, race teams and officials have been eagerly awaiting the opportunity to get back to the race track and we want to assure you that we have taken the return to racing very seriously,” NASCAR President Steve Phelps wrote in a statement.
STAGE 1 WINNER: William Byron
STAGE 2 WINNER: Brad Keselowski
MORE: Race results, point standings
WHO HAD A GOOD RACE: Seven drivers had never competed in a Cup race at Darlington, with Tyler Reddick (7th) and John Hunter Nemechek (9th) being the highest-finishing rookies.
WHO HAD A BAD RACE: On the last lap of Stage 1, Jimmie Johnson appeared headed to the stage win. But Johnson failed to avoid the slowing car of Chris Buescher, bounced off and hit the inside retaining wall head-on, knocking the seven-time champ out of the race. That extends Johnson’s winless streak to 100 consecutive races, the longest of his NASCAR career. His last win was June 4, 2017 at Dover.
NOTABLE: In an unusual caution on Lap 155, track workers had to pull off a banner that had partially broken away from the racetrack’s outer wall and was flapping in the wind. Chunks of the sign got caught in Denny Hamlin’s grille and Tyler Reddick’s front fender until they became dislodged. … At this juncture, NASCAR expects to continue racing without fans through at least June 21.
WHAT’S NEXT: The Cup Series returns to Darlington Wednesday night and then on Sunday to Charlotte Motor Speedway for the sport’s longest event, the grueling Coca-Cola 600. | Sports Competition | May 2020 | ['(NBC Sports)'] |
Nokia announces plans to buy telecommunications equipment maker Alcatel–Lucent for €15.6 billion (US$16.6 billion). | Nokia has announced its intention to acquire telecoms equipment company Alcatel-Lucent for €15.6 billion ($16.6 billion). The deal will solidify Nokia's ambitions to become a major provider of networking equipment that competes with market leader Ericsson, following the sale of its mobile hardware division to Microsoft. Nokia and Alcatel-Lucent plan to close the deal in the first half of 2016. The new company is expected to use the Nokia brand, but will retain Alcatel-Lucent's Bell Labs name for its R&D activities.
Nokia moves to take on Ericsson
"The combined company will be uniquely positioned to create the foundation of seamless connectivity for people and things wherever they are," Nokia said in a statement. "This foundation is essential for enabling the next wave of technological change, including the Internet of Things and transition to the cloud. With more than 40,000 R&D employees and spend of €4.7 billion in R&D in 2014, the combined company will be in a position to accelerate development of future technologies including 5G, IP and software-defined networking, cloud, analytics as well as sensors and imaging."
In separate but related news, Nokia also announced today that it is reviewing its Here mapping business and may consider selling it off. "The strategic review of Here is on-going and it may or may not result in any transaction," reads a statement, which says that the proposal of the Alcatel-Lucent merger is "the right moment" to evaluate Here's future value. Bloomberg reported last week that Nokia had been exploring the sale of Here to potential suitors including Uber and a group of German automakers. | Organization Merge | April 2015 | ['(The Verge)'] |
In ice hockey, Austria, Latvia and Slovenia secure qualification for the men's tournament at the 2014 Winter Olympics. | The 2014 Sochi Olympic Games are a little under a year away and on Sunday the men's hockey qualification finally came to an end.
Already qualified were USA, Canada, Russia, Sweden, Finland, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Switzerland, and Norway. September and November featured two separate pre-qualifying tournaments that led to the final set of games this past week that determined the last three spots in the Sochi tournament.
In the end it would be good news for the likes of Thomas Vanek, Michael Grabner and Anze Kopitar, among others, as Austria, Latvia and Slovenia would qualify.
The Austrians only needed a single point from their game against Germany and got it in a 3-2 overtime loss. Germany will miss out on the Olympic hockey tournament for the first time since 1952. Austria returns for the first time since Salt Lake in 2002.
Latvia (Hail Arturs Irbe!) also lost 3-2 in overtime, but the point was enough for them to qualify for their fourth straight Games. The team is coached by former Jack Adams Award winner Ted Nolan and features former NHLer Sandis Ozolinsh on defense. Here's what the celebrations were like in Riga:
Slovenia won their opening two games against Belarus and Denmark and that was enough for them to qualify for the first time. Anze Kopitar's brother played in the qualifying tournament and the team is coached by their father. Upon learning of the good news, Kopitar was ecstatic, even though he didn't watch, according to LA Kings Insider Jon Rosen:
“There was a live stream. I just didn’t want to watch it, because usually if I watch it, I’m too nervous, or something not good is happening. I just stayed away from it and then told my mom – she was watching it – and I told her, ‘when it’s all said and done, just shoot me a text, either ‘yes’ or a ‘no’.’ That was pretty much it.”
Now that all 12 teams are officially in place for the Sochi tournament, the groups are now set. From the IIHF:
Group A: Russia, Slovakia, USA, Slovenia Group B: Finland, Canada, Norway, Austria Group C: Czech Republic, Sweden, Switzerland, Latvia
The full set of games is scheduled, for now, to be released sometime in May.
The NHL, NHLPA, IIHF and IOC have yet to hammer out a deal for the league to send its players to Sochi, but things are leaning that way. The sides will meet later this week in hopes of getting closer to a resolution.
| Sports Competition | February 2013 | ['(Reuters)', '(Eurohockey)', '(Yahoo! Sports)'] |
The Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet wins the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize for its "decisive contribution to the building of a pluralistic democracy in Tunisia in the wake of the Jasmine Revolution of 2011." The Tunisian General Labour Union , the Tunisian Confederation of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts , the Tunisian Human Rights League , and the Tunisian Order of Lawyers comprise the quartet. | The Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Tunisia's National Dialogue Quartet for helping the country's transition to democracy.
The Nobel committee said the group of civil society organisations had made a "decisive contribution" to democracy after the 2011 revolution.
It said the quartet helped establish a political process when the country "was on the brink of civil war".
Tunisia's uprising was the first and most successful of the Arab Spring.
While other countries - Libya, Egypt, Yemen and Syria - either reverted to authoritarian rule or descended into violence and chaos, Tunisia managed a successful transition to democracy. The surprise winner of this year's Nobel Peace Prize has played a key role in mediating between the different parties in the country's post-Arab Spring government.
The Quartet is credited with creating a national dialogue between the country's Islamist and secular coalition parties amid deepening political and economic crisis in 2013.
Tunisia's revolution - also known as the Jasmine Revolution - began in late 2010 and led to the ousting of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in January 2011, followed by the country's first free democratic elections.
Kaci Kullman Five, the chair of the Nobel peace committee, said the Quartet's role in Tunisia's democratisation was "directly comparable to the peace conferences mentioned by Alfred Nobel in his will".
Nobel Peace Prize winners through the years
Africa's Nobel Peace Prize winners
Houcine Abassi, head of Tunisia's General Labour Union - one of the groups in the quartet - said the award was a "tribute to martyrs of a democratic Tunisia". "This effort by our youth has allowed the country to turn the page on dictatorship," he said.
Abdessattar Ben Moussa of the Human Rights League - another of the quartet - said the award "fills us with joy" at a time when Tunisia "is going through a period marked by political tensions and terrorist threats".
He told the Associated Press he hoped it would encourage the winners to take a "larger responsibility" in solving Tunisia's problems.
Tunisia's President Beji Caid Essebsi, said the award recognised the country's decision to choose the "path of consensus".
"Tunisia has no other solution than dialogue despite ideological disagreements," he said in a video posted to his Facebook page.
The quartet is made up of four organisations: the Tunisian General Labour Union, the Tunisian Confederation of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts, the Tunisian Human Rights League, and the Tunisian Order of Lawyers.
It was created in 2013, two years after the revolution, when security in the country was threatened following the assassination of two key politicians and deadly clashes between Islamists and secular parts of society.
It has been a tough year for Tunisia. It needed this win, if only to restore some faith in where things went right not long ago. The National Dialogue quartet was created after the high-profile assassination of the leftist politician Mohamed Al-Brahmi in 2013, which sparked protests across the country and came a few months after the first political assassination of Chokri Belaid.
It was a time when Tunisia was grappling with striking a balance between the rise of political Islam in the country and the traditional secular politics it had been accustomed to for decades. The quartet brought opposing sides together but was ultimately created to calm the streets. Their critics say its impact lost momentum long ago. Many will be celebrating this win today. But others, taken by surprise, are asking what - in reality - has been achieved given the rise of extremism and the long road ahead for social justice.
Tunisians held their first freely contested presidential election last December, which was won by 88-year-old Essebsi of the secular-leaning Nidaa Tounes party.
But the country is still facing some very serious security problems, particularly from Islamists over the border in Libya.
Tunisia has been rocked by two major terror attacks this year alone - on Tunis's renowned Bardo Museum in March in which 22 people were killed, and on the resort of Sousse in June in which 38 tourists were killed.
| Awards ceremony | October 2015 | ['(UGTT)', '(UTICA)', '(LTDH)', '(BBC)', '(CNN)', '(Nobel Peace Prize)'] |
Israel and Hamas agree upon a fresh five-day ceasefire. | Israel and the Palestinians have begun a fresh five-day ceasefire in Gaza, agreed at the end of a three-day truce.
