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Authorities cannot contact the South Korean cargo freighter Stellar Daisy. It is believed that the ship sunk off the coast of Uruguay.
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More than 20 crew are feared dead after a South Korean cargo vessel went missing in the South Atlantic after making a mayday call.
A South Korean freighter with 24 people on board is missing in the Atlantic and is presumed capsized off the coast of Uruguay, according to media reports.
An oil slick some 3700km off the coast indicated that the 266,000-tonne Stellar Daisy had gone down, the Uruguayan navy said in a statement.
The vessel had issued an SOS on Friday.
South Korea's foreign ministry said on Sunday that two Filipino crew members were rescued floating in a life raft on Saturday, but other lifeboats and rafts found in the area were empty, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported.
"A search operation is continuing for the 22 people," a South Korean foreign ministry official in Seoul said by telephone, adding eight of the missing are South Korean nationals and 14 are Filipinos.
Yonhap reported that crew members had sent a text message on Friday to say that the Stellar Daisy was sinking.
It was en route from Brazil to South Africa.
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Shipwreck
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April 2017
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['(SBS Australia)']
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Victorino Chua, a nurse at Stepping Hill Hospital, Stockport, is found guilty for the murder of two patients following the 2011 Stepping Hill Hospital poisoning incident.
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A nurse has been convicted of murdering two patients and poisoning 20 others at a Greater Manchester hospital. Victorino Chua killed Tracey Arden, 44, and Derek Weaver, 83, at Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport by injecting insulin into saline bags and ampoules.
These were then unwittingly used by other hospital nurses on Chua's victims, who were mostly elderly.
The father of two, 49, who was cleared of a third murder charge, left one patient with a serious brain injury.
Chua, who was found not guilty of the murder of 71-year-old Arnold Lancaster but convicted of poisoning him, showed no emotion as the verdicts were passed. He will be sentenced on Tuesday.
Police and prosecutors have also now revealed concerns over whether Chua was even qualified to work as a nurse in the UK.
The poisoning took place on two wards, often used for treating elderly patients with complex illnesses, between June 2011 and January 2012.
After police were called in, Chua was said to have "changed tack" by sabotaging prescription charts, doubling and trebling dosages.
The Filipino father of two was arrested in January 2012 and rearrested in March 2014. Among the evidence produced by the prosecution was a self-penned letter found at Chua's home in Stockport.
In the letter, described as "the bitter nurse confession" by Chua, he said he was "an angel turned into an evil person" and "there's a devil in me", who had things he would "take to the grave".
The prosecution argued the Filipino national had decided to take out his personal frustrations on patients "for reasons truly known only to himself".
The arrest and charging of initial suspect, the nurse Rebecca Leighton, in July 2011, was a key part of the defence team's case. She spent six weeks in jail but was cleared of any wrongdoing.
Chua's defence claimed the prosecution was under "huge pressure" to bring someone in.
However, after 11 days of deliberations, the jury at Manchester Crown Court found Chua had indeed murdered two of his patients and caused harm to many others.
One of the victims, Philip Jones, said "he thought he was a goner" as a result of being poisoned by the nurse.
When asked why he thought Chua had poisoned him, he replied: "He must have been stressed out or something.
"I think he must have been on some medication or something. I can't see the sense in anybody doing anything like that to any family."
Zubia Aslam, who survived her saline drip being contaminated, said: "At least someone has been brought to justice and it gives a little peace of mind - but it still feels as though there is a scar left after all of this, a scar which will fade with time but which will never go away.
"Life has not been the same and never will be. This has turned my life upside down, but also that of my family and I still have questions about how this was allowed to happen in the first place."
Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said it was their "biggest case in a decade". Police and detectives hugged members of the legal team after the jury left court.
Ben Southam, from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), described the "complex case" as an "enormous task" involving thousands of pages of evidence. Outside court, Det Supt Simon Barraclough said: "It's been a search for the truth and the jury has reached the right decision." When GMP officers travelled to Manila, the capital of the Philippines, they discovered inconsistencies between his two nursing certificates.
Det Supt Barraclough said: "Those certificates don't correspond to each other. Even assuming one of them is right, the other is not." While police were unable to definitively confirm Chua's certification was forged, Det Supt Barraclough said: "All I can say is we have absolutely no confidence that those are bona-fide qualifications."
And prosecutors suspect Chua did not even sit his final nursing exam. Det Supt Barraclough said: "You have to present yourself with a photo of who you are to take the exam. When I look at that photograph, to me the person who presented to do that exam does not look remotely like Victorino Chua."
Judith Morris, nursing director at the Stockport NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Stepping Hill Hospital, said: "When he was employed by us we did our usual checks, which is checking to see if someone is on the Nursing and Midwifery Council register, which he was. "We did our normal two references, our occupational health clearance, police check - the same as we do for everybody - and we didn't have any concerns raised through that."
Analysis by Ed Thomas, North of England Correspondent
It took Greater Manchester Police three years to solve this case, which they said was like putting together a million-piece jigsaw. They had to interview hundreds of staff members and monitor hundreds of hours of CCTV.
But every single incident of poisoning had one common denominator - it led to Victorino Chua.
The court was told Chua would become angry with the families of his patients, and when his professionalism was questioned he decided to take it out on the people under his care.
Some of the victims who survived said they were conscious of what was going on but they couldn't speak, they couldn't ask for help.
Chua always said he was a great nurse and the patients loved him. But the truth was in a letter found at his home, in which he said "inside of me is a devil and, if pushed, they will be sorry".
Ann Barnes, chief executive of Stockport NHS Foundation Trust, described Chua's crimes as "shocking and appalling".
She said: "Our storage of saline and management of prescription charts at the time of the incident was typical of those in other hospitals across the country. "Whilst no hospital's systems and processes can offer a complete guarantee against the actions of a determined criminal, additional measures are now in place which go beyond standard practice."
Chua was found guilty of a total of 33 charges: two counts of murder, 22 counts of attempting to cause grievous bodily harm, one of causing grievous bodily harm, seven of attempting to administer a poison and one of administering a poison.
Two patients were found to have been murdered and 19 poisoned with insulin. A 22nd victim was poisoned after Chua changed her prescription chart and she was given the wrong drugs. One patient, Grant Misell, 41, was left with a serious brain injury.
The other victims of saline poisoning were Arnold Lancaster, 81, Josephine Walsh, 69, Jack Beeley, 72, Linda McDonagh, 59, Joseph "Eric" McDonald, 66, Antony Smith, 47, Joyce Atherton, 81, Beryl Hope, 70, Doreen Brace, 87, Kathleen Murray, Lillian Baker, 85, Beatrice Humphreys, 84, Mary Cartwright, 88, Lillian Armstrong, 83, Philip Jones, 67, William Dickson, 82, Daphne Harlow, 86, and 24-year-old Zubia Aslam.
Chua was found guilty of administering poison to Theresa Bailey by altering her prescription chart. CM Solicitors, the firm representing Chua, said their client continued to maintain his innocence and would be considering grounds for an appeal.
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Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence
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May 2015
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['(BBC News)']
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The King of Saudi Arabia, Abdullah al–Saud, offers to pay for repairs to the Jama Masjid in Delhi, India. The King also offers to fund education in India.
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A spokesman for India's foreign ministry confirmed the offer, which had earlier been made directly to the mosque's chief cleric.
The cleric, Ahmed Bukhari, said the 17th century structure was in urgent need of repair.
Media reports say the king also wants to fund education in India.
Concern
"I received the offer directly from the Saudi authorities but asked them to approach the government," Imam Bukhari told the BBC.
The mosque is classified as a historical monument and its maintenance is the responsibility of the Archaeological Survey of India, a government body responsible for the upkeep of historical sites and buildings.
We need millions of rupees for its restoration
Syed Ahmed Bukhari,chief cleric
"We have received this offer and it will be examined in consultation with the concerned authority," foreign ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna said.
Imam Bukhari said the minarets of the 17th century mosque needed to be repaired.
"We also need to polish the tombs and repair other parts of the structure."
The Times of India newspaper said the Saudi king also wanted to fund education in India.
Both offers have raised concerns with Indian security agencies who are said to fear that the money could be used to preach radical Islam, the Times reported.
The Jama Masjid was built in 1656 by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, who also built the Taj Mahal.
The red sandstone and marble edifice has a grand courtyard which can hold more than 20,000 worshippers.
"We need millions of rupees for its restoration," the imam said.
King Abdullah is due to visit India this month and will be the chief guest at the country's Republic Day celebrations.
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Financial Aid
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January 2006
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['(BBC)']
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The Toronto Police Service agrees to pay compensation of C$16.5 million (US$12.5M) to about 1,100 protesters who were wrongfully arrested in the city during the 2010 G20 summit.
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About 1,100 protesters who were wrongfully detained at the 2010 G20 summit in Toronto will receive compensation from the city’s police force after a historic C$16.5m (US$12.5m) settlement in a class-action lawsuit.
Under the settlement, which was announced late on Monday, each claimant will receive between $5,000 and $24,700, depending on the nature of their detention. They will also have their G20 protest-related records expunged.
Thousands of protesters travelled to downtown Toronto to protest against the convening of the G20 summit. The causes were numerous – anti-globalization, anti-poverty, pro-environment, pro-gay rights – and the protests leading up to the 26–27 June summit were peaceful.
During the summit, however, police cars were set on fire and a small band of masked protesters incited vandalism and violence.
The police responded by encircling more than a thousand people – including peaceful protesters, onlookers and journalists – at various locations then carried out mass arrests. At one point, hundreds were “kettled” in a torrential downpour and left to shiver in the cold.
Video footage at the time also showed officers using excessive force, teargas, pepper spray and rubber bullets against protesters.
At the makeshift detention centre, detainees were strip-searched. In 2014, Vice reported that the police trained surveillance cameras on the strip search rooms.
Ontario court judges later found that the police’s actions contravened the protesters’ civil rights, specifically their Charter rights to expression and peaceful assembly.
Supt David (Mark) Fenton – one of only a handful of officers, and the only senior officer, held responsible for the police’s actions at the G20 protest – said he chose to conduct mass and indiscriminate arrests in an attempt to “take back the city”. His punishment resulted in the loss of 60 paid vacation days.
The settlement comes after “10 years of intense court proceedings and difficult negotiations” according to the class-action group’s website.
As part of the settlement, Toronto Police Services are required to make a public statement regarding its role in the G20 affair. That statement will only be released when the court approves the settlement in October.
Toronto police were also required to make a public commitment about how it will better handle protests in the future.
Those details, found in the settlement document, include changes to containment and detention procedures.
Sherry Good, a representative of the complainants, said she was still troubled by her memories of what happened.
“The terrifying way in which I and 400 others were suddenly and arbitrarily surrounded and held by riot police on a street corner for four hours in a freezing downpour changed forever the way I look at police, and continues to give me chills.
“I believe that this settlement agreement does bring about some justice, and I hope, and I think, that our freedom of expression rights will now be better respected for a long time to come,” she said in a statement.
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Organization Fine
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August 2020
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['(The Guardian)']
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Car bombs in Baghdad and three northern Iraqi cities kill at least 22 people and injure more than 60 others.
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BAGHDAD, Dec. 5 Car bombs in Baghdad and three northern Iraqi cities killed at least 22 people and wounded more than 60 others on Wednesday, as Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates arrived for an unannounced visit with senior Iraqi officials. Taken together, the killings, including a suicide car bomb attack that killed 14 people on a crowded street in a relatively safe Baghdad neighborhood, accounted for the highest daily death toll in several weeks and served as a vicious reminder that the months-long decline in violence was not a sure harbinger of any lasting peace. None of the bombings occurred close to the defense secretary or his entourage. The first three car bombings occurred in Mosul, Kirkuk and Baquba three cities north of Baghdad where insurgents linked to Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the Iraqi group that the American military says is foreign-led, have battled Iraqi and American forces for control.
But the most deadly attack Wednesday occurred just before 5 p.m., in Baghdad’s mostly Shiite Karada district, across the Tigris River from the fortified Green Zone, where Mr. Gates was about to hold a news conference with the Iraqi defense minister. A suicide car bomb detonated near the Abdul Rasul Ali mosque, a Shiite shrine, as scores of local residents were shopping in preparation for the four-day holiday, Id al-Adha, the feast of sacrifice, which begins in two weeks.
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Armed Conflict
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December 2007
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['(The New York Times)']
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Protests against poor living conditions break out in the central town of Jilma, Tunisia after a man set himself on fire for the same reason on Friday. Police use tear gas to disperse the protestors.
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TUNIS (Reuters) - Tunisian police used tear gas to disperse dozens of protesters who blocked roads in the southern town of Jelma on Saturday following the death of a young man who burned himself to death, witnesses said.
Abdelwahed Hablani, 25, set himself on fire and died in hospital on Friday in protest at poverty and poor living conditions, echoing the 2010 self immolation of Mohammed Bouazizi, whose death triggered the Arab Spring.
The protesters on Saturday afternoon burnt tires before police intervened to reopen roads, firing tear gas canisters, the witnesses said, but the demonstrations were continuing late into Saturday evening.
Hablani had occasional work as a casual laborer in Jelma, located near Bouazizi’s home city of Sidi Bouzid in Tunisia’s deeply impoverished interior. He was buried on Saturday.
Since Bouazizi’s death in December 2010, numerous young men have followed his example by setting themselves alight in the face of Tunisia’s chronic economic difficulties.
Mass protests that followed Bouazizi’s funeral resulted in January 2011 in a revolution that pushed from power the veteran autocrat Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who died in exile in Saudi Arabia in September, and introduced democracy.
Tunisia held free presidential and parliamentary elections in September and October, but economic frustrations and perceived failures of repeated elected governments to improve state services led voters to largely reject the major parties.
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Protest_Online Condemnation
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November 2019
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['(Reuters)']
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The International Atomic Energy Agency confirms that Iran has carried out its plan to produce uranium metal at a nuclear facility in Isfahan, a major breach of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. Uranium metal is essential to making the core of a nuclear weapon.
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VIENNA (Reuters) - Iran has carried out its plan to produce uranium metal, the U.N. atomic watchdog confirmed on Wednesday, despite Western powers having warned Iran that would breach their 2015 nuclear deal as uranium metal can be used to make the core of an atom bomb.
Iran began breaching its nuclear deal with major powers step by step in 2019 in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the deal the previous year and Washington’s reimposition of sanctions on Tehran.
Iran has in recent months accelerated those breaches of the deal’s restrictions on its atomic activities, potentially complicating efforts to bring the United States back into the deal under President Joe Biden.
A law passed in response to the killing of its top nuclear scientist in November, which Tehran blames on its foe Israel, called for steps including opening a uranium metal plant. Iran told the International Atomic Energy Agency in December it planned to produce uranium metal fuel for a research reactor.
“Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi today informed IAEA Member States about recent developments regarding Iran’s R&D activities on uranium metal production as part of its stated aim to produce fuel for the Tehran Research Reactor,” the IAEA said in a statement.
Wednesday’s report, seen by Reuters, and a previous one said that Iran planned to carry out research on uranium metal using natural uranium before moving on to uranium metal enriched to 20%, the level it is enriching uranium to now, short of the 90% that is weapons grade.
“The Agency on 8 February verified 3.6 gram of uranium metal at Iran’s Fuel Plate Fabrication Plant (FPFP) in Esfahan,” the IAEA statement added.
France, Britain and Germany, all parties to the deal, last month said they were “deeply concerned” and that Iran’s uranium metal production had no civilian credibility but potentially serious military implications.
The 2015 deal’s central aim was to extend the time Iran would need to produce enough fissile material for a nuclear bomb to at least a year from roughly 2-3 months. Iran, however, denies ever pursuing nuclear weapons and says it only wants to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.
U.S. intelligence agencies and the IAEA believe Iran had a secret, coordinated nuclear weapons programme that it halted in 2003.
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Tear Up Agreement
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February 2021
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['(Reuters)']
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British author Howard Jacobson wins the Man Booker Prize for Fiction for his book The Finkler Question.
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British author and broadcaster Howard Jacobson has edged out the favourites to win the Man Booker Prize for Fiction, scooping the £50,000 literary prize for his novel, The Finkler Question. It is the first comic novel to win the award in its 42-year history.
A high-spirited Jacobson, who has taught at the University of Sydney, accepted the award at Guildhall in central London and told journalists: "I have been waiting for this for a long time … I was starting to look like the novelist that never ever won the Booker Prize."
Man, he's won the Booker ... British author Howard Jacobson.Credit:Jenny Jacobson
Jacobson has been longlisted twice: in 2006 for Kalooki Nights and in 2002 for Who's Sorry Now, but has never before been shortlisted.
--------------Read our review of The Finkler Question--------------
He admitted to experiencing some bitterness at being repeatedly passed over but joked that "being shortlisted felt like an embrace … It has now been consummated".
The Finkler Question is a portrait of friendship between three ageing men, two of whom have recently been widowed. Chairman of the judges' panel, Sir Andrew Motion, said: "It would be a bit over the top to say it's Shakespearean. But he certainly knows something that Shakespeare knew. That the relationship between comedy and tragedy are intimately linked.
"It is a book about Jewishness. But it is so much more than that. It is a book about male friendship - and how we don't always like our friends."
Jacobson spent 12 years living and working in Australia and said the country had had a "huge influence" on his writing and humour.
His closest friend, Terry Collits, a former master at Chisholm College at La Trobe University, passed away last year. The novel is dedicated to him.
His travel book, In the Land of Oz, was based on his research while he was in Australia.
Australian writer Peter Carey missed out on becoming the first to win the prize for a third time, for his novel, Parrot and Olivier in America.
But Carey wasn't a hot favourite. British novelist Tom McCarthy's C, an experimental work exploring a man's relationship with early radio, had been strongly tipped by bookmaker William Hill to win.
This was followed by South African Damon Galgut's In A Strange Room, and Irish author Emma Donaghue's Room, which was inspired by the case of Josef Fritzl, the Austrian who imprisoned and raped his daughter.
The Long Song, a tale of the last years of slavery in Jamaica by Briton Andrea Levy was the sixth title on the list.
Carey's book is a humorous portrait of a friendship between a French aristocrat and an English servant, and explores the nature of American democracy. He first won the Booker in 1998, for Oscar and Lucinda, and again in 2001, for True History of the Kelly Gang.
The Man Booker Prize typically delivers a boom in sales for the winning author – last year's winner, Hilary Mantel, sold about 250,000 copies of her book Wolf Hall between winning the award and Christmas.
However, while Donaghue's Room has been the best seller of the Booker shortlist, it was still being outsold by The Slap by Melbourne writer Christos Tsiolkas. The Slap made it to the final 13 but missed out on the shortlist
Last week, bookmaker Ladbrokes closed betting early on the prize, citing a mysterious run of bets on McCarthy's novel.
On Sunday, Ion Trewin, the literary director for the Man Booker said that any suggestion that the judges had made their decision last week, much less leaked it, was a “monstrous suggestion”.
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Awards ceremony
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October 2010
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['(Sydney Morning Herald)']
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French President Emmanuel Macron pledges to rebuild the Cathedral after the fire.
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Hundreds of millions of euros have been pledged to help rebuild Notre-Dame after a devastating fire partially destroyed the French cathedral.
The fire, declared fully extinguished some 15 hours after it began, ravaged the 850-year-old building's roof and caused its spire to collapse.
But firefighters who worked through the night managed to save the Paris landmark's main stone structure, including its two towers.
The cause of the fire is not yet clear.
Paris public prosecutor Rémy Heitz said his office was "favouring the theory of an accident", but had assigned 50 people to work on what he believed would be a "long" and "complex" investigation.
Other officials have suggested it could be linked to extensive renovation works taking place at the cathedral. Thoughts are now turning to how Notre-Dame will be rebuilt.
French President Emmanuel Macron vowed to reconstruct the historic building even as the fire still burned, while a number of companies and business tycoons have so far pledged about €600m ($677m; £519m) between them. Offers of help with the reconstruction have also poured in from around the globe, with European Council President Donald Tusk calling on EU member states to rally round.
The blaze was discovered at 18:43 (16:43 GMT), and firefighters were called. The flames quickly reached the roof of the cathedral, destroying the wooden interior before toppling the spire.
Fears grew that the cathedral's famous towers would also be destroyed.
But while a number of fires did begin in the towers, French Deputy Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said they were successfully stopped before they could spread.
By the early hours of Tuesday, the fire was declared under control, with the Paris fire service saying it was fully extinguished by 10:00 local time (08:00 GMT).
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Fire
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April 2019
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['(BBC)']
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At least seven people are killed in clashes between Turkish security forces and Kurdish protesters across southeast Turkey, as Turkish authorities declare new curfews across the restive region. According to the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey, 52 curfews have been imposed since mid-August by Turkish authorities across seven Turkish provinces in the region, placing around 1.3 million people under curfew.
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DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (Reuters) - Seven people were killed in clashes with security forces in Turkey’s mainly Kurdish southeast, officials said on Monday, as authorities declared curfews across the restive region.
The clashes are the latest in months of violence following the collapse of a ceasefire between the government and the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in July. Since then, Ankara has imposed round-the-clock curfews in many areas.
Two people were killed as police clashed with crowds protesting against a security crackdown in the main southeastern city of Diyarbakir, a hospital official and witnesses said.
Further south, five Kurdish militants were killed in Mardin province’s Dargecit district, another area under curfew, security officials said. It was not clear exactly when they were killed.
Armored police vehicles roamed Diyarbakir’s streets, firing water cannon and tear gas as hundreds gathered for a march called by the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) to protest a two-week-long curfew in the city’s district of Sur.
Teargas billowed in the city streets as armored vehicles sped around and protesters lobbed stones at police. Shopkeepers shuttered their stores ahead of the protest, which the government said was banned. Few buses were operating, rubbish was not collected and most students did not go to school.
Youths with scarves masking their faces tried to block streets with piles of bricks and burning wood before police pursued them into side streets.
In Sirnak province, the governor imposed a curfew in two towns near the borders of both Syria and Iraq from Monday night, a day after teachers were seen streaming out of the area on the orders of education authorities.
Locals, anticipating that the teachers were being recalled ahead of a curfew, formed queues at bakeries and shops to buy food, witnesses said. Several thousand teachers are based in the towns.
The two towns of Cizre and Silopi were under tight security, with police armored vehicles stationed at the entrances to both, witnesses said.
“A curfew is declared to neutralize separatist terror group members, remove explosives-laden barricades and ditches ... and secure public order,” the Sirnak governor’s office said in a statement. It said the curfew would begin at 11 p.m. (4 p.m. EDT).
A curfew was also imposed on Monday in the town of Nusaybin on the Syrian border to restore order “in response to increasing terror incidents”, state authorities in the town announced.
According to data compiled by the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey, 52 curfews have been imposed since mid-August across seven Turkish provinces in the region, affecting areas where some 1.3 million people live.
The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group launched its insurgency in 1984 and more than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict. It is designated as a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and European Union.
Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by Richard Balmforth
.
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Riot
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December 2015
|
['(Reuters)']
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At least 23 patients are killed and 23 injured in a psychiatric hospital fire in the Voronezh Oblast in western Russia. The remaining 24 patients were safely evacuated.
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A fire at a psychiatric hospital in southern Russia has killed 23 patients, most of them elderly, in the latest tragedy to hit mental health hospitals in the country.
Seventy patients and four nurses were in the ward when the fire broke out shortly before midnight Saturday (local time) at the hospital in the village of Alferovka, located in the southern Voronezh region.
Most of those who perished in the blaze were in their 60s and 70s, although some were in their 40s and 50s, according to a list of patients released by the emergencies ministry.
"The bodies of 23 people have been found during an on-site inspection," Russia's Investigative Committee said in a statement on Sunday, adding that a further 23 people were hospitalised.
The state-owned Rossiya 24 news channel said those who died were bedridden patients who had been given tranquillizers.
"They simply did not wake up," a correspondent reported from the scene.
The fire reduced the wooden hospital building to its scorched foundations, with footage showing rescue workers combing through the smoking ruins.
It took more than 440 firefighters and emergency workers, who arrived at the scene aboard 80 vehicles, about three hours to bring the fire under control.
It was not immediately clear what triggered the blaze.
The Investigative Committee, which reports directly to Russian president Vladimir Putin, said it opened a criminal probe into the deaths on suspicion of negligence.
The fire was the latest tragedy to hit a psychiatric institution in Russia, where outdated Soviet-era infrastructure is still in widespread use and managers often take a lax approach to fire safety.
Scores of people also die in house fires each year.
A fire at a psychiatric hospital in north-west Russia in September 2013 left 37 people dead while another blaze in April of the same year killed 38.
In 2009, 156 people were killed in a nightclub fire in the city of Perm, 1,200 kilometres east of Moscow in one of the deadliest accidents in Russia's modern history.
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Fire
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December 2015
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['(ABC News America)', '(AP via The Charlotte Observer)', '[permanent dead link]']
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12 people are killed and 12 injured after a bus falls from a bridge near South Korea's main Incheon International Airport.
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A bus has fallen from a bridge near the main international airport serving the South Korean capital Seoul, killing 12 passengers, police have said.
Another 12 passengers were injured when the bus fell about 10m (30ft) from the bridge onto a construction site below.
The bus had just left Songdo district in Incheon City for Incheon international airport, some 20km away.
Some reports said the bus was trying to avoid a parked car when it struck a guard rail and fell.
The bridge links Incheon with the airport, which is 70km west of Seoul, on Yeongjong island.
The nationalities of the passengers have not been confirmed.
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Road Crash
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July 2010
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['(BBC)', '(The Korea Herald)', '(Taiwan News)']
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At least five people are killed and dozens injured when a charter bus swerved into a support pole on California Highway 99 near the town of Livingston in Merced County. The bus was headed to Pasco, Washington.
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At least five people were killed and numerous people seriously injured early Tuesday when a violent crash tore a charter bus down the middle on Highway 99 in Merced County, the California Highway Patrol said. The northbound bus struck the support pole for a sign marking the Hammatt Avenue exit near the town of Livingston, CHP Officer Moises Onsurez told The Times. The crash occurred about 3:35 a.m., authorities said. The pole split the white bus down the middle, tearing through it as it kept moving forward after impact, Onsurez said. Video images from the Merced Sun-Star showed firefighters climbing through windows in the early morning darkness, and a road lined with ambulances. “This collision is a catastrophic event,” Onsurez said. About 30 passengers were aboard the vehicle, and some suffered major injuries, Onsurez said. About five injured people were flown to hospitals, officials said. The cause of the crash remains under investigation.
Northbound Highway 99 was closed in the area throughout the day.
Authorities have identified the bus driver as 57-year-old Mario David Vasquez from Los Angeles, Onsurez said. Vasquez “sustained major injuries” and was hospitalized Tuesday morning, he said.
The bus originated in Mexico and had stopped in Los Angeles on Monday night, Onsurez said. It made a stop in Livingston and was headed to Pasco, Wash., Onsurez said. Interested in the stories shaping California? Sign up for the free Essential California newsletter >>
The bus is registered to Autobuses Coordinados USA Inc., according to the California Department of Motor Vehicles. The company has an office in East Los Angeles. Phone calls by The Times were not answered. The 1998 vehicle weighs 16,000 pounds when empty, and its registration was valid through August 31, the DMV said. Television news trucks waited Tuesday afternoon outside the red, white and green building on Olympic Boulevard where a Autobuses Coordinados USA office is located. The building houses several bus companies, and an area with a sign reading “A-Coordinados USA” had an empty seat behind the desk. Signs near the Autobuses Coordinados area read “Airport, Tijuana every hour” in Spanish, and displayed travel locations, including Northern California, Oregon and Washington, including the city of Pasco. Other signs read: “Payments in cash only” and “no refund on tickets.”
Workers inside the building were directing reporters outside, and people working at other ticketing desks said their companies were not associated with the bus that crashed. Adrian Meza, of Montebello, stood outside the building, curious about the news crews gathered there. His sister and 15-year-old nephew had tickets to return to Mexico on Tuesday night. He always comes to the location to drop them off and pick them up when they visit, he said.
“This is a real surprise,” Meza said after hearing about the Merced County crash. Though he was using a different bus company, he said he was going to cancel the tickets, concerned about his family’s safety. The bus involved in the crash has been cited for at least seven violations over the last two years, according to Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration records that identify the charter bus by its license plate number. During an inspection in Oregon on Feb. 5, 2015, Autobuses Coordinados USA was cited because the bus’ driver was behind the wheel despite having a suspended commercial driver’s license, records show. During that same inspection, the bus received two citations for “inoperable required lamp” and one citation for having a damaged or discolored windshield. A roadside inspection in California on April 28 yielded three violations. The vehicle had a defective or no brake-warning device, prohibited aisle seats and other maintenance problems, records show. Autobuses Coordinados USA has been cited for dozens of other violations over the last two years, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
|
Road Crash
|
August 2016
|
['(NBC News)', '(Los Angeles Times)']
|
Proud Boys chairman Enrique Tarrio is arrested for destroying a Black Lives Matter sign at the Asbury United Methodist Church during a protest in Washington, D.C. last month.
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Follow NBC News Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio was arrested Monday and accused of destroying a Black Lives Matter sign at a historic Black church in Washington, D.C., last month.
Tarrio, chairman of the far-right, all-male self-described group of "Western chauvinists," was taken into custody on suspicion of destruction of property after the incident during a pro-Trump rally Dec. 12 in downtown Washington, police said in a statement.
One of the city's oldest Black houses of worship, Asbury United Methodist Church, said last month that a Black Lives Matter sign was removed from its building and set on fire.
Tarrio, 36, who lives in Miami, was arrested upon entering the city Monday and found to have two high-capacity magazines, police said. He faces an additional gun charge, police said.
More pro-Trump protests are expected in Washington on Wednesday, plans that prompted the mobilization of the National Guard ahead of possible violence.
Separately Monday, Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church sued Tarrio and the Proud Boys in connection with the destruction of a Black Lives Matter sign during the same Dec. 12 pro-Trump rally.
In a complaint filed in D.C. Superior Court, the church accused Tarrio and the group's members of "engaging in acts of terror and vandalizing church property in an effort to intimidate the Church and silence its support for racial justice."
Eight unidentified members of the Proud Boys are also named in the suit.
The incident occurred the night of Dec. 12 after an event that featured right-wing figures like conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn.
A widely circulated video showed several people destroying a Black Lives Matter sign in front of the church, which was founded in 1872 and hosted Frederick Douglass' 1895 funeral.
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Famous Person - Commit Crime - Arrest
|
January 2021
|
['(NBC News)']
|
Egypt's military police and riot police end a three–week Tahrir Square sit–in.
|
Since 8 July, 22 days ago, thousands of protesters, including some of the families of those killed during the January 25 Revolution, have occupied the square.
These protesters and the dozens of revolutionary youths groups and political parties that supported them, aimed to pressure the ruling military council on a number of political demands, including a speedy trial for Mubarak and the police officers accused of killing at least 1,000 people and injuring 10,000 others during the uprising.
In the last two weeks, the government of Prime Minister Essam Sharaf made a number of concessions to the families of the martyrs and the protesters, which included replacing most ministers in his four-month-old cabinet, forcing hundreds of high-ranking police officers into retirement, and placing some accused officers on desk duty pending their trials.
In the last two days, and as the Muslim holy month of Ramadan approached, a number of political groups and coalitions which were taking part in the sit-in withdrew from the square in order to give Sharaf a chance to implement his promised reforms.
As of this morning, only several hundred protesters, and perhaps less, remained in the square. However, most of those who decided to continue the occupation did announce that they intended to call it off on Wednesday if the military council honoured its promise to begin trial procedures for former president Mubarak, as it had promised the country over two months ago.
Nevertheless, at around 2.30 this afternoon, the ruling military council sent troops into Tahrir to end a sit-in that has caused it plenty of headaches over the past few weeks.
The military council attacked Tahrir square from all directions without prior warning. Dozens of tanks belonging to the central security forces, army tanks and small personnel carriers stormed into the square from all directions. Soldiers rushed camping protesters and destroyed every single one of the dozens of tents used as shelter in the past three weeks.
Police and army soldiers arrested dozens of protesters and led them into military tanks that eventually sped out of the square, presumably headed towards military processing stations.
For about an hour, military police and regular police chased after handfuls of protesters in the alleys and side streets that surround Tahrir.
Angry groups of vigilantes worked with the army to help it identify suspected “revolutionaries”, and arrested a number of them.
High-ranking police officers searched the fast food chain Hardees on the south side of the square and other stores that remained open for rebels who might be hiding out.
By 4pm, as it became clear that the army was in control of the square, cars and buses were moving in and out of the area for the first time in weeks. Dozens of storeowners, Salafis, and others who opposed the sit-in had gathered in the square to thank army and police generals for ending the sit-in.
Army officers gave soldiers who led the charge on the protesters a much-needed break on the lawns opposite the Mugama, the massive administrative building on the western edge of the square. Some fasting soldiers conducted afternoon prayers hastily. A few minutes later, the officers lined up the exhausted soldiers and led them in a chant of, “Egypt! Egypt!”
Suddenly, at around 4:15pm, a group of 75 protesters and supporters managed to regroup in the square and organised a counter-protest. Carrying whatever pictures of martyrs that they had managed to salvage from the battle, they chanted, “Arrest one, arrest one hundred, we will continue the fight!” Pro-army crowds tried to drown out the protesters by chanting: “The army and the people are one hand!”
However, the standoff between the two sides lasted only six or seven minutes. Well-rested military police soldiers marched on the protesters and physically pushed them out of the square.
During those tense two hours, this reporter witnessed plainclothes and undercover cops bashing some of those they arrested on the head before pushing them into military tanks that drove them away from the square.
A few dozen young people tried to plead with army generals to halt the brutal treatment of those arrested but to no avail.
Through the attack operation, dozens of plainclothes police personnel, who resembled those that Mubarak used for decades to break unrest, roamed the square. They wore army and police vests, checked identification cards randomly and confiscated a number of cameras from bystanders and reporters.
As of 7pm, civil liberties lawyers were rushing towards Abadeen Palace near downtown Cairo where they believe the army was preparing to process those it arrested in the square. According to most independent observers in the square, the army had detained at least 26 people and four others were considered missing.
On its Facebook page, the Revolution Youth Coalition, one of the main revolutionary political groups in Egypt, unequivocally, “condemned the army and police attack on peaceful protesters in the square on the first day of the holy month of Ramadan”. “We believe that the protesters have the right to peacefully sit-in in the square,” the statement read.
Other activists have started mobilising to pressure the army to release those individuals it detained this afternoon.
Today’s army raid on Tahrir Square is the third time the military council has ordered attacks on protesters who decided to use the square to make a political point that the generals did not approve of. The first two attacks took place consecutively on March 9 and April 9 of this year.
|
Protest_Online Condemnation
|
August 2011
|
['(The Washington Post)', '(The National)', '[permanent dead link]', '(Al–Ahram)']
|
Russian billionaire Ashot Egiazaryan, facing charges of financial crimes, flees to the United States claiming persecution.
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Billionaire Russian lawmaker Ashot Egiazaryan poses for a portrait in a Washington law office Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2011, after fleeing Russia over accusations that some of its richest and most influential people swindled him in a real estate deal. Egiazaryan tells The Associated Press he's considering seeking asylum in the U.S. But after suing another Russian billionaire and several ex-business partners, including Moscow's former mayor and two longtime friends of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, he said he doesn't feel completely safe even in this country. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A wealthy Russian lawmaker has fled with his family to the United States, where he says he fears assassination over accusations that some of Russia's richest and most influential people swindled him in a real estate deal. Back home, he's been charged with financial crimes.
Ashot Egiazaryan (pronounced Ah-shawt Yeh-gee-ah-zar-ee-AHN) says he is considering seeking asylum in the U.S. But after suing a Russian billionaire and several former business partners -- including a close friend of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Moscow's former mayor -- he said he doesn't feel safe even in this country.
"I do think it's possible than an assassination attempt can be mounted against me here," he said flanked by lawyers in a conference room a few blocks the White House. The interview with The Associated Press was his first with Western media and came a few weeks after one of his relatives was gunned down in the Russian city of Astrakhan on Dec. 7, an attack he claims is connected with his suit.
The struggle over the Moskva Hotel, a prime piece of Moscow real estate, is now being waged in a civil court in Cyprus, the London Court of International Arbitration, on the Web and on Capitol Hill. It provides a rare insider's view of the often ruthless world of money, power and politics in Russia, where wealth and connections can sometimes trump property rights and the rule of law.
The case could become a headache for the Obama administration. The U.S. is counting on Moscow's support in everything from the fight against extremists in Afghanistan to efforts to derail the nuclear programs of Iran and North Korea.
