Suicide deaths on the rise in kids —  Since 2007, the rate of suicide deaths among children between the ages of 10 and 14 has doubled, according to new government data released Thursday.   The death rate data, published in the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, measured children's fatalities due to motor vehicle traffic injury, homicide and suicide between the years 1999 and 2014. On a positive note, the number of deaths due to motor vehicle traffic, or car crashes, has improved significantly through the years, the report says. In 2014, vehicle fatalities decreased by 58% from 1999, when there were 4.5 deaths per 100,000 children, to 1.2 deaths in 2014. Deaths from homicide have also declined over the same time period, though less dramatically, decreasing from 1.2 fatalities in 1999 to 0.8 in 2014. Conversely, the suicide death rates fluctuated from 1999 to 2007 but rose sharply after 2007. The lowest rate of suicide fatalities was 0.9 deaths per 100,000 kids in 2007, but that number doubled to 2.1, or 425 deaths, in 2014. Dr. Lisa Boesky, a private clinical psychologist and author who studies adolescent suicide, says younger kids will often take their own lives impulsively. Young kids may attempt to harm themselves for different reasons than teens. Most of the time, bad relationships between family and friends provoke kids to hurt themselves, Boesky says. On the other hand, a 14-year-old may kill herself because of a fight with her boyfriend. When looking for the warning signs for suicide in kids, "many people look for signs of depression," Boesky explained. "Teens (who attempt suicide) typically show mood swings and depression, but younger children are much more likely to suffer from (attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder). "Many people, including medical professionals, think suicide is a teenage problem," Boesky said. "But suicide can happen at very young ages, and we have to talk about this problem with all children." Though it can be more difficult to predict suicide in children, Boesky notes several warning signs. Any increased sadness, irritability or anger should be monitored. Guardians should also pay attention to children who suddenly lose interest in their friends or activities, or begin to isolate themselves more. Finally, adults should tune in to what kids are saying. Take heed if they start saying mean or derogatory things or if they say things like, "I wish I were dead" or "I wish I could go to sleep forever." "These sayings are not normal," Boesky emphasized. For parents, if children start displaying these behaviors, Boesky advises talking to the kids about their feelings and questioning why they feel that way. If the actions worsen, parents may want to contact a pediatrician or counselor. She added, "Although it is important to talk to your children, it is even more important to listen." There is very little research regarding suicide in children in the 10 to 14 age group and younger, according to Boesky. She hopes that the CDC's report will highlight the problem of suicide rates increasing in kids and that both medical professionals and parents will be better prepared to prevent harm before it happens. "This is a wakeup call for more research on why young children are taking their lives and how we can intervene," Boesky said.

We really need to take measures to stop the rise of suicide of kids. This stuff should be discussed by parents and potentially in school also. I remember what being a kid was like and I remember being very over dramatic at times when small things went wrong. Just missing a tv show was enough to make me sad at times. And with so much media almost glamorizing suicide, it's important to make sure your kid isn't watching this kind of stuff.


The person is male. Racially, the person is white. The person is 25 years old. The person has a went to college but did not get a degree. The person earns 29000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 6.0 in openness, 6.0 in conscientiousness, 5.5 in extraversion, 6.5 in agreeableness, and 3.0 in stability.

So suicide rates are climbing in our youth today. I know this topic very personally. I suffer from chronic depression and when I was 19 tried to take my own life. What the article says is true. Parents, talk to your kids, be there for them. Listen when they need you to. I had problems with that; and combined with a lot of other trauma, I reached a breaking point. Don't let your kids reach that point.


The person is female. Racially, the person is white. The person is 38 years old. The person has a postgraduate / professional degree. The person earns 42000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 3.5 in openness, 7.0 in conscientiousness, 6.5 in extraversion, 5.5 in agreeableness, and 6.5 in stability.

So teen suicide is on the rise which I find very sad.  It seems so avoidable and people are way too young to be making decisions to end their life while they're still a child, I mean what on earth is that about?  I Think there has been a lot of things related to bullying that have contributed to this and also just a breakdown of the family in general.  Maybe kids don't feel like they have enough support system anymore.  I do not know but whatever the reason it is extremely tragic.


The person is male. Racially, the person is white. The person is 29 years old. The person has a college or university degree. The person earns 85000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 6.75 in openness, 6.75 in conscientiousness, 6.75 in extraversion, 6.75 in agreeableness, and 7.0 in stability.

I thought what i read in the article was very sad. It's sad that teens and young children are killing themselves because they feel like they have the weight of the world on their shoulders. It's especially sad when these children are so young and taking their lives so early when they have the whole world ahead of them.


The person is male. Racially, the person is white. The person is 28 years old. The person has a postgraduate / professional degree. The person earns 165000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 5.75 in openness, 6.25 in conscientiousness, 3.25 in extraversion, 6.75 in agreeableness, and 6.0 in stability.

one would think the increased technological advancement would make people happier and less prone to suicide. It is sad that rather than curbing it, it has escalated it too much. Kids now getting depressed. I wonder why kids of nowadays are softer though. I mean, one would expect stronger kids and more emotional stability since we have everything easy


The person is female. Racially, the person is black / african american. The person is 22 years old. The person has a college or university degree. The person earns 100000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 4.5 in openness, 5.5 in conscientiousness, 3.5 in extraversion, 6.0 in agreeableness, and 6.0 in stability.

Nigeria investigates reports that officials raped displaced women —  Nigeria has launched an investigation into reports alleging that government officials raped and sexually abused women and girls who survived Boko Haram violence.   The move comes after Human Rights Watch published a report detailing accounts by dozens of women and girls who said they were sexually abused or coerced into sex. The women said they were raped or abused by camp leaders, vigilante group members, policemen and soldiers at camps in Borno State's capital, Maiduguri. The camps were set up to offer aid to people displaced by fighting in Nigeria's northeast. Nigeria's Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, has set up a special team "to immediately commence thorough Investigation into all cases of alleged sexual abuses, exploitation, harassments, gender-based violence and professional misconduct," a statement from the inspector general's office said Thursday. Police: Security at camps to be beefed up Some of the victims had escaped captivity by terror group Boko Haram, only to become victims at the camps where they sought refuge, the rights group said. Many of the women were impregnated by their abusers at the camps. Several victims were drugged before they were raped. The inspector general called on HRW to make available to the investigation team any additional information about the 43 cases of abuse featured in the report that could assist the police inquiry. He has taken measures to beef up security at the camps and said any acts that violate the human dignity of displaced people by individuals or groups in the camps or anywhere in the country will be handled in accordance with the law, according to the statement. Borno State governor: 'We must act now' Following the HRW report, Borno State Gov. Kashim Shettima has revealed plans to request law enforcement agencies to deploy female and male undercover detectives to all camps for internally displaced people in Borno State "to spy on culprits and bring them to book," according to a statement from his office. "Sadly and very sadly indeed, the (Internally Displaced People) camps have become avenues that horrible stories of sexual slavery, prostitution rings, drug peddling and other social vices are emanating from," the governor said. "Sexual harassment of female IDPs is a desperate situation," he said. "None of us would fold arms if his or her daughter is in position to be sexually harassed, so we must act now." Displaced by fighting Dubbed the world's deadliest terror group, Boko Haram has launched attacks in northern Nigeria and surrounding areas for years. More than 20,000 people have been killed since 2009 when the conflict began. Nearly 2.5 million have been displaced. Boko Haram, which in the local Hausa language means "western education is sin," wants to institute a strict form of Sharia law in Nigeria. Its mass abductions and attacks on soft targets, including schools, mosques and churches, have prompted stark international condemnation.

I am expressing my concern over the fact that Nigeria has launched an investigation into reports alleging that government officials raped and sexually abused women and girls who survived Boko Haram violence. The move comes after Human Rights Watch published a report detailing accounts by dozens of women and girls who said they were sexually abused or coerced into sex. The move was a welcome development and everything should be done to make sure things like this does not happen.


The person is male. Racially, the person is white. The person is 30 years old. The person has a went to college but did not get a degree. The person earns 27000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 4.0 in openness, 3.0 in conscientiousness, 6.0 in extraversion, 6.0 in agreeableness, and 6.5 in stability.

I can't even begin to understand what these women are going through. They finally escape Boko Haram and now they're getting mistreated by the same people that offered aid. These women must've trusted their \saviors\" and that trust was abused. This honestly makes me sick. I hope the people who raped these women will be brought to justice and dealt with as harshly as possible. "


I think it is abysmal that womena re getting raped in that part of the world. Sexual abuse is no laughing matter and the people who commit these atrocities need to pay for their actions. Taking advantage of someone; no matter their gender, background, or religious preference, is unacceptable. And the fact that not much is being done about it makes it even more disgusting.


The person is male. Racially, the person is white. The person is 31 years old. The person has a two year associate degree. The person earns 82000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 2.5 in openness, 3.5 in conscientiousness, 2.0 in extraversion, 4.5 in agreeableness, and 5.0 in stability.

I guess that i feel really bad for these people, but it also makes me hate islam even more.  you jsut don't see this in the civilized world, but you see it so often in places spurred on by radical islam.  I hope they afigure it out.  i don't know what the solution is, but these types of things will always happen.


The person is female. Racially, the person is white. The person is 34 years old. The person has a high school degree or diploma. The person earns 50000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 3.5 in openness, 6.5 in conscientiousness, 1.0 in extraversion, 6.0 in agreeableness, and 7.0 in stability.

This is sad. So many young women just used by the government. By men who are supposed to be for the people and in a leadership position to treat these women this way is absolutely disgusting. I hope something can be done for these woman. They need counseling. Medical help and lord only knows what all they need. But it should be provided by the government.