As the ceasefire was announced, Israel launched air strikes in response to rocket fire from Gaza.
There were no more reports of violence overnight, and the two sides were expected to continue indirect talks mediated by Egypt in Cairo.
The Israelis launched a military operation in Gaza on 8 July to stop militant attacks from Gaza.
Hamas, which controls Gaza and is involved in the Cairo talks, has denied its members launched rockets at Israel on Wednesday night.
Israeli military spokesman Peter Lerner said on Twitter: "No need to jump to conclusions. I don't know who launched 10pm (19:00GMT) rocket at Israel."
There was no immediate report of casualties from either side.
Palestinian sources say the truce extension will create a window for further negotiations. But the BBC's Kevin Connolly in Gaza says future talks are likely to be forbiddingly difficult.
Officials from both sides have been communicating their demands through Egyptian intermediaries in Cairo. The talks are aimed at finding a more durable solution to the conflict in Gaza.
The Palestinian side wants the blockade on Gaza to be lifted, while Israel wants the territory to be fully disarmed.
Israel has indicated it may agree to relax parts of the blockade, Egyptian and Palestinian sources said.
Other proposals under discussion include reducing the "no-go" zone in Gaza, and increasing the offshore fishing zone for Gaza fishermen.
Egyptian mediators have proposed that discussion of other demands, such as the opening of a seaport in Gaza and the return of the remains of two dead Israeli soldiers, be postponed.
About 2,000 people have died since the fighting in Gaza began on 8 July.
Those killed include more than 1,900 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to the United Nations.
Sixty-four Israeli soldiers have been killed in the violence and three civilians in Israel have also died.
Tension between Gaza and Israel rose after the abduction and killing of three Israeli teenagers in June.
Israel blamed the killings on Hamas, though the group denied involvement. Tension rose further after the suspected revenge killing of a Palestinian teenager in Jerusalem on 2 July. Six Jewish suspects were arrested over the youth's abduction and murder. Israel occupied Gaza in 1967 and only pulled its troops and settlers out in 2005. However, it still exercises control over most of Gaza's borders, water and air space. Egypt controls Gaza's southern border. | Armed Conflict | August 2014 | ['(BBC)'] |
A suspected terrorist attack in the western Indian city of Pune kills 9 people and injures more than 45 others. BBC news | The restaurant was packed with diners at the time of the blast
At least nine people have been killed and 57 others injured in a bomb attack at a restaurant in India's western city of Pune, officials say.
The explosion tore through the German Bakery, which is popular with tourists, in Koregaon Park. The bombing is the first major strike of its kind in India since the deadly Mumbai attacks in November 2008. Reports that one of the dead is a foreign national have not yet been confirmed by the Indian authorities. Several foreigners were said to be among the injured. The explosion at the restaurant, on North Main Road, happened at about 1900 (1330 GMT), when it was packed with diners. "It appears that an unattended package was noticed in the bakery by one of the waiters who apparently attempted to open the package when the blast took place," Indian Home Secretary GK Pillai was quoted as saying by the Associated Press news agency. "We heard a big noise and we all rushed out. The impact was so great that there were body parts everywhere," Vinod Dhale, who works at the restaurant, told Reuters. 'High alert'
Anti-terror squad officers have gone to the scene. The rest of the building is still intact and anti-terrorist squads from Mumbai have gone in to try to determine the type of explosive used in the blast.
The street has been cordoned off and the area is very quiet now. Whenever I have visited this bakery in the past - last time was a few months ago - it has always been very crowded.
It was a very quaint, old place, the limited seating areas full of students and foreign visitors from the nearby Osho Ashram eating Western food.
A security alert was issued for Chabad House, a Jewish centre for learning in the vicinity of the German Bakery, in October 2009, India's Home Office said.
But the German Bakery was not deemed to be at risk at the time.
Nearby shops were badly damaged and reported to have been splattered with blood. "I came running to the bakery after hearing the explosion. I found people lying all over the place", local resident Abba More told AP. Initial reports had suggested the explosion was caused by a gas cylinder. The German Bakery is near the Osho Ashram, a mystic centre popular with visitors to Pune. The Chabad centre, run by the Jewish Orthodox Chabad-Lubavitch movement, is also in the vicinity. Members of the Chabad-Lubavitch were targeted in the 2008 Mumbai attacks, and in October 2009 the home ministry issued a security alert for the Chabad centre in Pune. No-one has yet said they carried out the latest attack. However Home Minister P Chidambaram described it as "a significant terrorist incident". "All the evidence points to a deliberate plot," he told AFP. The bomb blast comes a day after India and Pakistan agreed to meet for talks in Delhi on February 25. The talks will be their first formal negotiations since the Mumbai attacks. No conclusions could be drawn yet as to who was responsible for the blast, Mr Pillai said. "Forensic investigations have just begun. Till they are completed, we will not know who is [involved]", he told AP. The home ministry has issued an advisory to all state governments to be on high alert. | Armed Conflict | February 2010 | ['(The Times of India)', '(The Hindu)', '(The Times)'] |
Scientists working in Papua New Guinea announce the discovery of over forty new species, including a giant rat weighing approximately 1.5kg. |
A new species of giant rat has been discovered deep in the jungle of Papua New Guinea.
The rat, which has no fear of humans, measures 82cm long, placing it among the largest species of rat known anywhere in the world. The creature, which has not yet been formally described, was discovered by an expedition team filming the BBC programme Lost Land of the Volcano. It is one of a number of exotic animals found by the expedition team. Like the other exotic species, the rat is believed to live within the Mount Bosavi crater, and nowhere else. "This is one of the world's largest rats. It is a true rat, the same kind you find in the city sewers," says Dr Kristofer Helgen, a mammalogist based at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History who accompanied the BBC expedition team.
Initially, the giant rat was first captured on film by an infrared camera trap, which BBC wildlife cameraman Gordon Buchanan set up in the forest on the slopes of the volcano. The expedition team from the BBC Natural History Unit recorded the rat rummaging around on the forest floor, and were awed by its size. Immediately, they suspected it could be a species never before recorded by science, but they needed to see a live animal to be sure. Then trackers accompanying the team managed to trap a live specimen. "I had a cat and it was about the same size as this rat," says Buchanan. The trapped rat measured 82cm in length from its nose to its tail, and weighed approximately 1.5kg. It had a silver-brown coat of thick long fur, which the scientists who examined it believe may help it survive the wet and cold conditions that can occur within the high volcano crater. The location where the rat was discovered lies at an elevation of over 1,000m. Initial investigations suggest the rat belongs to the genus Mallomys, which contains a handful of other out-sized species. It has provisionally been called the Bosavi woolly rat, while its scientific name has yet to be agreed.The giant rat was first sighted using an infrared camera trap
Other rodents, the group of animals that includes rats, grow to a bigger size. For example, the largest rodent of all is the capybara, which lives in or near freshwater in South America. It can grow up to 130cm long and weigh up to 65kg. The Philippines is also home to a few species of cloud rat which can reach over 2kg in weight.
But of the true rats, which includes urban brown and black rats that belong to the genus Rattus, few can match the new species. In 2007, an expedition to New Guinea led by Conservation International discovered another closely related giant woolly rat, which can weigh up to 1.4kg. It also belongs within the genus Mallomys. However, that species lives in the Foja Mountains, part of the Mamberamo Basin. Mount Bosavi, where the new rat was found, is an extinct volcano that lies deep in the remote Southern Highlands of Papua New Guinea. The expedition team entered the crater to explore pristine forest, where few humans have set foot. Even members of the Kasua tribe, who acted as trackers for the expedition, live outside the crater, which is 4km wide and has walls up to 1km high, trapping the creatures that live within. The island which includes Papua New Guinea and New Guinea is famous for the number and diversity of the rats and mice that live there. Over 57 species of true "Murid" rats and mice can be found on the island. The larger rats are often caught by hunters and eaten. Broadcast of The Lost Land of the Volcano series will begin on BBC One on Tuesday 8 September at 2100 BST. The discovery of the Bosavi woolly rat is broadcast as part of the series on BBC One on Tuesday 22 September. | New wonders in nature | September 2009 | ['(BBC)'] |
The PRC objects to former US President Bill Clinton's plan to visit Taiwan and meet with the ROC President Chen Shui–bian. | Latest Newscast News Now Live Africa Americas Asia Europe Middle East U.S.A. American Life Health & Science Entertainment News Analysis Special Reports Find VOA Radio or TV Programs RSS Feeds Webcasts Correspondents Broadcast Info Articles in Special English Read Editorials
China is objecting to former President Bill Clinton's plans to meet Sunday with Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian in Taiwan. China scolded the former U.S. leader who is on a goodwill visit to China. While there he signed an agreement for his private foundation to donate $70,000 worth of drugs to treat Chinese children infected with HIV. Mr. Clinton also praised China's efforts to battle the spread of HIV-AIDS, saying the country had made impressive progress in building a system of care for victims of the disease. While some officials expressed gratitude for Mr. Clinton's goodwill gestures, Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan expressed displeasure over the former president's plans to visit Taiwan and meet with leader Chen Shui-bian. "As a former U.S. president, he should know China's position on the Taiwan issue," he said. "He should honor his commitment to the Chinese government, including abiding by the one-China policy." China opposes any gesture by nations or foreign political figures that appears to lend legitimacy to the government of Taiwan, which Beijing considers part of its territory. China has threatened to invade Taiwan if the self-governed island moves toward formal independence. The threat has become more real to many in Taiwan as China prepares to enact an anti-secession law that some analysts fear may provide Beijing with a license to attack the island. But relations between Taiwan and the mainland have shown signs of warming lately. On Thursday, Taiwan's President Chen joined with an opposition party leader in signing a statement that says they do not rule out any type of future relationship with mainland China. Also, Mr. Chen repeated past assurances that he would not seek to drop "China" from the island's formal name and would stick by past promises that he would not push for formal independence.
