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The Supreme Court of the United States rejects a request by gun rights activists to grant a temporary stay on the Trump administration's ban on bump stock attachments that allow semi–automatic firearms to be fired rapidly. The policy took effect Tuesday after a similar bid to delay implementation was rejected. | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday handed President Donald Trump a victory by rejecting for the second time in three days a bid by gun rights activists to block his new ban on “bump stock” attachments that enable semi-automatic weapons to fire rapidly.
The policy, embraced by Trump in the wake of an October 2017 massacre in Las Vegas in which bump stocks were used, went into effect on Tuesday. The ban is a rare recent instance of gun control at the federal level in a country that has experienced a succession of mass shootings.
The court in a brief order refused to grant a temporary stay sought by the group Gun Owners of America and others in a lawsuit filed in Michigan challenging the ban while litigation continues. Chief Justice John Roberts on Tuesday rejected a similar bid to block the policy in a separate legal challenge brought in Washington by individual gun owners and gun rights groups including the Firearms Policy Foundation and Florida Carry Inc.
Michael Hammond, Gun Owners of America’s legislative counsel, said many owners of the estimated 500,000 bump stocks in the United States would refuse to turn them in despite the ban and related criminal penalties. People caught in possession of bump stocks could face up to 10 years in prison under the policy.
“GOA will continue to fight the issue in the court system, as the case now returns to the lower courts. We remain convinced that the courts will consign this unlawful, unconstitutional ban to the trash bin of history, where it belongs,” Hammond said in a statement, using the group’s acronym.
A Justice Department spokeswoman said the administration was pleased with the high court’s action.
Bump stocks use a gun’s recoil to bump its trigger, enabling a semiautomatic weapon to fire hundreds of rounds per minute, which can transform it into a machine gun. The Justice Department’s regulation followed the lead of many states and retailers that imposed stricter limits on sales of guns and accessories after a deadly shooting at a Florida high school in February 2018.
Trump pledged to ban bump stocks soon after a gunman used them in a spree that killed 58 people at a country music festival in Las Vegas. The Justice Department on Dec. 18 announced plans to implement the policy on March 26.
The FBI said in January it had found no clear motive for the 64-year-old Las Vegas gunman, Stephen Paddock, in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.
In the Michigan case, a federal judge already has ruled in favor of the administration. The Cincinnati, Ohio-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals refused to put the ban on hold pending appeal. Other plaintiffs in that case include the Gun Owners Foundation, the Virginia Citizens Defense League and three individual gun owners.
In the Washington case, a federal judge also upheld the ban, prompting the gun rights advocates to appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. That court has heard oral arguments but has not yet ruled.
Those challenging the policy have argued that the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) lacks the authority to equate bump stocks with machine guns. One of the laws at the center of the legal dispute was written more than 80 years ago, when Congress restricted access to machine guns during the heyday of American gangsters’ use of “tommy guns.”
Trump’s fellow Republicans typically oppose gun control measures and favor of a broad interpretation of the right to bear arms promised in the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment. In 2017, there were 39,773 gun deaths in the United States, according to the most recent U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention figures released in December.
| Government Policy Changes | March 2019 | ['(Reuters)'] |
Days after his hat–trick broke the Primera División's 59–year goal–scoring record, Barcelona striker Lionel Messi scores another hat–trick in Nicosia to become the UEFA Champions League all–time top scorer. | Lionel Messi has become the all-time leading scorer in the Champions League after scoring a hat-trick for Barcelona in their Group F clash at Apoel Nicosia.
Messi moved level with the former Real Madrid striker Raúl’s tally of 71 goals with a brace in Barça’s previous match at Ajax, and on Tuesday he claimed sole ownership of the record.
The Argentina forward was denied early on by Rafael Urko but there was nothing the Apoel goalkeeper could do in the 38th minute when Messi stuck out his right foot to deflect Rafinha’s shot into the net to make it 2-0 after Luis Suárez had opened the scoring. Messi found the net twice more in the second half to bring his total to 74.
Messi also became the Primera División’s record goalscorer at the weekend, with his hat-trick in the 5-1 victory over Sevilla moving him onto 253, breaking Telmo Zarra’s 59-year-old mark of 251. | Sports Competition | November 2014 | ['(Guardian)', '(Mail)'] |
Brazilian voters cast ballots in the nationwide election of mayors and city councils in 5,568 municipalities. Pollsters predict that the Workers' Party will fair poorly. This is the country's first election since the impeachment of former president Dilma Rousseff. , | BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazilian political parties implicated in the massive Petrobras corruption scandal, including that of President Michel Temer, suffered major setbacks in Sunday’s municipal elections that put right-leaning candidates ahead in key cities.
The leftist Workers Party (PT) of former President Dilma Rousseff, who was impeached in August, was the worst hit and lost the country’s largest city, Sao Paulo, to its main rival, the centrist Brazilian Social Democrat Party (PSDB), which elected millionaire businessman Joao Doria to be mayor.
Temer’s Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB) lost its longtime hold over the cash-strapped city of Rio de Janeiro, which just held what many considered a successful Olympics.
Instead, a conservative evangelical bishop, Senator Marcelo Crivella, will face a runoff against Marcelo Freixo of the Socialism and Liberty Party (PSOL), a leftist breakaway from the PT, to decide who leads Rio.
Voters punished the PT, which ruled for 13 years, for holding the presidency during Brazil’s biggest political corruption scandal and leading Latin America’s largest economy into its worst recession since the 1930s.
“It was a clear sign of dissatisfaction of the voters, mainly in Sao Paulo and southeastern Brazil,” said political analyst Luciano Dias, a partner in the Brasilia-based consultancy firm CAC.
Adding to the drubbing suffered by the PT, Doria won Sao Paulo in the first outright victory in the city’s mayoral race since run-offs were introduced to the city in 1992.
The PT lost four of the five state capitals it had run, including Sao Paulo, the country’s economic powerhouse where the leftist party was born. The PT lost two-thirds of the municipalities it won in 2012, dropping to 10th place from third in the number of mayors controlled by each party.
The PT’s candidate in Sao Paulo’s industrial suburb city of Sao Bernardo do Campo, the hometown of the party’s founder Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, did not make it to the second round, despite strong stumping by the former president.
Lula left office in 2011 with the highest approval rating of any Brazilian leader but will now stand trial for corruption in the massive bribery and political kickback scandal at state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro.
The first elections since Rousseff was removed from office were a test of support for Brazil’s main political parties as they prepare for the 2018 presidential race.
The local elections do not bode well for the PMDB, which hopes Temer can revive the economy so the party can win the 2018 elections. But with some of its leaders under investigation, voters have chastised the PMDB for being part of both Lula and Rousseff’s PT-led coalition since late 2006.
Despite the PMDB’s big loss of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil’s second-largest city, the party continued to be the one with the most number of mayors across and small and medium-sized towns, winning in at least 1,000 such locations.
Doria’s victory in Sao Paulo, a traditional launching pad for national office, will bolster a likely bid in 2018 by the PSDB governor of the state, Geraldo Alckmin. The PSDB was also ahead in the country’s third-largest city, Belo Horizonte.
Despite the PSDB win in Sao Paulo, voters also expressed deep indifference toward their political options, with nearly 40 percent either not showing up at the polls - despite voting being legally mandatory in Brazil - or refusing to vote for any mayoral candidate.
Sunday’s elections were the first held under a ban on corporate campaign financing that was meant to clean up Brazilian politics following the scandal surrounding state-controlled oil company Petrobras that has ensnared dozens of top executives and powerful political figures.
But the new rules, which reduced campaign financing by two-thirds from the presidential election in 2014, instead helped wealthy candidates who were using their personal funds, such as Doria, and candidates backed by Brazil’s rapidly expanding evangelical churches. | Government Job change - Election | October 2016 | ['(Reuters)', '(Bloomberg)'] |
In the 2012–13 UEFA Champions League quarter–finals, Málaga secures a 0–0 draw against Borussia Dortmund while Real Madrid beats Galatasaray S.K. 3–0. | Last updated on 3 April 20133 April 2013.From the section Football
Borussia Dortmund wasted a clutch of chances as they were held to a goalless draw at Malaga in their Champions League quarter-final first leg.
Mario Gotze was the chief culprit for the Germans, twice denied by goalkeeper Willy after going clean through.
Robert Lewandowski's composure in front of goal also deserted him as he scuffed wide early in the second half.
Weligton's well-saved header and Isco's fierce shot were as close as the hosts came to breaking the deadlock.
Borussia Dortmund have failed to score on only two other occasions in 40 games this season.
They were held 0-0 by Stuttgart in the Bundesliga on 3 November and lost 1-0 to Bayern Munich in the German Cup on 27 February. The stalemate is only the third time that a skilful Dortmund have been denied by an opposition defence this season, but it was their own failings rather than Malaga's steel that was largely to blame.
The Spaniards' presence in the last eight on their Champions League debut is based on a record of having conceded only twice in five European matches at the Rosaleda this season.
But there was little sign of that solidity when Lewandowski's flick-on from a routine long ball left their defence in tatters in the early stages.
Gotze scampered into acres of space but his tame shot was comfortably snuffed out by Willy. It was the best, but far from only, opening for Dortmund as Malaga's Jeremy Toulalan and Manuel Iturra struggled to protect their back four from cunningly angled runs in the first half.
Gotze thumped a shot into the goalkeeper's body after a smart reverse ball from Ilkay Gundogan before Marco Reus's finish failed to match the snappy exchange of passes that preceded it.
However the visitors occasionally came close to creating a goal at the other end with lapses in their defensive concentration often Malaga's likeliest source of a goal.
Javier Saviola was only a whisker away from Isco's weighted through-ball after Reus's mix-up with Marcel Schmelzer before Roman Weidenfeller was relieved to find team-mate Felipe Santana as the closest man to him after fumbling a low cross.
Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp had warned his side of Malaga's physicality and, without injured centre-back Mats Hummels, they were tentative as Weligton's bullish header drew a good save from a corner at the end of the first half.
Malaga's Willy has kept five clean sheets in the Champions League this season, level best with Juventus' Gianluigi Buffon and Porto's Helton
The hosts' enthusiasm and energy for closing down seemed to fade as the second half wore on but the opening goal that seemed close never materialised for the Germans. Lewandowski and Gotze both swiped shots wastefully wide, and after well-hit efforts from Isco and Toulalan had both been dealt with by Weidenfeller, Malaga's ambitions were focused on seeing out the game without conceding an away goal.
Francisco Portillo's introduction for Saviola shored up Malaga and substitute Julian Scheiber's wild shot after beating Martin Demichelis left Klopp without the comfort of an away goal before 9 April's return.
Malaga manager Manuel Pellegrini: "We found what we expected to find, a team with players who are very good with the ball. Both sides went for it tonight and it made for a good open game. "I don't think the game in Germany will be too different from tonight, only an early goal for either team could change things."
Borussia Dortmund Jurgen Klopp: "I can live with this 0-0. We did everything well from the first kick to the final whistle but it's a higher level. | Sports Competition | April 2013 | ['(BBC)', '(UEFA)'] |
Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez makes his first speech since receiving treatment for cancer in Cuba. | The Venezuelan President, Hugo Chavez, says he wants to open up his socialist political project to the middle classes and private sector. Mr Chavez said his government had to convince Venezuela's middle classes they were needed. Speaking by telephone on state television, he said he was entering a more reflective period of his life. Mr Chavez recently underwent cancer treatment in Cuba, but plans to stand for re-election next year.
The Venezuelan leader made his comments a day after he celebrated his 57th birthday, when - appearing in yellow rather than his characteristic red shirt - he told a rally of cheering supporters that he was in no mood to leave office in the near future. In Friday's telephone interview, Mr Chavez said the treatment to remove a tumour had led him to radically change his life towards a "more diverse, more reflective and multi-faceted" period.
He told his supporters to eliminate divisions and dogma, and end what he called the abuse of symbols such as the term "socialist".
"Why do we have to always have to wear a red shirt?" said Mr Chavez. "And the same goes for the word 'socialism'."
The president cited the example of a mayor in the governing party who inaugurated a "Socialist Avenue", which Mr Chavez described as "stupid".
"We need to reflect and introduce changes in our discourse and in our actions."
Mr Chavez, who came to power in 1999, said the private sector and the middle classes were "vital" to his political project.
He said it was a shame that attempts to be more inclusive of these groups in society had been criticised by some in official circles in Venezuela.
"Raul Castro is leading a process of self-criticism," said Mr Chavez, hinting that Venezuela could learn from the reforms being undertaken by the president of Cuba, who has made some concessions to the private sector since taking over from Fidel Castro in 2006.
Mr Chavez said his government needed to correct the perception that small businesses would be taken over by the state. "We have to make sure no-one believes that," he said. "We have to convince them about our real project, that we need this sector and that we want to acknowledge their contribution."
| Famous Person - Give a speech | July 2011 | ['(BBC)'] |
Twin bombs injure eight people outside M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore ahead of an IPL3 league game between the Royal Challengers Bangalore and the Mumbai Indians. A third device is located outside. | Two minor blasts involving crude devices triggered panic outside the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore ahead of an IPL-3 league game between the Royal Challengers Bangalore and the Mumbai Indians here on Saturday afternoon. A third unexploded device was found outside another access point to the stadium.
A private security guard,attached to the Karnataka State Cricket Association,was seriously injured while three policemen and a bystander sustained minor injuries.
Preliminary analysis of the unexploded device discovered after authorities had allowed the match to go on revealed a cheap clock timer,two detonators and about two kilograms of a wax-like creamish white explosive substance which,as per initial analysis,contains ammonium nitrate and is suspected to be a material known as powergel that is used extensively in quarrying.
There are some doubts about the exact nature of the material. From preliminary analysis,it seems to be of the kind used locally in quarries. Doubts have been expressed on the presence of a higher explosive by some spot spray tests conducted by bomb experts. We hope to have that clarified by Sunday, said sources involved in the investigation of the blasts.
Like the devices that exploded,the unexploded device is believed to have been set for the afternoon. None of the devices contained shrapnel or materials that could act as missiles post-explosion,suggesting that the prime objective was to create panic ahead of the match,sources said.
The first blast occurred at 3.05 pm at the boulevard at the Anil Kumble circle on M G Road,a little distance away from the stadium. The blast was loud but did not cause any damage. The second blast occurred at 3.15 pm at the opposite side of the stadium,on the six-feet tall boundary wall beside Gate 12 on Cubbon Road,which is the entrance to the lower-priced stands for the IPL matches.
We were standing inside,near the stadium boundary wall and suddenly there was a loud noise outside and dust in the air. When we rushed out,we saw one of the security guards from the private agency lying on the ground. He had suffered injuries in the head. We rushed him to hospital. Some policemen who were nearby also had wounds, said Abdul Rehman,a KSCA security official at the ground.
This blast occurred just outside the massive generator room that sustains the lighting of the cricket stadium. Initially,police suggested that the blast occurred in the generator room.
The unexploded device was found placed on the boundary wall of the stadium,behind a hoarding indicating the gate number. It was kept at Gate 8 which is located on the Queens Road and is the third road encompassing the stadium.
Police sources said the devices that exploded also seemed to have been triggered by timers. At the Anil Kumble circle,pieces of clock batteries were found. Also found at both blast sites were shredded pieces of the local newspaper,Prajavani,in which the bombs are suspected to have been wrapped.
The IPL match was delayed by an hour on account of the blasts. The crowd was not turned away after police and bomb squads did a search of the stadium and its surroundings,assessed the situation and ruled that it was safe for the game to proceed.
The discovery of the third unexploded bomb at around 7 pm created fresh panic and forced the police to press bomb squads into action again to check all vehicles in the stadium,including the buses of the players.
We are trying to be as meticulous as possible and prevent a panic situation from setting in as fans and players leave the stadium, said Assistant Commissioner of Police K N Jithendranath.
Royal Challengers captain Anil Kumble and Mumbai Indians batsman Ambati Rayudu said security officials had assured the teams of their safety after the first explosions were reported,so both teams went out to play.
We were warming up when we heard a loud sound outside. The security people asked us to get back to the dressing room. We were later given an assurance that it was safe to carry on with the game, Kumble said.
These things are a part of life now. Whether it happens outside the stadium or outside your house,you cant really say when it could happen. I think we should not jump to conclusions and should let investigations be carried out, Kumble said. | Armed Conflict | April 2010 | ['(Indian Express)', '(BBC)', '(The Daily Telegraph)'] |
U.S. President Barack Obama continues his first trip to China and meets with Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao. | BEIJING (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama was set to continue his effort to court China while cajoling it on economic strains on Wednesday, with the final day of his visit featuring talks with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao.
Obama’s first visit to China has been a mix of goodwill displays toward its sometimes wary people and leaders, and closed-door discussions focused on the two big powers’ vast and increasingly complex relationship.
Wednesday will be no different. Obama will visit the Great Wall -- for many Chinese people a proud symbol of their imperial heritage -- and he may also press, Wen, the head of the Chinese government, on touchy economic and diplomatic issues.
The U.S. President made plain in a summit with President Hu Jintao on Tuesday that one of his topmost concerns is China’s currency policy. Many in Washington and other capitals believe Beijing keeps the yuan currency too low in value, disadvantaging competitors and distorting global economic flows.
Hu, who is also the head of China’s Communist Party, did not mention the yuan or the dollar in his comments before reporters.
But Premier Wen, who is more deeply involved in day-to-day economic affairs, may be more willing to grapple with Obama on currency and China’s own gripes with U.S. trade rules.
Officials and experts from both sides have stressed, however, that Obama’s visit will not bring about immediate policy shifts.
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Such summits are about setting priorities, said Jin Canrong, an expert on China-U.S. ties at Renmin University in Beijing.
“Any policy changes by China, including on the exchange rate, will be based on its assessment of its own interests, not on external pressure,” said Jin.
Obama’s talks with Wen may also cover Iran and North Korea, both nuclear trouble-spots where Washington and Beijing say they want to work together, but often disagree on how much pressure to apply. Wen visited North Korea early last month.
The issue of currencies has drawn testy comments in recent days from U.S. and Chinese officials. China’s Commerce Ministry on Monday rebuffed calls for the yuan to appreciate, signaling resistance to change foreign exchange policy.
Outside pressure has been building on Beijing to let the yuan rise after more than a year of it being nearly frozen in place against the dollar, with the latest appeal voiced by the head of the International Monetary Fund on Tuesday.
But Premier Wen may have his own warning for Obama.
In March, he took Washington to task over its fiscal and financial policies, saying he worried over the health of China’s vast U.S. assets.
China has amassed $2.27 trillion of foreign exchange reserves, the world’s largest stockpile, and analysts think about two-thirds of this is invested in dollar-denominated assets. | Diplomatic Visit | November 2009 | ['(Reuters)', '(Xinhua)', '(Asia Times Online)'] |
The Nicolás Maduro-aligned Constituent National Assembly formally strips opposition leader and National Assembly President Juan Guaidó of his immunity from prosecution, potentially paving the way for his arrest. | Caracas: Venezuelan politicians loyal to President Nicolas Maduro have stripped opposition leader Juan Guaido of his immunity from prosecution.
The move by the government-backed National Constituent Assembly on Tuesday paves the way for Guaido's prosecution and possibly his arrest.
Target of the government: Opposition Leader Juan Guaido.Credit:Bloomberg
It is unclear whether Maduro will actively threaten Guaido, who has embarked on an international campaign to topple the president's socialist administration.
Up until now, Maduro has avoided throwing the 35-year-old politician in jail.
In January, Guaido declared himself Venezuela's interim president and vowed to overthrow Maduro. The US and roughly 50 other nations have recognised Guaido as Venezuela's legitimate leader.
On Monday, Supreme Court Justice Maikel Moreno said Guaido should be prosecuted for violating a ban on leaving the country when he went on a tour of Latin American nations that back a change in Venezuela's government.
The opposition leader, who had immunity from prosecution as head of the National Assembly, is also accused by Maduro's government of inciting violence linked to street protests and receiving illicit funds from abroad.
Guaido dismissed the Maduro-stacked high court as illegitimate and continued his calls for Maduro to step down and citizens to protest.
Maduro blames Washington for trying to install a puppet government to seize Venezuela's vast oil reserves. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | April 2019 | ['(Brisbane Times)'] |
The execution of Mark Dean Schwab in Florida is suspended while the United States Supreme Court decides if lethal injection is unconstitutional. | Mark Dean Schwab, convicted in 1992 of raping and murdering an 11-year-old boy, was due for execution on Thursday.
The Supreme Court is considering a case brought by two inmates in Kentucky who argue the lethal injection drugs may cause pain and so are unconstitutional.
Florida uses the same cocktail of drugs as is challenged in the Kentucky case.
Federal Judge Anne Corway, in Miami, ruled Schwab's execution must be stayed "for a relatively short time until the Supreme Court renders its judgement".
The Kentucky case hinges on the argument that the drugs used in lethal injection violate a constitutional ban on "cruel and unusual punishment".
The standard method is a combination of three chemicals - one which makes the inmate unconscious, another that paralyses all muscles except the heart, and a final drug which stops the heart, causing death.
Schwab's execution was the first to be scheduled in Florida since the botched lethal injection of Angel Diaz last December.
He was left grimacing for more than 30 minutes after the drugs missed his vein, prompting a seven-month moratorium while the process was reviewed. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | November 2007 | ['(BBC)'] |
The Court of Appeal in Kyiv, Ukraine, rules to release Volodymyr Tsemakh, a person of interest in the case of the downed Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. President of Russia Vladimir Putin says both countries are finalizing negotiations on a "rather large–scale" prisoner exchange. | A court in Kyiv has released Volodymyr Tsemakh, a "person of interest" to investigators in the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17) five years ago, as Russian President Vladimir Putin said a prisoner swap with Ukraine is nearing completion. The Kyiv Court of Appeal handed down the ruling on September 5, saying Tsemakh should be released immediately on his own recognizance.
A Ukrainian national, Tsemakh reportedly oversaw an air-defense unit among Russia-backed separatists in a town near where the jet came down.
An international Dutch-led investigation has already concluded that the commercial airliner was shot down by a Russian-made Buk missile that was fired in territory held by Moscow-backed separatists and reiterated on September 5 that it would like to question Tsemakh over the tragedy.
“We would have liked to have speak to him and it’s going to be difficult now,” Brechtje van de Moosdijk, a spokeswoman for the Joint Investigation Team, told RFE/RL by telephone. “We would rather have him in Ukraine so we could speak to him.” The ruling comes amid talks between Moscow and Kyiv on a prisoner swap that unconfirmed reports have said includes Tsemakh.
Speaking in the eastern Russian city of Vladivostok on September 5, Putin said an agreement on a prisoner exchange “is near.”
"We are finalizing our negotiations on an exchange. I believe it will be rather large-scale, and that would be a good step forward towards normalization [of relations with Ukraine]," Putin said while attending the Eastern Economic Forum.
Sailors Detained
Kyiv is seeking the return of 24 sailors detained by Russia last year off annexed Crimea, as well as filmmaker Oleh Sentsov and others whom rights groups and the government in Kyiv say are “political prisoners” in Russia.
Tsemakh’s release also comes a day after a group of 40 members of the European Parliament wrote a letter urging Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy not to include the suspect in any deal.
The letter said Tsemakh is a “key suspect” in shooting down of flight MH17, which killed all 298 people on board.
No media source currently available
“While we understand the context within which such negotiations are taking place and the diplomatic efforts by the Ukrainian authorities to this end, Mr. Tsemakh is a suspect in the criminal investigation related to the downing of flight MH17 and his availability and testimony before the Joint Investigation Team is thus of the utmost importance for an effective prosecution by the countries involved,” the letter states. Investigators maintain the missile system used in down MH17 belonged to a Russian military unit and that it was transported from and back to Russia after being used.
Three Russians and a Ukrainian were indicted over the downing of MH17, and court proceedings in The Netherlands are scheduled for March. But the four suspects most likely will be tried in absentia.
Russia called the charges against its citizens “absolutely unfounded” and said the investigators based their findings on “dubious sources of information,” accusing them of rejecting evidence the Kremlin has provided.
Moscow has also aired its own theories on the shoot-down but never provided solid evidence.
Tsemakh is not one of the four indicted.
"The very fact that Russia came up with such a strict condition [for a prisoner swap] -- that itself incriminates the Kremlin because what does a Ukrainian separatist who has never even been a Russian citizen and has never worked in Russia have to do with it? And why have they turned him into the key link of the entire chain of the swap arrangement at the very last moment?" asked Christo Grozev, a member of an independent Bellingcat research organization which participated in the investigation of the downing of MH17.
"This may be a blow to the legitimacy of this [Dutch-led] court case from the point of view of the optics, but the court will have enough objective evidence in the case for the judge to issue an objective verdict. I think Ukraine would do well to expose all the details of the swap negotiations so that the court could also take that into account when making the decision," he added.
The Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) apprehended him on June 27 in the Donetsk regional city of Snizhne, which is held by Moscow-backed separatists and is 20 kilometers from the Russian border.
According to the Dutch-led investigation, the Buk missile was fired six kilometers south of Snizhne.
TV footage obtained by Current Time showed Tsemakh claiming that he was in charge of an antiaircraft unit and that he helped hide the missile system in July 2014.
He also shows the interviewer where the civilian airliner fell.
No media source currently available
RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service is dedicated to covering all of Ukraine, including the conflict zones and Crimea, and sets a standard for balanced reporting and high-impact investigative journalism. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Release | September 2019 | ['(RFE/RL)'] |
Twenty people are injured in China's Sichuan province following clashes with police over a proposed chemical plant, protesters and officials say. In a separate protest, riot police dispersed a group of parents who lost their children in the devastating 2008 earthquake after they tried to meet with the mayor of Deyang city to discuss compensation claims. | Around 20 people were injured in the quake-hit region of China's southwestern Sichuan province following clashes with police over a proposed chemical plant, protesters and officials said.
Separately, riot police dispersed a protest by parents who lost their children in the devastating 2008 earthquake, they said."We have been terribly treated here," said an eyewitness surnamed Chen from the quake-hit town of Mianzhu, which has already seen clashes between police and parents whose children were killed under collapsed school buildings during the devastating May 12 earthquake."They have been beating us up and detaining us today," Chen said. "There were about 200-300 police vehicles here today."He said the riot police forced the villagers to abandon a sit-in at the proposed site for a chemical plant in protest at the sale of their land for the project, for which they say they have received no compensation."There must have been at least 1,000 of them, and we were only a small group of about 200 to 300 people," Chen added.A second villager at the scene said he saw around 20 people injured during the clashes."They have detained at least 10 people, men and women," he said. "I think there were about 700 or 800 police who came.""They were all military personnel with riot shields and police batons," he added.He said some of those injured were elderly people in their sixties and seventies."They were taken to hospital after they were beaten," he added.The reports were confirmed by one doctor at the local hospital."At first there were only two injured people, and then after that there were some more," the doctor said."The injured are being sent to the Mianzhu People's Hospital. We don't really know any of the details."Official responseAn official who answered the phone at the Mianzhu municipal government offices said he had not heard the news of the clashes, which local residents said happened at the chemical plant under construction in Gongxing township."We haven't received any bulletins about this," the official said. "We don't know about this."But the Gongxing local government said it had already sent officials to the scene."Our government officials are there, dealing with this matter," said an employee who answered the phone at the Gongxing township government offices. "They've gone to the scene, I believe."A third villager said the clashes had been sparked by a dispute over the sale of land used for the chemical plant."We want to tell them that if they are going to requisition our land, then they should pay us some compensation," he said."That's why local people won't let them start work on the construction site.""They came in and started detaining people and beating them up."He said around 20 people had been injured and taken away by police."They have been taken to hospital," he said.He said the dispute was around a 500-mu (82-acre) plot of land that was sold to the developer by the local government."They never compensated us or subsidized us," he said. "They said we couldn't prove it, so this is the only option we have left.""We are trying to protect our rights."Parents detainedElsewhere in Sichuan, police detained parents of children killed in the earthquake after they tried to meet with the mayor of Deyang city to discuss compensation claims on Monday.Around 80 parents from the surrounding countryside traveled to the city to support the petition, only to be met by around 100 riot police, a bereaved parent surnamed Li said."The police divided up the group of parents, and ... detained some of them," Li said. "The rest were told to scatter by the police, and left the scene.""There were a lot of police in those vehicles," he said. "There were a dozen or so police to each person they detained.""Everyone scattered," he added.A parent surnamed Fan said he had left the scene after police arrived. "There were a lot of police, and we didn't want trouble, so we left," he said."They saw there were a lot of us, and they warned us not to go through with the petition, and that we could go to jail if we carried on making a fuss."Another woman said the police response was similar whenever the parents tried to protest."They always detain one or two people," she said. "They are trying to frighten us, and suppress us, and bully the people."Parents who lost children when school buildings collapsed in the earthquake have called for an inquiry into alleged shoddy construction, amid continuing official pressure and warnings not to talk to foreign media. Parents from worst-hit Dujiangyan have also said they are being followed, threatened, and prevented from lodging official complaints in Beijing and with higher authorities.Sichuan authorities have already jailed one activist, writer Tan Zuoren, after he carried out an independent investigation into the children’s deaths and published it online.Chinese officials report thousands of "mass incidents" across the country every year, many of which are protests or sit-ins linked to forced evictions, allegations of corruption, and disputes over rural land sales. | Protest_Online Condemnation | January 2011 | ['(Radio Free Asia)'] |
Israeli Defense Forces advance on Gaza City and engage in urban warfare with Hamas militants. | Israeli troops have entered the suburbs of Gaza City and are engaged in street fighting with militants, reports say.
Witnesses said Israeli special forces had advanced several hundred metres into several neighbourhoods and that intense gunfire could be heard.
Earlier, Israeli planes attacked more targets in Gaza as Israel's offensive against Hamas entered an 18th day.
A UN watchdog meanwhile accused Israel of showing a "manifest disrespect" for the protection of children in Gaza.
The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child said more than 40% of those killed in Gaza were women or children, even though the Israeli government had signed a UN protocol condemning attacks on places where children were likely to be present.
The attacks would have a severe emotional and psychological effect on an entire generation of children in Gaza, it added.
A Palestinian human rights group earlier said more than 90,000 people had fled their homes during the conflict.
Palestinian medical officials say more than 40 people were killed on Tuesday, and that the emergency services have been unable to reach many of the areas targeted by the Israeli military.
They say that since the offensive began on 27 December, 971 people have been killed in Gaza - of whom 311 were children and 76 were women - and more than 4,400 people have been injured.
Thirteen Israelis have died, three of them civilians, Israel says.
Despite the Israeli offensive, militants in Gaza have kept up rocket attacks on southern Israel. The Israeli army said on Tuesday that 25 mortars and rockets had been fired out of Gaza and that Israeli war planes had carried out more than 50 air strikes since the morning.
Israel says it will not call off its offensive until it has stopped the rocket attacks and prevented arms being smuggled into Gaza.
Talat Jad, a resident of the Gaza City suburb of Tal al-Hawa, said he and 15 members of his family had gathered in one room of their house, too frightened to look out of the window.
"We even silenced our mobile phones because we were afraid the soldiers in the tanks could hear them," he said.
Analysts say Israel may be holding back from all-out urban warfare in Gaza City.
Intense street fighting could complicate truce efforts and cause heavy casualties on both sides, which they say would be a politically risky move less than a month before Israel's parliamentary election.
Diplomatic efforts to achieve a ceasefire are continuing in Cairo, where Egyptian mediators are pressing Hamas - which controls the Gaza Strip - to accept a truce proposal.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak also made an unannounced visit on Tuesday to Saudi Arabia, where he discussed the situation with King Abdullah.
The BBC's Magdi Abdelhadi in Cairo says the meeting indicates that Egypt is seeking Saudi Arabia's help in persuading Hamas to accept a ceasefire.
Earlier, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said any agreement would have to entail a halt to Israeli attacks, a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces and the opening of border crossings to end the blockade of Gaza.
However, the Israeli foreign ministry said there was no guarantee that Hamas would respect any ceasefire agreement.
Hospital visit
Earlier, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Jakob Kellenberger, visited Gaza to see the humanitarian situation for himself.
Speaking on a tour of Gaza's main hospital, Mr Kellenberger said he had been saddened by what he had witnessed.
"I wanted to see this hospital and I can only say this is really very sad and it hurts a lot when you see what I've just seen," he said.
Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said the military operation would continue in order to stop Hamas rockets being fired into Israel and to prevent arms smuggling into Gaza.
"We are working towards those two goals while at the same time keeping an eye on the diplomatic initiatives," he said during a tour of an Israeli air force base.
Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. Jakob Kellenberge, International Red Cross: 'The medical mission has to be protected'
Meanwhile, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas accused Israel of trying to "wipe out" his people.
"This is the 18th day of the Israeli aggression against our people, which has become more ferocious each day as the number of victims rises," he said.
"Israel is keeping up this aggression to wipe out our people over there."
US Secretary of State-designate Hillary Clinton said in her Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday that the Obama administration would make "every effort" to forge Israeli-Palestinian peace.
"The president-elect and I understand and are deeply sympathetic to Israel's desire to defend itself under the current conditions, and to be free of shelling by Hamas rockets," she said.
"However, we have also been reminded of the tragic humanitarian costs of conflict in the Middle East and pained by the suffering of Palestinian and Israeli civilians."
