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Victoria becomes the first state to pass euthanasia legislation. | Victoria has become the first state in the country to legalise assisted dying for the terminally ill, with MPs voting to give patients the right to request a lethal drug to end their lives from mid-2019.
After more than 100 hours of debate across both houses of Parliament and two demanding all-night sittings, Lower House MPs ratified the Andrews Government's amended bill.
The bill will now go to the Governor for royal assent.
Premier Daniel Andrews, who came to support euthanasia after the death of his father last year, said it was an historic day.
"This is a day of reform, a day of compassion, a day of giving control to those who are terminally ill," he said.
"I'm proud today that we have put compassion right at the centre of our parliamentary and our political process."
The landmark legislation passed the Upper House 22 votes to 18 last week, but the changes had to be approved by the Lower House for voluntary euthanasia to be enshrined in law.
Victorian Health Minister Jill Hennessy said the lengthy debate had given the Parliament the opportunity consider what constitutes a "good death".
"It's one of those things in life — we talk a lot about the start in life, but we don't talk a lot about the end of life," she said.
"We've had some frustrating moments, but ultimately we have landed in a place where Victorians who are confronted terminal illnesses, that are enduring unbearable pains, will have a safe and compassionate option around assisted dying."
Ms Hennessy said experts would immediately start work finalising the scheme, including the type of lethal drug to be prescribed to patients.
"I know this is a disappointment to some people who have terminal illnesses, but the bill does require an 18-month implementation period," she said.
"We have been very dedicated to the task of developing this bill and we're going to be as equally dedicated to the task of getting a safe, sensible and robust system in place."
How will the laws work? For starters you must be a Victorian resident aged over 18 with an incurable illness.
The changes needed to pass the bill included halving the timeframe for eligible patients to access the scheme from 12 months to six months to live.
There will be exemptions for sufferers of conditions such as motor neurone disease and multiple sclerosis who have a life expectancy of 12 months.
The Andrews Government also pledged to spend $62 million over five years on end of life and palliative care.
Opponents of the legislation made a last-minute bid to block the legislation by proposing to defer debate indefinitely on Tuesday, but the motion was lost 46 votes to 37.
Government minister Natalie Hutchins missed the vote because she was attending her husband's funeral in New South Wales and was not granted a pair.
Under the legislation, Victorians with a terminal illness will be able to obtain a lethal drug within 10 days of asking to die, after completing a three-step process involving two independent medical assessments.
They must be over the age of 18, of sound mind, have lived in Victoria for at least 12 months and be suffering in a way that "cannot be relieved in a manner the person deems tolerable".
AAP: Julian Smith
The patient must administer the drug themselves, but a doctor can deliver the lethal dose in rare cases where someone was physically unable to end their own life.
The legislation includes 68 safeguards, including new criminal offences to protect vulnerable people from abuse and coercion, and a special board to review all cases.
We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we live, learn, and work.
| Government Policy Changes | November 2017 | ['(ABC News Australia)'] |
Swedish forensic scientists find no conclusive evidence of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange's DNA in a torn condom submitted by one of his alleged rape victims. The condom had been a key piece of evidence in Sweden's case against Assange. | A condom submitted by an alleged rape victim of Julian Assange and now used as evidence in the sex case does not contain the DNA of the WikiLeaks founder, his lawyers have said.
The key piece of evidence -- a torn condom -- given to Swedish police by the alleged victim, was examined at two forensic laboratories but no conclusive evidence of Assange's DNA was found on it, the Daily Mail reported. However, the same forensic teams have found DNA "thought to belong to" the WikiLeaks chief on another condom submitted by the second alleged victim.Assange's lawyers have said that the fact no DNA could be found conclusively on an apparently used condom suggests a fake one may have been submitted. The revelation is contained in a 100-page police report written after witnesses were interviewed and forensic evidence examined.The report, seen by Assange's lawyers, has led to Swedish officials requesting his extradition from Britain to stand trial. The 41-year-old Assange is yet to be charged with any offence. Assange, who denies allegations of rape and sexual molestation, has been fighting extradition to Sweden for the past two years. He claims it is a ruse to send him to the US where he could face trial for espionage. He is currently holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London after being granted asylum by the country's president, Rafael Correa.In the report, the first alleged victim claims she was sexually molested by Assange at her flat in Stockholm on several occasions. She claimed Assange "deliberately ripped a condom" before wearing it so that he could have unprotected sex with her against her will, the Daily Mail said.The second alleged victim told police she was "raped" by Assange when she was asleep. But during a police interview, the woman apparently suggested that she did not mind Assange having unprotected sex with her.
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | September 2012 | ['(RT)', '(IANS via Deccan Herald)'] |
The Philippines prepares for Typhoon Megi, potentially the strongest typhoon to hit the country this year. | Authorities in the Philippines are preparing for the onslaught of Typhoon Megi, the tenth tropical cyclone and the strongest to hit the country this year.
The typhoon is moving towards the northern regions of the Philippines with winds of up to 195 kilometres per hour.
Eighteen provinces in the northern Philippines have been placed under a storm alert as Typhoon Megi moves closer to land.
President Benigno Aquino called on the people, as well as government agencies and private sector groups, to be prepared and to cooperate to ensure no casualties.
Disaster response teams and equipment have been readied for evacuation and other emergencies.
Social welfare offices have stocked up on food and other supplies.
Farmers in the north harvested their crops early while sea travel in the region has been cancelled due to stormy weather.
| Hurricanes_Tornado_Storm_Blizzard | October 2010 | ['(ABC News Australia)', '(BBC)', '(Philippine Inquirer)'] |
Josef Fritzl of Austria changes his plea to guilty on all charges. | Josef Fritzl, the Austrian accused of imprisoning his daughter and fathering seven children with her, has changed his pleas to guilty on all charges.
Fritzl, 73, said video testimony from his daughter, played in court on Tuesday, had made him change his mind.
He locked up his daughter for 24 years. The charges include rape, incest, murder by neglect and enslavement.
A verdict and sentencing are due on Thursday. A court doctor has advised he be sent to a psychiatric facility.
At the start of his trial on Monday, Fritzl had denied the charges of enslavement and murdering one of the children by neglect soon after its birth.
His surprise turnabout also altered his plea from "partial" to guilty on the charge of rape.
Fritzl could face life imprisonment for murder, 20 years for enslavement and up to 15 years on other charges.
Under Austrian law his guilty pleas could be a mitigating factor, but only at the discretion of the judges and jury.
'Sorry'
Fritzl's lawyer, Rudolf Mayer, said watching his daughter's testimony had profoundly affected his client, "destroying" his emotions.
Dr Adelheid Kastner, a court appointed psychiatrist, described Fritzl's mental state
But court spokesman Franz Cutka was unable to confirm or deny media reports that Fritzl's daughter was inside the courtroom on Tuesday.
He said that she was definitely not in the court on Wednesday, adding that there were no rooms adjacent to the court where the family could have been sitting, as some reports had suggested.
Proceedings have ended for the day, and the judges have retired to formulate questions for the jury before a verdict and sentence are reached.
Wearing a grey suit and a blue shirt, Fritzl did not hide his face on Wednesday, as he had done for the past two days, when he was led into the courtroom in St Poelten, west of Vienna.
As proceedings began, the judge asked Fritzl how he felt after watching the videotaped testimony of his daughter.
"Your daughter told you the baby was suffering from breathing problems," the judge said. "You had time to get first aid."
Fritzl said: "I was hoping the little one would survive but I should have done something. I don't know why I didn't help. I just lost sight [of the issue]."
He then said he was "sorry".
Speaking later outside the court, Mr Mayer said the testimony given by his client's daughter had allowed Fritzl to see for the first time the impact of his actions.
Describing his client, Mr Mayer said Fritzl was "a person who had only one idea - 'I must always be full of power'".
Mr Mayer said he was "very, very surprised" by Fritzl's plea reversal, but that Fritzl hoped his change of plea would help his victims.
'Not insane'
The court later heard psychiatrist Dr Adelheid Kastner say there was a danger Fritzl would repeat his behaviour if he was left untreated.
"He will remain the same person, and the ways to exercise this control will change and change with his physical abilities, but his needs will remain the same," she told the BBC outside the court.
"So he will be a danger and he has to be kept in prison until he is no danger for others."
She recommended that he be sent to a special facility for deranged criminals, although strictly speaking he was not insane. Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. Lawyer on defending Fritzl
"What I told the court was that Mr Fritzl has never been mentally ill," she said, "and that he has always been sane in the legal sense of the word - that he was always able to discern between right and wrong, and that he always knew what he did was wrong."
She said Fritzl had an overwhelming need to dominate and control, which she said stemmed from his childhood.
She said he had been an unwanted, unloved child, who was intelligent, and who had grown up determined to have somebody who belonged to him alone.
He was emotionally deficient but he knew that what he was doing was wrong, she added.
Two technical experts then gave evidence, describing the cellar into which Fritzl lured his 18-year-old daughter beneath their house in Amstetten in 1984.
AFP news agency quoted the experts as saying they had found no mechanism in the cellar to open the doors and let the prisoners out if something happened to Fritzl - a feature that he had initially claimed existed.
He imprisoned his daughter in the cellar and raped her repeatedly over a number of years.
The daughter and three of the children fathered by Fritzl were kept captive in the cellar until the case came to light in April last year, when one of the children became seriously ill and was taken to hospital.
He was accused of murdering by neglect one of newborn twin boys his daughter gave birth to in 1996, having failed to arrange medical care for the ailing infant.
A former tenant of Fritzl has told the BBC he saw nothing amiss while he was renting a flat in his house from 1998-1999, although he suspected his landlord was taking electricity from the flat.
Franz, who still lives in Amstetten, said he remembered Fritzl as someone "really very strange" who would never let his wife speak whenever they met. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | March 2009 | ['(BBC)'] |
Prime Minister of Lesotho Tom Thabane fails to appear in court for the murder of his former wife, and his son says he has traveled to South Africa to see a doctor. Police warn that if he does not return, they will issue an arrest warrant. | MASERU (Reuters) - Lesotho Prime Minister Thomas Thabane left the country, skipping a court appearance on Friday at which he was expected to be charged with murdering his estranged wife.
Thabane, 80, had been due in court at 9 a.m. (0700 GMT) over the death of Lipolelo Thabane, who was shot dead in June 2017 two days before he took office for a second stint as prime minister.
Police had said on Thursday that Thabane was to be charged with Lipolelo’s murder. His present wife, Maesaiah Thabane, 42, who married Thabane two months after Lipolelo was shot dead, has already been charged with ordering the killing and is free on bail. The prime minister and his new wife both deny any role in Lipolelo’s death.
Thabane’s son Potlako told Reuters by telephone that his father was in South Africa “to see a doctor.”
“He’s not fled the country,” Potlako Thabane added.
The murder case has caused turmoil in the tiny state of 2 million people encircled by South Africa. The prime minister has said he will resign and several politicians have been jostling to take over.
Lesotho has a long history of instability and has seen a number of military coups since independence from Britain in 1966. The army has not taken sides this time around, so a coup is not yet seen as likely.
Related Coverage
Thabane’s private secretary Thabo Thakalekoala said the prime minister would be back in Lesotho some time this weekend.
Lipolelo, then 58, and Thabane were going through an acrimonious divorce when an unidentified assailant shot her dead in her car.
Deputy Police Commissioner Paseka Mokete told a news conference that if Thabane tried to flee justice, police would issue an arrest warrant.
“An arrangement will be made for him to appear and be formally charged. We shall resort to legal means to bring the prime minister to court,” Mokete added.
Thabane told a Lesotho radio station on Thursday that he would step down at the end of July, but he did not mention the case and instead cited old age. His All Basotho Convention (ABC), the main party in the governing coalition, had given him a deadline of Thursday to resign.
With no clear front-runner to succeed Thabane in the ABC and some opposition leaders clamouring for the job, some analysts expect another general election soon.
“While Mr Thabane’s departure promises some progress in reforming the political quagmire of Lesotho politics and security issues, it also holds some danger,” said NKC Research political analyst Gary van Staden.
In 2014, Thabane fled Lesotho for South Africa after the army surrounded his residence and police stations in the capital Maseru. He later returned under South African police escort.
In 1998 at least 58 locals and eight South African soldiers died during a political stand-off and subsequent fighting.
Van Staden said he wasn’t expecting another military intervention for now but that a contested race to succeed Thabane could cause political instability. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | February 2020 | ['(Reuters)', '(Independent Online)'] |
In Mexico, police are looking for kidnapped soccer coach Omar Romano. | Omar Romano, an Argentine national, was dragged from his car and bundled into another vehicle outside the training ground of his club, Cruz Azul.
Mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said his officials would do everything to ensure Mr Romano's safe return.
Mexico City has one of the worst records in the world for kidnappings - usually for ransom.
'Well-organised'
Police said they had few clues about who seized Mr Romano, 47.
Armed men in two 4x4 cars cut off his vehicle, fired an assault rifle and dragged him off, local media reports.
"Whoever did this kidnapping is a perfectly well-organised group," said police chief Joel Ortega.
He said no ransom demands had been received but local radio stations report the gang may have left a ransom note in a church asking for 5m pesos (£270,000).
Mr Romano, who has reversed first-division Cruz Azul's fortunes since taking over last December, is said to earn a monthly salary of up to $100,000 (£57,000).
Mexico has one of the highest number of kidnappings in the world, with some 3,000 reported cases in 2003. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Investigate | July 2005 | ['(Reuters AlertNet)', '(BBC)'] |
The House GOP caucus overwhelmingly re-elects Paul Ryan to another term as House Speaker. | Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., has been re-elected to serve as speaker of the House of Representatives during the 115th Congress, gaining 239 votes.
Ryan, 46, will serve his first full term as speaker after succeeding John Boehner in October 2015. Tuesday's vote comes with little of the drama that accompanied Boehner's election two years ago when 25 House Republicans voted for someone other than Boehner.
Ryan will lead the GOP charge to repeal President Barack Obama's signature health insurance law and cut taxes and regulation.
Democrats nominated Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California for speaker. She received 189 votes and will serve as House minority leader. Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio gained two votes, while Reps. Jim Cooper of Tennessee, John Lewis of Georgia and Daniel Webster each gained a vote. | Government Job change - Election | January 2017 | ['(AP via KYTV)', '(Politico)'] |
A vehicle mounts the pavement and runs into pedestrians in Islington, London, injuring 4. The teenage perpetrators are found carrying offensive weapons, but are not assumed to be terrorists. | Three people were taken to hospital after a car ploughed into a large group of people outside a north London pub.
Witnesses reported bodies being thrown "in the air" when the car mounted the pavement outside the Old Queen's Head in Islington on Saturday night.
Two knives were found at the scene but police said they are not treating the crash as terrorist-related. Five men have been arrested. None of those hurt are thought to have life-threatening injuries.
Cassandra Pessaran told the BBC there were "30-odd" people standing outside the pub in Essex Road just before 23:00 BST.
She said she heard "screeching tyres" then saw a vehicle "playing bumper cars with about three other cars... before going straight into a crowd of people".
Aris Papachronopoulos said he "saw three people in the air" after the car drove "into the whole group".
Two men and a woman are being treated in hospital.
Four of the arrested men, who remain in custody, were held are aged between 17 and 19.
They were detained on suspicion of a variety of offences including GBH with intent and possession of points and blades, the Met said.
One knife was found in the car while another was discovered nearby.
A fifth man was arrested on Sunday afternoon on suspicion of involvement in the incident. he is also in custody.
Islington South and Finsbury MP Emily Thornberry called the crash a "really horrible and frightening incident".
But she said it was important that people "keep calm... and must not panic" as police had said "it does not look like a terrorist incident". | Road Crash | March 2017 | ['(BBC)'] |
Two British service personnel participating in Operation Panther's Claw are killed in separate attacks in southern Afghanistan. | Two British soldiers have been killed in separate attacks in Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence has said.
A soldier from 2nd Battalion The Mercian Regiment was killed by a rocket-propelled grenade, the MoD said. A soldier from The Light Dragoons was killed in an explosion. Both families have been informed about the attacks, which happened on Saturday. The deaths in Helmand province bring the total number of UK personnel killed in Afghanistan since 2001 to 173. The most senior Army officer to die in action since 1982 was killed in Helmand on Wednesday. Col Rupert Thorneloe, commanding officer of the Welsh Guards, died alongside Trooper Joshua Hammond when their Viking armoured vehicle hit an improvised explosive device. 'First-rate soldiers'
The latest attacks took place during an operation near Gereshk, in central Helmand, on Saturday night, the MoD said. Lt Col Nick Richardson, a spokesman for Task Force Helmand, said: "The loss of these soldiers, and colleagues, has come as a huge blow to us all.
"But it is the family, friends and loved ones, as well as the men and women who served alongside them, who feel the greatest pain and we offer them our deepest and heartfelt condolences, thoughts and prayers and take consolation from the fact that their deaths are not in vain." More than 700 British troops are currently involved in a major offensive - codenamed Operation Panther's Claw - against insurgent strongholds in southern Afghanistan. At the same time, some 4,000 US troops are also engaged in a major surge in the same region. Brig Gen Eric Tremblay, a spokesman for the International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) in Afghanistan, said of the latest deaths: "Isaf soldiers grieve once again for the loss of these two first-rate soldiers. "On behalf of all their brothers and sisters in arms, I wish to offer my deep sympathies to the families and friends of our fallen comrades." The soldier from The Light Dragoons died after an improvised explosive device (IED) was detonated. Brig Gen Tremblay added: "The insurgents are desperate and they are employing desperate tactics. "We will continue to work hard to defeat the vicious and indiscriminate IED threat employed by the enemies of Afghanistan as we assist Afghans in their plight for a better future." | Armed Conflict | July 2009 | ['(BBC)'] |
Indonesian police kill separatist leader Mako Tabuni, causing violent protests. | Police in the restive Indonesian province of Papua have shot dead a senior separatist leader, Mako Tabuni, sparking violent protests by locals.
Mr Tabuni was killed after resisting arrest in Papua's main town, Jayapura, the authorities said. He was wanted for causing unrest in the province. Activists and human rights groups say Mr Tabuni was unarmed when he was shot. He was one of Papua's most vocal independence activists. Locals set vehicles and houses ablaze in Jayapura.
The violence occurred in the Waena suburb of the town, where Mr Tabani was killed.
The BBC's Karishma Vaswani in Jakarta says he was one of the key leaders of the Papuan independence movement and had repeatedly called for the Indonesian government to hold a referendum in the province.
Mr Tabuni's killing has sparked a controversy as to whether he could have been taken alive by the police. Human rights groups say when police tried to arrest him, he ran away - and was then shot in the back of the head. Police say he was armed and fought back.
"When he aimed at one of the officers' with a weapon, only then he was shot by the police," Papua police spokesman Yohanes Nugroho told BBC Indonesian Service.
"We suspect that he was behind the string of violence in Papua since March." Several people were killed during those protests, including a German national.
Papua is one of the least developed parts of Indonesia but it has a wealth of resources. It became a part of the archipelago in a controversial election in 1969 that many Papuans say was a sham.
A small group of rebels have waged an independence struggle in the province for decades, but analysts say the calls for independence have been getting louder and more widespread in recent months. Papua political violence kills 21 | Protest_Online Condemnation | June 2012 | ['(BBC)'] |
More torrential monsoon rains have returned to Mumbai in India, as it tries to recover from the recent floods. The death toll in the floods rises to about 1,000. | Police urged people to stay at home and meteorologists warned the downpours would continue, hampering relief work.
Much of the transport system has again ground to a halt and thousands have protested on the streets at what they say is government inaction.
Rescuers elsewhere in Maharashtra state are still finding bodies in landslides.
Officials say the final death toll could top 1,000.
Carcasses
The BBC's Zubair Ahmed says heavy rain returned on Sunday morning and despite warnings from the police to stay at home, panicked residents of densely populated suburbs came out on to the streets as the water levels rose.
We are appealing to people not to travel unless it is absolutely necessary
AN Roy,police commissioner
Eyewitness: Wading all night
Mumbai's reputation battered
Our correspondent says there is widespread anger at government inaction, particularly with animal carcasses and human bodies floating in the streets causing fears of epidemics.
Thousands of residents protested against power blackouts and the lack of drinking water. In central Mumbai, some citizens say they have been without electricity for five days.
Construction worker Hafeez Irani, told Associated Press: "For so many days we have been lifting the bodies of the dead and now we are clearing animals from the roads. Is this our work? The drains are choked. We still have no electricity."
Another resident, Josy John, said: "The infrastructure in the city has collapsed but people have a very short memory. We seem to forget and forgive and don't come up with a constructive plan."
Municipal commissioner of Mumbai, John Joseph, told the AFP news agency the administration was doing its best and all holiday had been cancelled.
But he admitted: "The administration is stretched... The latest spell of rain will definitely hamper our efforts. But we hope to clear tonnes of garbage piled on the roads by the end of Sunday."
Skidded
Police toured the affected areas calling through loudspeakers for calm and for residents not to believe rumours. On Thursday, 22 people died in a shantytown in a stampede caused by a false report of a tsunami.
Rescuers are still reaching areas like Dudhgaon 570km from Mumbai
The downpours began last weekend and on Tuesday Mumbai received more than 65cm (26 inches) of rain - the heaviest recorded in India's history, causing havoc in a city known for its inadequate infrastructure.
About half of those killed in Maharashtra have died in Mumbai - drowned, electrocuted or buried in landslides.
Mumbai's airport, closed for two days last week, again shut for a number of hours on Sunday before some flights could resume.
On Saturday, an Air India Boeing 747 carrying more than 300 passengers skidded off the runway, although no one was hurt.
The spread of waterborne epidemics remains a major concern.
About 200 medical teams have left Bombay for affected towns and villages elsewhere in the state, while 30,000 health workers have been deployed in the city.
One of the worst-hit areas - Raigarh district, 150km (94 miles) south of Bombay - continues to yield bodies . About 200 people are reported dead or missing.
Maharashtra relief commissioner, Krishna Vatsa, said: "The death toll in Raigarh is likely to go up by another 100. [The overall total] may touch around 1,000." | Floods | July 2005 | ['(BBC)'] |
World 800 metres champion Caster Semenya wins her first race since her comeback. | World 800m champion Caster Semenya won her first race since being cleared to return to competition after underdoing gender tests.
The 19-year-old South African won the 800m at the Lappeenranta Games in Finland in a modest time of two minutes, 4.22 seconds. Semenya pulled away on the home straight to beat a weak field. The time was a long way off the 1:55.45 she clocked when winning gold at last year's World Championships in Berlin. The African junior champion, though, was happy with her time after an 11-month absence from competition. "To come and run a 2:04 is not easy, especially after what happened," said Semenya, who fended off Finn Mari Jarvenpaa (2:04.71) for victory on Thursday. "I was a little bit nervous because it has been a long time not competing. It's a new beginning." Semenya, who will race again in Finland on Sunday at the Lapinlahti Games, is hoping to compete in October's Commonwealth Games in Delhi where she could face Britain's Jenny Meadows, who won bronze in Berlin.
The South African teenager came to prominence thanks to her performances at the Worlds in Germany but her rapid improvements over the distance prompted speculation over her gender. However, following the completion of their testing procedure, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) cleared Semenya to compete again last Tuesday. Despite the massive media glare that the controversy attracted, Semenya remained remarkably upbeat about the protracted saga. "Maybe it was good for me to rest after I ran my fastest time last year," she said. "I'm still young, the muscles are still developing, so yeah, I can run faster than that." Semenya wins gold in Berlin | Sports Competition | July 2010 | ['(BBC Sport)', '(Arab News)'] |
The longest total solar eclipse of the 21st century takes place over parts of Asia and the Pacific Ocean. | The longest solar eclipse of the 21st century has cast a shadow over much of Asia, plunging hundreds of millions into darkness across the giant land masses of India and China.
Ancient superstition and modern commerce came together in a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity which could end up being the most watched eclipse in history, due to its path over Earth's most densely inhabited areas.
While the well-heeled took to the skies to watch the phenomenon from specially chartered planes, others took to holy waters to purify themselves as the sun's rays were snuffed out from Mumbai to Shanghai.
The cone-shaped shadow, or umbra, created by the total eclipse first made landfall on the western Indian state of Gujarat shortly before 6:30 am local time.
It then raced across India, blacking out the holy city of Varanasi on the banks of the Ganges, squeezing between the northern and southern tips of Bangladesh and Nepal before engulfing most of Bhutan, traversing the Chinese mainland and slipping back out to sea off Shanghai.
Monsoon clouds in India and bad weather over eastern China spoiled the party for millions who had got up early to watch the solar blackout.
In Mumbai, hundreds of people who trekked up to the Nehru planetarium clutching eclipse sunglasses found themselves reaching for umbrellas and rain jackets instead.
Heavy overnight rain turned torrential just as the eclipse was due to start.
"We didn't want to watch it on television and we thought this would be the best place," said 19-year-old student Dwayne Fernandes.
"We could've stayed in bed," he said.
"Maybe, we'll just tell people we did see it," suggested his classmate Lizanne De Silva.
A total solar eclipse usually occurs every 18 months or so, but Wednesday's spectacle was special for its maximum period of "totality" - when the sun is wholly covered - of six minutes and 39 seconds.
Such a lengthy duration will not be matched until the year 2132.
Superstition has always haunted the moment when Earth, moon and sun are perfectly aligned. The daytime extinction of the sun, the source of all life, is associated with war, famine, flood and the death or birth of rulers.
Desperate for an explanation, the ancient Chinese blamed a sun-eating dragon. In Hindu mythology, the two demons Rahu and Ketu are said to "swallow" the sun during eclipses, snuffing out its light and causing food to become inedible and water undrinkable.
In the run up to Wednesday's eclipse, some Indian astrologers had issued predictions laden with gloom and foreboding, while superstition dictated that pregnant women should stay indoors to prevent their babies developing birth defects.
A gynaecologist at a Delhi hospital said many expectant mothers scheduled for July 22 caesarian deliveries insisted on changing the date.
For others it was an auspicious date, with more than 1 million Hindu pilgrims gathering at the holy site of Kurukshetra in northern India, where bathing in the waters during a solar eclipse is believed to further the attainment of spiritual freedom.
Those who could afford it grabbed seats on planes chartered by specialist travel agencies that promised extended views of the eclipse as they chased the shadow eastwards.
Travel firm Cox and Kings charged 79,000 rupees for a "sun-side" seat on a Boeing 737-700 aircraft that took off before dawn from New Delhi for a three-hour flight.
In Shanghai, hotels along the city's famed waterfront Bund packed in the customers with eclipse breakfast specials.
"The clouds move in and out, then all of a sudden you see it," said Glenn Evans, 46, a US executive with a cosmetics company who lives in Shanghai and was viewing the eclipse from a rooftop bar along the Bund.
The last total solar eclipse was on August 1 last year and also crossed China.
The next will be on July 11, 2010, but will occur almost entirely over the South Pacific, where Easter Island will be one of the few landfalls.
-Reuters
AEST = Australian Eastern Standard Time which is 10 hours ahead of GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) | New wonders in nature | July 2009 | ['(ABC News Australia)'] |
Jobless claims in the United States rise to a seven-year high while orders for durable goods fall to their lowest level in 18 months, underscoring the weakness of the United States economy. |
Underscoring the dour state of the U.S. economy, weekly jobless claims reached their highest level in seven years, while
durable-goods orders fell the most in 18 months.
The results, released before the opening of the stock markets Thursday,
provide further evidence of deterioration in the economy, which some economists think could hasten a move by Congress to approve
a $700 billion rescue of financial companies.
The Labor Department said U.S. weekly jobless claims reached their highest
level in seven years with people from Louisiana and Texas, states hit by the hurricane, filing claims. First-time claims increased
32,000 to 493,000 for the week ending Sept. 20. The four-week average of claims also jumped, by 16,000, to 462,500 -- the
highest since November 2001.
According to the Commerce Department, orders for U.S.-made durable goods fell 4.5% in
August amid weaker demand for a broad range of goods. Excluding the 8.9% decrease in transportation goods, orders fell 3%,
the sharpest decline in 19 months. Economists, according to MarketWatch, had expected the decrease to be 2%.
Douglas
Smith, chief economist of the Americas for Standard Chartered Bank, said the durable-goods results were worrisome given that
up until this point business spending had held up “pretty well.” He said the jobless-claims number was likely influenced by
the hurricane, and at this time of year, numbers are often skewed because of inclement weather.
Nevertheless,
Smith noted that even last week’s jobless claims of around 460,000 doesn’t paint a positive picture of the U.S. economy.
“It’s really bad,” agreed John Lonski, Chief U.S. economist at Moody’s Investor Services. “It proves a recession is here
and more needs to be done to stabilize the economy.”
Lonski said the data out Thursday should serve as an impetus for
Congress to approve a bailout and should prompt a coordinated move by the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank to
implement an interest-rate cut.
Still, Smith isn’t convinced the reports out Thursday will prompt Congress to move
any more quickly on a bailout. Congress is expected to make a decision by the end of the week. He did say that while
an interest rate cut isn’t likely, the reports will increase market expectation of a move by the Fed.
As for what the
stock markets are focused on, economists agree the bailout is much more in the forefront then durable goods and jobless claim
numbers.
“The market is focused on the bailout plan,” said Scott Brown, chief economist at Raymond James. The data
are consistent with the deterioration in growth over the past few months, he noted. | Financial Crisis | September 2008 | ['(Fox Business)'] |
Egypt tries 237 activists, who face jail terms of up to three years, arrested for protesting without permits against President Abdel Fattah el–Sisi. Thousands demonstrated this month following the Sisi government's decision to hand over two uninhabited islands in the Straits of Tiran to Saudi Arabia. Human Rights Watch says at least 382 had been arrested. | CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt put on trial 237 activists arrested for protesting against President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, judicial sources said on Saturday, the first court cases after demonstrations this month.
Thousands angered by Sisi’s decision to hand over two islands to Saudi Arabia called on April 15 for his government to fall in the largest demonstration since the former army general took office in 2014. Security forces dispersed a second protest.
Security forces had arrested at least 382 people, Human Rights Watch said in a report this week.
The 237 appeared in four courts in Cairo and Giza suburb charged with demonstrating without permits, the sources said. The sessions were adjourned. They face jail terms of up to three years if convicted.
Sisi faces criticism for a government accord putting the uninhabited Red Sea islands of Tiran and Sanafir in Saudi waters.
Saudi and Egyptian officials say the islands belong to the kingdom and were only under Egyptian control because Riyadh had asked Cairo in 1950 to protect them.
There are no signs that Sisi’s rule is under immediate threat.
Reporting by Cairo bureau; editing by Susan Thomas
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Arrest | April 2016 | ['(Reuters)'] |
It is reported today that right-wing British activist Tommy Robinson was sentenced to 13 months in prison for contempt of court within five hours after being arrested outside Leeds Crown Court on 25 May. A ban on reporting his sentence is lifted today following a legal challenge by journalists. | The 35-year-old's arrest sparked a mass protest of his supporters outside Downing Street over the weekend demanding his release
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The English Defence League founder Tommy Robinson has been jailed for 13 months for contempt of court.
Robinson, 35, was sentenced on Friday after protesting outside Leeds Crown Court - but Robinson's case can only be reported today after a judge lifted restrictions.
The right wing activist was taken into custody for breach of the peace as he streamed an hour long Facebook Live outside the building, footage which was watched 250,000 times.
His comments on the film had the potential to cause the collapse of a long-running trial at a cost of hundreds of thousands of pounds to the taxpayer.
Details of the trial cannot be reported for legal reasons. Robinson's broadcast breached these strict rules and impacted on the defendants' right to a fair trial.
Jailing him for 13 months, Judge Geoffrey Marson QC told Robinson: “No one could possibly conclude that it would be anything other than highly prejudicial to the defendants in the trial.
“I respect everyone’s right to free speech. That’s one of the most important rights that we have.
“With those rights come responsibilities. The responsibility to exercise that freedom of speech within the law.
“I am not sure you appreciate the potential consequence of what you have done."
The judge said Robinson's actions could have meant a re-trial, "costing hundreds and hundreds and thousands of pounds", Leeds Live reported.
The judge added: “It is a serious feature that you were encouraging others to share what you were streaming live on social media.”
Jailing the married father-of-three, the judge said: “People have to understand that if they breach court orders there will be very real consequences.”
Details of Robinson's imprisonment were initially subject to a court order banning any press coverage, but this was lifted today after representations from the media.
Robinson, real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, was seen being led towards the back of a police van and searched in footage posted on his Facebook page.
In a rare move, he was arrested, charged and sentenced within five hours.
His arrest sparked mass protests outside Downing Street over the weekend as supporters demanded his release.
Police officers were deployed to keep the crowd under control.
Many could be seen holding #FreeTommy placards, one reading "Free the truth teller. Free Tommy".
The protest eventually made its way down to Parliament Square. The Met Police said there were no arrests.
In the footage of Robinson's arrest, he asks one supporter as he is led away: "Can you get me a solicitor? I'm on a suspended sentence, you see."
One officer in the footage says before reading Robinson his rights: "You are being arrested on suspicion of causing a breach of the peace."
The video footage was played to the judge as Robinson sat in the dock.
Robinson, whose criminal record dates back to 2005, has a previous conviction for contempt of court.
He was the subject of a suspended prison sentence, imposed at Canterbury Crown Court, after he filmed in court.
He also has convictions for disobeying a court order, possessing identity documents with intent, fraud, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, possessing drugs and threatening behaviour.
He pleaded guilty to contempt of court and breach of a suspended sentence.
Matthew Harding, mitigating, said his client felt "deep regret" after realising the potential consequences of his actions.
The barrister added: "He was mindful, having spoken to others and taken advice, not to say things that he thought would actually prejudice these proceedings.
"He did not try to cause difficulties for the court process."
Mr Harding said Robinson had been the victim of assaults while serving time in prison before and there had been "a price on his head" during his last prison term with inmates being offered the reward of drugs and mobile phones to kill him.
Robinson founded the English Defence League in Luton in 2009 before resigning in 2013.
The organisation was responsible for violent marches on the streets where members clashed with police and counter-demonstrators.