Animals Rescued From the 'World’s Worst Zoo' —  An animal-welfare organization reflects on its nerve-wracking rescue—and what it might mean for troubled zoos around the world. Update: October 14—This story has been updated to include more information about the care of animals at the zoo, and to clarify the nature of the 2014 conflict between Hamas and Israel. When a rescue team arrived to evacuate a closing zoo near the Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis in late August, just 15 animals were still alive—the survivors from what had once been a collection of hundreds of animals. They included Laziz, a nine-year-old Bengal tiger that is the last tiger in Gaza, according to Four Paws, the Vienna-based animal-welfare nonprofit that led the rescue. There were also five monkeys, an emu, a pelican, two buzzards, two porcupines, two tortoises, and a doe. The doe had lost her fawn to wounds shortly before the rescuers arrived. Opened in 2007 on three and a half acres next to an amusement park, the Khan Younis Zoo has long been called “the world’s worst zoo” by animal-welfare groups such as Four Paws and various international media outlets. Animals there were reported to have starved to death during military conflicts between Gaza’s Hamas-led government and neighboring Israel. And last year, the surviving animals began sharing their cramped cages with the dead: More than 50 dead animals—including Laziz’s mate—were taxidermied by the zoo staff. (See "Tiger’s Death Raises Question: What Makes a Good Zoo?") A seven-week conflict in 2014 hastened the decision to close the zoo. The conflict stemmed from the kidnapping and killing of three Israeli teenagers on the West Bank. Israel linked the crimes to Hamas, and began making hundreds of arrests in the case, including many of Hamas’ West Bank leaders. Hamas later began firing rockets at civilian areas in Israel, which retaliated by bombing sites in Gaza. The United Nations reported that nearly 2,200 people were killed in the conflict, more than 2,100 of them Palestinians. It’s unclear precisely what led to the animals’ deaths at the zoo. The zoo itself was not bombed during the 2014 conflict, and animal-welfare groups say it had a troubled history of caring for animals. Abu Diab Oweida, the Palestinian businessman who owned the zoo, said many animals died during that conflict, and that the mummifications were an effort by the zoo’s staff “to prove to the whole world that even animals (were) affected.” Oweida previously blamed a 2009 conflict for the death of several animals in the zoo, some of which also were mummified. How It Happened Four Paws and its director of emergency response, Amir Khalil, had sought for months to close the zoo and transfer the animals to sanctuaries. In late August of this year, the ambitious rescue plan became reality. “The idea to close (the zoo came in) April of last year,” said Khalil, an Egyptian-born veterinarian who lives in Austria. “It was a concept last September. It was a plan this April. It was a mission in August.” Khalil needed to negotiate with four people: Oweida and three of his sons. In May they agreed on the concept of evacuating the zoo. (Also see "Animals Starving in Venezuela Zoos.") “I decided to donate the animals to save what remained of (them), to live safely inside a nature reserve and in peace and security,” Oweida said. (Read about the tunnels of Gaza in National Geographic magazine.) The rescue itself was complicated, “a complex coordination between Israeli, Palestinian, and international officials,” according to a spokesperson for the Israeli Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, a branch of the Ministry of Defense that works with the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, and with international organizations working in both territories. Israel has not occupied Gaza since 2005, but retains various controls of its trade, border traffic, sea traffic, and air space. The rescue “was not easy,” Khalil said. “To be neutral is not easy. I think Four Paws was a form of mediator between three, four countries”—Israel, Jordan, and the Palestinian governments of Hamas and Fatah Khalil and Four Paws carried out the multiday rescue in the midst of a military conflict this past August, crossing disputed borders as unseen Israel Defense Forces aircraft dropped bombs on military targets in the Gaza. Khalil has worked to save animals from crisis situations before, including the 2011 Libyan uprising that toppled Muammar Qaddafi. But the Khan Younis mission, he says, was one of the toughest. “In terms of the (mission), it went quite well,” team member Ioana Dungler says. “In terms of time, it was quite exhausting. On a (difficulty) scale of 1 to 10, it was an 8.” Animal Rescue The plans for the mission began to take shape in April 2015, when Khalil first visited Khan Younis and was horrified by the mummified animals. He soon began negotiating with Oweida and three of his sons. First, Four Paws would pay for the animals’ feeding. Next, it would cover all of the zoo’s operational costs, including staff salaries. It also removed the cadavers from public view. The final condition was that Oweida agreed not to work with animals again upon closure of the zoo. (See "Opinion: Killing Healthy Zoo Animals Is Wrong—And the Public Agrees.") Finally, in mid-August, Khalil led a 14-person team to the zoo. The team departed from the Erez border crossing in southwest Israel. Shortly before they crossed the border, a rocket from Gaza landed in the Israeli city of Sderot. Khalil said he could see smoke from the Erez border crossing. As the rescuers headed to the zoo, the Israel Defense Forces launched 50 retaliatory airstrikes at Hamas targets in Gaza. Nevertheless, Khalil said the team felt “safe and secure.” “Four Paws was checking what was going on,” he explained. “Locally, we were informed of anything happening. ... I was not worried about security, but about the mission.” (Also see "Jerusalem Zoo Struggles to Remain Common Ground for Israelis, Palestinians.") The team arrived at Khan Younis on August 22 to heartbreaking news: A baby deer, which had suffered during its few weeks of life, had died the day before. Four Paws prepared the surviving animals for their journey to new homes. The group spent August 23 loading the animals into crates, placed on a truck. The rescue became official when the team crossed back into Israel early on August 25. From there, team members escorted the animals to their new homes. Where Things Stand Four Paws has also transferred five Gaza lions and 15 other wild animals to sanctuaries. Now four active zoos remain in the Strip. Khalil says that Palestinian authorities are hoping to close them all. Alan Knight, chief executive of the U.K.-based International Animal Rescue, says the Khan Younis mission was a milestone in animal rights. “We are of course delighted that this terrible zoo has finally been closed and the surviving animals have been saved, thanks to Four Paws,” Knight said. “The success of the rescue operation proves that … extraordinary things can be achieved with passion and determination. Suffering animals should not be forgotten or overlooked, even in the midst of human conflicts or natural or man-made disasters. “We must all continue to strive to drive up the welfare of animals in world zoos. And if they can’t meet even the most basic standards, we must work toward getting them closed down.” Ahmad Safi, executive director of the Palestinian Animal League, also praised the rescue but tempered his words with concern about unresolved issues in Gaza. “While we are delighted that the individual animals have now been moved to safety and can begin to enjoy life in a sanctuary environment,” he says, “we are concerned that simply removing animals while failing to acknowledge and tackle the wider issues at play — such as wildlife trafficking and commercialization of wild animals in the Gaza Strip — means that these animals may be replaced and the good work done recently will simply be part of a vicious cycle which continues.” Khalil added that local authorities in Gaza have expressed interest in creating new legislation on wild animals. At the moment, “there is no legislation, no law”—a situation that results in “wild animals [being] smuggled and kept in poor cages.” “There are no current plans for assistance,” he adds, though “we asked the authorities in Gaza to … issue a regulation to keep wild animals in captivity [and] stop [animal] smuggling from Egypt.” A New Life for Rescued Animals Of the Khan Younis survivors, Laziz had the longest journey to his new home—the Lionsrock Big Cat Sanctuary in South Africa, where he’ll live on a hectare with grass, trees, and a bathing area. Lionsrock, run by Four Paws, is fenced in and patrolled regularly for poachers. The buzzards may eventually be released into the wild. All of the other Khan Younis animals except the monkeys—four vervets and a macaque, which are bound for the Israeli Primate Sanctuary Foundation—went to the New Hope Centre sanctuary in Jordan. They’ll eventually move to Al Ma’wa for Nature and Wildlife, a Jordanian sanctuary run by Four Paws and the Princess Alia Foundation. But the animals’ problems may not be over. “Our experience rescuing and rehabilitating wild animals that have spent years in captivity—often in appalling and traumatic conditions—has taught us that this can lead to a wide range of physical and psychological problems,” Knight says. “Some animals have suffered lengthy periods of starvation and need treatment for malnutrition and dehydration. Others, like the tiger in Gaza, have been fed an entirely unsuitable diet”—Laziz was fed chicken, which Dungler says tigers should not eat—“that, coupled with constant confinement and an inability to exercise, leads to obesity and the many diseases associated with that. “On a positive note,” he adds, “we have also learned that with expert treatment and care, in time even the most damaged animals can be rehabilitated and given a second chance in life. Some, but not all, can even be returned to the wild.” What’s Next for Zoo Survivors The two Palestinian governments, Hamas and Fatah, have recently approached Four Paws about creating a sanctuary in Gaza. But “how far it is from reality,” says Khalil, “I don’t know.” There are currently just 12 veterinarians in the Gaza Strip, with four set to retire soon. (Five veterinarians assisted Four Paws during the rescue, with Khalil and his team providing on-hand training.) Khalil says he’s worried about the remaining Gaza zoos—and about other zoos in conflict zones that require immediate attention. Some of these, he says, can be found in Yemen, Syria, Libya, Sudan, and Venezuela. But that’s a very partial list. “There are,” he says, “hundreds of such zoos worldwide.” Time will tell if Four Paws’ inspiring work can be replicated at some of them.

It's really uplifting that people would notice animals suffering in a zoo and would plan a really complicated mission to save them. A mission where you need to have diplomatic talks with three different countries!! It really shows that some special people out there won't pass the buck to someone else, expecting someone else to do the heavy lifting to save something. I was really inspired by this article and I hope they end up setting up that animal center in Gaza.