In addition, the two sides are considering talks on direct cargo flights between the mainland and the island. Taiwan has banned direct air service for decades, fearing Communist forces might use aircraft to spy on or attack the island. Tensions appeared to have eased recently when direct passenger flights took off for the first time in 56 years early this month during the lunar new year holiday. | Diplomatic Visit | February 2005 | ['(VOA)'] |
Thousands of demonstrators protest in Madrid against the trial of Catalan independence leaders and the ongoing detention of some of them. Local police say around 18,000 protestors were involved; organisers claim almost 120,000. | Tens of thousands of supporters of Catalan independence have rallied in Spain's capital Madrid in protest at an ongoing trial of 12 separatist leaders.
Many waved Catalan flags and had placards reading "Self-determination is not a crime".
Protest organisers said 120,000 people marched in Madrid. Spanish police put the number at just 18,000.
The separatist leaders of Catalonia's failed 2017 independence bid face rebellion and sedition charges.
If convicted, some could face up to 25 years in prison.
The rally was organised by more than 60 civil society groups from all over Spain.
Hundreds of buses were laid on to bring demonstrators to Madrid from Catalonia and other regions.
The protesters then marched from the Atocha train station to the Plaza de Cibeles.
There have been no reports of any violence.
The semi-autonomous north-eastern region of Catalonia held an independence referendum on 1 October 2017, and declared its independence from Spain weeks later.
Spanish authorities declared the Catalan vote illegal, and the national government imposed direct rule.
Spain's 1978 constitution speaks of "the indissoluble unity of the Spanish nation".
The Catalonia crisis is considered the most serious to hit Spain since the era of fascist dictator Francisco Franco, who died in 1975.
| Protest_Online Condemnation | March 2019 | ['(BBC)'] |
Julian Assange issues a statement to supporters from a balcony of London's Ecuadorean embassy, in which he refers to the U.S. Pentagon's recent description of the existence of WikiLeaks as an "ongoing crime" and suggests it is the intention of WikiLeaks to release a million more documents in 2013. | Wikileaks founder Julian Assange said his work "will not be cowed," as he promised the whistle-blowing site would release a million more documents.
In a speech from a balcony at the Ecuadorean embassy in London, he said the files to be published in 2013 would affect "every country in this world".
It is six months since he sought asylum to avoid extradition to Sweden over sexual assault claims, which he denies.
He fears being sent to the US and being punished for leaking diplomatic files. A crowd of some 80 supporters gathered outside the building, in Knightsbridge, to listen to the 41-year-old Australian - whose website published a mass of leaked cables embarrassing a number of countries.
In his statement, Mr Assange said the US Pentagon had recently described the existence of Wikileaks as an "ongoing crime".
Addressing supporters - some of whom carried candles - the Australian said: "While that remains the case and while my government will not defend the journalism and publishing of Wikileaks, I must remain here.
"However, the door is open, and the door has always been open, for anyone who wishes to use standard procedures to speak to me or guarantee my safe passage."
He also said 2012 had been a "huge year" for the organisation.
During the speech, Mr Assange saluted journalists who reported arrests around the world, adding: "It is from the revelation of the truth that all else follows... our civilisation is only as strong as its ideas are true."
Mr Assange delivered a message from a balcony in August, calling for an end to the diplomatic impasse that began when Ecuador's government granted him political asylum. Sweden wants to question him over allegations that he sexually assaulted two female ex-Wikileaks supporters while he was in Stockholm to give a lecture in 2010.
Mr Assange entered the embassy after the UK's Supreme Court dismissed his bid to reopen his appeal against extradition. It had given him a two-week grace period before extradition proceedings could start.
Mr Assange has been warned he will be arrested when he leaves the embassy for breaking the terms of his bail conditions, and officers from the Metropolitan Police continue to mount a round-the-clock guard on the building. A statement from the Ecuadorian ambassador said: "At a time of year when people come closer together, Ecuador reaffirms the solidarity that our country gave six months ago to a person who was being persecuted for thinking and expressing themselves freely.
"Julian has become a guest in this house that we all have learned to appreciate."
Calling for reflection, he went on: "Often it is necessary, as we have done in our beloved country, to stand up and face those enemies of democracy that, far from seeking unity and peace among the citizens of the world, instead seek to ruin socialist peoples and dominate on behalf of small groups of people."
'
| Famous Person - Give a speech | December 2012 | ['(BBC)'] |
Penguin and Random House agree to merge to form Penguin Random House, the world's largest publisher. | The owners of Penguin and Random House have announced a deal to merge their publishing arms to create the world's biggest book publisher.
Bertelsmann, which owns Random House, will own 53% of the newly created group and Random House boss Markus Dohle will be chief executive. Penguin's owner Pearson will retain 47%, with its man John Mackinson, currently chairman and chief executive of Penguin, stepping up as chairman of the joint venture, which will be called Penguin Random House.
The announcement scuppers the hopes of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation to crash the merger plans. Reports over the weekend suggested News Corp's publishing arm, HarperCollins, could put a £1bn bid for Penguin to the board of Pearson this week.
Random House has annual sales of £1.5bn, while Penguin sales topped £1bn last year. The combined group will publish 25% of all books sold in the UK from authors as diverse as TV chef Jamie Oliver, Fifty Shades of Grey author EL James and diver Tom Daley.
The combined market share of the two book publishers means the deal is expected to face an inquiry from the competition commission. Analysts, however, suggest it is likely to be waved through as regulators allowed the music industry to be consolidated down to just three big players. The companies expect to complete the deal in the second half of next year, if they win the approval from the regulators.
Bertelsmann chairman and chief executive Thomas Rabe said the merger would advance the group's digital transformation and increase its presence in Brazil, India and China.
Pearson's chief executive, Marjorie Scardino, said: "Together, the two publishers will be able to share a large part of their costs, to invest more for their author and reader constituencies and to be more adventurous in trying new models in this exciting, fast-moving world of digital books and digital readers."
The announcement comes just weeks after Scardino announced her intention to stand down after 15 years at the helm. Her exit sparked speculation that the Financial Times could be sold, as she had vowed that would only happen "over my dead body". | Organization Merge | October 2012 | ['(The Guardian)', '(BBC)'] |
A pilots' strike over a pay dispute causes British Airways to cancel "the vast majority" of its 850 daily flights on Monday and Tuesday. It is the first pilots' strike action at the company since the 1970s. | London: British Airways canceled hundreds of flights as chances dwindled for a breakthrough that would avert the first pilots’ strike in decades.
After the weekend yielded little progress toward a resolution of the pay dispute, a British Airways spokeswoman said Sunday that the airline had canceled “the vast majority” of its 850 daily flights on Monday and Tuesday.
The disruptions will affect mainly London, where BA operates from its hub at Heathrow airport and also Gatwick. The outages will also extend to other locales such as Edinburgh, though London City, popular with business travelers, won’t be affected as those flights are operated BA’s CityFlyer affiliate.
Pilots vowed to strike following a breakdown in talks over a new contract. The airline has accused the British Airline Pilots’ Association union of not acting in good faith by making “an eleventh hour inflated proposal” which would cost an additional 50 million pounds ($62 million).
Balpa had put forward a new contract proposal last week and pledged to call off the walkout if management returned to the bargaining table.
Both sides have said they’re open to more talks, though the airline insists that terms of the latest union proposal amount to preconditions it won’t accept.
The airline has sent an email warning the pilots that anyone who goes on strike will lose generous travel perks for themselves and their families for the next three years, the FT reported.
The strike would be the company’s first involving pilots since the 1970s and could cause travel chaos for customers at the tail end of the busy summer season. Passengers that are affected have been rebooked with other airlines or given alternate dates to fly, the BA spokeswoman said. Others have been given refunds.
The current demands relate to pay, profit sharing, and a share-awards program, and come after cockpit crew took salary cuts in the wake of the financial crisis to help bolster the airline’s finances, according to the union.