Since Mirror is a Reach news title, you have been logged in with the Reach account you use to access our other sites. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | May 2018 | ['(The Mirror)', '(The Guardian)'] |
The Interstate Abortion Bill is passed by the United States Senate. The bill would make it illegal for non–parents to take a minor to another state to obtain an abortion without parental consent. (Congress Record, Not yet updated) | The Senate voted yesterday to make it a crime to take a pregnant minor to another state to obtain an abortion without her parents' knowledge, handing a long-sought victory to the Bush administration and abortion opponents.
The bill would help about three dozen states enforce laws that require minors to notify or obtain the consent of their parents before having an abortion. It would bar people -- including clergy members and grandparents -- from helping a girl cross state lines to avoid parental-involvement laws. Violations could result in a year in prison.
Most states have passed such laws, but courts have invalidated at least nine of them, advocacy groups say. Maryland and Virginia have parental-notification laws; the District does not. The Senate voted 65 to 34 to approve the bill, which is similar to one the House has approved before, including last year.
The White House said the measure would "protect the health and safety of minors" and "protect the rights of parents to be involved in the medical decisions of their minor daughters consistent with the widespread belief among authorities in the field that it is the parents of a pregnant minor who are best suited to provide her counsel, guidance and support."
In a statement, President Bush said: "I appreciate the Senate's efforts to preserve the integrity of state law and protect our nation's families."
The administration urged House and Senate negotiators to reconcile their differences and send Bush a bill to sign. Unlike the Senate version, the House measure would penalize physicians who knowingly perform abortions for minors who circumvented parental-involvement laws.
Yesterday's vote marked the most significant congressional action on abortion in some time. Republicans, concerned about sagging poll numbers as they approach the November elections, have emphasized a "values agenda" that includes bids to ban flag desecration, same-sex marriage and estate taxes.
Democrats are pushing back, accusing Republicans of trying to frighten and divide the electorate rather than tackle tough issues such as high gasoline prices and the Iraq war. Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.), an antiabortion Democrat who voted for the bill, will spend part of the summer stressing the need to prevent unwanted pregnancies, aides said.
The Senate vote was a victory for antiabortion activists who have tried in vain to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationwide. For years, advocates on both sides of the issue have battled at the state level over narrower questions, including parental notification and consent for minors.
Fifty-one Republicans and 14 Democrats voted for the bill, while four Republicans, 29 Democrats and one independent voted against it. Sens. George Allen (R-Va.) and John W. Warner (R-Va.) voted for the measure; Sens. Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.) and Paul S. Sarbanes (D-Md.) voted against it.
The bill would not penalize a minor, or her parents, for crossing state lines to obtain an abortion.
Opponents said the Senate measure could threaten the safety of girls, saying parents might beat their daughters if they find out about plans for an abortion. The proponents' approach "is not to deal with the reality of young people" in troubled families, said Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.). He cited the case of an Idaho man who impregnated his 13-year-old daughter and then killed her when he learned she had scheduled an abortion.
Proponents of the Senate bill said it would protect girls from being pressured by their boyfriends into having an abortion. "It's an affirmation of parental rights," said Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.). "An underage child cannot obtain an aspirin at school without parental consent," he said, adding that parents' role in their young daughter's decision about abortion is far more significant.
Senators voted 51 to 48 to reject an amendment drafted by Democrats that would have steered federal money to programs that educate teenagers about sexual abstinence and contraception.
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) hailed the passage of the abortion measure, saying: "What opponents of this bill forget is that no parent wants anyone to take their children across state lines -- or even across the street -- without their permission. This is a fundamental right, and the Congress is right to uphold it in law."
Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, called the Senate vote "an irresponsible action that will do nothing to protect young women's safety or improve family communication."
She said the measure "would prohibit anyone other than a parent -- including a grandparent, aunt, adult sibling or member of the clergy -- from accompanying a young woman across state lines for abortion care if the home state's parental-involvement law has not been met."
Caroline Fredrickson, Washington legislative director of the American Civil Liberties Union, said the measure "would put teens, especially the most vulnerable ones, at greater risk." She added: "Not all teenagers come from the perfect American family." | Government Policy Changes | July 2006 | ['(Washington Post)'] |
The World Food Program predicts that 285,000 people in Mozambique will require food aid after severe flooding. | Officials are considering an emergency appeal for food and supplies as 45,000 evacuees remain stranded in makeshift accomodation centres.
Twenty-nine people have died in the floods since December, with unconfirmed reports of 10 more casualties.
And there is little hope of a let-up, with more rain expected this week.
Final escape
On Cocorico Island, a UN helicopter rescued some of the 120 stranded villagers, aided by relief workers on canoes and motorboats, AP news agency reported.
Temporary camps housing tens of thousands of evacuees are running short of basic supplies such as food and fuel, Mozambique's National Institute for Disaster Management (INGC) has said.
"The people have been there for over a week without proper feeding ... they are isolated and we can't go there by road and we have to airlift some of them and drop food," INGC national director Paulo Zucula told Reuters news agency.
"We now have to change our focus from rescue operations to the accommodation centres. We will consider an emergency appeal if the flooding situation continues."
Vital supplies
Aid organisation Oxfam has announced it will airlift 14 tonnes of water and hygiene equipment to the inundated Zambesi Valley.
The flight, due to arrive on Friday, will provide relief for 25,000 people, Oxfam said.
On Tuesday, the UN World Food Program (WFP) started distributing food aid to those who had been evacuated, but efforts have been hampered by poor access to roads.
The 285,000 villagers living along the valley of the Zambesi River face homelessness, with at least 80,000 people already evacuated from the four central provinces: Tete, Zambezia, Manica and Sofala.
More than 100 people have died in the floods across southern Africa, from Angola in the west, across to Mozambique on the eastern coast.
Seven hundred people were killed when torrential rains struck Mozambique six years ago, in the worst floods to hit the region in 50 years.
Officials have said these floods would be more severe than in 2001, but this time they were better prepared. Meanwhile, rescue workers fear the situation will worsen as Mozambique's main hydro-electric dam, Cahora Bassa, threatens to overflow. The rainy season is currently at its peak and is not due to finish until March. | Floods | February 2007 | ['(BBC)'] |
Former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld ends his presidential campaign for the Republican nomination in the 2020 U.S. presidential election. | The former governor of Massachusetts carried out a long-shot primary campaign focused on appealing to moderate Republicans.
By Annie Karni
WASHINGTON — A day after President Trump officially racked up enough delegates to become the presumptive 2020 Republican nominee for president, former Gov. William F. Weld of Massachusetts, his last Republican challenger, ended his campaign.
“The reason that people all over the world look to the United States for leadership, as they do, is our dedication to the rule of law under our Constitution,” Mr. Weld said in a statement announcing the suspension of his campaign. He did not address Mr. Trump by name, but he added that if a president does not observe the rule of law, “we will truly have lost our compass.” | Government Job change - Election | March 2020 | ['(The New York Times)'] |
A delegation of the Taliban political office in Doha, Qatar, has visited Uzbekistan from 7 to 10 August and met with officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Both parties "exchanged views of prospects of the peace process in Afghanistan". | In this Sept. 23, 2016 file photo, Uzbekistan's Minister for Foreign Affairs Abdulaziz Kamilov addresses the 71st session of the United Nations General Assembly, at U.N. headquarters. Taliban and Uzbek officials say the head of the Taliban's political office in Qatar led a delegation to Uzbekistan to meet senior Foreign Ministry officials in a rare diplomatic foray, and the strongest sign yet of the insurgency's increasing political presence in the region. | Photo Credit: AP
In a rare diplomatic foray and the strongest sign yet of the Taliban’s increasing political presence in the region, the head of the militant group’s political office led a delegation to Uzbekistan to meet senior Foreign Ministry officials, Uzbek and Taliban officials said. Taliban political chief Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai represented the insurgents in the four-day talks that ended Friday and included meetings with Uzbekistan’s Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Kamilov as well as its special representative to Afghanistan Ismatilla Irgashev. The meetings follow an offer made by Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev in March to broker peace in Afghanistan. Suhail Shaheen, spokesman for the Taliban’s political office in Qatar, said in a statement to The Associated Press on Saturday that discussions covered everything from international troop withdrawal to peace prospects to possible Uzbek-funded development projects that could include railway lines and electricity. Mr. Shaheen said Uzbek officials discussed their security concerns surrounding the development projects. “Taliban also exchanged views with the Uzbek officials about the withdrawal of the foreign troops and reconciliation in Afghanistan,” he said in the statement. Uzbek’s Foreign Affairs Ministry website offered a terse announcement on the visit saying “the sides exchanged views on prospects of the peace process in Afghanistan. ” Still, the meetings are significant coming as the Taliban ramps up pressure on Afghanistan’s Security Forces with relentless and deadly attacks and Washington holds preliminary talks with the insurgents in an attempt to find a negotiated end to Afghanistan’s protracted war. The Taliban have gained increasing attention from Russia as well as Uzbekistan, who view the insurgency as a bulwark against the spread of the Islamic State group in Afghanistan. The United States has accused Moscow of giving weapons to the Taliban. Still, Andrew Wilder, vice president of Asia programs at the U.S. Institute of Peace said Washington would welcome a “constructive” Russian role in finding a way toward a peace pact in Afghanistan. “What wouldn’t be helpful would be if the Uzbek efforts to facilitate lines of communication with the Taliban are not closely coordinated with the Afghan government,” he said. “High profile talks by foreign governments with the Taliban that exclude the Afghan government risk providing too much legitimacy to the Taliban without getting much in return,” Mr. Wilder said. There was no immediate comment from the Afghan government, but neither the Taliban nor the Uzbek foreign ministry statement mentioned the Afghan government. For Uzbekistan, the IS presence is particularly worrisome as hundreds of its fighters are former members of the radical Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, a declared terrorist group considered the architect of some of the more horrific attacks carried out by IS in Afghanistan. Last year, there were reports that the son of Tahir Yuldashev, the powerful Uzbek leader of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, who was killed in a U.S. missile strike in Pakistan in 2009, was leading efforts to help expand IS influence in Afghanistan. Last week, Afghan security forces reportedly rescued scores of Afghan Uzbeks who had declared their allegiance to IS when they came under attack by Taliban fighters in northern Afghanistan not far from the border with Uzbekistan. The rescued Uzbek warriors declared they would join the peace process. Most of those rescued were Afghan Uzbeks loyal to Afghanistan’s Vice President Rashid Dostum who had gone over to IS after Mr. Dostum fell out with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and fled to Turkey in May last year. Coincidentally their rescue from the Taliban came just days after Mr. Dostum returned to Afghanistan and reconciled with Ghani’s government. | Diplomatic Visit | August 2018 | ['(The Hindu)', '(Uzbekistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs)'] |
King Salman of Saudi Arabia dismisses Awwad Eid Al–Aradi Al–Balawi, the directorate general of the Border Guards, and several other officials over structural encroachment in the Red Sea Project. | RIYADH, Aug. 21 (Xinhua) -- Saudi Arabia announced Friday the termination of services of several officials over land violations of some projects.
A royal order was issued to dismiss Director General of the Border Guard by referring him to retirement, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
The order also ended the services of border guard officials, governors, officials from the Interior Ministry and Medina, Tabuk and Asir governorates and others involved.
The violations exceeded 5,000 lands of the Red Sea Project and dozens violation in Al-Ula Province, as well as the violations regarding the slums, which were not authorized by the Royal Commission for Al-Ula Province, the Red Sea Company, or the Souda Development Company.
The order assigned the Control and Anti-Corruption Commission to immediately investigate the responsibility of the related officials.
Saudi Arabia has been taken serious steps against corruptions in the last few years in order to ensure solid foundation for its economic development plans. Enditem | Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | August 2020 | ['(Xinhua)'] |
Vietnamese President Trần Đại Quang dies at the age of 61 following an extended illness. Vice President Đặng Thị Ngọc Thịnh succeeds as the acting President. | Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang has died in a military hospital at the age of 61, state media report.
Reports say he had been suffering from a serious illness for several months and had received medical treatment abroad and in Vietnam.
He was sworn into office in the communist country in 2016, following a stint as public security minister.
The role of president in Vietnam is largely ceremonial.
But it is one of the top four posts in the country, along with the prime minister, National Assembly chairman and communist party head. Mr Quang was also a member of the party's powerful Politburo.
Mr Quang began his career in the police and spent more than 40 years at the shadowy public security ministry, which oversees the secret police and intelligence service. He obtained the rank of police general.
He was seen as a loyal and committed communist party member and known for his hard-line approach to dissent. Scores of dissidents have been jailed under his leadership.
An anchor dressed in black announced his death on state-run Vietnam Television and a state funeral service is expected.
Vice-President Dang Thi Ngoc Thinh will take over as acting president until a new president is chosen by the communist party's Central Committee and voted on by the National Assembly. | Famous Person - Death | September 2018 | ['(BBC)'] |
New Zealand will hold a referendum regarding its national flag in 2016. | New Zealand is to hold a binding referendum in 2016 on whether to change the national flag.
The announcement by Prime Minister John Key of the referendum came after his government last month won a third term in a general election.
A panel of "respected New Zealanders" will lead the public discussion on potential designs for a new flag.
Mr Key has previously said he would like to see a new flag featuring a silver fern, on a black background.
That would be similar to the banner already used by many New Zealand teams such as the All Blacks national rugby union team.
"I believe that this is the right time for New Zealanders to consider changing the [flag's] design to one that better reflects our status as a modern, independent nation," Mr Key said.
A cross-party group will select a group of prominent and respected New Zealanders to sit on a panel that will seek public submissions on new flag designs, and review draft legislation that would enable two referendums to go ahead.
The first, to be held next year, would allow the public to choose a preferred option from a range selected by the committee.
A second referendum is planned for 2016, when voters will choose between the existing flag and the new design.
"Retaining the current flag is a possible outcome of this process and the consideration of options will be done carefully, respectfully and with no presumption in favour of change," Mr Key said.
When he first announced the intention to hold a referendum earlier this year, Mr Key said the design of New Zealand's flag symbolised "a colonial and post-colonial era whose time has passed".
Both the New Zealand and Australian flags include the Union Flag - the UK's national flag. In March, Australia's Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said there was "no great demand" to change the national flag.
"Many Australians have fought and died under that flag, sadly," she said. "We have competed in Olympic Games under that flag and there's a sense of pride in it." NZ leader wants 2015 flag vote | Government Job change - Election | October 2014 | ['(BBC)'] |
Aman Tuleyev, who resigned as governor of Kemerovo Oblast after a shopping centre fire killed 64 people there, is elected speaker of the regional legislature. | Veteran Russian politician Aman Tuleyev has been elected as speaker of the Kemerovo regional legislature in Siberia, eight days after he resigned as governor following a shopping-mall fire that killed 64 people.
Tuleyev was elected speaker on April 10 by vote of 38-1 in the legislature, which like others across Russia is dominated by the Kremlin-controlled United Russia party.
Tuleyev, 73, had been governor of the coal-mining region in Siberia since 1997.
He resigned on April 1, saying it was "morally impossible" to stay on after the March 25 fire at the Zimnyaya Vishnya (Winter Cherry) mall in the regional capital -- one of the deadliest blazes in post-Soviet Russia.
Tuleyev had faced public calls to step down, including by people in a crowd of thousands who demonstrated outside his administration's office two days after the fire.
He and his subordinates were criticized over what many have seen as a callous response to the tragedy, including their characterizations of public outrage as the work of political opportunists.
Tuleyev received a parliamentary seat on April 3, two days after he resigned as governor.
His election as speaker came after the previous speaker resigned from the post and said Tuleyev deserved to replace him.
Residents, relatives of victims, and Russians nationwide blamed corruption and government negligence for the high casualty toll in blaze, whose victims included 41 children -- some of whom died after being trapped in a locked movie theater at the mall.
Investigators said initial investigations indicated that blocked fire exits, a shutdown alarm system, and "glaring violations" of safety rules exacerbated the human toll of the fire.
Seven people have been arrested in the case, including the head of the local building-inspection agency and an executive with the firm that owns the shopping mall. | Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration | April 2018 | ['(Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)'] |
At least 5 people die in a prison riot in the Brazilian city of Cascavel. | Brazilian authorities say a deadly two-day prison riot in the southern city of Cascavel has come to an end.
Two prison guards who were held hostage have been released, police said.
Five inmates were killed in the riot. Two were beheaded while two more died after being pushed off the prison roof. Police are probing how the fifth died.
Most of the inmates, who were demanding better conditions, have now been transferred to other jails in Parana state.
The inmates and prison officials reached a deal to end the stand-off following hours of talks.
Under the agreement, the inmates promised to free the two prison guards in exchange for being moved to other jails. The prisoners had complained about the way Cascavel was run, its food and lack of hygiene.
About 200 police officers are sweeping the prison and ambulances are at the scene.
Police told local media that at least 20 inmates had been lightly or moderately injured. More than 1,000 inmates were locked up in Cascavel at the time the riot started. Trouble broke out when guards delivering coffee to inmates on Sunday morning were overpowered by the inmates. A spokesman for the prison guards said a latch on a cell door had been sawn through, allowing the prisoners to pull one of the guards into the cell.
Inmates set alight their mattresses and the leaders of the rebellion took to the roof of the building. Local media showed them beating two guards, who were being held with ropes around their necks.
The Parana state authorities believe that 20 of the 24 wings of the Cascavel prison were destroyed in the riot.
According to a prison guard spokesman, only 10 wardens were on shift when the riot began.
Brazil has the world's fourth largest prison population, with half a million inmates in facilities meant to hold 300,000.
The BBC's Wyre Davies in Rio de Janeiro says that, across the country, many poorly resourced jails are in effect run by powerful crime gangs.
Earlier this year the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, called for an investigation into the high number of violent deaths in Brazil's prisons, after previous riots at a jail in the north of the country left dozens of people dead.
ca
| Riot | August 2014 | ['(BBC)'] |
One person is killed and five are injured during a shooting in an office building in Orlando, Florida, USA. , | Orlando, Florida (CNN) -- A 40-year-old man accused of killing one and wounding five in a shooting at a business where he once worked was charged Friday with first-degree murder, police said.
"I'm just going through a tough time right now, I'm sorry," the 40-year-old suspect who had recently declared bankruptcy allegedly told police as he was taken into custody.
Authorities identified the suspect as Jason Rodriguez, a former employee of Reynolds Smith & Hills, whose offices are located in the 16-story Gateway Center building.
The incident began at 11:44 a.m., when Rodriguez entered the business' eighth-floor reception area, said Lt. Louis Tanzi, violent crimes section commander for the Orlando Police Department.
"He produced a handgun and started shooting in the reception area and continued shooting in the entire office area until he left," he told reporters.
According to the charging affidavit, the fatality occurred when Rodriguez entered the suite, pulled a handgun from a holster under his shirt and shot twice at an employee who was standing near the receptionist's desk.
He then entered a common work area "firing multiple rounds and causing injuries to several other employees," it says, citing a witness.
During the incident, Rodriguez "was recognized by numerous former co-workers," it says.
He then left in a car, described by witnesses as a small, silver compact vehicle, the affidavit says.
Police went to his residence where they found a 2001 four-door silver Hyundai, it says.
As police were disabling the car, Rodriguez appeared at the window of the residence, his hands in the air, and surrendered without incident, the affidavit says.
Asked by a reporter why he allegedly committed the crime, Rodriguez, escorted by police, said, "They left me to rot."
Paraded in front of reporters outside the police station, he said, "Innocent."
Tanzi said he was "very comfortable" that authorities have the right man. "We're positive; we have eyewitnesses who have identified him," he said, adding that Rodriguez will be facing other charges as well.
Tanzi said other employees of the architectural and engineering firm where the attack occurred have described Rodriguez as a "disgruntled former employee."
A company spokesman said Rodriguez had been let go from the company two years ago for "performance issues."
Ken Jacobson, the chief financial officer and chief legal counsel for Reynolds, Smith & Hills, said that Rodriguez was hired as an "engineer one," which he described as a "beginning engineer."
"His work performance was pretty deficient from the start," he said.
"We tried to work with his performance for 11 months and when he didn't improve, we let him go in June of 2007."
The company hadn't heard from him since -- until Friday's outburst, he said. "So we can't make any sense of this," he said.
The affidavit describes apparently conflicting reasons for his departure. Rodriguez told a detective that he had resigned from the company after five years there to get a better job, it says. But it adds, "Rodriguez stated that people at RS&H, the Orlando Office, harassed him and threw him out for no reason at all, making it look like incompetency."
He told police that, after a year and a half of unemployment, he found work at a Subway Restaurant, but was not given enough hours so he filed for unemployment, according to the affidavit. "Rodriguez felt the people at RS&H were hindering his efforts to obtain unemployment benefits," it adds. "Rodriguez stated he was expecting an unemployment check but it did not come as expected. Rodriguez stated he felt he was forced into a situation where he could no longer provide for his family."
Tanzi said police recovered a firearm and had received "limited cooperation" from the suspect.
The five wounded victims are all in stable condition, he said. iReport: See emergency crews on the scene in Orlando
Asked about the building's security system, he said it was typical of the city's office buildings with a security officer in the front and surveillance cameras. "It's nothing elaborate," he said.
Public records indicate that Rodriguez filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy last May and that the case was discharged in September.
Four of the victims were being treated at Orlando Regional Medical Center, and one had gone into surgery, spokeswoman Katie Dagenais said. | Armed Conflict | November 2009 | ['(CNN)', '(Reuters)'] |
The results of the Philippine presidential election are certified and Noynoy Aquino and Jejomar Binay are proclaimed as President–elect and Vice President–elect at the Batasang Pambansa in a joint session of the Congress of the Philippines. |
MANILA, Philippines – (UPDATE 2) Senator Benigno Aquino III has been proclaimed as the country’s 15th President.
Chorus of cheers hailed from the gallery as Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and Speaker Prospero Nograles proclaimed Aquino and Vice President Jejomar Binay at 3:40 p.m., officially sealing their victory in the May 10 automated elections.
Enrile and Nograles raised the hands of Aquino and Binay shortly after 4 p.m. following a brief break by the two chambers.
Following tradition, Aquino and Binay did not deliver speeches before the plenary. They are expected to hold a news conference after the proclamation ceremonies.
Aquino, who wore a Barong Tagalog embroidered with his trademark ribbon, came with sisters Kris Aquino-Yap, Pinky Aquino-Abellada, Balsy Aquino-Cruz, Viel Aquino-Dee, and their families.
Congress, sitting as the national board of canvassers, finished counting the electronically-generated certificates of canvass in a record eight days.
Aquino, who formally takes office on June 30, crushed his rivals after promising to tackle the pervasive graft and grinding poverty that have long afflicted the sprawling Asian archipelago of more than 90 million people.
In the final tally, Aquino garnered 15,208,678 votes against closest rival, former president Joseph Estrada, who got 9,487,837 votes or a difference of 5,720,841 votes.
Coming in third was Senator Manuel Villar with 5,573,835 votes; followed by administration candidate Gilbert Teodoro with 4,095,839 votes; evangelist Eduardo Villanueva with 1,125,878 votes; Senator Richard Gordon with 501,727 votes; disqualified candidate Vetallano Acosta with 181,985 votes; Senator Ma. Ana Consuelo “Jamby” Madrigal with 46,489 votes; Nicanor Perlas with 54,575 votes; and JC Delos Reyes with 44,244 votes.
The vice presidential race had been a toss-up between Binay and Senator Manuel “Mar” Roxas II throughout the entire canvassing in Congress.
But Binay won big in Cavite, Bulacan, Laguna, Batangas, Makati City, and some Mindanao provinces that gave him a 727,084-edge over Roxas.
In the final tally, Binay got 14,645,574 votes as against the 13,918,490 votes of Roxas.
Senator Loren Legarda ranked third with 4,294,664 votes, followed by Bayani Fernando with 1,017,631; Edu Manzano with 807,728; Perfecto Yasay with 364,652; Jay Sonza with 64,230; and Dominador Chipeco with 52,562.
A 50-year-old bachelor, Aquino is the son of martyred Senator Benigno Aquino Jr. and former President Corazon Aquino, who ascended to power through a bloodless people’s uprising that ousted the Marcos dictatorship in 1986. Aquino had no plans of seeking the presidency until the death of his mother in August 2009, when calls from various sectors forced him to join the presidential race. In his campaign advertisements, Aquino’s message focused in the fight against corruption and taking the right path (daang matuwid) towards national development.
A joint session of Congress formally ratified the results and proclaimed Aquino the Philippines' 15th president. His inauguration is scheduled for the end of the month.
The rafters were packed with supporters wearing yellow, the trademark campaign color of the Aquino family.
Wearing a traditional formal shirt, Aquino arrived surrounded by family and friends and was escorted to a holding room.
Legislators from the two houses of Congress approved Aquino's election by acclamation, and Senate majority leader Juan Miguel Zubiri declared him "the duly elected president of the republic".
"It is now time to heal the wounds of the election. It is time to move forward," Zubiri said on television.
Ironically, the 73-year-old Estrada held the record for the biggest win in recent Philippine political history when he triumphed in the 1998 elections with 39 percent of the total vote.
But the former action-movie star was ousted three years later, half-way through his term, amid allegations of corruption for which he was later convicted.
"I sincerely offer my congratulations to my good friend and worthy opponent," Estrada said in a speech read by his son in Congress.
"I am confident that president-elect Aquino will fulfill his campaign promise to address the problem of corruption."
For Aquino, victory is another chapter in his family's dramatic political story.
His father was shot dead in 1983 at Manila airport as he returned from US exile to lead the democracy movement against Marcos.
His mother took over from her slain husband and led the "People Power" revolution that eventually toppled Marcos in 1986. She then served as president for six years.
Her death from cancer last August triggered a massive outpouring of support for the family that turned the son from a low-key senator to presidential front-runner.
Aquino, an economics graduate from the Ateneo de Manila University, has said that fighting corruption, improving the economy and bridging the enormous wealth divide will be among his top priorities.
But his Liberal Party will be hamstrung in its efforts to implement reforms after its choice for the vice presidency, Mar Roxas, lost.
Estrada's running mate, Jejomar Binay, won the vice presidential contest and could potentially be a destabilizing force for Aquino.
However, Binay insisted on Wednesday he would be a positive influence in government.
"I am a team player and I am willing to work with the president. Whatever is asked of me [I will do]," Binay told Agence France-Presse.
The Liberal Party will also not have a majority in either house of parliament.
The Lakas-Kampi-Christian Muslim Democrats coalition of outgoing President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will remain powerful in parliament, and Arroyo won a seat in the lower house, where she could lead opposition to Aquino.
Copyright 2010 Agence France-Presse, INQUIRER.net. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. | Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration | June 2010 | ['(Philippine Daily Inquirer)', '(ABS–CBN News)'] |
Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and his two sons are to be tried over the deaths of antigovernment protesters. | Egypt's ousted President Hosni Mubarak and his two sons are to be tried over the deaths of anti-government protesters, judicial officials say.
Mr Mubarak, who was ousted in February, is being detained at a hospital in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
He and his wife also face allegations of illegally acquiring wealth while they were in power for 30 years. The couple's two sons, Alaa and Gamal, are being held in Cairo's Tora prison and also face fraud charges.
The three men have been charged with "premeditated murder of some participants in the peaceful protests of the 25 January revolution," the country's state news agency reported the prosecutor general as saying. More than 800 people died in the weeks-long crackdown that preceded Mr Mubarak's departure. The charges come after renewed calls for protests on Friday to demand the trial of the Mubarak family as well as the lifting of emergency law. Egypt's military-led administration appears to be responding to public pressure to bring the former first family to trial, says the BBC's Jon Leyne in Cairo.
The 83-year-old former leader was admitted to Sharm el-Sheikh's military hospital in April with reported heart problems.
He and his wife Suzanne - who was also recently examined for possible heart problems after falling ill - have already been questioned at the Red Sea resort on charges of profiteering.
Reformers in Egypt believe the Mubarak family accumulated a fortune worth tens of billions of dollars while in power.
The Mubaraks have denied this, and little hard evidence has yet been made public. However their bank accounts in Cairo and in Switzerland have been frozen.
Suzanne Mubarak was not mentioned in Tuesday's charges announcement, but her situation may have brought the latest development about, adds our correspondent.
The 70-year-old was released from custody last week after she returned turned over a villa in a Cairo suburb and $3m (1.9m) held in bank accounts in Egypt. Her release prompted a backlash, with many fearing the Mubaraks may be negotiating some form of amnesty.
More than 20 Mubarak-era ministers and businessmen linked to the regime have been detained since February's uprising.
Earlier this month, former Interior Minister Habib al-Adly was sentenced to 12 years in jail on charges of money-laundering and profiteering.
Adly also faces separate charges of ordering troops to fire on demonstrators. He could face the death penalty if convicted.
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | May 2011 | ['(BBC)', '(Al Jazeera)'] |
Former Governor of Alabama Don Siegelman is convicted of bribery and conspiracy. | Former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman was convicted today on federal charges of bribery and conspiracy in a case that derailed his campaign for governor amid wide-ranging claims of corruption in office. Jurors deliberated 11 days to reach their verdict.
Siegelman's former chief of staff, Paul Hamrick, was acquitted on all charges while former HealthSouth C-E-O Richard Scrush has been convicted of bribery, conspiracy and mail fraud. Former state Transportation Director Mack Roberts was acquitted on all charges.
The trial started May one and was in its 42nd day when jurors announced their verdict this afternoon. Prosecutors spent six weeks attempting to paint a picture of a series of illegal activities during Siegelman's terms as governor and lieutenant governor from 1995 to 2003, with Hamrick joining him in a series of "pay to play" deals.
The trial marked the second time that prosecutors took Siegelman and Scrushy to court. Scrushy was acquitted last year on criminal charges in a multi billion dollar accounting fraud at the Birmingham-based company he founded. Siegelman and Hamrick went on trial in 2004 in Tuscaloosa in a Medicaid fraud case, but a federal judge dismissed the case.
At the center of the bribery case in Montgomery was lobbyist and landfill developer Lanny Young and former top Siegelman aide Nick Bailey, who testified about numerous bribes and paybacks under Siegelman. Both pleaded guilty in the probe, however, and the defense tried to undermine their credibility and argued they were lying to get lighter sentences. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | June 2006 | ['(WTVM)'] |
Police arrest six people in connection with a mass shooting last month in Fresno, California, that left four people dead and another six injured. | FRESNO, Calif. Six suspected gang members were arrested in ashooting that killed four people and injured several others during a backyard party, the Fresno Police Department said Tuesday.
Police Chief Andy Hall said that the suspects are all self-admitted Mongolian Boys Society gang members and that they carried out the shooting to retaliate against a rival gang, the Asian Crips, that they believed was responsible for the death of a member of their gang.
At least one of the people who attended the backyard party was a former member of the Asian Crips, Hall said.He would not say whether any of the dead or wounded from the mass shooting were Asian Crip members.
"We see them as victims," Hall said during a news conference Tuesday.
Background:4 dead in 'mass casualty shooting' at Sunday Night Football party in California
The investigation that led to the arrest of the six alleged gang members took 5,000 investigative hours and included local, state and federal law enforcement agencies.Fresno police served 19 search warrants, recoveringtwo guns used in the slayings, including one that was stolen from Oklahoma.
All six men are held on $11 million bail and could face the death penalty, the Fresno County District Attorney’s Office said.
Mayor Lee Brand said the arrests could "bring closure" to the victims' families and the Valley's Hmong community.
"We will work hard to bring peace and comfort to the city of Fresno as we close the page on a very difficult year," the mayor said of what he called a"terrible event that shook Fresno to its core."
"The promise of protection can’t stop with arrests," he said. "We have to remain vigilant and stay alert."
On Nov. 17, at least two suspects entered the backyard of a home in southeast Fresno and opened fire. Ten people were shot, and four died.
All the victims were of Hmong descent. Fresno ishome to the second-largest Hmong community in the USA. The men killed wereXy Lee, 23; Phia Vang, 31;Kou Xiong, 38; and Kalaxang Thao, 40.
Police reported thatthe two suspects had automatic weapons and snuck into the backyard party while people watched the Los Angeles Rams-Chicago Bears Sunday Night Football game.
About 35people were at the party when the shooting began. The suspects fired on the 16 people in the yard, while the rest of the partygoers mostly women and children inside the housewere unharmed. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | December 2019 | ['(USA Today)'] |
Typhoon Koppu heads towards the Philippines island of Luzon where it is expected to make landfall as a Category 4 storm, linger and deposit up to 50 inches of rain in some areas. | Typhoon Koppu is barreling toward the island of Luzon in the Philippines, where it is forecast to hit land over the weekend as a Category 4 storm and then refuse to leave. Because of its slow movement, the storm could dump a catastrophic amount of rain through Tuesday, with totals in some mountainous areas potentially reaching as high as 50 inches, and as much as a foot or more falling across a wide area. The storm, named Lando in the Philippines based on the local weather agency's naming system, may undergo a period of rapid intensification on Saturday morning local time, with several computer models predicting that the storm will become an extremely intense Category 4 storm prior to making landfall on Saturday night.
The most likely landfall location as of early Saturday morning local time was forecast to be near Casiguran, a small city in Aurora Province, which is on the northeastern coast of Luzon. The exact path of the storm could change before it makes landfall, however, with any shift in track toward the south likely to bring more significant winds and rains to the Manila area.
Storm surge flooding of 2 meters (7 feet) or more, and winds greater than 170 kilometers per hour, or 105 miles per hour, can be expected near where the center of the storm crosses the coast, according to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration, or PAGASA. If the storm does reach Category 4 strength, however, the winds will be higher, potentially greater than 140 miles per hour.
The PAGASA is posting its latest warnings and advisories on its Facebook page.
From its landfall location, Typhoon Koppu is going to make an agonizingly slow trek across the northern Philippines. Up to a foot of rain may fall in the capital of Manila, a densely populated, low-lying city that is prone to flooding. Heavier rains will fall further north, with 15 to 50 inches not out of the question depending on where the heavy rain bands form and how quickly they move. Luzon's complex topography will make landslides and mudslides likely, and rainfall amounts highly variable depending on elevation. Higher elevations will see greater rainfall totals.