If the 45-year-old Egiazaryan seeks to remain in the U.S., the administration could face a difficult choice: risk angering the Kremlin by sheltering a high-ranking Russian official charged with financial crimes, or force a fugitive to return and face a legal system that even Russian officials recognize is riddled with corruption and cronyism.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev came into office in 2008 pledging to battle what he called Russia's "legal nihilism." But so far, many inside and outside Russia see more rhetoric than reform. The respected watchdog group Transparency International's latest rankings place Russia 146th out of 180 countries in its corruption index, just ahead of Sierra Leone but behind Kenya.
For two years, Egiazaryan told the AP, he was subjected to groundless police raids, personal smears and anonymous death threats as he struggled to hang onto his $2 billion stake in a project to tear down the Moskva, an old Soviet hotel a few dozen steps from the Kremlin, and reconstruct it as a five-star luxury establishment.
He says he was forced to hand over his share in the hotel in June 2009 after a campaign of intimidation that included raids by armed police on some of his partners and businesses and threats of criminal prosecution. He said he was the target of anonymous threats, including threats to behead his children.
Last September, shortly after Egiazaryan arrived in the U.S., his lawyers filed a civil suit in a court in Cyprus charging the billionaire Russian investor Suleiman Kerimov with leading a hostile takeover of the Moskva hotel project.
The court ordered a freeze on about $6 billion in Kerimov's assets as well as the assets of several of Egiazaryan's former partners in the project. They include Moscow's canny and colorful former mayor, Yuri Luzhkov, and Arkady Rotenberg, Putin's longtime judo partner.
A New York lawyer representing Kerimov in this country, Eliot Lauer, denied the allegations. "They are total fabrications," he said.
Lauer said Egiazaryan transferred his interest in the Moskva Hotel as part of a legitimate business deal. "He was overextended," Lauer said. "He was deep in debt and he was facing financial ruin." A year later, Lauer said, Egiazaryan "concocted this scheme" to regain control.
Within weeks of the suit, Egiazaryan was stripped of his legislative immunity by his fellow deputies in parliament, charged with fraud by Russian prosecutors and put on his country's wanted list. Several of his Russian properties have been seized.
In coming weeks, the judge in Cyprus is expected to rule on a defense challenge to the asset freeze.
The dispute spilled into cyberspace. An anonymous website appeared detailing a long list of allegations against Egiazaryan. He fought back with two websites of his own, including http://www.ashot-egiazaryan.com, where he has published documents that he said support his allegations that he is the victim of persecution.
Egiazaryan compared himself to other business and political figures who have run afoul of Russia's political elites -- including Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the former Yukos Oil chairman who has twice been convicted of financial crimes. Many Russian human rights activists say Khodorkovsky's prosecution was politically inspired.
But two of Khodorkovsky's most prominent supporters, rights advocates Lyudmila Alexeyeva of the Moscow Helsinki Group and Lev Ponomarev of Russia's For Human Rights, wrote to key U.S. lawmakers Jan. 29, urging them to raise questions with the State Department and Department of Homeland Security about Egiazaryan's continuing presence in the U.S.
Alexeyeva criticized Egiazaryan's role on a parliamentary committee he helped found on human rights in Chechnya. Alexeyeva wrote that the panel had provided cover for well-documented atrocities during Russia's second war with Chechen insurgents.
Drew Holiner, a lawyer representing Egiazaryan, denied the allegations. He contended the two Russian rights advocates were "misled" into writing the letters, which he called part of a "black PR" campaign against his client. "We're going to find out who misled them, and why," he said.
Alexeyeva told the AP on Sunday that she had met with people who spoke on Egiazaryan's behalf and that she was now uncertain of the facts in her letter. She said she planned to look more closely at the case of the fugitive lawmaker on Monday.
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Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse
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February 2011
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['(AP via Yahoo! News)']
|
The UK's National Union of Journalists calls off a second planned 48–hour strike at the BBC scheduled for 15 and 16 November after the Corporation agrees to hold talks aimed at resolving a dispute over pension scheme changes.
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The National Union of Journalists has called off a 48-hour strike at the BBC planned for next Monday and Tuesday over proposed pension scheme changes.
The NUJ said the BBC had agreed to hold talks and to resolve disciplinary action taken against three overseas employees after an earlier walkout.
That strike last Friday and Saturday forced some news programmes on BBC radio and TV to go off air.
The BBC welcomed the NUJ's move but said the offer would not be changed.
In an e-mail to staff, director general Mark Thompson wrote: "The BBC has not changed its pension reform package in any way. "We cannot afford to revisit the terms of the agreement we reached with the joint unions at the beginning of October and will not do so." He added that BBC management were "very willing to give both unions and staff greater clarity about how the pension reform package will work" and would be able to do so after the staff consultation ended on 15 November. Speaking earlier, Jeremy Dear, the NUJ's general secretary, said the union was "pleased the BBC has changed its position and agreed to talks".
"We will endeavour to reach a negotiated settlement," he continued.
The NUJ, which has 4,100 members at the BBC, voted to reject the corporation's "final" offer on pensions at the end of October.
The broadcasting union Bectu voted to accept the deal.
Radio 4's Today programme was cancelled on Friday 5 November as a result of the 48-hour walkout, although it went to air on Saturday. The BBC's main news bulletins also went ahead as planned, despite the strike.
|
Strike
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November 2010
|
['(BBC)']
|
Demonstrations spread to the second city of Belarus—Gomel—where 2,000 march against a 2015 tax law.
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MINSK (Reuters) - Street protests against a tax on adults who are not in full-time work spread from Belarus’s capital Minsk to other towns on Sunday, local media reported.
Around 2,000 people took to the streets of Gomel, Belarus’s second city, the independent news agency tut.by reported, and hundreds more marched in other cities.
The new tax, enshrined in a decree on preventing social dependency, widely known as the “Law against social parasites”, requires those who declare less than 183 days of work per year to pay $250 in compensation for lost taxes - more than half an average monthly salary.
On Friday, about 2,000 people demonstrated in Minsk, one of the largest protests of recent years under the authoritarian rule of President Alexander Lukashenko.
The protests were unauthorized but appeared to be tolerated by the authorities.
Belarus has been in recession since 2015 due to a slump in oil prices and contagion from an economic downturn in neighbouring Russia, where many Belarussians work in order to send money home.
Tax authorities say around 470,000 people are liable for the tax, but fewer than 10 percent have paid, generating just $6 million in extra revenue for the government.
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Protest_Online Condemnation
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February 2017
|
['(Reuters)']
|
A court in the Indian city of Mumbai convicts and sentences Ankur Panwar to the death penalty for a fatal acid–throwing attack.
|
A man in the Indian city of Mumbai has been sentenced to death for a fatal acid attack on a woman at a busy railway station three years ago, in what is being seen as a legal landmark.
Preeti Rathi, who was 23 when she was murdered, had just arrived from Delhi to join the Indian navy as a nurse. Her neighbour Ankur Panwar attacked her after she rejected a marriage proposal. It is the first such sentence for an acid attack in India. Many such attacks go unpunished, campaigners say. Panwar, 25, was convicted of murder and other offences at a special court in the city on Tuesday. He is likely to appeal against the verdict in a higher court.
On Thursday, the special court said that the crime fell within the "rarest of rare" category which justified the death penalty.
Ms Rathi, who suffered severe injuries to her lungs and eyes in the attack on 2 May 2013, died a month later. A month after her death, India's Supreme Court ordered federal and state governments to regulate the sale of acid.
The court ruled that acid could only be sold to people who showed a valid identity card. However, critics say that it is still widely and easily available.
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Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence
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September 2016
|
['(BBC)']
|
India arrests 75 Kashmiri political leaders and activists for "preventive custody" due to recent violence following local elections.
|
The arrests came after an anti-Modi alliance won majority of seats in local elections last week.
The Indian government has arrested at least 75 Kashmiri political leaders and activists to forestall political unrest after an alliance of Kashmir’s regional political parties won local elections, leaders and a police official said on Saturday.
The District Development Council elections, concluded early this week, were the first local polls since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government revoked the special status of the Muslim-majority region last year.
New Delhi then cracked down on the opposition and rounded up hundreds of people to preempt protests and violence.
The latest detentions, which include separatist leaders and members of the banned Jamat-e-Islami group, were for preventive custody, said a senior police official, who asked not to be identified.
But Imran Nabi Dar, spokesman for the National Conference, a regional party and a key member of the alliance, said thedetentions undermine the verdict of the people.
Omar Abdullah, a former chief minister and head of the National Conference, said the alliance’s victory shows that Kashmiris have not accepted Modi’s decision to end Kashmir’s special status.
The People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD), which is pro-India but favours self-governance in Kashmir, won 112 of a total of 280 seats in the local elections, which were held in a staggered eight-phase process from November 28 through December 19.
Prime Minister Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 74 seats with just three of those in theKashmir Valley.
Indian authorities have kept a tight grip on Kashmir since revoking its autonomy in August 2019 and have arrested most separatist leaders, who in the past have called for a boycott of elections.
New Delhi has annulled Kashmir’s constitution, split the area into two federal territories Ladakh, and Jammu and Kashmir and removed inherited protections on land and jobs.
The Kashmir-based politicians said the election results made it clear that Kashmiri people have rejected last year’s decision.
Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan with both claiming the region in its entirety.
Rebels have been fighting against Indian rule since 1989.
New Delhi accuses Pakistan of sponsoring Kashmiri separatist fighters, a charge Pakistan denies. Tens of thousands of civilians, fighters and government forces have been killed in the conflict.
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Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse
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December 2020
|
['(Al Jazeera)']
|
The American clothing retailer Forever 21 files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and announces it will close up to 178 stores.
|
Forever 21 — the ubiquitous mall-based fashion retailer aimed at teens, tweens and young adults — filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, joining a growing list of apparel outlets to fall victim to competitive online market pressures. The California-based company may close up to 178 U.S. stores, according to court records.
In a statement to customers Sunday night, Forever 21 said the bankruptcy move was necessary so it could take "positive steps to reorganize the business so we can return to profitability."
"This was an important and necessary step to secure the future of our Company, which will enable us to reorganize our business and reposition Forever 21," Linda Chang, the company's executive vice president, said in a statement. The company stressed it's not going out of business, adding that people who come into its stores will have a shopping experience that "will continue to feel like a normal day."
In the records filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, the company detailed possible store closures but emphasized that it does not expect to fully exit any major U.S. market.
The company's leaders also plan to keep operations in Mexico and Latin America, while shutting down stores in Asia and Europe.
"Forever 21's restructuring will focus on maximizing the value of our U.S. footprint and shuttering certain international locations," the company said in a separate statement to the media.
"As such, and as part of our filing, we have requested approval to close up to 178 stores across the U.S.," it said. "The decisions as to which domestic stores will be closing are ongoing, pending the outcome of continued conversations with landlords." The company reports it has secured $350 million in financing, which includes $275 million from JPMorgan Chase. An additional $75 million in new capital from TPG Sixth Street Partners will allow the company to continue daily business such as processing gift cards, exchanges and reimbursements. Forever 21 will continue to operate hundreds of stores, according to court records. Many of its current 549 U.S. stores are anchors in malls across the country.
However, the Forever 21 website makes up just 16% of its sales.
The chain, founded in 1984, is a major player in fast fashion but has seen its growth stall in recent years as foot traffic in traditional malls continues to dwindle and rent for retailers continues to climb. The chain saw its biggest boom in the 2000s, when Forever 21 would offer en vogue stylings for bargain prices. Forever 21 bet big on the mall-based business model, going for bigger and better store footprints in nearly 800 locations. Forever 21 now joins other troubled stores of the mall-going teen culture of the 1990s and 2000s such as Wet Seal, Aéropostale and American Apparel. But several, like American Apparel, have found a way back.
Forever 21 received approval to continue employee benefits alongside pay and reimbursable expenses, according to the documents. The chain has around 28,500 employees, 23,500 of which are part-time and seasonal. During the upcoming holiday season, the company is expecting to hire 4,000 more employees and 700 temporary staffers. NPR's Alina Selyukh and Peter Talbot contributed to this report.
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Organization Closed
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September 2019
|
['(NPR)']
|
Indonesian police shoot dead a suspected member of Jemaah Islamiyah, wound three people and arrest others in an antiterrorist 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.
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Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse
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March 2007
|
['(AP via USA Today)']
|
A pickup truck crashes into an Amish horse–drawn buggy, killing three preteen children and injuring six other passengers in Bushnell Township, Michigan. Police say the survivors' injuries are life–threatening.
|
SHERIDAN, Mich. (AP) — Michigan State Police say a collision between a horse-drawn buggy and a pickup truck has killed three children and critically injured six other people.
Police said the truck crashed into the rear of a buggy carrying nine people about 8:30 a.m. Sunday near the central Michigan village of Sheridan.
The Daily News in Greenville reports the crash killed a 12-year-old boy, a 9-year-old girl and a 7-year-old boy who were riding in the buggy. The six other occupants were hospitalized in critical condition.
A preliminary investigation indicates the two vehicles were traveling east when the truck collided with the buggy.
The driver of the pickup was not injured, and troopers say he was cooperative following the crash.
|
Road Crash
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October 2017
|
['(The Detroit News)', '(FOX17)', '(AP)']
|
Hours after the announcement, Morales resigns from the presidency amid pressure from the military and the police in what he deemed a 'coup'.
|
Evo Morales has announced he will resign as president of Bolivia after the military called for him to step down and the police withdrew their support following weeks of unrest over disputed election results.
In a televised address, Bolivia’s president of nearly 14 years said he was stepping down for the “good of the country”. but added in an attack on opponents whom he had accused of a coup attempt: “Dark forces have destroyed democracy.”
Morales, Bolivia’s first indigenous leader, later said on Twitter that the police had an “illegal” warrant for his arrest and that “violent groups” had attacked his home in Cochabamba, a city in central Bolivia.
The commander of Bolivia’s police force said in a television interview that there was no warrant for Morales’s arrest. Video circulating on social media showed people walking through what was reported to be his ransacked home.
The announcement by Morales came shortly after the commander-in-chief of the Bolivian armed forces, Williams Kaliman, exhorted him to resign his “presidential mandate allowing the pacification and maintenance of stability for the good of Bolivia”.
In Bolivia’s main city, La Paz, people poured on to the streets waving the country’s red, yellow and green flags. There were reports of patrols by vigilantes guarding businesses in Cochabamba. Morales’s vice-president, Álvaro García Linera, also resigned.
The New York Times reported that Morales had flown from La Paz to Chimoré, in Cochabamba state, when it became clear that the military was turning on him. The area is populated by coca leaf growers, many of whom have remained loyal to Morales, himself a former coca farmer. His whereabouts in the early hours of Monday morning were unknown.
The departure of Morales, a leftist icon and the last survivor of Latin America’s “pink tide” of two decades ago, is likely to send shockwaves across the region at a time when left-leaning leaders have returned to power in Mexico and Argentina.
In a tweet, Mexico’s foreign affairs secretary, Marcelo Ebrard, said it would offer political asylum to Morales in accordance with the country’s “tradition of asylum and non-intervention”, if Morales sought it. He added that 20 other members of the government’s executive and legislature were already in the Mexican ambassador’s residence in La Paz.
General elections are held in Bolivia. President Evo Morales is running for a fourth term, after the supreme tribunal of justice ruled in December 2017 that there should be no term limits, despite a 2016 constitutional referendum result that retained the two-term limits on the presidency introduced in 2009.
Protests begin after an unexplained pause in the release of early results, which show the election race is close between Morales and his nearest rival, former president Carlos Mesa. A preliminary count of 84% of the votes show Morales ahead with 45.3%, compared with Mesa’s 38.2%. No further results are issued while the final count is conducted.
Morales delivers a television address, claiming “a coup d’etat is under way. The right wing prepared the coup with international support.”
Morales is officially declared outright winner on the basis of a 46.83% to 36.7% victory over Mesa. This narrowly meets the constitutional condition of a 10% victory margin, meaning the anticipated 15 December direct run-off between the two candidates will not be required.
Protests continue, with roads blocked and shops shut in a strike called by opposition leaders.
A 20-year-old student becomes the third person to be killed in the unrest since the disputed election.
Protests escalate as police in three Bolivian cities declare mutinies and join the anti-government protests.
Morales says he will call a new election, after the Organization of American States identifies ‘serious irregularities’ in the October vote.
After nearly 14 years in power, Morales resigns. Vice-president Alvaro García Linera also steps down, leaving a power vacuum. Video footage appears to show Morales's home ransacked by protesters. His whereabouts is unknown.
Some of Morales’s leftist allies in Latin America, including the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, and Argentinian president-elect, Alberto Fernández, decried the turn of events as a “coup”
In a recording broadcast on Venezuelan state television, Maduro said: “We have to take care of our brother Evo Morales … We must declare a vigil in solidarity to protect him.”
Maduro’s position has been bolstered by the return of left-leaning leaders in Mexico and Argentina. But Morales’s resignation could unnerve the Venezuelan leader, who has clung to power this year despite an opposition campaign to convince the armed forces to rebel.
The Cuban president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, another longtime Morales ally, tweeted his “solidarity” and said: “The world must be mobilised for the life and freedom of Evo.”
Brazil’s government said it would back a democratic transition in neighbouring Bolivia and dismissed leftists’ argument that a coup had occurred.
“The massive electoral fraud attempt delegitimised Evo Morales, who had the right attitude and resigned in the face of popular outcry. Brazil will support a democratic and constitutional transition,” the Brazilian foreign minister, Ernesto Araújo, said in a tweet.
The Colombian foreign ministry also called on Bolivian state institutions and political parties to work together to “ensure that Bolivian citizens can express themselves freely at the polls”. It requested a meeting of the Organization of American States (OAS) permanent council to discuss the situation.
Earlier on Sunday, Morales had said he would call a new election after the OAS identified serious irregularities in the last vote and recommended a new ballot.
A preliminary report based on the OAS audit of the vote said it had found “clear manipulations” of the voting system and could not verify a first-round victory for Morales.
Carlos Mesa, the runner-up candidate in the disputed election, tweeted: “I will never forget this singular day. The end of tyranny. I am grateful as a Bolivian for this historic lesson.” Earlier on Sunday, Mesa said Morales and García Linera should be disqualified from participating in new elections as they had committed fraud.
The weeks-long standoff over the disputed election escalated over the weekend as police forces were seen joining anti-government protests.
At least three people have died in the unrest, which began on 20 October, the day of the election, and more than 300 people have been injured in clashes between anti-government protesters and Morales supporters.
The resignations of Morales and his vice-president meant it was not initially clear who would take the helm of the country pending the results of new elections.
According to Bolivian law, in the absence of the president and vice-president, the head of the Senate would normally take over provisionally. However, the Senate president, Adriana Salvatierra, also stepped down late on Sunday.
Legislators were expected to meet to agree on an interim commission or legislator who would have temporary administrative control of the country, according to a constitutional lawyer who spoke to Reuters.
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Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal
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November 2019
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['(BBC News)', '(The Guardian)']
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A gunman attacks the University of Pécs in southern Hungary, killing one and injuring at least three people.
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A student has opened fire on classmates at a university in southern Hungary, killing one person and wounding three others, officials say.
The man started shooting during a class in the biophysics research institute at Pecs University, authorities say. Police said the alleged gunman - a 23-year-old pharmacology student - ran to a clinic before giving himself up in a phone call. A first-year male student died of his injuries, an official said. Those injured were another student, a teacher and a cleaner. Hungarian Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai said the authorities would provide all possible support to those affected. "I share the pain of the victim's family," he said. "We do not know yet the reasons for this monstrous act." "Nobody can be prepared for this, but to avoid similar tragedies in the future we will have to calmly examine the motives of this one". What are these?
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Armed Conflict
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November 2009
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['(BBC)', '(Caboodle.hu)']
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First flight of the Russian stealth fighter Sukhoi T–50.
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Russian military are keen to show that they have equally impressive technology to their Western rivals
Russia has unveiled its new stealth fighter jet, meant to boost the country's ageing arsenal of weaponry and be a rival to the US F-22 Raptor.
The Sukhoi T-50, also called the PAK FA, made its maiden flight in Russia's far east. Test pilot Sergei Bogdan said it was "easy and comfortable to pilot". Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said much work needed to be done before mass production began in 2015. Stealth technology is meant to nearly eliminate a plane's radar signature. The plane is being developed by the Sukhoi company at its Komsomolsk-on-Amur production plant. The new jet has been developed in partnership with India. It is seen as a significant milestone in Russia's efforts to modernise its Soviet-era military hardware. Sukhoi's director Mikhail Pogosyan said he was convinced that the project would "excel its Western rivals in cost-effectiveness and will not only allow strengthening of the defence power of the Russian and Indian air forces, but also gain a significant share of the world market". The company says the jet's stealth features considerably enhance its combat effectiveness in all weathers. Its features include: all-weather capability, ability to use a take-off strip of just 300-400 metres, capacity for sustained supersonic flight including repeated in-flight refuelling, advanced avionics, simultaneous attacks on air and ground targets. But analysts have denied the jet is a leap forward. "It's just a prototype lacking new engines and a new radar," military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer told the Associated Press news agency. Originally scheduled for 2007, the T-50's maiden flight was repeatedly postponed because of technical problems. Observers of Russia's recent military modernisation drive say it has been plagued by delays and quality problems.
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Military Exercise
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January 2010
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['(The Times)', '(BBC)']
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The United States defeats Japan 2–1 at Dodger Stadium to advance to the 2017 World Baseball Classic's final. This is the first time that the U.S. has done so in the tournament's 11-year history.
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LOS ANGELES – Breaking down Tuesday’s semifinal game of the World Baseball Classic between USA and Japan.United States 2, Japan 1 ***
The game: It was the greatest pitching duel of the tournament for USA, knowing that one little mistake, one bad pitch, could end their championship hopes. USA’s staff never relented, giving up a solo home run, but that was it, shutting down Japan the rest of the game for their first trip to the WBC championship game.
The hero of the night was Ian Kinsler, who hit a one-out double off the left-center-field fence advancing Brandon Crawford to third base. Team Japan brought the infield in, and got just what they wanted when Adam Jones hit a slow roller to sure-handed third baseman Noburhiro Matsuda. If he fields the ball cleanly, Crawford is out by 10 feet at the plate.
But he dropped it. He recovered in time to throw out Jones at first base, but the critical run scored.
MORE WBC:
Red, white and bros: World Baseball Classic creates lasting bonds for Team USA
Puerto Rico's World Baseball Classic run means everything to 'This tiny island'
Yadier Molina, Puerto Rico's heart and soul in the World Baseball Classic
***
State of Championship Round: The emotional, dramatic World Baseball Classic has reached its final day. It will be USA against Team Puerto Rico, who’s undefeated in the tournament, and outscoring their opponents, 55-18.
Puerto Rico, who lost the title game in 2013 to the Dominican Republic, is seeking vengeance, desperately hoping to capture its first championship.
It will be Toronto Blue Jays ace Marcus Stroman pitching for Team USA against Puerto Rico starter Seth Lugo of the New York Mets.
***
Pivot point: Team USA was hanging on for dear life in the eighth inning when USA manager Jim Leyland called upon Pat Neshek with two runners on and two outs. Neshek, facing cleanup hitter Yoshitomo Tsutsugoh, threw a 70-mph knuckle-curve and got him to fly out to right fielder Andrew McCutchen for the final out.
Neshek walked off the mound raising his hands high in the air, and USA was on their way to the championship game.
***
Man of the moment: USA left fielder Andrew McCutchen. McCutchen, who hit a huge two-run double that broke the game open in USA’s 6-3 victory over the Dominican Republic to vault them into the championship game, delivered once again on this night.
He hit a two-out, run-scoring single in the fourth inning that accounted for USA’s lone run, and the only blemish against Japan starter Tomoyuki Sugano.
And he caught the crucial third out of the eighth inning when Yoshitomo Tsutsugoh just missed hitting a home run.
***
Needing a mulligan: Team Japan second baseman Ryosuke Kikuchi. Kikuchi cost his team the first run of the game, and nearly another, with blunders in back-to-back innings. It was in the fourth inning when USA outfielder Christian Yelich hit a sharp grounder towards Kikuchi, who was playing almost in shallow right fielder. The ball went right through him, Yelich kept hustling, and wound up on second. The error proved costly when Andrew McCutchen capitalized with a two-out, run-scoring single.
Kikuchi almost cost Japan a run in the third inning, too, when Giancarlo Stanton hit a tailor-made double play grounder to third baseman Nobuhiro Sakaomoto. Sakomoto threw to Kikuchi at second, who fired to first, for what appeared to be a double play. Only the replay showed that Kikuchi wasn’t even close to second base, and Posey was safe.
Although Kikuchi provided Japan’s lone run with his homer, he also struck out in the eighth with a runner on second base.
***
Manager’s special: Leyland raised some eyebrows when he pulled starter Tanner Roark after yielding two hits in four shutout innings, and throwing only 48 pitches. It lowered USA’s starter’s ERA to just 1.50 in 30 innings during the WBC.
Yet, despite Roark’s domination, Leyland called upon Chicago White Sox reliever Nate Jones.
It looked as if it would work to perfection as Jones pitched a 1-2-3 fifth inning, and retired the first four batters he faced. Yet, with one out in the sixth, and on a 1-and-2 pitch, he gave up a homer on a 98-mph fastball to right field to Ryosuke Kikuchi.
Leyland turned to left-hander Andrew Miller, who closed out the sixth, keeping the score tied at 1-apiece. They wound up using six relievers to close out the game.
***
What you missed on TV: The atmosphere was like a high-school football game with the damp air, fog rolling in, and a large band from Japan that constantly played and cheered when Team Japan was at the plate.
Yet, unlike the atmosphere in Miami against the Dominican Republic that unraveled Roark, it was as if he fed off the energy on this night.
Roark, who had pitched only 1 1/3 innings in the WBC, cruised on this night, pitching five shout innings in what he called the biggest game of his career.
“It's usually the team that pitches the best normally has the best shot of winning,’’ Leyland said. “It's very rare that you outslug anybody. You don't do it for a whole season. Once in a great, great while, maybe.
“But for the most part, it's about the pitching, catching the ball, throwing it to the right base, just playing basic baseball.
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Sports Competition
|
March 2017
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['(USA Today)']
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Egypt's security forces shoot dead at least 24 ISIS militants as they hid inside a cave in a mountainous area in central Sinai, not far from the crash site of Metrojet Flight 9268, a Russian airliner the group says it brought down.
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Security sources say they killedthe militants as they hid inside a cave in a mountainous area in central Sinai
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Egyptian security forces shot dead 24 Isis militants in central Sinai, 70 km from the crash site of the Russian passenger plane the group claimed it brought down, security sources have said.
Security sources said they killed the militants as they hid inside a cave in a mountainous area and that they arrested eight of them.
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Sinai Province, Isis's Egypt branch, is active in North Sinai where two years ago it launched an insurgency and has since killed hundreds of soldiers and policemen. It is rarely active outside that area.
Western governments said it was likely that the Russian airliner that crashed in the Sinai on Oct. 31 killing all 224 people on board was brought down by a bomb and Isis claimed it was behind the crash.
Egypt says the bomb theory is premature and that only the conclusion of an official investigation will shed light on what brought down the Airbus 321.
Sinai Province said in a statement on the day of the crash that it had brought down the plane in response to Russian air strikes in Syria.
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Armed Conflict
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November 2015
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['(Reuters)', '(Independent)']
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The United States and Mexico reach common ground on key trade terms in the North American Free Trade Agreement. Canada has yet to sign off on the agreement.
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The US and Mexico have agreed to revamp Nafta, the North American Free Trade Agreement, in what Donald Trump called a "really good deal" for both countries. The US President, who has frequently criticised the existing deal, made the announcement on Monday.
Canada - the other member of Nafta - is yet to agree to the new terms and will hold more discussions on Tuesday.
Mr Trump had threatened to pull out of the deal, triggering a year of talks.
He demanded a renegotiation of the 1994 trade agreement, which he blames for a decline in US manufacturing jobs, especially in the car industry.
US shares rose and the Mexican peso strengthened on news of the preliminary deal on Monday.
Mr Trump said the US and Mexico had agreed on terms that would make for a deal that was "much more fair". Negotiators have been rewriting the Nafta treaty over the past year, but in the past five weeks, Canada has not been part of the discussions.
"We will see whether or not we decide to put up Canada or just do a separate deal with Canada," Mr Trump said.
He also threatened Canada with tariffs on cars and said he wanted to get rid of the name Nafta, which he said has "bad connotations".
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has had a "constructive conversation" with Mr Trump since the deal with Mexico was announced, his office said.
Canadian foreign minister Chrystia Freeland is expected to travel to Washington DC for talks on Tuesday. Negotiators want to agree a deal before the newly elected Mexican president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, takes office in December. He has been reluctant to continue Enrique Pena Nieto's police of opening up of Mexico's energy sector, which could complicate negotiations.
In order to meet that deadline, the Trump administration must present Congress with a deal at least 90 days in advance - meaning the deadline is this Friday.
However, Mr Obrador said on Monday that the two-way agreement with the US was just the first step in a new treaty.
"We're very interested in it remaining a three-country deal," he said. "The free-trade agreement should remain as it was originally conceived." A spokesman for Ms Freeland said the country was "encouraged" by the progress made by the US and Mexico but did not comment on the specific terms.
The US and Canada have been at loggerheads on a range of trade matters, including Canadian protections for its dairy industry and US tariffs on steel and aluminium.
"We will only sign a new Nafta that is good for Canada... Canada's signature is required," said spokesman Adam Austen. A senior US trade official said: "There are still issues with Canada but I think they could be resolved very quickly."
In a televised telephone call with Mr Trump, Mr Pena Nieto stressed the importance of an agreement that includes Canada.
However, Mexican foreign minister Luis Videgaray said his country was prepared to strike a bilateral US-Mexico deal.
Nafta covers more than $1tn (£780bn) in annual trade. The update is to include provisions to govern intellectual property, digital trade and investor disputes, among other issues.
In the preliminary agreement announced on Monday, the US and Mexico agreed that 75% of a product must be made in the two countries to receive tax-free treatment - higher than in the existing deal.
On cars, the two sides also settled on rules that will require 40% to 45% of each vehicle to be made by workers earning at least $16 an hour to discourage firms from moving production to lower-wage Mexico.
The pact would last for 16 years, the US said, and be reviewed every six years - but will not carry the threat of automatic expiration. Politicians in all three countries have the final say over trade agreements.
In the US, Republicans, who typically support free trade, have pressed the White House to strike a deal, arguing that the relatively open borders have benefited American farmers and other groups.
Senator John Cornyn, a Republican from Texas, called the development a "positive step", adding: "Now we need to ensure the final agreement brings Canada into the fold and has bipartisan support."
The US Chamber of Commerce also said it was critical that the agreement continued to include Canada.
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Sign Agreement
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August 2018
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['(BBC)', '(Reuters)']
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Boris Johnson leads the second Tory MP leadership ballot. Dominic Raab is eliminated after coming in last. Jeremy Hunt, Michael Gove, Sajid Javid, and Rory Stewart all advance to tomorrow's third round.
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Dominic Raab has been knocked out of the Tory leadership race in the latest ballot of MPs, leaving five candidates in the battle to be the next PM.
Boris Johnson once again came top of the ballot, with 126 votes - 12 more than in the first round. Jeremy Hunt, Michael Gove, Sajid Javid and Rory Stewart also got enough votes to make it into the next round.
Mr Raab was eliminated after coming last with 30 votes, three fewer than the minimum needed to progress.
The former Brexit secretary had called for the UK to leave the EU without a deal on 31 October if necessary.
He also caused controversy by refusing to rule out suspending Parliament to thwart attempts by MPs to block a no-deal Brexit. The next ballot will take place on Wednesday, with the candidate with the lowest number of votes eliminated.
On leaving the contest, Mr Raab wished the remaining candidates good luck in the forthcoming BBC debate.
I’m very proud of all the support I’ve had from colleagues in this leadership contest, and I’m immensely grateful to my terrific team. Good luck to all the candidates debating tonight!
Mr Hunt again came second in the latest ballot of 313 Tory MPs, with 46 votes - three more than in last week's first vote.
Mr Gove and Mr Javid also increased their level of support - by four and 10 votes to 41 and 33 votes respectively. But it was Rory Stewart, the international development secretary, who made the biggest stride forward, nearly doubling his backing from 19 to 37 votes. The BBC's political editor Laura Kuenssberg said it was likely that most of Mr Raab's supporters would transfer their votes to Mr Johnson, but, she said, "there will certainly be a scrap for them."
And she pointed out how close the result was for the other candidates, adding: "In tomorrow's vote a couple of moves here and there could make all the difference." Tory MP Gillian Keegan said Mr Stewart was appealing to his colleagues because of his "realistic plan" for Brexit and his progress showed there was a "market for honest politicians".
"I think Rory is extraordinary. He has star quality you don't often see in politics."
Johnny Mercer, a supporter of Mr Johnson, said he was pleased by his performance but conceded the contest "was not done yet". Defence Secretary Penny Mordaunt, who is backing Mr Hunt for the top job, said he remained in a "strong" second place.
She told the BBC the foreign secretary remained "a serious candidate for a serious job".
The BBC's Nicholas Watt said he had been told by a source close to Mr Javid that he would not be dropping out of the race even though he secured the lowest number of votes. Simon Hoare, one of Mr Javid's backers, said he was "delighted" the home secretary had made it through to the next stage.
He said "barring emergencies" Mr Johnson would make it into the final two candidates and appealed to Tory MPs to think "tactically" about who should join him.
Guy Opperman, who is backing Michael Gove, said a frontrunner "had never won" a Tory leadership contest and he believed MPs would ultimately "coalesce" around an alternative to Mr Johnson. He said Mr Gove had "clawed his way" back into the contest after days of negative newspaper headlines at the start of the campaign following his admission he had taken cocaine while working as a journalist in the late 1990s.
As "a committed Brexiteer", he said he expected Mr Gove would pick up the overwhelming share of Mr Raab's 30 supporters in the next round. The remaining candidates will face up to three further ballots later this week, where the lowest-ranked MP will be knocked out until only two are left.
The final two names will then be put to a postal vote of the 160,000 Tory party members, beginning on 22 June, with the winner expected to be announced about four weeks later.
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Government Job change - Election
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June 2019
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['(BBC)']
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Pope Francis announces the creation of 13 new cardinals, including the elevation of Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Washington who will become the first African-American cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church. The elevation is scheduled to occur on November 28.
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ROME — Pope Francis will elevate Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Washington to cardinal next month, making him the first African American to hold the title.
Gregory is one of 13 cardinals in the new class Francis announced Sunday, a promotion that comes as he is trying to rebuild trust in an archdiocese rocked by sexual abuse cases.
The move was widely anticipated; Washington archbishops are typically elevated to cardinal after their appointments. But it is nonetheless symbolically significant in the U.S. Catholic Church, where Black people have been underrepresented among the leadership.
Who is Wilton Gregory?
The new cardinal is a "caring pastor, a quiet leader and a courageous voice when Washington and the country need all three," said John Carr, who worked with Gregory for 20 years when Carr was a lobbyist for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
"At a time when racism is tearing our country apart, he has been a consistent, persistent voice for the dignity of all — for Black lives and for racial justice and reconciliation," said Carr, director of the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life at Georgetown University. "We need healing, and for Pope Francis to recognize his leadership is a hopeful sign."
Gregory, 72, was appointed archbishop of Washington last year to take over for Cardinal Donald Wuerl, who had been accused of mishandling clerical abuse cases. As a cardinal, Gregory will be eligible to vote in any papal election until he reaches the cutoff age of 80.
Francis announced the names of his new cardinals from a window overlooking St. Peter's Square, where he delivers his Sunday Angelus. The Vatican said the ceremony to elevate the new cardinals, called a consistory, would take place Nov. 28, but it was unclear whether tightening coronavirus restrictions in Italy might interfere.
Among the other new cardinals, four are already over 80, according to the Vatican. The new cardinals include Marcello Semeraro, an Italian who was recently appointed head of the church's saint-making body, and Antoine Kambanda, the archbishop of Kigali, Rwanda.
Gregory has long been among the most prominent Catholic leaders in the United States, having led the conference of bishops in the early 2000s, when it was making its first attempt to draw up anti-abuse guidelines. Gregory was archbishop of Atlanta before coming to Washington.
"With a very grateful and humble heart, I thank Pope Francis for this appointment which will allow me to work more closely with him in caring for Christ's Church," Gregory said in a statement, according to the Catholic Standard, the Washington Archdiocese's newspaper.