The union called for the action after mediated talks with management at the state-backed Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service ended without a deal. Cockpit crews voted to strike by a 93% majority in a poll in July, with the carrier saying the disruption could cost 40 million pounds a day.
Balpa is also campaigning at Ryanair Holdings Plc, where U.K. pilots plan to walk out for an additional seven days. Five days of strikes failed to disrupt schedules or bring the discounter - which uses many non-unionized pilots on contract - back to the bargaining table.
| Strike | September 2019 | ['(Bloomberg via Gulf News)'] |
Steven Chu steps down as United States Secretary of Energy. | WASHINGTON -- Energy Secretary Steven Chu said he is leaving the Obama administration, ending a tenure marked by active development of alternative energy that won plaudits from environmentalists and drew attacks from conservatives, especially after the bankruptcy of the federally-backed solar panel maker, Solyndra.
Chu said that he planned to stay at least through late February and was prepared to stay longer in order to hand over the agency to a new secretary. A Nobel laureate in physics, Chu oversaw the deployment of $35 billion in stimulus funding, much of it to research initiatives and companies charting new vehicle fuels, advanced batteries for large-scale power storage and renewable energy.
President Obama thanked Chu for pushing an energy agenda that he said embraced fossil fuels and renewable power. “Steve brought to the Energy Department a unique understanding of both the urgent challenge presented by climate change and the tremendous opportunity that clean energy represents for our economy,” Obama said in a statement. “And during his time as Secretary, Steve helped my Administration move America towards real energy independence. Over the past four years, we have doubled the use of renewable energy, dramatically reduced our dependence on foreign oil, and put our country on a path to win the global race for clean energy jobs.”
Under Chu, the Energy Department gave grants and loans to more than 1300 companies to develop new lines of research and ramp up promising businesses. Only one percent of those agency-backed companies went bankrupt, but their demise attracted the attention of conservative critics of the administration, who questioned the government’s role in supporting the commercialization of new technologies. Congressional Republicans held multiple inquiries into the failure of Solyndra, which had $535 million in federal loan guarantees through an Energy Department program. The company laid off 1100 workers and is the subject of a Justice Department investigation. The many hearings on Solyndra ultimately failed to support the Republicans’ assertion that the loan guarantees were awarded because of the company’s ties to a major Obama donor.
Without mentioning Solyndra explicitly, Chu said in a statement, “The test for America’s policy makers will be whether they are willing to accept a few failures in exchange for many successes. America’s entrepreneurs and innovators who are leaders in global clean energy race understand that not every risk can – or should – be avoided.”
Chu said he planned to return to academia. Though Chu was an outsider to Washington and politics more broadly, those whose names have come up as possible successors have deep roots in state and national politics. Those supposedly being considered include former Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), former Colorado governor Bill Ritter, former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D), current Deputy Energy Secretary Daniel Poneman, Center for American Progress founder and former Clinton Chief-of-Staff John Podesta and Stanford University’s Dan Reicher, who served on the Obama transition team and was the Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy under Bill Clinton.
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| Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | February 2013 | ['(AP via The Washington Post)', '(Los Angeles Times)', '(USA Today)'] |
The Guardian reports that Raymond Davis, charged with murder in Pakistan after shooting dead two men in Lahore, worked for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency . | The American who shot dead two men in Lahore, triggering a diplomatic crisis between Pakistan and the US, is a CIA agent who was on assignment at the time.
Raymond Davis has been the subject of widespread speculation since he opened fire with a semi-automatic Glock pistol on the two men who had pulled up in front of his car at a red light on 25 January.
Pakistani authorities charged him with murder, but the Obama administration has insisted he is an "administrative and technical official" attached to its Lahore consulate and has diplomatic immunity.
Based on interviews in the US and Pakistan, the Guardian can confirm that the 36-year-old former special forces soldier is employed by the CIA. "It's beyond a shadow of a doubt," said a senior Pakistani intelligence official. The revelation may complicate American efforts to free Davis, who insists he was acting in self-defence against a pair of suspected robbers, who were both carrying guns.
Pakistani prosecutors accuse the spy of excessive force, saying he fired 10 shots and got out of his car to shoot one man twice in the back as he fled. The man's body was found 30 feet from his motorbike.
"It went way beyond what we define as self-defence. It was not commensurate with the threat," a senior police official involved in the case told the Guardian.
The Pakistani government is aware of Davis's CIA status yet has kept quiet in the face of immense American pressure to free him under the Vienna convention. Last week President Barack Obama described Davis as "our diplomat" and dispatched his chief diplomatic troubleshooter, Senator John Kerry, to Islamabad. Kerry returned home empty-handed.
Many Pakistanis are outraged at the idea of an armed American rampaging through their second-largest city. Analysts have warned of Egyptian-style protests if Davis is released. The government, fearful of a backlash, says it needs until 14 March to decide whether Davis enjoys immunity.
A third man was crushed by an American vehicle as it rushed to Davis's aid. Pakistani officials believe its occupants were CIA because they came from the house where Davis lived and were armed.
The US refused Pakistani demands to interrogate the two men and on Sunday a senior Pakistani intelligence official said they had left the country. "They have flown the coop, they are already in America," he said.
ABC News reported that the men had the same diplomatic visas as Davis. It is not unusual for US intelligence officers, like their counterparts round the world, to carry diplomatic passports.
The US has accused Pakistan of illegally detaining him and riding roughshod over international treaties. Angry politicians have proposed slashing Islamabad's $1.5bn (900m) annual aid.
But Washington's case is hobbled by its resounding silence on Davis's role. He served in the US special forces for 10 years before leaving in 2003 to become a security contractor. A senior Pakistani official said he believed Davis had worked with Xe, the firm formerly known as Blackwater.
Pakistani suspicions about Davis's role were stoked by the equipment police confiscated from his car: an unlicensed pistol, a long-range radio, a GPS device, an infrared torch and a camera with pictures of buildings around Lahore.
"This is not the work of a diplomat. He was doing espionage and surveillance activities," said the Punjab law minister, Rana Sanaullah, adding he had "confirmation" that Davis was a CIA employee.
A number of US media outlets learned about Davis's CIA role but have kept it under wraps at the request of the Obama administration. A Colorado television station, 9NEWS, made a connection after speaking to Davis's wife. She referred its inquiries to a number in Washington which turned out to be the CIA. The station removed the CIA reference from its website at the request of the US government.
Some reports, quoting Pakistani intelligence officials, have suggested that the men Davis killed, Faizan Haider, 21, and Muhammad Faheem, 19, were agents of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence spy agency (ISI) and had orders to shadow Davis because he crossed a "red line".
A senior police official confirmed US claims that the men were petty thieves investigators found stolen mobiles, foreign currency and weapons on them but did not rule out an intelligence link.
A senior ISI official denied the dead men worked for the spy agency but admitted the CIA relationship had been damaged. "We are a sovereign country and if they want to work with us, they need to develop a trusting relationship on the basis of equality. Being arrogant and demanding is not the way to do it," he said.
Tensions between the spy agencies have been growing. The CIA Islamabad station chief was forced to leave in December after being named in a civil lawsuit. The ISI was angered when its chief, General Shuja Pasha, was named in a New York lawsuit related to the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
Although the two spy services co-operate in the CIA's drone campaign along the Afghan border, there has not been a drone strike since 23 January the longest lull since June 2009. Experts are unsure whether both events are linked.
Davis awaits his fate in Kot Lakhpat jail in Lahore. Pakistani officials say they have taken exceptional measures to ensure his safety, including ringing the prison with paramilitary Punjab Rangers. The law minister, Sanaullah, said Davis was in a "high security zone" and was receiving food from visitors from the US consulate.
Sanaullah said 140 foreigners were in the facility, many on drug charges. Press reports have speculated that the authorities worry the US could try to spring Davis in a "Hollywood-style sting". "All measures for his security have been taken," said the ISI official. "He's as safe as can be." | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | February 2011 | ['(CIA)', '(The Guardian)', '(The Daily Telegraph)'] |
Azerbaijan says the death toll from an Armenian cluster missile attack on Barda has risen to 21 with dozens more wounded. Armenia denies carrying out the strike. | Azerbaijan has accused the Armenian military of killing at least 21 civilians in a missile strike as fighting over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh intensifies. Dozens more were reportedly wounded in the strike on the Azeri town of Barda, not far from the ongoing clashes.
Armenia has denied carrying out the attack, and accused Azerbaijan of targeting a maternity ward in the area. Fighting over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh erupted on 27 September.
The mountainous territory is officially part of Azerbaijan, but run by ethnic Armenians.
Azerbaijani presidential spokesman Hikmet Hajiyev said Armenian forces had "used cluster munitions to inflict excessive casualties among civilians" in Barda, in central Azerbaijan. Images posted on social media showed damage to streets and vehicles with what appeared to be several bodies in body bags laid out on the road.