Forecast radar image around the time that Typhoon Koppu, known locally as Lando, makes landfall.
Image: WeatherBell Analytics
With the first rains from the storm already beginning in eastern Luzon, it's conceivable that for some residents of northern Luzon in particular, it won't stop raining until late Tuesday or sometime on Wednesday, local time. The long-lasting heavy rains could produce devastating rainfall totals in a country that is prone to flooding.
Projected rainfall totals from Typhoon Koppu, known locally as Lando, from the U.S. GFDL computer model.
Hurricane expert Jeff Masters of Weather Underground wrote on Friday that "widespread damaging flooding" is likely, and that this flooding will be "capable of causing a top-five most expensive disaster in Philippine history." | Hurricanes_Tornado_Storm_Blizzard | October 2015 | ['(Lando)', '(Mashable)'] |
U.S. Democratic Party fundraiser Norman Hsu surrenders to the San Mateo County sheriff's office on a 15–year–old felony warrant. | Democratic fundraiser Norman Hsu surrendered to San Mateo County sheriff's deputies in Redwood City on Friday on a 15-year-old felony warrant, but spent only a few hours in county jail before being released on $2 million bail.
"We arranged for Mr. Hsu to turn himself in to the court," said Jim Brosnahan, Hsu's San Francisco attorney. "He's very anxious to get this behind him."
Hsu was living the good life of a wealthy New York City resident until this week, when his name turned up in newspaper stories examining purported abuses in campaign financing. When one of those stories noted that Hsu was wanted in California, his carefully restructured world came tumbling down.
Hsu, 56, was arrested in connection with a warrant issued in 1992, when he failed to show up for sentencing after pleading guilty to a single count of grand theft. The case involved what a prosecutor described as a Ponzi scheme in which he defrauded investors of more than $1 million. Prosecutors believed Hsu had fled to his native Hong Kong.
But for the past few years, Hsu hasn't been living like a fugitive. Since 2003, he's been a regular on the contributor lists of big-name Democrats across the nation, crisscrossing the country to attend parties and fundraisers. He's given an estimated $600,000 of his own money to candidates ranging from San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and Assemblywoman Fiona Ma to presidential hopefuls like New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, and helped raise hundreds of thousands more.
He has hosted high-profile fundraisers in New York and California and even served on the board of trustees of New York City's New School university at the request of Bob Kerry, the university's president and former Democratic senator from Nebraska.
The size and scope of Hsu's contributions made him one of the party's largest individual contributors. While he gave $23,000 to Clinton and $7,000 to Obama, he also gave $62,000 to New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, $50,000 to New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and $50,000 to the New York State Democratic Party.
His contributions also included $38,000 to the Tennessee Democratic Party, $750 to Newsom, $1,250 to San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris and $3,500 to the 25th Ward Democratic Organization in Chicago.
That eagerly sought campaign money now might as well be radioactive for Democrats, who are racing to distance themselves from Hsu. Since Hsu's criminal background was revealed earlier this week, he's resigned from the New School board, and candidates who once happily took his money are now loudly pledging to give Hsu's contributions to charity.
The ripples from Hsu's problems are extending farther into the political universe. The Paw family of Daly City, longtime friends and business associates of Hsu, have given more than $280,000 to Democratic candidates and causes since 2004. Many campaigns now are concerned that Hsu may have been making illegal donations by funneling his money through the family for the contributions.
Despite denials by attorneys for Hsu, politicians like Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown have decided to return any money they received from the Paws or others associated with Hsu.
The news about Hsu came as a shock to many of the politicians who had worked with him in recent years.
"I'm surprised, like anyone else who knew him," Clinton told reporters Friday during an appearance at the New York State Fair. "I think he's done the right thing in turning himself in and the process will go forward from there."
That process could end up with Hsu doing time in a California state prison.
"We pick up now where we left off," said Gareth Lacy, a spokesman for the California Attorney General's Office, which prosecuted Hsu in the original case.
That means Hsu is still facing up to three years in prison and a $10,000 fine, which were part of the 1992 plea agreement.
"We've had good preliminary discussions with the (prosecutors) about how to resolve this case," Brosnahan said, although he declined to say when and if a new plea agreement could be reached.
But the first part of those discussions blew up Friday morning when San Mateo Superior Court Judge James Ellis refused to accept a bail plan both attorneys had agreed to. Deputy Attorney General Ronald Smetana asked for $1 million in bail - money that Hsu agreed could later be used to reimburse victims of his scam - but the judge balked and ordered bail set at $2 million. When Hsu could not immediately come up with the money, he was taken from the courtroom in handcuffs.
It was the first time Hsu has spent time in jail on the charges. His attorney arrived at the San Mateo County courthouse at around 2 p.m. with the bail money.
Hsu's legal and financial problems, which included a bankruptcy filing in the early 1990s, found him involved in at least one eyebrow-raising incident.
In September 1990, Foster City police stopped a car at 3:40 a.m. for running a red light. Inside the car, they found a Chinatown gang leader, two of his reputed associates and a very frightened Hsu, who told police he had been kidnapped after being lured to a San Francisco home. The three men were arrested for kidnapping, false imprisonment and battery, although the final disposition of the case was not immediately available.
Hsu is due back in a Redwood City courtroom Wednesday morning for a bail reduction hearing. What will happen then is still unknown.
Smetana, who handled the original case, told the Associated Press that he expects prosecutors to argue for prison time when Hsu returns for sentencing after the 15-year hiatus.
"He stole $1 million," Smetana said.
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | August 2007 | ['(San Francisco Chronicle)'] |
A fire at a home for elderly people near the Ukrainian capital Kiev kills at least 16 people. | Seventeen people have died in a fire at a building housing elderly people in a village near Ukraine's capital Kiev.
The fire broke out in the early hours of Sunday in a two-storey building housing some 35 people.
"Emergency services units saved 18 people, five of whom have been hospitalised with burns of varying degrees of severity," Ukraine's emergencies ministry said.
Police have detained the man in charge of the building.
Officials said it was being used to house the elderly people illegally.
Prime Minister Volodymyr Groisman described the fire as a "terrible tragedy that has caused irreparable loss" and said the government offered "sincere condolences" to the victims' families, Ukrainian media reported.
| Fire | May 2016 | ['(BBC)'] |
FBI agents arrest a Cleveland man they say told an undercover agent he was planning to bomb a July 4th celebration. | CLEVELAND/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An Ohio man arrested on suspicion of planning to detonate a bomb at Cleveland’s Fourth of July celebrations and then stand by and watch “it go off” was granted a public defender on Monday during his initial court appearance.
FBI agents on Sunday arrested Demetrius Pitts, 48, after he met with an undercover agent and said he planned to plant a bomb at an event celebrating the U.S. Independence Day holiday in the Ohio city.
Pitts, a U.S. citizen and Philadelphia native who had expressed allegiance to the al Qaeda militant group, intended to target other locations in Cleveland and Philadelphia, the agency said.
An undercover FBI agent helped Pitts pick the location for his planned attack. The site is near multiple U.S. government buildings and a scheduled fireworks show along the city’s Lake Erie waterfront.
“I’m gonna be downtown when the – when the thing go off. I’m gonna be somewhere cuz I wanna see it go off,” Pitts told an undercover agent who he believed was affiliated with al Qaeda, according to court documents.
Most American cities and towns mark the holiday with fireworks and parades, and typically ramp up security around such events.
In 2015, U.S. law enforcement officials said they had arrested more than 10 people inspired by the Islamic State militant group ahead of the Fourth of July holiday, saying the arrests had disrupted planned attacks.
Pitts also suggested giving the children of military personnel remote control cars packed with explosives during the event, in the hope they would unwittingly detonate the bombs, the FBI said.
Pitts, most recently of the Cleveland suburb of Maple Heights, has criminal and traffic convictions in Hamilton County, which includes Cincinnati, dating back to 1989 through 2006. He served time in prison for a 1993 robbery in the area.
In his latest run-in with law enforcement, he was charged with attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization. He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
He appeared in court wearing glasses, a gray T-shirt, khaki shorts and black sneakers with the laces removed. He told the judge he was unemployed and was assigned to the public defender’s office.
Pitts also discussed possibly traveling to San Francisco for reconnaissance for al Qaeda, the FBI said.
Relatives could not immediately be reached for comment.
“This defendant, by his own words and by his own deeds, wanted to attack our nation and its ideals,” said Justin Herdman, the U.S. attorney for northern Ohio.
According to one of two of his Facebook pages, Pitts attended culinary school in Philadelphia, lived in Chicago and went to high school in Lincoln City, Oregon.
The FBI reviewed the Ohio suspect’s Facebook account, which appeared to have been taken down on Monday, after receiving a tip and determined that Pitts was “threatening violence against the United States,” the FBI said.
In January 2017, under the name Abdur Raheem Rafeeq, Pitts commented on pictures believed to be of a training camp for militants.
But officials said he had been radicalized in the United States.
“We need to known how to shoot guns... We should always be prepared to fight in the name of Allah Akbar,” the post read, according to the FBI.
Additional reporting by Barbara Goldberg and Diana Kruzman in New York; Editing by Frank McGurty and Jonathan Oatis
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Arrest | July 2018 | ['(Reuters)'] |
European citizens in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands vote in the first day of 2019's European Parliament elections. | The European elections give you the chance to select who will represent you in the European Parliament and help decide what kind of Europe we have.
The European elections is about selecting who you want to defend your interests in the EU. Not only can MEPs shape and decide on new legislation, they also vote on new trade agreements, scrutinise the EU institutions and how your tax money is spent, as well as launch investigations into specific issues. Find out information about the MEPs that are representing your country at the moment.
By voting in the EU elections, you exercise your democratic right to take part in decisions on Europe’s future, but also you give the Parliament the legitimacy it needs to perform its duties.
We need a Europe in which the people feel their voices are heard.
Parliament President David Sassoli in a speech at the European Council, 17 October 2019
The elections take place every five years and are the largest transnational elections in the world. Following the elections, Parliament votes to elect the new head of the European Commission, which is EU’s executive body, and to approve the full team of commissioners.
The latest elections, which took part in May 2019, saw a significant increase in turnout, which rose to an EU average of more than 50%. Parliament ran a non-partisan information campaign urging people to vote. The campaign led to the launch of the Together community, aiming to promote discussions about the democratic future of Europe.
Although there are some common rules regarding the elections, some aspects can vary by country, such as whether it is possible to vote by mail or from abroad.
Election days can also be different. The elections normally start on a Thursday (the day on which the Netherlands usually vote) and finish on a Sunday (when most countries hold their elections).
The number of members elected in each country depends on the size of the population, with smaller countries getting more seats than strict proportionality would imply. Currently, the number of MEPs ranges from six for Malta, Luxembourg and Cyprus to 96 for Germany.
Elections are contested by national political parties but once MEPs are elected, most opt to become part of transnational political groups. Most national parties are affiliated to a European-wide political party. | Government Job change - Election | May 2019 | ['(European Parliament)'] |
An American egg company recalls 380 million products as outbreaks of salmonella poisoning spread across the United States. | A US egg company has extended a nationwide food recall to 380 million eggs, after outbreaks of salmonella poisoning in a number of states.
Iowa-based Wright County Egg last week recalled some 228m eggs distributed under more than a dozen brand names.
The firm is part of DeCoster Farms, a family-run agribusiness.
The US Food and Drug Administration said salmonella outbreaks had increased fourfold since May. There are inquiries into the illness in 13 states.
Proper cooking
Eggs from Wright County Egg were linked to illness in three states.
The eggs were distributed around the country and packaged under the names Lucerne, Albertson, Mountain Dairy, Ralph's, Boomsma's, Sunshine, Hillandale, Trafficanda, Farm Fresh, Shoreland, Lund, Dutch Farms and Kemp.
The egg producer said it was cooperating fully with an FDA investigation and was diverting its eggs to a breaker for pasteurization to kill any harmful bacteria.
Salmonella poisoning can be deadly for people with compromised immune systems, but no deaths have so far been reported.
Bacteria can be passed from seemingly healthy chickens, and grows both inside the egg and on the shell. Proper cooking can kill the bacteria, but authorities recommend discarding or returning any potentially affected eggs. The US Egg Safety Center has information on which eggs US consumers should avoid. Welcome | Disease Outbreaks | August 2010 | ['(BBC)'] |
A bus crash in Karnataka, India, leaves at least 25 people dead as the vehicle sinks into a canal. | At least 25 people were killed when a speeding bus fell into a canal in southern India, an official has said. Many of the victims were reportedly schoolchildren.
Dr G Parameshwara, the Karnataka state deputy chief minister, said the accident occurred on Saturday in the Mandya district, as the driver lost control of the vehicle at high speed.
Parameshwara said a rescue operation was under way, with police rushing divers to the spot. The area is 65 miles (105km) south-west of Bengaluru, the capital of Karnataka state.
The Press Trust of India news agency reported that many of the dead were children who were returning from school.
About 150,000 people die every year on India’s roads, often because of reckless driving, badly maintained roads and vehicles overcrowded with passengers. | Road Crash | November 2018 | ['(The Guardian)'] |
Burundi's army chief General Prime Niyongabo survives an assassination attempt after armed men attacked his motorcade on a busy road in the capital, Bujumbura. Six people are killed in the attack. , | Burundi's army chief of staff has survived an assassination attempt on a busy road in the capital, Bujumbura.
General Prime Niyongabo was heading to his office in the morning when armed men attacked his motorcade.
Burundi's deputy police chief Gen Godefroid Bizimana told the AFP news agency the army chief was unharmed.
Burundi has suffered serious unrest since April, when President Pierre Nkurunziza said he would seek a third term in elections he later won.
In May he survived a coup attempt.
A senior army general and close aide to the president, Adolphe Nshimirimana, was killed last month in similar circumstances.
Earlier this week the spokesman for a party opposed to President Nkurunziza's third term was shot dead in Bujumbura.
The opposition has blamed such targeted killings on government agents, or "pro-government paramilitary youths". The authorities deny any involvement.
The BBC's Prime Ndikumagenge in Bujumbura says the men who attacked the motorcade on one of the busiest roads in the south of the city were armed with guns and rockets.
A military source told the BBC that three bodyguards and one of the attackers were killed during the attack.
Four of the gunmen had been captured, two of whom were wounded, the source said.
A senior police source told AFP the attackers were wearing military uniforms and travelling in a military vehicle.
"He [the army chief] managed to survive only because the driver managed to overtake a bus transporting police officers to work, and the attackers could not keep up," the police source said.
Analysis: BBC's Prime Ndikumagenge, Bujumbura
Targeted attacks on key army leaders seem to have become the modus operandi of a group yet to disclose its identity.
Unlike amateurish shooting heard at night during June in neighbourhoods opposed to President Pierre Nkurunziza's third term, these attacks carry the mark of the well-trained.
The assassination in August of a senior general - Adolphe Nshimirimana - happened in broad daylight at a busy road junction in the city. The attempt on the army chief Prime Niyongabo's life happened at rush hour in the heart of the capital.
In both cases, witnesses spoke of attackers in military fatigues and using vehicles in army colours.
Could there be some split within the army? Many may be tempted to think so given the failed coup backed by several generals who opposed the third term in May.
Gen Niyongabo and Gen Nshimirimana were key in quashing that putsch. Are some of the plotters who managed to flee behind these attacks? It is difficult to know unless they come out to say so - and the army is likely to remain reticent about possible divisions in its ranks. At least 100 people have died in protests, mainly in Bujumbura, since Mr Nkurunziza announced his decision seek another term in office.
The government accuses the opposition, which says the third term is illegal, of causing the violence.
The political tensions there have forced tens of thousands people to flee the country this year. | Armed Conflict | September 2015 | ['(BBC)', '(The New York Times)'] |
The Vatican announces Mother Teresa's eligibility for canonization after a Vatican spokesman confirmed Pope Francis' recognition of a second miracle attributed to her involving the healing of a Brazilian man with multiple brain tumors. The Vatican has yet to confirm a canonization date for Teresa. | Brazilian man’s recovery from multiple brain tumours attributed by panel of experts to woman nicknamed the ‘Saint of the Gutters’
First published on Fri 18 Dec 2015 01.48 GMT
Pope Francis has approved a second miracle for Mother Teresa, paving the way for the late nun who was known as the “Saint of the Gutters” to be canonised next year. The Vatican said in a short statement on Friday that the Argentinean pontiff had approved the miracle, in which a Brazilian man was said to have been cured of multiple brain tumours in 2008 following the nun’s intercession.
The honour for the Nobel prize winner, who won acclaim for her work with impoverished and dying people living in the slums of Kolkata, India, has been widely anticipated for months in Italy, and the ceremony to make her a saint – expected to be held on September 4 2016 – will be a highlight of the church’s jubilee year of mercy.
But it is also controversial. Mother Teresa’s work has been questioned for decades by notable critics, who have alleged first that the Catholic missionary, who died in 1997, misused funds that were meant for charity, and second that she was a Catholic fundamentalist more concerned with evangelism than with serving the poor with adequate medical treatment. The negative assessment was underscored by researchers at the University of Montreal and the University of Ottawa, who concluded in a 2013 report that the nun did not deserve the saintly reputation she had acquired over her lifetime due to her “rather dubious way of caring for the sick, her questionable political contacts, her suspicious management of the enormous sums of money she received, and her overly dogmatic views regarding, in particular, abortion, contraception, and divorce”.
The researchers found that the vast majority of patients who had come to visit Mother Teresa’s missions for the dying had hoped to find doctors to treat them, but instead found unhygienic conditions, a shortage of care, inadequate food and no painkillers. Vatican journalist John Allen at the Crux website said that the final view on Mother Teresa was ultimately a matter of personal opinion, but that Catholicism did not equate sainthood with perfection. “In reality, declaring someone a saint does, indeed, reflect a judgment that he or she lived a holy life, but it’s not tantamount to a claim of moral perfection. It doesn’t mean they never made mistakes or were utterly free of blind spots,” he wrote.
The late journalist Christopher Hitchens, who skewered the nun’s staunch objection to birth control and abortion and was one of her most vociferous critics, ridiculed the first medical miracle that was attributed to Mother Teresa in 2003, when she was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2003 in a “fast-track” process that, in effect, meant she did not have to undergo the standard five-year waiting period after a possible saint’s death. “Surely any respectable Catholic cringes with shame at the obviousness of the fakery,” Hitchens wrote in Slate that year. “A Bengali woman named Monica Besra claims that a beam of light emerged from a picture of Mother Teresa, which she happened to have in her home, and relieved her of a cancerous tumour. Her physician, Dr Ranjan Mustafi, says that she didn’t have a cancerous tumour in the first place and that the tubercular cyst she did have was cured by a course of prescription medicine.” The office that investigates candidates for sainthood has come under fire in two new books that raise questions about the oversight of the church’s finances. The books, allegedly based on church documents, found that every investigation conducted by special sainthood researchers costs about €500,000. When a special committee created by Pope Francis to examine church finances asked the office to produce documentation to back up its expenses, the office allegedly balked, and could not produce any receipts for costs running into the “tens of millions of euros”.
In India, meanwhile, the news about Mother Theresa was being celebrated as a Christmas gift from the Holy Father. “We were waiting for this moment, since many years really, and now that it has come we are very happy, overjoyed,” Archbishop Thomas D’Souza of Kolkata said. “Her entire life was spent in service to the poor … She was reflecting God’s love here among the poorest of the poor, and so it comes as a very significant event in this Year of Mercy that the Holy Father has given to the church.” | Famous Person - Recovered | December 2015 | ['(Agence France–Presse via The Guardian)', '(Reuters via The Hindu)'] |
After 60 mm of rain in two hours, severe flash flooding at Boscastle in Cornwall, UK, results in buildings, roads, and over 50 cars swept away. Flood waters race through town at speeds up to 65 km/h . Many have to leave their homes; helicopters airlift 150 people to safety. | Viewing the clean-up of the Cornish village after buildings, cars and trees were demolished on Monday, he described the emergency services as "amazing".
When told about the people who were airlifted to safety, he said:
"Thank God for the helicopters."
Nobody is thought to have died but the search for bodies is continuing.
Homes damaged
The damage caused by the flood is estimated at millions of pounds.
A total of 75mm - the August average rainfall - fell in two hours on Monday.
I was absolutely horrified to see the extent of the devastation caused by the floods
Prince Charles
Royal visit boosts village morale
The sudden deluge caused two nearby rivers to burst their banks and a torrent of water to sweep through the village's main street.
"We watched the cars come
down like a duck race, bobbing along," said Mary Sharp, 70, who lives near the harbour.
"The roar and the smell was horrible."
Early estimates of the damage were that three homes and shops were destroyed, eight remained in a "very dangerous state" and 50 vehicles had been written off.
Some villagers had been allowed to return to their homes for a brief visit about 48 hours after the natural disaster struck. They came away with a few possessions and a feeling of greater shock at the scale of the destruction, BBC reporter Rajesh Mirchandani said.
On Wednesday evening, a small crowd gathered to sing in front of the Wellington pub, which was badly damaged in the flood.
The pub usually has singing nights on Wednesdays, and villagers did not want the flood to keep them from having their traditionally cheerful midweek get-together. Charles 'horrified'
Prince Charles, who is also Duke of Cornwall, said he would make a "substantial donation" to help Boscastle residents.
Aerial photograph: See the part of Boscastle hit by the flood.
Enlarge Image
The donation is coming from a Duchy of Cornwall fund.
He said in a statement: "I was absolutely horrified to see the extent of the devastation caused by the floods.
"My thoughts and sympathies are with the people of Boscastle and those who happened to be visiting this lovely part of the world and who have all come through what was clearly a terrifying experience."
'Miracle'
Prince Charles was the second high-profile figure to visit, following Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott's visit on Tuesday.
Flooding 'to devastate tourism'
Hidden damage of flooded village
He met with members of the rescue teams and visited the local GP surgery - headquarters for the emergency
operation.
He also held a private meeting with residents in the village hall and was taken into Boscastle's pub, The Cobweb, where he was seen with half a pint of beer.
Police said it was a "miracle" that no-one appeared to have lost their life.
In pictures: Flooding aftermath
Amateur footage
"Fortunately, we haven't found anyone dead or injured but we
haven't recovered all of the cars yet, so we can't be 100% sure," said a spokeswoman for Cornwall County Fire
Brigade.
More than 150 people were airlifted to safety - some from stranded cars, from roofs, and from trees where they had clambered to safety.
A 16-month-old baby had been put in a rucksack before being airlifted out of the area.
Devon and Cornwall police have set up an emergency phoneline for anyone concerned about friends or relatives - 08705 329567. | Floods | August 2004 | ['(2.4\xa0in)', '(40\xa0mph)', '(BBC)', '(Reuters)'] |
In separate press conferences, former Liberal cabinet members Jody Wilson-Raybould and Jane Philpott, who both resigned over the government's handling of the SNC-Lavalin criminal case, announce they are running as independents in the October 2019 elections. | Two Canadian politicians who were expelled from the Liberal party over the SNC-Lavalin affair are running again as independents. Jody Wilson-Raybould and Jane Philpott have both announced their intention to seek re-election later this year. The two former cabinet ministers had cried foul over how the Trudeau government was handling the prosecution of the Quebec firm. The next Canadian general election is scheduled for this October. "I am confident running as an independent is the best way to transform our political culture," Ms Wilson-Raybould told reporters in Vancouver on Monday. In a separate announcement in a Toronto suburb, Ms Philpott also announced her intention to run again without any party affiliation. Ms Philpott and Ms Wilson-Raybould both said that Canadians need to elect more politicians empowered to represent their constituents in the House of Commons. Earlier this year, Ms Wilson-Raybould resigned from her cabinet post and accused Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and members of his inner circle of attempting to meddle in a criminal case involving SNC-Lavalin. Not long after, Ms Philpott - one of Mr Trudeau's top ministers - quit, saying she has lost confidence in the government's handling of the affair. What is the background? Both former ministers were central actors in a political controversy that dogged Mr Trudeau for weeks and hammered at his popularity.
The affair began in early February, when the Globe and Mail newspaper reported allegations of political interference in the case against SNC-Lavalin.
The newspaper reported that Mr Trudeau's office had pressured Ms Wilson-Raybould - at the time serving as federal justice minister and attorney general - to push the public prosecution service to consider a deferred prosecution agreement for the firm. An attorney general is supposed to act independently with respect of his or her prosecutorial function.
On 12 February, Ms Wilson-Raybould resigned suddenly from cabinet. She later testified before a parliamentary committee that, as attorney general, she and her staff had faced four months of a "sustained" and "inappropriate effort" to push for a possible agreement for SNC-Lavalin. The agreement - similar to regimes in the US and the UK - essentially suspends prosecution while allowing a firm to agree instead to alternative terms or conditions.
Ms Philpott resigned shortly after. In April, Mr Trudeau expelled both women from the Liberal party caucus, saying that trust had been broken between the two and other Liberal MPs. SNC-Lavalin is one of the world's largest engineering and construction companies.
The company and two of its subsidiaries face fraud and corruption charges in relation to approximately C$48m ($36m; £28m) in bribes it is alleged to have offered to Libyan officials between 2001 and 2011.
It has openly lobbied to be allowed to enter into a remediation agreement instead of going to trial, saying it has cleaned house and changed its ways.
| Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | May 2019 | ['(BBC)'] |
An Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, with 149 passengers and eight crew members onboard crashes en route to Nairobi, Kenya, killing all 157 persons on board. | An Ethiopian Airlines jet has crashed shortly after take-off from Addis Ababa, killing all on board.
The airline said 149 passengers and eight crew members were on flight ET302 from the Ethiopian capital to Nairobi in Kenya.
It said 32 Kenyans, 18 Canadians, eight Americans and seven British nationals were among the passengers.
The crash happened at 08:44 local time, six minutes after the months-old Boeing 737 Max-8 took off.
Another plane of the same model was involved in a crash less than five months ago, when a Lion Air flight crashed into the sea near Indonesia with nearly 190 people on board.
The cause of the disaster is not yet clear. However, the pilot had reported difficulties and had asked to return to Addis Ababa, the airline said.
"At this stage, we cannot rule out anything," Ethiopian Airlines CEO Tewolde Gebremariam told reporters at Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa.
"We cannot also attribute the cause to anything because we will have to comply with the international regulation to wait for the investigation."
Visibility was said to be good but air traffic monitor Flightradar24 reported that the plane's "vertical speed was unstable after take-off".
An eyewitness at the scene told the BBC there was an intense fire as the aircraft hit the ground.
"The blast and the fire were so strong that we couldn't get near it," he said. "Everything is burnt down."
First word of the crash came when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed expressed his "deepest condolences" on Twitter.
Recovery operations were under way near the crash site around the town of Bishoftu, which is 60km (37 miles) south-east of the capital.
The plane was delivered to Ethiopian Airlines on 15 November last year. It underwent a "rigorous first check maintenance" on 4 February, the airline tweeted.
Mr Gebremariam told the news conference that passengers from more than 30 countries were on board the flight.
He said they included 32 Kenyans, 18 Canadians, nine Ethiopians, eight Italians, eight Chinese, eight Americans, seven Britons, seven French citizens, six Egyptians, five Germans, four Indians and four people from Slovakia.
Slovak MP Anton Hrnko later confirmed via Facebook that his wife and two children were on the plane.
Three Austrians, three Swedes, three Russians, two Moroccans, two Spaniards, two Poles and two Israelis were also on the flight.
There was also one passenger each from Ireland, Nepal, Saudi Arabia, Djibouti, Belgium, Indonesia, Somalia, Norway, Serbia, Togo, Mozambique, Rwanda, Sudan, Uganda and Yemen.
One person held a UN passport, the airline said. It believed some passengers could have been heading to a session of the UN Environment Assembly which begins in Nairobi on Monday.
A UN source also told Agence France-Presse that "at least a dozen of the victims were affiliated with the UN", and that this may include freelance translators.
World Food Programme executive director David Beasley said seven members of agency staff had died in the crash.
The WFP family mourns today -- @WFP staff were among those aboard the Ethiopian Airlines flight. We will do all that is humanly possible to help the families at this painful time. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers.
Among them was engineer Michael Ryan, a father of two, from Cork, Ireland. Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Leo Varadkar said Mr Ryan had been "doing life-changing work in Africa".
One of the Canadian victims was named as Prof Pius Adesanmi, an expert in African studies at Carleton University in Ottawa.
The pilot was named as Senior Captain Yared Getachew who had a "commendable performance" with more than 8,000 hours in the air, the airline said.
The plane's First Officer Ahmed Nur Mohammod Nur had 200 flight hours, it added.
Ethiopia has declared Monday a national day of mourning.
Canadian PM Justin Trudeau said he was "deeply saddened" to hear of the crash, adding: "We join the international community in mourning the loss of so many lives."
UK PM Theresa May tweeted her condolences:
“I was deeply saddened to hear of the devastating loss of life following the plane crash in Ethiopia. At this very difficult time my thoughts are with the families and friends of the British citizens on board and all those affected by this tragic incident.” – PM @Theresa_May
French President Emmanuel Macron expressed solidarity with the people of Ethiopia and Kenya, tweeting: "We share their sorrow."
António Guterres, the UN secretary-general, also tweeted about the crash. Deeply saddened by the news this morning of the plane crash in Ethiopia, claiming the lives of all on board. My heartfelt condolences to the families and loved ones of all the victims — including our own @UN staff — who perished in this tragedy.
African Union Commission chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat expressed "utter shock and immense sadness" while Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said he was "saddened".
Mahboub Maalim, executive secretary of the East African bloc Igad, said the region was in mourning.
"I cannot seem to find words comforting enough to the families and friends of those who might have lost their lives in this tragedy," he said in a statement.
The 737 Max-8 aircraft is relatively new to the skies, having only been in commercial use since 2017.
Boeing said it was "deeply saddened" by the crash and offered to send a team to provide technical assistance.
Following the Lion Air crash last October, investigators said the pilots had appeared to struggle with an automated system designed to keep the plane from stalling - a new feature of the Boeing 737 Max.
The anti-stalling system repeatedly forced the plane's nose down, despite efforts by pilots to correct this, findings suggest.
There is no suggestion that the Ethiopian Airlines jet suffered similar issues on Sunday.
Ethiopian Airlines flies to many destinations in Africa, making it a popular carrier in a continent where many airlines fly only from their home country to destinations outside Africa. It has a good reputation for safety, although in 2010 one of the company's aeroplanes crashed in the Mediterranean Sea shortly after leaving Beirut.
The incident killed 90 people on board.
The airline's highest fatalities prior to this came in a November 1996 crash during a hijacking on a flight from Addis Ababa to Nairobi.
One of the plane's engines stopped when the fuel ran out and although pilots attempted an emergency water landing, they hit a coral reef in the Indian Ocean and 123 of the 175 people on board were killed.
What is the Boeing 737 Max-8?
How could a new plane crash?
What did we learn from October’s Max-8 crash?
Air disasters timeline
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. | Air crash | March 2019 | ['(BBC)'] |
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights condemns the excessive use of force by Colombian security forces during the ongoing protests that have killed at least 19 civilians. | The UN says Colombian police in Cali ‘opened fire’ on protests sparked by a government tax proposal.
The United Nation’s human rights office (OHCHR) has expressed “deep alarm” over violence at the Colombian city of Cali, saying police “opened fire” on people taking part in days of protests against proposed tax changes.
In comments made on Tuesday during a press briefing in Geneva, spokeswoman Maria Hurtado said the body was working to verify the exact number of casualties but reports suggested a number of people had been killed and wounded overnight in Cali.
“We express our profound shock at the events there and stress our solidarity with those who have lost their lives, as well as the injured and their families”, she said.
Teachers, university students, trade unions, Afro-Colombian and Indigenous groups and many others began taking to the streets to protest against the measures put forward by the right-wing government of President Ivan Duque. According to OHCHR, at least 14 people have died since the protests began on April 28.
The demonstrations continued on Monday even after Duque withdrew the controversial tax proposal, which critics said favoured the wealthy and put extra pressure on the working and middle classes, and Finance Minister Alberto Carrasquilla submitted his resignation.
| Protest_Online Condemnation | May 2021 | ['(Al Jazeera English)'] |
Two tropical storms, one in the Atlantic Ocean and the other in the Pacific , are expected to become hurricanes Thursday. Gonzalo, with maximum sustained winds of 50 mph, is east of Barbados in the Windward Islands, moving toward the west near 12 mph , leading Barbados to issue a Hurricane watch. Douglas's maximum sustained winds have increased to near 100 mph , and landfall on Hawaii is expected Sunday. | Douglas became a hurricane Wednesday morning, the eastern Pacific’s first hurricane of the 2020 season. The cyclone was located midway between Mexico and Hawaii, whirling over the open ocean about 1,500 miles east of the Hawaiian archipelago. But recent data indicates that Douglas’s track could take it ominously near or directly over Hawaii, bringing wind, rain and high surf over the weekend.
Already, meteorologists are concerned that Douglas is in an environment ripe for “rapid intensification,” which occurs when a cyclone’s maximum sustained winds increase by 35 mph or more in 24 hours. With plenty of warm water in its course and calm upper-level winds, Douglas can take advantage of the elements without interruption.
Tropical Storm Gonzalo forms as second tropical disturbance swirls in the Gulf of Mexico
Models suggest a greater than 50 percent chance that Douglas does undergo rapid intensification sometime late Wednesday or Thursday, with the National Hurricane Center writing that there’s “a significant chance of rapid intensification during that period.”
By Thursday night into early Friday, the National Hurricane Center is calling for Douglas to peak at Category 2 strength, with winds in the eyewall sustained at 110 mph. If rapid intensification ensues before then, it’s not out of the question for Douglas to briefly become a major hurricane (Category 3 or higher).
Gradual weakening is forecast beyond Friday as Douglas moves over slightly cooler waters. However, a lack of disruptive “wind shear,” or a change of wind speed and/or direction with height, will allow Douglas to charge on toward Hawaii while maintaining tropical-storm strength.
The weather in Hawaii should deteriorate Sunday as Douglas approaches. Sunday into Monday, the storm may cross the island chain or pass close by. At that point, the National Hurricane Center’s forecast is for winds to be in the range of 60 mph.