The Al-Mizan Centre for Human Rights, a Palestinian group, said that more than 90,000 people had abandoned their homes to escape the Israeli bombardment.
About 31,000 of them were staying at UN-run schools in Gaza City, which were full, and in the Jabaliya and Shati refugee camps, the group said. The other 60,000 are staying with neighbours and relatives.
UN mission
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is due in the region on Wednesday for talks to try to end the fighting.
His diplomatic tour will include meetings with the leaders of Egypt, Israel and Syria, as well as with Mr Abbas in the West Bank town of Ramallah.
However, UN officials say he will not be meeting representatives of Hamas, and it is not clear whether he will go to Gaza itself during his week-long trip.
Both Hamas and Israel rejected last week's UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire.
Israel is preventing international journalists from entering Gaza, making it impossible to independently to confirm casualty figures. | Armed Conflict | January 2009 | ['(BBC News)'] |
Gunmen open fire at a mosque in the village of Dogo Dawa in the Nigerian state of Kaduna, killing at least 20 people. | Gunmen have killed at least 20 people in a dawn attack in a remote village prone to bandit attacks, in northern Nigeria's Kaduna State, reports say.
Residents of Dogo Dawa said the attackers stormed the village, shooting and stabbing anyone in sight.
Many of those targeted were worshippers leaving a mosque.
No group has yet admitted the attack. Some reports suggested it may have been linked to a running feud between villagers and bandits.
After attacking the Mosque-goers, the raiders moved to the house of a community chief and killed him too.
State Information Commissioner Saidu Adamu told the BBC a gang of robbers who have been terrorising the area are likely to have carried out the attack.
Reports suggested the gang had tried to attack the village recently, but had been repelled by a vigilante group. But some of the bandits were killed in the process and had threatened a revenge attack.
And Abdullahi Muhammad, traditional ruler and councillor of Birnin Gwari, a local government area next to the village, was also quoted by Reuters as saying the main suspects were bandits.
"We are suspecting a reprisal attack by gangs of armed robbers who lost some of their members after a recent exchange of fire with the villagers and the vigilantes," he said.
"The village had been terrorised by an armed group operating from camps in the forest. These armed men mostly attack villages and motorists along the busy Kaduna to Lagos highway."
Community leaders said they had informed the police that they had been warned, in writing, of a revenge attack - but that police had done nothing, the BBC's Tomi Oladipo reports from Nigeria.
Police refused to comment on the claim.
Kaduna lies on the dividing line between Nigeria's largely Christian south and mainly Muslim north.
It is one of the areas where conflict between rival religious and ethnic groups has claimed many hundreds of lives. It is plagued by an insurgency led by the militant Islamist sect Boko Haram.
The group has often targeted security forces, government officials and Christians, but has sometimes attacked Muslims who do not follow its hardline brand of Islam.
| Armed Conflict | October 2012 | ['(BBC)'] |
Lazarus Chakwera has been elected President with 58.57% of the votes. | Malawi’s opposition leader Dr Lazarus Chakwera has won the fresh presidential election, Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) chairperson Justice Chifundo Kachale announces Saturday evening.
Kachale, a judge of the High Court, declared Chakwera duly elected and is now president-elect.
He defeated incumbent Peter Mutharika with 58.57% of the vote in Tuesday’s poll, the electoral commission announced late on Saturday.
Celebrations have broken out in the capital, Lilongwe.
Chakwera of Malawi Congress Party (MCP) won the elections on his second attempt to reach the presidency, after a campaign dominated by the country’s faltering economy.
| Government Job change - Election | June 2020 | ['(Nyasa Times)'] |
Dame Helen Mirren, speaking as she received an award in Beverly Hills, USA, criticises the intentions of Hollywood filmmakers who "worship at the altar of the 18– to 25–year–old male and his penis". | Helen Mirren used a Beverly Hills awards breakfast as her cue to lash out at Hollywood sexism, lamenting the fate of female actors and accusing the industry of worshipping "at the altar of the 18 to 25-year-oldmale and his penis". Neither, it seemed, was she much impressed with her reputation as a sixtysomething sex symbol. It was, she said, "bloody irrelevant".
The Oscar-winning actor was presented with the Sherry Lansing leadership award at a ceremony, organised by the Hollywood Reporter magazine, to honour the 100 most powerful women in entertainment. "With all due respect to you many brilliant and successful women in this room, not much has changed in Hollywood film-making that continues to worship at the altar of the 18 to 25-year-old male and his penis," Mirren said. "Quite small, I always think."
Earlier this year, Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman to win the Academy award for best director, heralding a potential sea change within the industry. But Mirren pointed out that, for female actors, the prognosis remains bleak. "I resent in my life the survival of some very mediocre male actors and the professional demise of some very brilliant female ones," she said.
Later, in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, the actor poured scorn on her sex-symbol image. "We have to let go of this crap," she insisted. "It creates even more pressure on women and I certainly don't want to be a part of that ... I'm not beautiful. I clean up nice ... [But] the fact that I look good at the age I am is bloody irrelevant."
Mirren, now 65, won the 2006 best actress Oscar for her turn in The Queen and was nominated again this year for The Last Station. She recently appeared as a gun-toting CIA grande dame in Red, opposite Bruce Willis, and will next be seen in Rowan Joffe's 1960s-set adaptation of Brighton Rock. | Awards ceremony | December 2010 | ['(BBC)', '(The Guardian)', '(The Daily Telegraph)'] |
Chris Watts of Frederick, Colorado, is sentenced to three consecutive terms of life in prison without the possibility of parole for killing his pregnant wife Shanann and their two young daughters. | Updated on: November 19, 2018 / 3:55 PM
/ CBS/AP
DENVER — A Colorado man was sentenced to life without parole Monday after pleading guilty to murdering his pregnant wife and their two young daughters in August and dumping their bodies on an oil work site. Christopher Watts pleaded guilty on Nov. 6 to three charges of murder in the deaths of his wife, Shanann Watts, and their young daughters Bella and Celeste.
He also pleaded guilty to two counts of murdering a child, one count of unlawful termination of a pregnancy in the death of the child's unborn son and three counts of tampering with a deceased human body.
Calling the crime the most "inhumane and vicious" he had seen in his career, a judge sentenced Watts to consecutive terms of life without parole for each of the killings and to another consecutive sentence of 48 years in the killing of the unborn child, whom the couple called Nico. Watts received additional 12-year sentences on evidence tampering counts.
Prosecutors have said they agreed not to seek the death penalty in exchange for Watts' guilty plea, after seeking approval from Shanann Watts' family. First-degree murder charges in Colorado require a minimum sentence of life without a chance at parole for adults.
Members of Shanann Watts' family gave emotional testimony during the hearing Monday. Shanann Watts' father called Chris Watts an "evil monster."
"How dare you take the lives of my daughter, Bella, Celeste and Nico," Frank Rzucek said. "I trusted you to take care of them, not kill them."
Shanann Watts' mother Sandy Rzucek told Christopher Watts her daughter loved him "with all of her heart" and that her granddaughters "adored you and also trusted you." She referenced a video of Bella, shared widely on social media after the killings, showing the child singing a song about how her father is her hero.
"I have no idea who gave you the right to take their lives," Sandy Rzucek said. "But I know God and his mighty angels were there at that moment to bring them home to paradise."
Rzucek said she asked the district attorney not to pursue the death penalty "because that's not my right. Your life is between you and God. Now and I pray that he has mercy for you."
Christopher Watts, who appeared emotional during the testimony, elected not to speak. He is represented by the Office of the Colorado State Public Defender. A lawyer for Watts gave a brief statement on his behalf: "Although he understands words are hollow at this point, he is truly sorry for all of this."
Judge Marcelo Kopcow ruled Thursday that Christopher Watts' parents are considered victims of the crime because they are the girls' grandparents. Victims are allowed to give a statement or provide written comments during sentencing hearings in Colorado. Christopher Watts' mother cried as she spoke, saying that she is "united in grief" with Shanann Watts' family over the killings. She turned to Christopher Watts and told him that she loved him, sobbing.
Through a lawyer, Christopher Watts' family encouraged him to make a full confession. Weld County District Attorney Michael Rourke said it's likely he will never give a truthful account of what happened and why he carried out the killings.
Rourke said Watts strangled his wife to death with his hands in an "uncontrolled, vengeful manner" after an argument.
"The horror that she felt as the man she loved wrapped his hands around her throat and choked the life out of her must have been unimaginable," Rourke said.
He then smothered the girls, 3 and 4, Rourke said. Defensive wounds on Bella Watts' body showed that the child fought for her life, Rourke said.
Afterwards, Watts transported the bodies in a truck to the oil work site, on property owned by the company Christopher Watts worked for until his arrest. He disposed of the remains separately, Rourke said: "He ensured they would not be together — even in death."
The girls' bodies were found submerged in two different oil tanks, and Shanann Watts' body was found buried nearby in a shallow grave.
A friend asked police to check on Shanann Watts on Aug. 13 when she could not reach her and grew concerned that the 34-year-old who was pregnant with a third child missed a doctor's appointment. Local police initially handled the search and soon sought support from Colorado investigators and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Meanwhile, Christopher Watts spoke to local television reporters from the front porch of the family's home in Frederick; a small town on the plains north of Denver where drilling rigs and oil wells surround booming subdivisions. Watts pleaded for his family to return home, telling reporters their house felt empty without four-year-old Bella and three-year-old Celeste watching cartoons or running to greet him at the door.
Within days, the 33-year-old was arrested and charged with killing his family.
According to court records, Watts admitted to police that he killed his wife. Watts told investigators that he strangled her in "a rage" when he discovered she had strangled their two daughters after he sought a separation.
Prosecutors have since called Watts' account "a flat-out lie."
Police also learned that Christopher Watts was having an affair with a coworker. Watts had denied that before being arrested.
Watts' girlfriend said last week he had misled her from day one, telling her his divorce was almost final. "He's a liar," Nichol Kessinger told the Denver Post. "He lied about everything."
After the killings, Rourke said, Christopher Watts texted frequently with the girlfriend, called a realtor and also took steps to cover his tracks by telling staff at the girls' school that they would no longer be enrolled there.
The killings captured the attention of media across the country and became the focus of true crime blogs and online video channels, aided by dozens of family photos and videos that Shanann Watts shared on social media showing the smiling couple spending time with their children and each other.
Courts records, though, showed the couple's lifestyle caused financial strain at times. They filed for bankruptcy in June 2015, six months after Christopher Watts was hired as an operator for the large oil and gas driller Anadarko Petroleum at an annual salary of about $61,500. At the time, Shanann Watts was working in a children's hospital call center for $18 per hour.
They reported total earnings of $90,000 in 2014 but $70,000 in unsecured claims along with a mortgage of nearly $3,000. The claims included thousands of dollars in credit card debt, some student loans and medical bills.
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | November 2018 | ['(CBS News)'] |
British Prime Minister David Cameron, under pressure from Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn and the Foreign Affairs Committee, will not ask for a vote by Parliament to join the U.S. airstrikes in Syria. | British Prime Minister David Cameron reportedly has dropped plans for a parliamentary vote on expanding airstrikes against the Islamic State into Syria, in the latest blow to President Obama's attempts to form a stronger coalition against the Islamic terror group.
Though the U.K. has joined the U.S. in conducting airstrikes against ISIS in Iraq since 2014, multiple U.K. media outlets including The Guardian and The Times of London reported Cameron was hoping to put a vote forward in the House of Commons on joining the U.S. as the Obama administration seeks to regain its foothold amid a surging Russian presence. Those outlets report Cameron has since shelved the move.
A Foreign Affairs Committee report issued Tuesday also urged Cameron not to join the airstrikes unless there was a "coherent international strategy" that can realistically defeat ISIS.
"In the absence of such a strategy, taking action to meet the desire to do something is still incoherent," the report said.
Additionally, Cameron has found himself under pressure from the new hard-left leader of the U.K.'s Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn.
Corbyn, the former chairman of the "Stop the War Coalition," has brought a strong isolationist voice to the main party of opposition, which some analysts believe has been the key factor in Cameron's decision to shelve the vote as it has discouraged Labour MPs who would normally back military intervention from doing so.
"I think Corbyn is the single biggest factor driving the prime minister's decision," Nile Gardiner, director of the Heritage Foundation's Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom, told FoxNews.com. "Corbyn has taken the Labour Party down an extreme far-left route and the Labour Party now is increasingly against almost any kind of overseas British military intervention."
An official with Number 10 Downing Street, though, told FoxNews.com that Cameron's position "hasn't changed" and that the government is still trying to build consensus.
"He has consistently said we'd only go back to the issue if there was clear consensus and that remains the case," the official said. "Meanwhile the government continues to work to bring the conflict to an end in Syria and we are working closely with our allies to inject greater momentum into efforts to find a political situation which we've always said will be the way to bring this war to an end and give Syria hope for the future."
Gardiner called the latest developments in London "very bad news" for the White House.
"This is without a doubt a huge blow to the U.S.-led international coalition in Iraq and Syria," Gardiner said. "Although Britain will continue to play a role in terms of airstrikes in Iraq, Syria is really emerging as the main battleground and so the British move significantly undermines the U.S. position and makes it far harder to build a powerful U.S.-led coalition for military action inside Syria."
The lack of commitment from U.K. leadership is the latest hit to Obama's efforts, just days after he authorized sending dozens of Special Operations Forces to Syria to help advise local ground troops and coalition efforts as part of a broader strategy to revitalize the struggling campaign against ISIS.
Canada, another key U.S. ally, has also wavered on committing military might to the war-torn nation. Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who was sworn into office Wednesday after his election victory in October, has committed to withdrawing fighter jets from the anti-ISIS fight in both Iraq and Syria.
In response, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest praised Canada's "important contribution" to the anti-ISIS effort and expressed hope that "we can continue to count on their ongoing support for this very important mission."
Obama also faced scrutiny over his Syria strategy at home Wednesday, as a House Foreign Affairs Committee grilled two top U.S. diplomats about concerns the administration's policy was too limited amid growing Russian intervention.
During the hearing, Ambassador Anne Patterson, assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, told lawmakers that the Russians had exacerbated the situation and that 80-90 percent of Russian airstrikes were hitting moderate rebels and not ISIS targets.
Rep. Ed Royce, R-California, chairman of the committee, blasted U.S. policy as "tepid."
"A diplomatic solution is only possible with a strong, coherent, moderate opposition that can serve as a bridge from Assad to a new post-conflict government. Yet the administration has done little to help the opposition. Its feeble train-and-equip program is now defunct," Royce said, adding that "no-one believes" the special forces would be decisive.
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For decades, the Feres Doctrine has kept active-duty military personnel from suing the government.
Gen. David Berger told Congress that the service has trimmed assets and people and needs full funding to ensure readiness.
The North Carolina House wants to exempt military retiree pay from state income taxes for more veterans in North Carolina.
The VA and the Department of Housing and Urban Development are bracing for the end of the moratorium on June 30.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday said Washington and Moscow would start consultations on cybersecurity.
U.S. President Joe Biden described his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin as "good, positive."
Israel's military says a Palestinian woman attempted to ram her car into soldiers in the West Bank.
Since March 2020, many elements of the National Guard have been tasked with a large list of domestic missions.
| Government Policy Changes | November 2015 | ['(Military.com)'] |
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres warns Israel to use "extreme caution" as further protests are held at the Gazan border. Israeli Defence Forces open fire again, killing at least seven Palestinians. | Renewed violence comes despite call by UN secretary general urging Israeli forces to use ‘extreme caution’
First published on Fri 6 Apr 2018 12.14 BST
At least nine Palestinian men have been killed and scores more injured by Israeli gunfire on the Gaza border, a week after 18 Palestinians were killed at similar demonstrations. The renewed violence came despite a call by the UN secretary general, António Guterres for Israel to exercise “extreme caution”. His appeal was echoed by the UN human rights spokeswoman Elizabeth Throssell who said unjustified recourse to live fire could amount to wilful killing of civilians – a breach of the fourth Geneva convention.
Figures for the dead and injured were supplied by the Hamas-controlled health ministry in Gaza and a website associated with the group. The most seriously injured had reportedly been shot in the head or upper body. Another Palestinian who had been injured in last week’s protests also died on Friday from his wounds.
On Saturday morning, the health ministry in Gaza said a Palestinian journalist shot by Israeli forces had died. Yasser Murtaja, a photographer with the Gaza-based Ain Media agency, was hit during clashes Friday. Another man, 20-year-old Hamza Abdel Aal, has also died after being shot, the ministry said, taking the death toll in Friday’s clashes to nine. The deaths came as thousands of protesters streamed towards a series of protest camps along the border for a demonstration calling for Palestinian refugees’ right of return.
Under the cover of smoke from burning tyres, dozens of protesters approached the fence in one area, despite warnings by the Israeli military that those who did so risked their lives. Justifying its response, the Israeli military said: “Several attempts have been made to damage and cross the security fence under the cover of the smokescreen created by the burning tyres that the rioters ignited.”
Later on Friday, the Hamas leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, visited the Khuza’a camp, receiving a hero’s welcome. Sinwar told the crowd that the world should “wait for our great move, when we breach the borders and pray at al-Aqsa”, referring to the mosque in Jerusalem which is the third holiest site in Islam.
His address appeared to be the first time a Hamas leader specifically threatened to break through the border, something Israel has said it would not allow at any price.
Among those wounded was Mohammed Ashour, 20, who was shot in the right arm. “We came here because we want dignity,” he told reporters from his stretcher before paramedics carried him to an ambulance.
Fresh violence had been widely anticipated after the protests on 30 March, when thousands of Gaza residents participated in the demonstrations, many gathering in five tented encampments that had been set up from north to south along the narrow coastal strip’s border with Israel.
According to reports in the Israeli media, the Israel Defence Forces had been anticipating that as many as 50,000 demonstrators could participate on Friday, with the rules of engagement allowing live fire to be used against anyone who approached the border fence.
A Guardian reporter at the demonstrations, however, suggested a far lower turnout than last week, when about 30,000 people demonstrated. Among those who turned up was Ali Bakroun, 19. “I came here with my friends to fly the kite we made this week,” he said. “I wrote our names on it. We got close to the fence to throw stones but we stayed in a low place so we would be under cover. I’m not afraid to be shot or killed because our land deserves our lives.”
In a statement, the Israeli military underlined its determination to prevent any protesters approaching close to the fence. “The IDF will not allow any breach of the security infrastructure and fence, which protects Israeli civilians, and will act against those who are involved in these attacks,” it said.
Guterres issued a statement from the UN saying: “I particularly urge Israel to exercise extreme caution with the use of force in order to avoid casualties. Civilians must be able to exercise their right to demonstrate peacefully. I call upon all parties on the ground to avoid confrontation and exercise maximum restraint.”
The Gaza Strip’s border with Israel is highly sensitive for both sides. Overseen in places by observation balloons, in other places the border consists of a double fence and an Israeli security road.
As tensions mounted on Friday, Israeli forces fired teargas that landed inside the encampment near the large agricultural village of Khuza’a, briefly sending people fleeing.
Yehia Abu Daqqa, a 20-year-old student, said he had come to demonstrate and honour those killed in the past. “Yes, there is fear,” he said of the risks of advancing toward the fence. “We are here to tell the occupation that we are not weak.”
Friday’s march was the second in what Gaza’s Hamas rulers have said would be a series of several weeks of protests against a decade-old blockade of the territory. Israel has accused Hamas of trying to carry out border attacks under the cover of large protests and said it would prevent a breach of the fence at all costs.
A leading Israeli rights group, B’Tselem, issued a rare appeal to Israeli soldiers to refuse “grossly illegal” orders to fire at unarmed protesters.
A White House envoy urged Palestinians to stay away from the fence. Jason Greenblatt said the US condemned “leaders and protesters who call for violence or who send protesters including children to the fence, knowing that they may be injured or killed”. | Protest_Online Condemnation | April 2018 | ['(The\xa0Guardian)'] |
The 2004 Abel Prize in mathematics is announced to be awarded to Michael F. Atiyah and Isadore M. Singer for their index theorem. | The Academy said the award recognized "their discovery and proof of the index theorem, bringing together topology, geometry and analysis, and their outstanding role in building new bridges between mathematics and theoretical physics".
"Its authors, both jointly and individually, have been instrumental in repairing a rift between the worlds of pure mathematics and theoretical particle physics, initiating a cross-fertilization which has been one of the most exciting developments of the last decades," the Academy said in a press release.
The Niels Henrik Abel Memorial Fund was established on 1 January 2002 by Norway's parliament, the Storting. The award aims to provide international recognition for outstanding scientific work in the field of mathematics. Niels Henrik Abel was a brilliant Norwegian mathematician who had an extraordinary career despite dying young and impoverished. | Awards ceremony | March 2004 | ['(Aftenposten)'] |
A 6.9 magnitude earthquake strikes Sumatra in Indonesia. | A 6.9 magnitude undersea earthquake has rocked Indonesia's Sumatra Island, triggering panic across the region.
There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage following Saturday's quake, which was centered about 50 kilometers northwest of the West Sumatra city of Padang.
Indonesia's Meteorology and Geophysics Agency said the quake struck at 12:05 p.m. (0505 UTC).
The agency said it was unlikely the quake would trigger a tsunami.
The quake prompted residents of Nias island, where about 900 people were killed in a powerful quake in late March, to run out of their homes in panic. | Earthquakes | May 2005 | ['(VOA)', '(Earth Times)'] |
A man accused of blasphemy under a new controversial law is shot dead by a gunman in the courtroom while he was standing trial for allegedly insulting Islam. The victim was part of the Ahmadiyya faith, a minority Islamic sect that Pakistan declared non-Muslim in 1974 for regarding its founder as a prophet. The suspect was a former member. | A man accused of committing blasphemy under a controversial Pakistani law has been killed while standing trial. It is the latest in a series of such extrajudicial killings in the country.
Police outside the court where a defendant was shot while on trial for blasphemy A Pakistani man was arrested on Wednesday after he entered a courtroom in the northwestern city of Peshawar and shot and killed another man who was standing trial for blasphemy.
The man on trial was facing charges of having insulted the Muslim Prophet Muhammad, an offense that carries the maximum sentence of death under the country's blasphemy laws.
The suspect told police that he had been ordered to carry out the killing by Muhammad because the accused had belonged to the Ahmadiyya faith, a minority that Pakistan declared non-Muslim in 1974 for regarding its founder, Ghulam Ahmad, as a prophet. In orthodox Islam, there can be no prophets after Muhammad.
The group, which numbers some 4 million members, has faced persecution for decades. A spokesman for the group later said that while the man was "born" an Ahmadi, he had since "left the community."
One police officer, Azmat Khan, told the Associated Press that the accused had himself claimed to be Islam's prophet and had been arrested on blasphemy charges two years ago.
Welcome pretext
Human rights groups have said Pakistan's blasphemy laws, introduced by former military ruler Ziaul Haq in the 1980s, are often used to settle personal scores, with a mere accusation often sufficing to cause riots or killings.
Although Pakistani authorities have yet to put someone to death for the offense, crowds and individuals often take the law into their own hands. More than 50 people have been victims of extrajudicial killings before their court trials had even finished.
In one prominent case, a governor in Punjab province was murdered by his own guard after he defended a Christian woman, Asia Bibi, who faced blasphemy charges. Bibi herself was acquitted after spending eight-year on death row and emigrated to Canada last year after death threats from Islamic extremists.
tj/sms (dpa, AP)
Digital media can be an opportunity for civic engagement by women, ethnic and religious minorities, and the rural poor in Pakistan, says longtime journalist Raza Rumi – but citizens will have to take the initiative. Thirty-three-year-old Junaid Hafeez was accused of insulting the Prophet Muhammad on social media. He has been imprisoned without trial for six years, with much of that time spent in solitary confinement.
Asia Bibi, a Pakistani-Christian woman, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani court on blasphemy charges in 2010. Who is Bibi, and why has her case attracted international attention? | Famous Person - Death | July 2020 | ['(DW)'] |
Ralph Nader enters the 2008 United States presidential election as an independent candidate. | WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Ralph Nader is entering the presidential race as an independent, he announced Sunday, saying it is time for a "Jeffersonian revolution."
Ralph Nader is running for president as an independent.
"In the last few years, big money and the closing down of Washington against citizen groups prevent us from trying to improve our country. And I want everybody to have the right and opportunity to improve their country," he told reporters after an appearance announcing his candidacy on NBC's "Meet the Press."
Asked why he should be president, the longtime consumer advocate said, "Because I got things done." He cited a 40-year record, which he said includes saving "millions of lives," bringing about stricter protection for food and water and fighting corporate control over Washington. Nader's decision, which did not come as a surprise to political watchers, marks his fourth straight White House bid -- fifth if his 1992 write-in campaign is included. The two contenders for the Democratic nomination were quick to pounce. "He thought that there was no difference between Al Gore and George Bush and, eight years later, I think people realize that Ralph did not know what he was talking about," Sen. Barack Obama said a town hall meeting Sunday. Watch Nader describe whom the Democrats should be "going after" »
Calling Nader's move "very unfortunate," Sen. Hillary Clinton told reporters, "I remember when he ran before. It didn't turn out very well for anybody -- especially our country."
"This time I hope it doesn't hurt anyone. I can't think of anybody that would vote for Sen. McCain who would vote for Ralph Nader," she said.
Nader was criticized by some Democrats in 2000 for allegedly pulling away support from Democrat Al Gore and helping George Bush win the White House. Noting that he ran on the Green Party ticket that year, Clinton said Nader "prevented Al Gore from being the 'greenest' president we could have had."
Nader has long rejected his portrayal as a spoiler in the presidential race. In his NBC interview Sunday, he cited the Republican Party's economic policies, the Iraq war, and other issues, saying, "If the Democrats can't landslide the Republicans this year, they ought to just wrap up, close down, emerge in a different form."
But Clinton said, "Obviously, it is not helpful to whoever our Democratic nominee is. But, you know, it is a free country."
Nader said political consultants "have really messed up Hillary Clinton's campaign."
Long-shot GOP contender Mike Huckabee said Nader's entry would probably help his party.
"I think it always would probably pull votes away from the Democrats and not the Republicans, so naturally, Republicans would welcome his entry into the race," Huckabee said Sunday on CNN.
Nader said Thomas Jefferson believed that "when you lose your government, you've got to go into the electoral arena." "A Jeffersonian revolution is needed in this country," he said. Nader told NBC that great changes in U.S. history have come "through little parties that never won any national election."
"Dissent is the mother of ascent," he said. "And in that context I've decided to run for president."
Nader, who turns 74 this week, complained about the "paralysis of the government," which he said is under the control of corporate executives and lobbyists.
Obama also criticized Nader earlier this weekend. "My sense is that Mr. Nader is somebody who, if you don't listen and adopt all of his policies, thinks you're not substantive," he told reporters when asked about Nader's possible candidacy.
"He seems to have a pretty high opinion of his own work."
Obama said Nader "is a singular figure in American politics and has done as much as just about anyone for consumers." "I don't mean to diminish that," he said. "There's a sense now that if someone's not hewing to the Ralph Nader agenda, he says they're lacking in some way."
Responding to those remarks, Nader called Obama "a person of substance" and "the first liberal evangelist in a long time" who "has run a good tactical campaign." But he accused Obama of censoring "his better instincts" on divisive issues.
Nader encouraged people to look at his campaign Web site, votenader.org, which he said discusses issues important to Americans that Obama and Sen. John McCain "are not addressing." | Government Job change - Election | February 2008 | ['(CNN)'] |
Eleven people are killed and 13 others injured after Boko Haram militants attack a security convoy taking people displaced by an insurgency back to their homes in Borno State, Nigeria. | MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Reuters) - Suspected Islamist militants killed at least 11 people in northeastern Nigeria in an attack on a security convoy that was taking people displaced by an insurgency back to their homes, police and security sources said on Saturday.
Islamic State, to whom a breakaway faction of Nigerian militant group Boko Haram pledged allegiance in 2016, said on its Amaq news agency that 30 police officers and soldiers were killed in the attack on Friday on a road leading to the strategic fishing town of Baga in Borno state.
In a statement on Saturday, Borno state police said eight police officers and three members of a government-approved militia were killed, and 13 people were wounded in the attack around noon (1100 GMT) on Friday.
Two soldiers, a police officer and a member of the government-approved militia - all speaking anonymously because they were not authorised to speak to journalists - told Reuters at least four soldiers were also killed.
Two Nigerian military spokesmen did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
President Muhammadu Buhari “urges security and intelligence agencies to intensify efforts to check sabotage, sanitize the roads, venues and locations well in advance of returning IDPs (internally displaced people)”, a statement issued by his spokesman said.
Islamist militants have forced more than 2 million people to flee their homes since 2009 when Boko Haram began an insurgency aimed at creating a state adhering to a strict interpretation of sharia law. Some 30,000 people have been killed in the conflict.
The convoy was taking people back to Baga at the start of an initiative by authorities in Borno to relocate displaced persons to their homes. Borno is the insurgency’s birthplace and the state worst hit by the conflict.
Islamic State’s West Africa Province (ISWAP) has become a dominant force in the region in recent years, targeting attacks on security forces. Boko Haram has carried out suicide bomb attacks and shooting raids on residents.
Reporting by Maiduguri Newsroom; Additional reporting by Camillus Eboh in Abuja and Omar Fahmy in Cairo, Writing by Alexis Akwagyiram, Editing by James Drummond and Grant McCool | Armed Conflict | September 2020 | ['(Reuters)'] |
Imprisoned Azerbaijani journalist Khadija Ismayilova is announced as the winner of the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize for 2016 for "her outstanding contribution to press freedom in difficult circumstances." | Imprisoned Azerbaijani journalist Khadija Ismayilova will receive a UN press award on May 3 for "her outstanding contribution to press freedom in difficult circumstances."
Ismayilova, an investigative journalist and RFE/RL contributor, was selected last month to receive the 2016 UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize.
"Khadija Ismayilova highly deserves the prize and I am happy to see that her courage and professionalism are recognized," said Ljiljana Zurovac, president of the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize 2016 Jury, on April 8.
The $25,000 prize is named in honor of Guillermo Cano Isaza, a Colombian journalist who was assassinated in front of the offices of his newspaper, El Espectador, in Bogota on December 17, 1986.
Ismayilova is currently in prison on embezzlement and tax-evasion charges that rights groups and Western governments have criticized as political retribution for her reports on corruption involving senior government officials and their relatives.
RFE/RL journalists report the news in 27 languages in 23 countries where a free press is banned by the government or not fully established. We provide what many people cannot get locally: uncensored news, responsible discussion, and open debate. | Awards ceremony | May 2016 | ['(Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)'] |
USAID announces the Trump administration dedicated $169 million to feed people facing starvation in Ethiopia and Kenya, adding to earlier assistance for those suffering from drought and conflict in the region. | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration gave $169 million to feed people facing starvation in Ethiopia and Kenya, USAID said on Thursday, adding to earlier assistance for those suffering from drought and conflict in four other nations.
USAID, the U.S. government’s humanitarian relief agency, said in a statement that it had provided $137 million in aid for Ethiopia and nearly $33 million for Kenya.
The latest funding comes after Trump pledged $639 million last month in urgent food assistance for Somalia, South Sudan, Nigeria and Yemen.
Increased aid comes as numerous countries in the region face crisis-level food shortages due to armed conflict, prolonged drought and economic upheaval that have also resulted in a lack of medical care, sanitation, shelter and safety.
Meteorologists have blamed a series of severe back-to-back droughts in Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa region on fluctuations in ocean temperatures known as the Indian Ocean Dipole. While rain is expected early next year in Somalia it is unlikely to offer immediate relief.
“With this new funding, the United States is scaling up emergency food assistance, while providing specialized nutrition supplies to treat malnourished children, and also furnishing safe drinking water and essential health services,” USAID’s statement said.
The funds for Kenya would help support refugees fleeing neighboring conflicts as well as Kenyans suffering from drought, the agency said. Rising food prices in Kenya have also been an ongoing concern.
The assistance for Ethiopia, which has also been struck by a severe drought, included enough food to feed 3 million people, USAID added.
While the hardest-hit area in Somali region of eastern Ethiopia is not plagued by conflict, it is remote with poor infrastructure and hard to reach.
“It is not a famine but it is rising up to the levels of getting close to famine,” said Matt Nims, acting director of Food for Peace at USAID. “That is why we want to act now so that we’re not into that stage.”
According to the United Nations, 795 million people worldwide are undernourished, mostly in developing countries. It has already warned of mass starvation in Yemen, Nigeria, Somalia and South Sudan.
Last month, The United Nations said that while many people in South Sudan are still going hungry, the worst of the famine had eased.
In Yemen, a two-year war has increased concerns about mass starvation and disease.
| Government Policy Changes | August 2017 | ['(Reuters)'] |
Bulgaria elects Members of the European Parliament for the first time, the three top parties each possibly receiving five deputies. The narrow winner of the elections is the opposition Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria. | SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgaria’s opposition narrowly won European Parliament elections on Sunday, sending a warning shot to the Socialist-led government that it needs to get serious about fighting crime and corruption, analysts said.
The ruling coalition, which was caught in a graft scandal after the country joined the EU in January, polled about 48 percent of the vote, way below the almost two thirds it got in general elections in 2005, preliminary results showed on Monday.