One local resident, Ulviyya Babayeva, said she was in her car nearby when she heard three explosions and decided to head to the area.
"We saw a fire... bombs have been dropped," she told the BBC. "One fell on the car outside a bank building, fragments [of bombs] everywhere, [broken] glass [of cars/windows]... one of the bombs fell outside fire rescue station, there are dead and injured people."
Police officers and other service personnel were sent to Barda to help transport the injured to hospital, as well as provide additional security in the town, the Azerbaijani interior ministry said. The ministry added that the attack was a gross violation of international humanitarian law, and that the Armenian government should accept responsibility.
Separately, a statement issued by Karabkah officials said Azerbaijani forces had struck a maternity hospital and other "civil infrastructure" in the territory's city of Stepanakert.
They added that information on possible casualties at the facility, which had been under construction, was "being clarified". The latest attacks come just days after a US-brokered ceasefire was agreed between the two sides.
Earlier, Azerbaijani media reported that the head of the Nagorno-Karabakh military, Jalal Harutyunyan, was killed in a special operation on Tuesday.
The Azerbaijani defence ministry said that Mr Harutyunyan, who it accused of carrying out war crimes in the region, was identified by surveillance teams entering a vehicle, which was then targeted by a drone strike. The US-brokered ceasefire, the third relating to the recent conflict after two previous agreements brokered by Russia failed, began early on Monday.
US President Donald Trump tweeted shortly after it was announced by the US state department at the weekend to congratulate those involved following "intense negotiations".
But just minutes after it came into force, Armenia and Azerbaijan both accused each other of violating the truce.
Azerbaijan said Armenian forces began shelling the town of Terter and nearby villages in a "gross violation" of the agreement.
Armenia's defence ministry said Azerbaijani artillery had fired on military positions in various parts of the front line after the ceasefire agreement had begun.
Clashes that began in the region in September have quickly escalated into a large-scale conflict, with the shelling of towns and cities and the alleged use of banned cluster munitions.
Several thousand people have died and shelling has killed civilians on both sides. Tens of thousands have fled their homes.
Nagorno-Karabakh truce frays soon after starting
'Execution' video prompts Karabakh war crime probe
Karabakh war leaves civilians shell-shocked and bitter
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in pictures
| Armed Conflict | October 2020 | ['(BBC)'] |
California governor Jerry Brown announces mandatory water restrictions in response to the worst drought in California history. | PHILLIPS, Calif. — Gov. Jerry Brown on Wednesday ordered mandatory water use reductions for the first time in California’s history, saying the state’s four-year drought had reached near-crisis proportions after a winter of record-low snowfalls.
Mr. Brown, in an executive order, directed the State Water Resources Control Board to impose a 25 percent reduction on the state’s 400 local water supply agencies, which serve 90 percent of California residents, over the coming year. The agencies will be responsible for coming up with restrictions to cut back on water use and for monitoring compliance. State officials said the order would impose varying degrees of cutbacks on water use across the board — affecting homeowners, farms and other businesses, as well as the maintenance of cemeteries and golf courses.
Gov. Jerry Brown ordered mandatory water restrictions for the first time in California history. How will water rationing affect you?
An interactive map shows how much water California residents conserved in April and how much daily consumption they are being forced to cut under new mandatory restrictions.
| Droughts | April 2015 | ['(The New York Times)'] |
Industrial action in Nigeria over increases in fuel duty and a doubling of sales tax is stepped up to become a general strike. | Office blocks are empty in central Lagos, with long queues at petrol stations. Schools and offices are shut in the northern city of Kano.
Police have cleared some barricades in the capital, Abuja, set up by strikers.
The government offered concessions on fuel and value-added tax rises on Tuesday, but the trade union federation said it was "too little, too late".
Nigeria's Labour Congress also want the government to reverse the sale of oil refineries.
Strike voices
"Today's action is a boom for my business" Abuja bus driver
In pictures
The strike is seen as the first major test for new President Umaru Yar'Adua since he took over last month.
The BBC's Alex Last in Lagos says that for the strike to really hurt the government, it has to have an impact on the oil industry which provides 90% of its revenues.
Local staff at oil companies in the Niger Delta have joined the strike, but it will probably be some time before oil production is affected.
In the past strikes have not lasted long. The government has already reached a separate deal with oil and transport unions who went on strike last Friday, leading to fuel shortages.
Bus fares doubled
Correspondents say in major cities, most schools, banks, businesses and government offices are closed.
Those who are in power don't really know how the people feel
Taiwo OgunloyeLagos resident
'I will stay at home'
Lagos's streets are deserted and there is no public transport in Abuja where some strikers set up barricades to stop other traffic.
Police either dismantled the barricades or directed cars around them. At one barricade a small bonfire was lit by the strikers.
The unions were angry at a series of measures pushed though in the last days of the presidency of Olusegun Obasanjo, who stepped down last month.
The price of petrol was increased from 65 naira (51 US cents) a litre to 75.
The government has now reportedly offered to reduce this to 70 naira (55 cents).
Transport fares have doubled in some areas following the fuel price hike.
The government has also offered toe seen from their oil wealth since the government has failed to provide even basic services. This is why the unions are insisting in a complete reversal in the fuel price rise.
"Those who are in power don't really know how the people feel," Lagos resident Taiwo Ogunloye told the BBC's Network Africa programme.
He said he would join in the strike and stay at home and watch TV "as long as there is light", he said.
Tough choice
Dino Mahthani, West Africa correspondent of the UK's Financial Times, told the BBC that the government was stuck between a rock and a hard place on the refineries.
The strike could be Umaru Yar'Adua's first real test He says that despite being a major oil producer, it has hardly any refining capacity because the equipment is in such a poor state.
To give the owners an incentive to put money into the refineries, the government should stop subsidising the price of fuel, he says. But this would lead to a lot of angry people in the cities, who would accuse the government of making their lives harder, he says.
A further complication is that the new owners are among the richest people in the country, with strong links to the ruling party.
Nigeria is Africa's biggest oil producer but had to import most of its petrol because of the poor state of its refineries. | Strike | June 2007 | ['(BBC)'] |
John Conyers stands down as the ranking Democrat on the United States House Committee on the Judiciary following a series of sexual harassment allegations. | In this April 4, 2017, photo, Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., speaks during a hearing of the House Judiciary subcommittee on Capitol Hill in Washington. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi is defending Conyers as an "icon" for women's rights and declining to say whether the longtime lawmaker should resign over allegations that he sexually harassed female staff members.
Alex Brandon/The Associated Press
This article was published more than 3 years ago. Some information in it may no longer be current.
Michigan Rep. John Conyers, under investigation over allegations he sexually harassed female staff members, said Sunday he will step aside as the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee while fiercely denying he acted inappropriately during his long tenure in Congress.
In a statement, the 88-year-old lawmaker made clear he would prefer to keep his leadership role on the committee, which has wide jurisdiction over U.S. law enforcement, from civil rights and impeachment of federal officials to sexual harassment protections.
But Conyers acknowledged maintaining the post would be a distraction "in light of the attention drawn by recent allegations made against me."
"I have come to believe that my presence as ranking member on the committee would not serve these efforts while the Ethics Committee investigation is pending," he said. "I cannot in good conscience allow these charges to undermine my colleagues in the Democratic Caucus, and my friends on both sides of the aisle in the Judiciary Committee and the House of Representatives."
Denying the allegations, Conyers, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus who was first elected to the House in 1964, urged lawmakers to allow him "due process."
"I very much look forward to vindicating myself and my family," Conyers said.
News website BuzzFeed reported last Monday that Conyers' office paid a woman more than $27,000 under a confidentiality agreement to settle a complaint in 2015 that she was fired from his Washington staff because she rejected his sexual advances. BuzzFeed also published affidavits from former staff members who said they had witnessed Conyers touching female staffers inappropriately — rubbing their legs and backs — or requesting sexual favours.
Conyers says he will fully co-operate with the Ethics Committee, which said it will review the allegations of harassment and age discrimination as well as using "official resources for impermissible personal purposes."
At least one House Democrat, Rep. Kathleen Rice of New York, has called on Conyers to step down from Congress. Two others, Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., who is a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, as well as Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., co-chairman of the largest group of congressional liberals, had said Conyers should at least step aside from his leadership role on the Judiciary committee.
In a statement Sunday, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said she welcomed Conyers' decision to give up the committee leadership post.
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"Zero tolerance means consequences," Pelosi said. "Any credible accusation must be reviewed by the Ethics Committee expeditiously. We are at a watershed moment on this issue, and no matter how great an individual's legacy, it is not a license for harassment. "
The California Democrat noted that the House in the coming week will vote on requiring anti-harassment and anti-discrimination training for all members and their staffs. She suggested that nondisclosure agreements like the one Conyers signed to settle the 2015 complaint should be made public.
The Senate has already approved a measure requiring all senators, staff and interns to be trained on preventing sexual harassment.