It’s likely that heavy rainfall and localized flooding could accompany Douglas’s passage, as well. Significant rainfall totals are possible where the tropical cyclone’s rain bands interact with topography, the hilly terrain helping to concentrate and focus downpours.
Tropical cyclones routinely produce serious rain totals when they hit Hawaii. In August 2018, Hurricane Lane collapsed upon arriving in the Aloha State, dumping upward of 52 inches on Mountain View, a community 15 miles northwest of Hilo.
The staggering rainfall ranked as the second-most to fall from a tropical storm on record for the United States, trailing only Harvey, which dropped 60.58 inches on Nederland, Tex., in 2017.
Direct landfalls of hurricanes are uncommon in Hawaii, though the island chain is sideswiped by one or two tropical cyclones most years. Warming waters and shifting atmospheric circulation patterns in large part due to human-caused climate change could encourage more tropical cyclones to pass near Hawaii in the future.
In barely a month, Lane, Norman and Olivia all affected parts of Hawaii from late August into September 2018. The storms contributed to the eastern Pacific’s most active hurricane season on record.
The worst storm to make landfall at hurricane strength in Hawaii was Hurricane Iniki, which tore through Kauai on Sept. 11, 1992. It was a Category 4 storm with winds up to 145 mph.
The most important news stories of the day, curated by Post editors and delivered every morning. | Hurricanes_Tornado_Storm_Blizzard | July 2020 | ['(Gonzalo)', '(Douglas)', '(19 km/h)', '(155 km/h)', '(USA Today)', '(The Washington Post)'] |
Over 80 Taliban members are killed in Afghan and U.S. airstrikes. | Air raids conducted in Kandahar and Faryab provinces as US envoy arrives in country following collapse of talks.
More than 80 Taliban fighters have been killed in air raids by Afghan and US forces in Afghanistan‘s Kandahar and Faryab provinces in the past 24 hours, officials said.
Abdul Kareem, the police chief in the northern Faryab province, said on Sunday that a group of Taliban fighters carried out an assault on security checkpoints in the Pashtunkot district on Saturday night and were targeted by air raids by the Afghan Air Force.
He told Anadolu Agency that at least 53 Taliban fighters were killed and 11 wounded.
In the southern Kandahar province, US forces conducted air raids in Maruf and Shah Wali Kot districts, killing 33 Taliban fighters and injuring eight others, a statement by the provincial police headquarters said.
The Taliban. meanwhile, claimed to have hit a US convoy in Kandahar in an improvised explosive device attack.
Qari Yosuf, the group’s spokesman, said an armoured vehicle was completely destroyed and all on board were killed.
The US forces in Afghanistan have not commented on the incident.
The Taliban now controls nearly half of Afghanistan and have been relentless in their near-daily attacks targeting Afghan security forces, attacks that often inflict heavy casualties.
It has stepped up a campaign of suicide bombings in recent years as Washington tries to pull its forces out.
On Sunday, an Afghan politician confirmed that US peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad arrived in Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, for the first time since talks between the US and the Taliban collapsed last month.
Sayed Hamid Gailani, leader of the National Islamic Front of Afghanistan, posted on his Twitter account late on Saturday that he met Khalilzad and his team in Kabul to discuss the country’s recent presidential elections and peace efforts.
Speaking on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press, an Afghan official also confirmed on Sunday that President Ashraf Ghani met Khalilzad.
Khalilzad’s visit to Kabul follows a meeting in Moscow he held with representatives of China, Russia and Pakistan, over restarting peace talks to end Afghanistan’s 18-year-old war. | Armed Conflict | October 2019 | ['(Al Jazeera)'] |
The Met Office issues warnings for parts of South East England as Storm Angus prepares to make landfall. | A 200m-long cargo ship hit a barge full of rocks in the English Channel, as Storm Angus battered the south coast of England with high winds and heavy rain.
Eleven of the 23 crew members were evacuated by helicopter after the ship got into difficulty off Samphire Hoe near Dover.
The other 12 members remained on board and are working on getting the vessel to a safe port.
Storm Angus is the first named storm of the season.
The Saga Sky was dragged into the rock barge by severe winds after losing all of its engine power. The coastguard declared the situation "a major incident", with two helicopters involved in evacuating crew members and a French tug sent to assist the stricken ship. Andy Roberts, an RNLI volunteer with the Dover Lifeboat House, said although the Saga Sky was damaged and had been taking on water, there was "no sign of pollution" in the surrounding waters.
After regaining some engine power, the ship was able to move to a safe anchorage at Dungeness, according to the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, and the focus is now on moving it to a more secure port of refuge.
Storm Angus has brought gusts of up to 106mph - recorded 23 miles off the coast of Margate - while gusts hit 80mph at Langdon Bay, both in Kent. More than 1,000 properties in the south west of England - the majority in Devon - were without power, according to Western Power Distribution. Almost all power had been restored by Sunday afternoon.
On Sunday evening there were five flood warnings in place across England and Wales, down from more than 25, including one severe, at the storm's height. Angus has now moved out into the North Sea, but bad weather is set to continue into Monday. A further three Met Office weather warnings have been issued for the beginning of the week for Wales and the south-west and north-east of England, which can expect heavy rain and winds of up to 50mph. Devon and Cornwall Police declared a major incident overnight because of flooding at the Mill on the Mole residential park, South Molton, at 04:15 GMT, but residents who had been evacuated were able to return by 05:50.
Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service said some properties in Braunton and in Bradiford had been flooded.
Meanwhile, fire crews were called to flooding to roads and "multiple properties" from sea water in East Bar, Swanage.
In East Sussex, organisers of the Brighton 10k tweeted that the run had been cancelled because of the high winds.
And in West Sussex. fire crews tackled a "major" fire on Bognor Regis seafront in the "difficult conditions" brought by Angus.
The Port of Dover suspended ferry crossings earlier due to "very high winds" but this was later lifted.
Network Rail said the weather had affected train services across the south east, but the majority of lines were now open.
The storm's effects have also been felt in the Channel Islands, with a wind gust of 84mph recorded in Guernsey and gusts of up to 87mph in Jersey.
| Hurricanes_Tornado_Storm_Blizzard | November 2016 | ['(BBC)'] |
The Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States announces the arrest of an employee of the Defense Intelligence Agency whom they have charged with spying on the behalf of China. | A former US intelligence officer has appeared in court in Seattle charged with attempting to spy for China.
Ron Rockwell Hansen, 58, was arrested by the FBI on Saturday on his way to a Seattle airport for a flight to China.
The justice department says Mr Hansen attempted to pass on information and received at least $800,000 (600,000) for acting as a Chinese agent.
He agreed in a brief court appearance to be returned to his home state of Utah to face charges.
Mr Hansen, who lives in Syracuse, Utah, was charged with attempting to gather or deliver national defence information to aid a foreign government. Other charges - there are 15 in total - include acting as an unregistered foreign agent for China, bulk cash smuggling, structuring monetary transactions and smuggling goods from the US.
If convicted of attempted espionage, Mr Hansen faces a maximum penalty of life in prison.
Assistant Attorney General John Demers called Mr Hansen's alleged actions "a betrayal of our nation's security" and an "affront to his former intelligence community colleagues".
John Huber, US attorney for the state of Utah, called the allegations "very troubling".
According to court documents cited by the justice department, Mr Hansen served in the US Army as a warrant officer with a background in signals intelligence and human intelligence, before being recruited by the DIA as a civilian intelligence case officer in 2006. The justice department says Mr Hansen, who is fluent in Mandarin and Russian, held top secret clearance "for many years" and travelled regularly between the US and China in 2013-17. He is alleged to have attempted repeatedly to regain access to classified information after he stopped working for the US government, thereby alerting authorities to his actions.
The Defense Intelligence Agency is a branch of the Department of Defense, responsible for analysing and disseminating military intelligence.
The agency's primary responsibility is providing foreign military intelligence for US combat missions. It was established in 1961 and now has about 17,000 employees.
The arrest comes at a challenging time for relations between the two countries. On Saturday, US Defence Secretary James Mattis accused China of attempting to intimidate its neighbours by deploying missiles to disputed islands in the South China Sea.
A Chinese military official dismissed the comments as "irresponsible".
Trade talks currently taking place between the two countries in Beijing have been overshadowed by a looming start date for US tariffs on Chinese goods.
Late last month, the White House announced plans to place a 25% tariffs on $50bn (37bn) worth of Chinese imports, a significant escalation in a trade war between the two countries.
Mr Hansen is the latest in a string of former US intelligence officers caught up in spying cases related to China: | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | June 2018 | ['(BBC)'] |
Senator Bernie Sanders suspends his presidential campaign, leaving former Vice President Joe Biden as the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party for President in the general election. | Senator Bernie Sanders has ended his presidential campaign, clearing the way for former Vice-President Joe Biden to become the Democratic party's nominee.
Mr Sanders, 78, told supporters on Wednesday he saw no feasible path to get enough votes to win the nomination.
An early front-runner, the Vermont senator found success with young voters, but slipped behind Mr Biden in recent weeks.
He helped make healthcare and income inequalities key election issues.
Among the most left-leaning candidates during this year's election cycle, the self-described "Democratic socialist" campaigned on policies including healthcare for all, free public college, raising taxes on the wealthy and increasing minimum wage.
Mr Sanders, an Independent, had sought the Democratic presidential nomination before, losing out in 2016 to Hillary Clinton.
In both elections, he found favour with young voters who embraced his calls for a political "revolution".
He won endorsements from a number of celebrities, including Cardi B, Ariana Grande, Miley Cyrus, Mark Ruffalo and Dick Van Dyke.
Mr Sanders cemented his front-runner status at the start of the 2020 Democratic primary election season with wins in New Hampshire and Nevada, but his momentum lagged in later days.
Mr Biden made a comeback by winning a number of big states, including Texas and North Carolina, in early March, and later by racking up votes in Florida, Arizona and Illinois.
Mr Sanders failed to win key African-American voters across the southern states, who largely went for Mr Biden.
In recent weeks, Mr Sanders had been hosting campaign events through online live streams due to health concerns from the Covid-19 outbreak.
Mr Biden, 77, is now expected to be crowned the Democratic presidential nominee at the party's convention in August. He will then face off against President Donald Trump during the November general election.
Mr Sanders told supporters in a live stream that the decision to end his campaign was "very difficult and painful", and acknowledged some of his supporters would have wished him to fight until the last state contest.
"If I believed we had a feasible path to the nomination, I would certainly continue," he said.
Mr Sanders added that the campaign has "transformed American consciousness as to what kind of nation we can become and have taken this country a major step forward in the never-ending struggle for economic justice, social justice, racial justice and environmental justice".
"Please also appreciate that not only are we winning the struggle ideologically, we are also winning it generationally."
Mr Sanders noted that across the country, his campaign received "a significant majority of the votes...from people not only 30 years or younger, but 50 years or younger".
"The future of this country is with our ideas."
Mr Sanders also congratulated Mr Biden, and said that he will work with him to "move our progressive ideas forward".
The senator added that he will still be on ballots in states that have yet to vote in the Democratic primary elections, in order to gather delegates and influence the party's general election platform at the convention.
"Together, standing united, we will go forward to defeat Donald Trump, the most dangerous president in modern American history."
There will be no repeat of the 2016 campaign for Bernie Sanders. No long fight through all the Democratic primaries, up until the eve of the national convention.
Instead, his second presidential bid ends in early April, with a modest announcement from his home in Vermont, a reflection of a campaign season turned on its head by the coronavirus pandemic. Any hope of a miracle comeback was ended by delayed primaries and the cancellation of all public events.
Sanders came close to winning the prize this time around. After his surprisingly large victory in the Nevada caucuses, he seemed to have the organisation, money and momentum to allow him to break away from the pack. That he didn't will be the subject of what-ifs and second-guessing for years to come.
The Sanders faithful can console themselves with the fact that his two presidential campaigns succeeded in pushing the party to the left on issues like universal healthcare, the environment and free college education.
Although at 78 years old his time as a public figure may be drawing to a close, the movement Sanders created - of progressives unafraid to embrace ambitious government programmes even with a "socialist" label - will carry on.
"Our movement has won the ideological struggle," he said on Wednesday.
It's not the presidency, but it is still a significant achievement.
Mr Biden tweeted shortly after Mr Sanders' live stream concluded: "I know Bernie well. He's a good man, a great leader and one of the most powerful voices for change in our country."
The former vice-president added in a statement that he was "grateful" to Mr Sanders for putting America's interest above all else and said he would be reaching out.
"You will be heard by me. As you say: Not me, Us," Mr Biden said. "To your supporters I make the same commitment: I see you, I hear you, and I understand the urgency of what it is we have to get done in this country. I hope you will join us. You are more than welcome. You're needed."
Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, a fellow left-leaning Democrat and former presidential hopeful, also thanked Mr Sanders "for fighting so relentlessly for America's working families during this campaign".
At the White House coronavirus briefing on Wednesday, President Donald Trump questioned why Mr Biden had not been endorsed by the president he served under.
"It amazes me that President Obama hasn't supported Sleepy Joe," said Mr Trump. "It just hasn't happened.
"When's it going to happen? Why is it - he knows something that you don't know. I think I know, but you don't know."
Mr Obama has stayed on the sidelines of the Democratic primary.
But according to US media, he is now eager to endorse Mr Biden and campaign on his behalf.
However, the former president does not wish to distract from the coronavirus crisis currently dominating the news cycle, according to sources close to Mr Obama.
| Government Job change - Election | April 2020 | ['(BBC)'] |
A Philippine Olongapo City Regional Trial Court convicts U.S. Marine Joseph Scott Pemberton of homicide over the death of a transgender Filipina woman. , , | A court in the Philippines has found a US marine guilty of killing a transgender woman.
Lance Corporal Joseph Scott Pemberton was convicted of killing Jennifer Laude in a hotel room in Olongapo city, north-west of Manila, last year.
Pemberton will face between six and 12 years imprisonment.
The case has strained ties between the US and the Philippines, a former US colony where the Americans have a significant military presence.
The marine was on leave in Olongapo on 11 October 2014, after joint military exercises with the Philippine army, when he met Ms Laude in a bar.
Police said they left together and checked into a hotel, where she was found dead the next day, apparently strangled and with her head inside the hotel toilet. Pemberton had previously testified in court that he had attacked Ms Laude after he realised she was transgender, but said she was still alive when he left the room.
The prosecution had argued Pemberton should be convicted of murder, but the court downgraded this to homicide.
Pemberton was also ordered to pay at least 4.5 million pesos ($95,350; £63,140) to Ms Laude's family. Ms Laude's sister, Malou, told Reuters news agency: "We expected a murder conviction but instead got homicide. We are not content with the decision."
Pemberton will be temporarily detained in a Philippine jail until the Philippine and US governments agree on where he should be held during his prison term.
The case has led to calls from left-wing groups for the Philippines to end its military agreements with the US.
Under the agreement, the Philippines can prosecute US military personnel but the US retains custody over them "from the commission of the offence until completion of all judicial proceedings", the Associated Press reports. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | December 2015 | ['(Rappler)', '(Buzzfeed)', '(BBC)'] |
A special court is set up at The Hague to try Kosovo Liberation Army suspects for alleged war crimes against ethnic minorities and political opponents. | A special court is being set up in The Hague to try war crimes committed during the 1999-2000 war in Kosovo, the Dutch government says.
It will try serious crimes allegedly committed by members of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) against ethnic minorities and political opponents, a statement said.
The court is set to begin operating later this year.
The conflict pitted ethnic Albanian rebels against Serbian forces.
Until 2008, Kosovo was a province of Serbia. Years of tensions turned into open conflict in 1998, when the Serbian government launched a crackdown.
It eventually withdrew its troops from Kosovo after a two-month campaign of air strikes by Nato in 1999. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, although Serbia has never recognised this. An estimated 10,000 people died in the conflict and about 1,700 remain missing. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) has tried and convicted many Serb officials over the past two decades, but it has generally failed to find justice for hundreds of thousands of ethnic Serbs who were themselves the victims of forced displacements or atrocities. This has damaged the ICTY's credibility, especially in Serbia, and hampered reconciliation efforts. Officially, the new tribunal will be a national court of Kosovo, despite its location in The Hague. But it should finally deal with the long-festering allegations that members of the KLA - many of whom have risen to high positions in the government - committed atrocities. Members of Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority who view the KLA as heroes may resent the process. But the tribunal might prove vital, as Serbia and Kosovo continue efforts to normalise relations.
The Dutch statement admits that trying war crimes "is a sensitive issue in Kosovo".
"Possible suspects may be seen by sections of Kosovan society as freedom fighters, and witnesses may feel threatened in Kosovo," hence the reason for cases to be heard abroad.
"It is important for justice to be done," Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders said. "So we are pleased to be able to offer the court a home."
A 2011 report from the Council of Europe, which monitors human rights, accused KLA rebels of serious crimes, including the trafficking of prisoners' organs.
Parliament in Kosovo approved the creation of the tribunal last year, despite protests and an opposition boycott of the vote. Kosovan Albanians make up about 90% of the population, and tensions remain with the Serb minority.
Earlier this month anti-government protesters clashed with police in a demonstration against a deal giving more power to ethnic Serbs.
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | January 2016 | ['(BBC)'] |
New evacuations are ordered as the fires spread toward a string of California coastal cities. Santa Ana winds and rugged mountain terrain continue to hamper firefighting efforts. Authorities report the Thomas Fire is only 15 percent contained. | California wildfire rages toward scenic coastal communities
01:15
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (Reuters) - A massive California wildfire that has already destroyed nearly 800 structures scorched another 56,000 acres on Sunday, making it the fifth largest such blaze in recorded state history, as it ran toward picturesque coastal cities.But fire officials said as darkness fell that with the hot, dry Santa Ana winds not as fierce as expected, crews had been successful in building some fire lines between the flames and the towns of Montecito and Carpinteria.
“This is a menacing fire, certainly, but we have a lot of people working very diligently to bring it under control,” Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown told an evening press conference.
Still, some 5,000 residents remained under evacuation orders in the two communities, near Santa Barbara and about 100 miles (160 km) northwest of Los Angeles. Some 15,000 homes were considered threatened.
The Thomas Fire, the worst of six major blazes in Southern California in the last week and already the fifth largest in the state since 1932, has blackened 230,000 acres (570,000 hectares), more than the area of New York City. It has destroyed 790 houses, outbuildings and other structures and left 90,000 homes and businesses without power.
The combination of Santa Ana winds and rugged terrain in the mountains that run through Santa Barbara and Ventura counties have hampered firefighting efforts, and officials said the Thomas Fire was only 10 percent contained on Sunday evening, down from 15 percent earlier in the day.
But wind gusts recorded at 35-40 miles per hour were less than those predicted by forecasters, giving crews a chance to slow the flames’ progress down slopes above the endangered communities.
The fires burning across Southern California have forced the evacuation of more 200,000 people and destroyed some 1,000 structures.
Among them are residents of Montecito, one of the state’s wealthiest enclave and home to such celebrities as Oprah Winfrey.
Molly-Ann Leikin, an Emmy-winning songwriter who was ordered to evacuate her Montecito home at 9 a.m. on Sunday, said she fled with only her cell phone, medication, eyeglasses and a few apples.
Leikin, 74, said she doesn’t know the condition of her home and belongings but “none of that means anything when it is your safety.”
The fires that began last Monday night collectively amounted to one of the worst conflagrations across Southern California in the last decade. They have, however, been far less deadly than the blazes in Northern California’s wine country in October that killed over 40.
In the last week, only one death has been reported, a 70-year-old woman who died Wednesday in a car accident as she attempted to flee the flames in Ventura County. Scores of horses have died, including at least 46 at a thoroughbred training facility in San Diego county.
Residents and firefighters alike have been alarmed by the speed with which the fires spread, reaching into the heart of cities like Ventura.
At the Ventura County Fairgrounds, evacuees slept in makeshift beds while rescued horses were sheltered in stables. Peggy Scissons, 78, arrived at the shelter with her dog last Wednesday, after residents of her mobile home park were forced to leave. She has not yet found out whether her home is standing.
“I don’t know what’s gonna happen next or whether I’ll be able to go home,” she said. “It would be one thing if I were 40 or 50, but I’m 78. What the heck do I do?”
James Brown, 57, who retired from Washington State’s forestry service and has lived in Ventura for a year, was forced to leave his house along with his wife last week because both have breathing problems.
“We knew a fire was coming, but we didn’t know it would be this bad,” said Brown, who is in a wheelchair.
Some of the other fires, in San Diego and Los Angeles counties, have been largely controlled by the thousands of firefighters on the ground this week.
Both the Creek and Rye fires in Los Angeles County were 90 percent contained by Sunday morning, officials said, while the Skirball Fire in Los Angeles’ posh Bel Air neighborhood was 75 percent contained.
North of San Diego, the 4,100-acre (1,660 hectare) Lilac Fire was 75 percent contained by Sunday and most evacuation orders had been lifted.
Reporting by Phoenix Tso; Additional reporting by Mike Blake in San Diego and Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles; Writing by Joseph Ax and Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Scott Malone and Mary Milliken | Fire | December 2017 | ['(Los Angeles Times)', '(Reuters)'] |
Pierre Nkurunziza of the National Council for the Defense of Democracy–Forces for the Defense of Democracy, a former rebel leader of the Hutu majority in Burundi, has been elected unopposed as the new President of Burundi by the parliament, the first president chosen through democratic means since the start of the civil war in 1993. He will be sworn in on 27 August. , | Former rebel leader Pierre Nkurunziza was the only candidate, after his FDD group won parliamentary elections.
He will be the first president chosen through democratic means since the start of the civil war in 1993. The vote follows five years of peace talks.
A small group of Tutsis has dominated Burundi since independence in 1961.
Under the terms of the deal agreed between the government and Hutu rebels, democracy will be balanced with guarantees for the Tutsi minority.
Peace talks priority
The BBC's Rob Walker in the capital, Bujumbura, says there are now real hopes that Burundi is finally turning the corner away from violence. There are indications that the FNL is planning to intensify attacks from now until the inauguration, just to show that it is still present on the ground
Maj Manirakiza
Born-again ex-rebel leader
Do rebels make good leaders?
Mr Nkurunziza, 41, is to be sworn in on 26 August.
Although he was the only candidate, he received 151 of the 162 votes cast. There were nine votes against, one abstention and one unmarked paper.
Our correspondent says the new president will need to reassure Tutsis, some of whom are wary of rule by former Hutu rebels.
Mr Nkurunziza will also need to breathe life back into a shattered economy if he is to meet the growing expectations of Burundi's impoverished population, our correspondent says. On the eve of Mr Nkurunziza's election, the last remaining rebel group, the National Liberation Forces (FNL) attacked a military base, leaving three soldiers and five rebels dead, the army said.
The FNL is a much smaller group than Mr Nkurunziza's Forces for the Defence of Democracy (FDD).
"There are indications that the FNL is planning to intensify attacks from now until the inauguration, just to show that it is still present on the ground and maybe put some pressure on the new government to talk to them," said army spokesman Maj Adolphe Manirakiza.
In a speech to parliament on Thursday, Mr Nkurunziza vowed to engage the FNL in peace talks.
"The first priority is to engage in talks with the FNL and to conclude hopefully a ceasefire agreement with that movement," he said. | Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration | August 2005 | ['(BBC)', '(BBC)'] |
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos announces that he will step down as CEO during the third quarter. Current Amazon Web Services CEO Andy Jassy is expected to replace him. | Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos will leave his post later this year, turning the helm over to the company’s top cloud executive, Andy Jassy, according to an announcement Tuesday. Bezos will transition to executive chairman of Amazon’s board.
Bezos, 57, founded Amazon in 1994 and has since morphed the one-time online bookstore into a mega-retailer with global reach in a slew of different categories from gadgets to groceries to streaming. Amazon surpassed a $1 trillion market cap under Bezos’ leadership in January of last year — it’s now worth more than $1.6 trillion.
The company had kept its succession plans quiet, though onlookers speculated that either Jassy or Jeff Wilke, CEO of Amazon’s worldwide consumer business, would be Bezos’ eventual successor. In August Amazon announced Wilke will retire in 2021. Jassy, 53, will become CEO in the third quarter.
Jassy joined Amazon in 1997 and has led Amazon’s Web Services cloud team since its inception. AWS continues to drive much of Amazon’s profit.
“I’m excited to announce that this Q3 I’ll transition to Executive Chair of the Amazon Board and Andy Jassy will become CEO,” Bezos said in a letter to employees. “In the Exec Chair role, I intend to focus my energies and attention on new products and early initiatives. Andy is well known inside the company and has been at Amazon almost as long as I have. He will be an outstanding leader, and he has my full confidence.”
The news came alongside an earnings report in which Amazon posted its first $100 billion quarter. AWS, under Jassy, reported 28% revenue growth for the fourth quarter. About 52% of Amazon’s operating income was attributed to AWS as of October 2020.
Shares of Amazon were up about 1% in extended trading Tuesday on the back of the earnings report and the C-suite news. The company’s stock has gained about 4% so far in 2021 and is up nearly 70% in the last 12 months.
Amazon’s chief financial officer, Brian Olsavsky, said on a media call that the executive change was decided in consultation with Amazon’s board of directors. He said Bezos will remain very involved and have his fingerprints on lots of different parts of the company. Olsavsky said Jassy is a visionary leader who will bring his own skill set but that Amazon expects a lot of continuity with the transition.
Jassy will need to guide the company through antitrust concerns once he takes the reins. In October, after a 16-month investigation into competitive practices at big tech companies including Amazon, the House Judiciary subcommittee on antitrust concluded that Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google enjoy monopoly power. Amazon is also facing antitrust complaints in the EU.
Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., a member of the House Judiciary Committee, said on Twitter shortly after the announcement that he has questions for Jassy, hinting at an early hurdle when Jassy is installed.
Bezos said he will stay engaged in important Amazon projects but will also have more time to focus on the Bezos Earth Fund, his Blue Origin spaceship company, The Washington Post and the Amazon Day 1 Fund.
“As much as I still tap dance into the office, I’m excited about this transition,” Bezos said in his internal announcement. “Millions of customers depend on us for our services, and more than a million employees depend on us for their livelihoods. Being the CEO of Amazon is a deep responsibility, and it’s consuming. When you have a responsibility like that, it’s hard to put attention on anything else.”
Industry CEOs and Amazon competitors congratulated Bezos and Jassy on the coming transition, with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella calling Jassy’s promotion “well-deserved.”
Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai offered Bezos “best wishes” on his other projects.
Here’s the full letter from Bezos to Amazon employees:
Fellow Amazonians:
I’m excited to announce that this Q3 I’ll transition to Executive Chair of the Amazon Board and Andy Jassy will become CEO. In the Exec Chair role, I intend to focus my energies and attention on new products and early initiatives. Andy is well known inside the company and has been at Amazon almost as long as I have. He will be an outstanding leader, and he has my full confidence.
This journey began some 27 years ago. Amazon was only an idea, and it had no name. The question I was asked most frequently at that time was, “What’s the internet?” Blessedly, I haven’t had to explain that in a long while.
Today, we employ 1.3 million talented, dedicated people, serve hundreds of millions of customers and businesses, and are widely recognized as one of the most successful companies in the world.
How did that happen? Invention. Invention is the root of our success. We’ve done crazy things together, and then made them normal. We pioneered customer reviews, 1-Click, personalized recommendations, Prime’s insanely-fast shipping, Just Walk Out shopping, the Climate Pledge, Kindle, Alexa, marketplace, infrastructure cloud computing, Career Choice, and much more. If you get it right, a few years after a surprising invention, the new thing has become normal. People yawn. And that yawn is the greatest compliment an inventor can receive.
I don’t know of another company with an invention track record as good as Amazon’s, and I believe we are at our most inventive right now. I hope you are as proud of our inventiveness as I am. I think you should be.
As Amazon became large, we decided to use our scale and scope to lead on important social issues. Two high-impact examples: our $15 minimum wage and the Climate Pledge. In both cases, we staked out leadership positions and then asked others to come along with us. In both cases, it’s working. Other large companies are coming our way. I hope you’re proud of that as well.
I find my work meaningful and fun. I get to work with the smartest, most talented, most ingenious teammates. When times have been good, you’ve been humble. When times have been tough, you’ve been strong and supportive, and we’ve made each other laugh. It is a joy to work on this team.
As much as I still tap dance into the office, I’m excited about this transition. Millions of customers depend on us for our services, and more than a million employees depend on us for their livelihoods. Being the CEO of Amazon is a deep responsibility, and it’s consuming. When you have a responsibility like that, it’s hard to put attention on anything else. As Exec Chair I will stay engaged in important Amazon initiatives but also have the time and energy I need to focus on the Day 1 Fund, the Bezos Earth Fund, Blue Origin, The Washington Post, and my other passions. I’ve never had more energy, and this isn’t about retiring. I’m super passionate about the impact I think these organizations can have.
Amazon couldn’t be better positioned for the future. We are firing on all cylinders, just as the world needs us to. We have things in the pipeline that will continue to astonish. We serve individuals and enterprises, and we’ve pioneered two complete industries and a whole new class of devices. We are leaders in areas as varied as machine learning and logistics, and if an Amazonian’s idea requires yet another new institutional skill, we’re flexible enough and patient enough to learn it.
Keep inventing, and don’t despair when at first the idea looks crazy. Remember to wander. Let curiosity be your compass. It remains Day 1. | Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | February 2021 | ['(CNBC)'] |
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte resigns. He criticizes Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, accusing him of sinking the ruling coalition for personal and political gain. The President of Italy, Sergio Mattarella, accepts Conte's resignation and announces that he will start consultations with party leaders. | ROME (Reuters) - Italian President Sergio Mattarella has accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and will kick off consultations with party leaders on Wednesday to seek a solution to the political crisis, his office said.
Mattarella asked Conte to remain in office to carry out day-to-day government business while the discussions continue.
Mattarella will start his meetings at 4.00 p.m. (1400 GMT) on Wednesday and wrap them up on Thursday afternoon. He is expected to see whether there is the political will to form a new government. If not, he will have to dissolve parliament, 3-1/2 years ahead of schedule, and call early elections.
Reporting by Giselda Vagnoni, Editing by Crispian Balmer
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
| Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | August 2019 | ['(Reuters)', '(Reuters)'] |
At least seven people have been killed and 25 others are injured after an explosion caused by the derailment of a train carrying propane and butane in the Bulgarian village of Hitrino, near Shumen. | Seven people were killed in a village in northeastern Bulgaria when a cargo train derailed and exploded, demolishing about 50 houses and public buildings, officials said on Saturday.
Several dozens were injured and at least five of the victims remain in critical condition in hospital, health authorities said.
Bulgaria’s government said it is preparing to announce Monday a day of national mourning following the deadly incident.
Twelve of the private train’s tanks, carrying propylene, very volatile and highly flammable gas, derailed at the rail station of the village. One of the tanks struck a high-power line and exploded in flames early on Saturday, police said.
The powerful blast flattened dozens of houses and public buildings, leaving people under the ruins.
Officials ordered a full evacuation of the village so that the propylene can be safely removed. Specialists are conducting an operation to transfer gas from the tanks of the train at the center of the blast.
“The draining of tanks is a very complex and slow process,” outgoing Prime Minister Boiko Borisov a few hours after arriving at the village, some 380 km northeast of the capital Sofia and home to around 1,000 people, according to a police official. “It should be done very carefully.”
The operation is expected to take a day or two to complete.
“Two blasts have caused a serious fire and ruined at least 20 buildings. There are many people injured ... many with burns,” Interior Ministry Chief Secretary Georgi Kostov said.
An 18-year-old man has died of his wounds in the hospital in the northern town of Shumen, a hospital official said.
Some 200 firemen are putting out the fires and are cooling the derailed tanks to avoid further blasts. Rescue teams, including sniffer dogs, are searching for survivors in houses near the train lines.
“I helped take out six people under the ruins. Three were dead, three alive. There are no houses left standing near the incident - within 300 meters from the railways,” said Stefan Stefanov, who lives in Hitrino.
Prosecutors said they are investigating the incident. Possible speeding or malfunctioning of the train tanks are among the most likely reasons for the incident, the head of the parliamentary commission Nastimir Ananiev said.
| Train collisions | December 2016 | ['(BBC News)', '(Independent Ireland)', '(Reuters)', '(The New York Times)'] |
The European Court of Justice rules that airlines will have to pay compensation to passengers who experience delays of more than three hours. | Airline passengers facing long delays should receive the same cash compensation as those whose flights are cancelled, European judges ruled today.
They decreed that a "long" delay was one which delivered travellers to their final destination three hours or more after the scheduled arrival time.
Compensation would then be payable by the airline at the same rates as for cancelled flights - but not if the delay was caused by "extraordinary circumstances".
The ruling in the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg declared: "Passengers on a flight which is cancelled at short notice have a right to compensation, even when they are re-routed by the airline on another flight, if they lose three hours or more in relation to the duration originally planned.
"There is no justification for treating passengers whose flight is delayed any differently when they reach their final destination three hours or more after the scheduled arrival time."
But the judges added: "Such a delay does not give rise to a right to compensation if the airline can prove that the delay was caused by extraordinary circumstances which are beyond its actual control and which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken."
The ruling said that a technical problem in an aircraft could not be regarded as an "extraordinary circumstance", unless the problem stemmed from events which "by their nature or origin are not inherent in the normal exercise of the activity of the air carrier concerned and are beyond its actual control".
The ruling came in a judgment clarifying a five-year-old EU regulation which grants flat-rate compensation for cancelled flights of between 250 euros and 600 euros (£223 to £535).
The judges said that regulation did not expressly provide that passengers whose flights are delayed also have such a right.
They were dealing with cases referred from German and Austrian courts in which passengers claimed compensation after facing delays - but not cancellations - which meant they arrived at their final destinations 25 and 22 hours after the scheduled time.
The national German and Austrian courts will now consider the EU judges' decision.