“It is obvious that people want more radical action from the government,” Gallup analyst Kancho Stoichev said. “It will now probably start to act more actively against corruption.”
The Socialists of Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev even came second in the number of the votes cast, 21.41 percent or about a third less than two years before, behind new rightist GERB party of Sofia mayor Boiko Borissov with 21.69 percent.
Stanishev called the vote results “unpleasant”.
“It is clear that after the EU entry people expect more: they expect stronger economic growth, higher incomes,” he said on Sunday evening.
“The Bulgarian citizens can be sure we are reading the signs they are giving to us and that we will really do a serious analysis and take actions,” he said.
The vote came after Bulgaria and neighboring Romania joined the European Union in January, following a last-minute rush to reform communist-era judiciary and state institutions.
Both countries are at risk of sanctions from the bloc, possibly soon after a June 27 progress report from Brussels, as fading momentum for reform is raising talk among some member states that the two were admitted too soon.
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How the government and judiciary handle the graft scandal, involving the economy minister and the country’s top investigator, is regarded as a litmus test of its willingness to root out abuse.
“The corruption scandal has not ended yet and the tendencies for negative attitude towards the government will continue, if it does not take fundamental measures,” commentator Ivan Garelov wrote in Sofia’s daily Novinar.
Ognyan Shentov, who heads the Sofia-based Center for the Study of Democracy, said the government remained strong but now needed to reshuffle the cabinet.
“But is should be done soon and be used effectively,” he said.
GERB, Socialists and their government allies from the ethnic Turkish MRF party should all win five of Bulgaria’s 18 seats in the European Parliament.
The rest will be divided between the junior ruling coalition partner, the centrist NMS of former king Simeon Saxe-Coburg which bore the brunt of voter dissatisfaction, and the nationalist Attack party. | Government Job change - Election | May 2007 | ['(Reuters)'] |
Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith defeats Democratic candidate Mike Espy in a run off election in Mississippi. | Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith defeated challenger Mike Espy, a Democrat, in the runoff election for the U.S. Senate in Mississippi, CBS News projects. Hyde-Smith was appointed earlier this year by GOP Gov. Phil Bryant after Sen. Thad Cochran, also a Republican, stepped down. Hyde-Smith is the first woman elected to the Senate from Mississippi, and the Republican majority in the Senate will grow to 53-47.
Espy, her opponent, is a former congressman and former agriculture secretary.
Hyde-Smith and Espy advanced to a run-off because neither won 50 percent of the vote in the general election on Nov. 6. Hyde-Smith won 41.2 percent, compared to Espy's 40.8 percent, and Republican Chris McDaniel picked up 16.5 percent.
President Trump endorsed Hyde-Smith, and visited Mississippi on Monday for two rallies supporting her campaign.
HISTORY: With @CindyHydeSmith's win in the Mississippi runoff election, 24 women will serve in the U.S. Senate - a new record. 17 Democratic women and 7 Republican women will serve alongside 76 men.
Nicole Sganga contributed to this report.
Hyde-Smith thanked her supporters, and credited the state's conservative values for her victory.
"This win tonight, this victory, it's about our conservative values," she said at her election party in Jackson. "It's about the things that mean the most to all of us Mississippians: Our faith, our family. But it's those things that I will take to Washington, D.C., that I want to represent all of Mississippians with these values. And I will fight for it, I assure you, every single day. I am your warrior."
And she spoke with reporters briefly after she addressed supporters. She said that nothing in this race has discouraged her from running for office in the future, and she identified prison reform and the economy as issues she'll focus on in Washington.
Given the partisanship that infected the Senate campaign, Hyde-Smith was asked how she will represent all Mississippians.
"The reason I was elected tonight -- because the people in Mississippi, they know me, and they know that I'm going to represent everybody. I always have; that's always been the case."
She pointed out, "This is not my first race. This is the sixth race that I have won. I've been on the ballot five times before this. Mississippians know me. Other people try to turn it into something that it's not, and they don't believe them. They know who I am. I've been around awhile, and I have a long, very good history -- very good record of public service. They know who I am."
Espy said in a statement, "While this is not the result we were hoping for, I am proud of the historic campaign we ran and grateful for the support we received across Mississippi." He vowed that tonight's election "is the beginning, not the end" and promised that "we are not going to stop moving our state forward just because of one election. I look forward to finding new ways to do just that."
"She has my prayers as she goes to Washington to unite a very divided Mississippi," says Mike Espy after his opponent Cindy Hyde-Smith wins Senate runoff.After defeating her Democratic challenger, President Trump tweeted his congratulations to Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith. "We are all very proud of you," he wrote.
Congratulations to Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith on your big WIN in the Great State of Mississippi. We are all very proud of you!
Polls closed in Mississippi at 8 p.m. ET. Districts will report to the secretary of state as they tally the final results in their respective districts.
President Trump told the Washington Post in an interview Tuesday that he was optimistic about Hyde-Smith's chances after holding two campaign rallies in Mississippi on Monday.
"Based on the enthusiasm we saw there I think we're going to do very well, but we'll see," he said.
However, Mr. Trump complained that regardless of the result, he would be treated unfairly.
"I know one thing: If she loses, I'll be blamed, and if she wins, I'll be given no credit. That's the only thing I know," he said.
Republican voters in Mississippi may not be thrilled with Hyde-Smith as a candidate, but they are coalescing behind her as the GOP candidate in the race.
"She's a Republican, I guess," said Jerry Smith, a grandfather and longtime Mississippi resident, about why he was voting for Hyde-Smith. He was not deterred by the backlash to her racially-tinged comments about being willing to attend a "public hanging."
"I think it's been overblown," Smith said over a simmering plate of Chinese food at the Edgewater Mall in Biloxi. "But I ask myself sometimes, which are the two of the least evil -- which of the two are the least evil. I'm voting for Smith. I just think she's the less of the two evils."
Betty Lechman, a Biloxi-area resident of five decades, told CBS News' Kathryn Watson that she would vote for Hyde-Smith because she was a Republican.
"But like I said, neither one of them, I wish I had somebody else to vote for. But it's not going to happen," Lechman added. "All the mud-slinging. I don't like mud-slinging and both of them are doing that."
Her friend, Marion Cranmer, also a retired longtime Mississippi resident, agreed.
"There's been too much mud-slinging," Cranmer said, frustrated. "You just wonder sometimes what you hear about her whether some of it's not true. But, it just kind of puts you on the fence. I don't like either one of them."
As of Monday, Cranmer wasn't sure if she'd be voting. But, "if you don't vote for her, it's a vote for him," she added.
Dianne Swennumson, an Espy supporter, said that she wasn't confident about the Democratic candidate's chances. She and her husband have supported Republicans in the past but say they're appalled by Mr. Trump's rhetoric and behavior. Swennumson was always planning to vote for Espy, but felt more certain about her decision after Hyde-Smith's "public hanging" comment.
"I think he has a chance but I think this is Mississippi," Swennumson said. "I wish we could be like Alabama who had enough with Roy Moore, you know. I really didn't think that was going to happen but it did, and it could be."
"I'll be totally shocked if Espy wins," Swennumson added.
Reporting by Kathryn Watson
Espy and Hyde-Smith spoke to reporters after voting on Tuesday. Espy said that while African Americans are nearly 40 percent of the population, he knew he would need the support of some white voters in order to win.
"If only African Americans come out to vote for m, even if they come out in record numbers, I won't win," he said. He said that he talked to white voters "as Mississippians."
Hyde-Smith told reporters after voting that President Trump's rallies in the state on Monday were "wonderful."
"We all worked real hard," she said about her campaign.
As agriculture secretary, Espy was forced to resign from the Clinton administration when questions were raised about whether he had received improper gifts. He was later indicted but ultimately acquitted on all charges.
Espy has also been criticized by Hyde-Smith's campaign for misstating the payment he collected from a lobbying contract with Ivory Coast ex-President Laurent Gbagbo.
Hyde-Smith has faced a backlash over comments she made earlier this month. She was captured on video praising a supporter by saying, "If he invited me to a public hanging, I'd be on the front row." Hyde-Smith and her campaign initially dismissed the comment as a bad joke. She later apologized "to anyone who was offended."
The reaction to Hyde-Smith's comments was especially strong because Mississippi has a history of racially motivated lynchings. According to the NAACP website, there were 4,743 lynchings in the U.S. between 1882 and 1968, and nearly 73 percent of the victims were black. Mississippi had 581 lynchings during that time, the highest number of any state.
On Nov. 15, another video surfaced online in which Hyde-Smith said making it more difficult for people to vote is a "great idea." Her campaign said the remark was a joke, but some accused her of supporting voter suppression efforts in the deep South.
MLB, AT&T, Walmart and others asked Hyde-Smith to return their donations over her "public hanging" comment.
President Trump threw his support behind Republican Senate candidate Cindy Hyde-Smith ahead of the election holding two rallies for her Monday, one in Tupelo, Mississippi, and then one 300 miles to the south in Biloxi, Mississippi.
In Tupelo, Mr. Trump cast Espy as "far left."
"Cindy's far left opponent," he called Espy. "He's far left. Oh, he's out there. How does he fit in with Mississippi, I mean how does he fit in?"
Espy responded to Mr. Trump's questioning of how he fits into Mississippi politics after voting on Tuesday.
"I was the first black congressman [in Mississippi] since the Civil War," Espy said. "Mike Espy was the secretary of agriculture -- first Mississippian to ever hold that post, first black in the nation to ever hold that post." Espy also said that he inherited the legacy of his grandfather, who founded a hospital in the state.
Last week, Mr. Trump called Hyde-Smith "a spectacular woman" and a "great senator." He also defended her for the "public hanging" remark, saying, "She made a statement which I know that she feels very badly about it, and it was just sort of said in jest, as she said. And she's a tremendous woman. And it's a shame that she has to go through this."
Cindy Hyde-Smith was appointed to the Senate by Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant in April, after Sen. Thad Cochran stepped down due to health concerns. Before that, she was the state agricultural commissioner.
She was a member of the Mississippi state Senate between 2000 and 2012. Although initially elected to the state Senate as a Democrat, she switched parties to become a Republican in 2010.
As a child, Hyde-Smith attended a private school founded to prevent racial integration. She later enrolled her daughter in a similar segregation academy.
Mike Espy is a former congressman and secretary of agriculture during the Clinton administration. He was the first African-American congressman to represent Mississippi since Reconstruction, and the first African-American and Mississippian to serve as secretary of agriculture.
Espy has deep roots in the state. His great-grandparents were slaves, and his grandfather built a hospital which was a leading health care provider for African Americans in the state during the 20th century.
If Espy wins, he will be the first Democrat in Mississippi to be elected to the Senate since 1982. | Government Job change - Election | November 2018 | ['(CBS News)'] |
Protests that began last week in Iraq continue amid widespread anger over poor public services, high unemployment, and pollution. | Protests that began last week in Iraq are continuing amid widespread anger over abysmal public services provision by the government.
The unrest threatens to delay formation of a new government, mandated after Iraq’s elections in May, and has already led to break-ins to oil facilities and political offices.
First sparked in the oil-rich southern province of Basra and spreading to several cities including the capital Baghdad, Iraqis are voicing their frustrations over widespread unemployment, pollution, dirty drinking water and electricity failures during a stifling heat wave in the country’s south. While many of the protests have been peaceful, others have seen buildings set on fire, roads blocked and infrastructure damaged.
At least eight demonstrators have been killed so far amid a government crackdown, with scores of protesters and security forces injured; authorities have also carried out arrests, deployed water cannons and shut down the internet in several parts of the country.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who came third place in last May’s national election, promised jobs and public funds for Basra in response, but has failed to calm anger among a public fed up with endemic corruption and a disconnected political elite 15 years into the war-scarred country’s democracy.
The protests come as a partial recount of Iraq’s election results is underway. The elections, which saw populist Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr win but failed to produce a clear majority for any party, had a record low turnout of 44 percent, reflecting much of the population’s disenchantment with politics.
Southern Iraq has lived in relative stability compared to the country’s northwest, which endured more than four years of brutal Islamic State (IS) occupation until it was largely defeated by Iraqi and coalition forces at the end of 2017. Because of this, regional experts say, residents expect more from their representatives.
Particularly acute is the demonstrators’ resentment toward the international oil companies reaping profit from Iraq’s hydrocarbons riches, which account for 95 percent of export receipts. Despite living in the heart of the oil industry, residents of Basra and Iraq’s south are some of the country’s poorest.
“Especially in Basra, where they know they live on most of Iraq’s wealth, people see these international oil companies (IOCs) and all this money coming in and out of their city yet they can’t even take a shower or get electricity for air conditioning,” Renad Mansour, a Middle East research fellow at Chatham House who recently spent time in the country, told CNBC.
Protestors are increasingly targeting oil facilities and so far have clashed with police outside West Qurna 2 and Zubair oil fields, said Nicholas Fitzroy, Iraq analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit. “The protests are partly directed at foreign oil companies, with local tribes demanding that foreign oil workers be replaced by locals,” he said.
Although the importance of Iraq's oil production means public and private security forces will be heavily reinforced, Fitzroy added, “The scale of the protests means some low-level disruption to oil exports is likely at some point in 2018.”
Unrest in the port city of Basra, as well as around Iraq’s south and center, has flared up every summer since the Iraqi protest movement began in 2015 in response to crippling corruption, unemployment and a lack of services. Iraq is ranked 169th out of 180 states in Transparency International’s corruption perception index, with the lowest being the most corrupt.
Now, however, regional analysts say protests are more significant than before, revealing a loss of faith in the ability to enact change institutionally.
“They’ve gotten more attention and they are actually attacking political offices now,” including offices of the long-ruling Dawa party and the Iranian-backed Popular Mobilization Units, Mansour said.
“The cry for help and change is much stronger, and the government’s insecurity is also quite noticeable — that’s why for the first time the government has acted in killing and wounding protesters, blocking the internet, pursuing tactics they wouldn’t have in prior protests.”
Should the protests gather significant momentum, there could be some “minor operational disruptions” to oil production, said Christopher McKee, chief executive at risk analysis firm PRS Group.
“However, security around oil installations and supply routes is relatively robust, and the protesters themselves are not well organized,” he said, noting they also lacked the means to challenge Iraq's security forces.
“If anything, the protests, should they become more widespread, might force up the price of oil on fears of supply disruption but should do very little else.”
Iraq remains a “terribly risky place” for foreign investors, McKee added, despite macroeconomic and security improvements, so international businesses in the country are generally prepared for turmoil.
His risk analysis firm ranks Iraq in the highest risk category for social turmoil, the chief executive said. “Our political risk ratings in these areas have not materially moved from the high-risk category even following the elections and given the ‘weakening’ of IS in the region.” | Protest_Online Condemnation | July 2018 | ['(CNBC)'] |
The Japanese media reports that Ryu Matsumoto is to resign as Minister of State for Disaster Management after making insensitive remarks while touring areas hit by the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. | Japan's Minister for Reconstruction Ryu Matsumoto has announced his resignation after just a week in the job. He had been widely criticised for making insensitive remarks to governors of areas badly affected by March's deadly earthquake and tsunami. He had said the government would not help them financially unless they came up with good rebuilding proposals. The resignation will increase pressure on Prime Minister Naoto Kan's already unpopular government.
The appointment of Mr Matsumoto to the newly created post of disaster reconstruction minister was seen as an effort to deflect further criticism of Mr Kan's administration.
Last month, Mr Kan survived a no-confidence motion brought by MPs critical of his handling of the reconstruction process following the quake, tsunami and ensuing nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. Mr Kan, who is just over a year into his post, vowed to step down soon, but only once several key bills on disaster recovery and renewable energy are passed.
The prime minister is trying to persuade MPs to back the release of an extra $25bn (£15.5bn) of reconstruction funds, and will not have wanted attention to be diverted by his minister's comments, says the BBC's Roland Buerk in Tokyo.
Mr Matsumoto announced his resignation at a Tokyo press conference early on Tuesday, but gave no reason for his departure.
"I would like to offer my apologies for offending the people in the disaster-hit areas. I thought I was emotionally close to the disaster victims, but I lacked sufficient words and my comments were too harsh.
"I have many things I would like to say... but I will be gone from now."
The 60-year-old made the offending remarks to regional governors at the weekend during his first tour of the tsunami-hit prefectures of Iwate and Miyagi since taking up his new role. Mr Matsumoto berated Miyagi prefecture governor Yoshihiro Murai for keeping him waiting for a few minutes and refused to shake his hand. Then he appeared to threaten journalists in the room, saying his comments were off -the-record and if anyone reported them their organisation would be finished. In a meeting with Iwate governor Takuya Tasso, Mr Matsumoto warned the government "will help areas that offer ideas, but will not help those without ideas. I want you to work with that kind of resolve".
Earlier he had admitted to the Iwate governor that being from the south-west he had little grasp of the geography of the north-east where the tsunami hit. His comments were aired on television, and the footage received thousands of hits on YouTube and other video-sharing websites, prompting a public outcry and calls for his resignation.
When challenged about his remarks on his return to Tokyo the minister blamed his blood group - those with type B are reputed in Japan to have abrasive personalities. In his resignation speech, Mr Matsumoto said he would continue to help with reconstruction efforts as "a foot soldier". He urged the governing and opposition parties to join together to tackle the rebuilding.
The 11 March quake and tsunami levelled homes, businesses and towns along Japan's north-eastern coast, leaving more than 20,000 people dead or missing in the country's worst disaster since World War II.
| Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | July 2011 | ['(AP via ABC News America)', '(BBC)', '(Al Jazeera)'] |
Early data shows the oppositional Homeland Union victorious in the first round of the latest parliamentary election in Lithuania. The second round will be held on October 25. | Lithuanians have cast their ballots in the first round of voting to decide who will sit in the Baltic country's parliament. The current government has come under fire for its handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
Lithuania's main center-right opposition party came top in the first round of parliamentary elections, according to election data released on Monday.
The Homeland Union finished first with 24.8% of the vote, ahead of the Farmers and Greens Party, the group that currently heads the government coalition of Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis, which picked up 17.5%.
Four other parties collected more than 5% of the vote — the minimum threshold to enter the Baltic country's parliament — which could pave the way for new coalition talks.
If re-elected, Skvernelis has vowed to set up state-owned pharmacies nationwide and introduce an annual "13th pension" cash bonus for senior citizens.
His rival, ex-Finance Minister Ingrida Simonyte of the Homeland Union, has accused the prime minister of running a disorderly and populist government.
Lithuania's electoral system allows for 71 of its 141 parliamentary seats to be chosen in Sunday's proportional vote.
The rest of the members of parliament are elected in constituencies.
A run-off vote for the top two candidates in each one will be held on October 25.
All of the major parties back the European Union and NATO, and support neighboring Belarus's democratic opposition.
Read more:Lithuania's independence still rattles Vladimir Putin
For the first time ever, the Baltic country has authorized drive-in voting due to the coronavirus pandemic.
But the current government has come under fire for its handling of the crisis and rising unemployment, which currently stands at 8.5%.
Lithuania has reported 8,899 COVID-19 infections, and 103 deaths.
A recent spike in coronavirus infections and related restrictions may affect voter turnout. Soaring unemployment and a troubled health care system has triggered nationwide frustration at the coalition government. | Government Job change - Election | October 2020 | ['(DW)'] |
After two years on the run, Mexican officials arrest the former police chief of a Mexican city, Felipe Flores, capturing him in Iguala in the southern state of Guerrero. The city is where 43 students disappeared in September 2014. The police arrested the students and then handed them over to a drug cartel who killed them and incinerated their bodies. | The former police chief of the Mexican city where 43 students disappeared in 2014 has been detained after two years on the run, officials say.
Felipe Flores was arrested in Iguala, in the southern state of Guerrero, where the incident happened.
The government says the students were arrested by police before being handed over to a drugs cartel who killed them and incinerated their bodies.
But families and independent experts contest this claim.
The panel of experts, working for the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, said the account that the students had been burnt beyond identification at a rubbish dump was physically impossible.
Felipe Flores was police chief of Iguala when the incident took place on 26 September 2014, and his arrest may offer new clues as to what exactly happened then.
Attorney General Arely Gomez welcomed Felipe Flores' capture, writing on Twitter that it would allow investigators to get "a fundamental statement to clear up the events".
The case has tainted President Enrique Pena Nieto's image.
The 43 were all students at an all-male teacher training college in the town of Aytozinapa, in south-western Guerrero state. The college has a history of left-wing activism and the students regularly took part in protests.
They disappeared from the nearby town of Iguala on the evening of 26 September 2014 after a confrontation between municipal police and the students during which six people were killed. Independent forensic experts have matched charred bone fragments reportedly found at a rubbish dump near Iguala to Alexander Mora, one of the 43 missing students. They also say there is a high probability another set of remains could belong to Jhosivani Guerrero de la Cruz, another of the students. However, experts from the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights say the chain of evidence was broken and they could not be sure the bone fragments had been found at the dump. According to the official report, the students were seized by corrupt municipal police officers who handed them over to members of a local drugs gang. The drugs gang mistook the students for members of a rival gang, killed them and burned their bodies at the dump before throwing their ashes into a nearby stream.
They think officials have failed to investigate the role soldiers from a nearby barracks may have played in the students' disappearance. The government has refused to let the soldiers, who were in the area at the time of the disappearance, be questioned by anyone but government prosecutors. The families also point to the report by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights which said that there was no evidence the bodies of the 43 were burned at the dump. Mexico students inquiry boss quits
Mexico missing students: Knowns and unknowns
Missing students: Mexico's violent reality
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Arrest | October 2016 | ['(BBC)'] |
Xi Jinping delivers his first speech as General Secretary in a "plain-spoken" style very different from that of his predecessor, Hu Jintao. | As Xi Jinping walked out to be presented as China's new leader, one thing was immediately clear to all of us waiting in the Great Hall of the People. His will be a different style of leadership from that of his predecessor Hu Jintao.
Mr Xi was immediately more relaxed and at ease than the man he had just replaced as general secretary of China's Communist Party. Where Mr Hu often appeared stiff and wooden, Xi Jinping smiled and even apologised for keeping his audience waiting.
If he was nervous or awed by the prospect of ruling over one-fifth of humanity, there was no sign of it. At one point, he even seemed to become a little emotional while he was delivering his speech.
Perhaps it is Xi Jinping's pedigree as a Communist Party "princeling" - his father was a revolutionary hero alongside Mao Zedong and a powerful figure in the party - that means he seems more comfortable in his own skin. Certainly, Xi Jinping has worked all his life for this moment. Rising through the party, he's been groomed for the top.
And when he spoke, Mr Xi seemed to signal a new tone, too. He was more direct, more plain-speaking, more blunt. There was still some of the jargon of old, that the party must "continue to liberate our way of thinking... further unleash and develop the productive forces... and steadfastly take the road of prosperity for all". The content was similar to Hu Jintao's outgoing speech last week. But it still sounded different when Xi Jinping warned "the problems among party members and cadres of corruption, taking bribes, being out of touch with the people, undue emphasis on formalities and bureaucracy must be addressed with great efforts".
Mr Xi tried to show he understands the bread-and-butter issues that most people care about. "Our people... yearn for better education, stable jobs, more satisfactory income, greater social security, improved medical and healthcare," he said.
Bo Zhiyue of the National University in Singapore says Xi Jinping will be a different type of leader. "He has more personality. He is a regular person. He can work with anyone he meets. He is a very down-to-earth person. He is easy to get along with."
But, of course, substance and results will matter more than style. On that score there was no detail, no policy proposal, no idea how he will bring about the changes he talked of.
But if Mr Xi is able to connect with China's people in a way Mr Hu couldn't, that will be important. It may give him more room to carve out a political personality of his own that would give him more authority as leader. What will matter, then, is what sort of vision he has for China: something we simply don't know.
There is, of course, a temptation to read too much into tiny things. A change of power in China is rare, it happens only once a decade. Every time there are hopes the new leaders will bring change.
A little more than a decade after the trauma of the Tiananmen massacre, when Hu Jintao came to power, he was seen as a possible reformer. Now, though, as his decade has drawn to a close, his time is widely seen as a missed opportunity and attention has turned to the new generation.
Xi Jinping has risen to the top by keeping a low profile, says Minxin Pei of Claremont McKenna College in California. "Very few people know about who China's new leader will be, what he thinks. It's very smart for any incoming leader not to show his cards, and he's very smart."
And he says the fact that Mr Xi is the first among equals in a new Standing Committee of seven will also make this leadership inherently conservative. "The new leadership looks in all likelihood to be a carefully balanced coalition, and a carefully balanced coalition is not a structure that is conducive to very decisive policy making," he added.
The reduction in the Standing Committee from nine to seven men may make it easier to reach consensus and so take some tougher decisions. The past decade is widely seen as one of paralysis. But on that score, we'll have to see.
What we do know from the other six new leaders is that they seem to contain a balance - the product of months of secret negotiations and compromises. Some are from the supposed Jiang Zemin faction, some from the Hu Jintao faction, some may be conservative-minded and unwilling to pursue reforms, others are more reformist economic managers. There are "princelings" and those from more humble backgrounds.
The message to take away from this is that compromise and consensus seem to be the order of the day.
It is worth noting that the candidates said to be most in favour of reform, like Wang Yang and Li Yuanchao, did not make it into the final seven. Both are young enough that they could still be elevated to the Standing Committee in 2017.
But it means the final line-up is being seen as relatively conservative, and less inclined towards change.
However the five new members on the Standing Committee are all relatively old. They may all serve only one term and have to retire in five years' time. Xi Jinping and the new number two, Li Keqiang, will be around for 10 years.
So the day in five years' time, when Xi Jinping leads out the members of the next Standing Committee from behind that closed door, may be the day when he really cements his authority as China's leader. | Famous Person - Give a speech | November 2012 | ['(BBC)', '(BBC Transcript)'] |
Protesters vandalize a subway station as violence breaks out across the New Territories amid anger over a demonstrator's death and the arrest of pro-democracy politicians. | Protesters smashed windows in a subway station and a shopping mall on Sunday as violence broke out across the New Territories of Hong Kong amid anger over a demonstrator's death and the arrest of pro-democracy politicians.
Police made arrests and fired tear gas to break up rallies as black-clad activists blocked roads and trashed shopping malls across Hong Kong on the 24th-straight weekend of anti-government protests.
Protesters vandalised a train station in the central new town of Sha Tin and smashed up a restaurant perceived as being pro-Beijing, just two weeks before planned district council elections, the lowest tier of voting in the Chinese-ruled city.
Now TV showed pictures of a huge red welt on the upper arm of one of its reporters, who said she had been hit by a tear gas canister in Tsuen Wan, to the west of the New Territories.
AP: Kin Cheung
The rail station was closed in Sha Tin amid scuffles between police and protesters young and old, on a day of planned shopping mall protests throughout the territory. Shopping districts across the harbour on the main island were quiet.
"Radical protesters have been gathering in multiple locations across the territories," police said in a statement.
Following Hong Kong's handover to China in 1997, relations between the mainland and the autonomous territory have plummeted. Now anti-Chinese sentiment is at an all-time high.
"They have been loitering in several malls and vandalising shops and facilities therein, neglecting the safety of members of the public."
Protesters daubed graffiti on shopfronts in Kowloon Tong and "stormed" shops in Tsuen Wan, police said.
Last weekend, anti-government protesters crowded into a shopping mall when a man slashed people with a knife and bit off part of a politician's ear.
Hong Kong is in the sixth month of protests that began in June over a proposed extradition law and have expanded to include demands for greater democracy and other grievances.
The protesters are furious at what they see as police brutality and meddling by Beijing in the former British colony's freedoms, guaranteed by the "one country, two systems" formula in place since it returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
China denies interfering in Hong Kong and has blamed Western countries for stirring up trouble.
Thousands of people gathered on Saturday night at a vigil for "martyrs", after a student died in hospital this week following a high fall.
AP: Kin Cheung
Though the vigil ended peacefully, many attendees called for revenge after the student's death from injuries sustained during a protest.
Seven pro-democracy city politicians have been detained or face arrest and are due to appear in court on Monday on charges of obstructing a May meeting of the local assembly, police and several of the politicians said.
"We believe that the government together with the police, as well as the pro-establishment camp, they are trying to escalate the anger of Hong Kong people in order to cancel or even to postpone the upcoming district council election," Tanya Chan, a pro-democracy politicians, told reporters on Saturday.
One of the arrested politicians, Gary Fan, said the detentions were the result of "political prosecutions and judicial crackdowns" by Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam.
The elections are due on November 24.
Protesters have also called for a general strike on Monday and for people to block public transport, although such calls in the past have often come to nothing.
Protesters have thrown petrol bombs and rocks at police who have responded with tear gas, pepper spray, water cannon, rubber bullets and several rounds of live ammunition. They deny using excessive force.
| Protest_Online Condemnation | November 2019 | ['(ABC News)'] |
Airblue Flight 202 crashes in the Margalla Hills outside Islamabad, Pakistan, killing all 152 people aboard. , , , | ISLAMABAD, Pakistan A Pakistani passenger plane crashed in fog and intense rain in the Himalayan foothills near this capital city on Wednesday morning, killing all 152 people on board in the country’s deadliest domestic plane crash, according to civil aviation and airline officials.
Rescue helicopters fought against thick smoke and flames as they tried to find survivors amid the wreckage at least an hour’s drive into the high ground above Islamabad but hours after the crash, Pakistani officials said that none of the 146 passengers or 6 crew members had survived. . | Air crash | July 2010 | ['(New York Times)', '(Xinhua)', '(Reuters)', '(Voice of America)'] |
Authorities in Lebanon arrest Islamist preacher Omar Bakri Muhammed, days after a court sentenced him and 21 others to life imprisonment for carrying out "terrorist acts". | BEIRUT, Lebanon, Nov. 14 (UPI) -- A radical Muslim cleric who once cheered the Sept. 11 terror attacks on the United States has been arrested in Lebanon, security officials confirm.
Omar Bakri Mohammad was taken into custody at his home in northern Lebanon this weekend after being sentenced to life in prison Thursday as part of a massive case involving more than 40 individuals, Britain's Sky News said..
Mohammad, 50, was convicted for inciting murder, theft and weapons possession. Sky News said he had vowed to never spend a day behind bars.
Mohammad is a fundamentalist Sunni preacher who spent 20 years living in Britain. He had publicly praised the 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States and the so-called 7/7 attacks in England, which led to his expulsion in 2005.
The Syrian-born Lebanese national said he did not accept Lebanese law and would not turn himself in following the guilty verdict. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Arrest | November 2010 | ['(UPI)', '(Lebanese National News Agency)', '(Reuters)'] |
Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson qualifies in Connecticut giving him ballot access to 48 states. | Connecticut on Monday officially became the 48th state where the Libertarian Party has qualified to place a presidential candidate on the ballot.
The secretary of the state’s office announced it had accepted 8,923 signatures to clear the 7,500-signature threshold necessary for the party to qualify for the ballot.
The Libertarian nominee is Gary Johnson, the former Republican governor of New Mexico, but the signatures were gathered using the name of a placeholder, Carla Howell of Massachusetts, the party’s political director.
By using a placeholder, the party was able to start collecting signatures before Johnson became its nominee in May. State law allows the party to swap Johnson for Howell on the ballot.
Rhode Island and Kentucky are the two states yet to certify Libertarians for the ballot. The party says it expects to be on the ballot in all 50 states.
Jill Stein, the Green Party nominee, qualified for the Connecticut ballot last week. The Green Party says Stein has qualified in 40 states and has hopes for seven others through a mix of petitions and litigation.
Johnson and Stein are not expected to join Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald J. Trump in the presidential debates. To be invited, they must be supported by 15 percent of voters in five national pollsAn online survey released Thursday from Morning Consult found 52 percent of voters support including Johnson in the debates; 47 percent support an invitation to Stein.
| Government Job change - Election | September 2016 | ['(The CT Mirror)'] |
The European Union launches a new aid program worth an initial 700 million euros (US$760 million) to address the growing refugee crisis in Greece. EU Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Christos Stylianides says the so-called Emergency Assistance Instrument will be used to help migrants trapped in Greece and, if needed, in other countries on the migration route front lines. Approval by a majority of EU members is required. The next EU meeting is scheduled for Monday. | BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union, faced with a growing refugee crisis in Greece, launched a new aid program on Wednesday worth an initial 700 million euros that mirrors the kind of disaster relief it offers developing nations.
European states have tightened border controls following the arrival of more than a million migrants by sea last year and the Athens government has appealed for help to house and care for tens of thousands still arriving and now stranded in Greece.
“We are ... really worried,” European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said of the build-up of migrants on the now-closed Macedonian border, adding that the new plan had been prompted by fears of “a huge humanitarian crisis in Greece”.
The Commission’s proposal, if approved, will channel 300 million euros ($325 million) this year from its 155 billion euro annual budget to the new emergency assistance scheme and 200 million euros both next year and in 2018.
Officials stress that the program will not divert funds from the EU’s 1.1 billion euro annual budget allocated to helping the world’s poorest. Relieving the suffering of refugees closer to their homes is a key part of an EU strategy to deter people from making dangerous journeys to Europe, they say.
More than 400 people have died or gone missing in the Mediterranean this year as they tried to reach Europe, most of them on the short but perilous crossing from Turkey to Greece.