The person is male. Racially, the person is hispanic / latino. The person is 32 years old. The person has a college or university degree. The person earns 35000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 5.0 in openness, 5.5 in conscientiousness, 2.0 in extraversion, 5.5 in agreeableness, and 4.5 in stability.

I think there should be STRICT world laws to prevent people and countries that cant have zoos not to have them. It is unfortunate that in 2019 this is s till happening and we should totally fix this. We need to be able to get it right and to be honest the only way is being the world police and stopping them from doing this.


Humans are the most selfish and wicked of all creation. They treat the planet as they like and handle the animals with carelessness, forgetting that they have their own families and emotions. It is so sad that we take these animals away from their natural habitats and treat them unfairly. Mother nature treats them better than we do.


really? world worst zoo? Should we even have anything like that? It is a very pitiable state we've found our self in. Humans keep destroying everything Mother nature has bestowed us with. We pick up animals form their natural habitats, deprive them of social and emotional bondings with their kind and the best we can offer is deplorable habit.


The person is female. Racially, the person is white. The person is 62 years old. The person has a college or university degree. The person earns 29000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 2.5 in openness, 6.5 in conscientiousness, 1.0 in extraversion, 6.5 in agreeableness, and 2.0 in stability.

All the poor animals that died in that zoo.   They starved to death.   They are known for the worst zoo ever.   Why would you have such a distinctive zoo and then let the animals starve.  Weren't there gatekeepers of the zoo while the military conflict took place.  They even fed them occasionally with chickens which is a no no.   (:


At least 239 migrants believed drowned in Mediterranean, U.N. says —  BRUSSELS — At least 239 migrants are believed to have drowned this week in two shipwrecks off the coast of Libya, the United Nations refugee agency said Thursday, adding to the toll in what was already the deadliest year on record in the Mediterranean Sea. Survivor accounts suggest that two crowded boats broke up just off the Libyan coast Wednesday, said Carlotta Sami, spokeswoman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. The 31 survivors were taken Thursday to the Italian island of Lampedusa, which has become a rescue hub amid an ever-deadlier crisis as migrants depart Africa’s northern shores trying to reach Europe. The reports from the survivors could not be independently confirmed, but it is common for migrant ships to be filled far beyond capacity, and hundreds have perished in past sinkings. If true, the latest shipwrecks bring the toll of dead and missing in the Mediterranean to 4,220 this year, the highest on record, Sami said. “This is an absolutely appalling figure,” she said.  According to Sami, the 29 survivors of the first wreck said they capsized after wooden planks at the bottom of the rubber dinghy broke apart several hours after departing Libya around 3 a.m. Wednesday. Pregnant women and at least six children were on board, survivors told the UNHCR, but no children were saved in the rescue, which took place about 25 miles off Libya’s coast. One woman lost her 2-month-old baby, Sami said, and 12 bodies were recovered. The survivors said they were in the cold waters for hours before being rescued about 3 p.m. Wednesday. They said more than 140 people were aboard the boat. Two survivors of a second shipwreck were rescued in a separate operation, Sami said. They said at least 120 had been on board their boat, which had problems immediately upon setting out and broke apart off the Libyan coast around 5 a.m. Wednesday. The remaining passengers are believed to have drowned, Sami said. No further rescue operations are being performed at the location of those shipwrecks. “I am deeply saddened by another tragedy on the high seas. . . . So many lives could be saved through more resettlement and legal pathways to protection,” U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said in a statement Thursday. “The Mediterranean is a deadly stretch of sea for refugees and migrants, yet they still see no other option but to risk their lives to cross it.” Most of the migrants appear to have come from sub-Saharan Africa, Sami said, but she said details were still being checked. She did not immediately know which agency carried out the rescue. The European Union is conducting a search-and-rescue operation in the western Mediterranean that is temporarily being offered logistical help from the NATO military alliance. “In this, the deadliest year for boat migration to Europe, the E.U. remains focused on deterrence over protection,” Judith Sunderland, associate Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement Thursday. “The E.U. should be pressing Libyan authorities for permission to operate in Libyan waters, so they can help those in distress and bring them safely to Europe.” Rescued migrants have told the UNHCR that smugglers along the route were telling migrants that responsibility for rescues would soon shift to Libya, and that any rescued refugees would be returned to Libya rather than carried onward to Italy, the agency said. That could be a cause of the current spike. Migrant traffic across the Mediterranean has changed significantly in the past year, after more than 1 million people made the passage in 2015. Most of them came via Turkey to Greece and then pressed onward into Europe. The sea portion of that journey was shorter and safer than the perilous passage from Libya to Italy. But the Turkish government largely shut down the migrant flow in the spring, closing off the main pathway for people fleeing the conflicts in Syria and Iraq into Europe. This week, the Gambian soccer federation announced that one of its stars had died at sea while trying to reach Europe. Fatim Jawara, 19, the goalkeeper on the country’s women’s national team, drowned when her boat went down off the coast of Libya several weeks ago. Traffic from Libya and northern Africa has increased and grown deadlier, according to U.N. figures. Last year, 153,846 people arrived in Italy via the central Mediterranean route — a figure that has just been surpassed in 2016. The arrivals in Italy last month were more than triple those of a year earlier. The shifting migration patterns have been a boon to smugglers, as demand has increased across the trickier North African route. Smugglers are sending out large groups in several ships at once, complicating rescue efforts if multiple boats capsize, UNHCR spokesman William Spindler said in October. It was not immediately clear whether Wednesday’s sinkings were connected to a single smuggling operation. Kevin Sieff in Kigali, Rwanda, contributed to this report.

I think something has to be done about the migrant situation in the mediterranean. The migrants take very rough routes and in really ill prepared boats. Many die because there are not official migration routes for refugees. It is a shame that these people ahve to risk their lives just to get into a better country.


Humans killing themselves in avoidable situations. Why cabt they just sit in their countries? I cant blame them though, the global unrest is alarming and people are just trying to survive. But travelling over the sea using such boats is pushing it too far. I feel sad and sorry for them and wish I can help their situation


It's really sad that so many people need to flee from their war torn homelands for a better life. Those people must be so desperate to get into these overfilled boats when every day there must be a story about drowned migrants. A lot of the blame should go to the people who are organization these trips too. They are probably being paid handsomely but still can't transport the people safely.


The person is female. Racially, the person is white. The person is 27 years old. The person has a went to technical / vocational school. The person earns 25000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 6.0 in openness, 6.0 in conscientiousness, 6.0 in extraversion, 6.0 in agreeableness, and 6.0 in stability.

This artile is so sad I cant believe the mass amounts of lives being taken that is so preventable. I think more aid should be sent and they should be able to sail ships in there territory to help aid these people. It is sad to think people think the chance of death is better than living where they are. The smugglers need to controlled so so many boats arent sent out and it over whlems rescue missions. I feel for the parents who send there children on this and the children end up dying i cant imagine. Someday i hope more aid is sent to help countries like this fix the problems at home so so many people dont want to flea


Food, water fears remain year after Brazil mine dam disaster —  COLATINA, Brazil — One year after a dam ruptured and sent a giant wave of metal-laden mud gushing into one of Brazil’s most important rivers, people who live along the banks won’t drink the water and fishermen are afraid to eat their catch. Upward of 10 billion gallons of mud filled with mining waste buried towns in the Nov. 5 dam break that has been described as the worst environmental disaster in Latin America’s largest country. Nineteen people perished. Across 5,000 acres — about six times the size of New York City’s Central Park — the onslaught of mud crushed thousands of trees and wildlife. In the river, more than 14 tons of fish died, mostly after mud got stuck in their gills. An equally large amount of aquatic plants died when turbid waters blocked out the sunlight needed to survive. The environmental damage was so vast that even a year later, many people in the area won’t drink or cook with water from their faucets because, unlike the groundwater, it’s connected to a network of reservoirs the Doce River feeds into. On a recent day, construction worker Samuel Alves de Andrade was among several people lining up outside a hut for well water sourced by an aquifer in the city of Colatina, about 407 miles (655 kilometers) northeast of Rio de Janeiro. “This water is a lot better than what comes from the river. We have to do what’s best for us,” he said as he filled plastic jugs for family members. Fishermen say they’re staying away from the river because they keep finding fish with red spots and wart-like bumps, prompting environmental authorities to launch their own studies. A judge has ordered Samarco— a venture between giants Vale of Brazil and BHP Billiton of Australia— to pay for independent studies, but it’s unclear when results will be released. “I have been fishing in the Doce River waters for more than 30 years, but now I don’t have the guts to eat that fish,” said Jose de Fatima Lemes, president of the Colatina fishermen’s association. Residents and environmental experts say subsequent cleanup efforts by mega mining company Samarco have been slow and ineffective. Doubts also persist about the local government’s assurances that Doce River’s water is safe to consume. “The mud is still all over the banks,” said Andre Dos Santos, a biologist at the Federal University of Sao Carlos who has collected samples along the Doce River since the disaster. “The river will never be the same.” Rich in history and commerce, the Doce River had long been a reliable source of water and food for millions of residents and thousands of companies along its banks. Samarco’s chief officer for sustainable projects, Maury de Souza Jr., said the company is advancing in its cleanup and has not found any water quality problems. Ubaldina Isaac, of Brazil’s environmental ministry, said a key government priority now is to reforest the banks to prevent rainwater from dragging back into the river the mine waste that remains wedged in the dirt. One recent morning, Isaac gestured to some recently planted bushes that had already died or rooted out even before the rainy season had fully kicked off in November. She said the plants should have lasted through the wet season that stretches into the first months of the year. Without sufficient vegetation “we have no system to hold the waste, and so it continues flowing into the river,” she said. Rio Doce was initially feared by Portuguese gold explorers because of the difficulties they encountered navigating its zig-zagging path. But in the 19th century, communities formed along the river’s path through the thick Atlantic rainforest as mining activity and cattle ranching gradually increased. Today, many businesses operate along the Doce, including fishing, steelmaking and companies that produce paper and charcoal. Hundreds of fishermen who lost their livelihood in the disaster receive a monthly compensation of about $400 from Samarco, plus $80 more for each of their dependents. Some say they used to sell their fish for as much as $1,200 a month. On a recent afternoon, fisherman Diomar Lordes visited the river with his son and they sat on the broken wooden boat that carried him through the waters for decades. “I have no hope I will fish here again,” Lordes said. “It’s like we lost a relative. A life ended.” Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Companies need to be held accountable for what happens with their factory waste. The fact that this company is not properly cleaning up after the big mining disaster in Brazil is unacceptable. It saddens me that the people who lived off the river cannot properly continue their way of life due to the environmental impact of that company.