Wilton Gregory, America’s only Black Catholic archbishop, goes from diplomat to detractor in the wake of George Floyd’s death
The Catholic Church has a strong presence in Washington's Black community, including its sizable middle class. Black Catholics make up about 13 percent of the Washington Archdiocese — which includes D.C. and its Maryland suburbs — compared with about 3 percent for the nation as a whole. Many Black city leaders are Catholic or went to Catholic schools, including Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) and her predecessors Adrian Fenty (D) and Anthony A. Williams (D); D.C. Council members Vincent C. Gray (D-Ward 7) and Robert C. White Jr. (D-At Large); and Attorney General Karl A. Racine (D).
From his purview in the nation's capital, Gregory has faced challenges beyond the church in a year of rising racial tensions nationwide — including some that have played out in his new city.
One of the most visible occurred this summer, when President Trump and the first lady visited a D.C. shrine to Pope John Paul II. The visit came days after law enforcement used rubber bullets and tear gas to clear peaceful protesters outside of the White House so Trump could have a controversial photo op in front of St. John's Church holding a Bible.
Gregory said of the shrine and its leadership that it was "baffling and reprehensible that any Catholic facility would allow itself to be so egregiously misused and manipulated in a fashion that violates our religious principles, which call us to defend the rights of all people, even those with whom we might disagree."
In a statement then, Gregory noted that Pope John Paul II would not have condoned Trump's actions at St. John's.
"Saint Pope John Paul II was an ardent defender of the rights and dignity of human beings. His legacy bears vivid witness to that truth," Gregory said. "He certainly would not condone the use of tear gas and other deterrents to silence, scatter or intimidate them for a photo opportunity in front of a place of worship and peace."
Historic D.C. church where Trump stood with a Bible becomes a symbol for his religious foes
Gregory was also among Catholic leaders in Maryland this summer who signed a "letter on racial justice" that highlighted Black Catholics who have, over the centuries, led efforts for justice — even when the institutional church was lagging and resistant.
"With regret and humility, we must recognize that as Catholic leaders and as an institution we have, at times, not followed the Gospel to which we profess and have been too slow in correcting our shortcomings. For this reason, it is incumbent upon us to place ourselves at the forefront of efforts to remove the inequalities and discrimination that are still present in Maryland and our nation today," the letter read. "Prayer and dialogue, alone, are not enough. We must act to bring about true change" on issues including health care, housing and criminal justice reform.
The question for Gregory is how — or if — he should step out more in D.C., and now nationally as cardinal, at a time of intense division. The divisions among Catholics in the United States mirror the population as a whole. Whether on issues of race, abortion, Trump or a border wall, Catholics are divided based on partisanship — not on the teachings of their church.
Gregory's critique of Trump's actions this summer, for instance, drew criticism from a conservative Catholic publication.
Anthea Butler, a religious history professor at the University of Pennsylvania, pushed back against such criticism and described Gregory as consistently moderate and mainstream. His higher profile, she said, will allow him to speak out strongly and command the respect of the title of cardinal.
"This gives him a lot more power to say certain things, especially with regards to race," said Butler, who writes about race and the Catholic Church. "He will be a voice for social justice and a voice in the middle of the pandemic, talking about poverty."
Gregory's historic promotion was celebrated Sunday at many Catholic services in the D.C. region. When the Rev. Everett Pearson shared the news at Mass, his predominantly Black congregation in Maryland stood to applaud and shouted with joy before pausing to say a prayer for Gregory.
Pearson called the elevation long overdue and said that Black Catholics have for too long been "placed in the back of the church, their culture drowned out by a Euro-Catholic standard."
"We finally have someone who looks like me, who grew up like me and can embrace his African American heritage," said Pearson, who leads Mount Calvary Catholic Church in Forestville. "We've now got an opportunity to at least come to the table."
Gregory happened to lead a service at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Largo, Md., on Saturday. Bishop Roy Campbell, who leads the church, said Gregory is accessible and open, and Campbell hopes he "continues to speak the truth."
Before coming to Washington, Gregory was known for being diplomatic and mild-mannered. He has since become a bit more outspoken in moments that bring together religion, politics and race. After the killing of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police, Gregory mentioned similar moments and said incidents of police brutality were "tragically" repeating.
The killing of Floyd and others, Gregory said, "clearly" confirms "that racism still endures in our country."
Gregory, whose parents were Baptist and who converted as a child to Catholicism, has been a pioneer. He was one of the youngest bishops when he was named as one at age 36, and is still the country's only Black archbishop. He has been known as a moderate on political issues, including race.
However, experts on the history of Black Catholicism say he embraced the spiritual revolution taking off after the 1960s. In the 1980s, Gregory helped create a hymnal that would become the standard for Black parishes. But he did not side with the aims of a more radical group of Black priests who declared the church "a White racist institution," said Matthew Cressler, a religious studies professor at the College of Charleston who wrote a book about Black Catholicism in the United States.
"It's a given he lives with contentment and doesn't draw attention" to race, Monsignor Kevin Irwin, a professor and former theology school dean at Catholic University, who became close friends with Gregory in 1975 while they were doctoral students in Rome, told The Washington Post for a profile last year.
Boorstein and Marimow reported from Washington.
Wilton Gregory, America’s only Black Catholic archbishop, goes from diplomat to detractor in the wake of George Floyd’s death
Historic D.C. church where Trump stood with a Bible becomes a symbol for his religious foes
Pope Francis, the anti-Trump of our age
The most important news stories of the day, curated by Post editors and delivered every morning.
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Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration
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October 2020
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['(The Washington Post)']
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In the 2012–13 Premier League, Manchester City claims a 2–1 victory over their rivals and leaders Manchester United with Sergio Aguero's winning goal.
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Last updated on 8 April 20138 April 2013.From the section Footballcomments860
Manchester City reduced Manchester United's lead at the top of the Premier League to 12 points as they restored pride with an impressive victory at Old Trafford.
The reigning champions may have left it too late to prevent United claiming the title for the 20th time - but this deserved win hints at the pedigree that remains within Roberto Mancini's squad.
Substitute Sergio Aguero's brilliant winner 12 minutes from time gave City their second successive victory at Old Trafford, one which will hurt United boss Sir Alex Ferguson, who saw his side produce a subdued performance.
James Milner gave the visitors the lead early in the second half before an own goal from City captain Vincent Kompany put United level. The final word, however, went to Aguero, who demonstrated pace and a powerful finish to decide an occasionally ill-tempered derby which saw eight players cautioned.
United still have much room for manoeuvre with the commanding advantage at the top of the Premier League, but this was a composed, resilient performance from City that demonstrated what might have been.
"City's line-up, with only one recognised striker in a 4-2-3-1 formation, did not look that attacking at first, but Carlos Tevez helped them take control of the game with his play in United's half. He kept dropping deep to collect the ball and, every time it went into him, he held it up. "His first touch was fantastic and he brought the three players immediately behind him - James Milner, Samir Nasri and David Silva - into the game, and in dangerous positions in the United half too - often in their area."
Carlos Tevez integral to Man City's derby win, says Robbie Savage
Mancini has insisted the gap between the sides is not as wide as their points deficit suggests and on this evidence he is right. The Italian's argument, however, falls down on grounds of consistency as this was United first loss in 18 league games.
Wayne Rooney was back in United's attack after recovering from the groin injury that kept him out of the FA Cup defeat at Chelsea. He was fired up and visibly furious with team-mate Danny Welbeck in the opening minutes when he selfishly chose to go alone with his team-mate unmarked in yards of space.
Phil Jones was alongside Rio Ferdinand in central defence and he showed his worth with a couple of crucial penalty area interceptions, most notably from Carlos Tevez as the former United striker closed in six yards out.
City were seeing plenty of the ball but neither side was able to create any clear-cut chances, although Rafael's looping effort bounced to safety off the angle of post and bar moments before half-time.
In among some heated exchanges, Rooney was booked for a two-footed lunge at Milner while Kompany was also given a yellow card from referee Mike Dean for a late challenge on Ashley Young.
City took the lead they just about deserved six minutes after the break - and it resulted from a rare error of judgement from veteran Ryan Giggs, whose needless back heel gifted possession to Gareth Barry. He found Samir Nasri before Milner's low 20-yard drive took a touch off Jones to beat David de Gea.
Jones was involved as the hosts drew level eight minutes later. He met Robin van Persie's vicious inswinging free-kick and his header ricocheted in off the back of Kompany in front of an elated Stretford End.
Mancini made his first change with 20 minutes left, introducing fit-again Aguero for Samir Nasri - and the Argentine demonstrated his brilliance to put City back in front.
He produced a burst of pace, something City had lacked, inside the area before flashing an angled drive high past De Gea.
It set up an angry rather than grandstand finish, with players from both sides involved in exchanges after Aguero and Ferdinand squared up when United did not put the ball out of play with David Silva down injured.
Young then limped off injured after a heavy Pablo Zabaleta challenge before referee Dean brought a frenetic evening to a close.
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Sports Competition
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April 2013
|
['(BBC)', '(CNN)']
|
The President of Myanmar Thein Sein declares a state of emergency in four regions, Chin State, Magwe Region, Sagaing Region and Rakhine State, after floods kill at least 27 people.
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At least 20 people have been killed in a landslide as monsoon rains continue to batter parts of South-East Asia. The landslip in the eastern Indian state of Manipur buried a whole village, Indian media reported.
In neighbouring Myanmar, four western regions have been declared disaster zones after heavy floods left at least 27 people dead.
Incessant rain over several weeks has led to flooding and landslides in most of the country (also known as Burma).
Wind and rain from Cyclone Komen added to damage in recent days.
Elsewhere: The landslide in Manipur state hit a remote village in Chandel district, bordering Myanmar, early on Saturday.
Rescue teams were not expected to get there until Sunday because of heavy rains and landslides, a local MP said.
Continuous rain in recent days has washed away bridges and roads and left thousands homeless, Indian NDTV reported. In Myanmar, Mg Mg Khin, the director of disaster management with the national Red Cross, told the BBC the country was facing "a big disaster" and that there was a risk of more rain over the coming weeks.
The Red Cross was waiting for information on the extent of damage to refugee camps in Rakhine, he added.
Rakhine, along with Chin, Magwe and Sagaing, has been declared a disaster zone. The UN said 140,000 people in Rakhine are living in camps near the region's capital, Sittwe. Most are Rohingya Muslims.
Thousands of people are sheltering in monasteries, but one report said people from the Rohingya Muslim minority were turned away from some shelters.
The Burma Times said security forces turned away Rohingya Muslims from abandoned schools and community centres in the western Rakhine state.
More than half a million acres of rice paddy fields have been flooded, the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation said.
On Saturday, the UN said it was to send emergency teams to assess the need for food, drinking water and shelter.
"This is much, much worse than normal," Toe Zaw Latt, the Myanmar bureau chief for the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) network, told the BBC from Yangon.
On Friday, Ko Myo Zaw Lin, a journalist with DVB, was filmed carrying out a live interview in flood waters up to his chest in the southern city of Bago.
Monsoon triggers landslides in Vietnam
On the trail of Myanmar's Rohingya
|
Floods
|
August 2015
|
['(BBC)']
|
Two lighter vessels capsize in the Bay of Bengal, near the island of Bhasan Char in Bangladesh. The country's Inland Water Transport Authority report that 13 crew members from one vessel en route to the Narayanganj District from Chittagong are missing, while all 12 crew members from the other vessel were rescued.
|
DHAKA, Bangladesh All the crew members of two separate lighter vessels were rescued after they capsized in the Bay of Bengal, a Bangladeshi official confirmed Sunday.
On Saturday, a lighter vessel, named MV Akther Banu, was carrying goods and 13 crew members when it capsized at around 6 a.m. local time (0000GMT), Mohammad Salim, deputy director of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA), said.
Salim said they were informed of the incident in the evening and started the rescue operation at night.
Later in the day, he confirmed that all the missing crew members of the vessel were rescued by Sunday noon in a frantic effort of rescue officials, consisting of Bangladesh River Police, Bangladesh Navy and Bangladesh Coast Guard, as well as local divers and fishermen.
The vessel capsized at Hatia Channel near Bhashan Char inland with 750 tons of goods to the Narayanganj district from Chattogram of Bangladesh, he earlier said. He had added that there was cautionary signal No-3 in the bay.
|
Shipwreck
|
August 2020
|
['(Anadolu Agency)']
|
A 16–year–old Spanish anti–racism activist is killed during a far–right anti–immigration protest in Madrid.
|
Carlos Javier Palomino was one of several hundred activists trying to prevent an anti-immigration rally by a far-right party on Sunday.
Police detained a 24-year old man on suspicion of carrying out the stabbing in the Legazpi metro station.
The clashes follow recent reports of racially-motivated attacks in Spain.
The violence reportedly broke out when members of the small right-wing National Democracy party encountered a group of left-wing activists in the Legazpi station.
Mr Palomino was stabbed in the heart and treated at the scene but rescuers were unable to save him.
The man accused of stabbing him is believed to have been a participant in the anti-immigration rally.
Reports say at least eight other people, including a policeman, were injured in the violence, and emergency workers set up mobile hospitals to treat the injured.
Madrid is an open and integrated region where there is no room for racist, xenophobic or extremist expressions
Alfredo PradaMadrid official
Hundreds of anti-racism protestors later brandished sticks and threw rocks and Molotov cocktails as they attempted to stop the rally from taking place.
The violence was condemned by Madrid's community justice spokesman, Alfredo Prada.
"Madrid is an open and integrated region where there is no room for racist, xenophobic or extremist expressions," Mr Prada told the Associated Press.
The clashes came weeks after a racially-motivated attack on a teenaged Ecuadorean girl provoked widespread indignation.
The number of immigrants in Spain has grown rapidly in recent years and they now makes up 10% of the population.
A recent poll for Publico newspaper found that most Spanish people are unhappy with the Socialist government's handling of immigration.
|
Protest_Online Condemnation
|
November 2007
|
['(BBC)']
|
Japanese climber Yuichiro Miura becomes the oldest person ever the summit Mount Everest at the age of 80.
|
KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) — The oldest person to climb Mount Everest said Sunday that he won't make any further attempts to scale the world's highest peak — even though his new record may soon be in jeopardy.
"I think three times is enough," Yuichiro Miura, who reached the top of Everest at the age of 80 last week, told reporters. "At this point I could not think of anything but rest."
A brief improvement in weather conditions allowed Miura, a Japanese former extreme skier, to fly by helicopter from Everest to Katmandu, Nepal's capital, on Sunday, three days after he scaled Everest's 8,850-meter (29,035-foot) peak. He had initially planned to leave the mountain on Saturday, but poor weather conditions forced the cancellation of the helicopter flight.
Meanwhile, Miura's 81-year-old rival, Nepalese climber Min Bahadur Sherchan, was at Everest's base camp preparing to attempt to regain his title as the oldest to conquer the mountain. Sherchan held the record for five years until Miura snatched the title.
"I hope his success is good news. I wish him best of luck," Miura said in Japanese, with his son Gota, 43, who reached the top of Everest with his father last week, serving as his interpreter.
Miura, however, insisted that Sherchan back up any claim of scaling Everest's peak with clear photographs of the climber showing his face at the summit.
It is not clear whether Sherchan has any sophisticated camera with him that would work at the highest altitude on earth and take high-resolution photographs.
Sherchan was already struggling with finances, with Nepal's government agreeing last week to only $11,200 in aid. While receiving that amount allows him to climb, it likely is not enough to cover the type of support and high-tech equipment that Miura had.
Miura had climbed Everest in May 2008 at age 75, but Sherchan did the same a day earlier at 76.
Miura conquered the mountain last week despite undergoing heart surgery in January for an irregular heartbeat, or arrhythmia, his fourth heart operation since 2007. He also broke his pelvis and left thigh bone in a 2009 skiing accident.
Miura became famous when he was a young man as a daredevil speed skier.
He skied down Everest's South Col in 1970, using a parachute to brake his descent. The feat was captured in the Oscar-winning 1975 documentary, "The Man Who Skied Down Everest." He has also skied down Mount Fuji.
It wasn't until Miura was 70, however, that he first climbed to the top of Everest. When he summited again at 75, he claimed to be the only man to accomplish the feat twice in his 70s. After that, he said he was determined to climb again at age 80.
|
Break historical records
|
May 2013
|
['(Philippine Star)']
|
Over 150,000 people protest in Berlin against the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership accord between the European Union and the United States. , , ,
|
Trade unions, environmental groups, charities and opposition parties were among the organizers of the rally, which went from the main railway station in central Berlin to the national parliament. According to activists, 250,000 people turned out for the event, while Berlin police claimed the number was closer to their initial expectation of 150,000.
Marchers banged drums, blew whistles and held up posters reading "Yes, we can – Stop TTIP." One group dragged a giant wooden horse – a reference to the Trojan horse of Greek legend – to demonstrate how the trade deal is being sneaked into law by corporate lobbyists and EU officials through subterfuge.
The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is meant to improve trade between the US and the EU, bringing tens of billions of dollars in extra profits to businesses.
Critics fear that it would lead to worse safeguards in Europe, bringing down standards for consumer safety, food and health or labor rights down to those in America. European nations have stricter regulations for things like genetically modified foods or workers benefits than the US does. There is also discontent with the secretive nature of the negotiations, which prompts skeptics to assume the worst about the document they would eventually produce.
A June opinion poll by Emnid showed that 36 percent of Germans saw TTIP as a bad thing, up from 25 percent in February last year, when the first such poll was conducted.
The protest also targets Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), a similar trade deal that the EU is negotiating with Canada, which would also be bad for Europeans, according to critics.
There is a growing mistrust with the US in Europe’s leading country amid the scandal over mass electronic surveillance of Germans’ communications and the escalating refugee crisis, which many see as a result of failed American policies in the Middle East.
|
Protest_Online Condemnation
|
October 2015
|
['(RT)', '(DW)', '(CNBC)', '(France24)']
|
A suicide bomber kills one person and injures 24 in an attack on a police station in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula.
|
Cairo (AFP) - Two bombings in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, one of them a suicide attack on a police base, killed a civilian and an army officer Tuesday as an Islamist insurgency showed no let-up, officials said.
The Islamic State group's Egyptian affiliate, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis (Partisans of Jerusalem), said on Twitter it carried out the assault on the police base.
It has been behind the majority of attacks on the security forces in the rugged region.
The suicide bomber rammed a vehicle packed with explosives into the base in North Sinai's provincial capital of El-Arish, killing the civilian, security and health officials said.
Two civilians and 30 police were also wounded in the attack, which came just minutes after a nighttime curfew was lifted at 6:00 am (0400 GMT).
"The bomber drove a water tanker filled with explosives into the rear gate of the base," a security official said.
"As the vehicle approached, police fired on it, detonating the explosives inside."
Interior ministry spokesman Hani Abdel Latif said the death toll could have been much higher but for the swift reaction of the guards on the gate.
"The security forces dealt with the vehicle near the checkpoint of the base which saved a lot of lives," Abdel Latif told AFP.
"The wounded policemen suffered only minor injuries from shattered glass."
In the second attack, an army captain was killed and two other soldiers wounded when a roadside bomb blew up as they pursued militants south of El-Arish.
Tuesday's bombings came a day after three Egyptian soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb east of the city.
El-Arish has seen repeated deadly attacks on security forces.
In January, a combined rocket and car bomb attack on a military base, a nearby police headquarters and a residential complex for army and police officers killed at least 24 people in the city, most of them soldiers.
The nighttime curfew is among a raft of security measures that have been in force in North Sinai since a late October attack on a military base near the city killed 30 soldiers.
The army has also been clearing a buffer zone along the province's border with the Gaza Strip to prevent militants infiltrating from Palestinian territory.
Militants have intensified their attacks on the security forces in the Sinai since the army overthrew Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.
They say their campaign of violence is in retaliation for a government crackdown on Morsi's supporters that has left hundreds dead and thousands imprisoned.
The army reports daily clashes with the militants in North Sinai.
Late last year, Washington delivered 10 Apache helicopters to Egypt to boost its campaign against the Sinai militants.
Anna Kern, who got a breakthrough infection in April, said she's struggling to return to work and dealing with extreme fatigue.
If Gov. Ron DeSantis really cared about the meth-addiction problem in Florida, he would not be looking for solutions among immigrants at the Texas or Arizona borders, where he has no jurisdiction to enforce immigration law or run drug stings.
It used to be said that if you put a donkey on the ballot paper in Chesham and Amersham and stuck a blue rosette on its hind quarters it would still win. Not any more. For the first time since the formation of the constituency in 1974 the Conservatives lost their grip on the seat. In a result sending shockwaves through Westminster the Liberal Democrats overturned the Tories’ 16,000 majority to win by 8,028 votes in the two previously true blue Chiltern towns. And it didn’t take long to establish
Kim Jong Un addressed North Korea's government on Thursday, when he "stressed the need to get prepared for both dialogue and confrontation."
The suspect charged with killing Aiden Leos, 6, in a suspected road rage incident told police he shot at the car, according to prosecutors.
Clippers coach Tyronn Lue experimented all season with rotations and personnel because of injury problems. Their adaptability has paid off vs. Jazz.
Borderline theater: A cutout of Vice President Kamala Harris, a state's plan to fund its own wall, and a governor sending police to Texas and Arizona.
Nothing is more important for our democracy than ensuring that Trump does not escape justice forever simply because he was once elected president.
A conspiracy theory suggests that Navy SEALs arrested Hillary Clinton under Trump's direction, and that she was later hanged. This is false.
GettyTwo teenage brothers from New Jersey are facing a murder charge after a Pennsylvania state trooper stumbled upon them trying to dump the body of a murder victim in an isolated area in the middle of the night, authorities said Thursday. Joshua Gamble, 17, and Anthony Gamble, 19, are said to have left their hazard lights on when they parked their two vehicles along the side of a road in a rural area of Bucks County, about 55 miles from their home in Somerset, New Jersey. The hazard lights led
For those fortunate enough to own a home in a Bahria Town development, the elite suburb promises to offer a respite from the clamour of life in much of Pakistan. Prospective residents from Karachi are lured with assurances that they can swap the blackouts, floods and rubbish heaps of the port metropolis for a luxury lifestyle in a manicured architectural fantasia. Brochures offer world class amenities, a floodlit golf course and even a replica Parthenon. Yet two weeks ago the haven of Bahria Tow
Schmidt, known for dancing before her races, did choreography to songs from K-pop girl group Twice, including "Cheer Up" and "Likey."
Michael Wayne Sherrill was convicted of Cynthia’s Dotson’s 1984 rape and murder in Charlotte. Here’s why a judge vacated his sentence.
Dallas Mavericks hell week continues; coach Rick Carlisle quits 10 days after saying he wants to return
Kevin Durant used to be bitter over a lack of recognition for out-playing LeBron James in the 2017 Finals. Now he's getting his chance to shine.
The singer's relationship and breakup with Brandon Adams, whose stage name is 7:AMP, was revealed in her recent documentary.
Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes is worthy of joining Buccaneers QB Tom Brady on the cover of 'Madden NFL 22.' But is it too soon to call him a GOAT?
The police report alleges the officer did not call for medical attention for the victim.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lowered its travel warning for cruise ships Wednesday, recommending only unvaccinated passengers avoid cruise travel.
|
Armed Conflict
|
March 2015
|
['(AFP via Yahoo! News)']
|
Unknown gunmen shoot dead two Buddhist monks and injure two others in an attack at a temple in Thailand’s mainly Muslim south.
|
NARATHIWAT, Thailand (Reuters) - Unknown gunmen shot dead two Buddhist monks and injured two others in an attack at a temple in Thailand’s mainly Muslim south, the first such killing of a Buddhist monk in the restive region in more than three years.
An abbot and vice abbot were killed when at least six assailants believed to be dressed as members of a government security force burst into the Rattanupap temple in Narathiwat province and opened fire late on Friday, police said.
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha and religious leaders condemned the attack in the mainly ethnic Malay province, the scene of a long-running insurgency against Thai rule.
“The prime minister condemns this outrageous act and has ordered officials to quickly investigate the incident and apprehend these criminals,” the prime minister’s office said in a statement.
Thai Muslim leaders also spoke out against the shooting of monks.
“We urge perpetrators of violence in the southern border provinces from all sides to stop killing innocent people and religious leaders,” the Sheikhul Islam Office, which represents Thailand’s Muslim minority, said in a statement.
Police said the assailants were still at large.
A separatist insurgency has dragged on in southern Thailand for more than fifteen years. More than 6,900 people have been killed and 13,000 injured in the area since 2004 when violence intensified, independent monitoring group Deep South Watch says.
Thailand is a predominantly Buddhist country but Muslim Malays are a majority in three southern provinces bordering Malaysia.
The three provinces, and a small part of neighboring Songkhla, were part of a sultanate annexed by Thailand in 1909. Separatist tensions have simmered ever since.
As with most violence in Thailand’s deep south, there was no claim of responsibility for Friday’s attack. Buddhist and Muslim leaders as well as state officials have often been targeted by insurgents.
At least 23 monks have been killed and more than 20 wounded since 2004, but there has not been an attack on monks since 2015. An imam was shot on Jan. 11, also in Narathiwat province.
The killings have added a religious dimension to a conflict that initially was rooted in ethnic and national tensions.
“Many Buddhists, not just in the south but across the country, are feeling aggrieved by Muslims, and it will take time for that to change,” Rakchart Suwan, chairman of the Buddhist Network for Peace, told Reuters.
Analysts said the latest incident showed that insurgent group Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) retained significant military capacity despite government efforts to wipe it out.
“Regardless of BRN’s specific objectives with this attack, the Thai government would be very foolish not to consider the danger of a toxic communal atmosphere in the south which could get out of control,” Anthony Davis, an analyst with defense and security publisher Jane’s, told Reuters.
The Thai military government has taken part since 2015 in talks brokered by Malaysia that aim to end the violence but the BRN has stayed out of the dialogue.
That process was stalled last year and Bangkok has signaled that it will return to the talks this year.
Reporting by Surapan Boonthanom, Panarat Thepgumpanat, and Panu Wongcha-um; Editing by Gareth Jones and Stephen Coates
|
Armed Conflict
|
January 2019
|
['(Reuters)']
|
At least 600 shops are destroyed as a fire sweeps through a market and money exchange in Kabul, Afghanistan.
|
At least 600 shops have been destroyed by a fire which swept through a market in the Afghan capital, Kabul. No-one was injured in the blaze but the fire destroyed much of the goods on sale and forced traders to flee, says the BBC's Bilal Sarwary in the city.
Kabul's main money exchange, which is located within the market, was evacuated before the fire reached it.
The blaze was tackled by Afghan firefighters and police, as well as Nato forces.
The market is located less than a kilometre from the presidential office and several key Afghan ministries and is normally crowded during the day, says our correspondent.
As the fire approached the money market, traders moved hundreds of thousands of dollars to safety in waiting police vans. Shopkeepers also removed their stocks of gold from the nearby gold market.
There was no indication the fire had been caused by a bomb attack.
Kabul's police chief said the watchman who had been guarding the market had disappeared.
Gen Ayub Salangi told the BBC his officers were looking for the man.
The emergency services say it is possible the fire may reignite, and so they are keeping a close watch, our correspondent reports.
|
Fire
|
December 2012
|
['(BBC)']
|
The Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs detains Ziyavudin Magomedov, his brother Magomed Magomedov, and the chief executive of the Summa Group on charges of embezzlement of public funds and criminal association. A Moscow court orders Ziyavudin Magomedov, one of the richest Russians, to remain in pre-trial custody until May 30. ,
|
The Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs opened a criminal case against owners of Summa group on fraud and criminal association charges, official representative of the Ministry Irina Volk told TASS.
According to her, the Investigative Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia carries out preliminary investigation of the criminal case over "embezzlement of budgetary funds on a grand scale, including those allocated for the construction of infrastructure and power supply facilities."
She also noted that on March 30 the Ministry and the Federal Security Service conducted searches in 25 regions of Russia, including Moscow and the Moscow region, aimed at detaining suspects in the crime.
"Ziyavudin Magomedov and Magomed Magomedov, co-owners of Summa group of companies, as well as Head of the company in the group Artur Maksidov were detained on suspicion of committing these crimes. Materials for applying a measure of restraint to the detainees are sent to court," Volk concluded.
|
Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse
|
March 2018
|
['(TASS)', '(Reuters)']
|
A U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit three–judge panel upholds the Federal Communications Commission's net neutrality rules that prohibit broadband providers from giving or selling access to faster internet service to selected customers.
|
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court upheld the Obama administration’s landmark rules barring internet service providers from obstructing or slowing down consumer access to web content on Tuesday, dealing a blow to big cable and mobile phone companies.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, in a 2-1 decision, backed the Federal Communications Commission’s so-called net neutrality rules put in place last year to make internet service providers treat all internet traffic equally.
The rules prohibited broadband providers from giving or selling access to speedy internet, essentially a “fast lane” on the web’s information superhighway, to certain internet services over others.
In siding with the FCC, the court treated the internet like a public utility and opened the door to further government internet regulations.
The ruling was a big victory for President Barack Obama, a strong advocate of net neutrality rules.
“Today’s ruling is a victory for the open, fair and free internet as we know it today - one that remains open to innovation and economic growth, without service providers serving as paid gatekeepers,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.
But the fight is not over. The internet service providers that sued to block the regulations said they would appeal either to the full appellate court or to the Supreme Court, and telecommunications industry groups said they would redouble efforts to get Congress to limit the FCC’s authority.
Netflix Inc and Twitter Inc were among the companies that praised the ruling, while Google, part of Alphabet Inc, and others have backed the rules.
Presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Democrats in Congress also lauded the ruling.
But the U.S. Chamber of Commerce business group said the FCC is “essentially transforming an entire industry, in this case the internet, from an innovative, lightly regulated enterprise that made huge investments into this country, into a public utility subject to the whims of regulators.”
South Dakota Republican John Thune, who chairs the Senate Commerce Committee, said the decision upholds FCC restrictions “designed for the monopoly-telephone era.” He said the Republican-led Congress needs to step in to overturn a decision that results in “a highly political agency micromanaging the internet ecosystem.”
Net neutrality is a major issue for broadband providers like Verizon Communications Inc, Comcast Corp and AT&T, which fear the rules may make it harder to manage internet traffic and make investment to provide additional capacity less likely.
Verizon said it backs an open internet but urged Congress to approve “reasonable, bipartisan legislation that would provide a stable framework for continued investment and innovation.”
The decision was a victory for content providers like Netflix and Yelp Inc, which have worried that access to customers could be limited without net neutrality.
The ruling boosted the FCC in its bid to complete action on major internet privacy rules applying to internet providers before the end of the year. Internet service providers have expressed growing frustration at proposed FCC regulatory mandates, including new privacy rules and a proposal to open up pay-TV set top boxes to new competitors.
‘UNFETTERED ACCESS’
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said the “ruling is a victory for consumers and innovators who deserve unfettered access to the entire web, and it ensures the internet remains a platform for unparalleled innovation, free expression and economic growth.”
The telecommunications industry trade association US Telecom, which led the legal challenge, said the court failed to recognize “the significant legal failings” of the FCC rules that “we believe will replace a consumer-driven internet with a government-run internet, threatening innovation and investment in years to come.”
The court also rejected legal arguments from opponents that the rules should not apply to mobile phone web use or that they violated the constitutional free-speech rights of internet service providers.
Republican FCC commissioner Michael O’Rielly said, “We all will rue the day the commission was confirmed to have nearly unmitigated power over the internet.”
While the ruling was critical for businesses, consumers likely will not notice any difference because the rules have been in effect since June 2015.
The court’s ruling was made by two Democratic-appointed judges: David Tatel, named by President Bill Clinton, and Sri Srinivasan, an Obama appointee. They wrote that “over the past two decades, (website) content has transformed nearly every aspect of our lives, from profound actions like choosing a leader, building a career, and falling in love to more quotidian ones like hailing a cab and watching a movie.”
Judge Stephen Williams, an appointee of Republican President Ronald Reagan, wrote in dissent that “the ultimate irony of the commission’s unreasoned patchwork is that, refusing to inquire into competitive conditions, it shunts broadband service onto the legal track suited to natural monopolies.”
The FCC decided in 2015 to reclassify internet service providers as common carriers under a 1996 law. But unlike how utilities are treated, the FCC decided not to impose rate regulations or require broadband providers to file notice of pricing plans.
|
Government Policy Changes
|
June 2016
|
['(Reuters)']
|
North Korea threatens a genocide against the United States of America.
|
A STATE-RUN newspaper in North Korea has issued a chilling message to the US, telling the nation to brace for bloodshed worse than 9/11.
Total control ... North Korean leader Kim Jong-un recently threatened “nuclear storm” against the country’s enemies.
NORTH Korea has claimed they will kill more people in America than the September 11 attacks.
A bizarre article in the country’s state-run publication DPRK Today said their weapons are trained on the White House, the Pentagon and other vital US locations.
“If three civilian aeroplanes’ attacks from 15 years ago resulted in 3000 deaths and brought a nightmare to life for the US, the outbreak of our final war will wipe the country from history, leaving no time [for them to] even regret or have nightmares about it,” the article reportedly said.
Threats ... Kim Jong-un’s regime has issued a series of threats recently — even threatening long-time ally China
Kim Jong-un’s regime has issued a series of threats recently — even threatening long-time ally China.
“Being beaten by only three civilian aeroplanes, the US was ashamed in front of the world and has suffered incalculable psychological and economical damage,” the article added.
Dark day ... New Yorkers watch smoke billowing from the World Trade Centre on September 11. Picture: SuppliedSource:News Limited
The article comes soon after Kim Jong-un defied a UN weapons ban to oversee the testing of North Korea’s new surface-to-air missiles — the country’s state media has reported.
The test comes amid growing tensions between the North Korea and South Korea as the dictatorship appears to step up its weapons program.
The communist state has declared itself in a state of “semi-war” and declared hostilities against a host of countries including America and China.
Kim Jong-un, 33, recently threatened “nuclear storm” against the country’s enemies after it was subjected to strict UN sanctions — which includes a ban on any missile tests.
Pyongyang’s official news agency said the leader had “guided the test of a new-type anti-air guided weapon system” to “estimate its performance”.
Enemies ... The South Korean military launches a rocket during a live fire exercise in Goseong, which borders North Korea.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Barack Obama, meeting at the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, called for the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.
|
Famous Person - Give a speech
|
April 2016
|
['(News.com.au)']
|
The Houthis release six Saudi prisoners as part of a United Nations-mediated deal struck last month. All six arrive in Riyadh later the same day.
|
DUBAI (Reuters) - Six Saudi Arabian prisoners held in Yemen by the Iran-aligned Houthi group returned home on Wednesday, in a move welcomed by the United Nations as it pushes for political negotiations to end almost five years of war.
Facilitated by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) the six men arrived in Riyadh, the spokesman for a Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis in Yemen said in a statement.
He said the exchange had been part of the Stockholm agreement, a U.N.-mediated deal reached last December in a breakthrough in peace efforts. The agreement contained a prisoner exchange which has been slowly and only partially implemented in small batches throughout the year.
“We await reciprocal steps to be taken by the enemy forces for the release of our prisoners,” the head of the Houthis’ prisoner affairs file said in comments carried by al-Masirah TV.
In late November dozens of Houthi prisoners released by Saudi Arabia returned to Yemen’s Houthi-held capital Sanaa.
“I urge the parties to continue the momentum of confidence-building until all detainees are reunited with their loved ones,” United Nations Yemen envoy Martin Griffiths said on Twitter.
Yemen has been mired in almost five years of conflict since the Houthi movement ousted the internationally-recognized government of President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi from power in Sanaa in late 2014, prompting intervention in 2015 by a Saudi-led military coalition in a bid to restore his government.
The United Nations has been trying to re-launch political negotiations to end the war, which has killed tens of thousands of people and pushed millions to the brink of famine.
Meanwhile, Riyadh has been holding informal talks with the Houthis since late September about a wider ceasefire, sources familiar with the discussions have said, as it seeks to exit an unpopular war after its main coalition partner the United Arab Emirates withdrew troops earlier in 2019.
.
|
Famous Person - Commit Crime - Release
|
January 2020
|
['(Reuters)']
|
Li Ka–shing, "Hong Kong's richest man", pledges to pay, via his charitable foundation, the tuition fees of the Shantou University's 2019 incoming class for up to five years.
|
Hong Kong's richest man Li Ka-Shing has pledged to pay the tuition fees for a class of Chinese university students through his charitable foundation. The Li Ka-Shing Foundation will fund Shantou University's 2019 incoming class for up to five years. Mr Li, aged 90, is worth $30.4bn (£24.2bn) according to Forbes. Last month billionaire Robert F Smith made a similar move, saying he would pay the loans of a US college class.
The Li Ka-Shing Foundation will cover full tuition for four to five years for undergraduates, starting with the incoming class of 2019 at Shantou University, in the Guangdong province of China. The move will cost 100m Chinese yuan ($14.4m; £11.5m) a year.