Turkey is at the heart of the EU’s efforts to slow the influx of refugees and migrants and the bloc wants Ankara to ensure that daily arrivals fall below 1,000 from 2,000-3,000 at present.
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Two officials told Reuters that Germany, the principal destination for those arriving in Europe, is looking for flows to be “in the realm of three digits, not four” per day. Should that happen, Berlin would start taking refugees directly from Turkey for resettlement - an attempt to promote legal migration rather than continuing the chaotic influx of 2015.
The new EU money, to be spent in conjunction with the United Nations and charities working in Greece and other EU states, will help to fund shelter, medical aid and other basic services.
Greece, which now houses about 25,000 migrants, has hitherto received EU funding under other programs to bolster its border and security systems, though Athens has complained that the offers have been inadequate.
“The number of refugees continues to rise, so do their humanitarian needs,” Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Christos Stylianides said.
At a single border point, the Idomeni crossing between Greece and Macedonia, between 12,000 and 15,000 stranded people are in need of urgent humanitarian assistance, he said.
“OVERWHELMED”
EU officials said the aim was to have the new program operational on the ground “within weeks rather than months”.
It will become a permanent feature of the EU budget and is intended for use by any EU state that is “overwhelmed” and cannot cope with a wide range of emergencies, including accidents, militant attacks and epidemics. It will need approval by the European Parliament and member states.
Greece, the migrants’ main gateway to Europe, would initially be the main beneficiary of the emergency scheme for “tackling wide-ranging humanitarian crises within the EU”.
The money would also be available to other EU countries along the Balkan migration route used by migrants. Macedonia and Serbia, which are on that route, are not in the EU.
Greece, its economy blighted by the euro zone debt crisis, has asked for 480 million euros to help it cope with some 100,000 migrants. EU officials said on Wednesday they were still looking at that request.
More than a million people reached Europe last year and some 133,000 arrived on the continent so far in 2016 in what has grown to be a major crisis for the bloc, that now also risks turning into a humanitarian disaster.
Additional reporting by Alastair Macdonald and Robin Emmott; Editing by Gareth Jones
| Financial Aid | March 2016 | ['(The New York Times)', '(Reuters)', '(Kathimerini)'] |
French voters go to the polls in the second round of the 2008 municipal elections, with President Nicolas Sarkozy's party Union for a Popular Movement likely to lose. | Voters in France's local elections have handed key cities to the left in a punishing blow to President Sarkozy.
The Socialists seized Toulouse, Caen, Strasbourg, Amiens and Reims, with most results in. They also held on to the power bases of Paris and Lyon. But in a closely-fought contest, the president's centre-right UMP retained the second city, Marseille. The outcome is likely to make it harder for Mr Sarkozy's government to pursue its reform programme, analysts say. The poll was seen as the first ballot box test since Mr Sarkozy's election last May of his popularity, which has plummeted in recent opinion polls. The BBC's Emma-Jane Kirby in Paris says that in terms of the share of the vote, these election results do not look too bad for the government - the opposition Socialists won only a very small percentage more of the vote than the UMP. Nationally, partial official results showed parties on the left leading slightly, with 48.7% of the overall vote to 47.6% for the centre-right, according to AP news agency. But our correspondent adds that in losing major cities, the UMP has lost some key power bases and it may be more difficult now for the French leader to push through reforms. 'Divorce' with electorate At Perigueux, in the Dordogne, Mr Sarkozy's minister for education, Xavier Darcos, lost his bid to be re-elected as mayor by just over 100 votes. On Sunday night, the president did not make an appearance - leaving his prime minister, Francois Fillon, to defend his policies in a televised declaration. "You can't change a great country like ours in a few months," said Mr Fillon. "Tenacity is needed to reform." Segolene Royal, the Socialist presidential candidate Mr Sarkozy defeated last May, called Sunday's results "a vote of hope". Former Socialist Prime Minister Laurent Fabius said the government was heading for "divorce" with the French electorate if it refused to change its policies. The elections saw Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe boost his position as a possible contender against Segolene Royal for the presidential elections in 2012. However, analysts say the Socialists remain in some disarray, having lost three presidential elections in a row. Voter anger
Our correspondent in Paris says many have used their votes to show their disapproval of the government. Many French voters say they are angry Mr Sarkozy has not yet fulfilled his promise to increase their spending power. Since coming to power, he has succeeded where some of his predecessors in the Elysee Palace have failed by reducing pension benefits for some state workers. Although unemployment has dropped to its lowest level in more than two decades, it remains high at 7.5% and analysts warn the French economy shows signs of minimal growth. Correspondents say Mr Sarkozy's recent divorce three months into his presidency and remarriage to supermodel Carla Bruni have turned off many voters. The 53-year-old's well-publicised holidays with the rich and famous and what some see as his extravagant style have seen him dubbed the "Bling-Bling president". Fewer than four in 10 voters now approve of his performance. Last July his ratings stood at 67%. | Government Job change - Election | March 2008 | ['(BBC News)'] |
President Donald Trump says he believes Kavanaugh after seeing him testify on the sexual assault allegation, citing his remarks as "powerful, honest, and riveting." | by: CNN Wire WASHINGTON — On a Washington day like no other, President Donald Trump found himself in an unusual spot: Publicly absent from a melodrama gripping the nation.
Closeted in his third-floor White House residence, he avoided opportunities to comment on the proceedings occurring two miles away on Capitol Hill.
But nearing the end of a more-than-eight-hour hearing stamped by unusually raw displays of human emotion and political drama, the president was telling aides and confidants that he believed his Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh had successfully acquitted himself from accusations of sexual assault and was one step closer to being installed on the highest bench.
“Judge Kavanaugh showed America exactly why I nominated him,” he wrote on Twitter fewer than five minutes after the hearing was gaveled to a close.
“His testimony was powerful, honest, and riveting. Democrats’ search and destroy strategy is disgraceful and this process has been a total sham and effort to delay, obstruct, and resist.”
He offered a command to Senate Republican leaders: “The Senate must vote!”
Judge Kavanaugh showed America exactly why I nominated him. His testimony was powerful, honest, and riveting. Democrats’ search and destroy strategy is disgraceful and this process has been a total sham and effort to delay, obstruct, and resist. The Senate must vote!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 27, 2018
The president had spent most of the previous week enraged, in public and private, at how the man he selected to reshape the ideological bent of the Supreme Court was being maligned.
He decried Senate Republicans for not pushing for a vote on his nominee’s confirmation before the allegations emerged. He was dismayed by a timid defense offered by Kavanaugh himself during a leaden interview with Fox News.
On Thursday, Trump found himself revived by Kavanaugh’s irate and tearful denial, delivered over the course of 45 minutes as his wife wept at the edge of the camera frame.
The sharply political tinge of his statement — railing against Democrats’ tactics and accusing them of executing “revenge on behalf of the Clintons” — gave Trump confidence an eventual Justice Kavanaugh would rule in his favor.
“President Trump is very pleased with Brett Kavanaugh’s righteous indignation regarding the personal destruction of his good name and his family,” a senior White House official said. “He’s confident in his choice.”
Trump’s confidence, of course, isn’t wholly relevant in the ultimate question of whether Kavanaugh is confirmed.
Republican fence-sitters, namely Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska have yet to say how they’ll vote after expressing concerns about the accusations that emerged over the past week.
But White House officials who appeared uncertain about a beleaguered nomination earlier in the week had regained confidence as the hearing neared its end.
“Only way to earn respect in Trumpworld is to brawl and he is brawling,” said one source close to the White House.
“Brett saved his bacon,” said another person with ties to the administration.
Matt Schlapp, chairman of the American Conservative Union, assessed the day saying: “Anyone who opposes Brett Kavanaugh is basically signaling their retirement.”
| Famous Person - Give a speech | September 2018 | ['(KDVR)'] |
Floods in Paraguay force the evacuation of 200,000 people. | Floods caused by torrential rains have forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of people in Paraguay.
The floods have destroyed crops and blocked roads needed to supply food to tens of thousands of people. Alpa Patel reports.
Paraguay floods force 200,000 to flee. Video, 00:01:37Paraguay floods force 200,000 to flee
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'I was beating the crocodile on its snout' Video, 00:02:43'I was beating the crocodile on its snout' | Floods | June 2014 | ['(BBC)'] |
The Committee on Foreign Affairs of the United States House of Representatives accepts a resolution describing the Armenian Genocide as "genocide", prompting Turkey to recall its ambassador and threatening Turkey–United States relations. | A US congressional panel has described the killing of Armenians by Turkish forces during World War I as genocide, despite White House objections.
The resolution was narrowly approved by the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Turkey, a key US ally, responded by recalling its ambassador in Washington for consultations. It has fiercely opposed the non-binding resolution. The White House had warned that the vote would harm reconciliation talks between Turkey and Armenia. The resolution calls on President Barack Obama to ensure that US foreign policy reflects an understanding of the "genocide" and to label the World War I killings as such in his annual statement on the issue. It was approved by 23 votes to 22 by the committee. Ankara has already withdrawn its ambassador from Washington for consultations - in reaction to what will be seen as a significant international insult.
Washington will now be working hard to limit any further diplomatic fallout.
As one of the United States' most important allies in the Muslim world, Turkey's influence is important on both Iran and Afghanistan.
And the cheapest and safest way of extracting American soldiers from Iraq next year would be from neighbouring Turkey - if the diplomatic atmosphere permits.
Within minutes the Turkish government issued a statement condemning "this resolution which accuses the Turkish nation of a crime it has not committed". The statement also said the Turkish ambassador was being recalled for consultations. A Turkish parliamentary delegation had gone to Washington to try to persuade committee members to reject the resolution. Turkey accepts that atrocities were committed but argues they were part of the war and that there was no systematic attempt to destroy the Christian Armenian people. The Armenian government welcomed the vote, calling it "an important step towards the prevention of crimes against humanity". In 2007, a similar resolution passed the committee stage, but was shelved before a House vote after pressure from the George W Bush administration. 'Too important'
During his election campaign Mr Obama promised to brand the mass killings genocide. Before the vote, committee chairman Howard Berman urged fellow members of the committee to endorse the resolution. "I believe that Turkey values its relationship with the United States at least as much as we value our relations with Turkey," he said. The Turks, he added, "fundamentally agree that the US-Turkish alliance is simply too important to get side-tracked by a non-binding resolution passed by the House of Representatives". In October last year, Turkey and Armenia signed a historic accord normalising relations between them after a century of hostility. Armenia wants Turkey to recognise the killings as an act of genocide, but successive Turkish governments have refused to do so. Hundreds of thousands of Armenians died in 1915, when they were deported en masse from eastern Anatolia by the Ottoman Empire. They were killed by troops or died from starvation and disease. Armenians have campaigned for the killings to be recognised internationally as genocide - and more than 20 countries have done so. What are these? | Government Policy Changes | March 2010 | ['(BBC)'] |
The European Union suspends payments to two Bulgarian agencies due to concerns over corruption and organized crime. | The European Commission has suspended EU aid to Bulgaria worth hundreds of millions of euros because of concerns about corruption and organised crime.
Commission spokesman Johannes Laitenberger said the EU was also withdrawing the right of two Bulgarian agencies to manage EU funds.
Bulgaria's PM admitted his country had not done enough to meet EU standards.
Romania was also criticised for shortcomings in its judiciary, including politicisation of cases.
Romania will escape penalties for now, but its report says the reforms remain "fragile".
About 500m euros (£400m; $800m) of aid to Bulgaria is being frozen by the commission.
"The truth is Bulgaria is learning how to manage EU funds," Bulgaria's Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev said in reaction to the reports.
He acknowledged that "there is a discrepancy between the political will, which is a fact, and the achievement of concrete results".
Both countries have been under close supervision since they joined the European Union in January 2007.
In Bulgaria, "the fight against high-level corruption and organised crime is not producing enough results," Mr Laitenberger said, presenting the reports on Wednesday.
'Growing frustration'
In the toughest terms ever used about a member state, the EU executive says that despite some efforts to fight corruption and organised crime, Bulgaria's "institutions and procedures look good on paper but do not produce good results in practice".
One of the series of reports published on Wednesday condemns "a lack of commitment to act swiftly and decisively when fraud is identified", and refers to "a strong suspicion of the involvement of organised crime".
The reports describe a "growing sense of frustration" among other EU countries who have sent experts to support Bulgaria.
Mr Laitenberger said Bulgaria needed a new penal code to ensure more effective justice.
However, after strong lobbying from the Bulgarian government, the report was toned down to some extent, the BBC's Oana Lungescu reports.
A warning that corruption allegations could delay the country's admission to the Schengen passport-free area and the eurozone was removed.
Mr Laitenberger said the commission was prepared to lift its suspension of funds "as soon as Bulgaria has taken the necessary corrective measures".
Meanwhile, the opposition in Bulgaria is pushing for a no-confidence vote in the Socialist-led government.
Romania 'lenient'
The report on Romania condemns parliament for delaying corruption inquiries involving the former Prime Minister Adrian Nastase and other top officials.
It also calls on Romania not to adopt legal changes that would make it much harder for prosecutors to search the homes and wire-tap the phones of corruption suspects.
Romanian Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu welcomed the report, saying it would motivate Romania to speed up reforms.
While praising the "consistently good record" of Romanian prosecutors, the European Commission notes that in 90% of corruption cases, lenient judges deliver the minimum penalty.
But the Commission is no longer in a mood for leniency, our correspondent says.
Jacki Davis from the European Policy Centre in Brussels says there is a clear message to Bulgaria and Romania, but also for EU candidates, from Croatia to Turkey.
"Negotiating the terms of your EU membership isn't the end of the story. If you make promises, you have to live up to them. So it's shape up or face sanctions," she says. | Government Policy Changes | July 2008 | ['(BBC News)'] |
The death toll from the South Korean MERS outbreak rises to 11 with 126 people now diagnosed with the disease but the number of people in quarantine falls slightly to 3,680. Two hospitals have closed as a result of the outbreak and the Bank of Korea has lowered interest rates due to concerns about effects of the outbreak on the economy. , | SEJONG, June 12 (Yonhap) -- South Korea confirmed its 11th death from Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) on Friday, while reporting four new cases that brought the number of people diagnosed with the disease here to 126.
A 72-year-old female died earlier in the day while undergoing treatment at a hospital in North Jeolla Province, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
She was diagnosed June 4 after spending eight days in a hospital in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, that had treated the country's first MERS patient in mid-May. She had been in a coma for the past five days, according to ministry officials.
The total number of people diagnosed with the potentially deadly disease came to 126 as the country reported an additional four cases.
The four new patients were infected while visiting hospitals affected by MERS.
All 126 confirmed cases so far have occurred in hospitals, meaning the disease has not infiltrated into the daily lives of people, the ministry said.
Still, over 3,800 people were in isolation as of Thursday for possible infection after coming in close contact with a MERS patient or visiting one of the hospitals affected by the viral respiratory illness.
The number, however, dropped to 3,680 on Friday, marking the first drop since the outbreak was initially confirmed on May 20.
The fall came as a growing number of people previously isolated for possible infection are being released after testing negative for MERS or developing no symptoms over the maximum incubation period of 14 days, according to ministry officials.
As of Friday, 1,249 people have been released from isolation.
The officials said the drop may also be a sign that the spread of the disease is now on the wane.
They said the upcoming weekend may become a turning point in the battle against MERS as the rise in the number of newly infected people has also slowed to four on Friday from 14 on the previous day.
As hospitals have been identified as a major and only source of infection so far, the government has released the names of all hospitals and clinics affected by MERS. There were 55 facilities as of Thursday.
To help small and medium-sized hospitals suffering from a shutdown or loss of patients, the government said it will provide emergency relief funds.
The government earlier said it will provide up to 400 billion won (US$360 million) in such funds for businesses and communities affected by MERS.
MERS is a viral respiratory illness that is fairly new to humans with the first case reported in Saudi Arabia in 2012. Some 1,100 cases have since been reported in about 20 countries, mostly in and around the Middle East. | Disease Outbreaks | June 2015 | ['(Yonhap)', '(CNN)'] |
The President of Venezuela Hugo Chávez meets with the President of Bolivia Evo Morales and the President of Argentina Néstor Kirchner in Tarija, Bolivia. | The accords come at the end of a regional tour by Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez. He signed bilateral energy deals in the four countries he visited.
During his trip, Mr Chavez has repeatedly attacked the US for trying to dominate world energy supplies.
He has pledged to use Venezuela's oil wealth to help guarantee the energy needs of his allies in Latin America.
Mr Chavez, his Bolivian counterpart Evo Morales and Argentina's leader Nestor Kirchner met in the southern Bolivian city of Tarija.
Mr Morales and Mr Kirchner finalised a $450m agreement to build a gas processing plant in the border region of Chaco and in the Amazon region north of La Paz.
This deal came after Mr Chavez signed an accord with Mr Morales on Thursday to create a $600m joint venture, Petroandina, formed by Venezuela's state-run oil company PDVSA and Bolivia's state energy company YPFB.
Oil refineries
Mr Chavez has pushed energy integration through public investment throughout the tour.
"The story of neoliberal globalisation was that privatisation was going to bring us big investment. That was a lie," he said. "The delivery of our natural resources to transnational companies... left us only underdevelopment, technological backwardness, poverty, misery and dependence."
Mr Chavez's tour has also taken him to Argentina, where he announced plans to buy up some $1bn (£500m) in Argentine government bonds. In Uruguay, he discussed ways of expanding the country's oil refining capacity and promised Uruguayans that they would be provided with oil and gas for a century. Mr Chavez then travelled on to Ecuador, where he signed an agreement with President Rafael Correa to build a giant oil refinery costing some $5bn. During his visits, the Venezuelan leader has again spoken out against the US and capitalism, telling his allies that they needed to work together to make South America strong. Mr Chavez's domestic opponents have criticised what they see as hand-outs of Venezuelan wealth for political gain.
But Mr Chavez says that the deals signed during his trip will bring mutual benefit to the countries involved. | Diplomatic Talks _ Diplomatic_Negotiation_ Summit Meeting | August 2007 | ['(BBC)'] |
Several thousand UK Home Office workers belonging to the Public and Commercial Services Union are to stage industrial action throughout the 2012 Summer Olympics over wages and employment issues. | Thousands of Home Office staff will strike over job cuts and other issues the day before the Olympics, the Public and Commercial Services union has said. PCS members will strike for 24 hours next Thursday - when many thousands of visitors are due to arrive in the UK.
Home Secretary Theresa May said the action was "shameful" as it threatens disruption to people travelling to London for the Games.
Immigration minister Damian Green said contingency plans were in place.
The PCS is in dispute with the Home Office over plans to cut 8,500 jobs and the threat of compulsory redundancies in the passport office in Newport, South Wales.
There are also disagreements over pay rises capped at 1% following a two-year wage freeze, privatisation of services, and alleged victimisation of union reps.
East Midlands Trains staff have also voted to strike during the Olympics.
PCS union members will take other forms of action from July 27 to August 20, including working-to-rule and an overtime ban.
The PCS said 57.2% of those who voted backed strike action - the turnout was 20%.
The action will involve staff across the Home Office, including the UK Border Agency, the Identity and Passport Service and Criminal Records Bureau.
PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka told the BBC: "I think the government is whipping up hysteria about the Olympics, there'll be no disruption to the Olympics, this is a 24-hour strike before the Olympics actually takes place."
He said he was prepared to meet the culture secretary and home secretary any time in the next week to avert a strike but if they kept their "heads in the sand" the strike would continue.
Mr Hunt said the union's behaviour was "totally irresponsible... To threaten us in this way is totally inappropriate.
"To suggest that it won't cause disruption is so extraordinary that it completely beggars belief."
London Mayor Boris Johnson has said he does not think the union will succeed in disrupting the Olympics and the majority of PCS members want to put on a great Games.
In other developments as the UK prepares for the start of the Olympics on Friday 27 July:
Mr Green said there was low turnout in the strike ballot which showed most union members did not support a strike.
He told BBC Two's Newsnight: "PCS members don't want this strike to happen - seven out of eight of them didn't vote for a strike.
"They are patriotic people, they care about their job, they care about the reputation of this country.
"It's a small group in the union leadership that is behaving disgracefully, trying to make political capital out of the Olympics which is meant to be a great national celebration."
Mr Green said he was confident disruption at immigration desks could be minimised because extra staff from the Home Office and other departments had been trained to provide cover.
Mrs May condemned the action saying: "I think that is shameful, frankly. They are holding a strike on what is one of the key days for people coming in for the Olympic Games.
"We will of course put contingency arrangements in place to ensure we can deal with people coming through the border as smoothly as possible."
John Cridland, director general of the Confederation of British Industries, said: "For PCS to go on strike on this key day beggars belief. For it to happen because of a vote by 11% of staff is simply outrageous."
But Labour MP John McDonnell, who chairs the PCS Parliamentary Group, said: "the government has brought this dispute on its own head". East Midlands Trains drivers from the union Aslef plan to strike on 6-8 August in a row over pensions. But South West Trains staff have voted not to strike over the Olympics.
Prime Minister David Cameron insisted the Olympics would be safe and secure.
Speaking at a press conference in Afghanistan, he said: "I do not believe it will be right, I do not believe it will be justified."
Labour leader Ed Miliband also condemned the strike.
This week the National Audit Office said the UK Border Agency had laid off 1,000 more staff than intended and was having to hire extra people and increase overtime to meet its workload.
The PCS is one of the largest unions in the UK with around 250,000 public sector members.
PCS members at the Department for Transport have been taking industrial action over the past few weeks, while staff in other departments, including the ministries of defence and justice, are set to vote shortly on how to campaign against cuts.
s
| Strike | July 2012 | ['(BBC)'] |
Hamas announces it will distribute maximums of €4,000 to families seriously affected by the recent conflict in the Gaza Strip. | GAZA, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Hamas said on Thursday it would begin distributing up to 4,000 euros ($5,180) in cash to families hard hit by Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip.
Taher al-Nono, spokesman for Hamas's government in the coastal enclave, told reporters a total of 28.6 million euros ($37 million) would be distributed starting on Sunday.
The announcement appeared to be part of efforts by the Islamist group, which receives Iranian support, to shore up its standing after Israel's 22-day military offensive, which killed some 1,300 Palestinians and wounded more than 5,000 others.
Palestinian officials in the occupied West Bank said Israel has been preventing the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, headed by President Mahmoud Abbas, from transferring some $60 million in cash to the Gaza Strip to pay its workers and others hard hit by the war, which started on Dec. 27.
Washington hopes the Palestinian Authority will lead and get credit for Gaza's reconstruction, estimated to cost more than $2 billion, rather than Hamas. But Western officials say Israel, by holding up cash shipments, was undermining Abbas's position.
Saudi Arabia said on Monday it would donate $1 billion towards the reconstruction effort.
Hamas spokesman Nono said families in the Gaza Strip whose homes were completely destroyed would each receive 4,000 euros. Those whose homes were damaged would get 2,000 euros.
In addition, Hamas would pay 1,000 euros for every family member killed and 500 euros to those who were wounded, he said.
Hamas did not say why it would make the payments in euros rather than in Israeli shekels, the currency used in the Palestinian territories.
Western officials say shekels are in short supply because of Israeli restrictions on transfers to the Hamas-controlled territory.
Hamas is shunned by Western powers over its refusal to recognise Israel and renounce violence but receives support from Iran and other Islamist allies in the region.
At the end of Israel's war in Lebanon in 2006, the guerrilla group Hezbollah, with Iranian financial support, pumped money into reconstruction, undercutting the Western-backed government in Beirut. (Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza and Adam Entous in Jerusalem, Writing by Adam Entous; Editing by Nick Vinocur and Jon Boyle)
| Financial Aid | January 2009 | ['(Reuters)'] |
John Terry, the captain of the England football team is to face criminal charges over allegations he used racist language towards a black player during a Premier League game. | England captain John Terry will face a criminal charge of using racist language towards footballer Anton Ferdinand during a Premier League game. Mr Terry is alleged to have used racist language towards the 26-year-old Queens Park Rangers player during Chelsea's 1-0 defeat at Loftus Road on 23 October.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said Mr Terry was accused of a racially aggravated public order offence.
The 31-year-old vowed to fight the charge "tooth and nail".
Police questioned the Chelsea captain under caution in November and a file on the matter was sent to the CPS at the beginning of December.
Alison Saunders, chief crown prosecutor for London, said: "I have today advised the Metropolitan Police that John Terry should be prosecuted for a racially aggravated public order offence following comments allegedly made during a football match between Queens Park Rangers and Chelsea on 23 October.
"The decision was taken in accordance with the Code for Crown Prosecutors and, after careful consideration of all the evidence, I am satisfied there is sufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction and it is in the public interest to prosecute this case."
She continued: "He is now summonsed with a criminal offence and has the right to a fair trial. "It is extremely important that nothing should be reported which could prejudice his trial." The decision to charge Mr Terry was taken after police received a complaint from a member of the public.
The CPS had asked police for more information regarding the incident before making their decision.
New evidence, featuring previously unseen footage from TV cameras, was subsequently handed to the CPS last week.
Mr Ferdinand has only said he has "very strong" feelings on the subject.
Mr Terry said: "I am disappointed with the decision to charge me and hope to be given the chance to clear my name as quickly as possible.
"I have never aimed a racist remark at anyone and count people from all races and creeds among my closest friends.
"I will fight tooth and nail to prove my innocence."
He added: "I have campaigned against racism and believe there is no place for it in society."
The centre-half made his England debut against Serbia and Montenegro in 2003 and has been capped 72 times.
He replaced David Beckham as captain of the national side in 2006. The Chelsea player then lost the captaincy amid allegations of an affair with the girlfriend of team-mate Wayne Bridge before the last World Cup.
He won the England captaincy back in March.
The defender has won the Premier League three times with Chelsea, but missed a penalty in a shoot-out against Manchester United which would have won them the 2008 Champions League.
A statement released by Chelsea read: "John has made it clear he denies the charge and is determined to do all he can to prove his innocence.
"Chelsea FC has always been fully supportive of John in this matter and will continue to be so.
"The club finds all forms of discrimination abhorrent and we are proud of the work we undertake campaigning on this important issue."
The club said it could not comment further while the legal process continues.
The FA had put its own investigation on hold until the CPS decision was made. The FA said it would not be making any comment, however BBC sports editor David Bond said he understands that the FA would not suspend him. The footballer plans to lead out his club against Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane on Thursday.
Mr Terry is due before West London Magistrates' Court on 1 February.
The maximum sentence for the offence is a fine of 2,500.
As a summary offence under the Crime and Disorder Act, it will be fully heard in a magistrates' court.
The decision to prosecute John Terry comes the day after Liverpool striker Luis Suarez received an eight-match ban for racially abusing Manchester United defender Patrice Evra.
Lord Ousely, chairman of the charity Kick it Out which campaigns against all forms of discrimination in football, said it was a "very sad day for football" and added that he was "surprised" at the CPS decision.
He said: "From my point of view, yes, it would be very good if we could have moved ahead and not have to go through this.
"But it's equally important to understand that we do positive educational work alongside trying to work with the authorities to make sure that they enforce their own regulations, their own standards when these allegations are made."
Gordon Taylor, chief executive of Professional Footballers' Association, said he wanted to warn members that "just because it is a football pitch it is not a vacuum" and the law of the land applies. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | December 2011 | ['(BBC)'] |
The Tunisian interior ministry deploys the national guard in several cities across the country and reports that a total of 632 people have been arrested following a series of riots that first occurred January 15, a day after the government imposed a nationwide lockdown in response to an increase in COVID–19 cases. | More than 600 people have been arrested and troops have been deployed after a third consecutive night of riots in several Tunisian cities, officials said Monday.
The unrest came after Tunisia imposed a nationwide lockdown to stem a rise in coronavirus infections on Thursday – the same day as it marked the 10th anniversary of dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali's fall from power.
Interior ministry spokesperson Khaled Hayouni said a total of 632 people were arrested, notably "groups of people between the ages of 15, 20 and 25 who burned tires and bins in order to block movements by the security forces".
Defence ministry spokesman Mohamed Zikri meanwhile said the army has deployed reinforcements in several areas of the country.
Hayouni said that some of those arrested lobbed stones at police and clashed with security forces.
"This has nothing to do with protest movements that are guaranteed by the law and the constitution," said Hayouni. "Protests take place in broad daylight normally ... without any criminal acts involved," he added.
Hayouni said two police officers were wounded in the unrest.
It was not immediately clear if there were injuries among the youths and Hayouni did not say what charges those arrested faced.
The clashes took place in several cities across Tunisia, mostly in working-class neighborhoods with the exact reasons for the disturbances not immediately known.
But it came as many Tunisians are increasingly angered by poor public services and a political class that has repeatedly proved unable to govern coherently a decade on from the 2011 revolution.
GDP shrank by 9% last year, consumer prices have spiraled and one-third of young people are unemployed.
The key tourism sector, already on its knees after a string of deadly jihadist attacks in 2015, has been dealt a devastating blow by the pandemic.
Tunisia has registered more than 177,000 coronavirus infections, including over 5,600 deaths since the pandemic erupted last year.
The four-day lockdown ended on Sunday night, but it was not immediately known if other restrictions would be imposed.
The army has deployed troops in Bizerte in the north, Sousse in the east and Kasserine and Siliana in central Tunisia, the defense ministry spokesperson said.
Sousse, a coastal resort overlooking the Mediterranean, is a magnet for foreign holidaymaking that has been hit hard by the pandemic. The health crisis and ensuing economic misery have pushed growing numbers of Tunisians to seek to leave the country.
On Sunday evening in Ettadhamen, a restive working-class neighborhood on the edge of the Tunisian capital, the mood was sombre.
"I don't see any future here," said Abdelmoneim, a waiter, as the unrest unfolded around him. He blamed the violence on the country's post-revolution political class and said the rioting youths were "bored adolescents" who reflected the "failure" of politicians.
Abdelmoneim said he was determined to take a boat across the Mediterranean to Europe "as soon as possible and never come back to this miserable place. | Riot | January 2021 | ['(AFP via Daily Sabah)'] |
A Turkish court sentences ISIL militant Abdulkadir Masharipov to life imprisonment, plus an additional 1,368 years in prison, for killing 39 people and injuring 79 more at an Istanbul nightclub in 2017. | ISTANBUL (Reuters) - A Turkish court sentenced a man to life imprisonment on Monday for killing 39 people in a gun attack at an Istanbul nightclub on New Year’s Day, 2017, Turkey’s state-owned Anadolu news agency reported.
Abdulkadir Masharipov, an Uzbek national, was handed the equivalent of 40 life sentences without parole for the killings at the Reina night club and for violating the constitution, Anadolu said, after a trial that lasted nearly three years.
The court also sentenced him to an additional 1,368 years in prison for the attempted murder of 79 other people and for carrying an unlicensed weapon, Anadolu said.
Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack at the time, saying it was an act of revenge for Turkey’s military involvement in Syria, and Turkish police said Masharipov had acted on the militant group’s behalf.
Masharipov initially admitted guilt for the attack in his statement to police but later pleaded his innocence, disputing the evidence against him and saying he was not the person photographed holding an assault rifle in the club.
The attacker opened fire in the night club with an automatic rifle, throwing stun grenades to allow himself to reload and shooting the wounded on the ground. Victims included Turks, Arabs, Canadians and Indians.
The same court sentenced a second man, Ilyas Mamasaripov, who is believed to have helped plan the attack, to more than 1,400 years in prison for assisting murder and attempted murder and aiding the violation of the constitution, Anadolu reported.
It said 48 other defendants were sentenced to jail terms of varying lengths for membership of a terrorist organisation. Eleven other defendants were acquitted of all charges, it added.
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | September 2020 | ['(Reuters)'] |
Thousands of protesters storm the Thai Prime Minister's office and other government buildings, demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej. | BANGKOK, Aug 26 (Reuters) - Thousands of royalist protesters stormed the compound of Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej, a TV station and several ministries on Tuesday in a coordinated bid to unseat his elected seven-month-old coalition government.
Samak urged the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) to pack up and go home, accusing them of breaking the law after three months of hitherto peaceful demonstrations in central Bangkok.
“They want bloodshed in the country. They want the military to come out and stage a coup again,” he told foreign journalists at army headquarters, where he held a weekly cabinet meeting after protesters blockaded his Government House offices.
“We don’t count by days. We count by hours. We think by tomorrow it will be finished,” he said.
He made no mention of any need to impose emergency rule, but national police spokesman Surapol Thuanthong said police would seek court approval on Wednesday to arrest the PAD leaders after they ignored an order to leave by 6 p.m. (1100 GMT).
Samak said 85 people had been arrested so far in the protests led by the PAD, which accuses him of being an illegitimate proxy of ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra and seeking to turn Thailand into a republic, which Samak denies.
“I won’t yield. My cabinet won’t yield. The military and the police won’t yield,” the firebrand leader earlier told reporters.
The stock market fell as much as 2.5 percent amid fears of violence. It has shed nearly 23 percent since the PAD, a group of monarchist businessmen and academics, launched its campaign to unseat the government on May 25.
The baht eased to around 34.25 against the dollar, its weakest since November, from a 34.09 close on Monday.
PAD leader Sondhi Limthongkul, speaking to several thousand supporters on the Government House lawn, vowed to stay until the government fell.