The person is female. Racially, the person is white. The person is 46 years old. The person has a college or university degree. The person earns 22000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 5.5 in openness, 6.5 in conscientiousness, 2.5 in extraversion, 5.0 in agreeableness, and 5.0 in stability.

After reading about this disaster I'm just heart broken. It's so sad to think that one incident can impact an entire area and impact so many people for so long. That river will never be the same and there is nothing anyone can do now but wait and hope that someday, things might be better. But now all those people are without water and work. Generations of fisherman can't fish there. Fish isn't safe to eat. It's beyond sad.


this is so gross! Can you imagine living in a place where you can't drink the water because its basically mud? Those poor people. I hope that they get it fixed. It is nice they're getting compensated some though. $400 plus $80 for each dependent is pretty good, but of course I don't know how much they bring in normally so it could be bad,


The person is male. Racially, the person is white. The person is 40 years old. The person has a college or university degree. The person earns 140000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 5.5 in openness, 6.0 in conscientiousness, 4.0 in extraversion, 4.0 in agreeableness, and 5.5 in stability.

I really feel for the people who depend on that river for their livilihood. it seems like real lasting and permanent damage has been caused, and people don't really know what to do about it or do next. The confusion that remains is awful. It sounds like a lot of people's fishing careers will never before restored with the river the way it is now.


This was pretty sad.  It is easy to take for granted the fact that we have clean and safe water to drink and bathe with on a daily basis.  These people were struggling and didn't even have that noe basic thing.  I can't imagine living somewhere where I didn't feel like I had clean and safe water.  I don't drink the tap water here but I know I can buy it in a store and drink that safely.  It sounded like these people didn't even have that option and it was totally unfair to them.


The person is male. Racially, the person is black / african american. The person is 37 years old. The person has a college or university degree. The person earns 40000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 5.5 in openness, 7.0 in conscientiousness, 1.0 in extraversion, 6.5 in agreeableness, and 6.0 in stability.

Airstrikes kill more than 40 and wound scores in Yemeni port city —  CAIRO — Fighter jets from a U.S.-backed Saudi-led coalition struck a security complex in the western Yemeni city of Hodeidah late Saturday night, killing at least 43 and injuring scores more, according to Yemeni officials and local news reports. Many of those killed were inmates being held in prisons on the site, located in the city’s al-Zaydiya enclave. Hodeidah, a port city on the Red Sea, is held by the rebel Houthis, who also control the capital, Sanaa, and much of northern Yemen. Saba, the government news agency, reported that 43 were killed and that dozens were wounded. According to other news reports, the death toll is at least 60. Images of bodies covered in blankets, purportedly from the attacks, were shown on local news channels and on social media. In a statement, the Saudi-led alliance said the Houthis were using a building at the complex “as a command and control center for their military operations” and said “targeting protocols and procedures were followed fully.” In Yemen’s civil conflict, which began in March 2015, the Houthis are aligned with loyalists of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh. The Saudi-led coalition, backed by the United States and other Western powers, is trying to restore Yemen’s internationally recognized president, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, to power. Hadi was driven into exile last year, and he is now based in the southern port city of Aden. Saudi Arabia’s Sunni Muslim monarchy entered the war in large part because of concerns of Iranian influence in the region. That Shiite theocracy is widely perceived to be backing the Shiite Houthi rebels. The airstrikes in Hodeidah come on the same day Hadi rejected a new U.N. peace proposal that would have sidelined him and given the Houthis prominent roles in a new government. More than 10,000 people have died in the conflict, many of them civilians who were killed by Saudi-led coalition bombings, according to the United Nations. Millions more are suffering from hunger, illness and displacement as the nation is now in the throes of a humanitarian disaster. Earlier this month, Saudi-led coalition airstrikes killed more than 100 people, most of them civilians, when warplanes targeted a funeral hall in Sanaa. The coalition later claimed responsibility, saying that the bombings were a result of receiving faulty information. Speaking after meeting U.N. envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, Hadi said that the agreement would “reward” the Houthis and that it “only opens a door towards more suffering and war and is not a map for peace,” according to the Saba news agency.

I feel bad anytime that I read that somebody has lost their life. I feel that the US should not be helping bomb people unless they know they are may one day cause harm to the US. I do not believe in fighting wars as much as I believe in protecting people. People need the US help in many areas and the money for bomb could be spent better.


More than 40 people were hurt and it is quite depressing any time anyone is hurt. I feel like the best thing we can do is be sure that we get things right in the long run and change the way things are ran. I feel like we should be sure to change things for the better.. The fact that air strikes still hurt innocent people is mind blowing.


I definitely think that something needs to be done about these airstrikes. Too many people are losing their lives and too many people are dying. It's not even just the people that are in the war but people that are innocent are affected as well. This goes for children and little babies. These people have done nothing and are getting killed.


The person is male. Racially, the person is white. The person is 29 years old. The person has a went to college but did not get a degree. The person earns 39000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 6.5 in openness, 6.0 in conscientiousness, 1.0 in extraversion, 6.0 in agreeableness, and 5.5 in stability.

Reading about the violence in Yemen is just emotionally draining. It seems the majority of the casualties are civilians. All of this violence is being spurred on by US backed Saudi violence. I am a firm believer that the US should keep its tendrils out of international conflict. Even when tenuous peace is declared the governments that are installed by US interests are almost destined to fail.


Airstrikes launched in Cairo killed over 40 people. Isn't that horrible? Why can't we learn to fight peacefully? Why do we have to resort to such violence? It seems like if we'd end the cycle it would stop. Maybe I'm wrong. But it just seems like we're on this merry go round and we need to get off it. Surely we can find a more peaceful way.


'Utter devastation' after major quake, aftershocks hit New Zealand —  A powerful 7.8 magnitude earthquake pummeled central New Zealand early on Monday, killing at least two people, damaging roads and buildings and setting off hundreds of strong aftershocks.   Emergency response teams flew by helicopter to the region at the epicenter of the tremor, which struck just after midnight some 91 km (57 miles) northeast of Christchurch in the South Island, amid reports of injuries and collapsed buildings.   "It's just utter devastation, I just don't know ... that's months of work," New Zealand Prime Minister John Key told Civil Defence Minister Gerry Brownlee after flying over the coastal town of Kaikoura, according to Brownlee's Twitter account. He described landslips in the area as "just horrendous". In a statement seen by Reuters, Key said of the likely damage bill: "You’ve got to believe it’s in the billions of dollars to resolve."   Powerlines and telecommunications were down, with huge cracks in roads, land slips and other damage to infrastructure making it hard to reach the worst-affected areas.   A tsunami warning that led to mass evacuations after the original quake was downgraded after large swells hit New Zealand's capital Wellington, in the North Island, and Christchurch.   Wellington was a virtual ghost town with workers ordered to stay away while the city council assessed the risk to buildings, several of which were damaged by the tremor. There were concerns that loose glass and masonry could be dislodged by severe weather hitting the capital, with 140 km per hour (85 mph) winds forecast.   Hundreds of aftershocks, the strongest a 6.2 quake at about 1.45 p.m. local time (0045 GMT), rattled the South Pacific country, fraying nerves in an area where memories of a deadly 2011 quake are still fresh.   Christchurch, the largest city on New Zealand's ruggedly beautiful South Island, is still recovering from the 6.3 quake in 2011 that killed 185 people.   New Zealand's Civil Defence declared a state of emergency for the Kaikoura region, centered on a tourist town about 150 km (90 miles) northeast of Christchurch, soon after Monday's large aftershock.   Kaikoura, a popular spot for whale watching, appeared to have borne the brunt of the quake. "Our immediate priority is ensuring delivery of clean water, food and other essentials to the residents of Kaikoura and the estimated 1,000 tourists in the town," Brownlee said.   The Navy's multi-role vessel HMNZS Canterbury was heading to the area, he said.   Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) said a 20-person rescue team and two sniffer dogs had arrived in the town. A second team was on standby in Christchurch, USAR said in a statement.   Police in the area around Christchurch reported 19 burglaries of homes and commercial properties after the quake as residents headed for higher ground.   "It is extremely disappointing that at a time when people are facing such a traumatic event and communities are coming together to support one another, there are others who are only interested in taking advantage,” Canterbury District Commander Superintendent John Price said in a statement.   TWIN QUAKES   Hours after the quake, officials said a slip dam caused by the quakes that had blocked the Clarence River north of the town had breached, sending a wall of water downstream.   A group of kayakers missing on the river was later reported safe.   New Zealand's Geonet measured Monday's first quake at magnitude 7.5, while the U.S. Geological Survey put it at 7.8. The quakes and aftershocks rattled buildings and woke residents across the country, hundreds of kilometers from the epicenter.   Geonet said four faults had ruptured, with one at the coast appearing to have slipped as much as 10 meters (33 feet). Government research unit GNS Science said the overnight tremor appeared to have been two simultaneous quakes which together lasted more than two minutes.   New Zealand lies in the seismically active "Ring of Fire", a 40,000 km arc of volcanoes and oceanic trenches that partly encircles the Pacific Ocean. Around 90 percent of the world's earthquakes occur within this region.   Stock exchange operator NZX Ltd said markets traded normally, although many offices in the capital were closed. The New Zealand dollar initially fell to a one-month low before mostly recovering.   Fonterra, the world's biggest dairy exporter, said some its farms were without power and would likely have to dump milk.   Prime Minister Key postponed a trip to Argentina, where he had planned to hold a series of trade meetings ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders' summit in Peru this week, as he met disaster officials.   At least one of those killed was found in a house in Kaikoura that "collapsed like a stack of cards", Kaikoura Hospital's Dr Christopher Henry told Fairfax media. Two other people were pulled alive from the same building.   New Zealand media reported one of the pilots taking rescuers to the area was Richie McCaw, the recently retired captain of New Zealand's world champion All Blacks rugby team.   "At one point, the railway was way out over the sea - it had been pushed out by (land) slips. It would not have been a nice place to be at midnight last night," McCaw told the New Zealand Herald after helping fly the USAR team to Kaikoura.