"The Foundation hopes this scheme can alleviate financial burdens for families and encourage the pursuit of personal interests and further learning to better prepare graduates for the challenges of an increasingly complex global economy," the foundation said in a statement.
Mr Li, who has a rags-to-riches story after starting work sweeping factory floors as a young boy, was ranked 28th on Forbes rich list in 2019. He retired from his business empire last year, handing over the reins to his eldest son Victor Li. The Li family's CK Hutchison Holdings and CK Asset Holdings groups are involved in sectors including retail, telecoms and power.
Mr Li was one of the first Hong Kong tycoons to invest in mainland China, and property accounts for a big part in his wealth.
The billionaire was knighted by the UK in 2000, and earned the nickname "Superman" for his business and investment success.
Mr Li's generosity comes on the heels of a similar move by American philanthropist Robert F Smith.
Last month the billionaire tech investor shocked graduating students in Atlanta, Georgia, by telling them he would pay off all of their student loans.
Nearly 400 students stand to benefit from the pledge to wipe out their debt, thought to be worth $40m.
|
Financial Aid
|
June 2019
|
['(BBC)']
|
Four state Democratic Parties sue the Donald Trump presidential campaign, the state Republican Parties, and "Stop the Steal" group founder Roger Stone for voter intimidation in the states of Ohio, Pennsylvania, Nevada, and Arizona.
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Democrats are accusing Republicans and Donald Trump’s presidential campaign of conspiring to intimidate voters in at least four states just days ahead of the election.
In each lawsuit, the state’s Democratic party is seeking court action to preemptively block potential voter harassment or intimidation from Republican poll watchers or other observers.
The lawsuits were filed beginning Sunday in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Nevada and Arizona against Trump’s campaign, each state’s Republican party and GOP operative Roger Stone, who runs the group “Stop the Steal.”
Trump has called on his supporters to act as “election observers” in certain areas of the country to help prevent fraud. That has stirred fears of voter intimidation and confrontations at the polls.
In a federal lawsuit filed in Cleveland, the Ohio Democratic Party accused Trump and Republicans of conspiring to threaten, intimidate and prevent minority voters from casting ballots in the perennial battleground state. The complaint cited comments Trump has made at rallies in Ohio and elsewhere.
“In the months leading up to the 2016 election, Trump has made an escalating series of statements, often racially tinged, suggesting that his supporters should go to particular precincts on Election Day and intimidate voters,” the Ohio lawsuit alleged.
The state party said that absent court intervention, voters would be subjected to “intimidation, threats, and perhaps even force at the hands of vigilante ‘poll watchers’ and ‘ballot integrity’ volunteers on Election Day.”
Ohio Republican Party spokeswoman Brittany Warner called the lawsuit “a publicity stunt” and said the party is not involved in such voter intimidation. Pennsylvania Republicans called the lawsuit “a desperate effort by the Democrats in the face of eroding support for Hillary Clinton.”
Messages left Monday with Trump’s national and Ohio campaigns were not immediately returned.
In an emailed response, Stone said the lawsuit is without merit. He said his organization is not coordinating with the Trump campaign or any official GOP organizations. Instead, it is partnering with another group called Vote Protectors to conduct exit polls and plans to compare those responses with the voting machine results in 7,000 precincts nationwide.
“We seek only to determine if the election is honestly and fairly conducted and to provide an evidentiary basis for a challenge to the election if that is not the case,” Stone said.
In Arizona, Democrats are seeking a court order to block volunteer GOP poll watchers from harassing or photographing people headed to polling locations.
The lawsuit there said the state Republican Party is essentially an arm of Trump’s campaign and the campaign and its backers have been organizing “citizen journalists” and “poll watchers” to flood minority-heavy polling sites on Nov. 8. But Arizona GOP spokesman Tim Sifert said the party is doing no such thing.
Arizona Democratic Party Chairwoman Alexis Tameron said the party is worried that “rogue actors” will scare off voters.
In Nevada, the lawsuit claimed that Trump supporters have yelled at voters outside Las Vegas-area polling places when they said they were not voting for the Republican nominee. Among other requests, Democrats asked the court to declare that aggressive questioning of voters waiting to cast their ballot or threats of legal or criminal action are illegal.
Nevada Republican Party Chairman Michael McDonald said his party has zero tolerance for voter intimidation.
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Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse
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November 2016
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['(AP via CBS News)', '(Reuters)']
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In a few cities in Western Ukraine anti-government protesters seize government buildings.
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KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine's anti-government protesters seized government buildings in a few cities in the western part of the country, local media and the police said on Wednesday. Police said in a statement that protesters had seized regional administration headquarters in Ivano-Frankivsk and Lviv. The website of Ukrainska Pravda said that protesters torched the main police station in Ternopil and were trying to seize the headquarters of regional administration. Opposition lawmaker Oleksander Aronets said that protesters had also seized the local prosecutor's office. "Protesters occupied the prosecutor's office in Ternopil and burnt all cases against Ukrainian heroes!," he said on his Facebook profile.
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Protest_Online Condemnation
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February 2014
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['(Yahoo! News)']
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Chelsea miss numerous chances, including a penalty, though still manage an 8–0 Premier League victory over Aston Villa, the team's worst defeat in their 138–year history.
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Follow minute-by-minute commentary of the Premier League game between Chelsea and Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge on Sunday Dec 23 2012.
FULL TIME Chelsea 8 Aston Villa 0 One of the great Premier League pastings, an absolutely savage evisceration of Paul Lambert's young side by Chelsea. Their attacking trio of Mata, Moses and Hazard poured forward down either flank, exposing Lamber's plan of three centre backs and finding huge gaps where the wingbacks ought to have been. Rafa Benitez was able to call on the talents of Ramires, Piazon and Oscar from the bench, and they simply ran Villa ragged. It had all started with a smashing Torres header, he looked back to something like his best, while Lampard and the...
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Sports Competition
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December 2012
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['(The Guardian)', '(ESPN)', '(The Daily Telegraph)']
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Spanish police raid Catalan government offices and arrest Catalan officials as part of the effort to halt a banned referendum on independence. Catalan President Carles Puigdemont says, "The Spanish state has by all rights intervened in Catalonia’s government and has established emergency rule."
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MADRID/BARCELONA (Reuters) - Spanish police raided Catalan government offices and arrested officials on Wednesday to halt a banned referendum on independence, an action the regional president said meant Madrid had effectively taken over his administration.
Tens of thousands of protesters gathered outside the regional government offices in the center of Barcelona’s tourist district as well as in several Catalan cities, waving the red-and-yellow Catalan flag and chanting “Occupying forces out” and “Where is Europe?”.
“The Spanish state has by all rights intervened in Catalonia’s government and has established emergency rule,” Catalan President Carles Puigdemont said in a televised address.
“We condemn and reject the anti-democratic and totalitarian actions of the Spanish state,” he said, adding Catalans should turn out in force to vote in the Oct. 1 referendum on a split from Spain that Madrid has declared illegal.
State police arrested Catalonia’s junior economy minister Josep Maria Jove on Wednesday in their first raid of government offices in the region, Catalan government sources said. The raid targeted several regional government departments.
A dozen high-ranking local officials were arrested, La Vanguardia newspaper said. Police confirmed they were carrying out raids connected with the banned referendum, but did not give details. The Catalan government sources could not confirm the other arrests.
In several Barcelona districts, people banged on balconies railings and dumpsters while passing cars hooted noisily.
Among the protesters outside the government office in Barcelona, was Carlos, a 47-year-old taxi driver.
“We’re here so they know they can’t do whatever they want,” he said, as protesters bore banners reading “Democracy” and “Vote to be free”.
The FC Barcelona soccer club said in a statement: “FC Barcelona, in remaining faithful to its historic commitment to the defense of the nation, to democracy, to freedom of speech, and to self-determination, condemns any act that may impede the free exercise of these rights.”
Police efforts to stop the referendum have intensified in recent days as the wealthy northeastern region shows no signs of halting it.
Acting under court orders, police have raided printers, newspaper offices and private delivery companies in a search for campaign literature, instruction manuals for manning voting stations and ballot boxes.
The Civil Guard, a national police force, on Wednesday seized 10 million ballot papers, polling station displays as well as documents and forms to run the vote, including a list of voters under the headline “2017 Catalonia self-determination referendum”.
It had on Tuesday seized more than 45,000 envelopes packed in cardboard boxes that the Catalan government was ready to send to notify people about the referendum, while the first of hundreds of Catalan mayors appeared before the state prosecutor after they said they would back the referendum.
Spain’s finance ministry has taken over the region’s finances to prevent the use of public money to organize the vote.
But the central government must tread a fine line in enforcing the law in the region without seeming heavy-handed. Polls show a minority of Catalans, albeit more than 40 percent, support independence although a majority want a referendum on the issue.
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said on Wednesday the operations in Catalonia were the result of legal rulings and were to ensure the rule of law.
He later called on Catalan leaders to cancel the vote.
“Don’t go ahead, you don’t have any legitimacy to do it. Go back to the law and democracy (...) This referendum is a chimera,” he said in a televised speech. Any action that broke the law would be met with a proportionate response, he added.
The Constitutional Court has suspended the vote after the central government challenged its legality. Spain’s central government says the referendum goes against the 1978 constitution which states Spain is indivisible.
Under Article 155 of the constitution, Madrid has the power to suspend the regional government’s authority to rule. It has yet to exercise this option as it seeks to block the vote through the courts.
Although markets have so far shrugged off the increasing tension, Spain’s top stock index underperformed regional European stock peers on Wednesday.
The IBEX fell more than 1 percent by late afternoon trading with financials the biggest drags. Euro zone stocks were off about 0.2 percent.
Additional reporting by Paul Day and Michael Cartine in London; Writing by Sonya Dowsett; Editing by Julien Toyer, Janet Lawrence and Andrew Heavens
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Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse
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September 2017
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['(Reuters)', '(The New York Times)']
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Salva Kiir, the new vice–president of Sudan, is opposed to independence for the country's south. The Ugandan government shuts down a radio station for broadcasting a debate on the cause of death of former Sudanese vice–president John Garang.
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Politician James Otieno told the BBC the move was "unacceptable", while the Uganda Journalist Association said the government had exceeded its powers.
KFM was closed after it aired a heated debate on the possible causes of the helicopter crash which killed Sudanese Vice-President John Garang. Uganda's president had warned the media not to report speculation on the crash.
Mr Garang was travelling in the Ugandan helicopter when it crashed taking him back to Sudan after meeting Mr Museveni.
The Ugandan crew were also killed.
'Right to question'
Information Minister Nsaba Buturo said KFM's licence had been suspended because of a programme that did not meet Uganda's broadcasting standards.
Any newspaper which plays around with regional security, I will not tolerate it. I will just simply close it, finish, the end
President Yoweri Museveni
Mwenda rejects debt relief
He denied the closure was an attack on press freedom.
"Freedom without responsibility is dangerous to a young democracy such as ours," he told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme.
But the Uganda Journalist Association (UJA) said the Broadcasting Council did not have the powers to close KFM. "The action is not part of the functions of the council under the law as its mandate is to arbitrate and resolve disputes anybody has with the electronic media," said UJA Secretary General Haruna Kanaabi.
Mr Otieno told the BBC the decision showed that Mr Museveni was intimidating the media at a time when Ugandans wanted more political freedom.
"People have a right to question," said Mr Otieno - who is based in London and a member of the former ruling Uganda People's Congress.
'Vultures'
The head of the media group which runs KFM said he would "pursue all available avenues" to return to the airwaves.
The closure was "unreasonable and illegal", Monitor group head Conrad Nkutu told the AFP news agency.
President Museveni has described some journalists as "vultures"
The programme was hosted by prominent journalist Andrew Mwenda - who was singled out for criticism by Mr Museveni over his articles in the Monitor newspaper, part of the same media group.
Mr Museveni had said publishing conspiracy theories about the crash constituted a threat to national security and would not be tolerated. "They are vultures," he said of the papers in question. "For them the misery of the many is the joy of the vultures. "Now, any newspaper which plays around with regional security, I will not tolerate it. I will just simply close it, finish, the end."
However, he has been one of the few public officials to say he does not know the cause of the crash - others have said it was definitely an accident.
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Organization Closed
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August 2005
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['(BBC)', '(BBC)']
|
Choi Soon-sil, the woman at the centre of a South Korean political scandal involving her friend President of Korea Park Geun-hye, is detained for questioning.
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The woman at the centre of a political scandal that has cast the South Korean presidency into crisis has been detained, as locals continue to express their anger over the affair.
Prosecutors are investigating allegations that Choi Soon-sil used her friendship with President Park Geun-hye to influence state affairs by gaining access to classified documents, and benefited personally through non-profit foundations.
Worried that Ms Choi may be a flight risk and could destroy evidence, prosecutors placed her under emergency detention without a warrant, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported.
A prosecution official confirmed that she had been arrested and taken to a Seoul detention facility, declining to provide further details.
On Tuesday morning, Ms Choi arrived by prison bus at the prosecutors' office escorted by correctional officers, according to a live broadcast by Yonhap News TV.
Under South Korean law, a suspect can be held under emergency arrest without a warrant for up to 48 hours a longer detention requires an arrest warrant issued by a court.
In an interview with South Korea's Segye Ilbo newspaper last week, Ms Choi said she received drafts of Ms Park's speeches after her election victory but denied she had access to other official material, or that she influenced state affairs or benefited financially.
Ms Park said last week she had given Ms Choi access to speech drafts early in her term and apologised for causing concern among the public.
Meanwhile, South Korean police detained a man who rammed a large excavator into a gate near the office where prosecutors questioned Ms Choi.
Ms Choi had earlier told media that she "committed a sin that deserves death" a common expression of deep repentance and the detained man said he "came here to help her die", according to police.
The attack with heavy construction equipment on a Government building is part of a frenzy of emotion in South Korea over the scandal.
Ms Choi, a cult leader's daughter with a decades-long connection to Ms Park, was nearly knocked off her feet several times yesterday as a crowd of protesters and reporters closed in on her.
Protesters screamed for her arrest and Ms Park's resignation, one angry person reportedly tried to enter the building with a bucket full of animal faeces, and Ms Choi lost her shoe in the scrum.
Social media is now awash with images of the discarded black footwear and the word "Soonderella", a combination of parts of Ms Choi's name and the fairy tale character Cinderella, who leaves behind a glass slipper at a ball.
The man detained for the excavator incident was identified as a 45-year-old with the surname Jeong.
It was not known if Ms Choi was at the Seoul office at the time of the ramming, which injured a security guard and damaged the gate and other facilities.
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Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse
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November 2016
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['(ABC)']
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In Spanish soccer, Lionel Messi scores all the goals, including a Spanish league–record 50th goal, to take his season tally to an unprecedented 72 in the 4–0 defeat of rivals Espanyol.
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Lionel Messi scored four times to take his tally for the season to an unprecedented 72 goals, and give the Barcelona coach, Pep Guardiola, a 4-0 win against cross-town rivals Espanyol in his last home game at Camp Nou.
Messi's display was a fitting farewell for the coach who helped the Argentina forward become the world's best player, and made Barcelona one of the best teams ever.
After scoring his Spanish league-record 50th goal late on, Messi went to the sideline to embrace Guardiola, who is leaving after 13 titles in four seasons.
The only other player to have scored 70 goals in a first-division season was Archie Stark of Bethlehem Steel in the American Soccer League in 1924-25.
"Life has given me this gift during the past five years of being able to live with these players and enjoy this spectacle," Guardiola told the packed stands, following his 97th win in 118 home games.
"I have been the privileged one, to feel so loved and admired during all these years. Many thanks to all, above all to those who I have worked with every day."
Guardiola will coach Barcelona's last league game, at Real Betis, before a chance of a 14th piece of silverware, in the Copa del Rey final against Athletic Bilbao. Guardiola's assistant, Tito Vilanova, will then take over.
The stands were full of posters and signs in Guardiola's honour, and a banner saying "Thanks Pep" hung on the outside of the stadium to greet the departing manager on arrival.
When Guardiola came out of the tunnel he was met by another enormous banner saying "We love you Pep!" and chants from the 89,044 fans.
Messi put Barcelona in front in the 12th minute with a free-kick, his curling delivery slightly grazing the defensive wall before finding the side of the net. Barcelona's all-time leading scorer made it 2-0 in the 64th when Cristian Gómez handled a ball he had tried to flip by the defender.
Messi, who missed a critical penalty in Barcelona's defeat by Chelsea in the Champions League, stroked an unreachable strike off the inside of the post and into the back of the net.
With the result beyond doubt, the game turned into a party for the home side, and it ended with an homage to its most successful manager ever.
Messi added another by racing on to a long pass and striking a left-footed shot in the 75th minute before he scored another penalty with 10 minutes left after Diego Forlín fouled Sergio Busquets.
This is the second time Guardiola has said goodbye to Barcelona. But his exit in 2001 after 11 seasons as a midfielder was not given special treatment from his boyhood club; the contrast this time round could not have been starker.
After the final whistle, the club played a video in Guardiola's honour, with the highlights of his coaching career, which included two Champions League titles and three Spanish league crowns. The former midfielder then danced with his team in a circle in the middle of the pitch.
"Know that I will miss you all," Guardiola told the crowd. "But I am leaving you all in the good hands of these players."
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Break historical records
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May 2012
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['(AP via The Guardian)']
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Four policemen kill a suspect attempting to attack an ICE immigrant detention center in Tacoma, Washington. The perpetrator was armed with a rifle and incendiary devices, and had left a three-page manifesto advocating political violence
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An armed man who attacked an immigration detention centre in the US city of Tacoma died after police officers opened fire, authorities say.
Police said they received reports that a man, armed with a rifle, was throwing "incendiary devices" at the Northwest Detention Center early on Saturday. He was later identified as Willem Van Spronsen, who was reportedly involved in an earlier protest at the centre.
The shooting came a day before a major deportation operation was due to begin.
The raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials will target hundreds of illegal immigrant families across 10 cities who have recently been ordered deported but have not yet left the country. It marks the latest move in US President Donald Trump's crackdown on migration.
Sunday's raids are not expected to affect Tacoma. A police spokesperson told Reuters the incident on Saturday took place several hours after a peaceful rally outside the Washington state facility protesting against immigrant detentions. In a statement, the Tacoma Police Department said the four police officers involved in the shooting had been placed on administrative leave, as is standard procedure in such cases, and an investigation into the incident was underway.
Police arrived at the privately run Northwest Detention Center at about 04:00 local time (11:00 GMT) after receiving reports that a man was throwing "incendiary devices" at the facility and at vehicles in the car park, the statement said. The man allegedly set a vehicle on fire and attempted to ignite a propane tank and set buildings on fire. Officers said he was wearing a satchel and carrying flares.
Tacoma Police Department confirmed that all four officers opened fire on the suspect, while it remains unclear if he fired at the officers.
He was found shot dead at the scene. A police official said it could not yet be confirmed who was responsible for his death.
Pierce County Medical Examiner's Office identified Van Spronsen, a man in his late 60s, on Saturday night, according to local media reports. He was reportedly accused of assaulting a police officer during a protest at the same centre last year. Court documents cited by local media outlets said he wrapped his arms around the officer's neck and shoulders, as the officer was trying to detain another protester. After handcuffing him, police found that he had a collapsible baton and folding knife in his pocket.
A friend of Van Spronsen described him to the Seattle Times newspaper as an anarchist and anti-fascist. She said she believes he planned to provoke a fatal conflict with his actions on Saturday.
"I think this was a suicide. But then he was able to kind of do it in a way that spoke to his political beliefs," she said. Northwest Detention Centre holds migrants pending deportation proceedings and has also held immigration-seeking parents separated from their children, the Associated Press reports.
GEO Group, which runs the facility, told the Associated Press that "baseless accusations" about how detainees are treated there "have led to misplaced aggression and a dangerous environment for our employees, whose safety is our top priority".
President Donald Trump has always taken a hard line on immigration and during his election campaign made the building of a wall along the Mexican border a key pledge.
Earlier this year he declared a national emergency on the US southern border, claiming he needed special powers to build the wall to halt all illegal migration.
Controversial policies implemented by his administration in recent years include prosecuting adults who crossed the border illegally, resulting in children being separated from their parents.
There have been reports of "dangerous overcrowding" and inhumane conditions at migrant detention centres.
Where do these people come from?
Traditionally large numbers of Mexican economic migrants have declined, replaced in part by a surge in families with children from Central American countries - particularly Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador.
Why are they fleeing?
Many of these families are fleeing extreme poverty or the risk of gang violence. Why are there still separated children?
Although the separation of migrant families was officially halted in June 2018, the New York Times reported that 700 families had been separated in the year since via "loopholes" in the court order - when parents have a criminal conviction or a disease, or when it is an aunt, uncle, or sibling accompanying the child. Some parents may be children themselves.
How many people cross the border?
It is impossible to say how many people have crossed the border. As of last month, the US Border Patrol said it had made 593,507 "southwest border apprehensions" since October 2018. What's the state of illegal immigration in US?
Six surprising statistics about immigrants in the US
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Armed Conflict
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July 2019
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['(BBC)', '(Heavy)']
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The Taliban releases two of the 23 South Korean hostages kidnapped three weeks ago.
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The pair, both women, were brought to a meeting point pre-arranged with the Taleban and handed to the International Committee of the Red Cross.
They were said to have been released partly because they were in poor health and partly as a goodwill gesture after talks with South Korean officials.
Two of the 23 South Koreans captured three weeks ago have been killed.
The location of Monday's release was close where the bodies of the two male hostages were found last month, says the BBC's Charles Haviland in Kabul. South Korea's foreign ministry confirmed that the two women had been freed.
'Heavy heart'
The two women, who were wearing headscarves and were in tears, got into the ICRC car and were driven to the nearby town of Ghazni, our correspondent says.
I have a very heavy heart rather than have a happy heart
Sun Yun-jaMother of a released hostage
There, they were expected to meet South Korean delegates who have been negotiating with two Taleban officials to secure the hostages' release.
An ICRC official told the BBC the Taleban had earlier contacted the organisation to request that it play a role in the handover. He said the ICRC would willingly repeat such a role if requested. The women, who were photographed walking to the car, were said to be in "fair" health, our correspondent says.
The mother of one of the released hostages, Sun Yun-ja, said it was difficult to be happy about the releases.
"Two came back as bodies, two will return as being sick - I am really sorry for the family members of the remaining 19 hostages." "I have a very heavy heart, rather than have a happy heart."
Christian captives
There had been confusion over the releases, with a Taleban spokesman telling reporters on Saturday that the two had already been freed, before saying the timing of the release had yet to be decided.
A new timing of 1130 GMT Monday, announced by the same spokesman, Yusuf Ahmadi, then passed with no news of any hostage releases.
The Taleban said the two women were released because they were sick and as a goodwill gesture. They say they want Taleban imprisoned by the Afghan government to be set free if the other Koreans, most of whom are women, are to be released.
The South Koreans, all Christian aid workers, were seized on 19 July. The original group of 23 - most of them women - was captured on the main road from Kabul to Kandahar. It is thought the remaining South Korean hostages are being held in a number of small groups in a village about 10km (six miles) from Ghazni.
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Famous Person - Commit Crime - Release
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August 2007
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['(BBC)', '(CNN)']
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MTN Group is fined $5.2 billion by the Nigerian Communications Commission for failing to disconnect non–registered SIM cards.
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MTN was fined for non-compliance with a deadline set by the NCC to disconnect all non-registered sim cards.
The move follows accusations by mobile phone users that the regulator had failed to bring operators to account for poor services to subscribers. MTN Nigeria says it is studying the letter sent to it by the regulator and will respond soon. MTN is one of the largest phone providers in Nigeria.
A senior official of the company told the BBC it was in talks with the regulator over the fine and hoped to resolve the matter. BBC Abuja editor Bashir Sa'ad Abdullahi says some Nigerians say they want the regulator to address poor network signals provided by telecoms companies in the country. They want more sanctions on firms to encourage them to improve signals and the quality of service in the country, he says. Statistics from the NCC indicates that Nigeria, a country with an estimated population of more than 170 million, has almost 150 million mobile phones.
MTN Home
Nigerian Communications Commission
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Organization Fine
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October 2015
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['(BBC)']
|
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police arrest two suspects after they allegedly made online death threats to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Trudeau had to wear a bulletproof vest during a visit to Mississauga, Ontario, due to the threats made during his electoral campaign.
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The Royal Canadian Mounted Police have arrested two suspects in connection with alleged online threats made against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during the federal election campaign, a spokesperson has confirmed.
The RCMP executed a search warrant and arrested the two suspects in Quebec Friday, the spokesperson said. Electronic devices were seized.
The individuals' identities have not yet been made public as the investigation continues.
RCMP Cpl. Melanie Cappiello-Stebenne told CBC News that the RCMP monitors the web for threatening statements and that the force investigates whenever they believe a statement could "lead to violence."
Both suspects have been released and charges may be laid once the investigation is complete.
"We're going to be analyzing what was found in the search," said Cappiello-Stebenne.
In a statement to CBC News, the Prime Minister's Office said it would not comment on the prime minister's security.
In October, a Trudeau campaign event was delayed due to a security threat, Liberal sources told CBC News at the time.
When he eventually appeared at the event in in Mississauga, Ont., Trudeau could be seen wearing a bulletproof vest under his shirt and was accompanied by a heavy security detail.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau indicated at a press conference on Friday that Canada is working on a proof of vaccination for Canadians who wish to travel, with the initial phase set to come into effect for summer travel.
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Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse
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December 2019
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['(Yahoo! News Canada)']
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A judge in Pennsylvania schedules the dates for the trial of accused U.S. comedian Bill Cosby.
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A judge in Pennsylvania has set a trial date for Bill Cosby, who is accused of sexually assaulting a woman at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004.
Former Temple University employee Andrea Constand alleges the 79-year-old entertainer drugged and molested her. The trial is tentatively set to begin on 5 June next year near Mr Cosby's home. At least 50 women have accused Mr Cosby of sexual assault, and prosecutors want 13 of them to testify.
The former star of The Cosby Show faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted. A lawyer for Mr Cosby welcomed the trial date, saying: "The time has come to shine a spotlight on the trampling of Mr Cosby's civil rights."
Once fondly known as America's Dad, Mr Cosby was the first African-American to host a primetime television programme.
Although many women have accused him of rape, he is only facing charges in this one case due to statutes of limitations.
Thirteen of his accusers may be allowed by the judge to take the stand because the state of Pennsylvania allows witnesses to give evidence of past acts that might display a "common scheme, plan, or design".
Prosecuting lawyers say these women could demonstrate Mr Cosby shows a pattern of behaviour that is consistent with Ms Constand's accusations.
In 2004 Ms Constand was 31 when she visited Mr Cosby's home seeking career advice after befriending him through Temple University, where he served on the board of trustees. She said Mr Cosby gave her three blue pills which made her legs feel "like jelly" and that he then began to touch her inappropriately.
"I told him, 'I can't talk, Mr Cosby.' I started to panic," she said in a criminal complaint in December last year.
Mr Cosby has maintained all of his sexual encounters with women were consensual, and that Ms Constand never asked him to stop.
In 2006 Mr Cosby settled with Ms Constand after providing an undisclosed cash sum to her.
A criminal case opened this year following the election of a new county prosecutor who had made it a campaign promise to bring charges against the comedian.
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Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse
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September 2016
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['(BBC)']
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The Italian Senate allows former Minister of the Interior and current senator Matteo Salvini to be tried in a criminal case for illegally detaining migrants last summer.
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Italy's Senate has voted to allow prosecutors to put far-right leader Matteo Salvini on trial over charges of holding migrants at sea.
Mr Salvini, who previously served as Italy's interior minister, is accused of illegally keeping people on a boat off Sicily for days in August 2019.
Some 116 migrants remained aboard the Gregoretti for close to a week.
On Wednesday, a majority of senators voted for the trial of the anti-immigration League leader to go ahead.
Mr Salvini has repeatedly said he wants to go to court. He told the chamber he wanted "to tell the world" that his migration policies "saved tens of thousands of lives."
"I am absolutely calm and proud of what I have done. And I'll do it again as soon as I get back into government," he said later.
Senators from his League party left the chamber rather than take part in Wednesday's vote.
Under Italian law, ministers have parliamentary immunity for actions taken while they were in office. But a committee voted last month to strip Mr Salvini of his immunity - leaving the final decision in the hands of the Senate on Wednesday.
The upper house Senate voted 152-76 in favour of lifting the immunity.
After the tally was announced, Mr Salvini compared himself to US President Donald Trump, who was impeached in December and accused opponents of undermining his electoral success through the courts. "I, like Trump? He has a few more billions and a few more years, but it's a bad little habit of the left, going around in the world, to try to win by judicial means," he wrote on Twitter. If successfully prosecuted at trial, Mr Salvini could face up to 15 years in jail.
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Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse
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February 2020
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['(BBC)']
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On Divine Mercy Sunday, Pope Francis speaks at Santo Spirito in Sassia and warns about being struck by a worse virus of forgetting the poor and of “selfish indifference.”
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As pressure builds up in Europe and in the United States to get the economy moving again after the lockdown due to the pandemic, Pope Francis warned against “the risk” of “being struck by an even worse virus” than Covid-19, namely “selfish indifference.”
“The time has come to eliminate inequalities, to heal the injustice that is undermining the health of the entire human family,” he said April 18 in his Divine Mercy Sunday homily in the Basilica of Santo Spirito in Sassia, the sanctuary in Rome dedicated to Divine Mercy.
The church was built as part of the oldest hospital complex in Europe, set up to care for sick pilgrims in the eighth century, and is located just outside the Vatican, across the street from the Jesuit headquarters. Francis concelebrated the Mass with the Vatican archbishop, Rino Fisichella, and the rector of the church, Mgr. Jozef Bart. A congregation of fewer than 20 persons attended, including a choir of four singers, who sang at the offertory the hymn based on the words of St. Faustina, “Jezu ufam Tobie” (“Jesus, I trust in you”).
“
Vatican Media broadcast the Mass to a global audience of millions in Italy and worldwide, at which prayers were said for all who are infected by the virus and those who have died from it, as well as for their families, all healthcare workers including doctors and nurses, and those who care for the sick and those in need or living alone, and those experiencing economic problems.
“Mercy does not abandon those who stay behind,” Francis said. But he warned that “now, while we are looking forward to a slow and arduous recovery from the pandemic, there is a danger that we will forget those who are left behind.” Explaining what he meant by “selfish indifference,” he said, this is “a virus spread by the thought that life is better if it is better for me and that everything will be fine if it is fine for me. It begins there and ends up selecting one person over another, discarding the poor and sacrificing those left behind on the altar of progress.”
He said “the present pandemic reminds us that there are no differences or borders between those who suffer,” referring to the fact that the coronavirus pandemic has already caused the deaths of more than 160,000 people and infected more than 2.3 million, and caused 4.5 billion to be placed under confinement measures or even total lockdown.
As he has said on several occasions in recent weeks, Francis said this is the time to rebuild the world in a more human, inclusive, sustainable way and that failure to take the opportunity to do so will bring other tragedies. For this reason, he has set up a team in the Vatican to see how it can influence the decisions that are being taken now by those in positions of political and economic power that will re-order the whole world.
In his homily today, he called on people to “learn from the early Christian community described in the Acts of the Apostles” that “received mercy and lived with mercy.” He recalled how those first Christians “were together and had all things in common; they sold their possessions and goods and distributed them to all, as any had need.” “This is not some ideology. It is Christianity,” he said.
Pope Francis left the Vatican for the second time during this pandemic, this time to celebrate Mass in this church on the first Sunday after Easter. Twenty years ago, St. John Paul II dedicated this Sunday to the Divine Mercy. In his homily, Francis recalled how St. Faustina said that Jesus told her: “I am love and mercy itself; there is no human misery that could measure up to my mercy.”
Commenting on the Gospel story that recounted how the apostle Thomas was not with the other disciples when Jesus first appeared to them after his resurrection and had said he would not believe until he touched the wounds of the crucified Lord, Francis recalled how Jesus reached out to Thomas with “patient mercy” and showed him his wounds, after which the doubting disciple made his profession of faith with the words “My Lord and my God.”
At this point, addressing his virtual audience of millions of people who were following the celebration broadcast by Vatican Media, Francis said, “dear brothers and sisters, in the time of trial that we are presently undergoing, we too, like Thomas, with our fears and our doubts, have experienced our frailty. We need the Lord, who sees beyond that frailty an irrepressible beauty. With him, we rediscover how precious we are even in our vulnerability. We discover that we are like beautiful crystals, fragile and at the same time precious. And if, like crystal, we are transparent before him, his light—the light of mercy—will shine in us and through us in the world.”
“Each of us could say, ‘these are complex problems, it is not my job to take care of the needy, others have to be concerned with it,’” Pope Francis said. Then he recalled that St. Faustina, after meeting Jesus, wrote, “In a soul that is suffering, we should see Jesus on the cross, not a parasite and a burden...” Moreover, she wrote that she herself complained one day to Jesus that “in being merciful, one is thought to be naive” and Jesus told her, “never mind, don’t let it bother you, just be merciful to everyone always.”
Addressing people worldwide, Pope Francis said, “let us not think only of our interests, our vested interests. Let us welcome this time of trial as an opportunity to prepare for our collective future. Because without an all-embracing vision, there will be no future for anyone.”
He concluded by appealing to everyone: “let us show mercy to those who are most vulnerable; for only in this way will we build a new world.”
At the end of Mass, he extended his fraternal greeting and good wishes to the Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Catholic churches and who are celebrating the resurrection of Jesus on this Sunday.
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Famous Person - Give a speech
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April 2020
|
['(Crux)', '(NC Register)', '(America)']
|
In tennis, two–time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka is to miss the remainder of the season because of the foot injury that has blighted her year.
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Last updated on 21 September 201421 September 2014.From the section Tennis
Victoria Azarenka will miss the remainder of the season because of the foot injury that has blighted her year.
The two-time Australian Open champion has already missed five months in 2014 and slipped from second to 25th in the world rankings.
Azarenka, 25, reached earlier this month and had been scheduled to return to action at the Wuhan Open in China.
"It has been a very tough year for me," said the Belarusian.
"I have been trying my best to improve day in and day out by pushing and pushing, but that does not appear to be the best approach for me right now. "I will use this time to work on making a full recovery and take care of my body to compete at my best next season.
"I always believe that everything happens for a reason, but it is up to you to make the best out of it, and that is exactly what I am going to do."
Azarenka and the recently retired Li Na are the only top-20 players absent in Wuhan, where Venus Williams suffered a narrow defeat by France's Caroline Garcia in the first round on Sunday.
Williams, 34, led 5-2 in the final set but Garcia responded to come through 6-4 4-6 7-6 (8-6).
British number one Heather Watson takes on Italian 11th seed Sara Errani in her opening match on Monday.
|
Sports Competition
|
September 2014
|
['(BBC)']
|
Nader ballot access disputes: The Florida Supreme Court orders that Reform Party candidate Ralph Nader be included on the ballot in Florida for the upcoming U.S. presidential election.
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush received a potential boost on Friday in his bid for re-election when a court ruled that independent candidate Ralph Nader, who experts believe helped Bush win four years ago, be placed on Florida's presidential ballot.
As the Republican and Democrat campaigns both claimed momentum amid a mix of polls offering a confused picture of the U.S. presidential race, Florida's Supreme Court ordered Reform Party candidate Nader be allowed to compete in the state that decided the 2000 election.
A judge also ordered that Nader be included on the ballot in Colorado, another state that voted for Bush in 2000 but where polls indicate a close race in the Nov. 2 election.
Democrats around the United States have been challenging Nader's presence on the ballot because they view the consumer advocate as a spoiler who helped Bush get elected.
The Florida Supreme Court ruled on a challenge by the Democratic party against Nader being included on ballots on the grounds his Reform Party was not a genuine national political organization.
"In making our decision in this case, we are guided by the overriding constitutional principle in favor of ballot access," the Supreme Court said.
Recent polls show Bush is locked in a tight race with Democratic challenger John Kerry in Florida.
Nader was a Green Party candidate in 2000 when Bush won Florida by 537 votes to clinch the White House. Analysts said most of Nader's nearly 98,000 Florida votes would have gone to Democrat Al Gore had Nader not been on the ballot.
Polls show the 2004 presidential race is shaping up to be just as close as 2000, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on the Florida recount to hand Bush victory.
The Bush campaign said surveys this week showed Bush was still enjoying his post-convention bounce and holding a lead over Kerry, despite a Harris poll that gave the Democrat challenger a 1-point lead and a Pew poll that showed the race tied.
"The average of all of these polls shows President Bush with a five-point lead, 50 percent to 45 percent," said Bush campaign spokesman Scott Stanzel.