“I won’t leave until there is a political change. If you want me to leave, you will have to kill me and take my body out of here,” he said to thunderous applause from demonstrators waving Thai flags and yellow banners representing the monarchy.
Earlier, thousands of protesters stormed state broadcaster NBT and parts of the ministries of finance, agriculture and transport, as well as briefly the Bangkok police headquarters.
They later abandoned those sites to reinforce the main protest at Government House amid fears that any violence could trigger a military coup to restore order less than two years after the army removed Thaksin.
The army denied a putsch was imminent, saying police could handle the protests.
“The army will not launch a coup. The people can be assured,” army head Anupong Paochinda told Channel 3 television. “This is the police’s job.”
The latest disruption to the government at a time of stuttering growth and decade-high inflation was the last thing the economy needed, analysts said.
“This government is in office, but not in power,” said Nick Bibby of Barclays Capital in Singapore. “We need to have greater clarity that this government is going to be around next year.”
Although the possibility remains of a violent response by Samak, who was instrumental in a bloody military crackdown on left-wing students in 1976, analysts said that he may yet bore the PAD into submission if he keeps his cool.
“As long as the government is restrained in its response, sticking to the law, not overreacting, and shying away from physical, violent enforcement of the law, it has the upper hand,” said Thitinan Pongsudhirak of Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University. (Additional reporting by Pracha Hariraksapitak and Ed Cropley) (Writing by Ed Cropley; | Protest_Online Condemnation | August 2008 | ['(Reuters)'] |
Curtis Culwell Center attack: ISIS claims responsibility for the attack on an exhibition of drawings of the Prophet Muhammad in the American city of Garland, Texas. One of the suspects was previously interrogated and surveilled by the FBI having visited Somalia, and both suspects praised ISIS in social media. | The Islamic State claimed responsibility Tuesday for the thwarted attack outside a prophet Muhammad cartoon contest near Dallas, threatening to carry out “worseand more bitter” violence on American soil.
The authenticity of the claim announced on a Syria-based radio station operated by the militant group could not be immediately verified.Sunday’s shootout in Texasrepresented the first time the Islamic State has announced links to a high-profile attack in the United States.
U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, suspect that the Islamic State did not direct the attack, but theorize the gunmen wereinspired by the terrorist group’s propaganda, which includes an online English-language magazine. In recent months, the FBI has charged several people with allegedattempts to stage attacks in the United States.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters the investigation was ongoing, and noted it was “too early to say” whether the Islamic State had a guiding hand in the attack.
“Two soldiers … of the caliphate attacked an exhibit in Garland in American Texas, and this exhibit was holding a contest for drawings offensive to the prophet Muhammad,” themilitant group said on its al-Bayan radio station, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors radical factions around the world.
The statement warned that the United States will be targeted by other Islamic State fighters waging attacks that will be “worse and more bitter, and you will see from the soldiers of the Islam State what will hurt you,” the SITE report said.
The claim, however, offered no hints about how the Islamic State purportedly made contact or directed the two attackers from Phoenix in Sunday’s failed assault.
[Gunman outside Muhammad cartoon event identified as suspected militant sympathizer]
Both were killed after wounding a security guard at the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland, about 20 miles northeast of Dallas. The suspects, identified as Elton Simpson, 30, and his roommate, Nadir Soofi, 34, had traveled from Phoenix to Garland in time for the event dubbed the Muhammad Art Exhibit.
Simpson was a Muslim convert whom the FBI had previously targeted in a terrorism investigation. Court documents show he was born in Illinois and converted to Islam at a young age. The government began investigating him in 2006, recording conversations between him and a paid informant, The Washington Post reported on Monday.
In May 2009, Simpson told an FBI informant: “It’s time to go to Somalia, brother.” He added: “It’s time. I’m tellin’ you, man. We gonna make it to the battlefield. … It’s time to roll,” according to a federal court document.
Simpson was arrested in January 2010 and charged with lying to agents in connection with terrorism. Authorities suspected he was trying to fly to Somalia, but Simpson said he intended to go to South Africa to study Islam.
Following a bench trial, a judge dropped the terrorism allegations, citing insufficient evidence. His charged was reduced to making a false statement to federal officials, and he was sentenced to three years of probation.
William McCants, an expert on Islamic militants, said it remains“a little tricky” to evaluate the extent of possible Islamic State connections to the Texas attack.
“They could have very loose ties to someone via Twitter. It’s tough to know if this is something that someone high up in the leadership reached out and activated them, or if they did it on their own and gave someone in the [Islamic State] media orbit a heads up just beforehand, or if it’s more after the fact,”said McCants, a fellow at the Brookings Institution and head of its Project on U.S. Relations with the Islamic World. “It’s hard to parse.”
Sunday’s show was hosted by the New York-based American Freedom Defense Initiative which has been labeled an anti-Muslim “hate group” by the Southern Poverty Law Center featuring cartoon drawings that lampooned the prophet Muhammad.
Pamela Geller, the group’s president, known for inciting conspiracy theories and speaking out against what she calls the “Islamization” of the United States, organized the event. The keynote speaker was Geert Wilders, who has been outspoken against Islam and marked for assassination by al-Qaeda and its allies.
[Pamela Geller, the incendiary organizer of Texas ‘prophet Muhammad cartoon contest’]
Almost immediately after the shooting, Geller blamed Islamic State supporters for the attack.
“This incident was obviously related to our event, as evidenced by the ISIS supporters on Twitter taking credit for and praising the gunmen,” she told The Washington Post in an e-mail, referring to the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL. “The Islamic jihadis are determined to suppress our freedom of speech violently. They struck in Paris and Copenhagen recently, and now in Texas.”
[One Texas suspect was accused in 2010 FBI terror case]
At the time, Garland police spokesman Joe Harn said it was unclear whether the shooting was related to the art event.
The winner of the cartoon contest was Bosch Fawstin, a New York native born to Albanian Muslim immigrants. His entry featured a scowling, turbaned Muhammad saying: “You can’t draw me!”
At the bottom of the cartoon he wrote: “That’s why I draw you.”
The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for dozens of major attacks and slayings in Europe, North Africa and elsewhere. InOctober, a gunman shot and killed a ceremonial guard at a soldiers memorial in the Canadian capital of Ottawa before storming the nearby Parliament building, where he was fatally shot. Some investigators described the attacker as a potential “lone wolf” militant inspired by the Islamic State, but Canadian officials later said there were no credible links to the group.
Michelle Boorstein in Miami and Adam Goldman in Washington contributed to this report.
| Armed Conflict | May 2015 | ['(Washington Post)'] |
Prime Minister of Tunisia Mohamed Ghannouchi becomes interim President of Tunisia as Zine El Abidine Ben Ali leaves the country. | Tunisia's president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali has fled his country after weeks of mass protests culminated in a victory for people power over one of the Arab world's most repressive regimes.
Ben Ali had taken refuge in Saudi Arabia, at the end of an extraordinary day which had seen the declaration of a state of emergency, the evacuation of tourists of British and other nationalities, and an earthquake for the authoritarian politics of the Middle East and north Africa.
After hours of conflicting reports had him criss-crossing southern Europe by air, the Saudi state news agency confirmed he had arrived in the kingdom together with his family. Earlier, French media reported that Nicolas Sarkozy had refused Ben Ali refuge, although France denied that any request had been received.
In Tunisia, prime minister Mohamed Ghannouchi announced that he had taken over as interim president, vowing to respect the constitution and restore stability for Tunisia's 10.5 million citizens. "I call on the sons and daughters of Tunisia, of all political and intellectual persuasions, to unite to allow our beloved country to overcome this difficult period and to return to stability," he said in a broadcast.
But there was confusion among protesters about what will happen next, and concern that Ben Ali might be able to return before elections could be held. "We must remain vigilant," warned an email from the Free Tunis group, monitoring developments to circumvent an official news blackout.
Ben Ali, 74, had been in power since 1987. On Thursday he announced he would not stand for another presidential term in 2014, but the move came after Tunisia had been radicalised by weeks of street clashes and the killings of scores of demonstrators. Today in the capital police fired teargas to disperse crowds unmoved by the president's concession and demanding his immediate resignation. A state of emergency and a 12-hour curfew did little to restore calm. Analysts said that the army would be crucial.
Last night, soldiers guarded ministries, public buildings and the state TV building. Public meetings were banned, and the security forces were authorised to fire live rounds.
Tunis's main avenues were deserted except for scores of soldiers. Protesters, some of whom had earlier been beaten and clubbed by police in the streets, still sheltered in apartment buildings. Army vehicles were stationed outside the interior ministry. Opposition leader Najib Chebbi, one of Ben Ali's fiercest critics, captured the sense of historic change. "This is a crucial moment. There is a change of regime under way. Now it's the succession," he said. He added: "It must lead to profound reforms, to reform the law and let the people choose."
Al-Jazeera television reported that a unnamed member of Ben Ali's wife's family had been detained by security forces at the airport in the capital, Tunis. Le Monde reported later that a plane carrying Ben Ali's daughter and grandaughter had landed near Paris. Hatred of the president's relatives, symbols of corruption and cronyism, has galvanised the opposition in recent weeks.
Tunisians had been riveted by revelations of US views of the Ben Ali regime in leaked WikiLeaks cables last month.
The US led international calls for calm and for the Tunisian people to be given a free choice of leaders.
"I condemn and deplore the use of violence against citizens peacefully voicing their opinion in Tunisia, and I applaud the courage and dignity of the Tunisian people," said Barack Obama.
1946 Tunisia becomes semi-autonomous state in the French Union
1947 Special ministry set up, with Tunisian officials making up the majority
1949 Habib Bourguiba returns to Tunisia to promote independence, having been forced into exile in 1945
1955 A government with only Tunisian members is installed
1956 Tunisia becomes an independent nation. The Neo Destour party wins a landslide election and Bourguiba is elected president of the first Tunisian national assembly
1957 For the first time, women are allowed to vote in regional elections. Tunisia becomes a republic and Bourguiba becomes its first president
1964 Swathes of mainly French-owned land is expropriated by the government, with the result that Paris stops all financial assistance
1975 Bourguiba is appointed president for life by the national assembly
1987 Ben Ali ousts Bourguiba in a coup, citing senility, and installs himself as prime minister
1989 Tunisia holds elections. Six opposition parties participate on this occasion but Ben Ali is elected president with 99% of the vote. His party, the RCD, wins all 141 seats in the national assembly
1994 Ben Ali is the only presidential candidate in 1994, winning 99.9% of the vote, drawing international condemnation
1998 Tunisia signs a landmark trade agreement with the EU
1999 Ben Ali receives 99.44% of the votes in the general election to win a third spell as the country's most powerful person
2002 Ben Ali amends Tunisia's constitution to allow a president to stay in power until the age of 75 and be re-elected unlimited times
2004 Ben Ali is re-elected once more, again receiving an unlikely 94.5% of the votes. Opposition party the Democratic Progressives withdraws two days before the vote, branding Tunisia's political system "a masquerade of democracy"
2006 A dozen hardline Islamists are killed in shoot-outs with security forces in the capital, Tunis. Lawyers say hundreds of people had been arrested on suspicion of links with terrorist groups since 2003, when the authorities gained new powers of arrest
2008 In the southern mining region of Gafsa, clashes break out between troops and young unemployed demonstrators
2009 Ben Ali re-elected as president for a fifth term, winning 89% of the vote
2011 Following violent protests throughout the country, Ben Ali reportedly flees Tunisia and the prime minister, Mohamed Ghannouchi, announces he has taken over as interim president | Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration | January 2011 | ['(France 24)', '(The Guardian)', '(Voice of America)'] |
An avalanche kills four skiers in Tyrol, Austria. | Four people were killed when a large avalanche swept away a ski group in the Austrian Alps, police say.
The avalanche hit the remote Jochgrubenkopf peak in the Tyrol region at about 12:30 local time (11:30 GMT).
It engulfed a group of eight foreign tourists, but four managed to free themselves and seek help, according to Austrian reports.
Three bodies were found quickly but rescuers searched for hours to find the fourth body buried deep in the snow.
Local reports said the ski group was visiting from Switzerland.
Rudi Mair from the Tyrol avalanche warning service said "tonnes of snow" had come down the 2,400m (7,800ft) mountain. The avalanche was said to have been about 700m (2,300 feet) long. The alert level at the time had been quite low.
But Mr Mair told Austrian broadcaster ORF that the avalanche had been triggered by a small amount of fresh snow on top of several, unstable layers of old snow. | Hurricanes_Tornado_Storm_Blizzard | March 2017 | ['(BBC)'] |
Somali poet, playwright and songwriter Warsame Shire Awale is killed in Mogadishu. | Popular Somali poet, playwright and songwriter Warsame Shire Awale has been killed in the capital, Mogadishu.
He was shot by unknown gunmen near his home on Monday evening.
Mr Awale wrote and acted in radio plays critical of the militant group, al-Shabab, who he accused of misleading people in the name of Islam. The National Union of Somali Journalists says he had received death threats because of his work and songs calling for people to join the police.
Mohamed Mohamed, from the BBC's Somali Service, says Mr Awale had contributed to the Somali arts scene for more than 30 years.
He also worked for Radio Kulmiye and had recently become popular with young Somalis who enjoyed his comic plays urging them to reject violence and join those working for the UN-backed government.
He had long been a member of the police band, renowned before the civil war for its performances - and had in more recent times been writing tunes encouraging people to join the struggling police force.
Mr Awale, who was in his 60s, is the 18th person to have worked in the media to be killed this year in Somalia.
Al-Shabab has claimed responsibility for killing more than 10 journalists this year. One of them was beheaded in Mogadishu.
The group was expelled from Mogadishu more than a year ago by African Union troops and the Somali army but its al-Qaeda-aligned fighters still launch frequent attacks in the city.
Since the overthrow of President Siad Barre in 1991, Somalia has seen clan-based warlords, Islamist militants and its neighbours all battling for control of the country. | Famous Person - Death | October 2012 | ['(BBC)'] |
In Niger, 200 protesters march in the capital Niamey to demand that government alleviate the food shortage | Thousands of people marched in the streets of the Niger capital Niamey on Thursday to denounce their government's inability to respond to food shortages and demand free food distributions in the dusty interior where populations are starving, according to demonstration organisers.
Brandishing slogans such as "We are hungry!" or "Free food distributions!" some 2,000 people tramped through Niamey according to organisers the Democratic Coordination of Civil Society (CDSC). Police said turn-out was closer to 1,000 people.
Nationally more than three million people are at risk of hunger following successive droughts and swarms of locusts that stripped sparse vegetation bare across the arid country last year, according to Nigerien authorities.
About 15 percent of the West African nation's average cereal production and almost 40 percent of the country's livestock was lost in a country that is ranked the second poorest in the world by the UN and some 63 percent of the 12-million strong population live on less than a dollar a day.
NGOs in the field have recorded alarming malnutrition rates in children under five and Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said that in the southern Tahoua and Maradi districts of Niger, one in five children are at risk of serious malnutrition.
"The CDSC thinks that when people are hungry they need assistance and have a right to food," Moussa Tchangari, the CDSC's spokesperson told IRIN on Thursday.
Local government officials and aid workers said that with their granaries now laying empty, many villagers had resorted to eating wild plants to survive and others had been scavenging in ant-hills in the hopes of finding grains of cereal left over by insects.
"These people do not have money anymore and could die; the government should not ask them to pay for food," Tchangari said.
Niger regularly suffers from cereal shortages and the government oversees a food bank system that supplies cereals to areas where stocks are low. This allows residents to buy, for example, 100 kilos of millet at the subsidised price of 10,000 CFA (US $20), half the market price.
Seydou Bacari, the coordinator of the government's food crisis unit, told IRIN on Thursday that the government had already provided 42,000 tonnes of cereals at below-market prices and set up more than 1,200 centres where people could work in exchange for food or cash.
He said the government was not against free distributions of food but that it had neither the money nor the cereals to provide such assistance.
"Should we distribute the few resources we have and twiddle our thumbs? Or should we find a mechanism that will enable the person who goes to work to buy his or her food ration with the little amount he or she has been able to earn ?" Bacari asked.
He added the government did not have the CFA francs 43 billion (US$ 86 million) needed to buy the 223,000 tons of cereals needed to feed the hungry Nigeriens.
"We appealed for international assistance but it is not coming", he added.
Last month, the UN echoed the government's appeal and called on donors to give more than US $16 million, to help deal with what it called Niger's "silent crisis". Two weeks ago Jan Egeland, the UN's Under-Secretary-General and Emergency Relief Coordinator, said there were still zero commitments.
Bacari added that even if the money was there, it would still be very difficult to buy in enough cereals because neighbouring countries had also been affected by the crisis.
Some six million people across West Africa's semi-arid Sahel region face famine after last year's invasion of locusts and drought destroyed their crops and grazing land.
| Protest_Online Condemnation | June 2005 | ['(AllAfrica)', '(Reuters AlertNet)'] |
Police in Russia arrest five aides of Alexei Navalny ahead of planned protests. Navalny has been under arrest since returning to Russia on January 17. | Officials have warned Russians against attending demonstrations this weekend in support of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who was detained last Sunday.
According to a press release by the Russian Prosecutor’s Office, police will be “focused on taking preventive measures, and if there are grounds — bringing the guilty persons to administrative responsibility.”
It also warned that internet traffic will be monitored to “restrict access to illegal information,” and that those found in breach “have been warned against breaking the law.”
State communications watchdog Roskomnadzor cautioned social media platforms against encouraging minors to participate in the rallies.
“Administrative action will be taken against internet platforms,” the watchdog said, adding that failure to remove “banned information” could result in fines of up to 4 million rubles ($54,000). Authorities also detained five of Navalny’s aides, including his spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh, activist Lyubov Sobol and campaign manager Anastasia Panchenko, according to the Guardian. Belarusian lawyer Vladlen Los has been ordered to leave Russia.
Karmysh tweeted while in custody: “Well, I'm left overnight in an administrative detention cell. The trial will be tomorrow, at what time — unknown.”
“January 23 is to be legendary,” she added, referring to the planned weekend protests.
The Chesham and Amersham seat has been held by the Tories since its creation in 1974.
Turnout is expected to reach a record low in an election that is seen as a key test ahead of the presidential elections. High-profile cases on EU soil have posed big problems for governments.
Armin Laschet says he combines the ‘sobriety’ of the departing German chancellor with the ‘passion’ of the French president.
Log in to access content and manage your profile. If you do not have a login you can register here. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Arrest | January 2021 | ['(Politico)'] |
During a visit to India, British Prime Minister David Cameron warns Pakistan not to have any relationship with groups that "promote the export of terror". | British Prime Minister David Cameron has warned Pakistan not to have any relationship with groups that "promote the export of terror". He said that he would be raising the issue with his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh when they held talks in Delhi on Thursday.
Mr Cameron's spokeswoman insisted he was talking about Pakistan as a country, not its government.
She said that the main message was for Pakistan to shut "terror groups" down.
"We should be very, very clear with Pakistan that we want to see a strong, stable and democratic Pakistan," Mr Cameron told reporters after a speech in the southern Indian city of Bangalore.
"We cannot tolerate in any sense the idea that this country is allowed to look both ways and is able, in any way, to promote the export of terror, whether to India or whether to Afghanistan or anywhere else in the world." His remarks on Pakistan follow the leaking of US documents on the WikiLeaks website in which Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence agency was accused of secretly helping the Afghan insurgency. UK Foreign Secretary William Hague, who is travelling with the prime minister, sought to further clarify Mr Cameron's remarks.
"He wasn't accusing anybody of double dealing," Mr Hague said.
"He was also saying that Pakistan's made great progress in tackling terrorism. Of course there have been many terrorism outrages in Pakistan itself."
The BBC's world affairs correspondent Mike Wooldridge says that the leaking of this particular allegation has already been the cue for increased American demands that Pakistan needs to step up its efforts to tackle terrorism and Mr Cameron is saying the same. Our correspondent says that Mr Cameron and his officials also put great emphasis on the importance of Britain and Pakistan working together to make the country stronger and more stable. "It should be a relationship based on a very clear message: that it is not right to have any relationship with groups that are promoting terror," Mr Cameron said.
"Democratic states that want to be part of the developed world cannot do that. The message to Pakistan from the US and the UK is very clear on that point."
His comments are likely to be welcomed by officials in Delhi, which has long accused its neighbour of backing attacks on Indian targets.
The two nuclear-armed rivals have fought three wars, with peace negotiations stalling following the Mumbai attacks of 2008, which India blamed on Pakistani-based militants.. | Diplomatic Visit | July 2010 | ['(BBC)', '(Indian Express)'] |
Doron Grossman, the Israeli ambassador to Ethiopia, is to be flown back to Israel after receiving a critical head injury following an apparent failed suicide attempt. | Doron Grossman, 48, was brought back to Israel after being found with a head wound at his home in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, on Tuesday night.
His own pistol was discovered by his side and local police said they did not believe anyone else was involved.
He did not recover consciousness before his death, Israeli media report.
Mr Grossman had been suffering from stomach pains and medical examinations determined that he had an incurable cancer condition, according to Haaretz newspaper.
A single man, he had served as ambassador to Ethiopia since 2002 and was shortly due to take up a posting in South Africa.
There is a small Israeli embassy in the Ethiopian capital, comprising four envoys and their spouses, who deal with diplomatic and economic matters. Tens of thousands of Ethiopian Jews, known pejoratively as Falashas, have emigrated to Israel since the 1980s. | Famous Person - Sick | March 2005 | ['(BBC)'] |
Enes Kanter, a Turkish player with the NBA's Oklahoma City Thunder, returns to the U.S. after having been briefly detained in Bucharest. Kanter alleged that his public opposition to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and support of exiled Islamic cleric Fethullah Gülen had led to the cancellation of his Turkish passport. |
Royce Young explains why Thunder center Enes Kanter was denied entry into Romania and the circumstances that lead to the cancelation of his Turkish passport. (1:11)
After being detained in Romania and having his passport revoked, Enes Kanter is back in the United States after landing in New York on Sunday morning, his agent told ESPN.
Kanter will hold a news conference Monday at 9:30 a.m. at National Basketball Players Association headquarters in New York.
All good baby!Gonna give press conference tomorrow in NY.Got lots of things to say with lots of crazy stories.Be ready!!! Ohhh Yeeahhh pic.twitter.com/CXktUXk2PS
Kanter had been on a world tour for his Light Foundation, doing charity events to provide meals and clothes, and had already made stops in a number of countries. But after a flight from the Philippines to Bucharest, Romania, Kanter was detained by airport officials Saturday and told his Turkish passport had been "canceled."
Kanter announced the situation in a video on social media, saying the Turkish government revoked his passport because of his "political views." Kanter has been a harsh critic of current president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, calling him a "dictator" and the "Hitler of our century."
"They've been holding us here for hours, by these two police [officers]," Kanter, who turned 25 on Saturday, said. "The reason behind it is just, of course, my political views, and the guy who did it is Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the president of Turkey."
According to sources, the NBA worked with the State Department to get Kanter to London late on Saturday, with Oklahoma Senators Jim Inhofe and James Lankford making calls on his behalf. Kanter is a citizen of Turkey, but he holds a green card to work in the U.S.
Kanter had a number of remaining stops left on his charity tour, but all have been canceled.
Tensions have been running between Kanter and his home country for years, escalating last summer when Kanter's father, Mehmet, announced the family was disowning Enes.
Kanter, who is one of the best basketball players ever from Turkey, has not played for the national team in years, saying in 2015 that was because of his outspoken views. National team coach Ergin Ataman said at the time that the decision to leave Kanter off was not political.
In July 2016, after speaking against Erdogan's government following a terrorist bombing in Turkey's capital of Ankara in March of that year, Kanter said he received death threats after a failed military coup to overthrow Erdogan. The NBA and the Oklahoma City Thunder communicated with the FBI following the incident, primarily during the Thunder's preseason trip to Spain last October.
Kanter is a known supporter of Fethullah Gulen, even suggesting last summer he might change his last name to Gulen, following his family's disownment.
Gulen is an Islamic leader and the face of the Gulen Movement. He lives in Pennsylvania after being exiled for more than 15 years, and he directly opposes Erdogan's regime. Erdogan blamed Gulen and his supporters for an attempted coup on the Turkish government last July. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Release | May 2017 | ['(ESPN)'] |
American Airlines Flight 331, with 154 people onboard, overshoots the runway at Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston, Jamaica, injuring 44. | Passengers of American Airlines flight AA331 from Miami are evacuated from Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston Jamaica, after their plane overshot the runway while landing, leaving no immediate reports of fatalities or serious injuries, just after midnight Wednesday, Dec. 23, 2009. [Agencies] KINGSTON, Jamaica: An American Airlines flight from Miami with more than 150 aboard overshot a runway while landing during a heavy rainstorm in Kingston Tuesday night, injuring more than 40 people, officials said.
Flight 331 skidded across a road at Norman Manley International Airport and halted at the edge of the Caribbean Sea, apparently prevented from going into the water only by the upward slope of the sand. The nose of the jet was less than 10 feet from the water.
Related readings: American Airlines plane reported crashed in Jamaica
The plane's fuselage was cracked, its right engine broke off from the impact and the left main landing gear collapsed, said Tim Smith, an American Airlines spokesman at the company's headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas. Most of the injuries were cuts and bruises and none were life threatening, though he had no details, he said.
The Boeing 737-800, which originated at Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C., had taken off from Miami International Airport at 8:52 p.m. and arrived in Kingston at 10:22 p.m. It was carrying 148 passengers and a crew of six, American said. The majority of those aboard were Jamaicans coming home for Christmas, Vaz said.
Those getting off the plane were bleeding, mostly from the upper parts of their bodies.
Passenger Pilar Abaurrea described a chaotic scene when the plane hit the ground with a loud crash skidded along the runway.
"All of a sudden, when it hit the ground, the plane was kind of bouncing, someone said the plane was skidding and there was panic," Abaurrea of Keene, N.H., said in a telephone interview.
As the crew opened the emergency exits and people scrambled to get off, 62-year-old Abaurrea and her husband, Gary Wehrwein, noticed a number of people with injuries, including one person who had a cut on his head from falling baggage.
Abaurrea said she had pain in her neck and back from the impact and her husband had pain in a shoulder from falling luggage, but were otherwise unhurt. "I'm a little bit shook up but OK," she said.
Abaurrea said the flight was very turbulent, with the crew being forced to halt the beverage service three times before finally giving it up. Just before landing, the pilot warned of more turbulence but said it likely wouldn't be much worse than what they had experienced so far, she said.
Smith said it was too soon to provide details about the precise of the extent of the damage to the aircraft.
The airport has not reopened because of concerns that the plane's tail might be hindering visibility, Security Minister Dwight Nelson told Radio Jamaica.
Some 400 passengers were waiting for their flights to be cleared for takeoff, he said.
Family members of the victims of a drunken driving fatality in Nanjing last June have sought the death penalty for the alleged perpetrator, with one calling yesterday's life term "too lenient".
Once considered part of the realm of youngsters, cartoons and graphic novels have suddenly hit China's mainstream culture as the country realized their potential for profit.
The celebration of Christmas has become increasingly popular in China. Language Tips helps you find out more about the joyful holiday.
Hugh Grant and Sarah Jessica Parker pose after their interview with APTN over their role in the film Did You Hear About The Morgans, at a central London hotel, Dec. 11, 2009.
List yours here and tell us where it originated from.Someone thought it originated from Shanghai language,so maybe it's a Chinese word. | Air crash | December 2009 | ['(Jamaica Observer)', '(AFP)', '(China Daily)'] |
Multiple individuals rammed a van into the entrance of the Brussels National Institute of Criminology building, setting its laboratories on fire. No casualties have been reported. At least five people are arrested. | Attackers rammed a car through the gates of a Brussels crime laboratory before starting a fire to destroy forensic evidence, prosecutors say. Prosecutor's spokeswoman Ine Van Wymersch said a car broke through fences at about 02:00 (00:00 GMT).
She said there was "sensitive material" inside the laboratories, but it is not yet clear what if anything was destroyed in the fire.
Five people arrested nearby were later released without charge.
Initial reports in Belgian media said a bomb had exploded. But Ms Van Wymersch said that while a bomb was unlikely to have detonated, it was impossible to fully rule out that scenario.
"The location was not chosen randomly," she said. "It's an important site, that includes sensitive documents relating to current investigations."
"The possibility of a terrorist act is not confirmed. It goes without saying that several individuals may have wanted to destroy evidence related to their legal cases," Ms Van Wymersch added.
The case was being treated as arson, she said.
Some 30 firefighters helped put out the fire at the National Institute of Criminology, which Ms Van Wymersch said caused damage but caused no casualties.
Forensic analysis linked to criminal cases is carried out at the site, but while it is not the only laboratory of its kind linked to the police, it is the most important forensic test centre in Belgium. Images submitted to broadcaster RTL by nearby residents showed flames and heavy smoke rising into the night sky.
The independent institute, linked to Belgium's federal justice body, is in Neder-Over-Heembeek, a suburb in the north of Brussels.
Belgium's terror alert level remains high since bomb attacks on Brussels airport and the city's metro, claimed by so-called Islamic State, that killed 32 people in March. | Armed Conflict | August 2016 | ['(BBC)', '(BNO News)'] |
New President of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos and President of Venezuela Hugo Chávez agree to meet for talks on Tuesday, following a recent diplomatic disagreement. | BOGOTA/CARACAS (Reuters) - Colombia’s new President Juan Manuel Santos will meet his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez on Tuesday to try and restore relations that broke over accusations Caracas is sheltering leftist guerrillas.
Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez speaks during his weekly broadcast "Alo Presidente" at Miraflores Palace in Caracas August 8, 2010. REUTERS/Miraflores Palace/Handout
“Today I am going to sleep happy!” Chavez said in Caracas after the planned meeting was announced following talks between the two nations’ foreign ministers in Bogota.
Though ideologically opposed, socialist firebrand Chavez and U.S. ally Santos want a new start in relations for the sake of peace in the volatile Andean region and the restoration of their annual $7 billion bilateral trade.
“I hope that from this meeting we can reach conclusions that enable us to normalize relations,” Santos said.
He took over on Saturday from outgoing Colombian leader Alvaro Uribe, whose accusations caused Chavez to break ties last month in the latest swing of the two Andean neighbors’ on-again, off-again relationship.
Despite the aggressive words from both Caracas and Bogota in recent weeks, few thought the spat would spiral into war and markets shrugged off the dispute as largely rhetoric.
The concrete issue at root -- is Venezuela supporting Colombian guerrillas and allowing them to hide on its soil? -- remains unresolved however.
It is unclear how Santos and Chavez, who have sparred and criticized each other in the past, will get round that on Tuesday beyond politely ignoring it, given that their governments flatly contradict each other.
CHAVEZ DEMANDS “RESPECT”
Chavez warned the reconciliation effort was fragile.
“Let’s be clear. If Venezuela is respected, there will be progress. If there’s lack of respect to Venezuela, nothing new or good will be possible,” he wrote in a weekly column.
Related Coverage
Seeking to demonstrate his peace credentials, Chavez called on Colombia’s rebels to give up their decades-old armed struggle and seek a negotiated solution.
“The guerrillas should come out in favor of peace. They should release all their hostages,” he said on his regular Sunday TV program. “They have no future by staying armed,” added Chavez, repeating similar past pleas.
“Furthermore they have become an excuse for the (U.S.) empire to intervene in Colombia and threaten Venezuela from there,” Chavez said, a reference to the U.S. military presence in Colombia which so irks him.
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro announced the Tuesday meeting after meeting his Colombian counterpart Maria Angela Holguin on Sunday.
“We have taken the first step with a frank and direct dialogue with the aim of both countries reestablishing relations,” Holguin said.
Before meeting Maduro, Holguin also held talks with Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino to try to smooth over another of Colombia’s messy confrontations.
Ecuador, whose left-wing government is an ally of Chavez, and Colombia are also hoping to restore full relations after a controversial 2008 bombing raid against Colombian rebels across the Ecuadorean border.
The Colombian and Ecuadorean ministers discussed reestablishing relations and cooperation on issues such as frontier development and energy. “For us, our relations with Ecuador are very important and we want to keep on this path toward normalization,” Holguin said.
| Diplomatic Talks _ Diplomatic_Negotiation_ Summit Meeting | August 2010 | ['(BBC)', '(Reuters)'] |
Ahmad Daqamseh, the Jordanian soldier who shot seven Israeli schoolchildren on March 13, 1997, is released from prison in Jordan. | AMMAN (Reuters) - A Jordanian soldier who killed seven Israeli schoolgirls has been freed after serving 20 years in prison, with many Jordanians celebrating his release and calling him a national hero, witnesses and family sources said on Sunday.
Ahmad Daqamseh, 45, was taken to his family home in the village of Ibdir near the city of Irbid in northern Jordan where dozens of relatives and wellwishers gave him a rousing welcome.
Jordanian security services set up checkpoints around the village to restrict access as people flocked to see him.
In July 1997, a five-member Jordanian military tribunal found Daqamseh guilty of opening fire on a group of Israeli schoolchildren and killing seven of them before soldiers seized him and rushed to help the victims.
Daqamseh became a hero to many Jordanians and was embraced as a figurehead by a strong opposition movement led by Islamists and nationalists vehemently opposed to the country’s peace treaty with Israel.