The flurry of activity Sunday comes as Congress prepares to return from its Thanksgiving break, amid increasing attention on the issue of sexual harassment with multiple men in entertainment, media and politics facing allegations of misconduct. On the congressional level, Democratic Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota and Republican Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore also are the subject of accusations.
Earlier Sunday, Pelosi defended Conyers as an "icon" for women's rights and told NBC's "Meet the Press" that he will do the "right thing."
"This is about going forward," she said. "We also have to address it for every person, every workplace in the country, not just in the Congress of the United States. And that's very important. And a good deal of that would be done by the Judiciary Committee."
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Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., is the next most-senior Democrat on the Judiciary Committee after Conyers, the only African-American to have held the position of chairman or ranking member on the panel.
"Even under these unfortunate circumstances, the important work of the Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee must move forward," Nadler said. "I will do everything in my power to continue to press on the important issues facing our committee, including criminal justice reform, workplace equality, and holding the Trump administration accountable."
"Ranking Member Conyers has a 50-year legacy of advancing the cause of justice, and my job moving forward is to continue that critical work," he added.
Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., who sponsored legislation to overhaul the system by which sexual complaints are made and settled on Capitol Hill, said Congress must show a greater commitment to addressing sexual misconduct. Last month, she shared her own story of being sexually assaulted by a high-level aide while she was a staffer.
"This is absolutely a priority that we must focus on in terms of fixing the system," she said on ABC's "This Week." "We say zero tolerance, but I don't believe that we put our money where our mouths are." | Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | November 2017 | ['(The Globe and Mail)'] |
The Legislative Yuan in Taiwan passes a bill mandating that official documents in Chinese be written from left to right instead of right to left, ending centuries of tradition. | TAIPEI - Taiwan's Parliament ended centuries of tradition yesterday, passing a new law that official documents in Chinese can no longer be written from right to left. Text must now go from left to right, the same way as Western languages, Mr Tsai Ting-kui, spokesman for the Cabinet-level Research, Development and Evaluation Commission, told AFP. The change to standardised writing also means that bureaucrats will also abandon the top-to-bottom style and go horizontal, he added. The old style 'looks very confusing, especially when texts contain numbers and English', Mr Tsai said. Taiwan first considered switching writing styles early last year, to cope with increasing computer use and to fit in with international standards. 'The change would help expedite the process of e-government while international exchanges are on the rise,' the spokesman said. Standardisation has long been a vexing issue in Taiwan, where some have switched but many still write in the old way. The problem also affects the media, with the widely circulated Chinese-language China Times using the traditional style but the group's evening newspaper Chinatimes Express being printed from left to right. Some have opposed the landmark change on the grounds that domestic culture would be dealt another blow even as an increasing number of youths opt for Western trends. But Mr Tsai dismissed their concerns, saying: 'Arts and literature would not be confined by the requirement.' The government system is expected to complete the change within a year after the legislation, which the spokesman termed as 'the biggest barrier', has been approved. Premier Yu Shyi-kun said in February last year that the government was considering the change because it was promoting the use of English and some official documents were written in both Chinese and English. -- AFP | Government Policy Changes | May 2004 | ['(Straits Times)', '(BBC)'] |
United Nations envoy Ibrahim Gambari briefs the Security Council on the situation in an open session. | UNITED NATIONS (CNN) -- U.N. envoy Ibrahim Gambari will brief the U.N. Security Council in an open session Friday on his recent visit to Myanmar, despite objections from the Chinese ambassador who wanted the briefing held behind closed doors. U.N. envoy Ibrahim Gambari shakes hands with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Thursday at the U.N.
The meeting comes after Myanmar's chief military leader, Senior Gen. Than Shwe, said on state television Thursday he would meet with detained Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi -- provided she give up her calls for sanctions against the country.
The Myanmar government also invited the U.S. Charges d'Affaires in Myanmar, Shari Villarosa, to meet with its leaders on Friday. They did not indicate what the agenda for the meeting would be, but U.S. State Department spokesman Tom Casey said Villarosa's message would be "the same one we've been giving publicly, and that's that they need to stop repressing their own people, that they need to engage in a dialogue with the opposition."
"It shouldn't take the United States and the rest of the international community having to ask the government to engage their own people," he told CNN International.
On Wednesday, Villarosa told CNN's Anderson Cooper the U.S. Embassy was concerned over the apparent disappearance of Buddhist monks.
"It's disturbing because we've found many (monasteries) that have been vacated," she said. "We've found others that have military barricades around them. We've seen a few that seem to be open again, but with a significantly reduced number of monks." Gambari met with ruling military junta leaders as well as Suu Kyi and other pro-democracy leaders last weekend. Suu Kyi has been held in varying degrees of detention for 12 out of the last 18 years since 1989, when her National League for Democracy won the country's first free multiparty elections. The military junta refused to hand over power.
Gambari on Thursday briefed U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who had sent him to Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, in the wake of the military's crackdown on peaceful demonstrations.
China's Ambassador to the United Nations Wang Guangya said he thought a briefing behind closed doors would allow for a more frank exchange between Gambari and council members. "My preference is that we should not have a format which might make Ambassador Gambari feel uncomfortable," he said.
Wang also reiterated China's opposition to U.N. sanctions against Myanmar.
"It's a problem," he said. "It's a crisis, but this does not constitute a threat in the (U.N.) charter definition to the region and to international peace and security.
"These problems, we believe, are basically internal. A solution for the Myanmar situation has to be found by the Myanmars themselves," Wang said.
Nonetheless, the U.N. Human Rights Council is pushing for a fact-finding mission to Myanmar. The council passed a resolution on Tuesday condemning the repression of pro-democracy protests and "will be in a very strong position to convince the (Myanmar) government ... to receive me," U.N. envoy Paulo Sergio Pinheiro told CNN International. Myanmar state media reported that 2,000 people were detained during the demonstrations and the crackdown, and that 700 have since been released. An emergency law imposed on September 25 banned the assembly of more than five people.
Meanwhile, police and soldiers are controlling the streets and checking everyone for cameras and cell phones, witnesses told CNN.
The official death toll is 10, but there are reports that hundreds of people were killed in the wake of the demonstrations led by Myanmar's Buddhist monks. Video of the protests have leaked from the tightly-controlled country and seem to contract Myanmar's foreign minister Nyan Win, who said the country's security personnel have "exercised utmost restraint."
In one video, a man raises his hands above his head, as Myanmar security personnel beat him with sticks. The images show crowds of protesters loudly chanting and marching peacefully through Yangon until the Myanmar military descends, dispersing the crowds. Loud orders from the military replace demonstrators' chants, the images show. Several protesters are wounded, one of them slumped in an alley, as a friend tends to him while staying out of sight.
Demonstrators who were detained are searched and loaded onto trucks by plainclothes men, apparently intelligence officers operating in their midst, the images show.
In Thailand, CNN interviewed a man who said he was a Myanmar army major who fled his country because of his conscience.
"When I heard monks had been shot dead on the streets, and that others had been shot too, I felt very upset," he said. "As a Buddhist, I didn't want to see such killing."
"It's impossible that under the rule of the military regime, Myanmar will be prosperous and peaceful," he said. | Famous Person - Give a speech | October 2007 | ['(CNN)'] |
U.S. President Donald Trump authorizes the doubling of Section 232 tariffs on imports of aluminium and steel from Turkey, to 20% and 50% respectively. The Turkish lira further falls to a new record low against the U.S. dollar and Turkish stocks tumble. | The Turkish lira added to its steep losses on Friday, hitting a record low after President Donald Trump announced he was doubling metals tariffs on Turkey.
The lira briefly fell 20 percent against the U.S. currency, reaching a record low, after Trump made the comment in a tweet. The currency last traded down 13.5 percent against the U.S. dollar.
tweet
The White House later said in a statement: "As he stated, the President has authorized the preparation of documents to raise tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum from Turkey. Section 232 tariffs are imposed on imports from particular countries whose exports threaten to impair national security as defined in Section 232, independent of negotiations on trade or any other matter."
So far there has been no confirmation to CNBC of the new tariff policy from the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Trump's tweet and the White House comment came after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan asked citizens to convert their dollars and other foreign currencies as well as gold holdings to lira.
"Change the euros, the dollars and the gold that you are keeping beneath your pillows into lira at our banks. This is a domestic and national struggle," Erdogan said, according to an Associated Press translation.
Erdogan said Turkey was facing an "economic war" and noted the country would respond to those countries who had started it.
"We are facing economic attacks today, and we need to defend our country," Erdogan said, according to a separate translation. "The economic attack against us now is the same as the coup attempt against us. I'm urging our country to increase outputs, to increase exports."
Turkish stocks also fell Friday as the iShares MSCI Turkey ETF dropped 13.3 percent. The ETF was already down 42.3 percent this year before Friday's losses.
The sharp drop in Turkish assets came after a delegation returned from Washington with no apparent progress on the detention of U.S. pastor Andrew Brunson, who is charged with supporting a group blamed for an attempted coup in 2016.