Earthquakes are such scary things. It's amazing how much damage can happen and leave you feeling so helpless. There is no warning and nothing you can do but hold on as the earth itself moves. Then to see people taking advantage of the disaster to steal is just sickening. Such a sad thing to see that people don't always come together but look to benefit from other's suffering. Disappointing and says something about the world we live in now.


The person is male. Racially, the person is white. The person is 30 years old. The person has a high school degree or diploma. The person earns 55000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 5.0 in openness, 6.5 in conscientiousness, 5.0 in extraversion, 6.0 in agreeableness, and 7.0 in stability.

i think it's a terrible thing,also quite scary because there is really no warning system that could detect an earthquake of that caliber.i sure hope that scientist are able to develop an accurate early detection system.it could save 1000's of lives.i honestly don't know how people are able to live in earthquake prone areas,the thought of at any minute the \big one\" can strike and just totally upturn your life(if your lucky!) is terrifying to me. "


It is so sad honest people become victims of environmental hazards. We make technological and industrial advancement without considering the effects on the environment. Even though some of these things are unavoidable, we can make necessary actions to protect ourselves. It is so sad an earthquake of that magnitude hits New Zealand .


I think these earthquakes that have been happening are terrible. They seem to be so common now and so many lives are being taken because of this. If their lives aren't taken, they probably lost their homes or belongings somehow. This makes it hard for many people to pick themselves back up and continue living. I think that they should definitely try and get some sort of help from the government.


The person is male. Racially, the person is asian / pacific islander. The person is 29 years old. The person has a high school degree or diploma. The person earns 44000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 6.0 in openness, 5.5 in conscientiousness, 4.5 in extraversion, 6.0 in agreeableness, and 5.0 in stability.

Dear friend,                                          I am writing to tell you that I just read a horrifying article about a major 7.8 magnitude earthquake that hit New Zealand on Monday. The property damage, loss of life, and injuries are going to be devastating once all the numbers are in. I feel very sickened and saddened after reading this news.


The person is male. Racially, the person is white. The person is 25 years old. The person has a went to college but did not get a degree. The person earns 29000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 6.0 in openness, 6.0 in conscientiousness, 5.5 in extraversion, 6.5 in agreeableness, and 3.0 in stability.

'They Were Just Like Us, and They Lost Everything' —  Can empathy for refugees be taught? A few weeks ago, I scrambled to evacuate my area with the only five items I could grab—my phone, passport, water, money, and medicine—in the 30 seconds before I had to flee. Many of the roughly 65 million refugees, asylum-seekers, and internally displaced people around the world today have had to make panicked choices like these; more than 4,000 have died at sea in overcrowded boats and rafts attempting to reach Europe from the Middle East. On Thursday last week, more than 200 additional people lost their lives in two separate shipwrecks off Libya. But my own “escape” was far away from that, on the safety of the National Mall in Washington, D.C., where Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) had organized the Forced From Home exhibit. The aim was, in part, to put the staggering numbers of the crisis into tangible terms for those of us who don’t have to contemplate actually being forced from home. So I took on the identity of an asylum-seeker from Honduras while my tour guide, Ahmed Abdalrazag, pled with the group to hurry up. If we were really fleeing, he explained, our time would be up and it might be too late. We got on a raft like the ones in which so many have risked, and lost, their lives in recent years—though this one stayed on dry land—and later, we were detained at a fenced border where our various legal classifications determined our future. At each stop, hardships from the journey forced us to give up one item, until we were left empty-handed in front of staged refugee tents—where in real life another series of ordeals await those who make it that far. MSF, or Doctors Without Borders, the international aid group and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, is touring the exhibit through five U.S. cities this fall, with a series of West Coast stops planned for next year. So far, according to an MSF spokesman, more than 17,000 people have attended, including over 3,400 students. MSF provides medical and related humanitarian aid in over 60 countries, often in dangerous circumstances—the group describes its mission as assisting “victims of conflict, natural disasters, epidemics, or healthcare exclusion.” In Syria, Yemen, and Afghanistan recently, MSF-supported hospitals and the people who work there have themselves been victims of conflict. With the Forced From Home exhibit, MSF is trying to communicate, in concrete terms, the reality of people fleeing from those places and elsewhere, including Burundi, South Sudan, and Central America. Official action to mitigate this reality has been frustratingly slow. It has been more than two years since the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) first reported that the number of displaced people worldwide had surpassed the figures following World War II.  But as my colleague Uri Friedman wrote in September, the UN General Assembly only recently held its inaugural Summit for Refugees and Migrants, and the declaration that emerged from the meeting delays specific measures by UN member states for two more years. The timeline of the UN plan is not comforting to the refugees or concerned observers. The crisis figures are familiar, but remain unfathomable—one in 113 people displaced “by conflict and persecution in 2015;” and 54 percent of 21 million refugees from just three volatile countries: Syria, Afghanistan, and Somalia. It’s easy to be numbed by the numbers. Or even actively repelled—across Europe and the United States, 2016 has seen a surge of anti-refugee protests and rhetoric conflatingrefugees and terrorists—sentiments that influence elections and produce significant legislative and societal results. In a sense, the refugee crisis has helped generate a corresponding crisis in empathy. But if national and international political solutions seem sluggish or even impossible, what hope is there for refugees in the meantime if not for the empathy of individuals? Where there is a confluence of human suffering and nationalistic backlash, can empathy be taught, sparked, or successfully deployed? The MSF exhibit can be seen as a test of these questions. It creates an empathetic response by tying the visitor’s experience to an individual’s—each participant is assigned a specific displaced person’s identity, and each tour is given by an aid-worker who has served in an MSF camp. Throughout the journey, the guides share their own personal stories about people they lived with, worked with, and ministered to, further illuminating the individual suffering behind the numbers. Abdalrazag, a physician with MSF originally from Iraq, first got involved with the organization when he was in a camp as a refugee. On his tours, he talks about a friend of his who, after living in a refugee camp tent for years, so desperately missed a wall to lean his back on that he hugged the first wall he saw in his new home. After the tour, Abdalrazag admitted that this was his own experience, one he sometimes obscures because his memories are painful to recount. Another guide, Sarah Khenati, a psychologist with MSF-France who has worked in the Central African Republic (CAR) and the West Bank, shares a story on her tours about a woman who was raped and impregnated while fleeing her home, then involves her groups in the ensuing MSF discussion about how best to treat the woman after her psychotic breakdown. Tatiana Chiarella, an MSF nurse from Brazil who has been touring with the exhibit, explained how she sees the value of these kinds of personal stories: “For people living in the U.S., or even my people in Brazil, we are so far from the situation that you may hear their stories but you don’t realize it could happen to any one of us.” The people she treated “were just like us, they were doctors, nurses, engineers, lawyers, and suddenly this happened—they have war in their countries and they have to flee for their life and for their families—and they lost everything.” Maybe it’s strange to shift the discussion of a massive problem down to the granular level, especially when the world needs a response to match the scale of the crisis. Yet individuals generate a human response that statistics can’t. Updated crisis figures from UNHCR don’t go viral. Images of a drowned Syrian toddler on a beach in Turkey, or a wounded boy in an Aleppo ambulance, do. And they focus observers, however briefly, on the human cost of conflict.   Still, the problem is bigger than the tragedies of Alan Kurdi and Omran Daqneesh, so the question remains whether concentrating on a single victim can generate an empathy that expands to include others suffering outside those particular frames. According to Jamil Zaki, assistant professor of psychology and the director of the Stanford Social Neuroscience Laboratory, even though empathy is a fundamental human emotion, people are not exactly wired for a globalized response. “When we evolved, we were in small groups of interdependent individuals, so the people that you would run into and subsequently empathize with were probably family or extended family,” he explained. “And nowadays, we’re given the unprecedented opportunity to empathize, reach out to and help, not just the people who are right around us, but people all around the world. That’s a really enormous challenge as well as an opportunity, and I think that sometimes, our more evolutionarily old or primitive … emotional responses are not really perfectly designed for the modern world.” This is even true of people who are already inclined to be sympathetic to refugees—the people, in other words, likely to visit an exhibit like MSF’s in the first place. On the tour I took, I met Cameron, a student from Charleston, South Carolina, who said: “It pains me to see how unaccepting communities can be of refugees especially when a good amount of people in the U.S. can trace their ancestry to people who left their home because of economic or political issues.” He added, “I think it definitely made me more empathetic and understanding because you only get so much information from the news and other media sources.” U.S. President Barack Obama, in his 2006 Northwestern University commencement speech, called attention to what he saw as a national “empathy deficit.” He advised the graduates that, in a culture that does not encourage empathy, “as you go on in life, cultivating this quality of empathy will become harder, not easier.  There’s no community-service requirement in the real world; no one forcing you to care. You’ll be free to live in neighborhoods with people who are exactly like yourself, and send your kids to the same schools, and narrow your concerns to what’s going in your own little circle.” That warning came 10 years ago; five years before the Syrian Civil War began, and eight years before UNHCR first identified a new record in the number of refugees worldwide. As David Desteno wrote for The Atlantic last summer, a recent study from the University of Michigan found, based on empathy assessments of 13,000 college students between 1979 and 2009, that “levels of compassion and empathy are lower now than at any time in the past 30 years, and perhaps most alarming, they are declining at an increasing rate.” If we think of empathy as malleable, it’s an emotion that we can actively choose to engage with and develop. The barrier that the MSF exhibit and other calls to empathy might bump up against is our basic wiring: If our relationship to empathy is naturally individual and impulsive—Zaki describes it as “staccato”—how do we create the sustained empathy suited to an ongoing and outsized crisis? Will the impact of an exhibit like Forced from Home—or photos of children whose lives have been ended or upended by war—be momentary or lasting? And what difference does any one person’s feelings make to finding a genuine solution? Some of the answers may lie in the way we think about empathy. If we think of it as malleable, it’s an emotion that we can actively choose to engage with and develop. Zaki emphasizes that empathy can be strengthened with practice: “Empathy is under our control more than we think it is. ... It’s our responsibility to exercise empathy responsibly, and it’s an opportunity for us to connect with more and more people if we work hard at building it.” Most importantly, Zaki says, “convincing people that they can build their empathy actually helps them to build [it].” He points to training programs that can change people’s responses to others’ suffering. A sampling of these empathy interventions across the country range from increasing care for homeless people in the Bay Area, to teaching empathy in middle schools to prevent bullying, to training police officers in Washington state to have compassion for citizens with mental illness so that they can be helped or hospitalized rather than arrested, though it’s too early to judge their effects. The refugee and the empathy crises can—but don’t have to—leave us with an action crisis. Even if MSF succeeds in generating empathy, the feeling by itself is not a solution. Still, it’s hard to see how there can be a solution without it.