During the trial, Daqamseh said the girls had mocked him while he was performing Muslim prayers in a border area returned to Jordanian sovereignty under the 1994 peace treaty.
He would have faced the death penalty but the tribunal ruled he was mentally unstable and sentenced him to life imprisonment, which is equivalent to 20 years under Jordanian law.
A few days after the incident, the late King Hussein personally apologized for the incident, traveling to Israel to visit and pay his respects to the girls’ families.
Many lawmakers welcomed his release. Neither the Jordanian nor the Israeli government made any comment.
“The release of this hero has cheered us. Israel has committed crimes against many Jordanians that were never accounted for,” Saleh Armouti, a leading parliamentarian, said.
One Israeli survivor, Keren Mizrahi, said Daqamseh’s release revived painful memories and he had served a light sentence.
“My feeling is that it’s like I’m being wounded again, mentally and physically, as if a knife is turned inside my heart,” she was quoted as saying on Israeli Channel 10 TV.
A defiant Daqamseh told Al Jazeera he did not recognize Israel, saying Arabs could not have normal ties with what he termed “the Zionist entity”.
Jordan’s biggest political opposition group, the Islamic Action Front, which is the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, hailed his release.
“We congratulate Jordan and the family of the hero Ahmad al Daqmaseh his release from prison,” it said in a statement.
Many lawmakers and politicians had lobbied to set him free in a kingdom where hostility toward Israel runs deep.
Many Jordanians see Israel as an occupier state which has driven them from their land. Palestinians originally from Jordan make up a large proportion of the country’s population.
| Government Policy Changes | March 2017 | ['(Reuters)'] |
Officials in Niger say that floods have killed 45 people and displaced more than 226,000 people since Monday, after torrential rains caused the Niger River to overflow. Prime Minister Brigi Rafini pledges aid. | NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — Flooding from heavy rains in Niger has killed at least 45 people this week and forced more than 226,000 from their homes, officials in the West African nation said Friday. Niger’s western region has been hardest hit by days of rain that caused the Niger River to overflow, essentially shutting down the capital, Niamey. Dozens of mud homes have collapsed along the river in the Kirkissoye district and rice fields are submerged. Prime Minister Brigi Rafini, who visited the affected neighborhoods and families, was outraged.
“This situation is difficult” and should not have happened in view of the river dyke rehabilitation work carried out just before the rainy season, he said. “I thought that the capital of Niamey was safe from flooding.”
He said additional efforts will be made to protect other threatened areas.
With climate change, “we are never safe from floods,” the prime minister warned.
An emergency appeal had been launched for populations in flood-prone areas to abandon their homes. Since Monday, rains and flooding have affected at least 25,800 homes, according to the Council of Ministers. In addition, 64 classrooms and 24 mosques have collapsed and hundreds of granaries are damaged, the government said. Niger suffers flooding annually, forcing many families to take refuge in schools and makeshift shelters. In 2019, at least 57 people were killed and more than 132,500 were displaced by the rains, according to the government. | Floods | August 2020 | ['(AP)'] |
Tropical Storm Vamco makes landfall south of Da Nang, Viet Nam, causing flooding in the region. | Tropical Rainstorm Vamco will bring flooding rain to portions of Indochina through at least Wednesday.
As of Monday evening local time, 215 mm (8 inches) of rain from Vamco has been reported in Da Nang, Vietnam, before making landfall south of the city as a tropical storm. Wind gusts up to 70 km/h (45 mph) were reported in the city as well.
The tropical cyclone will quickly weaken across the mountainous terrain of Vietnam and Laos Monday night local time, but flooding will persist in the region.
Heavy rain will press south and west into Thailand, Cambodia and southern Vietnam Tuesday and Wednesday; 75-150 mm (3-6 inches) with more isolated areas receiving 300 mm (12 inches) of rain will threaten these areas.
Due to the mountainous terrain of the region, rivers are expected to rapidly rise leading to life-threatening flash flooding. Water-logged hillsides may give way and lead to mudslides.
:Detailed Forecast for Da NangInteractive Satellite for IndochinaWestern Pacific Typhoon and Tropical Storm Center
Drenching downpours and the threat for flooding could remain across Cambodia, Thailand and southern Myanmar during the second half of the week.
Despite containing locally damaging winds at the time of landfall, flooding rain is expected to be the primary concern and will threaten areas for several days.
.
| Hurricanes_Tornado_Storm_Blizzard | September 2015 | ['(Accu Weather)'] |
Traveling through thunderstorms over the Java Sea, Flight 8501 loses contact with air traffic control after the plane departed from the Indonesian city of Surabaya en route to Singapore with 162 people on board. | An AirAsia Indonesia airliner flying from Indonesia to Singapore with 162 people on board has gone missing.
Flight QZ8501 lost contact with air traffic control at 06:24 local time (23:24 GMT Saturday) over the Java Sea.
The plane, an Airbus A320-200, disappeared midway into the flight of more than two hours from the city of Surabaya. No distress call was made.
Bad weather was reported in the area, and an air search operation has now been suspended for the night.
Planes from Indonesia and Singapore had been scouring an area of sea between Kalimantan (Borneo) and Java. Some boats were reported to be continuing to search as night fell.
No wreckage has been found, an Indonesian official told the BBC. AirAsia's Chief Executive Tony Fernandes, who has flown to Surabaya, said: "We don't want to speculate but right now of course the plane has been missing for 12 hours and there's a deep sense of depression here.
"This is a massive shock to us and we are devastated by what has happened. It's unbelievable."
He said the captain had more than 20,500 flight hours, almost 7,000 of them with AirAsia. The flight left Surabaya in eastern Java at 05:35 local time (22:35 GMT) and was due to arrive in Singapore at 08:30 (00:30 GMT).
The missing jet had requested a "deviation" from the flight path to avoid thick storm clouds, AirAsia said.
Indonesia's transport ministry said the pilot had asked permission to climb to 38,000ft (11,000m).
Ministry official Djoko Murjatmodjo said the request "could not be approved at that time due to traffic, there was a flight above, and five minutes later [flight QZ8501] disappeared from radar".
At the scene: Saira Asher, Changi Airport, Singapore
Flight QZ8501 was supposed to arrive early this morning. Hours later the families of the passengers gathered here have very little information. Airport officials are keeping them well away from the media and trying to make them comfortable.
The scenes at Changi are reminiscent of those in Kuala Lumpur immediately after MH370 went missing in March: anxious relatives waiting for any news on their loves ones, a media frenzy, but no answers.
At the scene: Alice Budisatrijo in Surabaya airport
A few hours ago many of the relatives at the crisis centre in the airport still seemed calm - glued to their phones, perhaps trying to find any news of the plane or stay in touch with friends and loved ones
But more than 12 hours since the plane took off they are looking increasingly worried. Officials still have no idea what happened to the aircraft. The governor of East Java, Soekarwo, the mayor of Surabaya, Tri Rismaharini, and the chief executive of AirAsia, Tony Fernandes, have come to talk to the relatives to assure them that all is being done to locate the missing Airbus.
This has been a difficult year for aviation in Asia: Malaysia's national carrier Malaysia Airlines has suffered two losses - flights MH370 and MH17. Flight MH370 disappeared on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in March with 239 passengers and crew. The wreckage, thought to be in southern Indian Ocean, has still not been located. MH17 was shot down over Ukraine in July, killing all 298 on board.
There were 155 passengers on board, the company said in a statement:
The plane in question was delivered to AirAsia in 2008, has flown 13,600 times, covering 23,000 hours, and underwent its last maintenance on 16 November.
AirAsia has set up an emergency line for family or friends of those who may be on board. The number is +622 129 850 801.
Dozens of passengers' relatives have been gathering at Juanda airport in Surabaya and Singapore's Changi airport to hear news.
Changi airport authorities have set up a holding area for relatives. It said 47 had arrived and care officers and counsellors were on hand to provide support.
AirAsia Indonesia operates domestic flights round the Indonesian archipelago as well as international services to Malaysia, Singapore, Australia and Thailand. AirAsia Indonesia, along with other Indonesian airlines, was banned from flying to the European Union in 2007 due to safety concerns but this was lifted in July 2010.
The AirAsia group has previously had no fatal accidents involving its aircraft.
| Air crash | December 2014 | ['(BBC)'] |
United Nations chief prosecutor of Sierra Leone's war crimes court David Crane claims that Charles Taylor, former president of Liberia, is still plotting to kill Guinean leader Lansana Conté. Conté has been in a hospital since he survived an assassination attempt in January. | FREETOWN, Sierra Leone--A United Nations official has implicated ousted and exiled Liberian leader Chares Taylor in January's coup attempt against the government of Guinea.
Chief prosecutor of Sierra Leone's war crimes tribunal, David Crane, said Tuesday he had information from several sources indicating Taylor, now living a luxurious life of exile in Nigeria, had ordered the assassination of Guinea President Lansana Conte.
Crane said the order was an act of revenge because Conte backed the rebels who toppled Taylor from power in August 2003, the BBC said Tuesday.
"After the failed attempt to kill Conte on Jan. 19, these same sources have reported that the effort will soon be repeated," Crane said in Freetown. "From exile, Charles Taylor remains in contact with his political network in Liberia on a day-to-day basis.
"He has also mobilized his network of warlords and cronies to keep West Africa in turmoil."
Crane, a former U.S. Defense Department lawyer, is due to step down as chief prosecutor for the U.N.-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone in July. | Armed Conflict | May 2005 | ['(prosecutor)', '(Reuters AlertNet)', '(UN Regional Information)', '(World Peace Herald)', '(BBC)'] |
Mahmoud Badr, the founder of the Tamarod grassroots movement that helped spark the July 2013 Egyptian protests, reportedly survives an assassination attempt. | Mahmoud Badr, the founder of Tamarod, the Egyptian youth movement that rallied street protests against ousted President Mohammad Mursi, survived assassination attempt on Monday, Al Arabiya’s correspondent reported from Cairo.
Tamarod’s official website reported that gunmen opened fire on his car and that he was not harmed.
Amro Badr, the editor of Tamarod’s website, said the group had filed a police report on the incident.
He noted that the founder of Tamarod was attacked when he was going home following a session of the 50-member panel tasked with reviewing a draft constitution.
Mahmoud Badr previously said he received threats and was forced to change his residence to an unknown location.
The incident came a week after Interior Minister Mohammad Ibrahim also survived an assassination attempt.
A car bomb ripped through the interior minister’s convoy as he was leaving home for work on Thursday, killing one person.
Ibrahim, who was travelling in an armored car, survived the attempt unhurt.
An al-Qaeda-linked group based in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula claimed responsibility for the failed attack.
“God has allowed your brothers in Ansar Beit al-Maqdis [the Sinai-based group] to shatter the security organization of the murderer Mohammed Ibrahim through a martyrdom operation,” the group said in an online statement carried by Agence France-Presse.
The militant group apologized in the statement “for not killing the tyrant,” pledging more attacks against Ibrahim and the head of Egypt’s armed forces, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. Mahmoud Badr, the founder of Tamarod, the Egyptian youth movement that rallied street protests against ousted President Mohammad Mursi, survived assassination attempt on Monday, Al Arabiya’s correspondent reported from Cairo.
Tamarod’s official website reported that gunmen opened fire on his car and that he was not harmed.
Amro Badr, the editor of Tamarod’s website, said the group had filed a police report on the incident.
He noted that the founder of Tamarod was attacked when he was going home following a session of the 50-member panel tasked with reviewing a draft constitution.
Mahmoud Badr previously said he received threats and was forced to change his residence to an unknown location.
The incident came a week after Interior Minister Mohammad Ibrahim also survived an assassination attempt.
A car bomb ripped through the interior minister’s convoy as he was leaving home for work on Thursday, killing one person.
Ibrahim, who was travelling in an armored car, survived the attempt unhurt.
An al-Qaeda-linked group based in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula claimed responsibility for the failed attack.
“God has allowed your brothers in Ansar Beit al-Maqdis [the Sinai-based group] to shatter the security organization of the murderer Mohammed Ibrahim through a martyrdom operation,” the group said in an online statement carried by Agence France-Presse. | Armed Conflict | September 2013 | ['(Al-Arabiya)'] |
Supporters of California Proposition 8 banning same–sex marriage lodge an appeal against the decision of United States district court Vaughn R. Walker overturning it. | San Francisco, California (CNN) -- Attorneys supporting the voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage in California filed a notice of appeal in the case Thursday, one day after a federal judge ruled that the measure is unconstitutional.
However, Chief U.S District Judge Vaughn Walker in San Francisco granted a temporary stay along with his ruling Wednesday, which stops his decision from taking immediate effect. "Proposition 8 fails to advance any rational basis in singling out gay men and lesbians for denial of a marriage license. Indeed, the evidence shows Proposition 8 does nothing more than enshrine in the California Constitution the notion that opposite-sex couples are superior to same-sex couples," Walker, who was appointed to the federal bench by former President Ronald Reagan, wrote in his opinion. Supporters of Proposition 8 argued, prior to Walker's ruling, that same-sex marriages would be performed soon after his decision and could be complicated by rulings and appeals farther down the legal road. The judge's decision striking down the ban handed supporters of gay rights a major victory in a case that both sides say is sure to wind up before the U.S. Supreme Court.
The case will be appealed to the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. Paul Callan, a former New York prosecutor and criminal defense attorney, said he believes Walker's decision is likely to be upheld there, saying the appeals court "is a very liberal court which is favorable on these issues."
Walker's 136-page decision does a good job in laying out a compelling case for the unconstitutionality of the proposition, Callan said. "He's looking ... to the appellate process, which is going all the way to the Supreme Court."
But, he said, the nation's highest court typically handles big social questions like this one slowly, allowing state and lower federal courts to issue decisions. "And they kind of let it percolate in the lower courts," Callan said. Opponents of same-sex marriage have said their best bet lies with higher courts.
"The court's disregard for the historical purposes of marriage would require California to embark on a novel experiment with the fundamental institution of marriage," said Charles Cooper, lead counsel for Proposition 8 supporters, in a statement. He said Walker's decision treats children as a "mere afterthought when it comes to marriage ... And the court also found that there is no benefit whatsoever for a child to be raised by its own biological parents. "Fortunately, the Constitution does not require the people to substitute the social science musings of gay rights activists for common sense," Cooper said. "This decision will not stand."
Callan said he doesn't expect the Supreme Court to enter the fray immediately.
"I think it's probably going to be another couple of years. A lot of cases will be decided by the lower courts, and then they'll move in and make the big decision as to whether it's legal or not, gay marriage," he said.
The proposition defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman. At stake in the trial was whether the ban violates same-sex couples' rights to equal protection and due process, as protected by the U.S. Constitution.
Same-sex marriage is currently legal in five U.S. states -- Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, Iowa and New Hampshire -- and in the District of Columbia, while civil unions are permitted in New Jersey. Walker pointed out in his ruling, "race restrictions on marital partners were once common in most states but are now seen as archaic, shameful or even bizarre. Gender no longer forms an essential part of marriage; marriage under law is a union of equals."
Elated supporters of same-sex marriage gathered to celebrate the judge's opinion in the Castro district of San Francisco. After speeches and songs, they began a march to City Hall. People waved rainbow flags and U.S. flags, and carried signs that read, "We all deserve the freedom to marry," and "Separate is Unequal." Similar rallies unfolded in cities across California -- including Los Angeles and San Diego.
"For our entire lives, our government and the law have treated us as unequal. This decision to ensure that our constitutional rights are as protected as everyone else's makes us incredibly proud of our country," said Kristin Perry, a plaintiff in the case along with Sandy Stier. Jeffrey Zarrillo and Paul Katami are the other couple at the heart of the case. Many Americans, however, still oppose same-sex marriage. In a national survey, conducted by Gallup in May, 53 percent of respondents said such marriages should not be recognized by law, while 44 percent said they should.
Proposition 8 is part of a long line of seesaw rulings, court cases, debates and protests over the controversial issue. It passed in California with some 52 percent of the vote in November 2008.
"Big surprise! We expected nothing different from Judge Vaughn Walker, after the biased way he conducted this trial," said Brian Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage. "With a stroke of his pen, Judge Walker has overruled the votes and values of 7 million Californians who voted for marriage as one man and one woman." | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | August 2010 | ['(CNN)'] |
An armored car runs over supporters of Guaidó, escalating violence. At least 71 injured people, including two with gunshot wounds, were taken to Salud Chacao Medical Center in Caracas, according to the president of the center. , | CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido on Tuesday made his strongest call yet to the military to help him oust President Nicolas Maduro but there were no concrete signs of defection from the armed forces leadership.
Early on Tuesday, several dozen armed troops accompanying Guaido clashed with soldiers supporting Maduro at a rally in Caracas, and large anti-government protests in the streets turned violent. But by Tuesday afternoon an uneasy peace had returned and there was no indication that the opposition planned to take power through military force.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told CNN that “as we understand it” Maduro had been ready to depart for socialist ally Cuba, but had been persuaded to stay by Russia, which has also been a steadfast supporter.
In a message posted on his social media accounts on Tuesday evening, Guaido told supporters to take to the streets once again on Wednesday. He reiterated his call for the armed forces to take his side, and said Maduro did not have the military’s support.
“Today Venezuela has the opportunity to peacefully rebel against a tyrant who is closing himself in,” Guaido said.
Maduro appeared in a state television broadcast on Tuesday night flanked by Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino and socialist party Vice President Diosdado Cabello, among others.
“Today the goal was a big show,” Maduro said, referring to the military members who sided with Guaido as a “small group.” “Their plan failed, their call failed, because Venezuela wants peace.”
He said he had reinstated Gustavo Gonzalez Lopez as the head of the Sebin intelligence agency, without providing details on the exit of Manuel Cristopher Figuera at the helm of the agency. Cristopher Figuera replaced Gonzalez Lopez at Sebin last year.
Other U.S. officials said three top Maduro loyalists - Padrino, Supreme Court chief judge Maikel Moreno and presidential guard commander Ivan Rafael Hernandez Dala - had been in talks with the opposition and were ready to support a peaceful transition of power.
“They negotiated for a long time on the means of restoring democracy but it seems that today they are not going forward,” said U.S. envoy for Venezuela Elliott Abrams. U.S. national security adviser John Bolton said: “All agreed that Maduro had to go.” Neither provided evidence.
Venezuela’s U.N. Ambassador Samuel Moncada rejected Bolton’s remarks as “propaganda.”
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Flanked by uniformed men, Padrino said in a broadcast that the armed forces would continue to defend the constitution and “legitimate authorities,” and that military bases were operating as normal. Moreno issued a call for calm on Twitter.
Guaido, the leader of the National Assembly, invoked the constitution to assume an interim presidency in January, arguing that Maduro’s re-election in 2018 was illegitimate. But Maduro has held on, despite economic chaos, most Western countries backing Guaido, increased U.S. sanctions, and huge protests.
Tuesday’s move was Guaido’s boldest effort yet to persuade the military to rise up against Maduro. If it fails, it could be seen as evidence that he lacks sufficient support. It might also encourage the authorities, who have already stripped him of parliamentary immunity and opened multiple investigations into him, to arrest him.
Tens of thousands of people marched in Caracas in support of Guaido early on Tuesday, clashing with riot police along the main Francisco Fajardo thoroughfare. A National Guard armored car slammed into protesters who were throwing stones and hitting the vehicle.
Human rights groups said 109 people were injured in the incidents, most of them hit with pellets or rubber bullets.
Venezuela is mired in a deep economic crisis despite its vast oil reserves. Shortages of food and medicine have prompted more than 3 million Venezuelans to emigrate in recent years.
The slump has worsened this year with large areas of territory left in the dark for days at a time by power outages.
“My mother doesn’t have medicine, my economic situation is terrible, my family has had to emigrate. We don’t earn enough money. We have no security. But we are hopeful, and I think that this is the beginning of the end of this regime,” said Jose Madera, 42, a mechanic, sitting atop his motorbike.
In a video on his Twitter account, Guaido was accompanied by men in military uniform and leading opposition politician Leopoldo Lopez, a surprise public appearance for a man who has been under house arrest since 2017.
Chile’s foreign minister said later Tuesday that Lopez and his family had entered Chile’s diplomatic residence.
Oil prices topped $73 before easing, partly driven higher by the uncertainty in Venezuela, an OPEC member whose oil exports have been hit by the U.S. sanctions and the economic crisis.
The crisis has pitted supporters of Guaido, including the United States, the European Union, and most Latin American nations, against Maduro’s allies, which include Russia, Cuba and China.
The White House declined to comment on whether Washington had advance knowledge of what Guaido was planning.
Carlos Vecchio, Guaido’s envoy to the United States, told reporters in Washington that the Trump administration did not help coordinate Tuesday’s events.
“This is a movement led by Venezuelans,” he said.
But accusations flew back and forth, with Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza saying the events had been “directly planned” in Washington and Bolton saying that fears of Cuban retaliation had propped up Maduro. Neither provided evidence.
Trump threatened “a full and complete embargo, together with highest-level sanctions” on Cuba for its support of Maduro.
Brazil’s right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro threw his support behind Guaido and said Venezuelans were “enslaved by a dictator.” But his security adviser, a retired general, said Guaido’s support among the military appeared “weak.”
Russia’s foreign ministry on Tuesday accused the Venezuelan opposition of resorting to violence in what it said was a brazen attempt to draw the country’s armed forces into clashes. Turkey also criticized the opposition.
The United Nations and other countries urged a peaceful solution and dialogue. | Riot | April 2019 | ['(New York Daily News)', '(Associated Press)', '(Reuters)', '(CNN)'] |
Kenya's David Rudisha becomes the first athlete to set a new world track record at London 2012 as he claims the 800m gold at the Olympic Stadium. | Last updated on 9 August 20129 August 2012.From the section Olympicscomments141
David Rudisha became the first athlete to set a new world record on the track at London 2012 as he won 800m gold.
The 23-year-old Kenyan stormed to victory in his debut Olympic final to become the first man inside one minute 41 seconds, clocking 1:40.91.
"It was just such an incredible race to witness. To run the way he has done here and in a time like that is just sensational. What he can go and do now is inspire a whole new generation of young Rudishas who want to have this opportunity to shine on the global stage."
Botswana 18-year-old Nijel Amos took silver, with another teenager, Kenya's Timothy Kitum, in bronze.
Britain's Andrew Osagie was in eighth place but still recorded a personal best of 1:43.77.
Reigning world champion Rudisha led from the off, running an opening lap of 49.28 seconds and storming further clear down the back straight to beat his own world record.
With the rest of the field dragged along by his pace, only Abukaker Kaki in seventh failed to record a personal best.
Rudisha told BBC Sport: "Wow! I'm very happy. This is the moment I have been waiting for for a very long time. To come here and to break the world record is something unbelievable.
"Rudisha, unchanging and unflagging from gun to tape, has the ground-eating stride of some relentless robot."
Read more of Tom's feature on Rudishaexternal-link
"I was well-prepared and I had no doubt about winning. Today the weather was beautiful and I decided just to go for it."
But the new world record holder believes he can go even faster.
He said: "After running two rounds before the final I got a little bit tired. I told the physio yesterday that I was feeling sore after the semis, so if I can get fresh then I can still improve on that."
Earlier on Thursday 2012 chief Lord Coe said Rudisha was "the most impressive track and field athlete at these Games".
Rudisha said: "Lord Coe is a very good friend of mine and earlier, in February, he took me round this stadium. That was good for me. I wanted to come here and make him proud."
In Amos and Kitum, 17, the future of the event looks in good hands but whether anyone can get near the dominant Rudisha before the next Games in Rio looks unlikely.
Amos clocked 1:41.73 - the 11th fastest 800m of all time - to become the fourth-fastest man ever over the distance. Only Rudisha, Wilson Kipketer and Seb Coe have run two laps of the track faster.
Rudisha has set the three fastest 800m times of all time and managed six of the fastest eight 800m ever.
His pace was consistent throughout, clocking 23 seconds for the first 200m, 25 for the second, 25 for the third, and 26.1 for the final quarter. | Break historical records | August 2012 | ['(BBC Sport)'] |
U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joseph Dunford makes a proposal to President Barack Obama to increase the number of American troops in Iraq, so as to help the Iraqi Army with advisors closer to the front lines and to recapture Mosul, which fell to ISIL in June 2014. | The Pentagon will submit a proposal to U.S. President Barack Obama to increase the number of American troops in Iraq, the nation's highest-ranking military officer said on March 25.
"We have a series of recommendations that we will discuss with the president in the coming weeks to further enable our support for the Iraqi security forces," said General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
"[Defense Secretary Ashton Carter] and I both believe that there will be an increase in U.S. forces in Iraq in coming weeks, but that decision hasn't been made," Dunford said.
Carter said options to be presented to the president include sending additional U.S. forces to Iraq, using Apache helicopters for combat missions, deploying more U.S. special operations forces, or using American military advisers in Iraqi units closer to the front lines.
Dunford said the recommendations also will include ways that the United States can help Iraqi forces recapture Mosul, the largest urban center in the Islamic State's (IS) self-proclaimed "caliphate." He expects the Mosul offensive to be long and difficult.
The U.S. military this week disclosed for the first time the presence of some 200 Marines and artillery in a small base called Fire Base Bell in northern Iraq. The artillery is used to support Iraqi troops as they advance in the region.
Officially, there are 3,870 U.S. troops deployed in Iraq. But Dunford did not deny media reports that the actual number is likely closer to 5,000.
Strengthening the U.S. military presence in Iraq is a sensitive issue for the Obama administration, which has vowed not to deploy ground forces there.
| Famous Person - Give a speech | March 2016 | ['(Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)'] |
President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte tells soldiers fighting in Mindanao, where he proclaimed martial law earlier this week, that he will accept responsibility for abuses they commit, and jokes that "f you had raped three, I will admit it, that's on me." | Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has sought to reassure soldiers who might be accused of committing abuses under martial law and jokingly said that if any of them were to rape three women, he would personally claim responsibility for it.
Mr Duterte is notorious for comments often deemed offensive and made the remark as a joke, reiterating that only he would be liable for any backlash over military rule on southern Mindanao island.
He has, however, said he would not tolerate abuses.
"If you go down, I go down. But for this martial law and the consequences of martial law and the ramifications of martial law, I and I alone would be responsible, just do your job I will take care of the rest," Mr Duterte said on Friday, according to a president's office transcript.
"I'll imprison you myself," he said, referring to any soldiers who commit violations, then he joked: "If you had raped three, I will admit it, that's on me."
Mr Duterte made the remark in a speech to soldiers on Mindanao island, where he imposed martial law on Tuesday to try to crush Islamic State-linked rebels, who have been battling the military after laying siege to a southern city.
It was not the first time Mr Duterte has made a joke about rape.
He caused outrage in the lead-up to his presidential election win last year when he recalled a 1989 prison riot in which an Australian missionary was killed, and inmates had lined up to rape her. In what was intended as a joke, Mr Duterte said the victim was "beautiful" and as mayor of Davao city where the riot took place, he should have been first in line.
He later apologised and said he did not intend to disrespect women or rape victims.
Mr Duterte is known for his informal, no-nonsense style and his speeches are often loaded with profanity, threats and jokes about taboo subjects, which offend some, but are taken lightly by many Filipinos.
The President's spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Mr Duterte's latest remarks about rape.
Mr Duterte's pledge of support for troops comes as human rights groups and some lawmakers criticise his decision to declare martial law as excessive, and say it could lead to abuses by security forces.
He also joked that he would join soldiers in the fight against extremists if he could, but he had arthritis.
While urging rebels to disarm and hold talks, he said anyone not authorised to carry guns would be killed.
"My order to the troops is all people who are not authorised by Government to carry arms and they resist, kill them, wipe them out," he said.
Reuters: Romeo Ranoco
Philippine armed forces helicopters fired guided rockets at Islamist militant positions on Saturday in an attempt to end the siege in Marawi.
The use for the first time of the heavy firepower came amid growing confidence that the location of the man believed to be the leader of the Islamic State-inspired fighters, Isnilon Hapilon, had been pinpointed in the city.
"We are trying to use our maximum force," said Major General Carlito Galvez, who heads the military command in the Western Mindanao region.
"The main purpose of the offensive is to suppress the lawlessness and to maintain normalcy in Marawi so that our people here, our countrymen, can return, especially by Ramadan."
Ramadan, Islam's month of fasting and prayer, began on Saturday and has special significance in Marawi, which has a predominantly Muslim population in a largely Catholic country.
The Maute rebels' hold of Marawi City and the Government's announcement that Indonesians and Malaysians were among the fighters has raised alarm about the prospect of Islamic State's radical ideology gaining traction in South-East Asia.
| Famous Person - Give a speech | May 2017 | ['[i]', '(Reuters via Aus. Broadcasting Corp.)'] |
Citizens of Iceland cast their vote in the latest presidential elections. Incumbent president Guðni Th. Jóhannesson is expected to be the clear winner of the election. | Incumbent Gudni Johannesson is on track for an overwhelming victory in Iceland's presidential election. The country is the just the second in Europe to hold elections since the coronavirus pandemic began.
Icelanders cast their ballots in a presidential election on Saturday, with incumbent Gudni Johannesson taking an early lead in his bid for a second four-year term. Initial results gave Johannesson 90% of the vote, with his opponent, Gudmunur Franklin Jonsson, winning only 9%.
Iceland is only the second nation in Europe to hold polls since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic after Serbia held elections last week. The country, which is home to about 365,000 people, has not been severely affected by the health crisis. It has so far reported 10 deaths and currently has around 10 active cases.
But the pandemic has hit the tourism-dependent economy hard, prompting the central bank to cut its main rate twice and the government to spend around $2 billion (€1.78 billion) in financial aid to stricken businesses and individuals left jobless.
To reduce the risk of infection, voters have been asked to stay two meters apart at polling stations and are being provided with hand sanitizers and gloves.
Johannesson, a 52-year-old independent and former history professor, was elected to a first four-year term in 2016.
The clear favorite
Opinion polls suggested his right-wing challenger, former Wall Street broker Jonsson, had almost no chance of winning.
"He has been seen as a man of the people, not pompous, not very formal. So Icelanders seem to like him and want to keep him as president," Olafur Hardarson, a political science professor at the University of Iceland, told AFP.
Jonsson, on the other hand, struggled to make inroads with voters.
The 56-year-old, who has run a hotel in Denmark since 2013 and is a fan of US President Donald Trump, first entered politics in 2010 when he founded the right-wing populist movement Haegri graenir, which he led for three years.
Johannesson, a 52-year-old independent and former history professor, was elected to a first four-year term in 2016
As in recent elections, the role of the president has been the main theme of the campaign. In Iceland's parliamentary republic, the president's position is largely symbolic, but he or she does have the power to appoint ministers and veto legislation.
Most powers lie with the government, currently headed by Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir.
Challenger Jonsson wants the president to play a more active role in politics, by exercising his right to veto legislation.
That power has only been used three times, each time by Olafur Grimsson during his five mandates from 1996 to 2016. | Government Job change - Election | June 2020 | ['(DW)'] |
The scheduled peaceful mass protest, despite bill suspension yesterday, of nearly 2 million people gather in Victoria Square demanding the legislation be withdrawn. If the organizers numbers are confirmed, this is the largest protest ever. Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam apologizes for proposing the bill. Police say turnout was 338,000 at its peak. | Nearly two million people have taken part in a mass protest in Hong Kong against a controversial extradition bill, organisers say.
If confirmed, it would be the largest protest in Hong Kong's history. Police said turnout was 338,000 at its peak.
The masses turned out despite the suspension of the bill - which would allow extradition from Hong Kong to mainland China - on Saturday.
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam on Sunday apologised for proposing the bill.
Many protesters, who fear increased Chinese influence over Hong Kong, are calling on her to resign over the unrest.
They are also demanding that the bill be scrapped, not just suspended.
Meanwhile, supporters of Joshua Wong - the student leader who became the face of Hong Kong's "Umbrella Movement" democracy protests five years ago - say he will be released from prison later on Monday.
"Today's march we had almost two million people," Jimmy Sham, from the Civil Human Rights Front protest group, told reporters late on Sunday evening.
The protest was mainly peaceful, with police officers reportedly holding back to allow the throngs of people to slowly pass through the city. This contrasted to scenes at the last previous major demonstration on Wednesday, which saw clashes between protesters and police that injured dozens.
The demonstration began early in the afternoon in Victoria Square, with many wearing black.
Many held white flowers to mourn a protester who fell to his death on Saturday from a ledge, where hours earlier he had unfurled an anti-extradition banner.
The progress of the march was slow, as the large numbers of people blocked many streets and crowded train stations.
Ms Ng and Mr Chu have joined the protests at Victoria Park - say it's the first time protesting against the extradition proposals. Say they were angered by police use of force. Wearing white flowers to commemorate yesterday's protester who fell to his death. pic.twitter.com/BgJ2Nn3PJz
As darkness fell, protesters started to take over major roads and crossings and surrounded the legislative council building.
They carried placards that read "The students did not riot", in response to police labelling last Wednesday's student protests a riot - an offence punishable by up to 10 years in jail. There was scepticism among some protesters about Ms Lam's decision to suspend the bill. "Carrie Lam has ignored the feelings of Hong Kongers," Mr Ma, a 67-year-old protester, told the BBC. He said Ms Lam had "acted like it was no big deal" after a reported million people marched last week. "Secondly, we are marching for the students who were brutally treated by the police. We need to get justice for them." Chloe Yim, 20, who had joined the protests for the first time, said: "If Carrie sees so many people come out, and still doesn't listen - she's being an autocrat who doesn't listen to people. Hong Kong people can't accept that."