Last month, Trump threatened to slap "large sanctions" on the country if it refuses to free Brunson. The U.S. then announced on Aug. 1 sanctions on Turkey's Justice and Interior ministers, prohibiting U.S. citizens from doing business with them.
The currency pared losses slightly on a report that Jay Sekulow, one of Trump's attorneys, said the parties involved were close to reaching a resolution on the matter. | Government Policy Changes | August 2018 | ['(CNBC)'] |
Tiger Woods, the world's number one golfer, is hospitalised after sustaining injuries in a car crash in Orlando, Florida, USA. | World number one golfer Tiger Woods has been released from hospital after receiving treatment following a car accident in Florida on Friday.
Initial reports said he had been seriously injured, but Woods's website later said he was "admitted, treated and released in good condition". The American's car reportedly hit a fire hydrant and tree as he left his drive at 0225 local time (0725 GMT). Woods, a 14-time major champion, is thought to have suffered facial cuts. The 33-year-old's Swedish wife Elin told police she used a golf club to smash out the back window of the car after hearing the crash from the house, local Windermere police chief Daniel Saylor told the Associated Press news agency.
Saylor said his officers, who found Woods drifting in and out of consciousness, do not believe alcohol was involved. "She was frantic, upset," Saylor said in a press briefing. "It was her husband who was lying on the ground." He said Elin told officers she was in the family mansion when she heard the accident. She came out and broke the vehicle's back window with a golf club. Saylor said when officers arrived, Woods had lacerations to his upper and lower lips and blood in his mouth. "He was mumbling, but didn't say anything coherent," said Saylor. The couple, who were married in 2004, have two children - Sam Alexis, aged three, and nine-month-old Charlie Axel. An inquiry into the crash is under way, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. Woods owns a property in the suburb of Isleworth, an exclusive area near Orlando.
The accident report was not released until nearly 12 hours after Woods was injured, and BBC golf correspondent Iain Carter said the golf world was in shock as news of the crash emerged. "The incident raises a lot questions, namely why did it take 12 hours for news of the crash to be in the public domain?" said Carter. "He is clearly a man who craves his privacy. "He gives very little away and was telling me in Shanghai just two weeks ago that he hates the circus and the attention surrounding him and if he could get rid of it, he would love to." Florida Highway Patrol spokesman Kim Montes said the accident did not meet the criteria of a serious crash, and a press release was only issued because of inquiries from local media. Montes added that air bags in Woods's vehicle did not deploy.
A joint statement from Health Central Hospital and Tiger Woods's office said: "Tiger Woods was in a minor car accident outside his home. "He was admitted, treated and released in good condition. "We appreciate very much everyone's thoughts and well wishes." Woods, who has won six tournaments this year, is set to host the Chevron World Challenge in Thousand Oaks, California, on Thursday, although his agent Mark Steinberg of International Management Group said he did not know if his client planned to play. European Tour chief executive George O'Grady has expressed relief that Woods did not suffer serious injury in his crash.
Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. Chief Daniel Saylor of the Windermere Police Department
"For the whole world of golf we wish him well and hope there's no real damage and he recovers very soon," O'Grady said. "He's a role model for the world of golf, not just the European Tour. I think everybody will be delighted the injuries are not serious." Woods won the last of his 14 major titles at the US Open in 2008 when he beat countryman Rocco Mediate in an 18-hole play-off despite struggling with a serious knee injury. He then underwent reconstructive knee surgery but has since made a successful comeback on the US PGA Tour. Woods has become an international sporting icon since winning his first major in 1997 at the age of 21. | Famous Person - Sick | November 2009 | ['(The Daily Telegraph)', '(BBC)', '(The Irish Times)'] |
Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina Ken Ard resigns and pleads guilty to criminal charges related to handling of campaign funds. | ATLANTA — The lieutenant governor of South Carolina, Ken Ard, resigned on Friday and pleaded guilty to criminal charges of spending campaign funds on personal expenses and fabricating donations.
In a cascade of orchestrated events, Mr. Ard resigned in the morning, was indicted at 1 p.m. and then pleaded guilty at 3. Apparently as part of a plea deal, Mr. Ard appeared before Judge G. Thomas Cooper of Circuit Court in Columbia, S.C., and pleaded guilty to all seven misdemeanor charges lodged against him. Judge Cooper then sentenced him to five years of probation, a $5,000 fine and 300 hours of community service. He could have faced up to $35,000 in fines and seven years in prison.
The indictment, announced by the state attorney general, Alan Wilson, charged Mr. Ard with what Mr. Wilson said was an effort to create “the false appearance of a groundswell of political support” by reporting $162,500 in “fictitious or bogus campaign contributions.” He also spent campaign donations on personal items, including iPads, clothes, football tickets and family vacations, the indictment said.
In a statement, Mr. Ard, 48, a Republican, admitted wrongdoing and apologized. “During my campaign, it was my responsibility to make sure things were done correctly. I did not do that,” he wrote. “I am deeply sorry and take full responsibility for the entire situation.”
Before running for lieutenant governor in 2010, Mr. Ard operated the truck manufacturing company that his father founded and served on the Florence County Council. In hindsight, his elaborate efforts to deceive voters may not have been necessary. He easily won election in an overwhelmingly Republican state.
But in order to give his campaign a sense of momentum, Mr. Ard funneled donations to individuals and then back to his campaign, and exaggerated the size of real contributions, according to the indictment. The rapid series of events — from resignation to indictment to plea — brought new focus on a state with a history of political scandals. The former governor, Mark Sanford, admitted violating campaign spending laws and was censured by state legislators after confessing to an extramarital affair with a woman in Argentina.
A grand jury had been investigating Mr. Ard since July. He has already paid more than $72,000 in fines and other costs after an ethics commission found he improperly spent funds after winning election. His violation of campaign laws was first reported by The Free Times in Columbia.
“This investigation is unprecedented in terms of who is involved and what crimes are alleged,” said Mr. Wilson, the state attorney general. “To our knowledge, the creation of such a fictitious campaign has never been criminally charged in the state’s history.”
By state law, the Senate president pro tem, Glenn McConnell, becomes lieutenant governor. Gov. Nikki R. Haley issued a statement calling Mr. Ard and his family “good people” and not commenting on the charges. “I valued Ken’s partnership and wish Ken and his family all of the best going forward,” she said.
In his statement, Mr. Ard said no one else from his campaign deserved punishment. “There are no excuses nor is there need to share blame,” he wrote. “It is my fault that the events of the past year have taken place.” | Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | March 2012 | ['(New York Times)'] |
Proud Boys supporter Eduard Florea is arrested in New York for threatening to lead an armed caravan to Washington, D.C. Additionally, Florea also threatened the life of Senator-elect Raphael Warnock. | A heavily armed Proud Boys wannabe from Queens stood back and stood by Wednesday as Brooklyn federal prosecutors accused him of leveling death threats against Georgia Sen.-elect Raphael Warnock and other politicians.
Eduard Florea, 40, watched via video feed as prosecutors described the discovery of his hateful and murderous posts on the far-right Parler app, along with a raid on his home, where authorities seized about 1,000 rounds of rifle ammunition, 24 shotgun shells, 75 combat knives, two hatchets and two swords.
“Dead men can’t write s--t laws,” read one of Florea’s Jan. 6 posts in the online forum. Authorities said the menacing remark referenced Warnock, a Black Democrat elected in Georgia’s Jan. 5 runoff election.
The post was written from the defendant’s Middle Village home on the same day as last week’s U.S. Capitol riot, officials said.
One day earlier, Florea — under the screen name “LoneWolfWar” — cast a wider net with another post referencing lawmakers in general: “I catch one of you f-----s in D.C. tomorrow, I’m definitely slicing a throat.”
Photos obtained Wednesday by the Daily News captured an armored FBI vehicle rolling down the suspect’s street and the moment Florea raised his hands in surrender Tuesday night outside his home.
“Florea, a previously convicted felon, made various social media posts about his plan to travel to Washington, D.C., to engage in acts of violence,” said FBI Assistant Director in Charge William Sweeney. “We saved him a trip and paid him a visit instead.”
Florea was ordered held without bail by U.S. Magistrate Judge Sanket Bulsara after Brooklyn federal prosecutor Francisco Navarro argued the defendant was a flight risk. Florea is due back in court Jan. 27.
“This is not just idle talk,” Navarro said of the threats. “The defendant told the FBI he supports the Proud Boys, an extremist organization, and he had applied to join. ... You can’t condemn what happened at the Capitol and hang out with the Proud Boys.”
According to the prosecutor, Florea accompanied members of the ultraright group when they vandalized a Washington church Dec. 12. And in another Jan. 6 web posting, he advocated violence in the aftermath of President Trump’s November election loss to Joe Biden.
“The time for peace and civility are over,” he wrote. “Three cars of armed patriots, guns cleaned and loaded, got a bunch of other guys waiting to deploy.”
Defense attorney Mia Eisner-Grynberg of Brooklyn Federal Defenders, while acknowledging that Florea wrote “some blather on the internet,” noted he was not in any car, does not own a car and never went to Washington for the riot at the U.S. Capitol following an incendiary speech by Trump.