The ruling said: "The Court of Justice does not decide the dispute itself. It is for the national court or tribunal to dispose of the case in accordance with the Court's decision, which is similarly binding on other national courts or tribunals before which the same issue is raised."
| Organization Fine | November 2009 | ['(Independent)', '(European Court of Justice)'] |
On the one year anniversary of the Gaza border protests, tens of thousands of Palestinians gather on the border to commemorate the weekly gatherings. Four Palestinian protesters have been killed and more than 300 wounded according to Palestinian health officials. | Tens of thousands of Palestinians have demonstrated in Gaza to mark the anniversary of the start of weekly protests on the boundary with Israel.
Demonstrators threw stones and burned tyres, with Israeli troops using tear-gas and live rounds in response. Three protesters died in the clashes, Palestinian officials say, with another killed earlier on Saturday.
The protests back the declared right of Palestinian refugees to return to ancestral homes in what is now Israel.
At least 189 Palestinians and one Israeli soldier were killed between March and December 2018, the UN says.
A UN inquiry says Israeli soldiers may have committed war crimes during the protest marches - a charge Israel rejects.
This day of protests is a serious test of the fragile calm between Israel and Hamas, the Islamist group that runs the Palestinian-controlled Gaza Strip, says the BBC's Yolande Knell in Jerusalem.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) estimated the number of protesters at about 40,000 and several thousand Israeli troops were deployed along the border.
The IDF said explosive devices had been thrown over the border fence and Israeli forces had responded with "riot dispersal means" and live bullets.
Three Palestinian protesters, all teenage boys, have been killed and more than 300 have been wounded, Palestinian health officials say.
The health officials say another man was shot dead by Israeli troops close to the fence overnight.
Hamas had said it would try to keep the crowds a safe distance from the fence, with Egyptian and UN mediators trying to prevent further escalation.
The clashes were limited in scope and fears of a large number of deaths have not materialised. The protests quietened in the evening.
They came after a tense week in which Palestinian militants fired rockets at Israel and Israel's air force struck dozens of sites in Gaza.
But Palestinian sources say Egyptian mediators have made some progress in reaching a new ceasefire agreement between the Palestinians and Israel.
Palestinians have been taking part in protests along the border since 30 March 2018 as part of a campaign dubbed "the Great March of Return".
The Israeli government designates Hamas a terrorist group which it says has been seeking to use the protests as a cover to cross into its territory and carry out attacks. It deployed soldiers along the border fence, who it said were ordered to resort to live fire only when absolutely necessary and when there was an imminent threat.
A commission of inquiry was set up by the UN Human Rights Council.
Thirty-five of the 189 Palestinian fatalities were children, three were clearly marked paramedics and two were clearly marked journalists, the commission found.
The inquiry found reasonable grounds to believe that Israeli snipers had shot at children, medics and journalists, even though they were clearly recognisable as such.
Four Israeli soldiers were injured at the demonstrations. One Israeli soldier was killed on a protest day but outside the protest sites, the commission said.
Unless undertaken lawfully in self-defence, intentionally shooting a civilian not directly participating in hostilities is a war crime. Israel's acting foreign minister said it rejected the findings outright.
"The Human Rights Council's Theatre of the Absurd has once again produced a report that is hostile, mendacious and biased against Israel," Israel Katz said. "No-one can deny Israel the right to self-defence and the obligation to protect its citizens and its borders against violent attacks."
| Protest_Online Condemnation | March 2019 | ['(BBC)', '(Sky News)'] |
26 Iranians have been arrested for poll violations. | At least 26 Iranians have been arrested for suspected presidential election violations committed during the first round of voting last week.
The state-run news agency did not provide full details of the infractions on Thursday, but cited an Interior Ministry statement made by an election observer that said some of the arrests were linked to distribution of CDs and other materials.
It said about 20,000 pamphlets distributed as election material had been confiscated because,under Iranian law,it is illegal to make unsubstantiated charges against a political rival during the campaign. A total of 148 claims of violations were reviewed by a joint committee comprising intelligence, police and judicial officials. At least 44 were linked to "military personnel", the report added. Public protest
The report came just hours after Rafsanjani said on state television late on Wednesday that "violators of the elections misused public fund to distribute millions of CDs against me and, unfortunately, officials have not decided what to do about them yet ... I hope they will be treated according to the law". Ayat Allah Akbar Rafsanjani faces Ahmadinejadon Friday in Iran's first head-to-head presidential ballot. Rafsanjani was shaken in the first round with Ahmadinejad right on his heels 21% to about 19.5%. Denial
The investigationreport added that a "military person" was also among those arrested. A shopkeeper tapes an Ahmadinejad poster to his window No other details were given, but a statement from Iran's armed forces said none of its personnel was implicated, which may indicate that a member of the Revolutionary Guards or the paramilitary "Basiji"was involved.
A shopkeeper tapes an Ahmadinejad poster to his window The third-place finisher, former parliament speaker Mahdi Karroubi, claimed the Revolutionary Guards intimidated voters to cast ballots for Ahmadinejad. He also accused the ruling clerics of overlooking other alleged violations such as multiple voting by one person. Vote on Friday
Various political and social groups have set aside differences and tried to rally behind Rafsanjani, 70, who served as president from 1989-97 and later moved into a key post in the theocracy. A series of street rallies in Tehran and elsewhere on Wednesday sent the message that Iran's hard-won social and economic reforms would be stifled by a populist Ahmadinejad -who has picked up significant working-class support with his blunt talkoneconomic and foreign policyissues.
But the Tehran mayor denies rumourshe is seeking to bring back rigid laws from the years following the 1979 Islamic Revolution, such as segregation of the sexes. The campaign period officially ended Thursday. But many newspapers, however, were filled with editorials against intolerance as indirect attacks against Ahmadinejad. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | June 2005 | ['(Al-Jazeera)', '(Reuters)'] |
13 July 2011 Mumbai bombings: Indian investigators check CCTV footage in their search for clues into Wednesday's triple bombing in Mumbai. | Indian investigators looking into Wednesday's blasts in Mumbai have been examining security camera footage for vital clues, media reports say.
An unnamed detective told the state-run DD News that footage from one of the sites revealed "suspicious behaviour of some people"..
The three explosions killed 18 people and injured dozens.
The attacks are the deadliest in India since 2008, when gunmen killed 165 people in a three-day raid in Mumbai.
Home Minister P Chidambaram has said the blasts could have been the work of a "small group" who had "worked in a very clandestine manner".
No group has said it planted the bombs but suspicion among some officials and analysts has fallen on the Indian Mujahideen, a group which has claimed to have carried out similar attacks in the past.
Investigators who are going through the security camera footage and forensic evidence from the three sites are hoping to get a breakthrough, media reports say.
The biggest explosion occurred at the Opera House business district in the south of the city, in an area known as a hub for diamond traders. The detective quoted by DD News said footage from the site showed people behaving suspiciously.
"But until we question them or record their statement, we cannot say anything about their involvement," he added.
"We are calling all those people seen in the footage to get a clear picture of the incident or any details that may help us in the probe."
On Thursday Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the "perpetrators of [the] Mumbai blasts shall be pursued relentlessly and brought to justice quickly".
The other blasts hit Zaveri Bazaar, an area with many jewellery shops, and Dadar district in the city centre.
Mumbai has been targeted many times in recent years.
The 2008 attacks, which focused on two high-end hotels, a busy train station, a Jewish centre and other sites frequented by foreigners, were blamed on the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group.
The gunmen, nine of whom died in the raid, killed 165 people.
Pakistan-based militants were blamed for the November 2008 attacks and peace efforts between the two countries were derailed. Pakistan's government was quick to condemn the latest bombings. | Riot | July 2011 | ['(BBC)'] |
Joaquin is slowly moving on an east/northeast trek lowering the possibility of a direct hit to the U.S. East Coast. However, unrelated storms have already drenched the eastern seaboard this week. Streets were underwater up and down the coast at this afternoon's high tide. Adding Joaquin's wind and rain could create deadly, unprecedented downpours, flooding, wind damage, and power outages. . | As much of 15 inches of rain is possible in the Carolinas, even with the hurricane itself expected to miss the U.S. coast.
Millions along the East Coast breathed a little easier Friday after forecasters said Hurricane Joaquin would probably veer out to sea. But a freakishly powerful rainstorm fueled in part by the hurricane threatened to bring ruinous flooding to parts of the Atlantic Seaboard over the weekend.
With the soil already soggy and roads swamped in places from days of rain, East Coast states braced for what forecasters said could be deadly and unprecedented downpours.
New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and parts of Maryland and Delaware were under states of emergency. Meteorologists said the Carolinas will probably get the worst of it, with 15 inches of rain in places and landslides possible in the mountains.
“It’s going to be enormous,” meteorologist Ryan Maue of Weather Bell Analytics said. “It’s going to be a slow-motion disaster.”
For days, authorities had feared that Joaquin would link up with the rainstorm, multiplying the disastrous effects. Various computer models showed the hurricane hitting North Carolina’s Outer Banks, New Jersey, New York’s Long Island or Massachusetts’ Cape Cod.
But on Friday, as Joaquin raked the Bahamas with winds of 130 mph, forecasters said it appeared the hurricane would pass well off the U.S. coast.
“It looks like we dodged a bullet this time,” New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said at the Jersey shore, which nevertheless got hit with street flooding nearly three years after it was devastated by Superstorm Sandy. “Let’s keep our fingers crossed.”
The rainstorm threatened to bring a gusty and prolonged drenching from Georgia to New England. Forecasters warned that even if Joaquin peels away from the coast, its effects will still be felt, because it will continue to supply tropical moisture to the rainstorm.
South Carolina could get more rain in three days that it normally gets during the entire fall.
“We are growing increasingly concerned about the situation in South Carolina, western North Carolina and perhaps even in northeast Georgia,” said David Novak, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Weather Prediction Center. “We’re pretty confident that some places are going to have 15 inches. A lot of places are going to have 5, 6, 7 inches of rain, particularly the whole state of South Carolina.”
Parts of Virginia and Maryland could get up to 5 inches.
The storm was already blamed for at least one death in South Carolina, where heavy rain has fallen for days. Sylvia Arteaga, 56, drowned in a flash flood under a railroad bridge in Spartanburg while driving home from the night shift.
Authorities around the region also warned that the saturated soil could cause trees to topple. They said that might have played a role in the death of a passenger whose vehicle was hit by a tree on Interstate 95 near Fayetteville, North Carolina.
By mid-morning Friday, water was flowing over South Main Street on Virginia’s Chincoteague Island.
“Every year, we kind of hold our breath, knowing that we’re due,” said Brian Shotwell, manager of a sandwich shop.
Streets were underwater at high tide in the afternoon in cities and towns up and down the coast, including Norfolk, Virginia; Atlantic City, Sea Isle City and Stone Harbor, New Jersey; and Ocean City, Maryland, which had 5 feet of water in low-lying areas.
In Poquoson, Virginia, Joy Bryant had to cancel a yard sale because her property was half-submerged and cars couldn’t get down the road. She planned to spend the evening putting sandbags in front of her garage.
“Of course, we don’t know what to expect this weekend,” she said, “but since the storm is moving out and not on the track that it was yesterday, we’re very relieved.”
Steve Stougard stood in his front yard in Norfolk, watching one motorist after another decide whether to try to drive through a flooded intersection.
“It’s convenient that we’re not getting a direct hit from a major hurricane. I consider that an answered prayer,” he said. “But we still have to deal with the rain, still have to deal with the tides.”
Meanwhile, Joaquin tore off roofs, uprooted trees and unleashed heavy flooding in the Bahamas, and the U.S. Coast Guard searched for a missing 735-foot cargo ship with 33 people aboard.
Residents of Princeville, North Carolina, couldn’t help thinking of Hurricane Floyd in 1999, when muddy, swirling floodwaters wiped out 850 homes in the community of about 2,000 that is considered the oldest U.S. town chartered by blacks.
Jackie Vines and her husband wound up living in a trailer in an encampment that was dubbed FEMA City. As for the storm now threatening Princeville, Vines said: “All of that’s in God’s hands. I just pray about it.”
Success. | Hurricanes_Tornado_Storm_Blizzard | October 2015 | ['(WorldNetDaily)', '(Reuters)', '(AP via Portland Press-Herald)'] |
Voters in the Netherlands go to the polls for a general election. Exit polls suggest that incumbent Prime Minister Mark Rutte's People's Party for Freedom and Democracy will win the most seats in the election. | Voters are going to the polls in the Netherlands in the first of three crucial eurozone elections this year.
The race is dominated by Prime Minister Mark Rutte's centre-right VVD party and that of Geert Wilders, running on an anti-immigration platform.
Mr Rutte has said the election is an opportunity for voters to "beat the wrong sort of populism".
Mr Wilders has pledged to take the Netherlands out of the EU, close all mosques and ban the Koran.
His Freedom Party (PVV) had been leading in opinion polls but they have since suggested his support may be slipping.
Experts say turnout has been high - and could reach 80% - while some polling stations printed extra ballot papers to avoid running out.
Analysts say a high turnout, especially in the cities, could benefit pro-EU parties.
France goes to the polls next month to elect a new president while Germany is due to hold a general election in September.
Wednesday's election also comes amid a diplomatic spat between the Netherlands and Turkey.
Dutch vote turns spotlight on Moroccans
"Whatever the outcome of the elections today, the genie will not go back into the bottle and this patriotic revolution - whether today or tomorrow - will take place," Mr Wilders declared after casting his vote. While a populist surge is still possible in the Dutch ballot, a host of other parties could also do well, leaving Dutch politics fragmented, the BBC's Damian Grammaticas reports from The Hague. As parliamentary seats are allocated in exact proportion to a party's vote share and no major party wants to be in a coalition with Mr Wilders, he has little chance of entering government however well he performs, our correspondent says.
Protracted coalition talks are the likely outcome.
After casting his vote, Mr Rutte asked his fellow citizens to imagine how the world would react if the Freedom Party came first.
"I think the rest of the world will then see that after Brexit, after the American elections, again the wrong sort of populism has won the day," he said.
Earlier, in televised debates, Mr Rutte and Mr Wilders clashed over how to stem immigration. Mr Rutte dismissed Mr Wilders's plan to close borders and mosques and to ban the Koran as "fake solutions". Mr Wilders accused Mr Rutte of providing better healthcare for immigrants than for the Dutch themselves.
Lodewijk Asscher of the Labour Party (PvdA), the junior party in Mr Rutte's coalition, called Mr Wilders a man of "10,000 angry tweets and no solutions".
Several of the smaller party leaders are being seen as potential power-brokers.
Seven of the 28 parties running could win more than 10 seats in the 150-seat parliament, the polls suggest.
Christian Democrat (CDA) Sybrand Buma and liberal (D66) Alexander Pechtold might go into coalition in the event of a Rutte victory. But other parties could end up as king-makers too, such as the Green-Left under Jesse Klaver and the Socialist party (SP). None are likely to take part in a coalition with Geert Wilders.
All of the parties forecast to win 10 seats or more are led by men yet women made up more than a third of MPs in the outgoing parliament (58 out of 150).
In the past, the Green-Left was regularly led by a woman, including Femke Halsema, who held the post for more than eight years (2002-10). Now only some of the very small parties have female leaders:
Dutch race row engulfs presenter Sylvana Simons
The row with Turkey followed Mr Rutte's decision to ban two Turkish ministers from addressing rallies in the country. In response, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused the Netherlands of being "Nazi remnants".
Mr Wilders described protesters who rioted outside the Turkish consulate in Rotterdam at the weekend as "scum".
One opinion poll suggested that the spat, and the riots in Rotterdam, had given anti-immigrant parties a boost but other polls indicated that the government's tough response to the rallies would benefit Mr Rutte's party too. Turkey attacks Dutch with Srebrenica jibe
With the sixth largest economy in the EU, the Netherlands is at the heart of the eurozone and EU decision-making.
Its reputation as a beacon for liberal values and tolerance in Europe has come under question with the rise of the Freedom Party. Analysts say a strong showing for Mr Wilders could foreshadow next month's presidential election in France, where far-right, anti-EU contender Marine Le Pen has widespread support.
In Germany, another right-wing party, Alternative for Germany, is expected to win seats for the first time in September. | Government Job change - Election | March 2017 | ['(BBC)'] |
In Major League Baseball, Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees is banned for 211 games for his role in the Biogenesis baseball scandal with 12 other players given bans of 50 games. | Alex Rodriguez, baseball's highest-paid player and one of the sport's greatest hitters, was suspended for a record 211 games on Monday for alleged doping offences.
Another 12 players, including three All-Stars, were handed 50-game suspensions by Major League Baseball following a long investigation into links between top players and a Florida clinic accused of supplying performance enhancing drugs.Replay
Rodriguez insists he will fight the ban.
"I am disappointed with the penalty and intend to appeal and fight this through the process," he said.
Banned for 211 games: Alex Rodriguez.Credit:Getty Images
"I am eager to get back on the field and be with my (New York Yankees) teammates in Chicago tonight. I want to thank my family, friends and fans who have stood by my side through all this."
The Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) issued a statement saying they fully supported Rodriguez, and criticised MLB commissioner Bud Selig's handling of the case.
"For the player appealing, Alex Rodriguez, we agree with his decision to fight his suspension," the union's executive director Michael Weiner said.
"We believe that the Commissioner has not acted appropriately under the Basic Agreement. Mr Rodriguez knows that the Union, consistent with its history, will defend his rights vigorously."
MLB released a statement identifying the following players that had been given the lesser bans: Texas Rangers outfielder Nelson Cruz, San Diego Padres shortstop Everth Cabrera, Detroit Tigers shortstop Jhonny Peralta, Philadelphia Phillies reliever Antonio Bastardo, New York Mets outfielder Jordany Valdespin, Yankees catcher Francisco Cervelli, Seattle Mariners catcher Jesus Montero, New York Mets outfield prospect Cesar Puello, San Diego Padres pitching prospect Fautino De Los Santos, Houston Astros pitching prospect Sergio Escalona and New York Yankees outfield prospect Fernando Martinez.
They were all treated as first-time offenders and will serve their penalties - about eight weeks in MLB - in time to rejoin their teams for the postseason playoffs.
Rodriguez was banned until the end of the 2014 season - the longest doping penalty ever handed by MLB - because he had committed other offences, MLB commissioner Bud Selig said in a statement.
"Rodriguez's discipline under the Basic Agreement is for attempting to cover-up his violations of the Program by engaging in a course of conduct intended to obstruct and frustrate the Office of the Commissioner's ," Selig said.
"The suspension, which will become effective on Thursday, August 8th, will cover 211 Championship Season games and any 2013 Postseason games in which Rodriguez otherwise would have been eligible to play."
Rodriguez had previously indicated he would appeal to an arbitrator, allowing him to play until the case was resolved.
He was listed to play for the New York Yankees in Chicago on Monday against the White Sox.
Although Rodriguez has never been punished for doping, he has previously admitted to doping, but said he stopped using steroids about a decade ago.
The 38-year-old is currently fifth on the all-time home runs list with 647 home runs but the ban threatens to ruin his prospects of overtaking Barry Bonds (762) as the all-time leader. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | August 2013 | ['(Reuters via the Sydney Morning Herald)'] |
A group of Irish people are thrown out of the European Central Bank in Frankfurt after attempting to hand a letter of protest to the bank's president Mario Draghi. | A group of 15 Irish people including members of the Ballyhea and Charleville Bondholder Protest groups protested outside the European Central Bank in Frankfurt yesterday.
They also had a letter of protest passed to Mario Draghi, President of the European Central Bank. Mr Draghi witnessed the group protesting outside the bank, but the group were unable to talk to him in person. Olli Rehn, Vice President of the European Commission responsible for Economic and Monetary Affairs and the Euro also passed the group as he entered the main building.
Speaking to the Cork Independent yesterday Diarmuid O'Flynn, the protest's organiser, said:
"I was just thrown out of the European Central Bank (ECB). Someone from the ECB press office came down and said they were afraid that I could cause havoc in the press conference. I had my official media accreditation from Village Magazine.”
The question the group wished to ask was: ‘The bailouts of banks and bondholders has so far cost the Irish people €67.8 billion, over 40 per cent of our GDP and it is approximately €17,000 for every man, woman and child in the country. Last week the European Commission said the likelihood of this debt not being sustainable is high. In light of this, will the ECB persist with the current policy in Ireland or will they re-consider especially with regard to the promissory notes?
The idea behind their protest is to try to engage directly with the ECB and make their presence felt. “Now it can be no longer said that the Irish don’t protest,” he said.
“We had signs in German and lots of people stopped to talk to us. They are not aware of the burden on the Irish people and if they had a similar burden there would be riots,” he said.
“This burden is forced on us because we are a small country. We have gotten breaks on the back of the Greek bailout and the government claimed credit. The same may happen with Spain. Other people are doing our negotiating and this government is incapable of standing up for us.”
Patrick Honohan
Members of the group were surprised to find Patrick Honohan, governor of the Central Bank of Ireland on the same Ryanair flight to Frankfurt as them. They didn’t manage to talk to him on the flight but they did meet him as he entered the ECB this morning. “He took our letter and said that he would present the letter to Mario Draghi, although he smiled and said that he couldn’t hand it to him personally as it mightn’t look great!” On Tuesday night the group of 15 symbolically ‘nailed’ their own ‘theses’ to the door of the ECB in honour of Martin Luther’s famous ‘95 Theses’, which started the Reformation. The ‘Ballyhea Theses’ has 34 points.
“Overall, we think the protest has been very successful. We achieved everything we wanted but get into the press conference and I nearly did that,” according to Mr O’Flynn.
In the letter to Mario Draghi, the group had a list of demands, including an immediate end to all the forced payments of bank bonds, the immediate destruction of all remaining promissory notes and the money printed by the Irish Central Bank to facilitate the payment of those failed bonds in those failed banks to be left in circulation. Other demands include “the return of all interest paid to date on those bank-debt borrowings”. | Protest_Online Condemnation | June 2012 | ['(Cork Independent)'] |
Zambian government files corruption charges against expresident Frederick Chiluba in a British High Court. He is accused of defrauding the state of the equivalent of US$35 million. | Mr Chiluba - along with a Congolese businessman - is accused of defrauding the Zambian state of almost $35m and sending the money abroad. The accusations refer to an arms deal which was initiated during Mr Chiluba's term in office five years ago. Mr Chiluba denies the allegations, saying they are politically motivated.
Similar charges were brought against him in a court in Zambia last year, but were later dropped after two other people involved in the same case had fled the country. Suits seized
On Monday, Mr Chiluba angrily hit out after hundreds of his shirts, suits and shoes were seized from a warehouse at the weekend.
What they have done is to bring my underpants out to the general public
Frederick Chiluba
The former head of state, with a taste for expensive designer suits, said the raid in the capital, Lusaka, was a calculated attempt to "disgrace and humiliate" him.
Police suspect the clothes were bought using government funds and believe the ex-president hid them at the warehouse.
But Mr Chiluba said his new home was too small for all his belongings.
"What they have done is to bring my underpants out to the general public," Mr Chiluba told reporters.
Mr Chiluba said anti-graft investigators were persecuting him.
The BBC's Musonda Chibamba says cars and buildings both in Zambia and Europe have already been seized.
His handpicked successor, President Levy Mwanawasa, has been pursuing an anti-corruption drive against Mr Chiluba's former government.
Mr Mwanawasa said that he would grant a presidential pardon to Mr Chiluba if he admitted the allegations of corruption and returned 75% of the cash he allegedly stole. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | March 2005 | ['(Reuters SA)', '(BBC)'] |
Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi orders the elite Counter-Terrorism Service to quell the protests in the capital Baghdad and the southern city of Nasiriya. | BAGHDAD - At least 67 Iraqis were killed and hundreds wounded over two days as demonstrators clashed with security forces and militia groups in a second wave of protests against Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi's government this month.
Seeking to contain the spiraling violence, on Saturday night Abdul Mahdi ordered members of the country's elite Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) onto the streets of Baghdad and the southern city of Nasiriyah. They were told to "use all necessary measures" to end the protests, security sources told Reuters.
Around midnight, CTS troops took over checkpoints in neighborhoods surrounding Baghdad's central Tahrir Square and began corralling protesters out. Security forces firing tear gas had earlier failed to clear the square of demonstrators.
In Nasiriyah, CTS soldiers broke up demonstrations by beating and arresting dozens, police and security sources said.
The two cities, where thousands had turned out for a second day of protests, saw the bulk of Saturday's violence as protesters continued to vent their frustration at political
elites they say have failed to improve their lives after years of conflict and economic hardship.
Four people were killed after being struck directly in the head by tear gas canisters fired by security forces in Baghdad, with dozens more wounded. Four others died in Nasiriyah, when a group of protesters stormed the home of a local security official, police said. Guards opened fire after the protesters torched the building, police said.
Seven more people died in Hilla, most when members of the Iranian-backed Badr Organization militia group opened fire on protesters who had gathered near their office.
At least 52 people were killed around the country on Friday, and more than 2,000 more wounded.
The latest bloodshed was the second major bout of violence this month. Earlier in October, 157 people were killed and more than 6,000 wounded in other clashes between protesters and security forces.
Spiraling violence
The unrest has broken nearly two years of relative stability in Iraq, which from 2003 to 2017 endured a foreign occupation, civil war and an Islamic State (IS) insurgency.
It poses the biggest challenge to Abdul Mahdi since he took office just a year ago. Despite promising reforms and ordering a broad cabinet reshuffle, he has so far struggled to address the protesters' discontent.
Adding more pressure, the parliamentary bloc linked to populist Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr announced it was going into opposition on Saturday, a big blow to his premiership.
However, Abdul Mahdi's decision to deploy CTS troops was likely to be met with broad support from the country's political elite as well as praise from security forces, who said they would not shy away from using force.
Earlier in the day, Iraq's military and Ministry of Interior said that they planned to respond more firmly to protests on Saturday after Friday's heavy death toll.
In Basra, police said protesters who attacked security forces, public and private property would be prosecuted under Iraq's strict counterterrorism law.
Political leaders also spoke out in support of the security forces' actions over the weekend, while militia leaders signaled their support for a tough stance against protesters and urged the premier not to back down.
The statements came after another long day of violent protests across the country. Although volleys of tear gas were lobbed indiscriminately at protesters on Saturday, many demonstrators expressed relief that security forces had not used live rounds this time.
In Baghdad, protesters distributed masks and homemade remedies to protect themselves from the tear gas. Others handed out food and water.
As sirens wailed and tuk-tuks ferried bloodied protesters to hospitals, others expressed outrage at a political establishment so willing to resort to violence.
"Our protests are peaceful. We only have flags and water bottles, but they keep firing bombs at us, firing tear gas at us," said demonstrator Silwan Ali, 33. "What have we
done to deserve this? What have we done? The young men who died — what did they do?"
‘Stealing from us'
Most of those killed on Friday and Saturday were protesters in cities in the south, as demonstrators focused their anger on politicians and Iranian-backed Shiite militia groups.
Members of the powerful Asaib Ahl al-Haq (AAH) militia turned their guns on protesters in both Nasiriyah and Amara on Friday, leaving scores dead. AAH also clashed with another powerful militia, one loyal to Muqtada al-Sadr.
Despite a curfew and federal anti-riot forces dispatched from Baghdad, thousands gathered across cities in the south on Saturday, clashing again with militia groups.
Protesters continued to torch the offices of all major political parties, militia groups and local government buildings. In Nasiriyah, they set fire to the governor's house.
"This is not a protest, this is a revolution," said one protester who declined to give his name.
Parliament was set to meet on Saturday in an emergency session to discuss the protesters' demands, but with many politicians keeping a low profile since the protests began, it failed to reach a quorum and the session was canceled.
"The government has been stealing from us for 15 years. Saddam went and 1,000 Saddams have been hiding in the Green Zone," a protester who declined to be named said on Saturday, referring to the former Iraqi dictator. | Protest_Online Condemnation | October 2019 | ['(Voice of America)'] |
Two people are killed and eight are hurt when a man confronted by police for scrawling graffiti at a Mexico City Metro station opens fire on passersby. | MEXICO CITY, Mexico (CNN) -- Mexican authorities deployed more than 1,000 additional police officers to reinforce security at the capital's 175 subway stations on Saturday, a day after a shooting inside a station left two people dead and eight injured at the height of evening rush hour.
Camera footage shows Luis Felipe Hernandez Castillo brandishing a gun.
The shooting at the Balderas station in central Mexico City happened after police stopped Luis Felipe Hernandez Castillo, 38, from writing graffiti on the wall of one of the subway platforms.
Five of the injured suffered gunshot wounds, and three others were hurt by the stampeding crowds, officials said. Hernandez Castillo was writing "Este gobierno de criminales," or "this government of criminals," Mexico City district attorney Miguel Angel Mancera said. As police tried to stop him, Hernandez Castillo drew a .38 special handgun and began firing.
Mancera said his first impression of Hernandez Castillo is that he may suffer from mental illness.
"One moment he is talking about global warming and then about the message of the Bible and suddenly he focuses on some government," Mancera said.
Authorities identified Hernandez Castillo as an agriculturalist from the state of Jalisco.
Hernandez Castillo also told investigators that he believed a great famine would come, and he traveled to Mexico City to relay a message, Mancera said.
Earlier this month, a Bolivian pastor hijacked a passenger jet in Mexico City with a fake bomb, claiming that he acted on a divine revelation to warn people of a forthcoming earthquake.
Mancera said Hernandez Castillo was aware of the hijacking, but that the two events were not connected.
Hernandez Castillo said he opened fire because he saw the police as a threat to his task of writing on the wall, Mancera said.
Preliminary tests show that Hernandez Castillo was not under the influence of alcohol or drugs during the incident, Mancera said.
The Mexican government on Saturday posted security camera footage of the shooting. It shows a busy subway platform as the train pulls into the station just before 5:15 p.m. Friday. As the train comes to a stop, there is a disturbance in the crowd, and Hernandez Castillo is seen shooting at an officer. Watch the dramatic incident unfold
The crowd disperses, and the officer runs out of view of the camera. The officer, who was a bank policeman, is later seen on the footage lying dead, face down on the platform.
Authorities identified the officer as Victor Manuel Miranda Martinez.
The footage shows a man in a white shirt running off the train and trying to wrestle Hernandez Castillo. The man chases Hernandez Castillo around the platform. He frequently falls either because he slips or is trying to avoid being shot.
The man is on the floor facing Hernandez Castillo, about to get up and try to grab him, when he is shot in the head and falls to the ground.
Mancera initially said the man was a federal security agent in plain clothes, but later clarified that the man was a civilian, a 58-year-old construction worker.
A scattered handful of people remain on the subway platform during the shooting. Some stay on the train. Others walk on the platform very close to the shooter, seemingly undisturbed.
Seven minutes later, the camera pans out to show the construction worker lying on his back and the bank police officer in the foreground. Hernandez Castillo remains on the train, occasionally firing his gun and peeking out of the train.
At 5:23 p.m., the camera shows first one, then two, then three plain-clothes police getting into position on the platform. Within moments they rush Hernandez Castillo and pull him out of the train, with nearly a dozen police officers then wrestling him to the ground.
Hernandez Castillo was treated at a hospital for a bullet wound to the right shoulder before being transferred to the local attorney general's office, a common place to hold prisoners during preliminary investigations, a spokesman for the attorney general said.
He faces two counts of murder and one count each of attempted murder, aggression, resisting arrest and disturbing the peace, said the spokesman, who declined to be named because he is not authorized to speak to the press. | Armed Conflict | September 2009 | ['(CNN)', '(BBC)', '(The Sydney Morning Herald)'] |
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert denies reports that Israel is negotiating with Hamas. | JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Israel's prime minister denied media reports that it is negotiating with the militant group Hamas, which controls Gaza, but said there will be Israeli "consultations" Sunday "regarding the situation in the south."
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is staying mum about a possible cease-fire deal with Hamas.
"Should a decision of any kind be required, it will be made only via a meeting of the Security Cabinet and after taking into account all of the new political circumstances that have been created in the wake of the recent Israeli elections," Yanki Galanti, the media adviser for Ehud Olmert, said Saturday night in a statement.
The consultations are to take place among Olmert, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.
Israel held elections Tuesday which resulted in a near-tie between Livni's centrist Kadima party and the right-wing Likud party, led by Benjamin Netanyahu. It is not yet clear who will emerge as prime minister.
Israel agreed January 21 to temporarily halt its three-week military operation in Gaza, which it began in response to repeated rocket attacks into southern Israel. Since then, Egypt has been trying to broker an agreement between the two sides.
On Friday, a spokesman for Hamas told CNN that Israeli and Hamas negotiators have "almost reached agreement" on a long-term truce.
Tahir Annono, who is in Cairo for the truce meetings, said there would be meetings Friday and Saturday, and on Sunday an announcement would be made.
Hamas' deputy leader, Moussa Abu Marzouk, said that the truce would last for 18 months and all commercial border crossings between Gaza and Israel would be opened.
The security of Israelis who have been targets of the rocket attacks from Gaza and the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit are priorities as Israel considers the next steps in its conflict with Hamas, Olmert said Saturday through his media adviser.
Olmert has been under pressure to secure Shalit's release as part of a broader cease-fire deal. However, the cease-fire in January did not include Shalit's release as a condition.
Shalit was 19 when he was captured on June 25, 2006, by Palestinian militants in Gaza. They tunneled into Israel and attacked an Israeli army outpost near the Gaza-Israel-Egypt border, killing two other soldiers in the assault. Israel immediately launched a military incursion into Gaza to rescue him, but failed.
"We should like to emphasize that the security of residents of the south and the release of Gilad Shalit are currently at the top (of) Israel's priorities," the statement said. | Diplomatic Talks _ Diplomatic_Negotiation_ Summit Meeting | February 2009 | ['(CNN)'] |
Cardinal Donald Wuerl joins "people of all faiths across our community in praying for the people killed and wounded in the attack at the Navy Yard in Washington, D.C." A shooting at the Navy Yard in southeast Washington left 13 dead and about a dozen more injured. | U.S. leaders are offering prayers for the nation following a shooting at the Navy Yard in southeast Washington, D.C., that left 13 dead and about a dozen more injured.
“I join people of all faiths across our community in praying for the people killed and wounded in the attack at the Navy Yard in Washington, D.C,” said Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl, adding that he is also praying for first responders and for family and friends of the victims.