Analysis by Helier Cheung, BBC News, Hong Kong
The government had hoped to reduce public anger by announcing a pause in the legislation on Saturday.
That has patently failed, as even bigger numbers - close to two million, according to the organisers, took to the streets.
For the chief executive, the demonstrations will have taken on a particularly personal bent, as protesters chanted "Carrie Lam - resign!" throughout during the day. The government is now trying to strike a conciliatory tone - in a statement, it said it understood the protesters' views "have been made out of love and care for Hong Kong". It promised the chief executive would adopt a more "sincere and humble attitude" towards public criticism.
But this is too little, too late for many protesters, who insist they won't settle for anything less than the bill being completely withdrawn.
The scenes are reminiscent of 2003 - when half a million people protested against proposed national security legislation. The unpopular chief executive at the time, Tung Chee-hwa, resigned months later.
But even if Ms Lam resigns, there's no guarantee that protesters will be satisfied with whoever replaces her - especially as, under Hong Kong's political system, the leader is elected by a small panel filled with allies of the Beijing government. Hong Kong is a former British colony, but was returned to Chinese rule in 1997 under a "one country, two systems" deal that guarantees it a level of autonomy.
The government had argued the proposed extradition bill would "plug the loopholes" so that the city would not be a safe haven for criminals, following a murder case in Taiwan.
Critics have said the legislation would expose people in Hong Kong to China's deeply flawed justice system and lead to further erosion of the city's judicial independence.
Many fear the law could be used to target political opponents of the Chinese state. A large-scale march, which organisers said drew more than one million people, was held last Sunday.
On Wednesday tens of thousands gathered to blockade streets around government headquarters to try to stop the second reading, or debate, of the extradition bill.
There were clashes and 22 police and 60 protesters were injured. Authorities say 11 people were arrested. The police have been accused by some rights groups of excessive force. Much of the public anger has been directed at Ms Lam, the region's elected chief executive - who is firmly supported by Beijing.
Part of that anger comes from a tearful address after Wednesday's violence in which she labelled the protests "organised riots" – a label rejected by the hundreds of thousands of peaceful protesters.
Ms Lam remained hidden from public view for days, until her announcement on Saturday the she had heard the calls for her government to "pause and think". But she stopped short of saying the bill would be permanently shelved. On Sunday, she followed this up with a statement apologising for "her government's work that has led to substantial controversies and disputes in society, causing disappointment and grief among the people".
There has been speculation among analysts about Ms Lam's future amid the continued protests, but China's foreign ministry publicly backed her on Saturday.
Hong Kong was a British colony from 1841, when China ceded the island to the British after the First Opium War - which had erupted over British traders smuggling opium into China. It remained a colony until sovereignty was returned to China in 1997. It is now part of China under a "one country, two systems" principle, which ensures that it keeps its own judicial independence, its own legislature and economic system.
It is what China calls a special administrative region - enjoying a great deal of autonomy that has made it a key business and media hub in the region.
But it remains subject to pressure from mainland China, and Beijing remains responsible for defence and foreign affairs. | Protest_Online Condemnation | June 2019 | ['(BBC)'] |
The European Commission finds that Qantas, British Airways, Air France, Japan Airlines and seven other carriers fixed the price of air cargo between 1999 and 2006 and fines each airline involved millions of euros. | The European Commission has fined Qantas and 10 other airlines $1 billion for fixing air cargo prices.
The Commission has found Qantas, British Airways, Air France, Japan Airlines and seven other carriers fixed the price of air cargo between 1999 and 2006.
The Commission says the "deplorable" cartel would have continued had it not intervened.
Of the $1 billion fine, Qantas will shoulder the second lowest share of $12 million.
European Competition commissioner Joaquin Almunia says the economic climate at the time is no excuse for collusion.
"The fact that fuel prices were increasing, or that security costs rose after the 2001 terrorist attacks, is not an acceptable reason to stop competing against each other," he said.
"If companies' costs increase, it's normal that their prices also increase. But companies cannot collude to fix the price for customers.
"Let me state clearly that the Commission supports the consolidation of the airline industry provided that it does not create monopolies or excessive market power.
"We have approved numerous mergers and alliances in the sector. But the existence of an alliance agreement cannot give a blank cheque for naked price coordination among the members of this alliance."
A Qantas spokesman says the airline has received official advice on the fine and is now examining the European Commission's decision.
The airline says it will make a further statement later today.
The fines follow lengthy investigations by regulators in Europe, the US and Asia.
The EU says the airlines coordinated their action on surcharges for fuel and security without discounts.
The investigation began after German airline Lufthansa blew the whistle on the behaviour.
Lufthansa was involved in the cartel, but because they came forward they have escaped a fine.
It is not the first time Qantas has been hit for anti-competitive behaviour. In 2007 it was fined $US40 million for price fixing in the North American Air Cargo market.
The head of the competition watchdog says the $1 billion fine is a reminder of the price of collusion.
The ACCC has already fined Qantas $20 million after it pursued it and several other airlines over the same cartel.
ACCC chairman Graeme Samuel says since July last year executives who engage in cartels are at risk of jail time, and he is amazed executives continue to undertake such practices.
"They'll have to take into account now the fact that if they engage in any serious hardcore cartel activity, they now face the prospect of going to jail for up to 10 years," he said.
"I suspect that's going to be far more important than any court orders restraining them."
Air France-KLM $425.6 million; Martinair $40.5m; British Airways $142.7m; Cargolux $109.7m; Singapore Airlines $102.7m; SAS group $96.3m; Cathay Pacific $78.4m; Japan Airlines $49m; Air Canada $28.8m; Qantas $12.2m; LAN Chile $11.2m.
| Organization Fine | November 2010 | ['(ABC)'] |
South Africa deploys its army to deal with public sector workers striking in a bid to earn an increased wage; police shoot rubber bullets and water cannon into crowds outside a hospital in Soweto. At least five people have been killed so far during the strikes. (Mail & Guardian) | More than a million civil servants began an indefinite strike on Wednesday, calling for higher wages.
Earlier, police fired rubber bullets and water cannon at crowds of strikers protesting outside a Soweto hospital.
Military doctors, nurses and soldiers have been deployed to three out of South Africa's nine provinces.
More unions joined in on the second day of industrial action.
Gauteng province's health minister said they were investigating whether the deaths overnight of five people in a hospital east of Johannesburg were linked to staff shortages because of the strike.
Unions affiliated with Cosatu, South Africa's main union federation, have been holding out for an 8.6% pay rise.
But South Africa's government says it can barely afford the 7% offer it has put on the table for the police, teachers, doctors and nurses.
President Jacob Zuma has condemned the union's threat of violence against non-striking workers and said the government reserved the right to fire the strikers.
"If you declare a strike in that manner and you can't sit for a year without the kids going to school," he is quoted by the South African Broadcasting Corporation as saying.
"If the time goes, it means the government will have to take other actions."
"The [SA National Defence Force] has been instructed to render support to any government department that may require assistance during the public service strike," South Africa Press Association quoted defence ministry spokesman Ndivhuwo Wa Ha Mabaya as saying.
The BBC's Jonah Fisher in Johannesburg says the conditions at South Africa's hospitals have been causing the most concern to the authorities.
Many health workers who are not taking part in the strike have found themselves targeted by union members, he says.
Access to hospitals has been blocked - and on several occasions those on strike have gone into wards and dragged nurses away from their patients, our correspondent says.
Military armoured vehicles have been now deployed inside some hospital premises.
When rowdy strikers in Soweto stopped patients from entering the hospital grounds on Thursday morning, the police - forbidden by law from joining the strike - moved in.
Police spokeswoman Captain Nondumiso Mpantsha said the protesters were also trying to force their way in to picket inside the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital.
"Police had to use minimum force and fire rubber bullets to disperse the crowd... there is a heavy police presence at the scene," she told the BBC Johannesburg's Eyewitness news website reported that a police helicopter was flying over the city's main Helen Joseph Hospital.
There have also been reports of intimidation at schools and teachers have threatened to disrupt classes at private schools.
But police stopped protesters planning to block one of the busiest motorways in Johannesburg on Thursday. | Strike | August 2010 | ['(BBC)', '(The Citizen)', '(iAfrica)', '(Times Live)', '(Reuters Africa)'] |
French forces prepare an attack on Timbuktu to defeat Islamists, as more African troops are sent into Mali. | French-led forces in Mali are advancing on the key northern city of Timbuktu, as they press on with their offensive against Islamist rebels.
On Saturday Malian and French forces seized Gao, another key northern city.
The advance comes as African Union leaders are meeting to discuss sending more troops to Mali.
Islamists seized the north of the country last year, but have been losing ground since French forces launched an operation earlier this month.
Late on Saturday French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said Malian and French troops would arrive "near Timbuktu soon".
Overnight they secured Gao - northern Mali's most populous city- after special forces captured the airport and a strategic bridge to the south.
Most militants appear to have fled into desert hide-outs and the hunt for them may prove more difficult once all major towns are secure, says the BBC's Thomas Fessy in the capital, Bamako.
Troops from Niger and Chad are to assist Malian forces in further securing the town.
Also overnight, French forces bombed Islamist position in Kidal, Malian officials say.
An army source told AFP news agency that the home of the head of Ansar Dine, the main militant group in northern Mali, had been destroyed in a raid.
African Union leaders are holding a summit in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, as members move to deploy troops to help the French-led operation there.
Outgoing AU chairman Boni Yayi on Sunday hailed France for its military intervention, saying it was something "we should have done a long time ago to defend a member country".
In a statement on Saturday, the AU said it wanted to make "an African Standby Force" operational in Mali soon. African states have pledged nearly 5,700 troops to support French and Malian forces in their campaign. Only a small part of the African force has so far deployed.
On the sidelines of the Addis Ababa summit, the EU pledged 50m euros (42.6m) to bolster the multinational force, saying a further 250m euros of development money would also be made available. Meanwhile, the US said it would provide mid-air refuelling for French warplanes. The Pentagon said it had also discussed plans for the US to transport troops to Mali from countries including Chad and Togo. Some 3,700 French troops are engaged in Operation Serval, 2,500 of them on Malian soil. France intervened in its former colony after Islamist launched a push to the south earlier this month. Paris said the whole of Africa, and even Europe, was under threat if the Islamist offensive succeeded.
As French and Malian troops moved into Gao, Malian officials spoke of scenes of joy, but also some looting. Malian Foreign Minister Tieman Coulibaly said ahead of the summit in Addis Ababa: "This terrorist group intends to spread its criminal purpose over the whole of Mali, and eventually target other countries." The AU has recommended civilian observers monitor the human rights situation in the areas which have come back under the control of the Malian government. Human rights groups have accused the Malian army of committing serious abuses. Islamist groups and secular Tuareg rebels took advantage of chaos following a military coup to seize northern Mali in April 2012. But the Islamists soon took control of the region's major towns, sidelining the Tuaregs. | Armed Conflict | January 2013 | ['(BBC)'] |
Ramush Haradinaj, the former Prime Minister of Kosovo, goes on trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia at The Hague for war crimes allegedly committed while he was a regional leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army. | The former prime minister of Kosovo, Ramush Haradinaj, went on trial yesterday for war crimes committed when he was a regional leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) in its war against Serbianine years ago. Mr Haradinaj stands accused of 37 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity directed against Serbs, Roma and ethnic Albanians which the KLA believed were collaborating with Belgrade during the war in Kosovo from 1998-99. Mr Haradinaj's uncle, Lahi Brahimaj, and Idriz Balaj, the commanderof a special KLA unit, are also on trial.
The trial before The Hague-based war crimes tribunal is particularly controversial because Mr Haradinaj, the highest-ranking ethnic Albanian ever to be indicted, is considered to be a hero by many in Kosovo. More than €7m has been raised for the former guerrilla leader's defence by groups of sympathisers in Kosovo and abroad, according to the local media.
His trial also comes at a time of high tension in the area as the UN negotiator, Martti Ahtisaari, is expected to announce the final outlines for the future status of a breakaway Serbian province on Saturday.
"I am not here to make a political address," the chief prosecutor, Carla Del Ponte, said in her opening address.
"This is a criminal trial for violent crimes committed out of the sight of international observers or monitors. My intention is to show that this warlord and his two lieutenants have blood on their hands," Ms Del Ponte added.
The indictment says that forces under the command of Mr Haradinaj and his co-accused committed murder, rape, torture, persecution and evictions in western Kosovo in 1998 and that the three men were part of a "joint criminal enterprise" which resulted in the brutal killings of at least 39 people.
Mr Haradinaj faces life in prison if he is found guilty. All three accused have pleaded innocent.
The controversy surrounding Mr Haradinaj's trial arises from the fact that he quickly swapped the guerrilla uniform and guns for politics once the United Nations administration took over Kosovo after 11 weeks of Nato bombing of Serbia in 1999.
In late 2004 Mr Haradinaj, a former nightclub bouncer in Switzerland, was appointed prime minister of Kosovo but was forced to resign after just 100 days once the details of the UN indictment became public. He then voluntarily surrendered to the tribunal and was provisionally released three months later to prepare his defence. Unusually, the court also allowed Mr Haradinaj to continue his political activities, albeit in a limited way.
But his presence at home has led to a number of prosecution witnesses allegedly now refraining from taking to the stand, and one witness died recently in a mysterious car accident.
Meanwhile, some of the international intelligence agencies have also accused Mr Haradinaj of being involved in clandestine smuggling operations as well as cocaine trafficking. Sponsor ends deal in wake of Jade Goody racism row | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | March 2007 | ['(The Independent)'] |
In Gaelic football, Donegal open the defence of their All–Ireland title with a victory over Tyrone in the Ulster Senior Football Championship. | Well now we know. All winter, we wondered what version of Donegal would be presented for summer service. We pointed to year after year of All-Ireland champions who all tripped and fell eventually and reasoned that none of them ever had to be this ready this early. We mostly took Jim McGuinness at his word when he dismissed the league’s relegation as a non-issue but kept the caveat handy in our pockets just in case.
No need for it now. Donegal answered the biggest question they will face this side of the August Bank Holiday and they did it with the firmness and finality of a judge’s gavel. They sent Tyrone home from Ballybofey with a 2-10 to 0-10 detonation ringing in their ears. If the rest of the country was banking on diminished Donegal hunger as the chink to work towards, this was notice served. Forget the league, forget everything you’ve assumed. Summer is here. And summer is what they’re for.
“In the last two years the exact same thing was said,” said McGuinness afterwards. “The only difference this year was that we were relegated. It was the media who made the story out of that. We had the exact same approach as we had last year. There was a lot of talk about putting all the eggs into one basket, but it was the same last year and the same the year before. “That’s what we do – it’s championship football. It will be no different next year. It was a media spin that got the whole debate going. Next year we will put all our eggs in that basket again.” It’s hard not to believe him, for Donegal yesterday were the same force of nature that Donegal a year ago showed themselves to be. They broke Tyrone’s will so completely that Mickey Harte’s side didn’t register a score for the last 32 minutes. When Seán Cavanagh lofted a score shortly after the break – hotly disputed by the Donegal crowd, by the by – it hauled the sides back to parity at 1-6 to 0-9 and cancelled out Colm McFadden’s first-half goal. It was also Tyrone’s last score of the day.
Soon after, a noticeably grown-up and grown-out Paddy McBrearty gave Dermot Carlin a chasing down the right wing as far as the endline before squaring for the onrushing Ross Wherity. The Donegal substitute, only on the pitch a matter of moments, banged it home and with one bound the champions were free. McBrearty and Michael Murphy cherried the cake and Tyrone had nothing in response. Niall Morgan scored just a single point from six attempts all day.
“They’re a very strong side,” said Mickey Harte afterwards. “I think they’re improving season by season and that was evidenced out there today by the way they managed that game because there were times when we had a foothold but they still hung in there and they put us under pressure. “We were creating chances and we weren’t putting them away. They have a very good gameplan and it works well for them and I think they’re developing it all the time and their players are growing in confidence. Definitely, they’re on an upward curve.”
Others for whom the rocket is rising after a rattling good Sunday’s fare are Louth, Wicklow and even the forgotten brethren over in London. In Portlaoise, Aidan O’Rourke’s Louth side were comprehensive winners over Laois, running out with a 1-16 to 1-6 for which they were perfectly good value. Brian White was in exceptional form at centre-half forward and he received plenty of help from Shane Lennon, Paddy Keenan and Andy McDonnell. If that was a slight tremor, shock of the day came in Ruislip where London registered their first Connacht Championship win since 1977 with a 1-12 to 0-14 win over Sligo. An early Lorcan Mulvey goal set the foundation and the steady score-taking of Mark Gottsche saw them home. It means that either London or Leitrim will now be in the Connacht final.
On another day, Wicklow’s 1-15 to 0-16 win over Longford would have stood out a mile. And down south, Kerry ran up a straightforward 2-19 to 0-8 victory over Tipperary. Summer’s first rumbles have made themselves heard. | Sports Competition | May 2013 | ['(The Score)', '[permanent dead link]', '(The Irish Times)'] |
Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour frees two sisters 16 years into double life terms received for armed robbery of two men for $11, citing one of the sister's "medical condition creates a substantial cost to the state of Mississippi." | OCEAN SPRINGS, Mississippi (Reuters) - Mississippi’s governor has agreed to free two sisters who served 16 years of a double life sentence for an armed robbery in which nobody was hurt and $11 was stolen.
Governor Haley Barbour said in a statement on Wednesday he was suspending indefinitely the sentences of Gladys and Jamie Scott in a case that has drawn national attention.
A condition of Gladys Scott’s release is that she donate a kidney to her sister in an operation that should be performed urgently, the statement said, adding that Gladys had agreed to be a kidney donor for her sister, who requires dialysis.
The sisters were convicted of robbing at gunpoint two men driving them to a nightclub in Forest, north Mississippi, in 1993. They had no prior criminal record. Each was sentenced to two life terms.
“I have issued two orders indefinitely suspending the sentences of Jamie and Gladys Scott,” Barbour said in a statement.
“The incarceration is no longer necessary for public safety or rehabilitation and Jamie Scott’s medical condition creates a substantial cost to the state of Mississippi,” Barbour said.
Supporters of the Scotts including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People questioned the role the women played in the crime and said the fact they are black played a role in the judge’s decision to impose such harsh sentences.
“The presiding judge in the trial, Judge Marcus Gordon, has a history of racially biased rulings and even the prosecutor of the case” became an advocate for the sisters, said NAACP president Benjamin Jealous in a statement.
The sisters were eligible for parole in 2014. A release date will be determined by the state’s Department of Corrections.
Reporting by Leigh Coleman, editing by Matthew Bigg and Jerry Norton
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Release | December 2010 | ['(Reuters)'] |
Overnight clashes in southeastern Turkey leave 9 people dead, including 6 security officers and 3 suspected Kurdish militants. | Officials say nine people dead in two overnight clashes between army, village guards and Kurdish fighters in southeast.
Nine people have been killed in two separate clashes overnight, including six members ofTurkey’s security forces and three Kurdish fighters, officials have said.
Three special force police officers and three KurdistanWorkers Party (PKK)fighters were killed on Saturday when gunbattles brokeout along a highway in the remote province of Hakkari borderingIraq and Iran, security sources said.
In a separate incident in Bitlis province. northwest ofHakkari, three state-backed Kurdish village guards were killedwhen clashes broke out between PKK fighters around 30km fromthe provincial capital, the governor’s office said.
One Turkish soldier and three village guards were alsowounded.
Village guards are part of a local forcethat operates in towns and villages in eastern and southeasternTurkey where PKK fighters are most active.
The PKK, considered a terrorist group by Turkey, the US and the European Union, has carried out a spate ofattacks on military targets in the past few months, stepping upa conflict that has entered its 28th year.
Fighting between the army and the PKK intensified over thesummer, a development which Ankara sees as linked to the chaosin neighbouring Syria.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s prime minister,has accusedSyria’s President Bashar al-Assad of arming the PKK fighters. A claim the PKK denies.
The fighting in Turkey over the past months was some of theheaviest since the PKK took up arms against the state in 1984.
More than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict.
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We understand that your online privacy is very important and consenting to our collection of some personal information takes great trust. We ask for this consent because it allows Al Jazeera to provide an experience that truly gives a voice to the voiceless. | Armed Conflict | October 2012 | ['(Al Jazeera)'] |
Heavy flooding along the French Riviera in the southeast of France killls at least 17 people with four more still missing. Rail, road, and air traffic are all suspended, and 27,000 homes are without electricity. A major stretch of the French Riviera has been declared a natural disaster zone. According to local radio station France Bleu–Azur, more than 17cm of rain fell on the Alpes–Maritimes region in two hours, the same amount the region would usually expect over two months. , , | Nice (France) (AFP) - Violent storms and flooding along the French Riviera have killed at least 17 people and another four are still missing in what were described as "apocalyptic" scenes, local officials said Sunday.
Up to 180 millimetres (seven inches) of rain fell in just three hours overnight, transforming the glitzy streets of Cannes, Nice and Antibes into debris-strewn rivers.
In Cannes -- home of the glitzy film festival -- the torrent carried some cars out to sea, city hall said.
Communications to the region -- one of the wealthiest in France, and a magnet for visitors from around the world -- were badly hit and thousands of residents were left without power.
President Francois Hollande visited the region, expressing the "solidarity of the nation" to those affected -- but also warning that the disaster suggested an environmental message had to be learnt.
"There have always been always catastrophes. But their rhythm and intensity are on the increase," he said, urging that environmental "decisions be taken" as France prepares to host UN-led climate talks in December on a post-2020 pact to curb greenhouse gases.
Three people died when water engulfed a retirement home at Biot near Antibes, and three drowned when their car was trapped by rising waters in a small tunnel at Vallauris-Golfe-Juan.
- 'More bodies' -
Rescue teams at Mandelieu-la-Napoule said the water was so murky that it hampered the search for further bodies in underground car parks, where at least seven people died.
"It's apocalyptic," said mayor Henri Leroy. "There are thousands of vehicles. There could be more bodies."
In Cannes, where three people were listed as dead, mayor David Lisnard had tough words for some residents who, he said, were "not always disciplined".
"I'm not judging, because I don't know how I would react in that situation, but it appears we had some people that were very attached to their vehicles when they should have been saving lives."
Nine people were arrested for trying to steal from shops after the storm, he added.
- Trapped pilgrims -
Hundreds of Italian pilgrims returning from the French shrine of Lourdes were trapped overnight as trains were cancelled across the region.
A special track was opened to let the pilgrims, many of them elderly and travelling with doctors, proceed at a slow pace.
The storm "did serious damage to the railway infrastructure, tracks, crossings, electrical lines, primarily around the area of Cannes," a spokesman for French rail company SNCF told AFP.
Around 15,000 homes remained without power after initially 27,000 residences suffered outages affecting some 700,000 people, network authorities said.
Shocked residents gave graphic accounts of the drama.
"I saw water pour in from the veranda. Within five minutes, it was up to my waist," said France Oberlin, a retired resident of Mandelieu-la-Napoule.
"I couldn't open the doors but luckily a neighbour came."
Seated on a plastic chair, surrounded by debris and overturned cars, she looked despairingly at her ground-floor apartment, in which everything had been destroyed.
Around 500 people, many of them British and Danish tourists, were stranded at Nice airport, and a motorway near Antibes was flooded when a small river, the Brague, burst its banks.
A Nice-Nantes match in France's first football division was called off after the pitch became a quagmire.
Nice's mayor's office estimated the city had received 10 percent of its average annual rainfall in the past two days alone.
By dawn, the worst storms had passed over the French mainland and were headed for the Italian coast, Meteo-France said.
The region's worst flood in the past 25 years was in June 2010, when 25 people were killed and there was one billion euros ($1.12 billion) of damage.
In December 1999, 92 people in France were killed by flooding, fallen trees and other storm damage caused by hurricane-strength winds that struck northwestern Europe.
| Floods | October 2015 | ['(AFP via Yahoo News)', '(Sky News)', '(Euro News)'] |
Israel changes its law regarding marijuana use. Instead of facing criminal charges, first-time offenders who smoke marijuana in public places will only receive a fine. | First-time offenders will face $270 fine if caught using marijuana in a public place, but criminal charges will only be brought if person re-offends four times.
The cabinet approved on Sunday the decriminalized use of marijuana in Israel.
According to the proposal formulated by the Public Security and Justice ministries, any first-time offender caught using marijuana in public would receive a fine rather than face criminal action.
Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan, who led the reform, said that "the government's approval is an important step on the way to implement the new policy, which will emphasize public information and treatment instead of criminal enforcement."
To implement the policy, an inter-ministerial team will be set up to propose amendments, regulations and the required changes to carry out the new policy.
MK Tamar Zandberg (Meretz), the chairwoman of the Knesset Special Committee on Drug and Alcohol Abuse, said that "this is an important step, but not the end of the road. It sends a message that a million of Israelis who consume marijuana aren’t criminals. We will carry on following the details in the committee and ensure that the change is implemented."
Erdan is set to attend a special committee discussion on the decriminalization reform on Monday.
The proposal was based on the conclusions of a committee headed by Public Security Ministry Director General Rotem Peleg, with the recommendations accepted by Erdan.
The panel recommended shifting focus from criminal prosecution of users to administrative fines and educational campaigns. Criminal prosecution, Minister Erdan said in January, should only be used as a last resort.
The panel recommended switching the focus on marijuana usage from the criminal level to the educational one, and expanding responses to marijuana use beyond opening criminal files and prosecuting users.
According to the new policy, first-time offenders that are caught using marijuana in a public place will incur a fine of 1,000 shekels ($271) but the offender will not face criminal charges. The fine will be doubled on the second offense. The third offense will lead to probation, with the record of the offense only being expunged after a brief period. Only on the fourth offense will criminal charges be pressed.
The money from the fines will go to financing antidrug education and treatment.
According to the new policy, if a minor is caught using marijuana he would be criminally investigated only if he refuses to take part in a treatment program, Erdan said.
Erdan had said that Israel's marijuana arrest policy was reexamined due to legalization efforts around the world. | Government Policy Changes | March 2017 | ['(Haaretz)'] |
Police in Mtwapa arrest five men accused of being homosexuals, two of whom had wedding rings and were attempting to marry in a first for Kenya. | Police in Mtwapa, just north of the Kenyan coastal town of Mombasa, say they have arrested five men whom they accuse of being homosexuals.
District officer George Matandura said two of the men had been found with wedding rings, attempting to get married, in Kikambala beach resort. The other three men were handed to the police by members of the public; two of them had reportedly been beaten. Homosexuality is illegal in Kenya but arrests are extremely rare. Crowds gathered outside the police station where the men were taken in protest at the presence of alleged homosexuals. The wedding was reportedly due to take place at a private villa in the resort, but locals heard of the plans and alerted the police, who raided a house and arrested the men. 'Repugnant' behaviour
"We are grateful to the public for alerting the police. They should continue co-operating with the police to arrest more," Mr Matundura said. "It is an offence, an unnatural offence, and also their behaviour is repugnant to the morality of the people."
The district officer said the five, aged between 20 and 35, would "undergo a medical examination before we charge them with homosexuality," the AFP news agency reported. "We will move swiftly and close down bars which condone gays, lesbians, prostitution and drug abuse in their premises," Mr Matundura added. A member of a Kenyan gay rights organisation condemned the arrests and said it had appealed to the Human Rights Commission to step in. But the marriage allegedly planned was condemned by Muslim and Christian clerics. "We cannot allow these young boys to ruin their future through homosexuality," Sheikh Ali Hussein of the Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya told AFP. "We shall use all means to curb this vice." Bishop Lawrence Chai, of the National Council of Churches of Kenya, said: "This is immoral and we shall not allow it, especially here in Mtwapa." The five men are due to appear in court soon. Media coverage
On Thursday, two other men abandoned their plans to get married at a seaside villa in the same area after local authorities complained. The couple and their guests fled the coastal city when word spread that the police, government officers and members of the public were looking for them. Homosexual behaviour is illegal in many African countries. Four months ago, a Kenyan gay couple became civil partners in a ceremony in London - an event which received wide media coverage inside Kenya. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | February 2010 | ['(BBC)', '(Daily Nation)'] |
The World Health Organization declares that the outbreak of the Ebola virus has ceased in Liberia after weeks of no cases there. | The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared Liberia free of the Ebola virus, confirming that the country has had no new cases in 42 days.
President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf told the BBC that Liberia had "crossed the Rubicon" and would be celebrating a concerted effort to stem the disease.
More than 4,700 deaths from Ebola have been recorded in Liberia, more than in any other affected country. Neighbouring Guinea and Sierra Leone continue to fight the outbreak.
It has claimed over 11,000 lives across the region since last year.
The WHO regards a country Ebola-free after a 42-day period without a new case - twice the maximum incubation period.
The last confirmed death in Liberia was on 27 March. On Saturday the World Health Organization said in a statement: "The outbreak of Ebola virus disease in Liberia is over."
President Sirleaf told the BBC: "We will celebrate our communities which have taken responsibility and participated in fighting this unknown enemy and finally we've crossed the Rubicon. Liberia indeed is a happy nation."
Officials say Ebola was eventually conquered in Liberia through a collective effort. Care centres and hand-washing stations were set up to try to halt the disease, which spreads through contact with sick people.
Billboards went up with slogans such as "Ebola is real", "Wash your hands and don't touch" and "Don't be the next victim".
"It has been a terrible time in the history of our country," Monrovia resident Emmanuel Tokao wrote on a BBC Facebook page. "I'm firstly grateful to God, who I believe brought us back to normality."
At the height of the outbreak, he said, "ambulances would either come for a dead body or sick person. It reminded me of the war days".
Liberia lost around 250,000 lives in a civil war ending in 2005.
The BBC's Jonathan Paye-Layleh in Monrovia says the president gave a sense of how traumatised the outbreak remains after the outbreak.
In an address to the nation on Saturday, she said: "Even today if you hear an ambulance siren you shake a little bit."
Although Liberia has now been declared Ebola-free, correspondents say the outbreak will have a long-term impact on Liberia's fragile economy.
The current outbreak is the deadliest in history. It initially centred on Guinea's remote south-eastern region of Nzerekore in early 2014, and later spread to Liberia and Sierra Leone.
The WHO is warning against complacency. Its statement warns that there is "a high risk that infected people may cross into Liberia over the region's exceptionally porous borders".
| Disease Outbreaks | May 2015 | ['(BBC)'] |
A 6.4 magnitude earthquake hits the Indian states of West Bengal and Assam, part of Meghalaya, and part of Bangladesh, causing damage to houses and buildings. Two people die from heart attacks, while ten others are wounded by the earthquake itself. | The wall at a building in Guwahati after an earthquake on April 28, 2021. | Photo Credit: RITU RAJ KONWAR Two people died of shock and at least 10 others sustained injuries after an earthquake of the magnitude of 6.4 struck Assam at 7.51 a.m. on Wednesday.
The earthquake, which was felt across Northeast India, Bihar, West Bengal, Bhutan and Bangladesh, also left several buildings and roads in the northern and western parts of the State damaged.
The National Centre of Seismology (NCS) said the epicentre of the earthquake at a depth of 10 km was Dhekiajuli in Sonitpur district, and preliminary analysis showed it was located near the Kopili Fault closer to the Himalayan Frontal Thrust.
“The area is seismically very active falling in the highest Seismic Hazard Zone V associated with collisional tectonics where Indian Plate subducts beneath the Eurasian Plate,” the NCS said in a statement, adding that the last major earthquake in the region was of magnitude 6.0 on July 29, 1960.
“Two persons died due to shock or cardiac arrest. The deaths were reported from Chandrapur in Kamrup (Metropolitan) and Nagaon districts. We received reports that at least 10 people were injured in different parts of the State,” G.D. Tripathi, Chief Executive Officer of the Assam State Disaster Management Authority, said.
He added that many high-rise buildings and hotels, mostly in Guwahati, were among the structures that suffered damage. Roads and fields, mostly in Sonitpur and in the adjoining Darrang district, developed cracks, too.
Among the structures damaged was the new 126 ft Shivalinga-shaped Maha Mrityunjay temple in Nagaon district.
Locals in Dhekiajuli claimed a dry river at Gadhorjuli nearby was filled with water soon after the earthquake. But Sonitpur’s Deputy Commissioner Manvendra Pratap Singh said there was no official confirmation.
There were similar reports from agricultural fields elsewhere in Dhekiajuli.
Some inmates of apartments in Guwahati decided against returning to their accommodations as the structures developed cracks. But the Assam Real Estate & Infrastructure Developers’ Association (AREIDA) allayed fears.
“We have extensively surveyed the earthquake damage and found that these are primarily non-structural damage. We, therefore, request all to act responsibly and discourage the offensive practice of spreading panic,” AREIDA president P.K. Sarma said.
Soon after the earthquake, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called up Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and took stock of the situation.
“PM @narendramodi ji is taking regular updates about the situation after the earthquake at Dhekiajuli this morning. Got a 2nd call from the Hon'ble PM within a span of few hours. I have apprised him about the latest situation,” Mr. Sonowal tweeted.