She added that Florea is simply charged in the federal criminal complaint unsealed Wednesday with illegal possession of ammunition, not with making online threats.
“He rejects the entrance of any individual into the Capitol,” she said. “He does not condone [what happened on Jan. 6].”
An ex-pal of the suspect said he didn’t believe Florea is as dangerous as the feds claim.
“He’s a dog with all bark and no bite,” said Jake Preda, 41, who says he was friends with Florea for more than 25 years until they had a falling-out in 2015.
“He’s just a passive-aggressive guy,” Preda said. “When he’s faced with a lot of stress he will pop off.”
Florea was nabbed as part of a nationwide manhunt for alleged extremists who either participated in the Capitol siege or may be plotting a repeat around the presidential inauguration next Wednesday.
Navarro made much of Florea’s conviction in 2014 for possession of illegal guns on Staten Island, and a criminal case the same year in involving choking his wife.
But Eisner-Grynberg noted her client served a year in jail on the gun offense, his lone criminal conviction. She added that Florea was a software engineer employed since 2002, and lives with his wife and their two children — ages 8 and 4.
In the end, Judge Bulsara sided with prosecutors and locked Florea up without bail.
“While events were unfolding [at the Capitol], Mr. Florea continued to post and make clear frankly what reflects a premeditated plan to exact violence against people in New York and people in Washington — against United States senators,” Bulsara ruled.
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Arrest | January 2021 | ['(WNBC-TV)', '(Fox News)', '(The New York Daily News)'] |
Sabah Al–Khalid Al–Sabah is named by the Emir as the new Prime Minister of Kuwait, replacing Jaber Al–Mubarak Al–Hamad Al–Sabah. | Kuwait City: Kuwait’s ruler named Shaikh Sabah Al Khalid Al Sabah as prime minister on Tuesday, elevating him from his role as foreign minister, after a row between ruling family members and parliament in the Gulf state led the last government to resign.
State news agency KUNA said Emir Shaikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah asked Shaikh Sabah Al Khalid to form a new government.
The announcement came after the caretaker prime minister on Monday declined to be reappointed as premier.
Earlier, Kuwait’s Emir had assigned Shaikh Jaber Al Sabah with forming a new government on Monday, but Shaikh Jaber turned him down, apologising. He cited allegations about irregularities and “baseless lies” about him as the reason why he could not be the new prime minister.
“Out of respect to the invaluable confidence of Your Highness and out of appreciation to the Kuwait people, I find it necessary for me first to prove my innocence,” he said in a letter to the Emir.
In a statement on Saturday, Kuwait’s Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Shaikh Nasser accused Shaikh Jaber of not seriously tackling financial irregularities in the army.
Shaikh Nasser, who took the defence ministerial portfolio in December 2017, referred the issue to the country’s top prosecutor who in turn ordered a judicial committee to investigate it.
| Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration | November 2019 | ['(Gulf News)'] |
Thousands of Macau residents demonstrate against the government's labour policy and corruption on May Day, resulting in a clash with police. One bystander was injured. | Hundreds of people had been taking part in a May Day protest over alleged corruption and illegal labour.
Police fired shots into the air and used dogs to try to disperse the marchers, as they veered off the route.
Protesters were complaining about the lack of local jobs due to an influx of cheap foreign labour caused by a recent boom in Macau's lucrative casino trade.
They accuse the government of turning a blind eye to the situation.
Some protesters carried signs saying, "Severely punish employers of black market workers", while others called for Macau's political leaders to stand down.
"We are displeased with the labour crisis and the government's lack of action in dealing with it," said Ho Hen Kuok, president of the Macau Labour Union. "We don't want to see illegal labour being given jobs."
"The government is rich, the casinos are rich, but nobody is looking out for the Macau people," one marcher told the AFP news agency.
The protest turned violent as demonstrators tried to break through the police cordons lining their route.
Protesters surrounded one police vehicle and threw water bottles and placards at officers, who had boosted their lines with water cannons, the AFP reports.
Police also fired shots into the air, but it was not immediately clear if they had used blank or live rounds to disperse the crowds.
There were no reports of injuries, but several protesters were seen being led away by police.
Unlike nearby Hong Kong - another former European colony which was returned to China in the 1990s - such protests in Macau are uncommon.
Macau's population of 500,000 has a history of co-operation with the Beijing government.
The tiny territory has seen a surge in investment in recent years, with foreign gambling firms - mainly from the US - moving in to build new casino resorts.
Macau workers say that a resulting labour shortage in the territory has led many employers to hire cheap illegal labourers from mainland China. | Riot | May 2007 | ['(AP via International Herald Tribute)', '(BBC)'] |
An intruder interrupts proceedings to accuse Blair of being a war criminal, on the payroll of U.S. multinational JPMorgan Chase and implicit involvement in war crimes committed in Iraq. | LONDON, May 28 (UPI) -- An anti-war protester interrupted a British inquiry into press ethics as former Prime Minister Tony Blair was testifying Monday, calling Blair a "war criminal."
The protester accused Blair of being on the payroll of JPMorgan Chase when he sent British soldiers in support of American troops during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, The New York Times reported. "This man should be arrested for war crimes," the unidentified protester shouted before he was subdued by security personnel. "The man is a war criminal."
During his testimony, Blair spoke of his association with media mogul Rupert Murdoch Monday during an inquiry on British media ethics.
"British journalism at its best is the best in the world," Blair testified, explaining that a "close interaction" between media and politicians "has always been the case and is going to go on," the Times reported. However, Blair said, journalists sometimes blurred the line between news and commentary and were "driven with an aggression and a prejudice." "It stops being journalism. It becomes an instrument of political power or propaganda," he said, adding it wasn't "confined to the Murdoch media."
"I took the strategic decision to manage this, not confront it," he said of his relationship with British newspaper owners and editors. Asked whether he had got too close to News International, Blair said he had, but described his association as a working relationship, The Daily Telegraph reported.
"We were dealing with very powerful people who had a big impact on the political system," he said. Blair hasn't been linked to a core element of the inquiry led by Lord Justice Sir Brian Leveson -- the phone-hacking scandal that enveloped Murdoch's British newspaper subsidiary, News International, since July. The inquiry has focused on the apparently tight relationship between the Murdoch operation and Culture Minister Jeremy Hunt when Murdoch's News Corp. was trying to gain full ownership of satellite broadcaster BSkyB. The $12 billion bid was abandoned last year as the phone-hacking scandal swamped the Murdoch media empire in Britain. Hunt will testify Thursday. Murdoch's top tabloid, The Sun, backed Blair's Labor Party in the 1997 elections. Before the 2010 elections, in which Conservative David Cameron came to power as leader of a coalition government with Liberal Democrats, The Sun backed Cameron's Conservatives. "There's a view of Rupert Murdoch that he simply backs the winner," Blair said. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | May 2012 | ['(Al Jazeera)', '(UPI)', '(MSNBC)', '(The Belfast Telegraph)'] |
At least five people are killed, including the gunman, and a further eight injured in a shooting in Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands. | A man shot and killed four individuals before turning the gun on himself in two separate shootings in Marpi and Kannat Tabla.Details of the shootings are still sketchy.In the Kannat Tabla shooting, the fatalities were two men in their late 20s and early 30s, both local residents, and two children under 10 years old. The two adult victims sustained gunshot wounds in the head, and police are saying they were shot at close range.The shooter then proceeded to Last Command Post and shot a group of mostly Korean tourists, wounding eight. The victims included two Korean children. He then went to Banzai Cliff where he shot himself.Health Secretary Joseph Kevin Villagomez confirmed with Saipan Tribune that five individuals are dead. Eight others are injured and “all are expected to live.”He said four of those injured will be discharged.Teresa Kim, legal counsel for Lt. Gov. Eloy Inos, said at least one was critically injured and in surgery.Gov. Benigno R. Fitial, in an announcement on FM radio station Power 99 at past 3pm, said “everything is now under control” and asked the public for calm.Preliminary information stated that the gunman is an employee at the Marpi shooting range.“Earlier today, I was alerted to a fatal situation in the Marpi and Kannat Tabla areas of Saipan. I want to extend my heartfelt remorse and sadness to the individuals and families that were affected. The lt. governor and I are monitoring the situation closely and working with officials from DPS and the FBI and we will continue to keep everyone informed,” Fitial said.Fitial and Public Safety Commissioner Santiago Tudela will be holding a joint press conference at 4:15pm at the Department of Public Safety in Susupe.“I want to assure the people of the Commonwealth and all of our visiting tourists that the Department of Public Safety has the situation under control and that the individual responsible for these tragedies took his own life,” he said.The governor said all Public School System buildings followed the appropriate procedures and locked down all of the schools as of 1:30pm. DPS gave the all clear signal to PSS and other agencies that the situation is under control and they can lift the lockdown. | Armed Conflict | November 2009 | ['(Saipan Tribune)', '(BBC)', '(AP)'] |
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