“While many facts are still unknown, our most powerful tool right now is prayer,” the Washington cardinal said in a Sept. 16 statement. “The Church always calls us to prayer, particularly in moments of crisis. It is what we do best because it is what the Lord asks us to do.”
At about 8:20 a.m. on Sept. 16, numerous shots were fired at the D.C. facility, which contains the headquarters of the Naval Sea Systems Command.
Washington D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier confirmed that at least 13 people were killed in the shooting, including one shooting suspect, identified by the FBI as 34-year-old Aaron Alexis, a military contractor from Texas. Authorities are asking the public for help in finding more information on Alexis and the shooting.
Police initially said that they were looking for two more potential suspects, but later said they had found and cleared one of the individuals, leaving the other possible suspect at large.
Washington Mayor Vincent Gray told reporters that the motive for the shooting is unclear.
The base and surrounding public schools were placed on lockdown for several hours, according to the Department of the Navy and D.C. city officials.
As the nation confronts “yet another mass shooting,” President Barack Obama said in a Sept. 16 press conference, “we send our thoughts and prayers to all at the Navy Yard who’ve been touched by this tragedy.”.
| Armed Conflict | September 2013 | ['(Catholic News Agency)'] |
Tens of thousands of Kurds flee into Turkey ahead of an ISIL offensive. (AFP, New York Times via Sydney Morning Herald) | Suruc, Turkey: Tens of thousands of Syrian Kurds have flooded into Turkey, fleeing an onslaught by the Islamic State group (also known as ISIL) that prompted an appeal for international intervention.
Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said more than 60,000 Syrian Kurds had crossed into the country since the frontier was opened on Friday.
A Syrian Kurd pours water on a child after they crossed the border between Syria and Turkey near the Turkish town of Suruc.Credit:AFP
The exodus was prompted by intense clashes between ISIL and Kurdish fighters trying to hold off an assault on the town of Ayn al-Arab, known as Kobani in Kurdish.
Since Tuesday night, ISIL fighters have been advancing on the town, hoping to secure control over a large swathe of Syria's northern border with Turkey.
Syrian Kurds cross the border under the watch of Turkish forces.Credit:AFP
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, said 18 ISIL fighters were killed in clashes overnight.
It said 13 jihadists were killed on Saturday, and that 25 Kurdish fighters have been killed since Tuesday.
On Saturday, the Observatory said 300 Kurdish fighters had entered Syria from Turkey to reinforce the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) fighting ISIL.
"[Islamic State] came to our village and threatened everyone. They bombed our village and destroyed all the houses. They beheaded those who chose to stay," said Mohammed Isa, 43, who left with his family of seven.
An employee at Turkey's consulate in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul is welcomed by family at Esenboga airport in Ankara, after Turkish intelligence secured the release of more than 40 diplomatic staff held by Islamic State after its capture of the city in June.Credit:Reuters
ISIL's advances have prompted calls from Syria's opposition and Kurdish officials for international intervention, with one leader warning of "ethnic cleansing".
The Syrian opposition National Coalition urged international air strikes to "stop mass atrocities" if ISIL advances into Kobani.
Syrian Kurds carry their belongings across the border into Turkey. Tens of thousands have fled the advance of Islamic State.Credit:AFP
"Air strikes are needed to help opposition forces protect vulnerable civilians," the coalition's US representative Najib Ghadbian said.
US President Barack Obama said last week he was ready to launch strikes on IS fighters in Syria, expanding the campaign already underway in Iraq, but so far there have been none.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu celebrates the liberation of his country's consular staff with the daughter of freed Turkish consul Ozturk Yilmaz as Mr Yilmaz looks on.Credit:AFP
The Observatory reported on Saturday that ISIL militants had executed at least 11 Kurds, and that the fate of some 800 residents who fled their villages remained "unknown".
The crisis on Syria's Turkish border unfolded as 49 Turkish hostages who had been held for months in Iraq by ISIL militants were returned to Turkey on Saturday after what Turkey said was a covert operation led by its intelligence agency.
The hostages, including diplomats and their families, had been seized in June from the Turkish consulate in the Iraqi city of Mosul.
"The Turkish intelligence agency has followed the situation very sensitively and patiently since the beginning and, as a result, conducted a successful rescue operation," said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The details of the hostages' release were unclear. The semi-official Turkish news agency Anadolu reported that Turkey had not paid ransom for them or engaged in a military operation. It said Turkey had used drones to track the hostages, who had been moved to different locations at least eight times during their 101 days in captivity.
The agency said that Turkish intelligence teams had tried five times to rescue the hostages but that each attempt had been thwarted by clashes in the area where they were being held.
One senior US official, who asked not to be named, said that Turkey had not notified the United States before securing the return of the hostages.
The freed hostages were later to be flown to Ankara to be reunited with their families. They were advised not to immediately talk to the news media.
Turkey, a predominantly Sunni Muslim country and a NATO ally, declined to sign a communique calling for a military campaign against Islamic State, citing the capture of its hostages. But it did agree to contribute to an international alliance against the group.
"One of the main hurdles for Turkey's strategy was the hostage crisis and therefore the release of the hostages will no doubt give Turkey more freedom with respect to its own strategy to resist the Islamic State," said Mensur Akgun, director of the Global Political Trends Centre in Istanbul. But he added: "This doesn't mean that Turkey will forget about its other reservations regarding national security when giving the green light to the demands from partners." | Armed Conflict | September 2014 | [] |
Alvaro Colom is sworn in as President of Guatemala. | Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez waves to the press as he arrives to Guatemala City, Monday, Jan. 14, 2007, to attend the inauguration of President-elect Alvaro Colom.
By JUAN CARLOS LLORCA – Jan 14, 2008 GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Guatemala on Monday swears in Alvaro Colom, its first leftist president in more than 50 years.
Colom and his vice president, former Houston Methodist Hospital heart surgeon Rafael Espada, were taking office an afternoon inaugural ceremony that was delayed to accommodate arriving dignitaries. Those attending included at least 10 world leaders, including Mexican President Felipe Calderon, Colombia President Alvaro Uribe and Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez.
Speaking to reporters before the ceremony, Chavez said Venezuela was ready to help Colom's new government any way it could, including with oil at preferential terms, investments and other aid.
"The doors are open," he said.
But while Colom will be Guatemala's first leftist leader since Jacobo Arbenz was thrown out of office in 1954 by a CIA-orchestrated coup, Colom said he doesn't want to be identified with other leftist governments in Latin America, including that of Chavez.
Arguing that each country must "find its own path," he said he won't accept Venezuela's offer of oil for preferential terms until he has consulted with his country's business elite.
"I ask God to give me the wisdom and humility to win over those who didn't vote for me. And God willing, in a few months Guatemala will begin to see a reduction in poverty and crime," he said in an interview with Radio Sonora on Monday.
Colom, an industrial engineer who led Guatemala's efforts to coax thousands of war refugees back home, has promised to build schools and medical centers, create jobs, and bring security to a country where gangs behead victims and drug traffickers control much of the police forces.
Half of Guatemala's 13 million people live on less than $1 a day.
Colom plans to recruit business leaders by having them participate in a so-called "Social Pact" to improve the economy and alleviate poverty.
The ceremony provides Chavez the first opportunity to meet face to face with Uribe since the two leaders were at odds over Colombia's hostage crisis. | Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration | January 2008 | ['(AP via Google News)'] |
The Vice–President of the United States Dick Cheney makes an unannounced visit to Afghanistan to hold discussions with the President of Afghanistan. | KABUL (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney visited Afghanistan on Thursday and met President Hamid Karzai ahead of a NATO summit where Washington will urge its allies to send more troops to the country.
Vice-President Dick Cheney speaks as the Afghan President Hamid Karzai looks on during a news conference in Kabul, March 20, 2008. REUTERS/Ahmad Masood
NATO’s Afghan mission is one of the toughest challenges faced by the 59-year-old alliance and has led to open differences among allies over strategy and troop levels.
Cheney said the mission of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan would be high on the agenda of the summit in Bucharest in early April.
“ISAF has made a tremendous difference in the country and America will ask our NATO allies for an even stronger commitment for the future,” Cheney told a news conference in the Afghan capital, Kabul, where he made an unannounced visit.
ISAF has some 43,000 troops in Afghanistan fighting Taliban militants, who have regrouped since U.S.-led and Afghan forces toppled the hardline Islamist movement from power after the September 11, 2001, attacks.
U.S., British, Canadian and Dutch troops are engaged in the bulk of the fighting in southern and eastern Afghanistan. Other NATO allies, notably France and Germany, have resisted U.S. pressure to allow their soldiers to operate outside the relative safety of the north.
“The United States and the other members of the coalition need to have a sufficient force here to be able to ensure security to deal with the threat that’s been represented by continuing activities by radicals and extremists, the likes of the Taliban and al Qaeda,” Cheney said.
The vice president later traveled to Bagram base near Kabul where a suicide bomber killed 14 people, including a U.S. and a South Korean soldier, the last time he was there in February 2007.
The Taliban aim to wear down the will of NATO countries to carry on the fight in Afghanistan and force a withdrawal of foreign troops that would hand them a strategic victory.
The Romanian defense ministry said one Romanian soldier was killed and another was wounded in north of Qalat, in southern Afghanistan, on Thursday when their armored vehicle hit an improvised explosive device.
U.S. SUPPORT “UNSHAKEABLE”
Already cracks are appearing in support for the war. Canada, with 2,500 troops in southern Afghanistan, wants NATO allies to provide another 1,000 soldiers to reinforce its combat forces as a condition for keeping its troops in the country.
Ordinary Afghans are also growing increasingly frustrated with the presence of foreign troops, the slow pace of development, official corruption and the lack of security.
U.S. commitment to Afghanistan was “firm and unshakeable”, Cheney said.
“Having liberated this country, the United States and our coalition partners have no intention of allowing extremists to shoot their way back into power,” he told U.S. troops at Bagram.
“We’re going to get this job done right so that another generation of Americans doesn’t have to come back and do it all over again,” he said.
All sides agree the long-term key to stability is for the Afghan army and police to be able to provide security.
The Afghan army is relatively well-trained and has taken a much greater role in fighting the Taliban over the last year, but the police lag far behind, are poorly trained, notoriously corrupt and often flee in the face of Taliban attacks.
“The continuation of NATO in Afghanistan is very, very important,” Karzai told the news conference alongside Cheney at the heavily guarded presidential palace. “As the Afghan National Army gets stronger, there will be less pressure and responsibility on the foreign security forces.”
Afghanistan has accused Pakistan of harboring militants along the neighbors’ rugged mountainous border, but cooperation between the two has improved since last year and both countries are now targets of Taliban and al Qaeda fighters.
Cheney said he thought a coalition government agreed in Pakistan between Asif Ali Zardari and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif would remain an ally of the United States.
“I expect they will be good and effective friends and allies of the United states just as the previous government has been,” Cheney told the news conference.
Additional reporting by Hamid Shalizi, and Radu Marinas in Bucharest; Writing by Jon Hemming; Editing by Alex Richardson and Robert Woodward
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
| Diplomatic Visit | March 2008 | ['(Reuters)'] |
Voters in the United Kingdom go to the polls for local elections with the opposition Labour Party expected to do well. | Ed Miliband has told voters Labour are "back throughout the country on your side" after making big gains in the English, Welsh and Scottish elections. In Scotland they gained a majority in Glasgow, while in Wales their results were the best since 1996 and in England they gained 22 councils.
Overall Labour gained 823 councillors. The Tories lost 405 and Lib Dems 336.
But Prime Minister David Cameron said he would continue making "difficult decisions" to deal with the deficit. With all the results in, the BBC's projection of the national share of the vote has Labour with a 38% national share of the vote, up three points, with the Tories down four on 31%. The Lib Dems' projected national share of the vote is estimated to be unchanged at 16%. But the party's total number of councillors has dipped below 3,000 for the first time since it was formed in 1988.
In other developments:
Conservative ministers have shrugged off the results as typical for a mid-term government.
Addressing activists in Southampton, one of the key councils gained by Labour, Mr Miliband said his party's campaign had been based around "the things that matter to people" - attacking the coalition as "out of touch".
His party took control of series of key councils in the south-east of England and the Midlands, including Birmingham, Plymouth, Reading, Norwich, Thurrock and Harlow.
"For the parents worried about their son or daughter who can't find a job, for the people who are seeing their living standards squeezed, for the people who think this country only works for a few at the top and not for them - Labour is back on your side. Labour is back in the south of England on your side, Labour is back throughout the country on your side."
He pledged to reach out to those who did not turn out to vote and to "regain trust", following the party's 2010 general election defeat, saying Labour still had "more to do" to win people over.
Shortly after his speech the Labour leader was hit on the shoulder by an egg during a walkabout in Southampton.
Prime Minister David Cameron said he was sorry for the councillors who had lost their seats against "a difficult national backdrop" but rejected suggestions he should change course: "These are difficult times and there aren't easy answers.
"What we have to do is take the difficult decisions to deal with the debt, deficit and broken economy that we've inherited and we will go on making those decisions and we've got to do the right thing for our country."
In London Conservative Boris Johnson pipped Labour's Ken Livingstone to win a second term as London mayor, although Labour made gains in the London assembly.
In Scotland - where Labour had been under pressure from the Scottish National Party - Labour gained 58 councillors, the SNP gained 57 with the Lib Dems the biggest losers, with 80 of their councillors defeated.
Deputy Prime Minister and Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg said he was "really sad" that so many Lib Dem councillors had lost their seats but added: "I am determined that we will continue to play our role in rescuing, repairing and reforming the British economy. "It's not an easy job and it can't be done overnight but our duty is to boost jobs and investment and to restore a sense of hope and optimism to our country."
The UK Independence Party increased its vote share, averaging about 13% of the vote where their candidates were standing, although it failed to translate that into seats - gaining six but losing five. Backbench Conservative MP Gary Streeter said Conservative supporters were sending a message to Mr Cameron that "they don't think our leadership is Conservative enough" by voting for the Eurosceptic UKIP.
But Foreign Secretary William Hague rejected any move to the right or left for the government and Lib Dem president Tim Farron told BBC any "lurch to the right" by the Tories would be "bonkers".
More than 4,700 seats have been contested in 128 English councils, with 21 unitary authorities in Wales electing new councillors. In Scotland, every seat on 32 unitary authorities was up for election.
Voters in Birmingham, Manchester, Sheffield, Nottingham, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Coventry, Wakefield, Leeds and Bradford have voted "no" in referendums for elected mayors but Bristol has voted "yes". In Doncaster, residents have voted to keep their mayoral system. | Government Job change - Election | May 2012 | ['(BBC)'] |
Voters in Serbia go to the polls for an early parliamentary election. The centre right SNS is reported to be receiving around 50% of the popular vote. , | BELGRADE (AFP) - Serbia's ruling centre-right Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) party was set for a landslide victory in snap polls on Sunday, according to observer estimates, cementing its grip on power after pledging tough economic reforms and a route into the European Union (EU).
The SNS won around 50 per cent of the vote, giving it a majority in the 250-seat parliament, independent electoral monitors Cesid said.
If confirmed in final results, it would be the highest score in Serbia's parliamentary elections since 1990, after the fall of communism, and would also allow the party to form a government on its own.
SNS official Nebojsa Stefanovic said his party had won 49.3 per cent of the vote.
The SNS and its leader Aleksandar Vucic - now set to become the next premier - had called early polls in order to win a new mandate to push ahead with economic reforms.
"I want Serbia to pursue a fierce battle against corruption, develop its economy, increase the number of jobs, and for this we need difficult and painful reforms," said Mr Vucic, an ultra-nationalist hawk turned pro-European.
"It will not be easy at all. Thousands of other problems must also be solved," he said after casting his ballot.
The outgoing SNS-dominated cabinet, led by Socialist Prime Minister Ivica Dacic, won support from Brussels to begin EU membership talks only after a historic accord with the breakaway region of Kosovo last year.
Though the SNS won the most votes in the last election in 2012, it gave the post of premier to the Socialist party as part of a coalition deal.
The SNS owes its popularity largely to Mr Vucic's high-profile anti-graft drive that led to the arrest of several tycoons and former ministers.
Serbia - the largest country to emerge after the break-up of Yugoslavia with a population of 7.2 million - has often been seen as a defiant international pariah since playing a central role in the Balkan wars of the 1990s.
But with a fifth of the workforce unemployed and the average monthly salary at just 350 euros ($615), Serbia's leading parties now see membership of the 28-member EU as the only hope for the future.
Although Serbia still refuses to recognise Kosovo's 2008 declaration of independence, it forged a compromise deal last year, in which it agreed to recognise the authority of the government in Pristina over the territory of Kosovo - an agreement that opened the door to accession talks with Brussels.
'NO CHANGE'
Many Serbs, such as 45-year old textile worker Jadranka Milosavljevic, moonlight in the so-called grey economy, with no health or social benefits.
"Ordinary people will see no change. Look at me, it's Sunday, and I'm on my way to my second job to try to make some money for my family," she said.
The next government will have to focus on reforming antiquated labour laws and cutting down on bureaucracy, analysts say.
Serbia's eight billion euro budget is struggling to cope with 1.7 million pensioners and a bloated public sector that employs more than 700,000.
The new government will also have to push through a stringent austerity package, including the privatisation of more than 170 state-owned companies, along with subsidy cuts and tax increases.
But 64-year-old pensioner Borivoje Mikic said he expected no change.
"The barn is the same, only the animals in it change," Mr Mikic said.
Despite the gloomy economy, opinion polls ahead of the election showed a dominant position for the SNS, with 44 per cent voter support.
Unemployed bank clerk Olga Petrovic, 52, said Mr Vucic and his party offered "the first glimmer of hope".
"I know we will have to survive painful times, but at least I see a light at the end of a tunnel."
Analysts expected a final turnout of around 50 per cent, with many voters put off by the seemingly certain SNS victory.
The Socialists were ranked second in opinion polls with 14 per cent, ahead of the opposition Democratic Party with 11 per cent. | Government Job change - Election | March 2014 | ['(AP via Houston Chronicle)', '(Straits Times)'] |
A Republican Party primary election takes place in the U.S. state of South Carolina, with Newt Gingrich being declared the winner and Mitt Romney coming second. | Newt Gingrich has convincingly beaten Mitt Romney in South Carolina's primary election, the latest leg in the battle to be the Republican candidate in November's US presidential poll.
With almost all votes counted, Mr Gingrich had 40% to Mr Romney's 28%.
Mr Romney was widely seen as the frontrunner, but the latest outcome is set to turn the race into a long, hard-fought campaign, correspondents say.
The South Carolina victor has won the nomination in each election since 1980. Other Republican hopefuls, former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum and Texas representative Ron Paul, were trailing badly with 17% and 13% respectively.
US networks called the vote in the former House speaker's favour shortly after polls closed at 19:00 local time on Saturday (00:00 GMT Sunday), as exit polls predicted a wide margin of victory for Mr Gingrich.
BBC North America editor Mark Mardell, in South Carolina, says a Gingrich win is important, because all along the story of this race has been the search by conservatives for an alternative to Mitt Romney.
It is just possible they have settled on Mr Gingrich, and at the very least such a result will puncture the sense that eventually Mr Romney will triumph, our correspondent adds. Shortly after the vote, Mr Gingrich wrote on Twitter: "Thank you South Carolina! Help me deliver the knockout punch in Florida," referring to the next nominating contest on 31 January. The contest for that state is now seen as crucial, being a major battleground state in the US general election, with a diverse electorate and where a lot of money will be spent campaigning.
Several hours later, Mr Gingrich appeared at his campaign headquarters in the state capital Columbia - to wild cheers from supporters. "We don't have the kind of money that at least one of the candidates has, but we do have ideas and we do have people and we have proved here in South Carolina that people power with the right ideas beats big money and with your help we are going to prove it again in Florida," he said.
Earlier, Mr Romney told his supporters they were "three contests into a long primary season" and vowed to fight for every vote in every state.
Meanwhile, Mr Santorum pledged to fight on, saying: "It's a wide open race".
Mr Gingrich has captured the headlines in recent days, batting off a potentially damaging interview from an ex-wife, in which she said he had wanted an "open marriage".
Mr Gingrich's victory means that three different candidates have won the first three nominating state-by-state contests - Mr Santorum narrowly beat Mr Romney in the Iowa caucus, while Mr Romney claimed the New Hampshire primary.
All contenders agree that this will now be an endurance race, rather than the quick sprint which Team Romney had hoped for, the BBC's Steve Kingstone says. Mr Romney must now adapt his strategy, and come up with a more decisive riposte to those who criticise his personal wealth and career record as a venture capitalist, our correspondent says. Expect a brutal media war in Florida, he adds. Mr Romney set the tone in his post-defeat address, accusing Newt Gingrich of aligning himself with President Obama in a "frontal assault on free enterprise". For his part, Gingrich will counter that the "Massachusetts moderate" is the real Obama clone. Primaries and caucuses will be held in every US state over the next few months to pick a Republican nominee before the eventual winner is anointed at the party convention in August to take on Democratic President Barack Obama in November.
As it happened: One Covid vaccine dose cuts hospital risk by 75%
But the number of Delta variant cases recorded in the UK has risen by 79% in a week, figures show. | Government Job change - Election | January 2012 | ['(BBC)'] |
The Supreme Court of the United States rules 5–4 in favor of upholding the Partial–Birth Abortion Ban Act in the case of Gonzales v. Carhart. | WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a law that banned a type of late-term abortion, a ruling that could portend enormous social, legal and political implications for the divisive issue.
The sharply divided 5-4 ruling could prove historic. It sends a possible signal of the court's willingness, under Chief Justice John Roberts, to someday revisit the basic right to abortion guaranteed in the 1973 Roe v. Wade case.
President Bush, who signed the law in 2003 and appointed two of the justices who upheld it, said the prohibition "represents a commitment to building a culture of life in America."
"Today's decision affirms that the Constitution does not stand in the way of the people's representatives enacting laws reflecting the compassion and humanity of America," he said in a statement released by the White House.
At issue is the constitutionality of a federal law banning a rarely performed type of abortion carried out in the middle-to-late second trimester. (Watch how the decision might affect Roe vs. Wade )
The legal sticking point was that the law lacked a "health exception" for a woman who might suffer serious medical complications, something the justices have said in the past is necessary when considering abortion restrictions.
In the majority opinion, Justice Anthony Kennedy, the key swing vote in these divided appeals, said the federal law "does not have the effect of imposing an unconstitutional burden on the abortion right." He was joined by his fellow conservatives, Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Roberts.
In a bitter dissent read from the bench, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the only woman on the high court, said the majority's opinion "cannot be understood as anything other than an effort to chip away a right declared again and again by this court, and with increasing comprehension of its centrality to women's lives."
She called the ruling "alarming" and noted the conservative majority "tolerates, indeed applauds, federal intervention to ban nationwide a procedure found necessary and proper in certain cases" by doctor's groups, including gyncecologists.
The Justice Department and abortion rights groups have offered differing views of the legislation's impact on women's overall second trimester access to the procedure, and whether the procedure is ever medically necessary.
This was the first time the high court had heard a major abortion case in six years, and since then, its makeup has changed, with Roberts and Alito now on board. Their presence on the bench provided the solid conservative majority needed to allow the federal ban to go into effect, with Kennedy providing the key fifth vote for a majority.
Alito replaced Sandra Day O'Connor, a key abortion rights supporter over her quarter century on the bench.
"A lot of us wish that Alito weren't there and O'Connor were there," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, who opposed Alito's nomination, said.
Doctors call this type of late-term abortion an "intact dilation and evacuation." Abortion foes term it a "partial-birth abortion."
Three federal appeals courts had ruled against the government, saying the federal Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003 is unconstitutional because it does not provide a "health exception" for pregnant women facing a medical emergency. The outcome of this latest challenge before the court's new ideological makeup could turn on the legal weight given past rulings on the health exception.
In states where such exceptions are allowed, the lists of possible health risks include severe blood loss, damage to vital organs and loss of fertility. Court briefs noted pregnant women having the procedure most often have their health threatened by cancer, heart disease, high blood pressure or risk of stroke. Doctors are given the discretion to recommend when the late-term procedure should be performed.
The federal law has never gone into effect, pending the outcome of nearly three years of legal appeals.
Specifically, the ban encompasses what doctors call "intact dilation and evacuation" (also known as IDX), which Congress in its legislation termed inhumane.
It is a rarely used second-trimester procedure, designed to reduce complications to the woman. More common is "dilation and evacuation" (D&E), used in 95 percent of pre-viability second-trimester abortions, according to Planned Parenthood. Both are generally performed after the 21st week of pregnancy.
A major part of the legal dispute was whether the federal ban also includes the relatively more common "standard D&E abortions." The government contends the law does not, and is sufficiently narrow not to place an "undue burden" on a woman's reproductive choices.
Raw numbers were also at the heart of the debate, because the two sides disagreed on how often the procedure is performed. Solicitor General Paul Clement, the Justice Department's top lawyer before the court, suggested it is rarely performed, and that other medical options are available, so banning it would therefore not be a real barrier to women.
Abortions rights supporters say "intact" abortions are a medically accepted pre-viability, second-trimester procedure.
Since the Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion, some states have tried to place restrictions and exceptions on access to the procedure, prompting a string of high court "clarifications" on the issue over the years.
| Government Policy Changes | April 2007 | ['(CNN)'] |
Nigeria's senate changes the country's constitution to reschedule elections. | The Nigerian senate has voted to change the constitution to bring forward the date of next year's presidential and parliamentary elections.
The changes mean elections originally set for April could take place in January.
Nigeria's House of Representatives must still give its approval to the changes.
The new date is intended to allow any legal challenges after the election to be settled before the new president takes office in May.
Correspondents say the announcement puts pressure on President Goodluck Jonathan - both to declare if he will run, and to push through reforms to ensure fair elections.
Senators backed a proposal to hold the general election "not earlier than 150 days and not later than 120 days before the expiration of the term of office" of either the president or a state governor.
Under the current rules, polls must be held between 30 and 60 days before the new president's term begins.
Nigerian presidents take office on 29 May.
Attahiru Jega, the head of Nigeria's electoral commission, said the election could be held some time between 8 and 15 January if the constitutional changes became final.
But he told the BBC that it would be difficult to meet the tighter time-frame, as the voters' roll has "very, very serious questions of credibility" and so must be updated before elections can be held.
Nigeria has a long history of electoral fraud, and courts are still dealing with disputes over the April 2007 poll. International observers said the election was seriously flawed.
The ruling People's Democratic Party has a tradition of alternating power between north and south and under this system, it would be the north's "turn" in 2011.
Mr Jonathan, a southerner, has not said if he will try to contest the elections despite this convention.
National Assembly.
. | Government Policy Changes | July 2010 | ['(BBC)'] |
Iran says it is ready to resume international talks over its nuclear program "in a place and on a date convenient to both sides", says a letter to the European Union. | Iran has said it is willing to resume the stalled international talks over its contentious nuclear programme, the EU said today.
Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, sent the EU's foreign policy chief, the British peer Lady Ashton, a letter saying he was prepared to continue the talks, which halted a year ago, "in a place and on a date convenient to both sides" after 10 November.
"I think this is a very significant move," Ashton told reporters at the EU summit in Brussels. Earlier this month Ashton – who is the main contact point for Iran in talks involving Britain, France and Germany along with the US, Russia and China – invited Jalili for three days of negotiations in Vienna next month.
One unnamed EU diplomat told Reuters the meeting could now take place in Geneva instead and that the aim was for three days of talks with "everything on the table", including a general discussion of Iran's nuclear activities. "We see this all as a very positive sign, there is a strong sense of optimism," the diplomat said.
Lengthy stop-start talks ground to a halt in October last year over Iran's reluctance to agree a deal that would allow its stockpile of enriched uranium to be used only for civilian purposes, with much of it sent abroad for processing.
Since then the EU, US and UN have introduced tougher economic sanctions against Iran, a tactic which has produced few results. Earlier this week Iran said it had begun loading uranium fuel rods into the core of its first nuclear plant, the Bushehr facility in the south of the country, which was built with Russian assistance.
Iran insists its nuclear ambitions are peaceful, but the US and EU, in particular, fear it is seeking to acquire sufficient enriched uranium to build a nuclear weapon.
The UN-drafted deal on offer to Tehran at last year's talks would have seen Iran's enriched uranium sent overseas for further processing into fuel rods that would be returned for use in powering a medical research reactor. These rods could not be easily turned into the more enriched grade of uranium needed for armaments.
There is no immediate sign that Iran is prepared to give ground on the so-called fuel swap, particularly given that any new offer is likely to have tougher conditions attached.
The US state department has confirmed that the US and EU are close to agreeing a common negotiating position. They will insist Iran sends a significantly higher proportion of its uranium abroad, making the prospect of a nuclear weapon even more remote.
Another potential obstacle is whether Iran will again seek to have Israel's nuclear arsenal – never confirmed but widely presumed to exist – covered by the talks. In reporting the offer to Ashton, Iranian television referred to previous conditions for talks, including "clarification on Israel's ambiguous nuclear programme".
Earlier this month Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, endorsed the idea of new talks but warned they would fail if the west does not clearly come out against Israel's nuclear arsenal.
Also this week, the EU published its list of sanctions against Iran, which go beyond the measures previously imposed by the UN. They include a ban on investing in Iran's oil and gas industries, also covering shipping, air freight, insurance and banking, and companies and individuals linked to the Revolutionary Guard. | Diplomatic Talks _ Diplomatic_Negotiation_ Summit Meeting | October 2010 | ['(The Guardian)'] |
The Israel Defense Forces says that it has conducted a "complex and first-of-its-kind operation" in the Gaza Strip, killing several senior members of Hamas. | GAZA/JERUSALEM, May 12 (Reuters) - Israel killed a Hamas commander and vowed no let-up in its Gaza barrages on Wednesday as Palestinian militants rained rockets far across the border and Washington dispatched an envoy to try to calm their most intense hostilities in years.
| Armed Conflict | May 2021 | ['(AP)', '(Reuters)'] |
The driver of the lorry in which 39 Vietnamese migrants were found dead in Grays, Essex, England, pleads guilty to conspiring to assist unlawful immigration. | The lorry driver accused over the deaths of 39 migrants found dead in a trailer in Essex has pleaded guilty to plotting to assist illegal immigration.
Maurice Robinson, 25, who was allegedly part of a global smuggling ring, is charged with the manslaughter of a group of men, women and children found dead inside a refrigerated trailer.
The bodies of eight females and 31 males were discovered in the trailer attached to his cab in an industrial park in Grays, Essex, early on 23 October.
The victims were later identified as coming from various parts of Vietnam, with the youngest being two boys aged 15.
Mr Robinson appeared at the Old Bailey via video link from Belmarsh prison for a plea hearing on Monday.
During the hearing before Mr Justice Edis, he admitted conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration between 1 May, 2018, and 24 October, 2019.
The charge states that he plotted with others to do “an act or series of acts which facilitated the commission of a breach of immigration law by various persons”.
He also admitted acquiring criminal property – namely money – on the same dates.
The defendant, from Craigavon, Northern Ireland, was not asked to enter pleas to other charges, including 39 counts of manslaughter.
He is charged with conspiracy to commit human trafficking offences between 1 May, 2018 and 24 October, 2019.
The details of that charge state that he “arranged or facilitated the travel of other persons into the UK with a view to their being exploited”.
He is also charged with transferring criminal property.
The defendant was remanded into custody until a further hearing on 13 December.
Another suspect is due to appear at Chelmsford Magistrates' Court on Monday charged with human trafficking offences.
Irish national Christopher Kennedy, 23, was arrested in Buckinghamshire on Friday.
It came after it emerged a teenager who was among the 39 people found dead had gone missing from an asylum centre in the Netherlands.
Additional reporting by Press Association.
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Arrest | November 2019 | ['(The Independent)'] |
O. J. Simpson is sentenced to 15–33 years in prison with eligibility for parole after 9 years for kidnapping and robbery of two sports memorabilia dealers in a Las Vegas, Nevada, casino. | Disgraced former American football star OJ Simpson was sentenced on Friday to at least 15 years in prison for armed robbery and kidnapping during a 2007 raid on a Las Vegas hotel room.
Earlier with tears in his eyes, Simpson, 61, who will not be eligible for parole for abut five years, had apologised for the September 2007 robbery on the Palace Station hotel.
"I stand before you today, sorry, somewhat confused," Simpson told judge Jackie Glass.
"I did not know that I was doing anything illegal. I thought that I was confronting friends and retrieving my property. So I am sorry. I am sorry for all of it," Simpson said, his voice trembling as he fought back tears.
His co-accused Clarence Stewart, 54, was also sentenced to 15 years for the same charges as emotional friends and relatives of both men looked on from the public gallery.
Simpson's October 3 conviction on 12 charges came 13 years to the day after he was acquitted in his controversial 1995 trial of murdering his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend, Ron Goldman.
Earlier on Friday, looking nervous and dressed in a blue prison uniform, Simpson listened intently as his lawyer Yale Galanter asked Glass not to imprison his client. The judge denied that request but did dismiss two charges against him.
Simpson was convicted for his role in the 2007 raid in which he and five friends stormed the Las Vegas hotel, two of them carrying arms, and robbed two dealers of a trove of sports memorabilia.
Addressing the court for the first time in the trial, Simpson said he had been trying to get back personal items which had been stolen from his family after years of frustration at seeing his property end up for sale on the Internet.
"Property that over the years we have seen being sold on the Internet, and we have seen pictures of ours that were stolen from our home going into the tabloids," he said.
"This is the first time I had an opportunity to catch the guys red-handed who had been stealing from my family. I knew these guys."
He said among the items he had been looking for was a picture of his son in the Oval Office and his daughter's mother's wedding ring.
Lawyers for both Simpson and Stewart, who have been in custody since their convictions, have vowed to appeal against the convictions.
Simpson's team took issue with the jury selection which left no African-Americans on the panel.
And they charge that judge Glass engaged in theatrics during the trial, berating attorneys and witnesses, sighing and waving her hands in disgust.
"What she did was horrible towards the defence and that really does have an impact on jurors," said David Figler, a Las Vegas criminal defense attorney not associated with the case.