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Government Job change - Election
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September 2004
|
['(Reuters)', '(BBC)', '(CNN)']
|
The nominees for this year’s Academy Awards are announced. Joker receives 11 nominations, including for Best Picture and Best Director, the most out of those nominated.
|
The film earned a total of 11 nominations — the most of any comic book-based movie ever — including best picture, best actor for Joaquin Phoenix, best directing for Todd Phillips and best adapted screenplay for Phillips and Scott Silver.
In addition to Joker, eight other films are up for best picture: 1917, Ford v Ferrari, Jojo Rabbit, Little Women, The Irishman, Marriage Story, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and Parasite.
Following Joker were three films with 10 noms apiece: The Irishman, 1917 and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Meanwhile, Jojo Rabbit, Little Women, Marriage Story and Parasite each earned six noms.
Leading the snubs were female directors, as women were left out in the best director category for the second consecutive year. Little Women's Greta Gerwig was the most glaring category omission. And though Cynthia Erivo nabbed a best actress nomination for Harriet, 19 of the 20 acting nominees were white, marking a year of Oscars almost so white.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced nominees in 24 categories. John Cho and Issa Rae were on hand to announce the nominations, with nine films up for best picture.
Academy members from each of the 17 branches vote to determine the nominees in their respective categories, meaning actors nominate actors, film editors nominate film editors and so on. In the animated feature film and international feature film categories, nominees are selected by a vote of multibranch screening committees. All voting members are eligible to select the best picture nominees.
For the second year in a row, the Oscars will go hostless. ABC Entertainment president Karey Burke made the announcement last week when speaking at the Television Critics Association's winter press tour in Pasadena. "Let me confirm it now, together with the Academy, that there will be no traditional host this year," Burke said, stressing the ceremony would repeat what worked last year.
The 92nd Academy Awards will be held Sunday, Feb. 9, airing on ABC as part of the network's long-term agreement with the Academy.
A full list of nominees follows. Keep up with all the news about the 2020 Oscars here.
Ford v Ferrari (Fox), Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping and James Mangold, producers
The Irishman (Netflix), Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Emma Tillinger Koskoff, producers
Jojo Rabbit (Fox Searchlight), Carthew Neal and Taika Waititi, producers
Joker (Warner Bros.), Todd Phillips, Bradley Cooper and Emma Tillinger Koskoff, producers
Little Women (Sony), Amy Pascal, producer
Marriage Story (Netflix), Noah Baumbach and David Heyman, producers
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (Sony), David Heyman, Shannon McIntosh and Quentin Tarantino, producers
1917 (Universal), Sam Mendes, Pippa Harris, Jayne-Ann Tenggren and Callum McDougall, producers
Parasite (Neon), Kwak Sin-ae and Bong Joon Ho, producers
Cynthia Erivo, Harriet
Scarlett Johansson, Marriage Story
Saoirse Ronan, Little Women
Charlize Theron, Bombshell
Renée Zellweger, Judy
Antonio Banderas, Pain and Glory
Leonardo DiCaprio, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Adam Driver, Marriage Story
Joaquin Phoenix, Joker
Jonathan Pryce, The Two Popes
Kathy Bates, Richard Jewell
Laura Dern, Marriage Story
Scarlett Johansson, Jojo Rabbit
Florence Pugh, Little Women
Margot Robbie, Bombshell
Brad Pitt, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Al Pacino, The Irishman
Joe Pesci, The Irishman
Tom Hanks, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
Anthony Hopkins, The Two Popes
Bong Joon Ho, Parasite
Sam Mendes, 1917
Todd Phillips, Joker
Martin Scorsese, The Irishman
Quentin Tarantino, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
The Irishman, Steven Zaillian
Jojo Rabbit, Taika Waititi
Joker, Todd Phillips and Scott Silver
Little Women, Greta Gerwig
The Two Popes, Anthony McCarten
1917, Sam Mendes and Krysty Wilson-Cairns
Knives Out, Rian Johnson
Marriage Story, Noah Baumbach
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Quentin Tarantino
Parasite, Bong Joon Ho and Han Jin-won
Corpus Christi (Poland)
Honeyland (North Macedonia)
Les Misérables (France)
Pain and Glory (Spain)
Parasite (South Korea)
American Factory (Netflix), Steven Bognar, Julia Reichert and Jeff Reichert
The Cave (National Geographic), Feras Fayyad, Kirstine Barfod and Sigrid Dyekjaer
The Edge of Democracy (Netflix), Petra Costa, Joanna Natasegara, Shane Boris and Tiago Pavan
For Sama (PBS), Waad al-Kateab and Edward Watts
Honeyland (Neon), Ljubo Stefanov, Tamara Kotevska and Atanas Georgiev
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (Dreamworks), Dean DeBlois, Bradford Lewis and Bonnie Arnold
I Lost My Body (Netflix), Jérémy Clapin and Marc du Pontavice
Klaus (Netflix), Sergio Pablos, Jinko Gotoh and Marisa Román
Missing Link (United Artists Releasing), Chris Butler, Arianne Sutner and Travis Knight
Toy Story 4 (Pixar), Josh Cooley, Mark Nielsen and Jonas Rivera
The Irishman, production design: Bob Shaw; set decoration: Regina Graves
Jojo Rabbit, production design: Ra Vincent; set decoration: Nora Sopková
1917, production design: Dennis Gassner; set decoration: Lee Sandales
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, production design: Barbara Ling; set decoration: Nancy Haigh
Parasite, production design: Lee Ha-jun; set decoration: Cho Won-woo
Ford v Ferrari, Andrew Buckland and Michael McCusker
The Irishman, Thelma Schoonmaker
Jojo Rabbit, Tom Eagles
Joker, Jeff Groth
Parasite, Yang Jinmo
1917, Roger Deakins
The Irishman, Rodrigo Prieto
Joker, Lawrence Sher
The Lighthouse, Jarin Blaschke
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Robert Richardson
Avengers: Endgame, Dan DeLeeuw, Russell Earl, Matt Aitken and Dan Sudick
The Irishman, Pablo Helman, Leandro Estebecorena, Nelson Sepulveda-Fauser and Stephane Grabli
The Lion King, Robert Legato, Adam Valdez, Andrew R. Jones and Elliot Newman
1917, Guillaume Rocheron, Greg Butler and Dominic Tuohy
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Roger Guyett, Neal Scanlan, Patrick Tubach and Dominic Tuohy
The Irishman, Sandy Powell and Christopher Peterson
Jojo Rabbit, Mayes C. Rubeo
Joker, Mark Bridges
Little Women, Jacqueline Durran
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Arianne Phillips
Ad Astra, Gary Rydstrom, Tom Johnson and Mark Ulano
Ford v Ferrari, Paul Massey, David Giammarco and Steven A. Morrow
Joker, Tom Ozanich, Dean Zupancic and Tod Maitland
1917, Mark Taylor and Stuart Wilson
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Michael Minkler, Christian P. Minkler and Mark Ulano
Ford v Ferrari, Donald Sylvester
Joker, Alan Robert Murray
1917, Oliver Tarney and Rachael Tate
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Wylie Stateman
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Matthew Wood and David Acord
"I Can't Let You Throw Yourself Away," Toy Story 4, music and lyrics by Randy Newman
|
Awards ceremony
|
January 2020
|
['(The Hollywood Reporter)']
|
Rupert Murdoch resigns from a number of directorships, including that of News International.
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Mr Murdoch, 81, quit directorships at NI Group Ltd, NewsCorp Investments and Times Newspaper Holdings on Friday.
News Corp plans to split into two firms, separating its newspaper and book publishing interests from its now dominant TV and film enterprises.
Mr Murdoch is expected to chair both businesses but to be chief executive only of the TV and film side.
News International has sought to play down the significance of the resignations. A spokesman said: "Last week, Mr Murdoch stepped down from a number of boards, many of them small subsidiary boards, both in the UK and US.
"This is nothing more than a corporate house-cleaning exercise prior to the company split." Media commentator Steve Hewlett told the BBC it was "no surprise" News Corporation was moving away from its newspaper investments because declining circulation in the industry and the phone-hacking scandal had made for "a nightmare".
He added: "For Rupert Murdoch to make this move, however, away from these titles, which he has invested 40 years of his life in, is plainly significant."
Labour MP Tom Watson, a long-time critic of the Murdoch empire, agreed that it was a significant move.
He said: "It was only a few months ago when he told the members of the Sun team that he'd lived and breathed the paper for the last 40 years and he wasn't going anywhere. "Well, few of them believed that at the time and I think the resignation this week proves it. He's jettisoning those parts of the company that have become an embarrassment and he's leaving those people that stuck with him for many decades behind."
When News Corp announced on 28 June that it would divide itself into two separate businesses, it said that Mr Murdoch would chair both of them - although he would continue as chief executive of only the TV, film and entertainment one.
The split will see News Corp's film and television businesses - including 20th Century Fox and the Fox broadcasting network - grouped in one company.
The other company will hold all News Corp's publishing interests, such as the Wall Street Journal, the Times, the Sun, the Australian, the New York Post and publisher HarperCollins.
BBC business editor Robert Peston says Mr Murdoch also resigned from a number of News Corporation boards, in the US, Australia and India.
Mr Murdoch has resigned from about a dozen News Corporation boards in total, our correspondent says.
He says that in terms of structure, NewsCorp Investments sits just below News Corporation; NI Group Ltd sits below NewsCorp Investments and owns the UK newspaper interests, and Times News Holdings.
NI boss Tom Mockridge has sent an email to staff which says that Mr Murdoch remains committed to chairing the newspaper interests when they are demerged from News Corporation.
The announcement that News Corp was to split came following pressure from shareholders and UK politicians over the phone-hacking scandal.
Last year it emerged that journalists at News International publication the News of the World had been illicitly accessing the voicemails of prominent people to find stories.
Claims that NoW journalists had hacked the voicemail of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler led to the closure of the Sunday tabloid, and later an inquiry into press standards by Lord Justice Leveson. The inquiry is due to hear closing submissions on Tuesday. In May, News Corp's board gave their backing to Mr Murdoch after a UK parliamentary media committee report accused him of being "not a fit person" to run a major international business.
His son James resigned as chairman of UK broadcaster BSkyB in April in effort to distance that company from the phone-hacking scandal.
He also stood down as chairman of the newspaper publisher, News International, in March. Our correspondent says some might argue that Mr Murdoch's resignations from the New Corp subsidiaries has a symbolic significance, given that his British newspapers - namely the Sun, Times, Sunday Times, and now defunct News of the World - had loomed so large in his long career. "But I am not sure that his departure from these boards tell us anything much about how long he will remain chairman of their parent and therefore associated with them," he added.
|
Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal
|
July 2012
|
['(BBC)']
|
Firefights between Islamists and the Malian Army break out in Gao, Mali.
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Malian troops and suspected Islamist militants are exchanging heavy gunfire on the streets of Gao in northern Mali.
A BBC correspondent in the town says the clashes began near the central police station but have since spread.
It comes a day after a suicide bomber blew himself up near a checkpoint at a northern entrance to the town - the second such attack in two days.
Gao was retaken just over two weeks ago by French and Malian forces, who supposedly drove out the Islamists. Security had been tightened in the wake of the suicide attacks, with military patrols stepped up and checkpoints put in place.
The Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (Mujao) said it had carried out Sunday's attack on Malian troops as well as both the suicide bombings, AFP news agency reports.
On Saturday, Mujao spokesman Abou Walid Sahraoui said: "We are dedicating ourselves to carrying out more attacks against France and its allies."
The BBC's Tomas Fessy, in Gao, says Sunday's gun battle appears to have started around the main police station in the town centre, but there is now heavy gunfire coming from different areas.
A Malian soldier holding one army position told him that some gunmen were driving around on motorbikes.
Our correspondent says people are barricaded inside their houses and the situation remains unclear.
However, worries that Islamist militants had infiltrated Gao seems to have become reality, as they are waging a guerrilla war in the town, he adds.
There was no immediate comment from the Malian and French militaries.
|
Fire
|
February 2013
|
['(BBC)', '(AFP via Google)', '(Voice of America)']
|
American psychiatrist and best–selling author M. Scott Peck, M.D. Dies after suffering from Parkinson's disease and pancreatic and liver duct cancer. Peck, 69, was the author of The Road Less Traveled. ,
|
M. Scott Peck, the psychiatrist and author whose best-selling book "The Road Less Traveled" offered millions of readers an inspirational prescription of self-discipline, died on Sunday at his home in Warren, Conn. He was 69.
The cause was complications of pancreatic and liver duct cancer, said Michael Levine, a friend and publicist.
|
Famous Person - Death
|
September 2005
|
['(New York Times)', '(NPR)']
|
At least 33 people are killed and 120 are injured in violent protests organized by the political organization Muttahida Qaumi Movement in the Pakistani city of Karachi.
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ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- At least 33 people have been killed during massive clashes between pro-government supporters and opposition party members Saturday in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi, police and intelligence sources said.
Many of those killed were supporters of deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, who had gathered as he arrived in the city earlier in the day, police said. An unknown number of other people have been wounded.
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf removed Chaudhry from his post on March 9, accusing him of misusing his powers. The dismissal has sparked widespread demonstrations.
Chaudhry was slated to address a bar association meeting in Karachi, but because of the upheaval was not able to leave the Karachi airport. He was flying back to Islamabad.
Musharraf, meanwhile, held his own public rally in Islamabad as a show of his strength.
"My head is held up high," the president told a cheering crowd. "Love for the people is in my heart ... The strength of the people, of the Pakistani people, is with me, and I salute you all."
Lawyers supporting Chaudhry told CNN they had walked some 10 miles Saturday to welcome him as he arrived at Karachi airport, having vowed to greet him "at any cost".
All main city roads, including the road to the airport, had been blocked and sealed off with containers and trucks, police said, in what appeared to be a bid by government supporters to restrict movement and interrupt the rally.
A provincial high court ordered the provincial government to provide security for Chaudhry on his visit. According to police sources, more than 15,000 police officers will be deployed in Karachi along with paramilitary troops.
More than 800 political workers had been arrested, the sources said, adding that they were members of labor and student organizations who had planned to greet Chaudhry on his arrival. The police did not say why they had been arrested.
The atmosphere grew tense and uncertain after gunmen opened fire on political workers of the opposition Pakistan Muslim League, killing six of them, police in Karachi said.
Pakistan's Supreme Court bar and many legal experts have said Musharraf does not have the constitutional power to remove the chief justice from the bench. So far, 14 superior and civil court judges and two deputy attorney generals have resigned over the matter.
Chaudhry was appointed to the court by Musharraf in 2005, but had recently started exercising independence from the government in a number of cases involving the disappearance of terror suspects and human rights activists.
The U.S. has tiptoed around the matter, partly because Musharraf is a key ally in its war on terrorism.
Musharraf's critics accused him of removing Chaudhry in an effort to intimidate the judiciary ahead of crucial elections and a vote in parliament to extend his rule later this year.
On Wednesday Pakistan's Supreme Court banned the media from discussing the legal battle being waged by Chaudhry, saying coverage should not interfere with the process.
The court issued the ban because of what it claims is a "campaign of making the honorable judges of the Supreme Court/members of the Supreme Judicial Council controversial" in broadcast and print media.
Journalists' organizations launched a protest against the ban, with reporters saying they were merely covering the story and have done nothing illegal.
In a statement Wednesday, the Supreme Court said special passes would be issued for reporters and lawyers to attend Chaudhry's hearing on the presidential reference filed against him.
It added that media coverage, discussion and analysis that impeded legal procedures would be treated as contempt of court. Chaudhry's lawyers protested the decision and said they would challenge it in the Supreme Court.
.
|
Riot
|
May 2007
|
['(led by exiled Altaf Hussain)', '(BBC)', '(CNN)']
|
Condoleezza Rice, the United States Secretary of State, and Barry Lowenkron, the assistant secretary of state for human rights, meet with Kasymzhomart Tokayev, the foreign minister of Kazakhstan. They discussed the War in Afghanistan and Iraq and the Nazarbayev administration's desire to head the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in 2009, which the United States Government opposes.
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Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s visit to Washington this week is designed to cement his country’s position as a US ally in Central Asia. But Washington has made a decision that could complicate the relationship: US officials are prepared to block Astana’s bid to be chair of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in 2009.
Kazakhstani leaders make no secret of their desire to hold the OSCE chair in 2009. Leading the organization would significantly enhance the image of a government with a spotty record on democracy and human rights – the core of the OSCE’s mandate – but which nevertheless has a better record than most of its neighbors. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].
However, the United States seems prepared to dash Kazakhstani hopes. State Department policymakers believe it is too early to consider Astana for the OSCE leadership. More time has to pass, allowing Kazakhstan to sink deeper democratization roots, for Astana to merit the OSCE chair. Within the last two months, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reportedly distributed a memo to US embassies in all 56 OSCE-member states, instructing American diplomats to resist Kazakhstani lobbying efforts. The OSCE operates on a consensus basis and so US opposition could well sink Kazakhstan’s 2009 chances.
"[The State Department] put it much more diplomatically, but the message was, we would like to encourage Kazakhstan’s aspirations to be chairman of one of the leading human rights multilateral institutions, but 2009 is premature," said an official at the United States Helsinki Commission, which advises Congress on OSCE-related issues and has opposed Kazakhstan’s bid. The US has also sent the message that if Kazakhstan improves its rights record, Washington would support a future bid, the Helsinki Commission official said. "The United States is fairly comfortable in the decision it’s made that Kazakhstan is not ready at this time for the chairmanship."
The OSCE issue aside, Washington wants to cultivate its relationship with Kazakhstan and Nazarbayev. Thus, the Kazakhstani leader’s visit could still prove fruitful. The US and Kazakhstani governments agreed on a strategic partnership in 2001, during Nazarbayev’s previous White House visit. Since then, US investment in Kazakhstan has tripled to $15 billion, while trade between the countries has also tripled, to $1.8 billion a year. Kazakhstan receives substantial military aid from Washington and there is a steady traffic of top government officials between Washington and Astana. US Vice President Dick Cheney visited Astana earlier this year. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. The US sees in Kazakhstan a long-term, stable ally in Central Asia, one that Washington hopes will act as a counterweight to Russia’s spreading influence in the region. Kazakhstan’s role became all the more important last year when Uzbekistan, an erstwhile US ally, effectively severed relations in the wake of the May 2005 Andijan massacre. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].
In addition, Washington wants to see Kazakhstan increase its participation in Western-backed energy export ventures, including the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline and a similar route for natural gas that is expected to open in October. While Kazakhstan already has committed to using these pipelines, Washington would like to see Kazakhstan’s commitment to intensify.
After spending time at former US president George H.W. Bush’s compound at Kennebunkport, Maine, Nazarbayev is scheduled to travel to Washington for meetings with cabinet officials, members of Congress and business officials. On September 28, he will unveil the Monument to the Independence of Kazakhstan at his country’s embassy in Washington, and then will attend a dinner co-hosted by media mogul and anti-proliferation activist Ted Turner. He will meet Bush at the White House on September 29.
The delegation will also include Foreign Minister Kassymzhomart Tokayev, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Budget Planning. Last week, Tokayev attended the United Nations General Assembly in New York, where he touted Kazakhstan’s qualifications to lead the OSCE.
"The expectations from Kazakhstan are very high for this visit, we hope it will be a successful and productive visit that will solidify the strategic partnership between the two countries," said Roman Vassilenko, a spokesman for the Kazakhstan Embassy in Washington. But Nazarbayev’s invitation has raised some eyebrows in Washington, especially in light of US President George W. Bush’s avowed interest in making democracy the keystone of his foreign policy. Nazarbayev’s government has banned opposition parties and closed media outlets. But it’s not clear whether or not American officials will pressure Nazarbayev to open the country’s political environment. [For background see the Eurasia insight archive]. It is also unclear how Nazarbayev will react to US opposition to Kazakhstan’s bid for the OSCE’s chair in 2009. Just days before he was to depart on the US visit, Nazarbayev was working hard to boost Kazakhstan’s OSCE chances. "Kazakhstan serves as an example of tolerance with its stability and the peaceful coexistence of its 130 peoples," the Russian news agency RIA Novosti quoted Nazarbayev as saying. "Our experience can be very important for the OSCE."
Meanwhile, a Kazakhstani delegation traveled to Vienna to participate in a special session of the OSCE Permanent Council running from September 25-28, the Kazinform news agency reported. Kazakhstani delegates were expected to lobby top OSCE officials -- including Secretary General Marc Perrin de Brichambaut and OSCE free speech czar Miklos Haraszti – for the 2009 chair.
Kazakhstani officials have suspected both the United States and Great Britain of opposing Astana’s OSCE leadership in 2009. In a late August article published by Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Kazakhstani Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Rakhat Aliyev, who is also Nazarbayev’s son-in-law, said that Kazakhstan could easily dispel lingering doubts about the country’s fitness to lead. He added that the Kazakhstani parliament would adopt legislation designed to satisfy linger concerns by early next year at the latest.
When Nazarbayev makes the rounds in Washington, the issue of democracy "will certainly come up," said Sean Roberts, the Central Asian Affairs Fellow at Georgetown University. "I think here it will be interesting to see how much of a focus [on democracy] there will be," Roberts continued. "Even within the US government, people are divided over that, there are people who see the realpolitik option of embracing the Kazakhs for their role as a partner geopolitically, and those who think that’s a good idea, but it can only be done if we really make clear our concerns about democratic reform," he said.
Roberts said the Kazakh governing elite is likewise divided between the old guard who distrust the US and younger officials who want closer ties with the West. "Even though it’s that [pro-western] group who would benefit the most out of a positive trip of Nazarbayev to Washington… those people don’t want to see the US just welcome Nazarbayev without pressuring him on democracy issues. If President Bush doesn’t bring up democracy as an important part of the relationship then that just strengthens the old guard and doesn’t really give impetus for reform that would strengthen the hand of the younger elite," Roberts said.
Drumming up more business does not appear to be a large part of the agenda. "There isn’t really a significant business component to this visit," said William Veale, executive director of the U.S.-Kazakhstan Business Association. While Nazarbayev will be visiting with several business leaders while in the United States, one business source noted, "Many of those people have easy access to the president on other occasions."
One touchy issue that may come up is the planned trial of James Giffen in New York. Giffen, an American businessman, stands indicted on charges of bribing top Kazakhstani officials, including Nazarbayev, with tens of million of dollars to help seal deals for US oil companies. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].
"At least some people in the Kazakh government worry that that case will implicate Nazarbayev in illegal activities. And although I don’t think the White House can help them much in that respect, I imagine it will come up," Roberts said.
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Diplomatic Talks _ Diplomatic_Negotiation_ Summit Meeting
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September 2006
|
['(AP)', '(Eurasia Net)']
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Thirteen people are killed and eleven others are wounded in a traffic accident in Imperial County, California, US. A semi-truck and an SUV collide; 25 people were in the SUV at the time of the crash.
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A collision between a semitruck and an SUV carrying more than two dozen people near the U.S.-Mexico border Tuesday morning has left 13 dead and several others injured, officials said.
A collision between a big rig and an SUV carrying more than two dozen people near the U.S.-Mexico border Tuesday morning killed at least 13 and injured several others, authorities said.
About 6 a.m., the 2011 Peterbilt tractor-trailer was traveling north on Route 115 near El Centro when, for reasons that remained unclear, a Ford Expedition entered an intersection directly in front of the truck, according to a California Highway Patrol report. The truck plowed into the left side of the SUV. The burgundy 1997 Ford, designed to hold no more than eight people, was carrying 25, said Arturo Platero, a spokesman for the CHP’s El Centro office. All but the driver’s and front passenger’s seats had been removed from the SUV. Twelve people died at the scene, including the Expedition’s driver, whom the authorities identified only as a 28-year-old resident of Mexicali, Mexico. A 13th person died after being transferred to El Centro Regional Medical Center, Platero said. The truck driver, a 68-year-old resident of El Centro, suffered serious injuries and was taken to a hospital in Palm Springs, according to the CHP report. An almost equal number of men and women were killed in the crash, said Omar Watson, chief of the CHP’s Border Division. El Centro Regional Medical Center authorities reported earlier Tuesday that the SUV was carrying 28 people and 14 died at the scene, but CHP officials revised those numbers. The SUV’s occupants, who ranged in age from 15 to 53, were all either injured or killed, Watson said. Authorities were still working Tuesday afternoon to identify all of the deceased victims and notify their families, he said. At least 10 of the dead were Mexican nationals, according to Roberto Velasco Álvarez, who heads the North America Department for the Mexican Foreign Ministry.
Four people were airlifted by helicopter to the Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs. Two others hurt in the crash were in intensive care, including one in critical condition, said Todd Burke, a spokesman for the hospital. Three people were transported to Pioneers Memorial Healthcare District in Brawley, about 20 miles away. One was treated for injuries that were not life-threatening, according to Karina Lopez, a hospital spokeswoman. The other two — a woman and teenage boy — were then airlifted to Scripps Mercy Hospital San Diego.
Six others are being treated at El Centro Regional, Platero said.
Watson described the crash scene as “chaotic.” Officers found people who had been ejected onto the pavement and others wandering around the site, he said. Some had been ejected, some were pulled from the wreckage, and some “walking wounded” got out on their own, he said. First responders had to cut the sole passenger seat out of the vehicle to reach some of the wounded. Later in the afternoon, someone placed small, colorful crosses around the crash site. Inscriptions scrawled on two of them read “Justicia migrantes” and “No mas muerte.”
“It’s a very sad situation,” Watson said. “That vehicle is not meant for that many people. It’s unfortunate that number of people were put into that vehicle because there’s not enough safety restraints to safely keep those people within the vehicle.”SKYFOX image of mass casualty crash east of San Diego in Imperial County. At least 15 confirmed dead... 27 people... 27 reported in the SUV. A spokesperson for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said special agents from Homeland Security Investigations responded to the scene of the crash and had opened a human smuggling investigation. Dr. Shavonne Borchardt at El Centro Regional Medical Center said injuries ranged from fractures to life-threatening head and chest injuries. The hospital is transferring patients to other treatment centers as soon as they are stable, she said.
“Our staff has done a tremendous job getting everything ready for these patients and being able to handle them and get them transferred out to the appropriate places as soon as possible, or if we can take care of them here, they’re being well taken care of as well,” Borchardt said.
The National Transportation Safety Board, in concert with CHP, is investigating the crash, with officials expected to arrive Wednesday.
California
Tour bus crash that killed 13 underscores gaps in safety regulations
California
Tour bus crash that killed 13 underscores gaps in safety regulations
The 43 people who headed out on a motor coach earlier this week to play slot machines at a Salton Sea casino likely had no idea they were betting their lives on what some consider an inadequate patchwork of federal and state protections. Oct. 26, 2016
Fifteen first responders and five fire engines arrived at the scene just north of Holtville, said Deputy Fire Chief Sal Flores of the Imperial County Fire Department. They were joined by other agencies, including the El Centro Fire Department. Customs and Border Patrol agents also helped provide translation services, Watson said.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-California) said she was “heartbroken” to learn of the fatal crash.
“My office is closely monitoring the situation as we learn more about this horrific crash,” Feinstein said in a statement. “My thanks to the Imperial County Fire Department and other first responders for their swift response and the various medical centers in the area that treated injured passengers.”
Sen. Alex Padilla (D-California) offered his condolences on Twitter: “My office is closely monitoring the heartbreaking crash in Imperial County. ... Our prayers are with their families and with those still in the hospital.”
#BREAKING Truly horrific. At least 15 people have died in a crash involving a semitruck and SUV in Imperial County. We know 4 people are being treated at Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs, 3 are in the ICU. , there have been concerns about the high death toll in crashes along the California-Mexico border. Many of the wrecks involve immigrants trying to cross into the U.S., with a significant number of crashes during chases by American authorities. There is no evidence this collision involved a chase. Platero said, “There was not a pursuit.”
A Los Angeles Times-ProPublica investigation in 2018 found that over a three-year period, U.S. Border Patrol agents engaged in more than 500 pursuits in border districts in California, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. Of those, one in three ended in a crash. In agricultural areas of California, such as Imperial County and the Central Valley, there also have been concerns about deaths involving farmworkers packed into vehicles.
A series of horrific crashes involving farmworkers in vans in the Central Valley sparked legislation in the early 2000s requiring vans and buses that transport nine or more workers to be equipped with passenger seat belts and receive annual safety certification from the California Highway Patrol. The laws also stepped up penalties and education programs for growers.
Macario Mora, a spokesman for Custom and Border Protection’s Yuma and El Centro sectors, said in a statement to The Times that the agency’s personnel weren’t chasing or following the SUV at the time of Tuesday’s crash but responded to the scene at the request of the Imperial County Sheriff’s Office. “CBP personnel were not involved in the accident,” Mora said. Although some news outlets have published information suggesting the victims’ immigration status, Mora said that was speculation and that the agency did not have those details at this time.
“We don’t use the term undocumented in the hospitals,” Edward, the El Centro Medical CEO, said. “To us, these folks that came to us are patients.”
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Road Crash
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March 2021
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['(The Los Angeles Times)']
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Thousands are left without power and flights are grounded after a powerful storm hits Auckland, New Zealand.
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No planes are being allowed to land at Auckland Airport and power is out across the city as powerful winds struck.
A tree landed on a car on New North Road in Morningside, Auckland. Photo: RNZ / Sarah Robson
All flights into Auckland Airport are being diverted because of debris on the main runway caused by strong winds.
The airport said flights were either being returned to their originating airport or Christchurch.
There is no estimated time for when the runway will reopen, it said.
MetService said the winds have eased but would remain strong overnight in Auckland, Coromandel and Waikato.
Civil Defence said it was not activating or mobilising but were standing by to monitor the response.
Hugely violent winds in Mt Albert. Neighbor has lost most of their roof in. Huge chunks of it have gone through my fence and landed in the drive. More to come by the sounds of it. @WeatherWatchNZ @NZStuff pic.twitter.com/cXuaRhXgvh
A large tree came down across two lanes of New North Road in Morningside, hitting a car.
There was no sign of emergency services at the scene to divert traffic around it, an RNZ reporter on the scene said.
Two houses were hit by falling trees, which smashed through roofs in Stanley Point and Birkdale. Trees also toppled onto a house in Massey and power lines are down on the West Coast Road.
I just watched a good portion of Mt. Eden’s power transformers blow up spectacularly! #Auckland
Power is out to many parts of New Zealand's biggest city after sustained winds of 100km/h winds battered the area.
MetService said a 133km/h gust of wind has been recorded at Auckland Harbour bridge.
Niwa said the wind gusts around Auckland this evening were the same strength as a category one cyclone.
Mangere had gusts of more than 100km/h for three consecutive hours - between 8pm and 11pm.
Niwa said winds of this magnitude were typical of category one cyclone intensity.
Power company Vector said there were widespread outages affecting the central city and many western suburbs, with about 15,000 people without power.
In some areas where power is out, there are no street lights and some traffic lights are also out.
Goddamn, riding over the harbour bridge to the shore just now was hands down the scariest thing I've ever done in my life. 30kph, hazards on, being blown from one lane to the other. Lightning strike kills the lights halfway across.
Vector said flashes of light reported were from powerlines and power transformers not thunderstorms.
Vector, which covers Auckland and wider city, has 25 outages, mainly in the west and south of the city.
Further south, power company Counties Power, which covers Pukekohe to the west coast and Port Waikato, said there were power lines down and many people face a night without electricity.
A screenshot from Counties Power's website showing the extent of outages in the upper North Island. Photo: Screenschot / Counties Power
Hope you're all ok out there #Auckland, high winds are causing chaos across the region, particularly out west. Remember, if your property is severely damaged or you're in danger phone 111. Trees down on public land can be reported to @AklCouncil on 09 301 0101.
MetService said the heaviest rain tonight and into tomorrow would fall in Hawke's Bay where up to 120mm could accumulate.
It said Taranaki, Taihape, and Whanganui would also get a dousing of up to 100mm as well as isolated thunderstorms.
Severe gales are expected in Marlborough Sounds, Wellington, Kāpiti Coast and Horowhenua, Taranaki, Waikato, Auckland and the Coromandel Peninsula, but warnings for in Westland and Buller have been lifted.
Heavy snow has eased about the Kaikōura Ranges and this warning has now also been lifted.
The Transport Agency has urged drivers to be prepared for winter-like conditions on central and lower North Island roads over the next 24 hours.
MetService said there would likely be some snow on the alpine passes overnight.
Do you have any weather photos or videos to share? Send them to us: webnews@radionz.co.nz
Damage left after the tornado swept through Rahotū this morning. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin
Further south, about a dozen homes in the Taranaki town of Rahotu have lost their roofs, farm buildings were destroyed and power lines came down.
Seven families have had to be relocated.
More than 1000 homes in Taranaki are expected to be without power overnight, but that number could rise if conditions get worse.
Duty controller Brent Manning said people should stay home and not travel unless it was an emergency.
8:35pm #Update: The centre of a low is making landfall in the western North Island (Waikato to South Auckland). Much cooler S to SW winds develop tonight behind the centre spreading over northern NZ. Winds peak between now and the early hours of Weds AM at this stage. pic.twitter.com/EmnrmaXY2s
Meanwhile, 11 homes have been deemed uninhabitable after a tornado struck National Park Village in the central North Island this morning.
The tornado went through the village this morning ripping off roofs and severely damaging homes.
Ruapehu District Council said Urban Search and Rescue have done structural inspections of damaged properties.
Seven have been red-stickered, six have been yellow stickered with 11 properties deemed uninhabitable.
Power has been restored to all properties, damaged properties have had their electricity isolated.
Forty homes remain inside a cordon and residents would not be allowed back home tonight.
Council chief executive Clive Manley said only three of the properties were full-time homes while the rest were holiday homes.
"We believe no one is in danger, all of the buildings with severe damage are cordoned off so people can't enter them.
"Anyone who has any issues or needs tonight can go to the welfare centre which has been set up at the primary school," he said.
Security patrols would monitor the cordons, Mr Manley said.
"In the morning people will be allowed into their properties under supervision, we understand some property owners are driving to the village tonight, we ask that they all just report to the welfare centre," Mr Manley said.
The council's building team will be on site tomorrow morning to post notices on restricted buildings.
Water is safe to drink in the village and sewerage is operational.
Meanwhile, in the West Coast of the South Island, power is out to hundreds of homes in Buller.
Buller Electricity said about 315 households in Karamea and Little Wanganui had lost power, probably due to fallen trees in the Karamea Bluff area.
Tasman police said three camper vans and one caravan toppled near Hokitika, Mount Hercules, Harihari and Westport this morning due the high winds.
Mr Koefoed said roofs had also been lifted in both Westport and Greymouth. He said people should avoid travel and secure trampolines and outdoor furniture.
.
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Hurricanes_Tornado_Storm_Blizzard
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April 2018
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['(Radio New Zealand)']
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British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, former girlfriend of American financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, is arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on suspicion of grooming victims of Epstein. She has also been charged with assisting Epstein's abuse of minors by helping to recruit and groom victims known to be underage.
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British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, an ex-girlfriend of convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, has been charged in the US after being arrested by the FBI.
She is accused of assisting Epstein's abuse of minors by helping to recruit and groom victims known to be underage.
After being arrested in New Hampshire, she was brought to court and remanded in custody, for transfer to New York. Ms Maxwell, 58, has previously denied any involvement in or knowledge of Epstein's alleged sexual misconduct.
Epstein died in prison on 10 August as he awaited, without the chance of bail, his trial on sex trafficking charges.
He was arrested last year in New York following allegations that he was running a network of underage girls - some as young as 14 - for sex. His death was determined to be suicide.
Prosecutors allege that between 1994 and 1997 Ms Maxwell helped Epstein groom girls as young as 14.
The charges say she would build a rapport with them - including by taking them shopping or to the movies - and would later coax them into giving Epstein massages during which they were sexually abused.
"Maxwell played a critical role in helping Epstein to identify, befriend and groom minor victims for abuse," said Audrey Strauss, acting US attorney for the southern district of New York.
Five of the six charges brought against her each carry a sentence of five years with the sixth - transporting a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity - punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Four of the charges relate to the years 1994-97 when Ms Maxwell was, according to the indictment, among Epstein's closest associates and also in an "intimate relationship" with him. The other two charges are allegations of perjury in 2016. The indictment says Ms Maxwell "assisted, facilitated, and contributed to Jeffrey Epstein's abuse of minor girls by, among other things, helping Epstein to recruit, groom and ultimately abuse victims known to Maxwell and Epstein to be under the age of 18".
Specifically, she is charged with:
She is accused of grooming multiple minor girls to engage in sex acts with Epstein. She allegedly attempted to befriend them by asking about their lives and families and then she and Epstein built the friendships by taking minor victims to the cinema or shopping.