I thin it is really sad that migrants have to go through the hardships that they do. It is unimaginable for me to have to leave my home, my things, my life, at the drop of a hat. These people leave behind mostly everything to get to a better place, and a lot die before they can get there. It is a shame that people have to do things like this in this day and age.


The person is female. Racially, the person is white. The person is 38 years old. The person has a postgraduate / professional degree. The person earns 42000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 3.5 in openness, 7.0 in conscientiousness, 6.5 in extraversion, 5.5 in agreeableness, and 6.5 in stability.

Hearing about the experiences of refugees is sad but something I have a hard time connecting with.  It's distressing to hear about children who are innocent victims of violence in a country or even adults, but it just seems so far away and I Feel so removed from those things and people that it's hard to relate to.  I am still sad for them that they have the experiences they have and I am grateful for my life and freedom in America.


I just read an article about MSF putting on simulated refugee experiences across the US. I understand their objective, but I can certainly see this as being a tedious and forced experience. You simply can't simulate the urgency and suffering that refugees have to go through. Your family isn't being rent in twain, your wife isn't being raped and your children aren't being sold into slavery. I know they have the purest intentions, but this just seems silly to me. The people who are attending these events already consider themselves empathetic; they aren't changing any minds with this kind of display.


The person is male. Racially, the person is black / african american. The person is 30 years old. The person has a college or university degree. The person earns 55000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 6.0 in openness, 5.5 in conscientiousness, 6.0 in extraversion, 5.5 in agreeableness, and 5.5 in stability.

The article brought up many good points about how Americans see refugees and asylum seekers, as well as the internal conflict we battle when we imagine them taking shelter here. Most Americans are empathetic when we hear stories or see images however when the moment for us to do anything come along we don't find the nerve to act. The mock home evacuation was very interesting however it cannot fully convey the actual feeling people feel when their lives are ripped from them. It will take something different to move people to the point where they realize these people are legitimately fighting for their lives.


The person is male. Racially, the person is white. The person is 28 years old. The person has a postgraduate / professional degree. The person earns 165000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 5.75 in openness, 6.25 in conscientiousness, 3.25 in extraversion, 6.75 in agreeableness, and 6.0 in stability.

TRAGEDY: Tampa man lost wife, 2 children, in horrific crash that killed 5 —  TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — The heartache of losing a loved one in a sudden, unexpected moment is devastating.   The shock is jarring and confusing. Families and friends are left with broken hearts and aching spirits. Losing one person is painful. But, for a Tampa husband, the grief is paralyzing and unbearable.   On Wednesday night, John Bernal lost his wife, his youngest daughter and his youngest son in a horrific car accident on MLK.   Mother Marianela Murillo and her two youngest children, John Bernal, Jr.  and Isabell Bernal, along with her teenager, Lina Bernal, were returning home from church when they were hit head-on in a fiery crash.   Their minivan burst into flames with the family trapped inside. The teenage daughter and her cousin visiting from Colombia, Luisa Louisa, were the only ones to survive in that van.   A relative began sobbing as she recalled the events while speaking to WFLA at Tampa General Hospital.   “My biggest thing is, I hope they didn’t suffer,” Gisela Martinez cried. “The car did catch on fire, and there were children in that car.”   While eyewitnesses claim it was street racing, the Florida Highway Patrol says there’s no evidence to prove it.   However, troopers say that the young man who caused the accident, 22-year-old Pablo Cortes III, was traveling at a high rate of speed when he lost control of his Volkswagen Golf. Both he and his passenger, Jolie Bartolome, were killed.   Family members are heartbroken and their hearts go out to the husband who lost his wife and two children.   “He’s suffering right now. He’s in pieces. I don’t wish this upon anybody at all. I mean, he is really in pieces,” said Mizrah Medina, a cousin.

a man lost all he has. that is the saddest thing that can ever happen to anyone. I really dont want to experience this in my life...I mean, no man should experience it. how will he start ? where did he want to start from. The man should be given proper mental test and all..to prevent him from harming himself or even abusing substance.


I really feel for the man and his child that survived the car crash.  I would not wish this type of pain on anybody. I do not know what we can do about it?  Should we put governors on cars that do not allow them to go over a certain speed?  It is a hard fact of life that we can be here one day and be gone tomorrow.


The person is male. Racially, the person is white. The person is 41 years old. The person has a college or university degree. The person earns 28000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 2.0 in openness, 2.5 in conscientiousness, 1.5 in extraversion, 2.0 in agreeableness, and 1.0 in stability.

It's a sad story for the father, for sure, but I also don't really care.  I don't know these people.  They're also foreigners, so I care even less.  But still, the thought of losing all your family like that is harsh.  And the people who killed them are dead.  I'm not sure if that's better or worse.  No place to direct your anger and despair.  Maybe that's a good thing.  Still, a devastating even to have to deal with and live with the rest of his life.  I'm sure the pain will never end.  I can't imagine dealing with that.


Losing anyone in an accident is a terribly tragic thing, but losing your whole family in one quick flash would be absolutely crippling. I just read about an accident where this exact thing happened to a person. The details were unclear, but it seemed to be caused by the carelessness of another driver. My heart goes out to people who have to live through this kind of tragedy.


The man losing his wife and two children in the accident is very terrible and I feel for him dearly, as well as the ones who have lost their lives. It's very crazy how much danger we are in on the road and we do not realize it. In an instant many lives can be lost just because someone made a mistake or a bad choice and there is not ability to take it back. I wish there was a way we could make driving much safer as many lives are lost each day this way.


Billy Bob Thornton says he 'never felt good enough' for Angelina Jolie —  Billy Bob Thornton is opening up about his three-year marriage to Angelina Jolie as the 41-year-old actress is in the midst of a divorce from Brad Pitt.   The 61-year-old actor married Jolie, who is 20 years his junior, in 2000 after the two met on set of the 1999 movie, "Pushing Tin." They separated in June 2002 and divorced the following year.   "I never felt good enough for her," Thornton tells November issue of GQ magazine. The Oscar winner says Jolie's high-profile life wasn't his speed, and that he's "real uncomfortable around rich and important people."   That being said, Thornton adds that he's still friends with his ex-wife and speaks to her every few months.   In 2014, the actor told The Hollywood Reporter that he was "not fond" of that "crazy time" when he was married to Jolie, which included wearing vials of each other's blood around their necks. "Vial of blood is very simple," he explained. "You know those lockets you buy that are clear and you put a picture of your grannie in and wear it around your neck? She bought two of those. We were apart a lot because she's off making Tomb Raider and I'm making Monster's Ball. She thought it would be interesting and romantic if we took a little razor blade and sliced our fingers, smeared a little blood on these lockets and you wear it around your neck just like you wear your son or daughter's baby hair in one. Same thing."   After her split with Thornton, Jolie struck up a relationship with Pitt after meeting him on set of their 2005 film, "Mr. & Mrs. Smith." In September of this year, Jolie filed for divorce from Pitt after two years of marriage and 11 years together. Just this week, the 52-year-old actor was cleared of child abuse allegations by Department of Child and Family Services.   In a statement to ET, Jolie's rep said the mother of six was "relieved" that the investigation had concluded, and that her focus has always been the health of the family.