"They can easily make a greatest hits of her screaming or yelling shut up or other signals to the jury."
But another Las Vegas criminal defence attorney, David Chesnoff, said Stewart may have a better case for an appeal because his lawyers had asked from the start for a separate trial to avoid being tainted by Simpson's notoriety.
"There are some issues on severance for Stewart that the Nevada Supreme Court has been sensitive to in the past," said Chesnoff, who has represented Martha Stewart and Mike Tyson among other celebrity clients.
"I saw a great deal of the trial. I didn't see any egregious errors by the judge. She knows the rules of evidence."
One of the most famous American football players of his generation during a glittering 1970s career, Simpson was the prime suspect in the 1994 brutal murders.
Nicole, who had divorced Simpson in 1992 citing his "abusive behavior", was attacked so savagely she was almost decapitated.
Simpson, who has always vehemently denied the killings, was acquitted after the racially charged 1995 trial, in a verdict that was greeted with widespread outrage across America.
Simpson was subsequently found liable for the deaths in a 1997 civil suit and was ordered to pay damages to the victims' families totaling $US33.5 million ($51.98 million). He has repeatedly said he will not pay the settlement. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | December 2008 | ['(Los Angeles Times)', '(AFP via Melbourne Age)'] |
Hundreds of Haredi Jews rioting in Jaffa clash with the Israel Police and Israel Border Police over the alleged desecration of Jewish graves. Five policemen are injured. Ten rioters are injured, and fifteen are arrested. | Five police officers, ten demonstrators lightly hurt in protest violence after rabbi leads mass prayers to curse developers of luxury housing project.
Hundreds of ultra-Orthodox Jews rioted in Jaffa on Wednesday over building work they say is desecrating Jewish graves.
Police and reinforcements from the Border Guard deployed heavily to contain protesters and at least five police officers hurt by stones thrown by rioters, who also torched rubbish bins, Israel Radio reported. Ten demonstrators were lightly hurt and fifteen were arrested. | Riot | June 2010 | ['(Haaretz)'] |
Violence occurs in Najaf, Nasiriyah, Diwaniyah and Sadr City . Cleric Muqtada al-Sadr calls for an end to violence between his followers engaging a rival Shiite group, the Badr Organizations . Both groups blame the other, while some Shia National Assembly members and ministers suspend their membership in the council because of the violence. | From Kianne Sadeq CNN BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Following bloody battles in Baghdad and other Iraqi cities, radical Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr on Thursday called for an end to violence between his supporters and those loyal to a rival Shiite leader.
At least five people died and 10 others were wounded in fighting Wednesday between followers of al-Sadr and forces associated with Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, the head of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI). Dr. Mohammed Abbas al-Fetlawi, head of the Najaf health system, confirmed the casualties.
"I call upon all the believers to save the blood of the Muslims and to return to their homes," al-Sadr said at a news conference. He called on al-Hakim to do the same.
"I demand that brother Abdul Aziz al-Hakim make an official announcement condemning the aggression by his representatives and some extremists."
A short time later, a SCIRI spokesman also asked for an end to the violence, saying it did not benefit Iraq.
Al-Sadr and his backers are among a minority of Shiites who oppose an Iraqi constitution that would include a decentralized Iraqi government with autonomous regions -- or federalism. Sunni Arabs also oppose this plan. Al-Hakim supports an autonomous region in the south for Shiite Arabs. The violence prompted Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, in a televised address Wednesday, to call for calm, saying fighting should not occur between Iraqis, but against enemies of Iraq.
Al-Sadr praised al-Jaafari for his stance on the violence, as well as President Jalal Talabani, who condemned it.
Laith Kubba, adviser to Prime Minister al-Jaafari, said the tension between al-Sadr supporters and SCIRI "is rooted in local issues," such as the control of municipal councils.
Wednesday's violence followed the reopening of an al-Sadr office near the holy Shiite Imam Ali Mosque in the city of Najaf, south of the capital.
Al-Sadr's offices have been closed since last year's fighting between al-Sadr's Mehdi Army militia and U.S. forces. Conditions in Najaf have been relatively peaceful after clashes were resolved by last year's agreement between al-Sadr and the Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani that granted his freedom from charges in a murder case.
Al-Sadr was wanted by Iraqi authorities in connection with the killing of rival cleric Majeed Al-Khoei in April 2000.
A Ministry of Interior official said that Najaf's city council gave notices Wednesday to close all offices in the Old City around the mosque to make room for visitors.
Al-Sadr supporters said they wouldn't comply with the order to close the office, the official said.
Demonstrations and fighting then began between al-Sadr's followers and opponents to the establishment of the cleric's office, many who are SCIRI members, with allegiance to al-Hakim.
Sheikh Salah Obeidi, spokesman for al-Sadr, said demonstrators threw rocks at the office, stormed it and torched it. Among the wounded in the violence, Obeidi said, was a sheikh at the al-Sadr office -- Saheb al-Ameri.
Outrage about the incident spurred demonstrations by al-Sadr supporters in the Baghdad neighborhoods of Sadr City and Shaab -- where the cleric is popular.
Hassan Karim Muttar, leader of the Sadr City council, condemned the violence.
"We regret the attacks in Najaf," Muttar said. "These actions are against humanity and against all human rights."
"We are in the new Iraq and we are not supposed to be solving our conflicts with fighting and car bombs. This is not the way to be, we are supposed to be solving our issue in a civilized manner," Muttar said.
The Interior Ministry also reported violence involving al-Sadr's Mehdi Army in at least three other cities south of Baghdad -- Diwaniya, Babil and Amara. In Diwaniya and Babil, two SCIRI offices were burned to the ground.
No casualties were reported, although the clashes continued into the early hours of Thursday. The Interior Ministry official said police were cordoning off the Old City as demonstrations continued overnight. | Riot | August 2005 | ['(Baghdad)', '(backed by the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq)', '(CNN)', '(Standard)', '(New Kerala)'] |
The International Cricket Council charges three Pakistan cricketers who are then formally interviewed by police into a betting scam alleged by the News of the World. | The International Cricket Council today defended its decision to charge three Pakistan cricketers under its anti-corruption code.
The three men, accused of an alleged betting scam, were today formally interviewed by police under caution and later released without police charges.
Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Asif and Test captain Salman Butt were interviewed separately at Kilburn police station in north London.
Afterwards, their lawyer, Elizabeth Robertson, said they had attended voluntarily and at no time were they under arrest. She said the men would continue to co-operate fully with police and the ICC, which has charged them under its anti-corruption code and provisionally banned them from playing in any match.
Despite the ICC charges, police have yet to decide whether there is enough evidence to charge the players with conspiracy to commit fraud. The council's anti-corruption and security unit is conducting its own, parallel investigation.
ICC investigators will not question the players until they receive permission from the police. They are finalising an "information sharing protocol" to pool evidence.
The police seized money and mobile phones from the players last Sunday and are investigating any possible link between bank notes found in their possession and the money handed to a middle-man as part of the sting by the News of the World, which made the allegations.
Before any prosecution, Scotland Yard would have to prove that any money they received from Mazhar Majeed was taken in return for deliberately bowling no-balls. The players have told friends they are prepared to tell detectives they did receive payments from Majeed, but this was entirely proper because he was their agent.
Majeed, who was arrested last weekend by police over the News of the World allegations, and by customs over money-laundering allegations, is responsible for organising the three players' sponsorship deals.
At least one of them did not have a UK bank account. Majeed has represented members of Pakistan's test side in this role for several years.
Last night, the ICC moved to suspend the trio provisionally after charging them with "various offences" under its code of conduct. Sir Ronnie Flanagan, the recently appointed chairman of the anti-corruption unit, and Haroon Lorgat, the ICC chief executive, insisted the offences were not "the tip of the iceberg". But Lorgat conceded that the sport faced its worst crisis since the Hansie Cronje match-fixing affair a decade ago.
Pakistan high commissioner Wajid Hasan this morning accused the ICC of "playing to the public gallery" by suspending the three cricketers.
He said: "I have heard the press briefing by two ICC Representatives today. I have also learnt that ICC has taken Amir's name off from the list of players of the year. What happened to the general principle of law innocent until proven guilty?
"After the shocking, arbitrary and high-handed suspension of the three cricketers through the ICC's uncalled-for action, nothing is coming to me as a surprise. My apprehensions that there is a rat in the whole affair are being strengthened."
He said the ICC had "no authority" to intervene and has previously claimed the players were "set up" by the News of the World, which is expected to publish further revelations on Sunday. On the same day, England will face Pakistan in the first of two Twenty20 matches in Cardiff.
Lorgat insisted that the proper processes had been followed and denied Hasan's claims." I certainly wouldn't subscribe to the view that there is some sort of conspiracy around Pakistan cricket.
"This particular incident with the three players is unrelated to the challenge that we've got in keeping Pakistan involved as a full member of the International Cricket Council," he said. The country has been unable to play at home since a terrorist attack on the Sri Lanka team bus in Lahore last year. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | September 2010 | ['(The Guardian)'] |
Six gunmen open fire on a World Food Programme convoy in North Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo, killing Italian ambassador Luca Attanasio, a carabiniere and their driver. | Italy’s ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and two other people have been killed in an attack on a United Nations convoy in the restive east of the central African country. The convoy from the World Food Programme (WFP) was attacked at about 10.30am local time (0830 GMT) during an attempted kidnapping near the town of Kanyamahoro, about 10 miles north of the regional capital, Goma, a spokesperson for Virunga national park said.
Ambassador Luca Attanasio and a male Italian military police officer travelling with him were killed, the Italian foreign ministry said in a statement. A driver also died in the attack, diplomatic sources and local officials said.
It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack, but the road on which the convoy was travelling is a frequent site of attacks by bandits and armed militia.
“It is with deep sorrow that the foreign ministry confirms the death today in Goma of the Italian ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Luca Attanasio, and of a policeman from the carabinieri,” the Italian foreign ministry statement said. “The ambassador and the soldier were travelling in a car in a convoy of Monusco, the United Nations organisation stabilisation mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo.”
Attanasio died of his wounds in the UN hospital in Goma. The 43-year-old, who was married with three children, had been Italy’s head of mission in Kinshasa since 2017 and was made ambassador in 2019.
The UN’s peacekeeping and humanitarian assistance mission in the DRC is one of the biggest and most dangerous such operations in the world.
The exact circumstances of the attack remain unclear.
Attanasio was in Goma for a series of meetings, including one with Italian NGO representatives. He had visited a WFP school canteen on Monday morning, and was travelling to the small town of Rutshuru to view a community feeding project when the convoy was ambushed at around 10.30am, humanitarian officials said.
The governor of North Kivu province, Carly Nzanzu Kasivita, said the assailants stopped the convoy by firing warning shots. They killed the driver and were leading the others into the forest when park rangers opened fire. The attackers killed the bodyguard and the ambassador also died, Nzanzu said.
Mambo Kawaya, the president of civil society groups in Nyiragongo territory, told Actualité.cd, a local news site, that there were five people in Attanasio’s vehicle when it was attacked.
“The driver appears to have been killed [immediately] after receiving multiple bullet wounds but others were wounded and taken to the Monusco base … The situation is tense,” Kawaya said.
Dozens of armed groups operate in and around Virunga, which lies along the DRC’s borders with Rwanda and Uganda. Park rangers have been repeatedly attacked, including six who were killed in an ambush last month. Local security forces are under-resourced, poorly trained and corrupt.
In May 2018, gunmen attacked a vehicle carrying tourists travelling from Goma to their accommodation in Virunga national park very close to where Attanasio’s convoy was ambushed. A 25-year-old ranger was shot dead, a Congolese driver was wounded and two British tourists were held by the militia overnight.
Marie Tumba Nzeza, the minister of foreign affairs, said her government would investigate the attack. “It is with great pain and much sadness that we have just learned of the death of the young Italian ambassador here in DRC,” said Nzeza.
“I promise the Italian government that the government of my country we will do all we can to discover who is responsible for this ignoble murder.”
Nzeza’s pledge may be met with some scepticism. The murderers of two UN consultants killed in DRC in 2017 are yet to be brought to justice despite years of international pressure.
Attanasio joined the Italian diplomatic service in 2003 and served previously in Switzerland, Morocco and Nigeria. Emanuela Del Re, who was Italy’s deputy foreign minister from 2018 until last month, hailed him as “a man gifted with uncommon courage, humanity and professionalism”.
He is the second European ambassador to have been killed while serving in the DRC. In January 1993, French ambassador Philippe Bernard was killed during riots in Kinshasa sparked by troops opposing dictator Mobutu Sese Seko. | Armed Conflict | February 2021 | ['(The Guardian)'] |
Rebekah Brooks resigns as chief executive of News International as a result of the News International phone hacking scandal. | LONDON — The crisis rattling Rupert Murdoch’s global media empire claimed the two highest-level executives yet on Friday after days of mounting pressure from politicians and investors on two continents.
Les Hinton, the publisher of The Wall Street Journal since 2007, who oversaw Mr. Murdoch’s British newspaper subsidiary when voice mail hacking by journalists was rampant, and Rebekah Brooks, who has run the British papers since 2009 and become the target of unrelenting public outrage, both resigned in the latest blow to the News Corporation and its besieged chairman.
At first incensed by the assault on his company’s reputation, Mr. Murdoch insisted as late as Thursday that the executives had performed “excellently” in dealing with the crisis since it erupted two weeks ago. He was said to be loath to lose either of them, and became convinced that they had to leave only over the last several days, as executives and outside advisers flew in to help manage the crisis from the company’s gleaming granite and glass offices in the Wapping district of east London.
In arriving at the final decision, Mr. Murdoch was joined by his two sons, James and Lachlan, and Joel I. Klein, a senior News Corporation executive and former New York City Schools chancellor.
The resignations came on a day when Mr. Murdoch made a series of public mea culpas. He wrote a letter to be published in all British newspapers over the weekend acknowledging that the company did not address its problems soon enough. “We are sorry,” it begins.
He also visited the family of a murdered 13-year-old girl, Milly Dowler, whose voice mail was hacked by reporters at The News of the World while she was still listed as missing. According to the Dowler family’s lawyer, Mark Lewis, Mr. Murdoch held his head in his hands and apologized for the actions of his employees, who deleted phone messages after the girl’s mailbox had been filled so they could collect more new messages.
Mr. Lewis said that Mr. Murdoch apologized “many times,” and that he was “very humbled, he was very shaken and he was very sincere.”
Whether these actions will do anything to quiet the backlash against the News Corporation is unclear. Mr. Murdoch, Ms. Brooks and James Murdoch, the company’s deputy chief operating officer and Rupert’s younger son, are set to testify next week before Parliament, where they will face questions from politicians who have become suddenly unafraid to publicly condemn the man whose favor they once saw as a key to political success.
Mr. Murdoch has become an increasingly isolated figure, not only in Britain but within his own company. The departure in recent years of top executives who often provided a counterweight to his famous irascibility and stubbornness has left him surrounded by fewer people who can effectively question his decisions. He initially rejected Ms. Brooks’s offer to resign from News International, his British subsidiary, despite advice to accept it from senior News Corporation executives, said people briefed on the company’s discussions.
Ms. Brooks, who was editor of The News of the World when the abuses began in 2002, repeatedly told the Murdochs that she knew nothing of the hacking and that she would be exonerated when all the facts came out.
In her farewell message, Ms. Brooks acknowledged that she had become a distraction. “The reputation of the company we love so much, as well as the press freedoms we value so highly, are all at risk,” she wrote. “As chief executive of the company, I feel a deep sense of responsibility for the people we have hurt and I want to reiterate how sorry I am for what we now know to have taken place.”
On Friday, former staff members at The News of the World questioned why Ms. Brooks did not resign earlier. “Our paper was sacrificed to save her career, and now she’s gone as well,” one former employee said, requesting anonymity because he did not want to jeopardize his position in severance negotiations. “Who knows why they’ve chosen to do it now, as she’ll have to appear before the select committee anyway.”
Until Friday, Mr. Hinton had been largely an offstage figure in the scandal. But questions grew about what he knew about the improper practices going on at the newspapers under his watch, even though he has testified twice before Parliament saying that he believed the hacking was limited to one rogue journalist and a private investigator employed by The News of the World.
Letting Mr. Hinton go was an especially fraught decision for Mr. Murdoch. The two had worked together for 52 years, since Mr. Hinton joined Mr. Murdoch’s first paper, The News of Adelaide in South Australia, when he was 15. Moreover, Mr. Hinton ran The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Murdoch’s most cherished American newspaper.
In a note to his employees, Mr. Hinton said Friday was “a deeply, deeply sad day for me.”
Employees at The Journal had mixed reactions to Mr. Hinton’s departure. Alan Murray, a deputy managing editor, wrote on Twitter: “Les Hinton was a great leader, and did much to support the advancement of WSJ in print and digital platforms. He will be much missed.”
But a Journal employee who did not want to be identified criticizing his employer expressed anger over the companywide e-mail from Robert Thomson, the paper’s editor, extolling Mr. Hinton. “It’s enraging that the first thing our editor says to us about this whole mess is that as journalists we owe a debt of gratitude to the guy who had to resign because he was at the helm of the papers that did this stuff,” this person said.
The scandal also seemed poised to claim other prominent heads outside the Murdoch domain, with the gravest immediate threat falling on Sir Paul Stephenson, the chief of Scotland Yard. His position — he is formally known as the commissioner of the Metropolitan Police — has been one of the most prestigious in the country, but in the past 48 hours, he too has fallen under the cloud of suspicion that the scandal has thrown over the interlinked worlds of Britain’s press, politicians and police.
The country was shocked this week by the seemingly unrepentant performance of three top Scotland Yard figures, two now retired, who oversaw the earlier, largely toothless, investigations of The News of the World. A new inquiry begun this year has resulted so far in seven arrests, including that of Prime Minister David Cameron’s former media chief, Andy Coulson, who succeeded Ms. Brooks as editor of The News of the World in 2003.
But the police chief’s problems worsened sharply when reports began circulating on Thursday — confirmed in a Scotland Yard statement — that Sir Paul had approved nearly $40,000 in payments in 2009 and 2010 to a personal media consultant who had been the second-ranking editor at The News of the World when much of the hacking took place under the editorships of Ms. Brooks and Mr. Coulson. That man, Neil Wallis, was arrested on Thursday, and held, like Mr. Coulson, for hours of questioning before being released on bail.
Scotland Yard acknowledged having paid Mr. Wallis $1,600 a day, and said that Sir Paul had dined on eight occasions with News of the World editors — five of those with Mr. Wallis — while Scotland Yard officers were investigating the paper. Reports in British newspapers said that the commissioner had made no mention of the dinners, or of the subsequent media consultancy contract with Mr. Wallis, when he met Mr. Cameron. That led to an outraged statement from Downing Street, where a Cameron spokesman, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said on Friday that Sir Paul had “urgent questions to answer.”
Ms. Brooks’s resignation had seemed ever more likely when late Thursday, BBC television broadcast an interview with Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia, the News Corporation’s second-largest shareholder, in which he said that if Ms. Brooks was involved in wrongdoing, “for sure she has to go.”
She was replaced by Tom Mockridge, the head of Sky Italia, the News Corporation’s Italian satellite broadcaster.
Ms. Brooks said she would focus on “correcting the distortions and rebutting the allegations” against the company and herself, and would cooperate with the police inquiry into phone hacking and payments to corrupt police officers. She also praised Mr. Murdoch’s “wisdom, kindness and incisive advice” and his son James’s “great loyalty and friendship.”
After she quit, James Murdoch praised her as “one of the outstanding editors of her generation.” And he took the occasion to say that while the company “has made mistakes,” and accepted the need for public scrutiny, it intended to answer “unfair attacks by setting the record straight.”
But Ms. Brooks’s removal could make James the next in the firing line over News International’s erratic responses to the scandal. Attention at next week’s parliamentary grilling is likely to center on his testimony to Parliament at an early stage of the scandal dismissing the abuse at The News of the World as rogue and isolated episodes and on his action in approving a secret $1.1 million settlement to one of the phone hacking victims.
James’s role has also caused strains within the Murdoch clan, particularly with his sister Elisabeth, according to one person who has done business with the family but did not want to be identified discussing internal matters. But whatever their differences, the Murdoch children pull together in times of crisis.
“They’re still brother and sister,” this person said. “They just play in this big world. It’s a sibling rivalry kind of thing, but it’s still blood. And they both know the company is their fortune.”
| Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | July 2011 | ['(The Washington Post)', '(AFP via France24)', '(The New York Times)', '(The Guardian)'] |
After about three months captivity as a hostage in Iraq, American journalist Jill Carroll returns to American soil in Boston, Massachusetts. | BOSTON, Massachusetts (CNN) -- After nearly three months in captivity in Iraq, journalist Jill Carroll returned Sunday to the United States and was reunited with her family. "I finally feel like I am alive again. I feel so good," the 28-year-old reporter for the Christian Science Monitor said Sunday, according to an article published on the newspaper's Web site. "To be able to step outside anytime, to feel the sun directly on your face -- to see the whole sky. These are luxuries that we just don't appreciate every day."
The article said she and her parents and twin sister, Katie, reunited at an undisclosed Boston location amid "long hugs and joyful tears."
Carroll arrived shortly after noon at Boston's Logan International Airport aboard a Lufthansa flight. (Watch Carroll's return home -- 1:46)
"We are very grateful to all those who made this happy event possible. When Jill is ready, the Monitor will begin to tell her story," a spokesman for the paper said.
"Hopefully, the Carroll family's privacy will be respected," he said.
Upon her arrival, Carroll was taken first to the newspaper's editorial complex in Boston and from there went to an apartment to meet with relatives and friends in private.
Carroll was abducted January 7 and freed by her captors Thursday in Baghdad. The Monitor said she was debriefed Friday by members of the U.S. Hostage Working Group in Baghdad.
She departed Baghdad early Saturday accompanied by a Monitor correspondent, a State Department official and two U.S. military officials on a C-17 military flight to Ramstein Air Base in Germany.
After her release, she was shown on video praising Iraq's insurgents, a tape she denounced Saturday before leaving Germany. The video, made by Carroll's captors shortly before she was let go, appeared on an Islamist Web site. In it, Carroll said President Bush should stop the "illegal" war in Iraq and that the insurgents ultimately would prevail. CNN cannot authenticate the source of the video. It is not clear when or where it was taped.
On Saturday, Carroll said in a statement released by the Monitor that she was forced to film the propaganda video as the price for her freedom. (Watch The Christian Science Monitor editor read Jill Carroll's statement -- 4:49) In her statement, Carroll thanked everyone who worked for her release, but devoted a significant portion of the statement to defending herself against criticism regarding the video, in which she said the insurgents were "very smart" and had treated her well.
"During my last night in captivity, my captors forced me to participate in a propaganda video," she wrote. "They told me they would let me go if I cooperated. I was living in a threatening environment, under their control, and wanted to go home alive. I agreed.
"Things that I was forced to say while captive are now being taken by some as an accurate reflection of my personal views. They are not."
She even lambasted her captors, who allegedly killed her interpreter, Alan Enwiya, when they abducted her in western Baghdad in January. "They robbed Alan of his life and devastated his family. They put me, my family and my friends -- and all those around the world, who have prayed so fervently for my release -- through a horrific experience," she wrote. "I was, and remain, deeply angry with the people who did this."
Carroll also said that, in a television interview with the Iraqi Islamic Party shortly after her release Thursday, she was still afraid of retribution from her captors and did not speak freely.
"Out of fear, I said I wasn't threatened. In fact, I was threatened many times," she said.
Saying she wants to be regarded as a journalist, not a hostage, Carroll said she would not engage in polemics against her kidnappers, "but let me be clear: I abhor all who kidnap and murder civilians, and my captors are clearly guilty of both crimes."
Sen. John McCain, a prisoner of war in Vietnam for more than five years, had no criticism for the way Carroll handled the matter.
"This was a young woman who found herself in a terrible, terrible position, and we are glad she's home," the Arizona Republican said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "We understand, when you're held a captive in that kind of situation, that you do things under duress," McCain said.
"I would not take them seriously, I would not, any more than we took seriously other tapes and things that were done in other prison situations, including the Vietnam war."
Carroll was working as a freelancer when she was abducted. The Monitor's editor said he hired her as a staff reporter during the time she was being held so she would be eligible for full benefits. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Release | April 2006 | ['(CNN)'] |
2004 Atlantic hurricane season: Hurricane Jeanne strengthens slightly as it passes over the northern Bahamas and makes landfall at 11:50 p.m. local time at Hutchison Island, just east of Stuart, Florida, as a Category Three storm with maximum sustained winds of 120 mph . About 3 million people are ordered to evacuate vulnerable areas in Florida. | MIAMI (Reuters) - Deadly Hurricane Jeanne has strengthened rapidly as it strafes the northern Bahamas on its way to deliver a record fourth hurricane strike in one season to densely populated Florida.
Intermittent squalls from the hurricane's outer fringes pelted the south and central Florida east coast on Saturday with wind gusts and blinding rain.
The hurricane's eye was expected to come ashore in the Fort Pierce area late on Saturday or early on Sunday -- a one-two punch for a region slammed by Hurricane Frances three weeks ago.
The storm's 115 mph (185 kph) winds, up from 105 mph overnight, and 8-foot (2.4-metre) storm surge lashed Great Abaco island in the Bahamas, a 700-island chain of 300,000 people stretching from Haiti to off the Florida coast.
Up to 3 million storm-weary Floridians were told to evacuate coastal islands, mobile homes and flood-prone areas. Others battened down the hatches one more time -- stocking up on batteries, water and gasoline and shuttering homes -- or streamed into public shelters.
Many on the storm-scarred Atlantic coast, emboldened by having survived Frances, vowed to remain at home, an act of defiance that alarmed authorities -- particularly as Jeanne was likely to arrive as a stronger storm.
"This is dangerous, ladies and gentlemen, this is not a game," Miami-Dade County Mayor Alex Penelas said. "We're all fatigued, we're all exhausted. We don't want to have to go through this drill again but none of us can control Mother Nature."
By 3 p.m. (8 p.m. British time), the storm, which has already killed up to 2,000 people in Haiti and 31 in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, was about 40 miles north-northeast of Freeport, Grand Bahama Island, or 125 miles east-southeast of Vero Beach, Florida, at latitude 27 north and longitude 78.4 west.
Jeanne picked up speed overnight and was travelling west at 14 mph.
The U.S. National Hurricane Centre said the storm, now a strong Category 3 on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale of hurricane intensity, could strengthen further over warm water between the Bahamas and the southeastern United States.
Along Florida's Atlantic coast, including the densely populated counties of Broward and Miami-Dade, 3 million residents were told to evacuate.
Officials urged residents not to be complacent.
"People on the barrier islands who think they can ride this storm out should think again," Governor Jeb Bush, brother of President George W. Bush, told reporters. "It is getting bigger and stronger."
State officials said computer models showed 4.7 million of the state's 17 million people were in harm's way, and estimated that 1.2 million buildings could be damaged, leaving around 142,000 families without homes.
When Jeanne comes ashore late Saturday or early Sunday, it will mark the first time since records began in 1851 that Florida has been walloped by four hurricanes in a single season. The season lasts from June to the end of November.
In the Bahamas, residents of Grand Bahama and Great Abaco islands, both still recovering from the ravages of Frances, packed into shelters.
Jeanne destroyed one house and tore the roofs off several others in the Fox Town settlement on northern Abaco. Rising water made roads impassable and a dock at the local oil depot was badly damaged, Fox Town resident Wellesley Carey said.
Meteorologist Donna Duncombe said rainfall had been "very intense" and was likely to continue until the storm passed north of Freeport, where most of Grand Bahama's 50,000 residents live.
In Florida, Hurricane Charley kicked off a season likely to dent the state's reputation as a tourist destination when it slammed ashore on the southwest Gulf Coast on August 13. It had winds of 145 mph, killed 33 people and caused $7.4 billion (4.1 billion) in insured damages.
Frances hit the Atlantic coast on September 5, killing 30 and causing $4.4 billion in damages.
Ivan ripped into the Gulf Coast between Florida and Alabama with 130 mph winds on September 16, killing at least 45 people across the United States and causing up to $6 billion in damages. | Hurricanes_Tornado_Storm_Blizzard | September 2004 | ['(195 km/h)', '(Reuters)'] |
Andrus Ansip resigns after nine years as prime minister of Estonia. | After nine years in office, Estonian PM Andrus Ansip has announced his resignation to enable a successor to lead his party into 2015 elections.
Mr Ansip, who at 57 is the longest-serving prime minister in the European Union, is likely to be replaced by European Commissioner Siim Kallas.
He implemented harsh austerity measures as Estonia entered recession after the global financial crisis in 2008.
Mr Ansip also brought Estonia into the eurozone in 2011.
Estonia has been widely praised for introducing a the tough measures from 2008-2009 and the economy bounced back in 2011, climbing 9.6%.
But the recovery has faltered in recent months with growth expectations little above 2% this year and Mr Ansip's popularity has also dipped.
A trained chemist and former Communist Party official in the years before the break-up of the Soviet Union, Mr Ansip became mayor of Estonia's second city Tartu before joining the government.
His Reform party which leads the centre-right coalition has been caught up in a party funding scandal. Opinions polls put the party's support at its lowest level since he came to office.
Under Estonian law, the prime minister's resignation brings an end to the government. President Toomas Hendrik Ilves now has 14 days to come up with a candidate to replace him.
Mr Ansip has himself expressed interest in working in Brussels, while Mr Kallas who is currently vice-president of the European Commission is hoping to return to Tallinn as prime minister. Mr Kallas has already served as prime minister.
Estonia was once described by a critic as a "poster child for austerity defenders".
When it was hit by the global financial crisis, Mr Ansip's government reacted by slashing public sector wages and government spending. Ministers also saw a big cut in salaries. A 21% flat rate of income tax also came into force. | Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | March 2014 | ['(BBC)'] |
17 Nigerian police officers are arrested in connection with the deaths of Boko Haram members in 2009. | A "significant number" of Nigerian police officers have been arrested over the alleged extra-judicial killing of members of the Boko Haram sect in 2009.
Police officials told the BBC more arrests would follow. News agency AP reported that 17 officers were held. Al-Jazeera TV last month showed footage of alleged police killings. Boko Haram attacked a police station in the northern city of Maiduguri, leading to days of clashes and hundreds of deaths - mostly sect members. Police spokesman Yemi Ajyai said the al-Jazeera broadcast had led to the arrests and those detained had been taken to Abuja for questioning.
The footage apparently shows police officers telling a group of young men to lie face down and then shooting them at close range. The AFP news agency quoted a police source as saying the the arrests were carried out on the orders of the acting President Goodluck Jonathan. The BBC's Jimeh Saleh in Abuja says the police are often accused of extra-judicial killings but they always deny it and arrests are rare. Boko Haram leader Mohammed Yusuf died in custody after being alive when the army handed him to the police, army officers said. A few hours later, journalists were shown his bullet-ridden body. The police said he had been fatally wounded while trying to evade capture. What are these? | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Arrest | March 2010 | ['(BBC)', '(Al Jazeera)', '(Radio Netherlands Worldwide)'] |
An article published in Nature reports high levels of molecular oxygen found by the Rosetta space probe on comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. This discovery could have implications for theories of the origin of the solar system. |
The presence of the gas could have implications for theories of the early Solar System.
Scientists have detected molecules of oxygen in the hazy halo of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko — an unexpected discovery that may challenge theories about the formation of the Solar System. The detection, made by an instrument on board the European Space Agency’s Rosetta spacecraft, was reported today (28 October) in Nature1.
“As soon as we got close enough to the comet, we actually found it right away,” says André Bieler, a physicist at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and lead author of the paper. Bieler says that he was surprised by both the presence and abundance of molecular oxygen (O2).
From September 2014 to March 2015, as 67P made its way closer to the Sun, Bieler and his colleagues used a mass spectrometer on Rosetta to sniff the molecules swirling around the comet and identify their chemical composition. They found on average that O2 makes up 3.8% of the cloud relative to water, which is the most dominant molecule wafting around the comet.
“It's a tour de force,” says Paul Feldman, an astronomer at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, who is a co-investigator on another Rosetta spectrometer, Alice. ”I think they've done a very nice job.”
Mysterious origins
It was not immediately clear where the oxygen came from. The team discovered that water and oxygen were often found together — an indication that similar processes released both molecules. But Bieler and his colleagues ruled out many scenarios in which oxygen arises as a by-product when energetic particles such as photons and electrons split apart water.
Instead, the researchers argue that the oxygen is a remnant from when 67P formed billions of years ago, a process that may have trapped the gas in small grains of ice and rock that coalesced to create the comet’s solid core.
But many models of the early Solar System rule this out because most oxygen tends to pair off with hydrogen. Given this affinity, it is tricky to adjust models of the early Solar System to allow for the survival of gaseous O2, says Mike A’Hearn, an astronomer at the University of Maryland in College Park and a co-investigator on Alice. But he adds that it may be possible with the right chemical abundances and temperature conditions.
Bieler acknowledges that more experiments will be needed to determine what the detection of oxygen really means. “We think this result is of interest beyond the cometary community because it forces us to rethink all of these models,” he says.
Bieler, A. et al. Nature 526, 678–681 (2015).
| New achievements in aerospace | October 2015 | ['(Radio New Zealand Online)', '(BBC Online)', '(Nature Press Release)', '(Nature Article Synopsis)'] |
Voters in the Czech Republic vote in legislative elections. | PRAGUE (Reuters) - Czech voters wary of debt and angry about graft voted for a new government Friday, with polls forecasting a tight result that could lead to protracted coalition talks and extend a decade of delays to reforms.
A man rides his bicycle past an election poster of the Civic Democratic Party, picturing their leader Petr Necas (L) and leader of the opposing Social Democrats Jiri Paroubek (R), in north Moravian town of Ostrava, May 26, 2010. The poster reads:"Your vote will decide".
The two-day election pits poorer and older voters against younger and wealthier city-dwellers who clash over how to handle the Czech Republic’s budget, thrown into deeper deficit by the economic crisis.