Wednesday’s earthquake left a trail of destruction in western Arunachal Pradesh with at least 22 houses — seven of them razed — damaged in Tawang district. Two people, injured after their houses collapsed, were undergoing treatment, officials said.
Several buildings in the adjoining West Kameng district suffered damage, too. There were reports of quake-induced landslides, including one between Membachur and Gorbow villages blocking a vital road. | Earthquakes | April 2021 | ['(The Hindu)'] |
Manchester United F.C. wins the 2010–11 Premier League becoming the most successful team in English league history. , | Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. Sir Alex Ferguson leads Man Utd celebrations
A controversial Wayne Rooney penalty was enough to secure Manchester United's record-breaking 19th league title.
The point clinched a 12th Barclays Premier League title for manager Sir Alex Ferguson on an afternoon of high drama at Blackburn Rovers - 25 years after the fiery Scot declared he wanted to knock Liverpool off their perch. United had to come from behind to write another chapter in their history books after another typically uncertain away league performance in a season in which they achieved only five victories on the road. They looked to be heading for defeat until Rovers keeper Paul Robinson was ruled to have brought down Javier Hernandez and the visitors were awarded a penalty. Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. Phelan backs penalty decision
Rooney kept his nerve to fire home the 73rd-minute spot-kick and send United's army of supporters into a title frenzy. The point took United beyond nearest rivals Chelsea and edged the Old Trafford club ahead of Liverpool, who won the last of their 18 league titles in 1990. The United players were joined by Ferguson on the pitch for the post-match celebrations while Blackburn's fate will not be sealed until the final day of the season next Sunday when they visit relegation rivals Wolves. There was a sense of irony that United needed a penalty to make sure of their latest title - the spot-kick decision coming just 24 hours after Ferguson was charged by the FA for praising referee Howard Webb ahead of last weekend's showdown against Chelsea. Blackburn had taken a first-half lead through Brett Emerton after a mix-up in the United defence involving stand-in goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak who almost allowed Jason Roberts to take advantage of his carelessness. Kuszczak, who is certain to leave the club in the summer because he wants regular first-team football, looked shaky for most of the afternoon and he was at fault when he failed to gather a harmless-looking cross from Emerton. He could only touch the ball out to the right where Martin Olsson was on hand to fire it back across goal to Emerton who clinically dispatched it into the bottom corner of the net. The goal rocked United and for a 10-minute spell Blackburn sensed another goal was possible. United held firm and Hernandez forced Robinson into a neat save when he turned and fire a low shot which the Blackburn keeper did well to push away for a corner. Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. Kean pleased with Blackburn display
The visitors survived a few more nervy moments and must have been satisfied to reach the interval without falling further behind. United were sent out early for the second half, no doubt with the words of manager Ferguson still ringing in their ears, but it was Blackburn who were unfortunate not to double their lead 20 minutes after the restart. Blackburn surged forward and Emerton's perfectly-placed cross was met well by Olsson who was distraught to see is firm header crash back off the post and away to safety. The let-off sparked fresh life into United's trembling title challenge and with Paul Scholes and Dimitar Berbatov introduced, the turning point came with 20 minutes left when Ryan Giggs sent Hernandez bearing down on goal. Robinson came out to challenge him and when Hernandez went down, referee Phil Dowd blew immediately, but went across to consult his linesman before pointing to the penalty spot. Blackburn were incensed and replays suggested Robinson did not pull out of the challenge before making contact with Hernandez. Rooney kept his cool to fire home from the spot and from that moment on there was no doubt that Manchester United were heading for the title. Nani should have made the title safe but wasted a glorious close-range effort. In the end, it didn't matter as United closed the game out with ease. The full-time whistle sealed another landmark moment of success for Ferguson, who now has the luxury of being able to rest players in the final game of the season at home to Blackpool with his thoughts now turning to the Champions League final against Barcelona in two weeks' time at Wembley. | Sports Competition | May 2011 | ['(BBC Sport)', '(Sky Sports)'] |
Russian serial killer and former policeman Mikhail Popkov is convicted of an additional 56 murders between 1992 and 2007. All of his victims were women. | Mikhail Popkov, one of Russia's worst ever serial killers, is already in jail after being convicted in 2015 of murdering 22 women.
Monday 10 December 2018 13:19, UK
A Russian serial killer nicknamed the "werewolf" who is serving a life sentence for killing 22 women has been convicted of 56 more murders.
Former policeman Mikhail Popkov, one of Russia's most prolific serial killers, was found guilty of killing 56 people between 1992 and 2007 by a court in the Siberian city of Irkutsk.
He confessed to 59 murders but investigators had not managed to prove three of the crimes took place, according to local reports.
Popkov was found guilty of raping 10 of the victims and was given a second life sentence on top of the one he is already serving.
He was convicted in 2015 of killing 22 women.
Prosecutors said Popkov had a "pathological attraction to killing people", while Russian media nicknamed him "the werewolf" and the "Angarsk maniac".
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He killed his victims with a hammer or axe after offering them rides late at night, sometimes in a police car, while he was off duty around his home city of Angarsk near Irkutsk.
Popkov told journalists last year that he viewed himself as a "cleaner" who was purging his city of prostitutes.
He said he had targeted women who were drunk or he viewed as immoral.
Some of his victims were prostitutes and drug addicts, but most were ordinary women with families.
Popkov was finally caught in 2012 after investigators DNA-tested people who drove cars matching tyre tracks found at the crime scenes.
He later showed police where he had buried his victims' bodies.
Popkov has become Russia's most prolific killer in at least the past century, with the number of murders exceeding that of "chessboard killer" Alexander Pichushkin, who murdered 48, and Andrei Chikatilo, who killed 52. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | December 2018 | ['(Sky News)'] |
Five U.S. Marines have been arrested after they were accused of raping a local Filipino woman. The USSEssex was prevented from leaving the Philippines until the men were apprehended. | The woman, 22, was allegedly raped by troops who were in the Philippines for joint military exercises. Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo said he was "deeply concerned" about the claims, and the US embassy in Manila said it took the report very seriously.
Analysts say the incident could fuel local opposition to America's military presence in the Philippines.
US troops often take part in counter-terrorism training in the country, together with Filipino soldiers.
According to the French news agency AFP, the Subic Bay authority said the alleged victim had been visiting a karaoke bar when she met the five men, on 1 November.
They had then reportedly invited her to get into a rented van with them.
A few hours later, witnesses said they saw the woman being dumped from the van into a road.
"The perpetrators of this heinous crime shall be brought to justice," said Philippine Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo.
"The US takes reports of violations of US and Philippine law by US military personnel very seriously, and will fully co-operate with the Philippine authorities in the investigation of this incident," the US embassy in Manila said in a statement.
According to press reports, the Philippine authorities briefly delayed the departure of a US warship while searching for the marines.
The five men were then prevented from leaving the country with the rest of their compatriots on Wednesday, and are currently in the custody of the US embassy in Manila. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | November 2005 | ['(LHD2)', '(BBC)', '(Xinhua)'] |
Britain's National Union of Journalists announces a strike against the Financial Times, protesting the changes in pension arrangements since the acquisition of the FT by a Japanese media group, Nikkei. | Journalists at the Financial Times have voted for strike action over proposed changes to their pensions.
The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) said journalists voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action.
It said almost 92% of members balloted backed action, showing their "anger and disgust over FT's broken promises".
The changes to pension arrangements follow the purchase of the FT three months ago by Japanese media group Nikkei for £844m.
The NUJ accused the Financial Times and Nikkei of failing to honour equivalent terms of employment promises made following the takeover of the newspaper group.
It said that on Monday, senior managers put forward new proposals to the union, which it said it would be considering before making a final decision over whether to call its members out on strike. Steve Bird, NUJ representative at the Financial Times, said senior managers had already lost the trust of their staff including "most senior journalists".
He added: "We will be seeking talks with our new owners and expect a clear commitment to make good any shortfalls on our pensions."
A spokesperson from the Financial Times said that management was "disappointed" that the NUJ had not withdrawn the strike threat, despite ongoing consultations and what it called an "improved" offer over pensions.
"While we do not take lightly any discontent amongst our employees, we must find the right balance between individual benefits - those who voted in the ballot represent a small minority of staff - and the sustainable financial future of the FT, for the benefit of all," the FT spokesperson said.
Three years ago FT journalists voted to strike over what they considered unfair pay rise proposals following what they said had been several years of below inflation pay deals.
| Strike | November 2015 | ['(BBC)'] |
A Russian Mil Mi-8 military helicopter carrying humanitarian aid onboard is shot down by rebels in northern Syria. All five members of the crew die in the crash. | A Russian military helicopter has been shot down in Syria killing all five on board - the deadliest single incident for Russia's military since its air campaign began last September. The Mi-8 transporter was brought down by rebels, Russia says, in northern Idlib province.
It was returning from delivering humanitarian aid to the besieged city of Aleppo, the defence ministry said. It is not clear which group brought the helicopter down.
An alliance of forces, including hardline jihadist factions, is the dominant power in Idlib.
Jabhat Fateh al-Sham - formerly known as Jabhat al-Nusra - is among those active in the province, and so-called Islamic State has vowed to carry out jihad against Russian forces. The helicopter was carrying three crew and two officers. Pictures on social media, purportedly of the latest Russian helicopter downing, showed burning wreckage and bodies, with armed men milling around.
Footage showed at least one body being dragged away. Another is seen apparently being trampled on. This is the worst single loss of life for Russia since it launched its air offensive in Syria in support of President Assad towards the end of last year. Moscow says the helicopter was not involved in a military mission, but was delivering humanitarian aid. Rebel sources appear to confirm this. It may not have been known to those who shot the helicopter down, as most of Russia's airpower in Syria has been used for military purposes to support pro-government forces. But it will further inflame feelings in Russia against rebels in Syria. Moscow has repeatedly said it sees little distinction between the rebels in terms of brutality and extremism. The graphic images of victims posted online of the aftermath of the incident will add fuel to the fire.
Russia has previously, though seldom, lost aircraft since it launched operations in support of the Syrian government at the end of September 2015.
In July, two Russian pilots were killed when their helicopter was shot down east of the city of Palmyra by so-called Islamic State (IS).
Last November, the pilot of a Russian Su-24 fighter plane was killed when the aircraft was shot down by Turkey on its border with Syria.
A Russian marine sent on a mission to rescue the pilot was also killed when his helicopter was shot down.
Russia is a key backer of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and is supporting pro-government forces with air strikes on rebels.
Government forces cut off rebel-held eastern parts of Aleppo last month. Russia and Syria announced the opening of what they called humanitarian corridors for civilians and rebels wanting to surrender, but few people are reported to have used them, fearing they would be targeted.
The child sitcom star killed in Aleppo
Burning tyres to curb air strikes
Opposition activists have dismissed as a lie Russian claims that 160 civilians had left rebel-held districts. The United Nations has warned that basic supplies for the around a quarter of a million people who live in besieged areas will last only three weeks.
On Sunday, rebel groups south of Aleppo launched a push to try to break the siege, in what observers said was one of the biggest counter-offensives in months.
| Air crash | August 2016 | ['(BBC)', '(AP)'] |
Protestors demand the Central Electoral Board resign. | After the suspension of municipal elections by the Central Electoral Board, thousands of Dominicans residing inside and outside the country have expressed and intensified their disagreement with the historical decision taken last Sunday, February 16, before the appearance of automated voting system failures.
Dominicans residing in cities such as New York and Massachusetts (United States), Paris (France), Toronto (Canada), Madrid, Navarra and Barcelona (Spain), San Juan (Puerto Rico), London (England), among others, have taken to the streets with the national flags and banners demanding the resignation of the plenary of the Central Electoral Board.
This Saturday, there were several marches in Europe: Paris, Barcelona, and Madrid were chosen by the Dominican residents in these cities, who sang the national anthem notes and shouted slogans against the suspension of the elections.
“Sorry, but from Spain, I am also trying to change history.” “When those who send lose their shame, those who obey lose their respect #SeVan.” “They messed with the wrong generation.” “There is no distance when you carry your homeland in your heart. I support the protest because my country hurts,” were part of the posters used by the Creoles during the march in the Motherland.
Just as “Even at 6,727 kilometers my country hurts,” “My country is rich but poorly managed,” “Dominicans demand a change,” “We want transparency, not dementia,” and “Everything we’ve silenced now screams freedom.”
There have also been concentrations of Dominicans in Washington Heights; in Mozart Park in Jamaica Plain, Boston, Massachusetts, and in the park in Occidental Square Seattle, Washington.
While for this Sunday, February 23, a gathering will take place at 5:00 pm at the Smokefree Shopping Plaza, 4771 Britt Rd, Norcross.
Dominicans residing in Ottawa, Canada, will be able to go to Major’s Hill Park from 2:00 in the afternoon.
Today, at 4:00 in the afternoon, dozens of Dominicans will gather in Piazza Brin in La Spezia in Italy.
Provinces
The protests began last Monday, February 17, in the Plaza de la Bandera, located around the Central Electoral Board (JCE). However, as the days went by, a concentration that went viral through social networks became a youth movement that grew more and more every day.
So far mobilizations, marches, and protests have been called: in the Plaza Padre Fantino 087, in Sánchez Ramírez; in the Victoria Park in Moca; in front of the Central Electoral Board (JCE), in the Nagua Factor; in La Vega in Duarte Park; as well as in the Bust of Duarte of the Central Park of Baní.
In San Cristóbal they protested in the Monument to the Constituents; in the Parque de las Banderas, in Sosúa, Puerto Plata; in the Parque Duarte de Santiago and in the “La Avenida” park, in Jarabacoa.
Citizens have also gathered in front of the government of Higüey (La Altagracia); In front of the Central Electoral Board of La Vega; in the Salcedo Park in the Hermanas Mirabal municipality; in the Caonabo de Jarabacoa park; in front of the JCE of La Romana; in front of Sunix, in Punta Cana and in the Plazoleta Duarte in Barahona, among other places.
Among the claims requested by thousands of protesters are “electoral transparency, investigation and clear response of the ruling in the voting system and sanctions and consequences for those responsible.” | Protest_Online Condemnation | February 2020 | ['(Dominican Today)'] |
Airlines cancel flights to and from Scotland as the ash reaches northern Britain. | Flights in and out of Scotland have been cancelled as a volcanic ash cloud from Iceland heads towards the UK.
BA, KLM, Easyjet, Flybe, Aer Lingus, Loganair and Eastern Airways have cancelled services on Tuesday, and some flights over the Atlantic were delayed.
The threat of further disruption led US President Barack Obama to fly out of the Republic of Ireland a day early to get to London for a state visit.
Ash from another Icelandic volcano led to huge disruption in Europe last year.
Mr Obama had been due to fly to the UK on Tuesday morning, but White House deputy press secretary Josh Earnest said the decision to bring his arrival forward had been taken "due to a recent change in the trajectory in the plume of volcanic ash".
The Met Office forecasts the ash cloud will reach northern and western Scotland overnight, and will clip northern parts of Northern Ireland early on Tuesday. None of England is likely to be affected.
A Met Office spokesman said it was difficult to forecast the cloud's direction beyond that because weather systems were changing so rapidly.
A number of airlines are choosing not to fly through Scottish airspace on Tuesday:
Transport Secretary Philip Hammond told BBC Two's Newsnight that "most, if not all, flights into and out of Glasgow and Edinburgh and airports to the north will be stopped" on Tuesday morning.
But he said services should resume from Glasgow and Edinburgh by about lunchtime, and in other airports by Wednesday morning. Any disruption later in the week should be "limited", he added.
Earlier, Mr Hammond said there had already been "modest delays" to flights, particularly those crossing the Atlantic.
"Clearly, this is a natural phenomenon which we cannot control, but the UK is now much better prepared to deal with an ash eruption than last year."
A spokesman for Edinburgh Airport said it was anticipating disruption to many services on Tuesday.
In a statement on Monday evening, he said: "Only Ryanair is intending to operate a full service from Edinburgh Airport. Passengers should not travel to the airport without checking with their airline first regarding the status of their flight."
Andrew Haines, chief executive of the Civil Aviation Authority, said he hoped to avoid a repeat of last year's travel chaos, but he admitted it was still unclear how badly flights would be affected.
"We know so much more about the volcanoes. We have an improved model. "We have better measuring equipment and we have better relationships with airlines so it should be much better but we're still at the hands of both the weather and the volcano; those are the two uncertainties."
Champions League finalists Barcelona are already considering bringing forward their flight to London ahead of Saturday's final at Wembley against Manchester United.
The Catalan club had originally planned to travel on Thursday.
"Let's see what they [the experts] tell us and if they say we shouldn't risk it we'll travel tomorrow or the day after," said Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola.
During last April's six-day shutdown only a handful of flights took off or landed in the UK. Thousands of Britons found themselves stranded overseas forcing many to make long and expensive journeys home by land. Airlines estimated the shutdown cost them $1.7bn (£1.1bn).
The CAA said ash levels would now be graded as low, medium or high, and airlines would be notified if levels reached medium or high.
Airlines would then consider whether to fly, according to risk assessments already carried out, the CAA added.
The Foreign Office is advising passengers to remain in regular contact with their travel agent or airline for the latest news on the status of flights and bookings.
The Grimsvotn volcano in Vatnajokull National Park began erupting on Saturday with ash rising to 20km (12 miles) but, although still active, is now not as powerful with a plume of 13km (8 miles).
Iceland's airspace has been closed for a period as a result.
Ash from the volcano, which is 60 miles (97km) from the nearest human settlements, has settled over farmland and livestock, causing difficulties for some farmers and tourists have been evacuated from the country's main national parks.
The Grimsvotn volcano lies beneath the ice of the uninhabited Vatnajokull glacier in south-east Iceland. The latest eruption is its most powerful eruption in 100 years.
Experts say this eruption is on a different scale to the one last year and ash particles are larger and, as a result, fall to the ground more quickly.
Iceland volcano pumps a different ash
Airline shares hit by ash fears
In pictures: Volcano erupts
Icelandic ash 'may drift over UK'
Volcano halts Icelandic flights
Iceland volcano starts erupting
Met Office
Volcanic Ash Advisory Centres
Nats
Civil Aviation Authority
Eurocontrol
Department for Transport
Foreign & Commonwealth Office
Icelandic Met Office
Government Offices of Iceland
University of Iceland
Vatnajokull National Park
Setback for EU in legal fight with AstraZeneca
But the drug-maker faces hefty fines if it fails to supply doses of Covid-19 vaccine over the summer. | Volcano Eruption | May 2011 | ['(BBC)'] |
Looters in Argentina kill at least five people as mobs take advantage of strikes by police demanding pay raises. | BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) Outbreaks of looting have spread across Argentina as mobs take advantage of strikes by police demanding pay raises to match inflation. Videos show people shattering glass doors and hauling out everything from mattresses and cellphones to baby carriages and beer.
By Monday night, the death toll from the chaotic outbursts climbed to five as officers rallied outside negotiating sessions, citizens huddled inside their homes and businesses, and federal troops deployed to trouble spots.
The trouble spread to at least 19 of Argentina's 23 provinces, and most commerce shut down in many cities just ahead of the December holidays, when Argentina's simmering social conflicts have a history of exploding in the summer heat.
President Cristina Fernandez's Cabinet chief, Jorge Capitanich, described the crimes as premeditated acts by groups that wanted to generate chaos and anxiety on the eve of Tuesday's 30th anniversary of Argentina's return to democracy.
"In some ways, this amounts to the crime of treason," Capitanich told reporters. He said that the national government was in continual contact with Argentina's provincial leaders and that any salary dispute must be resolved through negotiation, not extortion.
The government has sent federal police, border patrol officers and other security forces to hot spots where people have armed themselves in fear of mobs. Prosecutors were put on alert to build criminal cases against looters, and Justice Minister Julio Alak warned that people coordinating violence through social networks would be charged.
Looting first broke out in Cordoba province last week, damaging hundreds of businesses and leaving two dead and more than 100 people injured before the governor and police reached a deal that effectively doubled police salaries to 12,000 pesos a month. That's about $1,915 at the official exchange rate.
The national government initially blamed the phenomenon on Cordoba's governor, a political rival of Fernandez. But by Monday, it was clear that even close presidential allies were struggling as police earning base salaries of less than 6,000 pesos a month staged copy-cat strikes across Argentina.
A third victim died when his supermarket was set afire as he defended it from a mob in Almirante Brown, in Buenos Aires province, where Fernandez loyalist Gov. Daniel Scioli appealed for calm. The fourth and fifth victims were young men who were inside stores being looted in Entre Rios and Jujuy provinces.
Scioli's leadership was tested again Monday after a dozen more stores were looted in Mar del Plata and hundreds of police gathered in a central square, rejecting his offer to raise entry-level salaries to what he called a "fair and reasonable" 8,570 pesos a month. Those officers were holding out for 12,500 as a base salary. Most others returned to work, the provincial government said.
With consumer prices rising at more than 25% a year, other public employees are watching closely.
Rio Negro's governor settled his province's 21-hour police strike by raising base salaries to 8,500 pesos, only to see health workers walk off the job demanding their own raises Monday. Their union said many public hospitals around the country are seeing similar demands.
Tuesday marks 30 years since the swearing in of President Raul Alfonsin ended Argentina's 1976-1983 dictatorship. A huge stage has been constructed in front of the government palace and all political parties invited to celebrate the anniversary together.
But the late president's son, legislator Ricardo Alfonsin, said they should probably postpone the show, "given what's happening in the country."
"I wonder if it wouldn't be healthier to take advantage of this formal act of memory and have the government and all political sectors commit together to defend the democracy and its institutions and work without speculations to insure domestic peace," he said. | Armed Conflict | December 2013 | ['(USA Today)'] |
Former Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin, who was recorded on video kneeling on George Floyd's neck for several minutes and eventually causing his death, is taken into custody by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and charged with third-degree murder and second degree manslaughter. | Updated: May 29, 2020 02:29 PM
Created: May 28, 2020 10:22 AM
Department of Public Safety Commissioner John Harrington announcedthe arresting officer in the George Floyd case has been taken into custody.
Former officer Derek Chauvin was taken into custody by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension at 11:44 a.m. Friday,on probable cause related to Floyd's death.
Floyd was pronounced dead Monday night after he was taken into custody by police in south Minneapolis. A video that was circulated online shows an officer holding his knee on the back of Floyd's neck for several minutes.
A source with knowledge of the investigation identified the officer as Derek Chauvin. Chauvin and three other officers have been fired in connection to the incident.
The Hennepin County Attorney's Office announced third-degree murder and manslaughter charges against Chauvin later Friday.
Former Minneapolis police officer charged with murder, manslaughter in George Floyd's death, Hennepin County attorney says
The BCA said the investigation into Floyd's death continues. Anyone with information is urged to contact the FBI at1-800-CALLFBI (800-225-5324) or the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension at 651-793-7000.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey called on Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman Wednesday to file charges.
"I've wrestled with, more than anything else over the last 36 hours, one fundamental question: Why is the man who killed George Floyd not in jail," Frey said to the press Wednesday. "If you had done it, or I had done it, we would be behind bars right now."
KSTP's Eric Chaloux reported he was with Floyd's fiancée at the time the news broke. He shared a photo of her reaction:
Breaking: I was with George Floyd’s fiancé when news broke an officer has been arrested @kstp pic.twitter.com/phqOr4VlE6
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | May 2020 | ['(KSTP)', '(WCCO)'] |
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has expressed deep concern over Saturday's Israeli commando raid deep inside Lebanon, calling it a truce violation. | French troops arrive in Lebanon The UN has said that Israel's commando raid in eastern Lebanon on Saturday violated the UN-brokered truce that halted the war between Israel and Hezbollah.
Kofi Annan, the UN secretary-general, said that he was "deeply concerned" by the violation of the ceasefire. A spokesman for Annan said in a statement: "The secretary-general is deeply concerned about a violation by the Israeli side of the cessation of hostilities as laid out in Security Council resolution 1701."
The statement from the UN comes after the Lebanese threatened to halt the deployment of troops to the south of Lebanon if the violation was not recognised.
Elias Murr, the Lebanese defence minister, said after a meeting with UN representatives on Saturday: "If there are no clear answers forthcoming on this issue, I might be forced to recommend to the cabinet early next week the halt of the army deployment in the south."
French arrival
Meanwhile, the first small contingent of reinforcements for the peacekeeping force - 49 French soldiers - landed on Saturday at the southern Lebanese coastal town of Naqura, with 200 more expected next week.
However, Mark Malloch Brown, the UN deputy secretary-general, said more countries need to step forward to fill out a vanguard of 3,500 troops that the UN wants on the ground by August 28 to help ensure that the truce between Israel and Lebanon holds.
Murr said the Israeli raid could spark Hezbollah retaliation, which in turn could lead to Israeli reprisals. He suggested that Israel might be trying to provoke a response so that it could have an excuse to attack the Lebanese army.
He said: "We will not send the army to be prey in an Israeli trap."
Under the ceasefire terms, Israel has said it will conduct defensive operations if its troops are threatened.
But the raid took place far from the positions of Israeli troops in southern Lebanon.
The ceasefire resolution talks about an end to weapons shipments to Hezbollah as part of a long-term end to the conflict - but does not require it under the immediate truce.
Israel's explanation
According to Israel, the raid that was carried out in the early hours of Saturday morning was defensive and designed to disrupt weapons supplies from Syria and Iran to Hezbollah.The Israeli military said such operations would continue until "an effective monitoring unit" was in place to prevent Hezbollah from rebuilding its arsenal.
Mark Regev, the Israeli foreign ministry spokesman, said Hezbollah fighters inspect the site of the Israeli raid: "If the Syrians and Iran continue to arm Hezbollah in violation of the [UN ceasefire] resolution, Israel is entitled to act to defend the principle of the arms embargo.
Hezbollah fighters inspect the site of the Israeli raid
"Once the Lebanese army and the international forces are active ... then such Israeli activity will become superfluous."
Another Israeli minister said Israel will continue to carry out raids in Lebanon aimed at halting alleged weapons smuggling to Hezbollah from Syria.
"As long as the Lebanese army and the international forces are not deployed (in south Lebanon), the Israeli army will not stop its flights in the region to stop the transfers of arms from Syria," Gideon Ezra, the environment minister who is considered close to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, told public radio.
Saturday's operation, risking the ceasefire, suggested Israel was going after a major target near Baalbek - perhaps to rescue two Israeli soldiers snatched by Hezbollah on July 12, or to try to capture a senior Hezbollah official to trade for the soldiers.
An Israeli soldier was killed in the operation.
Kuwait electionsPolitical battles loom after reformists gain groundJonathan GorvettDismembering IraqIs sectarian chaos part of a US plan to split the country?Ahmed JanabiObstacle coursePalestine residents face additional travel curbsKhalid Amayreh | Tear Up Agreement | August 2006 | ['(BBC)', '(Al Jazeera)'] |
The President of Venezuela Hugo Chávez's United Socialist Party of Venezuela wins a majority of seats in the parliamentary election held yesterday but lost a two–thirds majority needed to pass major legislation unaided. | The Venezuelan opposition has performed well in elections, overturning President Hugo Chavez's two-thirds majority in parliament.
Mr Chavez's United Socialist Party (PSUV) still won a majority of seats in Sunday's poll, but will now be unable to pass major legislation unaided.
The poll was seen as a test of Mr Chavez's popularity ahead of presidential elections in 2012. An opposition spokesman said he was "very happy" with the results.
The opposition umbrella group he represents, the Table for Democratic Unity (MUD), will now become an important bloc in the parliament, says the BBC's Will Grant in Caracas.
It will be capable of thwarting some of Mr Chavez's key socialist reforms, be they appointments to the Supreme Court or backing for sweeping new laws. It seems Mr Chavez will now have to find some way to work with the opposition representatives in parliament, our correspondent adds.
Opposition parties boycotted polls in 2005 - allowing Mr Chavez's party to sweep up almost all the seats in parliament - so they were almost certain to make some gains.
Electoral authorities announced that the PSUV won at least 94 seats, and the MUD at least 60 - surpassing the key target of 55 required to overturn the PSUV's two-thirds majority.
A third party won another two, three seats went to indigenous parties and the remaining six in the 165-member National Assembly were yet to be decided.
The MUD also claims that it actually won an overall majority - 52% - of votes cast, but that changes to electoral districts and voting rules prevented that being translated into parliamentary seats. However, the breakdown of the popular vote has not been confirmed by the National Electoral Council.
"This gives us a lot of political power," said Armando Briquett, a MUD spokesman, according to Reuters news agency. "We are very happy."
But in a message to his followers on Twitter, Mr Chavez declared the result a "new victory by the people. I congratulate you all."
The results were only announced several hours after polls closed, despite an automated voting system supposed to supply results quickly - prompting the opposition to accuse electoral officials of stalling.
But election officials - who put turnout for the poll at 66% - put the delay down to a number of tight races. The opposition focused its election campaign on rising crime and rising inflation.
With this electoral advance it will now become a more important force, our correspondent says.
However, the new parliament will not convene until early January, leaving Mr Chavez three months to push through any key reforms. | Government Job change - Election | September 2010 | ['(BBC)', '(Al Jazeera)'] |
The Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger acts to end a budget crisis by firing 22,000 California state workers and cutting the pay of 200,000 more. | Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California has signed an executive order to sack 22,000 state workers and put 200,000 on the minimum wage.
The most populous state in the US faces a budget deficit of more than $15bn (£7.6bn), and legislators are struggling to agree a spending plan.
Mr Schwarzenegger says the cuts will save $100m a month and put pressure on politicians reach a budget deal.
But a leading official in the state challenged the decision to cut pay.
Opponents said there was enough cash to pay full salaries and the state's financial controller, John Chiang, vowed to ignore Mr Schwarzenegger's order.
California has one of the largest economies in the world but the governor says it currently has no way to pay contractors for many of the services it provides.
'Whatever it takes'
Mr Schwarzenegger, the former Hollywood film star turned Republican politician, told reporters he had signed an executive order on the staff and pay cuts.
Most of those laid off are seasonal and part-time staff, while the 200,000 remaining state employees would have their full salaries restored when a budget was agreed, the governor said.
"Today I am exercising my executive authority to avoid a full-blown crisis and keep our state moving forward," he said.
"This is not an action I take lightly but we do not have a budget and, as governor, I have a responsibility to make sure our state has enough money to pay its bills."
Mr Chiang, a Democrat serving as financial controller, has vowed not to implement the pay cuts, saying to do so could risk legal action.
He sent a letter to Mr Schwarzenegger on Thursday saying he would defy the order and issue employees their regular salaries.
The governor's executive order, he said, was based on "faulty legal and factual premises".
Union anger
Workers and union representatives were quick to point out the human cost of Mr Schwarzenegger's move.
"People are going to get put out of their homes. The governor says he's sorry. We can't pay with sorry," Debra Martin, a union official, told the Los Angeles Times.
The dispute between the governor and the financial controller centres on the interpretation of a five-year-old state Supreme Court ruling.
Asked whether his administration would sue the state financial controller's office if it did not comply with the executive order, Mr Schwarzenegger said:
"If that's what it takes. I'm here to make sure that our state functions, and whatever it takes, I will do it."
Some 30 American states face budget deficits, caused by rising costs and falling revenues in a slumping economy, but California is by far the largest. | Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | July 2008 | ['(BBC)'] |
Saudi Arabia decides it will not ban BlackBerry instant messaging after agreeing a deal to iron out security fears. | Saudi Arabia and the makers of the BlackBerry smartphone have reached a deal to prevent a ban on the phone's messenger service.
The agreement, which involves placing a BlackBerry server inside Saudi Arabia, would allow the government to monitor users' messages and allay official fears the service could be used for criminal purposes.
The deal could have wide-ranging implications for several other countries, including India and the United Arab Emirates, which have expressed similar concerns over how BlackBerry maker Research in Motion handles its data.
A Saudi regulatory official said tests were now under way to determine how to install a BlackBerry server inside the country.
The kingdom is one of a number of countries expressing concern that the device is a security threat because encrypted information sent on the phones is routed through overseas computers – making it impossible for local governments to monitor.
The United Arab Emirates has announced it will ban BlackBerry email, messaging and web browsing starting in October, and Indonesia and India are also demanding greater control over the data.
Analysts say RIM's expansion into fast-growing emerging markets is threatening to set off a wave of regulatory challenges, as its commitment to keep corporate emails secure rubs up against the desires of local law enforcement.
RIM says it does offer help to governments, but says its technology does not allow it, or any third party, to read encrypted emails sent by corporate BlackBerry users.
The consumer version has a lower level of security.
In Saudi Arabia – which local media say has some 750,000 BlackBerry users – the threat of the ban raised accusations the government is trying to further curb freedom of expression.
Saudi Arabia's telecommunications regulator announced the imminent ban on Tuesday, saying the BlackBerry service "in its present state does not meet regulatory requirements."
Saudi security officials fear the service could be used by militant groups. The kingdom has been waging a crackdown for years against al-Qaida-linked extremists.
Saudi Arabia also enforces heavy policing of the internet, blocking sites both for political content and for obscenities.
BlackBerry phones are known to be popular both among businesspeople and youth in the kingdom who see the phones' relatively secure communication features as a way to avoid attention from the authorities. | Sign Agreement | August 2010 | ['(The Daily Telegraph)'] |
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