Wow read this....Angelia Jolie and Billy Bob Thornton wore vials of blood around each others necks! Isn't that weird? What are they vampires? I always thought she was so strange but that is just bizarre. I wonder what happened to her and Brad though. I never understand why he left Jennifer Anniston for that bizarre looking woman.


The person is male. Racially, the person is white. The person is 29 years old. The person has a college or university degree. The person earns 85000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 6.75 in openness, 6.75 in conscientiousness, 6.75 in extraversion, 6.75 in agreeableness, and 7.0 in stability.

As sad as i feel for Billy Bob Thornton and Angelina Jolie, it doesn't really bother me too much. The main reason being that they are already filthy rich. I do feel bad for the children though. Not really knowing who your father is and being taken care of by only a single mother can be very tough. You wouldn't know where to go to for help or advice.


I feel so sad for the man. I mean, he  couldnt keep up with Jolie's profile. I wish people should would do proper profiling of personalities before agreeing to settle down. Some are soft paced while others are fast.By understanding ourselves, we will know who and who not to have relationships or marriage with.


The person is male. Racially, the person is white. The person is 31 years old. The person has a two year associate degree. The person earns 82000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 2.5 in openness, 3.5 in conscientiousness, 2.0 in extraversion, 4.5 in agreeableness, and 5.0 in stability.

These people are freaking weird.  Im sorry but the whole concept of wearing blood around your neck is so annoying on so many levels.  Not only are you being overly dramatic in an effort to further your career and notoriety, you're also just being downright freaky and cutting yourselves.  I don't get these people.


Jolie and Billy Bob Thornton was slightly interesting.   They met on a set and married for two years.  Thornton was not a fan of the craziness she brought to his quiet, reserved world.   He never felt good enough he said.  Even with great success and notoriety still comes down to \less than\" perfect lives and self worth.  "


DAKOTA FANNING PARENTS SPLIT ... Hot Dad Back on the Market —  Dakota Fanning's mom and dad are done after almost 27 years ... TMZ has learned.  Dakota's dad, Steven Fanning, just filed for divorce from his wife, Heather, citing irreconcilable differences. Their kids are both of age, so child support isn't an issue -- Dakota's 22, Elle is 18.  As for spousal support, it's as a bit of a mystery ... Steve didn't check any boxes asking for support from Heather.  That said, he says he still needs to figure out how he and Heather are going to split their property. But we're guessing this stud will be just fine when it's all said and done.

Do you ever come across an article that you don't intend to read, but end up reading it anyway? That just happened to me. I have no idea why the personal lives of celebrities are of interest to anyone, let alone on the scale that they are marketed to people. I understand that being able to relate to people of higher status gives the dregs of society some kind of validation, but it just isn't for me.


The person is male. Racially, the person is white. The person is 30 years old. The person has a went to college but did not get a degree. The person earns 27000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 4.0 in openness, 3.0 in conscientiousness, 6.0 in extraversion, 6.0 in agreeableness, and 6.5 in stability.

To be a bit blunt, I don't really care about these people. I don't think I even know who they are. My parents were divorced when I was young, so I can kind of relate. These people were way older than I was though, as I was around 8 or 9 years old. So they should be able to cope as their technically adults.


Divorce always make me sad. I dont like it when couples separate over avoidable causes. Things should be done to prevent them from going separate ways. I mean, they start their whole life differently. All the shared goals and ambition goes through the wind and they have to start from the scratch alone...individually.


The person is male. Racially, the person is hispanic / latino. The person is 32 years old. The person has a college or university degree. The person earns 35000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 5.0 in openness, 5.5 in conscientiousness, 2.0 in extraversion, 5.5 in agreeableness, and 4.5 in stability.

When people split up it not only affects them but it affects the kids as well. The kids have to deal with the burden of having to live separate lives between time spent with the mom, and all the time they have to spend with the dad. I feel like this causes a toll on their childhood and they are not the same when they grow up because of it.


The person is female. Racially, the person is white. The person is 34 years old. The person has a high school degree or diploma. The person earns 50000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 3.5 in openness, 6.5 in conscientiousness, 1.0 in extraversion, 6.0 in agreeableness, and 7.0 in stability.

Check this out. More celebrity news that no one even cares about. Do you even know who these people are? Am I totally out of touch? I have no idea who any of these people are. Should I care that they're getting divorced like 50% of America? Why do we put this in the spotlight when there are better things we can address?


Civilians shot, bodies hung from poles in Mosul, Iraqi sources say —  As fighting continued in and around Mosul on Friday, civilians caught in crossfire have a stark choice: whether to flee or stay huddled inside their homes.   Many residents tell CNN the intensity of the fighting and the airstrikes in eastern parts of the city limited their options. Still, tens of thousands have chosen the escape route. More than 47,730 people have been displaced because of the ongoing military operations to retake Mosul from ISIS, according to the International Organization for Migration. Roughly 12,800 people have fled since Tuesday, the organization said. Other residents of Mosul have simply chosen to heed the Iraqi Security Forces instructions to stay in their homes if they feel safe enough inside. Still others are too scared to leave their homes, because of ISIS' campaign of terror against the civilians. Witnesses told CNN among the dozens executed this week, more than 30 people were shot in the head for having cell phones. Their bodies were left at various intersections across Mosul as a warning. The bodies are not being removed as residents fear reprisals from ISIS militants, witnesses said. Here are some of the latest developments in the battle for Mosul: The UN human rights office released a report Friday, confirming that at least 60 civilians have been killed in Mosul this week, and reported new details of alleged atrocities by ISIS fighters. On Wednesday evening, ISIS reportedly killed 20 civilians at the Ghabat military base in northern Mosul on charges of leaking information, the UN body said. "Their bodies were also hung at various intersections in Mosul, with notes stating: 'decision of execution' and 'used cell phones to leak information to the ISF.' " On Tuesday, ISIS shot and killed 40 civilians in Mosul after accusing them of "treason and collaboration" with Iraqi security forces, according to a report by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, or UNHCR. "The victims were dressed in orange clothes marked in red with the words: 'traitors and agents of the ISF.' Their bodies were then hung on electrical poles in several areas in Mosul city," the report said.   Local ISIS commanders have started fleeing in some neighborhoods, residents said, leaving behind trained teenage ISIS combatants to fight Iraqi forces. Mosul residents said they fear these young fighters as much, if not more, than other ISIS militants because they have been brainwashed, have no fear and have a great amount of zealotry after being indoctrinated and trained for two years. The UNHCR report said ISIS had "deployed what it calls the 'sons of the caliphate' in the alleys of the old town of Mosul, wearing explosive belts. We are concerned that these may be teenagers and young boys." ISIS posted video footage Wednesday, "showing four children, believed to be between 10 and 14 years old, shooting to death four people for spying for the ISF and the Peshmerga," the report said, referring to Iraqi and Kurdish forces. UN human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein cited "heartbreaking images" of ISIS forcing children to carry out executions and reports of women being "redistributed" among ISIS fighters, as evidence of the "numbing and intolerable" suffering of civilians in Mosul and other ISIS-held areas. He called on Iraqi authorities to ensure the perpetrators of such abuses are dealt with according to the rule of law so as to limit revenge attacks and help communities rebuild. Senior ISIS leader killed In another development, Mahmoud Shukri al Nuaimi, a senior ISIS commander, has been killed in the battle for Mosul, the terror group's last major stronghold in Iraq, Iraqi military intelligence sources tell CNN. Al Nuaimi, also is known as Sheikh Faris, was killed Tuesday in an Iraqi-led coalition airstrike in western Mosul, the sources said. ISIS confirmed his death in a video montage, referring to him as "the martyr of the battle." The Iraqi sources told CNN that Nuaimi was formerly a high-ranking intelligence officer in Saddam Hussein's intelligence services. In Mosul's east, residents said ISIS militants were forcing them from their homes, either to booby trap the houses or to take them over as fighting positions. Militants have reportedly left barrels of crude oil at major intersections, ready to be set afire to hamper Iraqi advances. ISIS has also used white flags to disguise suicide car bombs in Mosul, according to Saban Al Numan, an Iraqi counterterrorism official. The battle for Mosul is difficult, slow and complicated, Numan said. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi vowed victory last month at the start of the long-awaited offensive on Mosul, but he warned the effort could take time. ISIS, an agile enemy, has been preparing its defenses for two years. It takes advantage of the terrain, a network of tunnels and booby-trapped buildings, to great effect. US military officials estimate some 3,000 to 5,000 ISIS fighters are in Mosul. An additional 1,500 to 2,000 fighters may be waiting outside the city limits.

Part of me feels sympathy for these people and the terror they're experiencing.  And yet part of me thinks that it's a problem of their own making.  These people are sheep.  Like Russians and many others, they are passive citizens, accepting their awful fate handed down by the powerful and zealous in their midst who have the drive to influence their will on others.  When do these people fight back?  When do these people actively pursue something better, instead of just being victims to their fate?  Other countries have done it.  Many countries have fought civil wars and become something better and more civilized on the other side.  Why, thousands and thousands of years later, can these people still not create stable cultures?


The person is male. Racially, the person is white. The person is 30 years old. The person has a high school degree or diploma. The person earns 30000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 6.5 in openness, 6.0 in conscientiousness, 4.0 in extraversion, 4.0 in agreeableness, and 5.5 in stability.

This situation is one of the worse that I can imagine. When you cannot even feel safe in the city you live in let alone your own house, it is time to move. I can imagine that these people have nowhere to go though. Situations like this disrupt normal life and induce a fear that many people in their normal lives will never know.