Having built a rapport, Ms Maxwell would "try to normalise sexual abuse for a minor victim by... discussing sexual topics, undressing in front of the victim, being present when a minor victim was undressed, and/or being present for sex acts involving the minor victim and Epstein".
"Maxwell and Epstein worked together to entice these minor victims to travel to Epstein's residences - his residence in New York City on the Upper East Side, as well as Palm Beach, Florida, and Santa Fe, New Mexico," Ms Strauss told reporters. "Some of the acts of abuse also took place in Maxwell's residence in London, England."
The perjury counts relate to depositions she gave to a New York court on 22 April and 22 July 2016. The charge sheet says she "repeatedly lied when questioned about her conduct, including in relation to some of the minor victims".
"Maxwell lied because the truth, as alleged, was almost unspeakable," said Ms Strauss. Allegations against Epstein had dated back years before the parents of a 14-year-old girl said he had molested her in 2005. Under a legal deal, he avoided federal charges and since 2008 was listed as level three on the New York sex offenders register.
But he was arrested again in New York on 6 July 2019 and accused of sex trafficking of underage girls over a number of years.
Some of Epstein's alleged victims have accused Ms Maxwell of bringing them into his circle to be sexually abused by him and his friends.
One told the BBC's Panorama that Ms Maxwell "controlled the girls. She was like the Madam". Ms Maxwell has denied any wrongdoing.
Nada Tawfik, BBC North America reporter
The charges against Ghislaine Maxwell were not a surprise, and it shows that the investigation into sex offender Jeffrey Epstein is not losing steam, even after his death. Numerous victims in civil and criminal cases had identified Ms Maxwell as the lead person who groomed them and delivered them to Epstein. In fact, after he was arrested, there was a frenzied search, not just by investigators, but by the media too, for the British socialite who quickly went into hiding.
Legal experts say as a charged co-conspirator, Ms Maxwell is just as liable for Epstein's crimes and faces the same potential punishment. Prosecutors probably have numerous witnesses ready to testify - girls who are now women reliving the trauma of what happened to them decades ago and fighting for justice.
The questions on everyone's mind is who else might be implicated in Epstein's crimes, and whether Ms Maxwell will give the authorities new information. Besides connecting Epstein to young girls, she also connected him to her influential social circle.
Earlier this year she sued Epstein's estate seeking reimbursement for legal fees and security costs. She "receives regular threats to her life and safety", court documents in that case said.
Another of Epstein's alleged victims, Virginia Giuffre, has accused Ms Maxwell of recruiting her as a masseuse to the financier at the age of 15.
Details of that allegation against Ms Maxwell emerged in documents unsealed by a US judge last August in a 2015 defamation case but are not part of the charges against Ms Maxwell unveiled in July 2020.
Ms Maxwell is the daughter of late British media mogul Robert Maxwell.
A well-connected socialite, she is said to have introduced Epstein to many of her wealthy and powerful friends, including Bill Clinton and the Duke of York (who was accused in the 2015 court papers of touching a woman at Jeffrey Epstein's US home, although the court subsequently struck out allegations against the duke).
Buckingham Palace has said that "any suggestion of impropriety with underage minors" by the duke was "categorically untrue". Ms Maxwell has mostly been out of public view since 2016.
In a BBC interview last year, the Duke of York said he had met Ms Maxwell last year, before Epstein was arrested and charged. However they did not discuss Epstein, he said.
Last month a US prosecutor said Prince Andrew had "sought to falsely portray himself" as eager to co-operate with the inquiry into Epstein.
US attorney Geoffrey Berman said Prince Andrew had "repeatedly declined our request" to schedule an interview.
The duke's lawyers previously rejected claims he had not co-operated, saying he offered to help three times.
Prince Andrew stepped away from royal duties last year.
Asked about the prince on Thursday, acting Attorney Strauss said: "I am not going to comment on anyone's status in this investigation but I will say that we would welcome Prince Andrew coming in to talk with us, we would like to have the benefit of his statement."
A source close to Prince Andrew's lawyers told BBC News: "The Duke's team is bewildered by the DoJ's [Department of Justice's] comments earlier today as we have twice reached out to them in the last month and have received no reply."
Prince Andrew & the Epstein Scandal: The Newsnight Interview was shown on BBC Two on 16 November 2019 and can be seen on BBC iPlayer in the UK and the full interview can also be seen on YouTube.
One Covid vaccine dose cuts hospital risk by 75%
But the number of Delta variant cases recorded in the UK has risen by 79% in a week, figures show.
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Famous Person - Commit Crime - Arrest
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July 2020
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['(BBC)']
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Cyclone Nathan intensifies to a category 2 tropical cyclone and is expected to make landfall near the Queensland town of Cooktown on March 19.
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The storm intensified to category 2 on Wednesday morning, generating wind gusts of up to 130km/h at its core.
.
A video animation shows the likely coastal crossing of Tropical Cyclone Nathan.
Residents from Coen to Cardwell are expecting heavy rain and winds as strong as 200km/h by the time the system makes landfall on Friday.
But Cook Shire mayor Peter Scott said he was most worried about the prospect of a storm surge adding to already high tides.
Cyclone Nathan is predicted to make landfall at Cooktown on Friday. The Bureau of Meteorology predicted Nathan would be a category 3 cyclone when it hit Cooktown, about 170 kilometres north of Cairns.
Cr Scott said fortunately most of Cooktown was high enough to avoid tidal flooding but the suburb of Marton would likely be under threat along with Ayton and Wujal Wujal on the Bloomfield River.
On Wednesday morning BOM forecasters extended the cyclone watch area north to Coen and further inland.
The district disaster management group is due to meet on Wednesday in Cairns to plan the region's response.
Already the State Emergency Service has deployed about 20 volunteers, and electricity network operator Ergon Energy has brought in extra generators.
Cr Scott encouraged residents to check gutters for any debris strewn around by Cyclone Nathan's first pass and make use of sandbags available from council depots if needed.
"Apart from that it's the same old story," he said. "Look for a safe place to shelter. If your home was built after 1985 that's the best spot.
"Make sure your neighbours or any elderly people are well prepared, [and have a] cyclone kit.
"We're hoping it's going to be short and sharp but you never know, things might develop and sit out there and churn away so you can't take anything for granted."
At 10am Wednesday, Cyclone Nathan was about 425 kilometres east of Cooktown and heading southwest at 4km/h.
It's expected to intensify to a category 3 system by Thursday morning.
Bureau of Meteorology spokesman Jess Carey said the cyclone was forecast to make landfall near Cooktown on Friday morning as a high-end category 3 storm.
"That will be close to 200-220km/h near the centre but you'll still be getting quite strong winds, gusts up to 110 kilometres extending up to 150km/h from the centre of the cyclone," he said.
"Even if you're not getting a coastal crossing on top of you, you're still going to get quite strong winds within 150 kilometres of the eye either way.
"They're pretty strong winds. we're not talking Cyclone Pam winds, which was closer to 300km/h gusts but certainly those sorts of winds are very significant and to be respected by the local community."
There were clear skies and relatively cool temperatures across the far north on Wednesday, with winds and rain set to rise from Thursday afternoon.
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Hurricanes_Tornado_Storm_Blizzard
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March 2015
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['(Australian scale)', '(WA Today)']
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Julian Assange appears in London's High Court to begin his appeal against extradition to Sweden as his UK house arrest enters its 216th day.
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WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has begun his appeal against extradition to Sweden to face sexual assault allegations.
The 40-year-old Australian appeared at the High Court in London seeking to overturn a lower court's rejection in February of defence arguments that he would have an unfair trial in Sweden.
He is accused of molestation, and what Sweden describes as "minor rape". Mr Assange's lawyers have criticised Sweden's bid to extradite him over rape allegations as legally flawed.
Lawyer Ben Emmerson has described the extradition bid as somewhat of a fishing expedition - Sweden's grab at a chance to question Mr Assange - and not for the purpose of prosecution.
He said the conduct described in the European arrest warrant issued by Sweden "fails to provide a fair, proper and accurate description of what is alleged against the appellant".
After the ruling against him in February, Mr Assange blasted the decision as "a result of the European Arrest Warrant system run amok".
Mr Emmerson also argued that Mr Assange was a victim of a "philosophical and judicial mismatch" between English and Swedish law, saying some of the allegations levelled against him would not amount to sex crimes in Britain.
Swedish authorities want to question Mr Assange over the sex assault claims made by two women - allegations he denies - although he has not been formally charged.
He has claimed the allegations are politically motivated and linked to his whistleblower website's releases of huge caches of leaked US government documents, which have infuriated Washington.
At Tuesday's hearing, Mr Emmerson highlighted that one of the allegations on the warrant is of rape - that a woman he was in bed with woke up to find Mr Assange having unprotected sex with her.
But Mr Emmerson said once she discovered the situation, the woman consented, and the offence would not amount to rape in Britain.
"We say what the authorities establish is that the offence, the circumstances as described, must be reasonably recognised as being rape in the United Kingdom," he said.
The alleged incident "does not constitute the offence of rape as recognised in the UK," he added.
Mr Assange shook up his legal team before the trial, splitting with media lawyer Mark Stephens and taking on Gareth Peirce, a high-profile human rights lawyer.
Under the British system, Mr Peirce directs the legal team but another lawyer - in this case Mr Emmerson - is given the job of presenting the case in court.
The new team seemed to herald a fresh approach. After previous hearings, Mr Assange made lengthy defiant statements to the scrum of journalists waiting outside court.
But on Tuesday (local time), the former computer hacker, dressed smartly in a grey suit, white shirt, blue tie and reading glasses, refused to say a word as he walked past the waiting microphones.
A group of some 20 supporters waited outside the court, one of whom shouted "Keep fighting the American empire, Julian" as Mr Assange arrived. Other backers at the court included campaigning journalist John Pilger.
Mr Assange has said his greatest fear was eventual extradition to the United States, where his lawyers argued he could be sent to the Guantanamo Bay detention facility or face the death penalty.
Mr Assange has been living under strict bail conditions, including wearing an electronic ankle tag and a curfew, at a friend's mansion in eastern England since December.
The hearing on Tuesday and Wednesday is taking place before two judges. A decision is expected to be deferred until a later date.
But Mr Assange's Swedish lawyer, Bjorn Hurtig, said on Tuesday there was a "big risk" the court will decide to extradite his client.
Mr Assange's lawyers have signalled he is prepared for a lengthy legal battle and could take his challenge all the way to the Supreme Court, although that can only be done on a point of law considered in the wider public interest.
He was arrested in December over the sex assault claims, as his whistleblowing website was in the process of releasing a huge cache of leaked US diplomatic cables.
US authorities opened a criminal investigation against Assange in July 2010 but are yet to bring any charges against him.
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Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse
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July 2011
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['(ABC News)', '(The Guardian)']
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Former South African President Thabo Mbeki begins mediation efforts in the Ivory Coast following the disputed presidential election.
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The development effectively set up parallel governments and raised serious questions about who was actually in charge of Ivory Coast, which was split into two by a civil war eight years ago.
The international community has recognized opposition leader Alassane Ouattara as the winner of the presidential runoff vote held one week ago. That, however, did not stop incumbent Laurent Gbagbo from defying calls to concede. On Saturday, he wrapped himself in the Ivorian flag as he was sworn in for another term at the presidential palace.
Hours later, Ouattara told reporters that he too had been sworn into office and that his first act as president was reappointing Prime Minister Guillaume Soro. Soro, a former rebel leader who had served in a unity government with Gbagbo since 2007, said he was supporting Ouattara as president.
"These last days have been difficult but I can tell you now that Ivory Coast is in good hands," Ouattara said just hours after Gbagbo held his inauguration ceremony at the presidential palace.
At his swearing-in, Gbagbo renewed allegations that his supporters had been intimidated in the north, repeating the rationale used by the country's constitutional council to throw out a half million ballots that were cast in Ouattara strongholds.
"You think that you can cheat, stuff ballot boxes and intimidate voters and that the other side won't see what is going on," Gbagbo said.
Ivory Coast's long-awaited presidential election was meant to restore stability in what was once one of the most affluent countries in Africa. Instead, the election has cast a growing shadow as the country now faces two political rivals who each claim to be leading the country.
Gbagbo has the support of the regular army, while Ouattara is supported by the New Forces rebels. Gbagbo is supported by the many of the country's most important institutions including the constitutional council and the state media, while Ouattara is backed with foreign endorsements.
Gbagbo says he is the rightful winner of the runoff vote, citing the Ivorian constitution that gives ultimate authority on the issue to the country's constitutional council, which declared him the winner.
However, Ouattara points to the 2007 peace deal, which states that the United Nations must certify the election results. The U.N. maintains the vote was credible, and that Ouattara won the presidential election.
On Saturday, Ouattara supporters took to the streets, burning tires and a table in one neighbourhood.
"The risk of violence between supporters of the two parties, as well as repression by Ivorian security forces against real or perceived supporters of Ouattara, is very high," Corinne Dufka, senior West Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.
The country was placed on lockdown immediately after the commission announced Ouattara's win on Thursday, with a decree read on state TV saying the nation's air and land borders had been closed.
A nationwide curfew keeps people off the streets every night at 7 p.m. and all foreign media have been pulled from radio and television, leaving Ivorians with only Gbagbo's version of events, repeated incessantly on state television.
The only station reporting Ouattara's victory was U.N. radio, which was briefly pulled from the air Saturday morning, before it began broadcasting again on a different frequency a few hours later.
Gbagbo's five-year mandate expired in 2005 and the country's first election in a decade was delayed multiple times. He claimed first that the country was too volatile and that security could not be assured. He later cited technicalities like the composition of the voter roll.
The election went ahead in October but then headed to a runoff vote last Sunday. The country's election commission announced Thursday that Ouattara had won. However, new results released Friday on national television by a Gbagbo loyalist who heads the constitutional council said that the incumbent president had in fact been re-elected.
A former International Monetary Fund economist, Ouattara became the icon of Ivory Coast's downtrodden immigrant community in a nation that became a magnet in the region because of its prosperity. Ouattara, born in the north, had been prevented from running in previous elections after accusations that he was not Ivorian, and that he was of Burkinabe origin.
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Government Job change - Election
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December 2010
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['(France 24)', '(Times Live South Africa)', '(Al Jazeera)']
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An Indian court orders Suresh Kalmadi, the chief organiser of the 2010 Commonwealth Games, to remain in custody while corruption charges against him are investigated.
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NEW DELHI - AN INDIAN court on Tuesday ordered the chief organiser of the Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games to be held in custody for eight days while police investigate graft charges against him. Suresh Kalmadi's court appearance came after the Central Bureau of Investigation arrested him on Monday for his role in awarding a US$31 million (S$38 million) contract for timekeeping and scoring equipment to a Swiss firm, Swiss Timing. As Kalmadi, 66, entered the court, a slipper was thrown at him by a protester. Kalmadi appeared unconcerned by the attack as police detained the man for questioning. Kalmadi, a member of parliament for the ruling Congress party, is accused of 'wrongfully restricting and eliminating competition' from other suppliers. Police allege the timekeeping contract was inflated by around US$21 million. The Games were meant to showcase India's status as an emerging global power, but the sporting headlines were stolen by venue delays, shoddy construction and budget overruns that saw the cost of the event triple to at least US$6 billion. -- AFP
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Famous Person - Commit Crime - Investigate
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April 2011
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['(Straits Times)']
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A UNRWA-run school in Rafah is hit by an Israeli air strike. At least seven people are thought to have been killed, and at least 30 injured. . UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon condemns in strong terms the attack as 'moral outrage and criminal act'.
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There have been renewed clashes between Israeli military and militants in Gaza overnight as witnesses and medics say an Israeli air strike killed at least seven people and wounded about 30 others on Sunday in a UN-run school in the southern Gaza Strip
IDF: Soldier believed captured by Hamas was killed in action
The Gaza Ministry of Health, has issued a press statement which says the Kuwati Maternity Hospital in Rafah is unable to cope with the numbers of dead and injured. It states that at least 118 people have died today in Gaza:
Missile and mortar attacks are continuing in Rafah, putting enormous pressure on the 20-bed Kuwaiti Maternity Hospital, which is overflowing with dead and injured. There are 30 bodies lying on the floor of the dental clinic, and children’s bodies stored in ice-cream, flower, and vegetable freezers as there are no morgue facilities. Other bodies have already been taken for burial in the western cemetery, the eastern cemetery being inaccessible because of Israeli shell-fire. “We desperately need blood, we do not have enough for transfusions,” said Fatma Abu Musa, a laboratory technician at Kuwaiti Hospital. “We only have two operating theatres, one for minor surgery. They have to operate on two people at the same time on one operating table, major surgeries, with intestines on the outside, eyes on the outside. It is impossible to deal with all the wounded.”
Kuwaiti Hospital has sent many patients on to the Emirati Red Crescent Maternity Hospital nearby, which is slightly bigger but equally unequipped to deal with the types of injuries presenting. The Ministry of Health Gaza has made numerous calls to the international community over recent weeks for assistance calls which have largely gone unanswered. We again implore of you that you take immediate concrete action to bring the Israeli carnage in Gaza to an end. We demand in the name of humanity that the international community act to:
A young girl sleeps at UN school shelter in Rafah. Up to 10 killed outside school. School packed with 2700 people. pic.twitter.com/khAgCavjJr
3 Aug 2014
16:28
The United Nations secretary general Ban Ki moon has condemned the latest attack on a UN-run school shelter as “a moral outrage and a criminal act”. Here is the statement in full:
The Secretary-General strongly condemns the killing today of at least 10 Palestinian civilians in shelling outside of an UNRWA school in Rafah providing shelter to thousands of civilians. The attack is yet another gross violation of international humanitarian law, which clearly requires protection by both parties of Palestinian civilians, UN staff and UN premises, among other civilian facilities. United Nations shelters must be safe zones not combat zones. The Israel Defence Forces have been repeatedly informed of the location of these sites. This attack, along with other breaches of international law, must be swiftly investigated and those responsible held accountable. It is a moral outrage and a criminal act. The Secretary-General is profoundly dismayed over the appalling escalation of violence and loss of hundreds of Palestinian civilian lives since the breach of the humanitarian ceasefire on 1 August. The resurgence in fighting has only exacerbated the man-made humanitarian and health crisis wreaking havoc in Gaza. Restoring calm can be achieved through resumption of the ceasefire and negotiations by the parties in Cairo to address the underlying issues. The Secretary-General repeats his demand to the parties to immediately end the fighting and return to the path of peace. This madness must stop. 3 Aug 2014
16:23
Pierre Krhenbühl, Commissioner-General of UNRWA, has condemned an air strike in the vicinity of a UN-run shelter in Rafah. He has said a ceasefire is an “absolute and urgent imperative”. How can it possibly be? Another Israeli strike, in immediate vicinity of @UNRWA school in Rafah, kills & injures many in & outside building. Coming days after shelling of @UNRWA school in Jabalia, today's dramatic incident provokes shock & disbelief. Civilians feel safe nowhere. With so many incidents in @UNRWA schools, so many civilian casualties & 10 @UNRWA staff killed, ceasefire is absolute & urgent imperative.
NOW: Thousands attending Funeral of Hadar Goldin taking place in Kfar Saba to start momentarily - @Benhartman pic.twitter.com/5ImxjcBv4z
The funeral of Hadar Goldin has begun in Kfar Saba, in the Sharon region of the center district of Israel. Roads have been closed around the surrounding area.
Ahead of funeral, @Netanyahu calls #HadarGoldin a hero. http://t.co/okAXCIKA2N
The Times of Israel, which had to apologise after publishing a blog considering if genocide was permissible, is reporting that Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin called the parents of soldier Hadar Goldin ahead of his funeral. It reports:
Netanyahu calls Simcha and Leah Goldin, the parents of slain Givati Brigade officer Hadar Goldin who was initially thought kidnapped Friday morning telling them that he was a “great hero.”
“I know that you’re going through horrible agony, the feeling that a part of you was taken away and that you’re no longer complete,” Netanyahu tells the bereaved parents. “These are feelings impossible to calm in an instant. I hope that you will take comfort in the fact that in his death he sustained the people of Israel in their struggle for independence.”
My colleague Jason Burke has written a summary of today’s events. Here is an extract. At least seven people have been killed and dozens more wounded after a projectile struck a street outside a school in the city of Rafah, in the south of Gaza. The school was sheltering more than 3,000 people displaced by fighting in the area. It has been the scene of heavy bombardment by the Israeli military and fierce clashes following the suspected capture by Hamas fighters of an Israeli soldier, later declared killed in action. Jason describes the scene at the Rafah Preparatory A Boys school Amid scenes of chaos, wounded from the school were taken to the two small hospital facilities still open in Rafah. With no mortuary facilities available, families collected the bodies of the dead almost immediately. In the corridors of the Kuwaiti hospital, stunned casualties lay on beds or slumped in chairs. Mohammed Abu Adwan, 15, described how he and his friend, Moaz Abu Rus had been sitting outside the school gates. “It was just like normal. Some of the kids were buying sweets and that sort of thing. Suddenly there was an explosion. I was hit by shrapnel and they brought me here,” he said. His friend, also 15, was killed. Fatih Firdbari, 30, was outside the school when the explosion occurred. “I was just talking to my friend and leaning against his tuk-tuk [motorised rickshaw]. There was a big bang. I felt nothing at first and then I fell down. I looked around and saw people lying on the ground. I was wounded in the calf,” Firdbari, a farmer who had fled his lands close to the border crossing with Egypt, said. Israel’s army announced on Sunday it had begun withdrawing some troops from Gaza. “We are removing some (forces),” Lieut Col Peter Lerner told AFP that troops were “extremely close” to completing a mission to destroy a network of attack tunnels. “We are redeploying within the Gaza Strip, taking out other positions, and relieving other forces from within, so it won’t be the same type of ground operation,” he said. “But indeed we will continue to operate … (and) have a rapid reaction force on the ground that can engage Hamas if required.”
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) has claimed that Hamas and other groups launch rockets from close to schools. “Yesterday Palestinian terrorists fired 11 mortars from the vicinity of an UNRWA school in Zeitoun, Gaza,” the IDF said on Twitter about four hours after the strike on the school in Rafah. The UN has said it has found caches of rockets at schools in Gaza and has criticised those who had put them there for placing civilians at risk. [...]
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, vowed to press on with “Operation Protective Edge”, promising that Hamas would pay “an insufferable price” for continued cross-border rocket fire. “We will take as much time as necessary, and will exert as much force as needed,” he said late on Saturday, saying troops would complete their mission to destroy the tunnels after which the next security objectives would be decided. Netanyahu’s remarks came after the army gave a first indication it was ending operations in parts of Gaza, informing residents of Beit Lahiya and Al-Atatra in the north that it was safe to return home. Witnesses in the north confirmed seeing troops leaving the area as others were seen pulling out of villages east of Khan Yunis in the south as commentators suggested it was the start of a unilateral withdrawal. Local people reported limited shelling overnight in the northern areas though most were reluctant to return to their homes following the breakdown of previous ceasefires. The IDF has dropped leaflets in parts of Gaza telling local residents to “tell your hidden leaders the battle is over” and that “all members and leaders of Hamas and other terrorist movements are unsafe”. 3 Aug 2014
14:36
David Cameron hamstrung over criticising Israel's Gaza offensive http://t.co/V5CSf17vU1 via @guardian
My colleague Rowena Mason has written an analysis of British prime minister David Cameron’s reaction to the situation in Gaza. Here is an extract:
Israel‘s actions have been disproportionate and risk unnecessary loss of civilian life, said David Cameron and William Hague not this week but almost exactly eight years ago. The occasion was Israel’s ground invasion of southern Lebanon, which resulted in more than 1,000 deaths. It appears that the Conservative leadership is once bitten, twice shy, following the backlash caused by those comments. “Not merely unhelpful but downright dangerous,” was the verdict of the Tory donor Sir Stanley Kalms at the time. It is a different conflict, but the dilemma remains over whether it is politically possible to criticise Israel’s military actions without alienating those MPs, donors and voters whose backing for the country is unqualified. The Labour leader, Ed Miliband, has taken the risk by condemning the incursion into Gaza as wrong and highlighting Cameron’s “silence on the killing of hundreds of innocent Palestinian civilians”. The Lib Dem leader and deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, has matched Labour’s position by branding Israel’s actions disproportionate and gone a step further by calling for direct talks with Hamas. Even the US has said Israel’s recent attack on a UN school was “totally unacceptable” and “totally indefensible”, urging “our allies to do more to live up to the high standards they have set themselves”. Philip Hammond, the foreign secretary, has said the situation in Gaza is “simply intolerable”, but there has been no directly critical comment about Israel from any Conservative government minister. As for Cameron, he has so far limited himself to calling for an immediate ceasefire, while taking care to blame Hamas for sparking the crisis. 3 Aug 2014
14:23
More details on the funeral of Israeli Soldier which will take place at 5.30pm local time, from the Jewish Press. The funeral for fallen IDF officer, Lt. Hadar Goldin will be in the Kfar Sava Military cemetery at 5:30pm, Sunday. The family has requested that the Nation of Israel come to the funeral to honor Hadar. May his memory be a blessing and may his death be avenged by G-d and the IDF. 3 Aug 2014
Here is a video showing the aftermath of the Israeli air strike on a UN-run school in Rafah, southern Gaza. 3 Aug 2014
12:50
The Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond has said the situation in Gaza is “simply intolerable and must be addressed”. His comments come after a row between Ed Miliband and No 10 after the Labour leader said prime minister David Cameron was “wrong” not to oppose Israel’s attacks. No 10 said it was shocked he would “misrepresent that position and play politics with such a serious issue”. Hammond told the Sunday Telegraph the crisis in Gaza could become “an endless loop of violence”. “It’s a broad swathe of British public opinion that feels deeply, deeply disturbed by what it is seeing on its television screens coming out of Gaza,” he said. “The British public has a strong sense that the situation of the civilian population in Gaza is simply intolerable and must be addressed - and we agree with them.”
He said there “must be a humanitarian ceasefire that is without conditions”, adding: “We have got to get the killing to stop.”
3 Aug 2014
12:39
If you missed it, this article on the tunnels Israel is trying to destroy is a fascinating read from my colleague Harriet Sherwood. The entrance is a deep vertical shaft, usually hidden in a house. It drops down a dozen metres or so before reaching a horizontal passage, lined with concrete and electric cables. Most are around a metre wide and perhaps 2.5m high, barely enough to accommodate a man carrying a heavy load of weaponry. The tunnels descend deeper, reaching up to 30m below the surface. Most are between one and three kilometres long and have many entrances and branches. They interconnect with other passages and with bunkers used as command centres and weapons stores and to keep Hamas‘s political and military leaders safe from the pounding by Israeli forces above ground. This is “lower Gaza” and Israel‘s casus belli: a secret labyrinth of tunnels and bunkers, painstakingly built by Hamas over recent years at enormous cost. As Israeli forces race to find and destroy as many cross-border tunnels as possible, Hamas and other militant groups are using their underground strategic weapon to launch attacks against troops, both within Gaza and across the border in Israel. 3 Aug 2014
12:34
just back from rafah. at least 7 dead,many injured in blast at school gates, mainly kids buying sweets/ biscuits. #Gaza
I’ve been speaking to my colleague Jason Burke who has been at the hospital in Rafah where victims of an air strike this morning are receiving treatment. Jason says:
I’ve been at the larger of two medical facilities in Rafah which are still open. One of the biggest was shut after sustained shelling in Friday. I saw the bodies of seven individuals, victims of an air strike on a UN-run school in Rafah this morning. It is difficult to judge the ages, and we do not yet have that information, but at least three were children or young teenagers. The dead include young boys who were selling sweets and biscuits. I understand that one of the school’s caretakers was also killed, although that is not confirmed. The death from this morning’s air strike is thought to be 10, or even 12 people, with about 20-30 injured. Witnesses described a normal scene at the school gates before a missile struck at 10.30. Here at the hospital there are beds outside in the parking area to give extra capacity. There are no, or very restricted, morgue facilities currently in Rafah. I saw a young boys corpse being taken out of the hospital in a shroud by his family. They will now bury him immediately as is the custom, but it is also necessary because there is no means of refrigerating the body. In the hospital there are a number of corpses on the floor in an unrefrigerated room. Victims with shrapnel wounds, many of them young boys and teens, can be seen in the corridors. Many of them are internally displaced, who sought shelter in the UN school after they had to escape their homes. 3 Aug 2014
12:10
As operation Protective Edge moves to the next stage, we are redeploying to enable combat against Hamas & continued defense from tunnels. Questions are being asked how long Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu can continue the operation in Gaza, after senior members of the military have said the stated aim of destroying Hamas tunnels into Israel is complete, or nearing completion.
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Armed Conflict
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August 2014
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['(The Guardian)', '(UN News Centre)']
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Turkish police arrest 191 people, including a mayor, accused of links with the Gülen movement (named by Turkey as FETÖ, a terrorist group) and of using ByLock, an encrypted messaging application.
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Authorities arrested 191 people on Monday and Tuesday in nationwide operations against suspected members of the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ). FETÖ is under intensified scrutiny following its 2016 coup attempt.
The most high-profile name to be arrested was İbrahim Burak Oğuz, mayor of Urla, a town in the western province of İzmir. Oğuz, who was elected as mayor from the Republican People’s Party (CHP) in the March 31 elections, was arrested for his close ties to the terrorist group. Prosecutors accuse him of contacts with senior figures in FETÖ. Oğuz was a board member of a business association in İzmir which was closed down for its links to the terrorist group. Oğuz is also accused of spreading the terrorist group’s propaganda as a “sohbet” leader. Sohbet, meaning conversation in Turkish, is a term used to describe meetings of the terrorist group where one high-ranking member speaks on religious matters and on the planning of secret activities. The suspect was also in contact with the group’s handlers for infiltrators in law enforcement, the judiciary, bureaucracy, military, etc. In his first testimony to police, Oğuz rejected the accusations and claimed he might have contacted FETÖ members due to his previous profession as a financial adviser.
FETÖ is known for planting its members in political parties. So far, authorities have accused four advisers of CHP Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu of having links to FETÖ. One of them, Ahmet Caner Yenidünya, who was also nominated for a parliamentary seat for the CHP in 2015, was dismissed from his post at a university in Istanbul for his links to the terrorist group. Fatih Gürsul, another adviser, was convicted of FETÖ membership and sentenced to 10 years in prison.
The biggest operation was in the capital Ankara on Tuesday. The chief prosecutor’s office in the capital issued arrest warrants for 260 suspects and 171 of them were detained while the manhunt is underway to capture the others. They were arrested as part of an investigation into encrypted messaging app Bylock and all are accused of using Bylock. Bylock is an app developed and exclusively used by FETÖ members for secret communication. It was discovered during criminal inquiries into the terrorist group, whose criminal activities have been under the spotlight since its two coup attempts in 2013. The National Intelligence Organization (MİT) uncovered the messaging app apparently programmed – or modified for the exclusive use of the group's – by someone linked to FETÖ. According to media reports, police intelligence staff linked to the terrorist group were behind the app. The FETÖ-linked staff working in a powerful intelligence department of the Turkish National Police were the "architects" of the modified app to serve the purposes of the group. A group of intelligence officers is accused of controlling the private app used to deliver FETÖ leader Fetullah Gülen's messages to his followers, as well as to instruct the group's members on how to carry out plots against “foes” of the group.
Millions of Bylock messages exchanged between FETÖ members have been uncovered, while investigations continue to reveal more messages.
Among those arrested in Tuesday’s operations was the daughter of a former member of the Supreme Court of Appeals who upheld a controversial case later revealed to be a sham trial orchestrated by FETÖ, and the wife of another former member of the same court. Media outlets reported the suspects were employees of private and public sector companies.
Also in Ankara, prosecutors ordered the arrest of 18 suspects in an investigation into FETÖ’s infiltration into the Health Ministry and public hospitals. Five suspects were still on active duty while the rest were already dismissed from their jobs on suspicion of having links with the terrorist group. Ten suspects in the case were arrested in operations in Ankara and four other cities.
In the southern province of Gaziantep, prosecutors ordered the arrest of nine FETÖ members who infiltrated the judiciary. The suspects, including court clerks and prison guards, were captured in operations in Gaziantep, Diyarbakır, Adıyaman and Kilis.
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İzniniz aşağıdaki alanlar için geçerlidir: www.dailysabah.com
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Sınıflandırılmamış (6) Sınıflandırılmamış çerezler, bireysel çerez sağlayıcılarıyla birlikte sınıflandırma sürecinde olduğumuz çerezlerdir.
Please
click to read our informative text prepared pursuant to the Law on the Protection of Personal Data No. 6698 and to get information about the
cookies
used on our website in accordance with the relevant legislation.
6698 sayılı Kişisel Verilerin Korunması Kanunu uyarınca hazırlanmış aydınlatma metnimizi okumak ve sitemizde ilgili mevzuata uygun olarak kullanılan
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Famous Person - Commit Crime - Arrest
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December 2019
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['(Daily Sabah)']
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The German Bundestag passes a cross-party motion demanding Israel to end its blockade of the Gaza Strip.
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BERLIN (JTA) -- Germany's Parliament has passed a cross-party motion demanding that Israel end its blockade of the Gaza Strip.
In a joint motion passed Thursday evening, five mainstream parties said the isolation of Gaza was not in Israel's security interests. The text also decried weapons smuggling into Gaza and rocket attacks against Israel, and said they, too, must be stopped.
Joining in what has been described as a rare show of united criticism of Israel in Germany were the conservative Christian Democratic Union, party of Chancellor Angela Merkel; its Bavarian sister party the Christian Social Union; the center-right Free Democratic Party, which is in the governing coalition; the opposition Social Democratic Party; and the Green Party.
Ahead of the vote, the Central Council of Jews in Germany expressed "great concern" about a growing political tendency in Germany to "hold Israel alone responsible" for the escalation in tensions in the Middle East.
The vote suggests that mainstream German politicians want to close the gap between official, long-time support for Israel and growing public disaffection with Israeli policies.
According to the Deutsche Welle German public news agency, the socialist Left Party also backed the motion. Three members of the Left Party had been on the Turkish flotilla that challenged the joint Israeli-Egyptian blockade in late May. Nine people were killed and several dozen injured after Israeli naval forces boarded the ships to
redirect them to an Israeli port on May 31.
Israel already has eased the blockade, allowing the overland delivery of most civilian goods.
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Government Policy Changes
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July 2010
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['(Jewish Telegraphic Agency)', '(Deutsche Welle)', '(Bernama)']
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In Nepal, thousands of opposition supporters demonstrate against the rule of King Gyanendra and demand restoration of parliament. Royalist government is dismayed by EU and Indian demands to return to democracy
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More than 3,000 demonstrators have taken to the streets of Kathmandu calling for the restoration of democracy and an end to royal rule, defying warnings from the authorities not to criticise the king. An alliance of seven political parties led the protests, the biggest since King Gyanendra sacked the government and assumed total control over the impoverished Himalayan nation on February 1. The peaceful demonstration followed a warning on Saturday from the royal government that it would not tolerate anti-royal slogan-shouting at the planned event. Demonstrators defied the ban, shouting slogans such as "Down with the autocratic regime" and "Reinstate parliament and democracy," witnesses said. The protesters converged at Ason market in the heart of the Nepalese capital on Sunday evening and were monitored by riot police and security forces in large numbers, witnesses said. There were no arrests. King Gyanendra's decision to sack Nepal's elected government has drawn widespread condemnation both at home and abroad, with earlier sporadic protests erupting in the kingdom before being quickly put down by security forces. The seven political parties who organised Sunday's demonstration, all historic adversaries, struck a truce earlier this month and announced a pro-democracy campaign that includes a call for the restoration of the parliament which was disbanded three years ago. The parties have planned another rally on May 27 as the royal government is now allowing non-violent protests after King Gyanendra lifted a state of emergency last month. "Our movement aims to establish a full-fledged democracy and people's sovereignty by ending the anti-democratic and autocratic regime," the alliance said in a leaflet distributed during Sunday's demonstration. "The restoration of the dissolved house of representatives and drafting of a new constitution through a constituent assembly is another objective of our movement," the leaflet said. King Gyanendra has said he grabbed power because squabbling politicians had failed to end an increasingly bloody Maoist insurgency. The nine-year revolt has claimed more than 11,000 lives.
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Protest_Online Condemnation
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May 2005
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['(Reuters AlertNet)', '(Reuters Alertnet)', '(ABC)', '(BBC)']
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Gholam Reza Aghazadeh, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran and Vice President of Iran, resigns for unknown reasons.
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TEHRAN (ISNA)-The Head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization and President Deputy Reza Aghazadeh has resigned. Aghazadeh told ISNA Thursday that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has accepted his resignation. He also approved that he had submitted his resignation to the President 20 days ago.