Rightist parties warn of a Greek-style economic meltdown, while leftists pledge to cut spending but boost taxes for high earners and firms to fund higher welfare payouts.
The leftist Social Democrats lead opinion polls. But they will fall short of a majority and may find it difficult to find coalition partners to form a strong government and push through its welfare agenda. It may even be forced into opposition.
Analysts fear an inconclusive result will lead to months of political wrangling over a new cabinet, rattling markets and causing further delays to pension, welfare and healthcare reforms where the Czechs have long lagged their peers.
The central European country, a member of the European Union and NATO, has been slowly recovering from a 4.1 percent economic drop under a caretaker cabinet led by Prime Minister Jan Fischer for the past year. The 2010 budget deficit is projected at 5.3 percent of gross domestic product.
Heather Conley, director of the Europe Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said lengthy talks would hold back the needed policy changes.
“I hope it’s quick and I hope they can develop an enduring platform to pursue continued reforms,” she said.
Polling stations opened at 8 a.m. EDT and were to close at 4 p.m., and voting will continue from 2 a.m. until 8 a.m. EDT on Saturday. Early results are expected by Saturday evening.
Mainstream Czech newspapers have been highly critical of Social Democrat leader Jiri Paroubek for his divisive style and for overthrowing a center-right cabinet last year to throw the country into chaos during its term as EU president.
Leading daily Mlada fronta Dnes called on voters to block a Social Democrat cabinet backed by the Communists, heirs to the totalitarian party whose rule ended in 1989.
“Such a result would bring unbearably high risks for the country’s politics, economy and foreign relations,” it wrote in an editorial. Paroubek has accused the media of being biased.
The country of 10.5 million people has government debt equivalent to 35 percent of GDP, just half the EU average.
But economists say that figure will grow fast without reforms and could threaten the country’s solid credit ratings that are higher than some euro zone states. They say a rightist government would better implement badly needed cost cuts and reforms to a pension system burdened by an aging population.
“We will make deep structural reforms and balance the budget by 2017,” Civic Democrat leader Petr Necas said in the final television debate late Thursday.
A string of corruption scandals has hit the big established parties, especially the Civic Democrats, who trail the Social Democrats 3.4-11.5 points in polls.
Disillusionment at mainstream parties have helped lift smaller groupings such as the conservative TOP09 and the anti-graft Public Affairs party. Analysts say the Civic Democrats could potentially form a majority coalition with them.
“What can I do? As an entrepreneur, I will vote for the right, but I don’t have a particularly high opinion of it, and anyway the whole situation sucks,” said Jan Novak, 35.
Additional reporting by Roman Gazdik, editing by Mark Trevelyan and Mark Heinrich | Government Job change - Election | May 2010 | ['(Al Jazeera)', '(BBC)', '(France24)', '[permanent dead link]', '(Reuters)'] |
A Rwandan soldier attached to MINUSCA goes on a shooting spree in Bangui, killing four fellow UN peacekeepers and injuring another eight before turning the gun on himself. | Soldier kills himself after shooting spree in Bangui’s Rwandan battalion headquarters that left eight other UN troops wounded
Last modified on Sat 8 Aug 2015 16.40 BST
A Rwandan soldier serving with the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Central African Republic has shot dead four Rwandan troops and wounded eight others before killing himself.
The incident happened at 5.45am on Saturday at the Rwandan battalion headquarters in Bangui, the CAR capital, according to a Rwandan defence ministry statement.
The Rwandan Defence Force is investigating the killings with terrorism and the mental wellbeing of the suspect killer among its lines of inquiry.
“Investigations have immediately commenced to establish the motive behind this deplorable shooting of his RDF colleagues,” Brig Gen Joseph Nzabamwita said. “We suspect terrorism without ruling out mental illness to be the cause.”
Fighting has gripped CAR since early 2013, when mostly Muslim Séléka rebels seized power in Bangui, sparking reprisal attacks from Christian militias.
A report released by the International Rescue Committee (IRC), based on research in March, said 6,000 people have been killed since the conflict began and 2.7 million more than half the country’s population are in need of emergency assistance.
The Rwandan forces are supporting Minusca, the UN peacekeeping operation in CAR, which has been deployed since April 2014.
Rwanda is among the top 10 countries in the world for providing peacekeeping troops and has more than 850 soldiers deployed in the CAR. | Armed Conflict | August 2015 | ['(The Guardian)'] |
Former presidential candidate John Kerry endorses Illinois Senator Barack Obama. | CHARLESTON, South Carolina (CNN) -- Sen. John Kerry on Thursday endorsed Sen. Barack Obama for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, saying the senator from Illinois is a "candidate to bring change to our country."
"Barack Obama isn't just going to break the mold," said Kerry, the Democratic presidential candidate four years ago. "Together, we are going to shatter it into a million pieces."
The senator from Massachusetts made the announcement in front of an enthusiastic crowd in Charleston, South Carolina, 16 days ahead of the state's Democratic primary. Kerry said he was stirred by the way Obama "eloquently reminded us of the fact that our true genius is faith in simple dreams and insistence on small miracles." Watch Kerry explain why he's picking Obama »
The endorsement could be seen as a blow to former Sen. John Edwards, who was Kerry's running mate in the 2004 election. Edwards also is vying for the Democratic presidential nomination this year. The endorsement shouldn't come as a surprise to Edwards, who was publicly critical of Kerry's campaign after the earlier election. Following news of the endorsement, Edwards released a statement saying he respects Kerry's decision. "When we were running against each other and on the same ticket, John and I agreed on many issues," Edwards said. "I continue to believe that this election is about the future, not the past, and that the country needs a president who will fight aggressively to end the status quo and change the Washington system and to give voice to all of those whose voices are ignored in the corridors of power." Kerry made an oblique reference to the other candidates in the race "with whom I have worked and who I respect" in his speech Thursday. "They are terrific public servants, and each of them could be president tomorrow, and each would fight to take this country in the right direction, but I believe that more than anyone else, Barack Obama can help our country turn the page and get America moving by uniting and ending the division that we have faced," he said.
A source suggested senator's support for Obama will be a big boost because Kerry "remains one of the most popular figures in the Democratic Party and [has] an e-mail list with millions of addresses." In an e-mail sent to the JohnKerry.com community Thursday, the former presidential candidate said the next president of the United States "can be, should be, and will be Barack Obama." A Kerry spokesman said Obama will be sending out a note to Kerry's e-mail list, which was created during the 2004 run and numbers 3 million.
Obama on Wednesday picked up endorsements from two key unions in Nevada, which holds its caucuses January 19. Atlanta, Georgia, Mayor Shirley Franklin recently announced her endorsement of Obama, and sources said Thursday that Sen. Tim Johnson of South Dakota also would back the senator from Illinois. | Government Job change - Election | January 2008 | ['(CNN)'] |
Sweden beats Russia 1–0 in overtime in the 2012 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships gold medal game. | CALGARY, Alberta -- Mika Zibanejad scored at 10:09 of overtime to give Sweden its second world junior hockey title, 1-0 over Russia on Thursday night.
Zibanejad stole the puck from Nikita Gusev at the blue line, broke in on goalie Andrei Makarov -- who made 57 saves -- and scored on a backhander.
"He came in on the breakaway and I knew he was going to score. He told me this morning he was going to finish this game off," Sweden's Jeremy Boyce Rotevall said.
Zibanejad backed up his prediction by beating a seemingly unstoppable Makarov.
"I told (Rotevall) before the overtime, too, so it was good to get that goal," Zibanejad said. "You have to decide if you want to win this. In the morning, it was a joke, but obviously it's not a joke anymore."
Johan Gustafsson stopped 17 shots for Sweden.
"This team is something special," Gustafsson said. "We really showed that today that we have so much character in this team. It's hard to describe the feeling right now but it's amazing to stand here with the gold medal with these guys."
Sweden also won the 1981 tournament.
"I was waiting for the referee to do something or review it. I couldn't believe it and haven't really believed in it yet," Swedish coach Roger Ronnberg said. "This is a really big for Sweden. It's really important. We have chased this gold for so many years."
Russian captain Yevgeni Kuznetsov was selected the tournament MVP and top forward.
"It's nice, but we lose the final, so it doesn't matter really," Kuznetsov said. "It's difficult to say anything because the shot clock after two periods was something like 37-5, so if we win it was unfair according to way the game went. I like the way our team played through the whole tournament."
In the third-place game, Mark Visentin stopped a second-period penalty shot and made 27 saves in Canada's 4-0 victory over Finland. Quinton Howden scored twice, and Tanner Pearson and Mark Scheifele added goals.
"Obviously, it's disappointing we couldn't play for gold this year," Visentin said. "You know what? We wouldn't have been satisfied with fourth place. I'm not going to say we're satisfied with bronze, but I'm still proud of having a bronze medal in my hand." | Sports Competition | January 2012 | ['(USA Today)', '(ESPN)'] |
In Thailand, the 2006 legislative election is held. All three major opposition parties have announced they are boycotting the election. | Thailand's election has been transformed into a referendum on the future of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra as calls for him to quit over corruption allegations grow more strident. It is unclear whether political chaos can be avoided even if Mr Thaksin legitimately wins the poll. The billionaire premier's authoritarian style has ignited urban rage even while he retains loyalty among impoverished rural voters, who constitute nearly 70 per cent of Thailand's 64 million people. All three main opposition parties boycotted what critics denounced as a " pseudo-election" devised by a " tyrant" who has enriched his family and cronies with tax-free profits while in office and undermined democratic checks and balances .
Unopposed Mr Thaksin will sweep the elections but, due to minimum turn-out requirements, some seats may remain vacant, raising constitutional questions of whether he can form a government without another round of elections.
Yesterday's vote comes three years earlier than required. In the hasty run-up, some 400 candidates have been disqualified for violations in the nomination process, meaning Mr Thaksin may not be able to govern even if he wins.
He is the only Thai prime minister to complete a full elected term in office without being toppled by a coup. But after a landslide re-election last year, the populist telecoms billionaire weathered six months of street protests against his alleged graft, cronyism and abuse of power. Accusations of party kickbacks on new airport construction and a $1.9bn (£1.1bn) tax-free profit from selling shares of Shin, Mr Thaksin's family telecommunications empire, to the Singapore government's investment firm have alienated the urban elite.
Mr Thaksin denied all wrongdoing, and said he was determined to "ride out the storm" and win again. He volunteered to step aside if he garnered less than 50 per cent of the vote.
The preliminary election results in Bangkok were explosive, with more people abstaining than voting for the ruling party.
Just after polls closed, at least five soldiers were wounded when three remote-controlled blasts hit ballot boxes being transported from polling stations in the Muslim-majority border province of Narathiwat, where the Prime Minister has scant support. Separatist violence has killed at least 1,300 people in the rubber- tapping region over the past two years, and militants frequently target government institutions and civil servants.
The ruling party, Mr Thaksin's Tai Rak Tai (Thais Love Thais) won an unprecedented second term in 2005 by a landslide of 62 per cent. Rural villages received $5,000 or more each after Mr Thaksin's first victory and most used this reward money for micro-credit schemes. No wonder Mr Thaksin's power base remains strong: a "Caravan of the Poor" rode tractors to the capital to counter widespread anti-government protests and show their solidarity with the beleaguered politician.
Still, nothing is being taken for granted in this struggling democracy. Thailand has been rocked by 23 coups or attempted coups in 75 years. In the present polarised political climate, compromise or negotiation is increasingly difficult for Mr Thaksin's opponents, and the military is closely watched.
Candidates ran unopposed in 278 of 400 constituencies yesterday. Yet under Thailand's constitution, all candidates must win by 20 per cent of the votes, and this margin may be eroded by the boycott and abstention campaign in cities and big towns. A political stalemate will please no one. Protesters hope for intervention by King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who could conceivably step in, sideline Mr Thaksin and allow another leader to take power.
Mr Thaksin was seen practising his golf swing on a suburban Bangkok driving range. "After the election, everyone should turn and face each other. It's like a game, a sport. After the whistle is blown, 'tweet,' the game is over and everyone has to shake hands," he said.
Yet his foes are not keen to play by these rules. Professionals, students and labour activists have swarmed the capital's streets and intend to resume protests even after a legitimate victory, in order to eject a globalised businessman they condemn for manipulating the law to his advantage. One day last month, some 130,000 anti- government protesters blocked the capital's notoriously jammed roads, and daily demonstrations continue to test the patience of Bangkok's residents.
People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), an anti-government coalition which suspended its protests this weekend, has vowed to continue its resistance by calling a large rally on Friday. Its volunteers monitored polling booths yesterday. "There could be all kinds of vote rigging in those constituencies, from buying votes to getting government officials to fabricate the results," said Somchai Srisuthiyakorn of P-Net, an election watchdog.
It looks as if the opposition is gearing up for a prolonged political crisis, whatever the election results.
From economic saviour to 'square-faced tyrant'
Thaksin Shinawatra, 56, the nouveau riche Prime Minister who once looked ready to become South-east Asia's economic strongman, is fighting for his political future while normally demure Bangkok schoolgirls denounce him as an ethically challenged "square-faced tyrant".
Crowds gather outside shopping malls or besiege Government House in order to decry the way their Prime Minister gave lip service to law and order, only to plunder Thailand's economy and pervert its democracy for the benefit of his family and corporate friends.
While his effigy blazed in central Bangkok last month, the premier fled up-country to campaign in flyblown villages where he is still hailed as a champion of cheap health care and low-cost loans.
Born to an ethnic Chinese silk merchant in the northern city of Chiang Mai, Mr Thaksin joined the police in 1973, then went abroad to Eastern Kentucky University to read criminal justice. During Thailand's first outbreak of bird flu, Thaksin mused about his student days flogging drumsticks at a Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise to help pay for his studies, then he dished up a fowl feast for his cabinet and ordered it broadcast on government television channels. One of his biggest campaign contributors heads a poultry export firm.
Mr Thaksin earned a PhD at Sam Houston State University in Texas and taught at the Thai Police Cadet Academy. But in 1987 he quit to set up a computer dealership, and sold PCs to Thailand's rapidly modernising police force. His fledgling company morphed into Shin Corp, a conglomerate which controls satellites, mobile phones, internet servers and television stations.
Mr Thaksin's first term as premier was nearly a non-starter after he was charged with concealing business assets, but a constitutional court cleared him by a single vote for this "honest mistake". His zero tolerance approach to drugs has enhanced his image as a crime-fighter, but drawn claims that he has tolerated extrajudicial killings and ignored civil liberties. And his heavy-handed reaction to militancy in three Muslim provinces prompted complaints that his generals have fanned a separatist rebellion that had lain dormant for 20 years. Thailand's election has been transformed into a referendum on the future of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra as calls for him to quit over corruption allegations grow more strident. It is unclear whether political chaos can be avoided even if Mr Thaksin legitimately wins the poll. The billionaire premier's authoritarian style has ignited urban rage even while he retains loyalty among impoverished rural voters, who constitute nearly 70 per cent of Thailand's 64 million people. All three main opposition parties boycotted what critics denounced as a " pseudo-election" devised by a " tyrant" who has enriched his family and cronies with tax-free profits while in office and undermined democratic checks and balances .
Unopposed Mr Thaksin will sweep the elections but, due to minimum turn-out requirements, some seats may remain vacant, raising constitutional questions of whether he can form a government without another round of elections.
Yesterday's vote comes three years earlier than required. In the hasty run-up, some 400 candidates have been disqualified for violations in the nomination process, meaning Mr Thaksin may not be able to govern even if he wins.
He is the only Thai prime minister to complete a full elected term in office without being toppled by a coup. But after a landslide re-election last year, the populist telecoms billionaire weathered six months of street protests against his alleged graft, cronyism and abuse of power. Accusations of party kickbacks on new airport construction and a $1.9bn (£1.1bn) tax-free profit from selling shares of Shin, Mr Thaksin's family telecommunications empire, to the Singapore government's investment firm have alienated the urban elite.
Mr Thaksin denied all wrongdoing, and said he was determined to "ride out the storm" and win again. He volunteered to step aside if he garnered less than 50 per cent of the vote.
The preliminary election results in Bangkok were explosive, with more people abstaining than voting for the ruling party.
Just after polls closed, at least five soldiers were wounded when three remote-controlled blasts hit ballot boxes being transported from polling stations in the Muslim-majority border province of Narathiwat, where the Prime Minister has scant support. Separatist violence has killed at least 1,300 people in the rubber- tapping region over the past two years, and militants frequently target government institutions and civil servants.
The ruling party, Mr Thaksin's Tai Rak Tai (Thais Love Thais) won an unprecedented second term in 2005 by a landslide of 62 per cent. Rural villages received $5,000 or more each after Mr Thaksin's first victory and most used this reward money for micro-credit schemes. No wonder Mr Thaksin's power base remains strong: a "Caravan of the Poor" rode tractors to the capital to counter widespread anti-government protests and show their solidarity with the beleaguered politician.
Still, nothing is being taken for granted in this struggling democracy. Thailand has been rocked by 23 coups or attempted coups in 75 years. In the present polarised political climate, compromise or negotiation is increasingly difficult for Mr Thaksin's opponents, and the military is closely watched.
Candidates ran unopposed in 278 of 400 constituencies yesterday. Yet under Thailand's constitution, all candidates must win by 20 per cent of the votes, and this margin may be eroded by the boycott and abstention campaign in cities and big towns. A political stalemate will please no one. Protesters hope for intervention by King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who could conceivably step in, sideline Mr Thaksin and allow another leader to take power.
Mr Thaksin was seen practising his golf swing on a suburban Bangkok driving range. "After the election, everyone should turn and face each other. It's like a game, a sport. After the whistle is blown, 'tweet,' the game is over and everyone has to shake hands," he said.
Yet his foes are not keen to play by these rules. Professionals, students and labour activists have swarmed the capital's streets and intend to resume protests even after a legitimate victory, in order to eject a globalised businessman they condemn for manipulating the law to his advantage. One day last month, some 130,000 anti- government protesters blocked the capital's notoriously jammed roads, and daily demonstrations continue to test the patience of Bangkok's residents.
People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), an anti-government coalition which suspended its protests this weekend, has vowed to continue its resistance by calling a large rally on Friday. Its volunteers monitored polling booths yesterday. "There could be all kinds of vote rigging in those constituencies, from buying votes to getting government officials to fabricate the results," said Somchai Srisuthiyakorn of P-Net, an election watchdog.
It looks as if the opposition is gearing up for a prolonged political crisis, whatever the election results.
From economic saviour to 'square-faced tyrant'
Thaksin Shinawatra, 56, the nouveau riche Prime Minister who once looked ready to become South-east Asia's economic strongman, is fighting for his political future while normally demure Bangkok schoolgirls denounce him as an ethically challenged "square-faced tyrant".
Crowds gather outside shopping malls or besiege Government House in order to decry the way their Prime Minister gave lip service to law and order, only to plunder Thailand's economy and pervert its democracy for the benefit of his family and corporate friends.
While his effigy blazed in central Bangkok last month, the premier fled up-country to campaign in flyblown villages where he is still hailed as a champion of cheap health care and low-cost loans.
Born to an ethnic Chinese silk merchant in the northern city of Chiang Mai, Mr Thaksin joined the police in 1973, then went abroad to Eastern Kentucky University to read criminal justice. During Thailand's first outbreak of bird flu, Thaksin mused about his student days flogging drumsticks at a Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise to help pay for his studies, then he dished up a fowl feast for his cabinet and ordered it broadcast on government television channels. One of his biggest campaign contributors heads a poultry export firm.
Mr Thaksin earned a PhD at Sam Houston State University in Texas and taught at the Thai Police Cadet Academy. But in 1987 he quit to set up a computer dealership, and sold PCs to Thailand's rapidly modernising police force. His fledgling company morphed into Shin Corp, a conglomerate which controls satellites, mobile phones, internet servers and television stations.
Mr Thaksin's first term as premier was nearly a non-starter after he was charged with concealing business assets, but a constitutional court cleared him by a single vote for this "honest mistake". His zero tolerance approach to drugs has enhanced his image as a crime-fighter, but drawn claims that he has tolerated extrajudicial killings and ignored civil liberties. And his heavy-handed reaction to militancy in three Muslim provinces prompted complaints that his generals have fanned a separatist rebellion that had lain dormant for 20 years. A stunning home that mixes old and new to striking effect | Government Job change - Election | April 2006 | ['(Indep. UK)'] |
Indian politician Narendra Modi addresses a meeting of Indian–Americans via satellite. He claims there is a "disinformation campaign" against India. | visit to the US, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Monday spoke to an Indian-American audience over satellite telling them that a "disinformation campaign" was being launched to malign India.
"I have no grievance against the US or the people of
that country over the visa denial issue," he said and went on to criticise those who rallied against his US tour. Editor's ChoiceDiscuss: US being unfair to ModiVote: Is the US right?More trouble for Modi, now in London Modi asked Indians living in that country to act as
ambassadors to counter the propaganda being launched by
certain motivated groups having vested interests in defaming
India.
Appealing to the NRIs to make India an "investment
locale and global hot spot", Modi, in his hour-long address
from his residence through tele-conferencing, and asked them to try and sell the concept of a "robust and developed" Gujarat.
Gujarat is a state with "robust and world class
infrastructure, effective water management policy and a
gas-based economy," he told a large gathering at New Jersey.
There is sufficient scope of investments in the state
with several Special Economic Zones, apparel parks, marine
biotechnology parks and pharmaceuticals and agro-product
industries, he added.
"I have no grievance against the US or the people of
that country over the visa denial issue," he said and went on to criticise those who rallied against his US tour. Editor's ChoiceDiscuss: US being unfair to ModiVote: Is the US right?More trouble for Modi, now in London Modi asked Indians living in that country to act as
ambassadors to counter the propaganda being launched by
certain motivated groups having vested interests in defaming
India.
Appealing to the NRIs to make India an "investment
locale and global hot spot", Modi, in his hour-long address
from his residence through tele-conferencing, and asked them to try and sell the concept of a "robust and developed" Gujarat.
Gujarat is a state with "robust and world class
infrastructure, effective water management policy and a
gas-based economy," he told a large gathering at New Jersey.
There is sufficient scope of investments in the state
with several Special Economic Zones, apparel parks, marine
biotechnology parks and pharmaceuticals and agro-product
industries, he added.
Modi asked Indians living in that country to act as
ambassadors to counter the propaganda being launched by
certain motivated groups having vested interests in defaming
India.
Appealing to the NRIs to make India an "investment
locale and global hot spot", Modi, in his hour-long address
from his residence through tele-conferencing, and asked them to try and sell the concept of a "robust and developed" Gujarat.
Gujarat is a state with "robust and world class
infrastructure, effective water management policy and a
gas-based economy," he told a large gathering at New Jersey.
There is sufficient scope of investments in the state
with several Special Economic Zones, apparel parks, marine
biotechnology parks and pharmaceuticals and agro-product
industries, he added.
Appealing to the NRIs to make India an "investment
locale and global hot spot", Modi, in his hour-long address
from his residence through tele-conferencing, and asked them to try and sell the concept of a "robust and developed" Gujarat. | Famous Person - Give a speech | March 2005 | ['(Sify)', '(Outlook India)'] |
A threeyearold girl is decapitated in an apparently random killing by a man with a cleaver in Taipei, Taiwan. The man was arrested shortly afterwards. | Police arrest man following Monday’s apparently random attack outside subway station in Taipei, according to local media
A three-year-old girl has been decapitated in an apparently random killing by a man with a cleaver in the capital of Taiwan, according to reports.
Local media say police arrested a man following Monday’s attack outside a metro station in Taipei.
According to the reports, the man, identified by his surname, Wang, grabbed the girl from behind and decapitated her with a cleaver shortly before noon. The girl was with her mother, who was unable to prevent the attack.
Hours later, an angry crowd gathered outside the police station where Wang had been taken, some brandishing baseball bats in apparent preparation for an attack on the suspect.
The government-run Central News Agency said the 33-year-old Wang had an arrest record for drug crimes and had been treated for mental illness. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | March 2016 | ['(The Guardian)'] |
Binali Yıldırım is appointed Prime Minister of Turkey after the resignation of Ahmet Davutoğlu amid disagreements with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. | The ally of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who has been nominated as the country's new prime minister has called for a move to presidential rule.
Addressing a congress of the ruling AK Party before it confirmed him as party leader, Binali Yildirim called for a new constitution.
He said it was time to make the current "de facto situation" a "legal" one.
Mr Erdogan came to office in 2014 when Turkey held its first presidential election by direct national vote.
Previously, presidents had been elected by parliament.
As leader of the party, Mr Yildirim has been asked to form Turkey's next government.
The promotion of Mr Yildirim, who was previously transport minister, comes after Ahmet Davutoglu quit as prime minister over a rift with Mr Erdogan.
Among challenges Turkey faces are security threats from PKK Kurdish militants and the Islamic State (IS) group, and its ambition to join the EU while tackling the migrant crisis.
He does not ooze political pizzazz but Binali Yildirim has been named as the next AK Party leader for his loyalty to President Erdogan. He is succeeding Ahmet Davutoglu, forced out for disagreeing with the president on some policies and doubting Mr Erdogan's aim of changing the constitution to enhance his own position. The president's critics fear his tightening of power, some Western leaders finding him hard to deal with and opponents believing an unchecked Mr Erdogan will clamp down further on dissent. The president's diehard supporters, mainly conservative, pious Turks, still see him as the man who gave them a political voice, insisting he is right to exert his control.
What is clear is that the incoming prime minister will not step out of line with Mr Erdogan, even ready to support a constitutional change that would see his role effectively scrapped.
Mr Yildirim was the sole candidate for party leader and prime minister at the extraordinary AKP congress in Ankara.
"Turkey needs a new constitution," he told the AKP congress, to applause. "Are you ready to bring in a presidential system?" "What has to be a priority now is moving from the current de facto system to a legal system," he said.
On Turkey's long-standing EU membership bid, he said: "There is one thing that needs to be done by the European Union. "This confusion over Turkey's full membership and the migrant issue has to be brought to an end. It is time for us to know what the EU thinks about Turkey."
He vowed to continue the struggle against Kurdish militants and IS. A ceasefire between Turkey and the PKK ended weeks after elections in June 2015, and the renewed conflict has claimed hundreds of lives on both sides, particularly in the south-east.
Mr Davutoglu, who resigned two weeks ago, also addressed the congress, praising the party and Mr Erdogan, but saying that it had not been his choice to step down.
"The sole reason behind my decision to hand over the position is the value I place on the unity of our party and my concern that the AKP movement does not come to any harm," he said.
Suat Kinkliogu, a member of the AKP's executive board until he quit politics, told the BBC that executive power was in effect being concentrated in the president's hands.
"Unfortunately President Erdogan has taken all of the strings of the party, the state and the parliament and this appointment pretty much means we will see a much more low-profile prime minister who will be very compliant and going along with what Mr Erdogan wants him to do," he said.
Erdogan: Turkey's pugnacious president
| Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration | May 2016 | ['(ABC New)', '(BBC)', '(VOA)'] |
The Government of China begins a two–day summit in Beijing, in an attempt to raise international support for its Belt and Road Initiative. | The Chinese Government has opened a two-day summit in the capital Beijing to consolidate its massive global development project called One Belt One Road, or the New Silk Road project.
President Xi Jinping will host 28 world leaders and representatives from another 70 countries to sell his hugely ambitious signature project.
The plan is to build a vast network of new trade routes across the globe, multiple high-speed rail networks to penetrate Europe, massive ports across Asia and Africa and a series of free-trade zones.
Closer to home, it will cement Chinese influence in the Pacific in countries like East Timor, Fiji and Papua New Guinea.
China is going to spend up to a trillion dollars on infrastructure projects and hopes to bind more than 65 countries and two thirds of the world's population to its economy.
ABC News: Matthew Carney
Economists have likened the project to a modern day Marshall Plan — which helped secure the US as the world's superpower after World War II — but it's much bigger.
In today's terms, the US only spent about $130 billion on the Marshall Plan. China is hoping to spend much more.
It is an attempt by the Chinese to secure global dominance at a time when the United States is stepping back, and on the domestic front to keep growth and wealth strong for decades to come.
China's aim is to lift trade by $2.5 trillion in a decade by flooding world markets with cheap, high-quality Chinese goods.
It is empire-building on a scale the world has not seen before.
Professor Wang Yiwei from the China and Globalisation think tank said: "After Trump took power, he stopped the TPP and became isolationist".
"China is the biggest rising power and we welcome other countries along with us to achieve our great rejuvenation, our China dream," he said.
The One Belt One Road project is already in action at the industrial hub of Chongqing in southern China.
In its massive logistics centre, containers are moved 24 hours a day onto trains that move Chinese goods like iPads and car parts west into Central Asia, Russia and Europe.
The trains, which are 2 kilometres long, travel 12,000 kilometres to reach distribution points in Germany in just 13 days, reviving ancient trade routes with modern efficiency.
ABC News: Matthew Carney
Spokeswoman for the Chongqing Logistics City, Gu Xin, said the trains were a game changer in providing reliable, secure and cheap access to world markets.
"The new trade routes will bring more business and big international companies here. It will open southern China and Chongqing to the world," she said.
Car company Lifan at Chongqing is producing exactly the kind of products China wants to push onto the world markets.
Every two minutes a high-quality SUV comes off the assembly line and they retail at just $12,000.
They are already exporting to 30 countries and Lifan president Mu Gang said they were successful because they focused on innovation and responded quickly to consumer needs and demands.
"Technology-wise, design, workmanship, quality — all those kinds of things are a system, a comprehensive system in our company and the way we do things," he said.
Lifan is also the model company for the One Belt One Road initiative. It is privately owned and driven by the needs of the market, not the demands of the state.
Mu Gang said the moribund state-owned enterprises in China would have to reorientate if the plan was to be successful.
"There is a joke here in China: state-owned enterprises only care for the mayor, and the privately-owned enterprises, we are focused entirely on the market. It is completely different," he said.
ABC News: Matthew Carney
The city of Chongqing has already seen the benefits of One Belt One Road. It has economic growth rates of 11 per cent — almost double the national average.
It is hoped that what is happening in Chongqing is just the beginning.
But there are huge challenges ahead if success in Chongqing is to be replicated.
"China is a Communist state run by a hierarchical leadership and many of the Western countries are democratic and opposition parties can have different plans," Professor Wang said.
He said coordination and planning would be difficult.
The countries along One Belt One Road are a mix of cultures and systems. Some are not market economies and half are Islamic with different laws. Some, such as Turkey and Egypt, are unstable so it is harder to build and maintain projects. | Diplomatic Talks _ Diplomatic_Negotiation_ Summit Meeting | May 2017 | ['(Australian Broadcasting Corporation)'] |
Voters in the federal German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern head to the polls in a regional election to elect members to the Landtag of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The latest polling indicates the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany are expected to gain strongly. | BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats were beaten into third place by the anti-immigrant and anti-Islam Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in a north-eastern state election on Sunday, TV exit polls showed.
Anti-immigrant party beats Merkel's CDU in state election
In a stinging defeat for Merkel in her home district that could weaken her chances of a fourth term in next year’s federal elections, the upstart AfD took 21.9 percent of the vote behind the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) in their first election in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern by campaigning hard against the chancellor’s policies on refugees, according to a projection by ARD TV at 1.15 p.m. ET.
“This isn’t pretty for us,” said Michael Grosse-Broemer, one of Merkel’s top deputies in parliament in Berlin in a ZDF TV interview. “Those who voted for the AfD were sending a message of protest.”
Merkel’s approval rating has plunged to a five-year low of 45 percent, down from 67 percent a year ago, due to spreading disenchantment with her open-door policies on refugees.
According to a Der Spiegel magazine report, Merkel wanted to announce her intention of running for a fourth term this year but put that on hold due to resistance from her Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union. The arch-conservative CSU has demanded that Merkel put limits on the numbers of refugees.
“This was a dark day for Merkel,” Thomas Jaeger, a political scientist at Cologne University, told Reuters. “Everyone knows that she lost this election. Her district in parliament is there, she campaigned there, and refugees are her issue.”
The election took place exactly a year after Merkel’s decision to open Germany’s borders to hundreds of thousands of refugees and the discontent in the state was palpable.
Related Coverage
“This is a slap in the face for Merkel -- not only in Berlin but also in her home state,” said Frauke Petry, co-leader of the AfD. “The voters made a clear statement against Merkel’s disastrous immigration policies. This put her in her place.”
The AfD’s win was cheered by the leader of France’s far-right National Front party, Marine Le Pen, who posted on Twitter: “What was impossible yesterday has become possible: the patriots of AfD sweep up the party of Ms Merkel. All my congratulations!”
The SPD, which has ruled the rural state on the Baltic coast with the CDU as junior coalition partners since 2006, won 30.2 percent of the vote, down from 35.6 percent in the last election in 2011. The CDU won 19 percent, down from 23 percent in 2011, and its worst result ever in the state, ARD TV said.
The Left Party won 12.7 percent, down from 18.4 percent five years ago, while the Greens won 4.9 percent, down from 8.7 percent, and fell out of the assembly. The far-right NPD was also knocked out of the state legislature, falling below the 5 percent threshold for the first time since 2006.
Despite losing support, the SPD (26 seats) and the CDU (16) won enough seats to be able to continue their coalition in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, with the AfD as the second-largest bloc in the 71-seat state assembly with 18 seats. The SPD, which could also form a coalition with the Left Party, said it was leaving its options open.
Voters already punished Merkel in three state elections in March, voting in droves for the AfD and rejecting Merkel’s Christian Democrats.
Founded in 2013, the AfD now has won seats in nine of the 16 state assemblies across the country. However, it has no chance of governing in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern since the other parties have said they would not form a coalition with the party.
The AfD is also making gains nationwide, a new poll showed on Sunday. If the national election were held next week, the AfD would win 12 percent of the vote, making it the third-largest party in Germany, according to a poll conducted by the Emnid institute for the Bild newspaper and published on Sunday.
Merkel had made a last-minute campaign appearance on Saturday in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, warning against the politics of “angst” offered by AfD with its virulent anti-refugee stance.
| Government Job change - Election | September 2016 | ['(AfD)', '(Reuters)'] |
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