I don't understand all the conflict in the middle east. So many innocent people are constantly dying for literally no reason. The death and suffering is needless. I hate that we are the world police though. It isn't our problem to fix; and these countries do not seem to want to change. The entire area has been in war and conflict for hundreds of years. It is just a shame.


I can barely believe that the events in that article were real. Such barbaric actions by ISIS...I feel so badly for the people who are forced to live side by side with such brutal people. I can understand why people are fleeing the area by the thousands. ISIS could basically kill you for any reason and likely wouldn't be challenged for their actions. This is such a disgrace.


Its always sad when these things happen because we are humans at the end of the day. I feel like civilians for the most part are innocent and it doesn't make sense that people do this to compete innocent people. We must find a way to prevent these unnecessary  wars and fighting that leads to no proper solution to problems


Haze from Indonesian fires may have killed more than 100,000 people – study —  Harvard and Columbia universities estimate tens of thousands of premature deaths in areas closest to blazes clearing forest and peatland A smog outbreak in Southeast Asia last year may have caused over 100,000 premature deaths, according to a new study released Monday that triggered calls for action to tackle the “killer haze”. Researchers from Harvard and Columbia universities in the US estimated there were more than 90,000 early deaths in Indonesia in areas closest to haze-belching fires, and several thousand more in neighbouring Singapore and Malaysia. The new estimate, reached using a complex analytical model, is far higher than the previous official death toll given by authorities of just 19 deaths in Indonesia. “If nothing changes, this killer haze will carry on taking a terrible toll, year after year,” said Greenpeace Indonesia forest campaign Yuyun Indradi. “Failure to act immediately to stem the loss of life would be a crime.” A spokesman for Indonesia’s environment ministry did not immediately have any comment. Indonesian authorities have previously insisted they are stepping up haze-fighting efforts, through such actions as banning the granting of new land for palm oil plantations and establishing an agency to restore devastated peatlands. The haze is an annual problem caused by fires set in forest and on carbon-rich peatland in Indonesia to quickly and cheaply clear land for palm oil and pulpwood plantations. The blazes occur mainly on Indonesia’s western Sumatra island and the Indonesian part of Borneo, with monsoon winds typically blowing the haze over Singapore and Malaysia. But last year’s fires were among the worst in memory and cloaked large parts of the region in choking smog for weeks, causing huge numbers to fall ill and sending diplomatic tensions soaring. The new study to be published in journal Environmental Research Letters, which combined satellite data with models of health impacts from smoke exposure and readings from pollution monitoring stations, estimated that 100,300 had died prematurely due to last year’s fires across the three countries. They estimated there were 91,600 deaths in Indonesia, 6,500 in Malaysia and 2,200 in Singapore. Greenpeace hailed a “groundbreaking” study they said for the first time gave a detailed breakdown of deaths from last year’s fires, but cautioned that the figure was a “conservative estimate”. It only looked at health impacts on adults and the effect of dangerous fine-particulate matter, known as PM 2.5. It did not examine the effect on youngsters or of the other toxins produced by the blazes. In reality, infants are some of the most at risk from the haze, said Nursyam Ibrahim, from the West Kalimantan province branch of the Indonesian Medical Association on Borneo. “We are the doctors who care for the vulnerable groups exposed to toxic smoke in every medical centre, and we know how awful it is to see the disease symptoms experienced by babies and children in our care,” said Ibrahim. The study found an increase in the number of fires in peatland and in timber concessions in 2015, compared to the last haze outbreak considered major, in 2006, and that the number of fires in palm oil plantations fell. Shannon Koplitz, a Harvard scientist who worked on the study, said she also hoped the model they had developed could help those involved with tackling the annual blazes make quick decisions “as extreme haze events are unfolding”. Last year’s haze outbreak was the worst since 1997 due to a strong El Nino weather system, which created tinder-dry conditions in Indonesia and made peatland and forests more vulnerable to going up in flames.       Article Title:Samoa hit by hail storm so rare residents thought it was a hoax   Article URL:https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/sep/19/samoa-hit-by-hail-storm-so-rare-residents-thought-it-was-a-hoax   Article author(s)Eleanor Ainge Roy   Article date:Monday 19 September 2016 00.11 EDT   News source: theguardian    Meteorologist forced to release satellite images of the storm to convince some locals that the hail wasn’t part of a practical joke Samoa has been hit by a hail storm so rare that it was believed to be a hoax by many of the island’s inhabitants. The tropical nation of Samoa lies in the Pacific Ocean, where the average temperature at this time of year is 29C. But on Friday evening an unexpected hail storm struck the eastern side of the island of Savai’i, accompanied by heavy rain and strong wind gusts. It was only the second time since records began that hail has fallen on Samoa, the first was in 2011. The storm lasted 10 to 15 minutes and produced hail stones roughly 2cm wide. “The ice was very small and there were no reports of damage,” said Luteru Tauvale, principal meteorologist for the Samoan Meteorology Service. “Because it was so unexpected a lot of people thought it had been invented. We had to release satellite images of the conditions that led to to the hail for people to believe it was real.” Samoans took to social media to share their photos of the hail, many voicing disbelief at the incident, and then saying it was the “first time” they had been convinced of the the phenomenon of climate change. “Climate change is here!” wrote one Samoan on Facebook. “More like we have just woken up to the fact it had been with us for a while but we refuse to accept/believe it.” Hailstorms form within a unusually unstable air mass in which the temperature falloff with height is much greater than normal.       Article Title:Dozens dead and missing after typhoon lashes eastern China     Article URL:https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/sep/18/dozens-dead-and-missing-after-typhoon-lashes-eastern-china   Article author(s)   Article date:Saturday 17 September 2016 22.40 EDT   News source: theguardian    Typhoon Meranti has damaged more than 18,300 houses and caused direct economic losses of more than 16.9bn yuan ($2.5bn)   The strongest typhoon to hit China this year has left 28 people dead and 15 others missing in the east of the country. Typhoon Meranti made landfall early Thursday in Fujian province after winds and rains associated with it pounded Taiwan, leaving one person dead and more than 50 injured. Authorities in Fujian said Saturday that the typhoon had left 18 people dead and 11 missing, damaged more than 18,300 houses and caused direct economic losses of more than 16.9 billion yuan ($2.5bn).   Authorities in neighboring Zhejiang province say that 10 people died and four remained unaccounted for following landslides and flash floods in rural areas. Taiwan saw wind and rain from a second typhoon, Malakas, that caused no apparent deaths.

Man the fact that so many people have died or been sickened by this toxic smoke is upsetting. I hope the efforts to stop this problem bear fruit because dying from some pollution that shouldn't really be there is kinda crappy. Plus fires are no joke as well. Just look at California. They get bad ones every year.


I feel so terrible. These are totally avoidable situations and yet we keep losing live to it. Wild fire are dangerous and not only cause damage to properties globally, they also affect wild animals and lead to extinction of rare species. Men are also killed as a result. I think there should be a global effort to stop all form of indiscriminate bush burning.


Check this out....haze from the fires in Indonesia have killed over 100,000 people! This is horrific. It says that this is an annual thing which makes it even worse. How can they let this keep happening? I just don't get it so many deaths that are just in vain and lives and homes ruined. It's horrible but makes me so thankful I live where I do.


I've never heard about this issue before.  It seems typical for the region, however.  Economy at all costs, especially when you have two trillion people living in these geographically small countries.  And you wonder why environmentalism is a losing battle.  The U.S. and other civilized countries can do all they want.  If a place like Indonesia is willing to burn down all their forests to manufacture palm oil, you're fighting a losing battle.  Again, I keep getting back to this idea: Why are we considered the barbarians in the world?  Most of the world are one step above apes.  They're heathens.  What Reagan said to Nixon was correct.  We treat these people as equals?  We leave our fate to people who don't even wear shoes?  Absurd.


I didn't realize that the after effects of a fire could possibly be so deadly. This haze killed 100,000 people!! When Cali is burning, is there a similar haze that affects the surrounding states? This is quite a scary situation. And to think that the problem was exasperated by the cutting down of trees for palm oil. I hope there's a solution to this massive problem.


Family loses home and two pets in D.C. fire —  A fire displaced a family of five and killed two cats inside their Northwest Washington rowhouse, D.C. fire and emergency services officials said. Firefighters were called to the two-story home in the 5000 block of Illinois Avenue NW about 1 p.m., said Vito Maggiolo, a fire department spokesman. All the residents escaped without injury, but two family pets did not. The Red Cross was notified to help two adults and three children who cannot reenter the home due to fire damage, officials said. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

There was a fire at a house in NW Washington D.C. which isn't very far from where I live in Alexandria, VA. The fire caused the people to be evacuated living in the home and two of the family's cats were also killed in the fire. This is surprising because I thought cats are pretty good at escaping when things go bad.


Reading about pets dying is never fun. I'm sure that house fires claim the lives of many pets considering the fact that they are physically incapable of opening doors or windows. Should we grieve pets' lives any less than we grieve the lives of humans? My grandparents have a dog that I know they would kill for.


the fact that the pets died is heart breaking. I can't imagine that the pets died and to be honest it was quite depressing. The fact that the pets are gone means they have lost a lot of valuable memoires with them. I feel like when you lose someone like this it is quite hard to get over it one can only pray and hope they find relief.


Awwnn..i dont like the fact that the pets died. I just wish I can protect the animals. They lost their home and that is really sad. The homeowners must be really devastated and weak. One terrible thing about losing pet is, you cant really get a proper replacement. I just hope they have some home insurance in place.