He gave no detail about the reason behind this decision. Aghazadeh was appointed as the head of the organization and president’s deputy 12 years ago. End Item
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Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal
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July 2009
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['(ISNA)', '(BBC)', '(Jerusalem Post)', '(Xinhua)']
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Human rights activists and opposition politicians in Russia's southern republic of Ingushetia say that the predominantly Muslim region is now in a state of civil war.
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Human rights activists and opposition politicians in Russia's southern republic of Ingushetia have told the BBC that the predominantly Muslim region is now in a state of civil war.
It is reported that more than 800 people have been killed in an escalating conflict which originally spilt over from neighbouring Chechnya six years ago.
Ingushetia is a tiny region with a total population of just 300,000.
"A lot of my human rights colleagues and politicians say it is now a civil war and I agree with that," Magomed Mutsolgov, director of the Ingush Human Rights organisation Mashr, says.
"In my opinion it is a war between the security forces and the local population. Many members of the security forces consider themselves above the law and the population outside the law," he adds.
A low-level insurgency involving Muslim fighters escalated dramatically last year with a surge of attacks on the security forces and also on people who have moved into the region from other parts of Russia.
"From July or August last year there have been three or four attacks every week," Tanya Lokshina, of Human Rights Watch, says. She recently compiled a major report on Ingushetia.
"There are a few hundred insurgents in total… who are Jihadists fighting to establish a Caliphate in the (Caucasus) region."
Moscow's response has been heavy-handed, with reports that an extra 2,500 troops from outside Ingushetia were deployed in the republic last year to help crush what Russia sees as a Muslim rebellion.
But this has only added fuel to the fire which is driving ever more young Ingush men into the arms of the rebels.
'Destroying everything'
The military and other security services including the FSB, the successor to the KGB, have long stood accused of committing gross human rights violations against the Ingush population - such as kidnapping and torture.
But last year, according to Human Rights Watch, the security forces were also responsible for a wave of extra-judicial killings.
Human Rights Watch says 40 people were killed without any proof they had anything to do with the insurgency.
On a dirt track on the outskirts of the main town, Nazran, Jamaldin Gardanov showed me the spot where he says his brother Hamzat was shot through the head by a Russian soldier in August.
He told me Hamzat had been driving home with his cousin after buying some paint in town.
"My brother and his cousin were passing a checkpoint set up after a policeman was killed on the main road," he said.
"The car turned down here (into the dirt track) and the security forces opened fire with intent to kill.
"My brother died on the spot and his cousin ran off through the fields. The police then fired on the fields for two hours destroying everything.
"I'm 36-years-old and far from being a fighter, but young men of 18 and 19 want to avenge these killings. For some it's a Jihad against Russia," he said.
Back at Jamaldin's house we met Hamzat's widow and her two children. Jamaldin is now looking after them all.
Over lunch he showed me photographs of a raid on his house by Russian soldiers at the beginning of this month.
One of the pictures shows a young child standing outside the house in front of an armoured personnel carrier.
"My wife and children were standing outside for three hours as they searched our house," he said.
"They claim we are all Wahhabis", he said, "so we are being persecuted."
Shocking video
Video appears to show Russian soldiers pulling bodies from a car
Jamaldin does come from a family of theologians and is deeply religious, but he strongly denies any links to radical Islam.
"The security forces have created the threat of Wahhabism as a cover for what they are doing here," he said.
He then showed us some shocking clips of video stored on his mobile phone.
In the first we could see a close-up of a man's head covered in blood.
This was another of Jamaldin's brothers, 21-year-old Adam. Jamaldin says he was also shot dead by the security forces.
The second mobile phone video shows the incident, which happened in the centre of Nazran, in February last year.
It was filmed by someone inside the main administration building, looking down on the square where Adam and a friend had been sitting in a car.
The video shows what looks very much like a soldier pulling the bodies from the vehicle.
Jamaldin says the prosecutor told him off the record that his brother Adam was "absolutely clean", there was no reason for him to have been killed.
The family believes Adam may have been targeted simply because he was a devout Muslim who had studied in Egypt.
Torture victim
Later, in a safe location, we met up with another victim of the security forces' dirty war in Ingushetia.
23-year-old Tamerlan could barely get out of the car when he arrived at our meeting-point.
He had just been released after being detained for six days by the security forces in the northern town of Maglobek.
He had been picked up with three friends following the murder of a policeman in the town.
When we got inside, he pulled up his jumper to reveal a cluster of deep bruises and cuts around his lower back.
He said he was also badly bruised on his upper thighs and he had marks on his wrists.
"They tortured me from six in the morning to six in the evening," he said.
"They put a sack over my head and beat me so badly I lost consciousness. They put sharp implements under my nails. I thought I was going to die, it was sadistic.
"They also tied my hands and feet together and hung me up - so I started to suffocate."
He says the security forces were trying to get him to confess to involvement in the policeman's murder but had to release him because he knew nothing about it.
He told me he had no connection with the rebels.
"Maybe they detained me because I'm a Muslim and pray at the Mosque and my wife wears the Hijab," he said.
According to the mainstream opposition leader Maksharip Aushev, this brutal treatment of the local population is not only swelling the ranks of the rebel fighters.
"People are coming to me all the time, saying let's vote for independence," he says.
"If we had a referendum, 80% of the population would vote to leave Russia," he adds.
In a sign of mounting panic back in Moscow, the Kremlin suddenly announced three weeks ago that the former KGB officer Murat Zyazikov, who had been in charge of Ingushetia since 2002, was being replaced.
The new man is a career soldier, Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, who made his name during the wars in Chechnya.
He turned down our request for an interview.
The most senior politician in the region who was prepared to speak to us was the chairman of the local parliament's security committee, Mukhtar Buzurtanov.
He said Yunus-Bek Yevkurov must bring the security forces under control and stop what he called their "illegal activities".
But he also accused the rebels of trying to destabilise Russia, saying they were part of a radical Islamic movement which had moved into Ingushetia after the wars in Chechnya.
He added that more than 50 soldiers had been killed so far this year.
Other senior officials in the local government have been quoted as saying they have to mount security operations to eliminate the rebels because of the threat they pose to Moscow's rule over the region.
The arrival of a new leader of Ingushetia who is a battle-hardened soldier and veteran of the Chechen conflict may sound ominous.
But the top opposition politician Maksharip Aushev holds out some hope that Yunus-Bek Yevkurov could improve the situation.
"The former leader Zyazikov was 100% to blame (for the situation). The first thing (new leader Yunus- Bek Yevkurov) did was to invite us to meet him and he said he plans to stop the human rights abuses and tackle corruption. At the moment we see no reason not to trust him."
So far there have not been any signs of change and the violence and abuses have continued.
"We will give [Mr Yevkurov] a maximum of three months," Mr Aushev says.
"We will support him if things change, if not it will go back to the situation as it was before."
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Armed Conflict
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November 2008
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['(BBC)']
|
Fourteen civilians are killed and four others wounded when the minibus they are travelling in hits a landmine in the outskirts of Mogadishu. A military commander blames al-Shabaab for the attack.
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MOGADISHU:Fifteen people died and four others were wounded Wednesday when the minibus they were travelling in ran over a landmine on the outskirts of Somalia's capital Mogadishu, the government spokesman said.
"A heinous incident ... 15 innocent people were killed. This act is an indication (of) how ruthless terrorists are," government spokesman Mohamed Ibrahim Moalimuu wrote on Twitter, blaming the attack on Al-Shabaab.
He said the attack took place about 50 kilometres (31) miles north of Mogadishu.
Earlier Andikarim Mohamed, a government official from the south-central Hirshabelle region, said 14 had died and four were wounded "after a minibus travelling along the road between Mogadishu and Balcad ran over a landmine."
Somali military commander Abshir Mohamed, who works in the area, also blamed the incident on the Al-Qaeda-linked Al Shabaab militantswho carry out regular attacks in the country.
"The terrorists are indiscriminately targeting everybody. They planted the mine that had killed those innocent civilians who were going about their business," he told state media.
Witness Mohamud Adan told AFP he saw the "dead bodies of ten people" taken from the scene of the explosion.
Al-Shabaab controlled the capital until 2011 when it was pushed out by African Union troops, but still holds parts of the countryside and carries out regular attacks against government, military and civilian targets.
NEW DELHI: Authorities in central India have employed faith healers in their coronavirus vaccination drive to help combat vaccine superstitions and encourage tribal populations to take the jab.
While a devastating second wave of the pandemic has already taken the country’s coronavirus death toll to more than 318,000, India’s vaccination rate remains low, with only 4 percent of the 1.3 billion population having received at least one vaccine dose.
The immunization campaign has not only been marred by vaccine shortages but, as in the predominantly tribal district of Betul in Madhya Pradesh, by superstition-driven hesitancy, prompting officials to employ local healers, or bhumka, who have a great influence over the local community’s life, to encourage tribal populations to take the shot.
“In remote tribal areas rumor spread that vaccination leads to illness and other diseases,” the district’s key officer for vaccination Manohar Lal Tyagi told Arab News on Friday. “To dispel the myth, we decided to use the local bhumka who have a hold over the tribal society.”
In a video circulated by the local administration when the campaign started three weeks ago, Ram Muni one of the 20 traditional healers employed in the campaign is seen appealing to people to come forward for vaccination, saying that vaccines do not cause sickness and are meant to make them healthy.
While various strategies have been devised to combat vaccine hesitancy, shortage of doses remains a challenge nationwide. Officials say local healers, or bhumka, can help to dispel myths as they have a great influence over local community life.
“We are all trying our best to mobilize people and promote vaccination in the region,” Betul lawmaker Nalay Daga told Arab News. “It is the responsibility of all political leaders, regardless of their party affiliation, to reach out to people and convince them to have the vaccination.”
Laxmikant Sahoo, a Betul-based journalist, said that besides the faith healers, politicians should also be involved in the drive.
“Political leaders have wider reach and influence,” Sahoo said. “If they involve themselves vaccine hesitancy can be addressed effectively.”
While various strategies have been devised across the country to combat vaccine hesitancy, on the national level it is the shortage of doses that remains the biggest challenge.
India currently relies on two locally made vaccines Covishield, the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII), and Covaxin, developed by Bharat Biotech.
Until April, the SII and Bharat Biotech were able to produce only 64 million doses a month. They are expected to double production in August. The government is meanwhile in talks with other international vaccine producers as it intends to vaccinate its entire population by the year’s end.
“We should have allowed some foreign vaccines to come into India earlier,” Indian Medical Association (IMA) secretary general Dr. Jayesh Lele told Arab News.
“The impact of the second wave could have been less had more people been vaccinated,” he said. “To have herd immunity in India, vaccination is the biggest tool.”
KABUL: Dozens of tribal chiefs have been arrested across Afghanistan on charges of encouraging government soldiers to surrender to the Taliban, officials and lawmakers said on Friday, as the insurgents have stepped up attacks against Kabul forces.
Fighting in Afghanistan has intensified in the past weeks as the US is set end its military presence in the war-battered country by Sept. 11. The Taliban have advanced their strikes, raising concerns in Kabul that they might retake power either by force or by winning over government troops.
The Interior Ministry announced earlier this week that the involvement of village elders in persuading Kabul soldiers to leave their bases in return for safe passage is “direct cooperation with the enemy.”
“Dozens of them have been arrested, their cases will be referred to legal and judicial authorities,” the ministry’s spokesman Tariq Arian told Arab News.
The arrests have been taking place for the past two weeks. In eastern Nuristan province, 19 tribal chiefs were arrested after the Taliban took over two districts earlier this month. “God willing, the arrests have had an impact. That is why the government took this decision,” Nuristan police chief Aqel Shah Khelwati said.
He said that some of the arrested said they had been “forced by the Taliban” to mediate with soldiers.
The Taliban have confirmed they had dispatched delegations comprising tribal chiefs in some regions, but the group’s spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, denied forcing them to do so.
Some Afghan lawmakers have approved the arrests, with Fawzia Raoufi, a parliament member from northern Faryab province, saying the government “should hinder” the surrender of its soldiers after 300 military and police personnel gave in to the Taliban in the Sherin Tagab district on Thursday evening.
She admitted, however, that the troops were left with no support for days. “These troops had asked for air support for days, nothing happened, so they went over to the Taliban. There were 84 functioning armored vehicles, ammunition and arms that fell to the Taliban,” Raoufi said. “It is a tragedy and strengthens the Taliban.”
The Taliban say they have captured over 20 districts in Afghanistan since early May when US-led forces began to withdraw. The government has conceded loss of some areas but gave no details.
The arrests have aroused controversy as mediatory efforts are common in the country’s rural areas.
“Local conflicts are customarily settled by mediation. This is our true culture,” Torek Farhadi, adviser to former president Hamid Karzai, said.
“By negotiating a truce, human lives are saved, and families keep loved ones alive on both sides of the conflict,” he said. “If community leaders accomplish their Islamic duty by negotiating to avoid bloodshed, that is great news as it can herald localized pockets of peace in the future in Afghanistan.”
For Haroun Rahimi, a political science professor at the American University of Afghanistan in Kabul, the surrender of troops can have “dire political and strategic” consequences by affecting the army’s morale, the state’s legitimacy and fragmenting the anti-Taliban coalition.
He added, however, that “punishing influential locals is going to alienate local communities and create anti-government sentiment.”
KAMPALA: Ethiopians will vote on Monday in a landmark election overshadowed by reports of famine in the country’s war-hit Tigray region and beset by logistical problems that mean some people won’t be able to vote until September.
The election is the centerpiece of a reform drive by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, whose rise to power in 2018 seemed to signal a break with decades of authoritarian rule and led to his Nobel Peace Prize the following year.
He has described the poll as “the nation’s first attempt at free and fair elections.”
Abiy’s ruling Prosperity Party, formed in 2019 by merging groups who made up the previous ruling coalition, is widely expected to cement its hold on power.
The party that wins a majority of seats in the House of Peoples’ Representatives will form the next government.
“We will secure Ethiopia’s unity,” Abiy said ahead of his final campaign rally on Wednesday, repeating his vow of a free and fair election after past votes were marred by allegations of fraud.
But opposition groups have accused Ethiopia’s ruling party of harassment, manipulation and threats of violence that echo abuses of the past.
And Abiy is facing growing international criticism over the war in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region.
Thousands of civilians have been killed and more than 2 million people have been displaced since fighting broke out in November between Ethiopian forces, backed by ones from neighboring Eritrea, and those supporting the now-fugitive Tigray leaders.
Last week, humanitarian agencies warned that 350,000 people in Tigray are on the brink of famine, a crisis that several diplomats have described as “manmade” amid allegations of forced starvation.
Ethiopia’s government has rejected the figure and says food aid has reached 5.2 million in the region of 6 million.
No date has been set for voting in Tigray’s 38 constituencies, where military personnel who usually play a key role in transporting election materials across Africa’s second-most populous country are busy with the conflict.
Meanwhile, voting has been postponed until September in 64 out of 547 constituencies throughout Ethiopia because of insecurity, defective ballot papers and opposition allegations of irregularities.
Outbreaks of ethnic violence have also killed hundreds of people in the Amhara, Oromia and Benishangul-Gumuz regions in recent months.
Some prominent opposition parties are boycotting the election. Others say they have been prevented from campaigning in several parts of the country.
“There have been gross violations,” Yusef Ibrahim, vice president of the National Movement of Amhara, said earlier this month.
He said his party had been “effectively banned” from campaigning in several regions, with some party members arrested and banners destroyed.
Neither officials with the Prosperity Party nor Abiy’s office responded to requests for comment on such allegations.
Ethiopia last year postponed the election, citing the COVID-19 pandemic, adding to the tensions with Tigray’s former leaders.
Recently, the vote was delayed again by several weeks amid technical problems involving ballot papers and a lack of polling station officials.
Abiy’s Prosperity Party has registered 2,432 candidates in the election, which will see Ethiopians voting for both national and regional representatives.
The next largest party, Ethiopian Citizens for Social Justice, is fielding 1,385 candidates. A total of 47 parties are contesting the election.
But on Sunday, five opposition parties released a joint statement saying that campaigning outside the capital, Addis Ababa, “has been marred by serious problems, including killings, attempted killings and beatings of candidates.”
Two prominent opposition parties, the Oromo Liberation Front and the Oromo Federalist Congress, are boycotting the vote.
“It’s going to be a sham election,” OFC chairman Merera Gudina said earlier this month.
That means the Prosperity Party will face little competition in Oromia, Ethiopia’s most populous state.
Several prominent OFC members remain behind bars after a wave of unrest last year sparked by the killing of a popular Oromo musician, and the OLF’s leader is under house arrest.
The leader of the Balderas Party for True Democracy, Eskinder Nega, was also detained and is contesting the election from prison.
Getnet Worku, secretary-general of the newly established ENAT party, said earlier this month it is not standing candidates in several constituencies because the threat of violence is too high, asserting that armed militias organized by local officials frequently broke up rallies.
There are growing international concerns over whether the elections will be fair.
The EU has said it will not observe the vote after its requests to import communications equipment were denied.
In response, Ethiopia said external observers “are neither essential nor necessary to certify the credibility of an election,” although it has since welcomed observers deployed by the African Union.
Last week the US State Department said it is “gravely concerned about the environment under which these upcoming elections are to be held,” citing “detention of opposition politicians, harassment of independent media, partisan activities by local and regional governments, and the many interethnic and inter-communal conflicts across Ethiopia.”
Abiy’s appointment as prime minister in 2018 was initially greeted by an outburst of optimism both at home and abroad.
Shortly after taking office, he freed tens of thousands of political prisoners, allowed the return of exiled opposition groups and rolled back punitive laws that targeted civil society.
In 2019 he won the Nobel Peace Prize in part for those reforms and for making peace with Eritrea by ending a long-running border standoff.
But critics say Ethiopia’s political space has started to shrink again. The government denies the accusation.
Several prominent opposition figures accused of inciting unrest are behind bars.
While opening a sugar factory earlier this month, Abiy accused “traitors” and “outsiders” of working to undermine Ethiopia.
This week his spokeswoman, Billene Seyoum, described the election as a chance for citizens to “exercise their democratic rights” and accused international media of mounting a “character assassination of the prime minister.”
AMSTERDAM: Face masks will mostly no longer be required across the Netherlands and other restrictions will ease from next week, after a drop in COVID-19 cases, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on Friday.
Most limits on group sizes will also be lifted from June 26, as long as people can keep at least 1.5 meters (5 ft) apart, he told a news conference.
“This is a special moment,” Rutte said. “Many times I have stood here to tell you what you can’t do. But now we can focus on what is possible.”
No new limits will be set on the number of guests allowed in stores, bars and restaurants, Rutte said, as long as they keep their distance, or show that they have been vaccinated or have a negative test.
“We can expect a beautiful summer,” Rutte said. “But we need to remain cautious. There are many uncertainties toward the autumn. You can always be stabbed in the back by a new variant.”
People will still need to wear masks on public transport and in airports, where distancing is not possible.
Coronavirus infections in the Netherlands have dropped to their lowest levels in nine months in recent weeks as the rollout of vaccinations has gathered pace.
Earlier this month authorities let bars and restaurants reopen.
Around 13 vaccinations have been administered in the country of 17.5 million people as of Friday. The government has said it is aiming to offer each Dutch adult at least one shot by mid-July.
Almost 1.7 million coronavirus infections have been confirmed in the Netherlands, and more than 27,000 deaths.
PEMBA, Mozambique: Several beheadings, including of teenagers, have been reported around the restive northern Mozambique town of Palma since it was attacked by militants in March, a charity and local sources said on Friday.
Palma and surrounding areas have been on tenterhooks since militants linked to Daesh launched a raid of unprecedented scale on the town, killing dozens and forcing tens of thousands to flee.
Many sought refuge in nearby Quitunda, a resettlement village next to a heavily guarded gas exploration site operated by French oil giant Total and abandoned days after the raid.
Several bouts of low-key violence have been reported since the militants retreated.
British charity Save the Children on Friday said it was “shocked and appalled” by news this week of two 15-year-old boys being beheaded in Palma on Sunday.
The teenagers were among a group of 15 adults who had left Quitunda in search of food, according to the independent news outlet Carta de Mocambique, which reported the incident.
Two adults were also killed, it added.
“We are appalled and disgusted at this senseless crime,” Save the Children Mozambique country director Chance Briggs said in a statement.
The insurgency is “having a continual, horrific, deadly impact on children,” he said.
“They are being killed, they are being abducted, they are being recruited for use by armed groups.”
One local source in the provincial capital Pemba said relatives in Quitunda had heard of “insurgents” beheading several people on Saturday.
Momade Bachir, who is regularly in touch with family members still stranded around Palma, told AFP that four residents were attacked after they left the town to pick manioc in surrounding fields.
Another three beheaded bodies were found near Pemba that evening, according to Bachir.
Finding food has been difficult since the March 24 attack on Palma and aid agencies have struggled to take in supplies due to security concerns.
The World Food Programme has warned that almost one million people, mostly displaced, faced severe hunger.
Insurgents have been wreaking havoc in Cabo Delgado since 2017.
The fighting has claimed more than 2,800 lives, half of them civilians, according to conflict data tracker ACLED, and displaced around 800,000.
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Armed Conflict
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April 2021
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['(Arab News)']
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The Golden State Warriors in the North American National Basketball Association appoints Mark Jackson as the new coach.
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The Golden State Warriors have named Mark Jackson, a 17-year NBA veteran as a player and current ABC broadcaster, as the team’s new head coach, it was announced today. Jackson becomes the 24th head coach in franchise history and the 19th since the team moved to the West Coast in 1962. Per team policy, terms of the agreement were not announced. Jackson, 46, played for seven organizations – New York (twice), the L.A. Clippers, Indiana (twice), Denver, Toronto, Utah and Houston – during his highly-successful 17-year NBA career and helped guide his teams to the playoffs in 14 of those 17 seasons. A native of Brooklyn, New York, he ranks third on the NBA’s all-time assists list (10,334) – trailing only John Stockton and Jason Kidd – and was named a member of the Eastern Conference All-Star team in 1989. Jackson was originally selected by the New York Knicks in the first round of the 1987 NBA Draft (18th overall) and promptly captured NBA Rookie of the Year honors at the conclusion of the 1987-88 campaign. He established a still-standing NBA record for assists by a rookie in a single season (868) and played for five Hall of Fame coaches during his collegiate and professional careers (Lou Carnesecca, Lenny Wilkens, Jerry Sloan, Pat Riley and Larry Brown). “After an extensive search and a great deal of consideration, we have come to the conclusion that Mark Jackson is the best coach for this team,” said Warriors’ General Manager Larry Riley. “He will bring a youthful and fresh approach to our team and the fact that he enjoyed a stellar playing career, where he served most of that time as the leader of some very successful teams, will prove invaluable in the long run. We were looking for a coach with leadership ability and a strong personality and believe Mark possesses those qualities. He’s very well respected in NBA circles, is a consummate professional and his knowledge and background will be an incredible asset for our team and organization.”
“We are tremendously excited about the addition of Mark Jackson as our new head coach,” said Warriors’ Owner Joe Lacob. “He epitomized leadership as a player in this league for 17 seasons and we think that characteristic – and many other positive traits – will translate very well into his coaching duties with our young team. He was a leader and a winner both on and off the floor in this league and we’re convinced that he is the right person to guide this team into the future and help us achieve the success that we are striving for as an organization.” “I am really elated about this opportunity and I’m looking forward to the challenge of building the Warriors into a perennial contender,” said Jackson. “I cannot tell you how impressed I was with the organization during our meetings, beginning at the top with Joe Lacob and, of course, with Larry Riley, Bob Myers and Jerry West. I have sensed that Joe is committed to winning and building a team and a culture the right way. I think we all witnessed that with some of the recent front office additions as well and some of the other positive things that have been done in recent months. This is an incredible opportunity and I am honored and thank God that I have been chosen to be the next coach of the Warriors. The Bay Area has always had some of the best fans in the NBA and I look forward to being a part of that incredible atmosphere at Oracle Arena, along with my wife, my kids and my church family, who are thrilled as well.”
Jackson, who will assume his new duties at the conclusion of the NBA Finals, appeared in 131 playoff games during his career, including 23 with the Indiana Pacers in 2000, when he was a member of the Eastern Conference Champions (played L.A. Lakers in the NBA Finals). Additionally, he led the NBA in assists during the 1996-97 campaign (11.4 apg).
Jackson will be introduced to the Bay Area media later this week.
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Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration
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June 2011
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['(NBA)']
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In American football, the Baltimore Ravens defeat the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl XLVII 34–31 after a delay in the game's second half caused by a power outage.
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From the section American footballcomments361
Jacoby Jones scored two of the most spectacular touchdowns in Super Bowl history as Baltimore Ravens edged San Francisco 49ers 34-31 in a thriller.
First Jones, playing in his native New Orleans, caught a long Joe Flacco pass before running into the endzone.
Then, after Beyonce's stunning half-time show, Jones returned the kick-off 108 yards in barely 11 seconds for the longest ever Super Bowl play.
After a long delay due to a power cut, the 49ers hit back but fell just short.
The third quarter will go down as one of the most crazy and dramatic encounters ever seen in the NFL, let alone in a Super Bowl.
Many of the 70,000-plus crowd at the Superdome were still recovering from a high-octane half-time show performance by Beyonce and her old Destiny's Child bandmates when Jones received David Akers' kick-off eight yards deep inside his own endzone.
Rather than take the sensible option of appealing for a fair catch, he elected to run the ball and ghosted past the 49ers defenders with barely a touch.
After Baltimore raced into an early lead courtesy of a pair of Flacco touchdown passes to Anquan Boldin and Dennis Pitta, Jones extended Baltimore's advantage to 21-3 when he caught Flacco's perfectly floated downfield pass and then, realising he had not been touched by a defender, showed equally quick mental agility to get up and trot into the endzone.
After trailing 21-6 at the break, and then 28-6 following Jones's kick-off return, San Francisco could have been forgiven for giving up.
But they were inspired by something truly unprecedented - half of the lights going off, and not being fixed fully for 34 minutes.
While jokes circled that 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh may have had something to do with it, the truth was that it was his side - rather than the floodlights - which had a power surge against the Ravens, who are coached by his older brother John Harbaugh.
First they were aided by some comical defending by the Ravens, which let Michael Crabtree turn an already impressive gain into a 31-yard touchdown as two defenders crashed into each other.
Then, after a good punt return, Frank Gore ran unopposed into the right hand corner of the endzone from six yards. Suddenly the 49ers were only 20-28 down, and things got even worse for the Ravens when San Francisco cornerback Tarell Brown stripped the ball out of Ray Rice's hands and fell on the loose ball himself for a turnover.
Following an exchange of field goals, Niners quarterback Colin Kaepernick capped a long drive with a 15-yard run into the endzone down the left sideline. But his two-point conversion attempt failed, and Justin Tucker's 38-yard field goal made it 34-29 to Baltimore deep into the fourth quarter.
San Francisco tried to battle back, but ultimately their recovery stalled when Kaepernick's pass towards Crabtree fell incomplete.
Jim Harbaugh cried foul, arguing his receiver had been held by a defender, but the officials were never going to change their mind and Baltimore were able, just about, to wind down the clock and seal their second Vince Lombardi trophy.
Baltimore Ravens linebackerRay Lewis, who ended his 17-year career with a second Super Bowl win: "How could it end any other way than that. And now I get to ride into the sunset with my second ring.
"It's no greater way, as a champ, to go out on your last ride with the men that I went out with, with my team-mates. And you looked around this stadium and ... Baltimore! Baltimore! We coming home, baby! We did it!"
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Sports Competition
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February 2013
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['(BBC)', '(The Washington Post)', '(Mercury News)']
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U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth rules that Mohammad Munaf, a United States citizen, can be transferred to Iraqi authorities to face a death sentence over the kidnapping of three Romanian journalists in 2005 around Baghdad.
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WASHINGTON (AP) -- An American citizen facing a death sentence in Iraq lost a court challenge Thursday that would have prohibited the military from turning him over to Iraqi authorities.
Mohammad Munaf was convicted and sentenced to death by an Iraqi judge last week on charges he helped in the 2005 kidnapping of three Romanian journalists in Baghdad.
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Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence
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October 2006
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['(AP via New York Times)']
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Twentyeight children and three adults are stabbed at a nursery school in China.
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GUANGZHOU - Fifteen students and one teacher were injured by a knife-wielding man in a primary school in Leizhou of Guangdong province on Wednesday, local police authorities said.
The incident has again raised concerns over school safety. The injured were rushed to hospital for treatment and were all in stable condition, Qin Zhucai, director of the general affairs office of Leizhou public security bureau, told China Daily on Wednesday night. The suspect, Chen Kangbing, in his 30s, was brought under control by police about 4 pm, about an hour after the stabbings in the Leicheng No 1 Primary School. The suspect, a teacher in a village in Baisha town of Leizhou, entered the school by following other teachers for an open class, police said. "Students in four classrooms were targeted by Chen," Qin said.
Chen attempted to jump from the school building to kill himself before he was grabbed, Qin said. The school authorities used the loud speaker to urge the rest of the students to evacuate after the incident broke out about 3 pm. The case again exposed the problem of school safety. On March 23, Zheng Minsheng, a former community doctor, stabbed eight children to death and seriously injured five others at the gate of the Nanping Experimental Elementary School in East China's Fujian province. Zheng, 42, was executed on Wednesday in Nanping after his death sentence was approved by the Supreme People's Court. The top court reviewed Zheng's case and ratified the sentence handed down by the local court, said a statement released by the Intermediate People's Court of Nanping City. An investigation found Zheng stabbed the children out of frustration at failures in his romantic life, the statement said. In another recent case, a man around 40 years old stabbed an 8-year-old boy and a 70-year-old woman to death 400 meters from the Xizhen Primary School in Xichang town of South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region on April 12. He also injured two boys, aged 7 and 12, a 7-year-old girl and a couple in their 30s. The Education Ministry earlier this month instructed kindergartens, primary and high schools to upgrade security. It ordered schools to integrate safety awareness into the curriculum, teach children self-protection, hire security guards, install security facilities and make sure young students were escorted home. Xinhua contributed to this story
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Armed Conflict
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April 2010
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['(BBC News)', '(China Daily)']
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Michael Drejka, a 47–year–old white Florida man who shot and killed Markeis McGlockton, an unarmed 28–year–old African American man, in a parking space dispute, is sentenced to 20 years in prison. Drejka had cited Florida's stand–your–ground law in his defense and was not initially charged until the case was handed over to State Attorney Bernie McCabe, who charged Drejka with one count of manslaughter.
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Markeis McGlockton was shot to death on July 19, 2018, in Clearwater, Florida. Michael Drejka sentenced to 20 years in parking space shooting
A white Florida man found guilty of manslaughter in the 2018 killing of an unarmed African-American father he shot in a dispute over a handicap parking space was sentenced on Thursday to serve 20 years in prison.
Michael Drejka, 48, learned his fate after Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge Joseph Bulone heard from family members of the victim, Markeis McGlockton, 28, including his parents and the mother of his four children, Britany Jacobs.
"The defendant's weakness, his cowardice and his anger ... are the reasons Markeis is dead," said Jacobs, reading from a prepared statement.
"Think about raising four children alone without their daddy. Without Markeis my world can never be whole again," said Jacobs, asking Judge Bulone for the maximum sentence of 30 years.
McGlockton's father, Michael McGlockton, told Drejka that he killed his only biological son and that "because of you, our lives will never be the same."
"You deserve to die in prison," he said. "In the Bible, it says that in order to get into heaven we must forgive those who trespass against us. At this point in my life, I am not there yet. And if it just so happens that the Lord chooses to take me before I come to terms with this, then I will see you in hell, where you and I will finish this. Mark my words."
Judge Bulone, who described Drejka as a "wannabe cop," rejected a request from defense attorneys for a lenient sentence of probation and house arrest.
Defense attorney John Trevena noted that Drejka had no previous criminal record and told the judge he "has been suffering in ways that the community has no knowledge of," including being held in a cold isolation cell at the Pinellas County Jail since his conviction on Aug. 24.
"What is better for the community and the country than to give him an opportunity to speak about this incident to others as a condition of probation, rather than locking him in a cold cage, isolated from all contact for years?" Trevena said. "How does that suffice justice in this case? We would respectfully suggest that's not justice."
He also said that the sentencing guidelines of 11.5 to 30 years in prison were harsher than the punishment suggested last week for former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison after being convicted of murder in the 2018 fatal shooting of her neighbor Botham Jean. The jury that sentenced Guyger had the option of giving her anywhere from five to 99 years in prison.
Drejka's attorneys said they plan to file an appeal, asking that the conviction be overturned.
Bulone said that while Florida law allows people like Drejka to hold permits to carry concealed weapons, "with those rights come responsibilities."
He said Drejka not only created a conflict and confrontation with Jacobs over her parking in a handicap space outside the Circle A store in Clearwater on July 19, 2018, but he shot McGlockton as he was retreating.
The judge noted that the entire incident was caught on security video, and showed McGlockton stepping back and turning his body when Drejka pulled a gun on him after McGlockton pushed him to ground in an attempt to defend Jacobs, who was pregnant at the time, and their three young children, who were present when the shooting occurred.
"The most ironic thing about this whole case is he parks illegally," Bulone said of Drejka. "He doesn't even park in a parking space. He parks close to Britany Jacobs to argue about her parking illegally and to do this he zooms up and parks illegally."
Bulone also said in his judgment that Drejka had shown no remorse for shooting McGlockton, at least during the court proceedings. The judge offered Drejka an opportunity to speak at the sentencing hearing, but Drejka declined.
"The defendant's actions were not excusable and they were not justified," Bulone said.
In addition to sentencing Drejka to two decades in prison, Bulone ordered him to pay McGlockton's family $5,000 in restitution to cover funeral expenses.
In August, a Florida jury deliberated for just six hours before finding Drejka guilty of manslaughter.
Drejka had argued he acted in self-defense, and initially invoked Florida's controversial "stand your ground" law that earned widespread attention during the trial of Neighborhood Watch volunteer George Zimmerman in the 2013 killing of African-American teenager Trayvon Martin. The self-defense law, which went into effect in 2005, allows people to use lethal force if they consider their lives to be in imminent jeopardy.
Just hours after gunning down Markeis McGlockton, Drejka told detectives he opened fire when McGlockton shoved him to the ground and caused him to fear for his life, a scenario the jury rejected after viewing the security video of the shooting multiple times.
Following Thursday's sentencing of Drejka, Michael McGlockton said he and his family will finally begin the healing process.
"As the father of the victim, we wanted to see the max, but 20 years, I guess, we'll take that," he said.
"I can't forgive Michael Derjka. There's no forgiveness in my heart right now. My only son is gone," he added. "Michael Drejka is still living, he's still breathing. His wife can come see him whenever she feels like it. I can't go see my son. I've got my son's ashes in an urn on my table."
Ben Crump, an attorney for Britany Jacobs, called the conviction and sentencing of Drejka "historic."
"It was also important for the spirit of Trayvon Martin and all the victims of 'stand your ground' murders," Crump said. "And it was also important for the supporters, those people in the community of color to know that equal justice is possible in America when a white person kills an unarmed black man and then claims the protections of the racist 'stand your ground law' to vindicate them."
|
Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence
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October 2019
|
['(ABC News)']
|
Former FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta wins the club's 14th presidential election with 54.2% of the votes.
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Joan Laporta elected Barcelona president for second time; 58-year-old wins with more than 54 per cent of vote; Laporta to hold role until 2026; Victor Font recorded just short of 30 per cent of vote while Toni Freixa earned just over eight per cent
By Lyall Thomas Monday 8 March 2021 00:10, UK
Joan Laporta has won the Barcelona presidential election by a landslide.
With more than 54 per cent of the vote, the 58-year-old triumphed over Victor Font (29.99 per cent) and Toni Freixa (8.58 per cent) to gain his second term at the helm.
Laporta was previously president during one of the club's most successful periods; earning 12 trophies between 2003 and 2010 including a famous treble under Pep Guardiola and with Lionel Messi as talisman.
Keeping the Argentina star will be his biggest and immediate priority, with Messi's contract expiring in the summer and the player unsure whether he wants to finish his career at his boyhood club.
Messi - a target for Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain - will take Laporta's plans into consideration before making a decision on his future this summer, but the team are behind Atletico Madrid in the title race and look sure to be knocked out of the Champions League by Paris Saint-Germain, down 4-1 from their last-16 first leg.
Messi was pictured casting his vote at the Nou Camp earlier on Sunday as well as first-team players Sergio Busquets, Sergi Roberto and Jordi Alba. Former president Josep Maria Bartomeu, who was was among four ex-Barcelona officials arrested in a corruption probe by Catalan police, also cast his at the stadium - one of four locations.
Bartomeu kept a low profile, having spent the night at a Catalan police station last weekend, after being detained along with current chief executive Oscar Grau, director of legal services Gomez Ponti, and advisor to the president Jaume Masferrer.
Despite the scandal, Barca were determined to present the vote as a positive occasion, hailing their democratic history and following strict coronavirus measures, having postponed the vote from January 24.
By the opening of voting at 9am on Sunday, more than 20,000 of the 110,290 members had cast theirs by postal ballot. As well as the Nou Camp, there were voting stations set up in Girona, Lleida, Tarragona, Tortosa and Andorra.
Joan Laporta was previously the Barcelona president from 2003 to 2010.
This was one of the club's most successful periods in which they clinched 12 major trophies, including their first treble under Pep Guardiola in 2009.
For this reason, he is popular with a large part of the fan base.
Laporta has declared he has the best chance of keeping Lionel Messi at the club out of all the candidates.
He said early in his candidacy that he will "do everything to ensure Messi continues" with Barcelona beyond the end of his contract this summer.
He has also pledged to make La Masia - the club's academy - the focus again and the main source of players for the first team.
"What can guarantee the club's future is La Masia: we'll present a project with a new methodology to make La Masia a centre of excellence central to our focus," he has said.
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Government Job change - Election
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March 2021
|
['(Sky Sports)']
|
German Chancellor Angela Merkel announces she will hold peace talks in Berlin to help end the Second Libyan Civil War. Both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Government of National Accord leader Fayez al-Sarraj express support for the peace initiative.
|
- German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Libyan peace talks will be held in Berlin, as Turkey and Russia appealed to the north African nation’s warring factions to enter a ceasefire.
Putin welcomes Merkel to Moscow
01:00
“We hope that the joint efforts by Russia and Turkey will lead to success, and we will soon send out invitations for a conference in Berlin,” Merkel said on Saturday during a joint press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
She stressed that the United Nations would lead talks if a meeting were to take place in Berlin, and that Libya’s warring parties would need to play a major role to help find a solution.
The aim was to give Libya the chance to become a sovereign and peaceful country, Merkel said.
Putin expressed support for the process, saying it was a “timely” idea and necessary to bring the conflict in Libya to an end.
The comments came days after Turkey and Russia urged Libya’s warring parties to declare a ceasefire.
Fayez al-Serraj, head of Libya’s internationally recognized government, said he welcomed the peace initiative by Russia and Turkey.
“The condition is the withdrawal of the attacking party, which does not seem willing to do so”, he said after holding talks with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte in Rome on Saturday.
Libyan forces loyal to eastern-based commander Khalifa Haftar said this week they had taken control of the strategic coastal city of Sirte in a rapid advance preceded by air strikes.
Haftar’s self-styled Libyan National Army was also considered responsible for a deadly drone attack on a military academy in the capital Tripoli.
Conte said on Saturday he expressed his “consternation” to General Haftar for the January 4 attack in Tripoli, after meeting him in Rome earlier this week.
“We are working hard as a government for the immediate goal of a ceasefire and to steer the conflict towards a political solution,” Conte said.
Turkey backs al-Serraj’s Tripoli-based Government of National Accord and has said it will send military advisers and possibly troops to reinforce its support, while Russian military contractors have been deployed alongside General Haftar.
Asked if he was aware of the presence of Russian mercenaries in Libya Putin said: “If there are Russian citizens there, then they are not representing the interests of the Russian state and they are not receiving money from the Russian state.”
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Diplomatic Talks _ Diplomatic_Negotiation_ Summit Meeting
|
January 2020
|
['(Reuters)']
|
A Texas semi truck driver with no criminal record is arrested and faces 4 counts of vehicular homicide after he told police his brakes were failing on I–70 as it descended from the mountains in Colorado and caused a 28 vehicle crash CBS Denver
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GOLDEN, Colo. (AP) – A Colorado prosecutor says a 23-year-old truck driver is accused of “exhibiting extreme indifference to the value of human life” in a fiery interstate crash that killed four people and injured others.
Jefferson County District Attorney Pete Weir announced Friday a total of 40 charges, including 36 felonies, against Rogel Lazaro Aguilera-Mederos of Houston.
The charges against Aguilera-Mederos include four counts of vehicular homicide, six counts of first-degree assault and 24 counts of attempted first-degree assault.
Rogel Lazaro Aguilera-Mederos
The crash occurred April 25 on Interstate 70 just after it descends from the mountains west of Denver. The pileup involved 28 vehicles and multiple explosions.
Aguilera-Mederos, who is being held on $400,000 bond, told investigators the brakes on his semitrailer failed.
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Road Crash
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April 2019
|
['[Denver Post]']
|
For the second time the Avalon at Edgewater apartments in Edgewater, New Jersey burn down. Among the 400 people evacuated, New York Yankees announcer John Sterling is one of the victims.
|
EDGEWATER, N.J. (CBSNewYork) — An extra-alarm fire devoured an apartment complex and left hundreds of people homeless Wednesday evening in Edgewater, New Jersey.
As CBS2’s Jessica Schneider reported, the gargantuan blaze stretched for three city blocks. Late Tuesday night, sections of the apartment complex made the sound of small explosions as they collapsed.
Edgewater Mayor Michael McPartland said a state of local emergency has been declared for the municipality. Local schools will be closed on Thursday, and roads access will be restricted until further notice.
The fire broke out around 4:30 p.m. At 6:05 p.m., all that was seen was smoke coming from one apartment window, when Chopper 2 was over the scene during CBS2’s 6 p.m. newscast, flames were seen raging on several floors of one building at 102 Russell Ave.
That was only the beginning. By 7:15 p.m., balls of fire were shooting into the sky.
PHOTOS: Edgewater, N.J. Apartment Complex Fire
The fire was raised to more than five alarms as embers spread and structures collapsed, according to Edgewater police. The fire grew so large that the flames were visible from Midtown Manhattan — and were even being picked up on the weather radar late Wednesday night.
People gasped at the scene on their ferry rides home along the Hudson River.
“I came here around 5:30, and basically there wasn’t that much of a fire, but it was just smoke,” said complex resident Hamza Alkhayyat. “But now, as you can see, it’s horrible.”
Embers rose to 500 feet, and the smoke rose to 1,000 or 1,500 feet. The fire was so intense that the embers were raining down on the nearby Edgewater Cemetery, setting parts of the graveyard ablaze too.
While CBS2’s crews stood just feet away, the flames jumped from building to building.
Numerous fire departments from surrounding towns were called in to fight the blaze, and numerous streets in the area were closed.
Fire crews from Bogota, New Jersey doused an apartment complex just a few hundred feet away with water, fearing the flames could jump and spread even more.
Firefighters raced to carry people out and evacuate people inside.
“This is probably the biggest one I’ve ever seen,” said Bogota fire Battalion Chief Joe DiMauro.
McPartland said in all, about 175 mid-rise units were destroyed, and between 350 and 400 people were displaced.
Cellphone video showed a firefighter carrying a resident of the complex.
Among the residents of the complex was Yankees announcer John Sterling, who talked to CBS2 about his experience.
“I walked to the building and smelled smoke, and I went out to my floor where my apartment is, and the smoke was so bad I couldn’t see, and I thought, ‘Hey, we’d better get out of here,’” Sterling said.
Sterling said he will not know until Thursday if there is anything left of his apartment.
Meanwhile, the water situation at the scene was also proving very problematic in fighting the blaze, according to a fire battalion chief from nearby Bogota.
“If you hit the hydrant in so many locations, it lowers the pressure,” said Bogota Fire Battalion Chief Joe DiMauro. “Not a lot of water.”
About 2,000 customers were also left without power during the fire.
Only minor injuries were reported, and there was no loss of life, McPartland said.
A fire also ripped through the very same complex when it was under construction back on Aug. 30, 2000. As CBS2’s Tracee Carrasco reported, the complex was rebuilt only to be destroyed again Wednesday night.
“It’s ridiculous…. It was just as big, I mean, if not bigger,” said Edgewater resident Mike Khoury. “It was the biggest fire in Bergen County.”
In 2000, the Avalon at Edgewater apartments looked like the aftermath of a bomb. An entire block was engulfed in flames.
Back then, the August fire started at the construction site for the $50 million, five-story condominium complex — which was unoccupied at the time. It jumped the street quickly and spread to nearby homes, destroying at least eight of them and displacing as many as 70 people.
“Terrifying – you know, you always think about what you’re going to grab first. Total blank – you don’t even know what you’re doing. You just stand there in total amazement,” one woman told CBS2’s Lou Young during the 2000 fire. “You don’t even know what to grab. You just gaze.”
The heartbreaking feeling that many felt back then was repeating itself eerily Wednesday night.
“Everybody else is OK, so, you know, there are just stuff. You can always buy stuff,” Alkhayyat said. “But you can’t buy your health and well-being. So thank God.”
The cause and origin of the Wednesday night fire will be determined at a later time, Bergen County Executive James Tedesco said.
|
Fire
|
January 2015
|
['(previous was August 2000)', '(CBS)', '(NJ.com)']
|
Leaders from Eritrea and Ethiopia officially declare an end to their countries' 20-year border conflict.
|
The long-term enemies have signed a "joint delcaration of peace and friendship." The rapprochement takes place 20 years after the two neighbors started a border war that killed tens of thousands of people.
Ethiopia and Eritrea officially declared an end to a two-decades-old war on Monday, a day after their leaders held a historic summit in the Eritrean capital Asmara.
The two neighbors also agreed to resume flights, open embassies and develop ports together.
"State of war that existed between the two countries has come to an end. A new era of peace and friendship has been ushered (in)," Eritrean Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel said on Twitter.
"Both countries will work to promote close cooperation in political, economic, social, cultural and security areas," Yemane added.
Ethiopia's Foreign Ministry said the governments would sign agreements later in the day "on the opening of embassies in Addis Ababa and Asmara that will mark the restoration of diplomatic ties, inauguration of flights between the two capitals, phone connections, and the use of ports."
The deal was announced a day after Ethiopia's new reformist prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, flew down to Eritrea and embraced its veteran president, Isaias Afwerki, on the runway in Asmara.
Ahmed (L) was warmly received upon his arrival in Asmara by Afwerki (R)
Decades of enmity
The rapprochement is a result of the peace talks initiated by Abiy, who came to power in April, in a bid to end 20 years of enmity. Eritrea was part of Ethiopia until 1993, when it declared its independence in a referendum.
Read more: Eritrea: 25 years of independence but still not free
The two neighbors started a frontier war in 1998 that killed an estimated 80,000 people. Full-blown fighting ended in 2000, but their troops have faced off across their disputed border ever since.
The thaw began last month when Abiy said Ethiopia would abide by a 2002 UN-backed ruling and return disputed border territory, including the flashpoint town of Badme, to Eritrea.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres will meet Abiy on Monday evening in Addis Ababa, Reuters news agency reported citing UN sources in the Ethiopian capital.
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Diplomatic Talks _ Diplomatic_Negotiation_ Summit Meeting
|
July 2018
|
['(Deutsche Welle)']
|
Floods in Sri Lanka and the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu cause over 70 deaths with the city of Chennai worst affected.
|
In this 2011 file photo, a man holding an umbrella watches large waves on the Marina beach as a cargo ship passes after Cyclone Thane hit the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, India. REUTERS/Babu
CHENNAI, India, Nov 16 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Floods in south India and Sri Lanka have killed over 70 people -- inundating homes, farmland and highways -- forcing authorities to shut down schools and colleges in some areas, officials and media reports said on Monday.
The floods, triggered by incessant rains over the past seven days, have submerged parts of Tamil Nadu state, including its capital Chennai, where most of the deaths and devastation has taken place.
Caused by a depression formed in the Bay of Bengal, the heavy rains have also affected Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh states, as well as neighbouring Sri Lanka.
Tamil Nadu's Chief Minister Jayalalithaa said a 5 billion rupee ($75 million) relief fund has been set up. She brushed aside criticisms the government was poorly prepared to deal with the flooding in Chennai, one of India's biggest cities.
"The rain that was meant to be spread out over the monsoon months has poured in just a few days," Jayalalithaa told reporters during a visit to a flood-hit area in Chennai.
"No precautionary measures would have managed to prevent water logging and damages. In areas where flooding and damage have been caused, relief, rescue and repair works are being taken up on a war footing," she said.
There are no official figures on the number of deaths, but media reports suggested at least 71 people have died from drowning, collapsing walls and electrocution.
Television pictures showed children in Chennai crammed into boats on water-logged roads, commuters wading through waist-deep waters to get to work and bridges submerged as lakes overflowed.
In Sri Lanka, floods in the northern parts of the Indian Ocean island have affected 58,000 people. One person has reportedly died.
India's southeast coast is vulnerable to annual cyclones in November and December, severe low pressure formations in the Bay of Bengal have resulted in heavier than usual rainfall, say weather officials.
In Chennai, Cuddalore, Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur and Villupuram districts, 23 to 37 cm (9 to 14 inches) of rain was recorded on a single day, much higher than the usual annual average.
Government officials said around 10,000 people living in low-lying coastal areas have been evacuated from their homes and given refuge in relief camps.
The National Disaster Response Force and the army have been called in to help distribute food rations and rescue people stranded due to damaged roads and bridges.
India's weather department forecasts the rains would cease in Tamil Nadu but predicted heavy rain for Andhra Pradesh in the coming days. (Reporting by Sandhya Ravishankar in Chennai. Additional reporting by Shihar Aneez in Colombo. Editing by Nita Bhalla. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, corruption and climate change. Visit www.trust.org)
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Floods
|
November 2015
|
['(Thomson Reuters)']
|
The European Council agrees on a compromise deal to unlock €1.8 trillion for the budget of the European Union and for the Next Generation EU recovery plan.
|
Leaders meeting Thursday worked out a compromise with Hungary and Poland, who had vetoed the bloc’s budget and stimulus plans over threats that they could lose access to funds.
BRUSSELS — European Union leaders reached a landmark budget agreement Thursday after weeks of fraught negotiations, unblocking $2.2 trillion in funds crucial to some of the bloc’s weakest economies that have been decimated by the coronavirus pandemic.
In a meeting in Brussels, they broke through a veto by Poland and Hungary that had been holding up the hefty financial package, after the two nations tried to evade oversight that could strip them of E.U. funds if they continue to overhaul democratic institutions at home.
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Sign Agreement
|
December 2020
|
['(The New York Times)']
|
The Ugandan parliament passes a controversial land bill, criticised by the Buganda kingdom.
|
The Land Amendment Bill was finally passed yesterday after an acrimonious five-day debate that divided the House along party lines. The President still has to approve the Bill before it becomes law.
The Bill aims at punishing those who take part in illegal evictions of lawful tenants. It also gives the tenants the first option of buying in case the landlord wants to sell his land.
Similarly, tenants must give the landlord the first option of buying back the kibanja in case they want to sell. “I am relieved that it is out of the way,” said lands minister Omara Atubo after Parliament passed the Bill on yesterday afternoon.
Buganda opposition MPs, led by Hussein Kyanjo, walked out after the Speaker, Edward Ssekandi, refused to grant his request that the debate be deferred to next week to allow Muslim MPs time to organise for the Idd celebrations today.
The MPs who walked out were Susan Nampija (CP), Erias Lukwago (DP), Michael Mabike (Independent), Dr. Lulume Bayiga (DP), Kyanjo (JEEMA), Latiff Sebagala (DP) and John Kawanga.
Although the Bill faced stiff resistance from opposition and Buganda MPs, it sailed through with minor amendments.
The debate was characterized by heated exchanges with Speaker Edward Ssekandi several times warning the legislators against the use of blackmail.
One of the most controversial sections, which stated that somebody claiming interest in land under customary tenure shall not be evicted except upon a court order, was deleted after strong opposition from MPs from northern and eastern Uganda.
The House also approved the amendment saying that the annual nominal ground rent will be determined by the minister, in case the district land board fails to do so, within six months after the commencement of the Land Amendment Act. The period was previously only 30 days.
MPs agreed that lawful tenants can only be evicted for non-payment of ground rent, and that a registered tenant can only be evicted upon a court order.
Eviction without a court order will under the new Bill be a criminal offence and attract a prison sentence of up to seven years.
The law does not allow the tenant selling the land without the knowledge of the registered owner. If he does so, he risks a fine of up to sh1.9m and four years in jail, while the transaction will be declared invalid.
Equally a transaction for the sale of the land by the owner without giving the first option to the tenant is invalid.
Ssekandi commended the MPs for their contributions and urged them to go and sensitise their constituents.
When the matter was put to vote, 112 MPs, all from the ruling NRM party, voted in favour of the Bill. The 52 opposition MPs who opposed the Bill were joined by three from the Government side. The three were Kaddunabbi Lubega, Peter Mutuluza and Rebecca Lukwago, all from Buganda.
Buganda caucus chairperson, Rose Nsereko (NRM) voted for the Bill. Voting was conducted by show of hands with the clerks tallying. After the dramatic exercise, the Speaker declared the voting had been transparent.
Ssekandi disregarded pleas by opposition MPs that voting should be repeated by use of roll-call method. “We should develop a culture of accepting defeat. Those against the Bill have been defeated,” the Speaker said.
Mabikke (Independent) stirred up the House when he said that the Speaker’s plea was not in the spirit of how the NRM reacted to the 1980 election defeat, when it opted to wage a guerilla war.
Earlier, Atubo described the debate on the Bill as extra-ordinary. He acknowledged that the Bill does not address the cause of evictions. “As Government, we are trying to cure evictions. The first dose of treatment is to maintain the status quo,” he noted.
Responding to arguments that the current law is enough to stop evictions, Atubo said the Bill has radical provisions which criminalise evictions. “It allows for the court to award compensation and retribution. If you evict, the court will assess the damage caused and award damages and you will go back to your land.”
He clarified that the Bill does not protect tress-passers and squatters, saying that those illegally entering land are liable to four years of imprisonment or fine of sh1.9m.
Atubo said the debate had at times been intimidating and insulting. “I compare those remarks to a rotten egg thrown at a politician. You get your handkerchief and clean yourself.”
At the end of the debate, local government minister Adolf Mwesige announced that the Government would table the Regional Tier Bill in Parliament next week.
Reporting by Milton Olupot, Joyce Namutebi, Henry Mukasa and Mary Karugaba
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Government Policy Changes
|
November 2009
|
['(Daily Monitor)', '(BBC)', '(New Vision)']
|
Swiss Attorney General Michael Lauber announces criminal proceedings are underway against an unnamed Islamic Central Council of Switzerland board member for spreading jihadist propaganda. ICCS reports the individual is their head of multimedia, Naim Cherni, who released a videotape of his trip to Syria which included interviews with Islamist leaders.
|
Switzerland has opened criminal proceedings against a board member of the nation's top Islamic organization for spreading jihadist propaganda. Since the Paris terror attacks Switzerland has been on high alert.
Swiss prosecutors are investigating a board member of the Islamic Central Council of Switzerland (ICCS) for making a propaganda video for Syrian-based jihadist groups, Swiss Attorney General Michael Lauber said on Saturday.
The German citizen is being investigated for violating "the prohibition of groups like Al-Qaeda, Islamic State and similar organizations" when he made an alleged propaganda video and did not "explicitly distance himself from al-Qaeda activities."
The suspect was not named by the attorney general, but the ICCS identifed him as Naim Cherni, the head of the organization's multimedia department.
Prosecutors said he had during a visit to Syria interviewed a senior member of Jaysh al-Fath (Army of Conquest), one of the largest rebel umbrella groups that includes al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate the al-Nusra Front as well as other Islamist forces.
The attorney general's office said the investigation shows "the rigorous prosecution brought against all persons in Switzerland who attempt to take part in jihad-motivated terrorism, or who support this by means of propaganda."
The announcement on Saturday comes as Switzerland is on high-alert following the Paris terror attacks that killed 130 last month. On Friday, Swiss authorities announced they were adding nearly 86 counter-terror personnel to the federal police, intelligence service and border patrol agencies.
The Alpine nation currently has 46 criminal proceedings "in conjunction with the topic of jihad-motivated terrorism," most related to propaganda.
Separately, two Syrians were arrested last week with explosive traces in their car after a foreign intelligence agency tipped off authorities about a jihadist cell planning an attack in Geneva. They are being investigated for possible ties to the "Islamic State" (IS).
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Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse
|
December 2015
|
['(ICCS)', '(Reuters)', '(Deutsche Welle)', '(Blick)', '(de)']
|
Reports from Mauritania indicate that the Army has seized control of the government. State media is reportedly taken over by troops, signaling a military coup while President Ould Taya is out of the country attending the funeral of Saudi Arabia's King Fahd.
|
The council said it had ended the "totalitarian regime" of Maaouiya Ould Sid Ahmed Taya, who is now in Niger. It named security chief Col Ely Ould Mohammed Vall as the new leader.
There were street celebrations in the capital, Nouakchott, as troops controlled key points. African and world bodies condemned the action.
The African Union said it "strongly condemns any seizure of power or any attempt to take power by force".
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan was "deeply troubled" by the reports, insisting political disagreements should be settled peacefully and democratically, a spokesman said.
President Olusegun Obasanjo of regional powerhouse Nigeria said "the days of tolerating military governance in our sub-region or anywhere" were "long gone".
Celebrations in streets
President Taya, attending the funeral of Saudi Arabia's King Fahd at the time, was flown to Niger's capital, Niamey.
He was met by Niger President Mamadou Tandja before travelling on to a villa in Niamey, where officials say he may stay for several days, the Associated Press reports.
The national armed forces and security forces have unanimously decided to put a definitive end to the oppressive activities of the defunct authority
The new Military Council for Justice and Democracy said it would rule the West African state for a transitional period of two years, after which it would organise free and fair elections.
Following the announcement on national radio, people took to the streets of Nouakchott in celebration, hooting their car horns.
"I can hear the cars now and people running in the streets. People are celebrating," resident Hassan Ahmed told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme.
Heavily armed forces surrounded state radio and television buildings as well as the presidential palace from 0500 GMT.
State media broadcasts were cut and the airport closed.
Some sporadic gunfire was heard at first, and there were unconfirmed reports of senior army officials being arrested. Shops immediately shut down and civil servants left their offices, said witnesses. Divided state
Rebel soldiers came close to toppling Mr Taya in June 2003.
The government said it foiled two more attempts in 2004.
MAURITANIA
Dominated by light-skinned Arabic-speakers (Moors)
Black Africans complain of discrimination
Mostly desert
Islamic republic Recognises Israel
President Taya took power in a bloodless coup in December 1984 and has been re-elected three times since. Correspondents say he later made enemies among Islamists in the country, which is an Islamic republic. Critics accuse the government of using the US-led war on terror to crack down on Islamic opponents. Mr Taya has also prompted widespread opposition by establishing links with Israel. Earlier this year, nearly 200 people, including former President Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidallah, were put on trial for a series of alleged coup plots. Mauritania is deeply divided between three main groups - light-skinned Arabic-speakers, descendents of slaves and dark-skinned speakers of West African languages.
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Regime Change
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August 2005
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['(Middle East Online)', '(BBC)', '(afrol News)']
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The sole survivor of the Afriqiyah Airways Flight 771 crash in Libya is informed of the death of his family members.
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Details of a dream safari holiday enjoyed by the Van Assouw family before the fatal plane crash that killed all 103 passengers except nine-year-old Ruben van Assouw emerged today in his father's travel blog.
Ruben is recovering in hospital, surrounded by flowers with a stuffed orange Tigger under his arm, not knowing his parents and brother died in the disaster on Wednesday as the family returned to the Netherlands from South Africa.
Ruben has spoken briefly to his aunt and uncle, who flew to his bedside after he was found, still strapped to his seat, semiconscious and bleeding from wounds to his legs, about half a mile from the tail section of the Afriqiyah Airways Airbus 330-200 which came down short of the runway in Tripoli, the Libyan capital.
"He's awake. He's talking. He is listening," a Dutch foreign ministry official, Ed Kronenburg, told Associated Press after visiting the boy. "Of course he also sleeps quite a lot because he got anaesthesia and is still a bit dizzy."
Ruben and his 11-year-old brother, Enzo, had travelled with their parents, Trudy and Patrick, who were celebrating their 12-and-a-half-year wedding anniversary, a Dutch tradition.
Patrick van Assouw, 40, set up his blog before the family holiday began. "The boys have been counting the days and minutes and can't wait. Just three more nights' sleep, boys!," he wrote in an entry dated 23 April.
The trip began on a rough note. Ruben was sick on the plane to South Africa, and on the first day of the safari he "puked the car full", Patrick wrote on his blog.
But the family soon made their way through South Africa, across the border into Swaziland, and finally into the mountainous nation of Lesotho before they turned for home.
"We ran into a very large number of impalas, which we nicknamed deers," Patrick wrote. "Enzo's second find was the elephant. Also saw buffalo, gnu, fox, zebra, more deer, ostrich, a lot of birds, turtle, giraffe, apes, boar, more deer."
The family also encountered two rhinoceroses and the day before they boarded the ill-fated return flight Patrick wrote that they had seen a hippopotamus.
After changing a flat tyre at a desolate spot near Sani Pass, which connects South Africa and Lesotho, the family stood on a remote bluff overlooking a stunning panorama of Lesotho. It was 9 May, the final day of the safari. "Beautiful Mother's Day gift," Patrick wrote in his final entry.
Ruben is said to be recovering well after four and a half hours of surgery to repair multiple fractures to his legs. Dutch officials said he could be flown back to the Netherlands this weekend.
A bouquet of white flowers wrapped in pink tissue was propped against the door of the Van Assouw's home in Tilburg, south of Amsterdam.
At the crash site, the debris included a romance novel, Zoete Tranen – or Sweet Tears – open at page 225, a charred boot, a black high-heeled shoe and a motorcycle jacket with Marlboro and Ferrari logos.
Dutch officials helping to identify victims of the crash say 70 of their citizens are among the dead.
Two Britons with dual nationality are known to have died. One was Nigel Peter, a senior manager with AirQuarius Aviation, a Johannesburg-based charter company, who was married with one son. The other has not been identified.
A third UK casualty, Priscilla Collick, a 52-year-old mother of two from Swansea who had lived in Britain for nearly 30 years, is reported to have been a South African national.
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Air crash
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May 2010
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['(BBC)', '(Fox News)', '(Sky News)', '(The Guardian)']
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As part of an ongoing investigation, British police arrest six people in connection with Monday's deadly explosion, including a 23-year-old man who was taken into custody Tuesday.
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MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) - Police scrambled to close down a network around the Manchester suicide bomber with arrests in Britain and Tripoli on Wednesday, as details about the investigation were leaked to U.S. media, infuriating authorities who fear a second attack is imminent.
Troops deployed around London's Westminster as part of 'Operation Temperer'
00:54
British-born Salman Abedi, 22, who was known to security services, killed 22 people at a concert venue packed with children on Monday.
Authorities believe he had help in building the bomb, which photographs published by the New York Times showed was sophisticated and powerful, and that his accomplices could be ready to strike again.
Manchester police arrested five men and one woman on Wednesday, bringing the total held for questioning to seven, and searched multiple addresses in northern and central England.
Explosives were found at one site, the Independent reported, citing security service sources.
A source said British investigators were hunting for anyone who may have helped build the suicide bomb.
“I think it’s very clear that this is a network that we are investigating,” police chief Ian Hopkins said outside Manchester police headquarters.
“And as I’ve said, it continues at a pace. There’s extensive investigations going on and activity taking place across Greater Manchester as we speak.”
Abedi, who was born in Manchester in 1994 to Libyan parents, blew himself up on Monday night at the Manchester Arena indoor venue at the end of a concert by U.S. pop singer Ariana Grande attended by thousands of children and teenagers.
Police in Tripoli on Wednesday arrested Abedi’s younger brother and his father, who said he did not expect the attack.
“I spoke to [Salman Abedi] about five days ago ... there was nothing wrong, everything was normal,” Ramadan Abedi told Reuters, moments before he was arrested.
A spokesman for the local counter-terrorism force said his brother Hashem Abedi was arrested on suspicion of links with Islamic State and was suspected of planning to carry out an attack in the Libyan capital.
The first arrest made in Britain on Tuesday was reported by British and U.S. media to be Abedi’s older brother.
Earlier, interior minister Amber Rudd said the bomber had recently returned from Libya. Her French counterpart Gerard Collomb said he had links with Islamic State and had probably visited Syria as well.
Authorities in Britain have become increasingly angered by U.S. leaks from the investigation, including the bomber’s name on Tuesday and the photos of blood-stained fragments from the bomb on Wednesday.
British police chiefs said the breaches of trust between security service partners were undermining their efforts.
Rudd had earlier scolded U.S. officials for leaking details.
“The British police have been very clear that they want to control the flow of information in order to protect operational integrity, the element of surprise, so it is irritating if it gets released from other sources, and I have been very clear with our friends that should not happen again,” she said.
But, hours after the warning, the New York Times published the detailed photographs.
A government source told the Guardian newspaper, “Protests have been lodged at every relevant level between the British authorities and our U.S. counterparts.”
British Prime Minster Theresa May will meet U.S. President Donald Trump at a NATO summit in Brussels on Thursday, but officials said she would cut short the second leg of her trip to the G7 summit in Italy.
The Manchester bombing has raised concern across Europe.
Cities including Paris, Nice, Brussels, St. Petersburg, Berlin and London have suffered militant attacks in the last two years.
The 22 victims in Manchester included an eight-year-old girl, several teenage girls, a 28-year-old man and a Polish couple who had come to collect their daughters.
Britain’s official terror threat level was raised to “critical”, the highest level, late on Tuesday, meaning an attack was expected imminently.
But with just over two weeks to go until a national election, May’s Conservatives and political parties said they would resume campaigning in the coming days.
The Manchester bombing was the deadliest attack in Britain since July 2005, when four British Muslim suicide bombers killed 52 people in coordinated attacks on London’s transport network.
Rudd said up to 3,800 soldiers could be deployed on Britain’s streets, taking on guard duties to free up police to focus on patrols and investigation. An initial deployment of 984 had been ordered, first in London and then elsewhere.
Soldiers were seen at the Houses of Parliament, May’s Downing Street residence and at the London police headquarters at New Scotland Yard.
The Changing of the Guard ceremony at Buckingham Palace, a draw for tourists, was canceled because it requires support from police officers, which authorities decided was not a good use of resources given the threat level.
A source close to the bombing investigation told Reuters that the focus was on whether Abedi had received help in putting together the bomb and on where it had been done.
The bomb used in the attack appeared to contain carefully packed shrapnel and have a powerful, high velocity charge, according to leaked photographs from the investigation published by the New York Times.
The BBC reported that security services thought the bomb was too sophisticated for Abedi to have built by himself.
Police arrested three people in South Manchester, one woman in North Manchester, a man in the nearby town of Wigan, and another man in the central English town of Nuneaton.
Ariana Grande’s representative said on Wednesday she was suspending her tour to assess the situation and to “pay our proper respects to those lost”. The U.S. singer had been scheduled to perform two shows at London’s O2 arena this week.
Chelsea soccer club said it had canceled a victory parade that had been set to take place on Sunday to celebrate its Premier League title.
Several high-profile sporting events are coming up in Britain, including the soccer FA Cup final at London’s Wembley Stadium and the English rugby club competition final at Twickenham on Saturday and the UEFA Champions League final at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium on June 3.
Britain also has a national election scheduled for June 8.
All campaigning was suspended after the attack, although major parties said they would resume some activities on Thursday and national-level campaigning on Friday.
The government said a minute’s silence would be held at all official buildings at 1000 GMT (6.00 a.m. ET) on Thursday.
Greater Manchester Police said they were now confident they knew the identity of all the people who lost their lives and had made contact with all the families. They said they would formally name the victims after forensic post-mortems, which would take four or five days.
The bombing also left 64 people wounded, of whom 20 were receiving critical care for highly traumatic injuries to major organs and to limbs, a health official said.
France, which has repeatedly been hit by devastating militant attacks since 2015, extended emergency powers.
(For a graphic showing where the blast hit, click tmsnrt.rs/2rbQAay)
Additional reporting by Guy Faulconbridge, Costas Pitas, Kate Holton, Alistair Smout and Kylie MacLellan in London, and Mark Hosenball in Washington, Writing by Estelle Shirbon, Paul Sandle and William James; Editing by Angus MacSwan, Toni Reinhold
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
All quotes delayed a minimum of 15 minutes. See here for a complete list of exchanges and delays.
Exclusive: Fed’s Neel Kashkari opposes rate hikes at least through 2023 as the central bank becomes more hawkish
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Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse
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May 2017
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['(ABC News)', '(Reuters)', '(Reuters)']
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The Islamic State seizes the Yazidi-dominated town of Sinjar. It also seized control of the Mosul Dam, which is Iraq's biggest dam, the Ain Zalah oil field, and two more towns.
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The UN has warned that up to 200,000 people have been forced to flee their homes after militants took over more towns in northern Iraq.
Islamic State (formerly known as Isis) militants are reported to have taken over the town of Sinjar near Syria.
It follows the IS takeover of the town of Zumar and two nearby oilfields from Kurdish Peshmerga forces on Saturday.
IS seized large parts northern Iraq from government control in a major offensive in June.
The UN special envoy to Iraq, Nickolay Mladenov, said that a "humanitarian tragedy is unfolding in Sinjar".
"The United Nations has grave concerns for the physical safety of these civilians" he said.
"The humanitarian situation of these civilians is reported as dire, and they are in urgent need of basic items including food, water and medicine" he added.
The UN said many of those who fled are in exposed areas in mountains near the town.
Many of those in Sinjar are believed to have fled from earlier IS advances in northern Iraq.
The town is home to a large community of Kurdish Yazidis, whom IS consider heretical.
Two Yazidi shrines have reportedly been destroyed in the town.
Kurdish military forces, known as the Peshmerga, were also forced to retreat from the nearby town of Zumar on Saturday after a militant offensive.
Kurdish forces had held the town since the Iraqi army retreated from the are in June. Eyewitnesses said militants also seized control of two small oilfields near Zumar.
IS already controls several other oil installations in northern Iraq, which are believed to fund its activities.
Iraqi state television reported that the militants also took control of Mosul Dam on Sunday after the withdrawal of Kurdish forces.
The dam is the largest in Iraq and provides much of Mosul's electricity.
Further south, clashes between the Iraqi army and sunni militants continued near the town of Jufr al-Sakhar, military officials said.
The Iraqi army said it conducted several airstrikes on militants in the centre of the town, which lies about 60 km south-west of Baghdad.
The town was captured by the militants last week.
The fighting this summer has been one of the worst crises to hit Iraq since the withdrawal of US forces in 2011.
Profile: Islamic State group
The rise of Islamic State
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Armed Conflict
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August 2014
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['(BBC)', '(Reuters)']
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President of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro orders clocks in the country to move forward by a half hour from UTC−04:30 to UTC−04:00 in order to save electricity as Venezuela faces an increasing electricity shortage. While gaining a half hour of sunlight, this means Venezuelans will now lose a half hour of sleep.
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Clocks moved forward by half an hour to restrict use of lighting and power as country grapples with economic crisisVenezuelans lost half an hour of sleep on Sunday as their clocks were moved forward to save power at the order of President Nicolás Maduro.
At 2:30 am local time, the oil-dependent South American nation shifted its clocks forward by 30 minutes, to four hours behind Greenwich Mean Time. The move, announced in mid-April, was part of a package of measures the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) member nation is pursuing to cope with a crippling electricity shortage.
Maduro’s socialist government has allowed rolling blackouts, a reduced work week of two days for public sector workers and the closure of schools on Friday to try to save electricity. Maduro has blamed the El Niño weather phenomenon for the lack of rain that has reduced the lakes at Venezuela’s hydroelectric dams to oversized puddles. The drought – the most severe in 40 years – has especially affected the El Guri dam, which provides 70% of Venezuela’s electricity.
In announcing the clock change, the science and technology minister, Jorge Arreaza, said the night-time use of lighting and air conditioning was especially draining for the power grid. “It’ll be simple to move the clock forward a half hour – this will allow us to enjoy more daylight and it won’t get dark so early,” he said.
Maduro’s late predecessor, Hugo Chávez, added the unusual half-hour time change in December 2007 also with the goal of saving power. Chavez died in 2013.
Venezuela, which once boomed as the country with the world’s largest proven oil reserves, has plunged into economic chaos as global oil prices collapsed. Its economy has been in recession since 2013.
Venezuelans face acute shortages of basics including toilet paper thanks to the scarcity of dollars needed for imports. The government imposed currency controls in 2003 to stifle a bustling black market in dollars.
With most of Venezuela’s hard currency revenue coming from oil exports, the lower oil prices make dollars even harder to obtain than before the crisis.
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Government Policy Changes
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May 2016
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['(The Guardian)']
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